Saturday, December 14th, 2019

Columbia, South Carolina

62nd operating temple

Dedicated: 16 Oct 1999

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Jehovah

John 8:58

Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

Book of Mormon

Ether 10:1-16

New Testament

Revelation 10-11; Finish New Testament Student Manual and The Redheaded Hostess

Oct 2019 General Conference

"Standing By Our Promises and Covenants"

Elder Ronald A. Rasband

"To "go and do" means rising above the ways of the world, receiving and acting on personal revelation, living righteously with hope and faith in the future, making and keeping covenants to follow  Jesus Christ, and thereby increasing our love for Him, the Savior of the world."

Today is our day to work at the temple. President and Sister Palmer were presiding. In preparation meeting President Palmer reminded us of our temple theme, "More Holiness Give Me." He added, "More Jesus Like Thee."  I gave the opening prayer and in the prayer I asked that the patrons who attend the temple today would "feel Thy love today. Later in the day Brother Elmer came up to me and said how much my prayer meant to him because he had been thinking all week that he wished the temple patrons could feel the love of the Lord in their lives. He really is such a nice guy.

My schedule went something like this today: Locker room, Celestial room, break, 9:30 session as 1st follower, and Mindy Hamblin as the 2nd follower. James and Brother Reidhead were the brothers for this session. Brother Reidhead led the prayer circle and James  led the session. The own endowee, Alyse DeWitt got her robe twisted and I had to help her, also one sister forgot the new name. I helped one sister at the veil who had a difficult time speaking and did not know any of the things to say. It was an interesting session.

The last thing of the day for me was being the greeter behind the recommend desk. No one was coming so I left about ten minutes early. I'm still feeling a little guilty about that. 

Brother and Sister Gentry left early. They have kids to visit in northern California. One of the granddaughters is returning and reporting on her mission. Brother and Sister Gentry have six children and none of them live in Arizona. Three live in northern California, one in Provo, one in Boston and one in Atlanta. They do lots of traveling throughout the year to visit their children and grandkids.

Sister Elmer told me about a cousin Christmas party she has every year for her grandkids. Sister Farr has three single boys, a girl who is married and lives in St. Johns and has one little girl and an older boy who lives in Utah with five boys. His wife has cancer so they won't be coming for Christmas.

Instead of bringing rolls today I brought a pumpkin roll and it was delicious. There was none left to bring home.

It was cold and windy today. When we got home we had chili for lunch. Ed Miller came by to look at our furnace. James wants to get it fixed before our company comes after Christmas.

I walked and worked on "Come Follow Me." This evening we watched, "A Christmas Love Story," and "Holiday Date." 

Anthony says the wind is howling at his place. I got a text from Tamara. Bishop Miller says that Brother Brewer passed away and Anne is going over to see Debra.

The only thing that could make this picture better is if the

pit was filled with presents like it used to be on Christmas Eve.