This past week I attended The BYU Family History Conference in Provo,
Utah. It was an inspiring week with my good friend Mary Morrow, also
from Mesa, Arizona.
It was if I traveled back to my youth and back in time. We stayed in the
dorms at Helaman Halls on BYU campus. I was accepted to attend
Brigham Young University back in 1978 after I graduated from Ricks
College, now known as BYU Idaho in Rexburg, Idaho. I did not attend
BYU as I was a young newlywed. My first husband Steven Wayne
Dawson had also been accepted to BYU. We mutually decided that
I would work and Steve would attend the university. That however,
is a story for another time.
It was heavenly to be back in Utah and on campus for this conference.
It was four days jam packed with remarkable keynote speakers and five
classes each day taught by accredited genealogists and others who
shared their expertise in various genealogical areas.
I was thrilled to hear the story of Jeff Marks as he traveled to Haiti,
Wyoming and Yougoslavia experiencing many miracles along the way as
he searched for and found his ancestors. We were also blessed to hear
from George Durrant a favorite of mine from the past. He is a former
BYU professor with a humorous touch and spiritual depth. Susan
Easton Black is married to George Durant and she spoke along with
him. She taught at BYU for 37 years and has written 160 books.
I learned so much. I can't wait to implement what I took away from this
conference. I just don't think there are enough hours in the day to get it
all done.
We couldn't leave Provo without attending the Provo City Temple.
After the class on Friday afternoon Mary and I took an Uber ride to the
temple. It was a sacred experience and the temple is absolutely stunning.
We did dealings and our temple sealer was A. LeGrand Richards
the grandson of Legrand Richards an apostle of God. The battery on my
phone died so we were unable to get an Uber ride. We ended up walking
back to our dorms. Mary was barefoot because her shoes were giving her blisters. She enjoyed walking barefoot through the lush green grass
in Provo.
We walked miles and miles and miles while on campus and off.
Every evening after our classes and dinner at the BYU Commons we
took a 2 mile walk on campus and most of the pictures below were taken
as we walked around campus. We even saw an obviously intelligent deer
grazing on campus as we walked. We trekked from our dorm to the
Commons where we ate our meals. We hoofed it to the conference center
each day for our classes. We ran to the BYU bookstore so we could shop.
I didn't make it to the gym this week but I managed to meet my exercise
goals.
"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the
great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall turn the heart of the
fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I
come and smite the earth with a curse." Malachi 4: 5-6 Searching for our
kindred dead, uniting families and having their ordinances done in the
temples around the world is THE SPIRIT OF ELIJAH.
 |
 |
