The Fount of Every Blessing

 It has been a week of blessings unmeasured! What wonders the Lord doth perform! We started our first day after the Sabbath in an interview with President and Sister Holmes and his counselors. They took such a personal interest in us and our life story, it felt like we were fast friends by the end of the interview. Not long after, they let us know we'd be assigned to work in The Discovery Zone at the Family History Library which we are absolutely thrilled about. It is a fun, interactive, and inviting place to begin our missionary service. 

We will be meeting people right off the street where it might even be their first interaction with our church. It's a little more casual environment, even our name tags call us Rob and Alley instead of Elder and Sister Dunlap. 

Because it was a holiday week, they had very little official training planned and we were able to attend both the Monday evening viewing and Tuesday funeral of my sister Kate without interrupting any shifts or missing any training. We kept marveling that we were even able to be in Salt Lake City at this time where we could gather with my extended family to memorialize and celebrate the life of my sister. Only the Lord could've executed such perfect timing. It was a beautiful service, with so many loving tributes and many past Tabernacle Choir members singing the musical numbers and closing hymns. We felt so blessed to be there.

 As if this wasn't blessing enough, attending the funeral was my daughter Madison that I haven't been in contact with for nearly 10 years. We were able to hug and finally talk. It was so wonderful, Rob and I shed tears of joy! We also got to meet her darling husband Franklin, who is an intelligent and kind young man. We so enjoyed hearing his conversion story and how he came to find the restored gospel of Jesus Christ in his home country of Peru. Both of them are attending school, working at jobs and living in the Avenues near downtown. I was so impressed to hear about Maddy's business she does with Social Media influencing. We are hoping we'll be able to see them again while we are nearby before we leave for India. Thanks be to God for this amazing meeting!

Thanksgiving was spent this year at Amy and Clint Duke's home, with chauffering services provided once again by the Rohlfings. They have been such godsends. We enjoyed such magnificent feasting, fun conversation and games, not to mention she let us do our laundry to boot! (Any missionary can appreciate all these incredible creature comforts.) 

 We got to meet Spencer's wife Victoria for the first time and her friends Kristina and Raines all originally from China. They were delightful! We love such gatherings with an international element. Thanks Amy and family for all your kindness and efforts. We had the best time!

The next day, because we now have free passes to TRAX and UTA, (yay, we are no longer immobile!) we decided to venture to Sandy to surprise our friends, the Eppersons, by showing up on their doorstep! Bishop Epperson was just about to head to a luncheon for the singles of his ward and he invited us along. Yay, more free food! What we didn't expect was to run into my longtime friend Lisa French, who had been invited by her friend to attend. Here again, we haven't seen each other in years and she had never had the occasion to meet Rob before. It was insta-friendship for them from the gecko! And it was another serendipitous happenstance that we thanked the Lord for.

  On the Trax ride home, who should sit down facing me but the same young man we had bumped into on the street twice the day before when we were taking a pre-Thanksgiving trot around the town. I only recognized him from the gigantic split in his lip. "Nicky, is that you?" Again, of all the odds of so many different scheduled runs, traincars, and seats, it was simply an uncanny "coinkidink". We asked him, "Nicky, why would the Lord keep having our paths cross like this?" We invited him to pray about that question, we gave him a copy of The Book of Mormon we had in our backpack and invited him to read it. We also invited him to Music and the Spoken Word on Sunday. It's all in Nicky and the Lord's hands now, we are only asked to invite and testify! But we came home with that warm happy feeling that the Lord is guiding and directing our paths on our mission and that He is truly the Fount of Every Blessing. 

Music and the Spoken Word with The Choir and Symphony at Temple Square
How can we keep from singing?

Ca"cough"ony

Is this really the Salt Lake Temple?

               Sister Randall is pregnant with twins! 

The 2nd week of the MTC although enriching was not quite what we expected. Both of us were hit forcefully at the end of the first week with chills, fever and an unrelenting cough. We spent the entire weekend in bed in a state of feverish delirium. In this wretched state, we also learned of the passing of my sister Kate who's suffered with Pulmonary Fibrosis for the last few years. We were so sad to hear of her passing but comforted to know her suffering had ended.  Gratefully too, our fevers broke Sunday to allow us to attend our classes the next day but every night for the last week, we've just been coughing non-stop, unable to quell the reflex despite steel will or conscious determination. The Bookstore had run out of any kind of cold medications and the Health Clinic at the MTC is strictly for the young missionaries. Thank goodness for Sister Shramm our personal drug dealer! Our apologies to our district and teachers for putting up with us, we really weren't much fun to be around! Still we loved our wonderful teachers who taught us so much and the fun couples of our district that were all going to SYSAP (stake young single adult program) missions. We truly grew to love them all. One thing we learned in all our training was to become more adept at using the Gospel Library, doing Zoom meetings, and making Social Media posts. Slowly we are shedding our Fred and Wilma Flintstone personas and joining the high- tech generation of missionaries.

Friday after our last class, we were transported via van to our nicely furnished apartment in

 Salt Lake where once again, we had a very rough night due to our sickliness. They provided Covid tests for us and we were all glad to learn it was "just the flu". It seems that as long as we are vertical we can get through the day, but as soon as we're horizontal, we can't stop the coughing.

This morning we got up and took a walk around downtown Salt Lake to familiarize ourselves with our new surroundings. It was strange to see for ourselves the building that used to look like the temple. Temple Square will not be the usual beautiful destination for the lights this year I guess but that's okay, we know they will find somewhere for us to contribute to the building of the Lord's kingdom while we are here I'm sure.

The best thing about today was being rescued by my sister Lolly! She lives here in Salt Lake so we called her this morning in duress and she came bearing blankets, heaters, humidifiers, slippers, sweatshirts, drugs and all the creature comforts for cold weather dwelling. What an angel!! She took us shopping at Costco on her membership, (and she wouldn't allow us to pay her either) and to Smith's, and the Dollar Store Now we don't feel quite like the refugee couple who landed here yesterday. We also were visited by a darling Sister Howell in our mission to orient us in all the computer apps we're going to need while we serve here. By the looks of it, we will probably be heavily involved in Family History work. Quite by coincidence, we also ran into another Visa-waiting couple in the hallway who are going to the India New Delhi mission in a Humanitarian capacity. They've been here two weeks and were told the wait is about 60 days. 

So that's really all there is to report. Sorry, I couldn't quite get the pictures in the right order to coordinate with the narrative this time.  But we will finish with a scripture that helps us remember that there will be times of adversity even when trying to do good, we just didn't think it would hit quite so soon, but it's comforting to know the Lord is aware of us and our needs and has provided angels along the way on both sides of the veil. Jacob 3:1 "But behold, i would speak unto you that are pure in heart. Look into God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions..."

The MTC!

 Pinch us! We're really here!

I

t's been an amazing week of growth and learning here on the campus of the Missionary Training Center, nearby BYU campus and the Provo temple. MTC could also stand for MUCH TOO COLD and MANY TREASURED COHORTS! Brr, yes the weather has been wet and chilly so far but the warmth inside our classrooms and seminars has been like a cozy hearth of friendship and comeraderie fueled by the Holy Spirit. It's quite remarkable to be a part of the 115 senior missionaries who came just this week. To hear their similar stories of why they are taking time out of their lives to serve the Lord is inspiring.

 One couple is on their 6th mission and we completely understand why. It's been marvelous to forget the issues of the day and the headlines of the news and focus on the gospel of Jesus Christ. Once you gain that perspective of it being the most important work we could be engaged in, it's hard to go back to "normal" life.

We've been richly fed by young dynamic returned missionaries Sisters Price and Christensen. Their love for the Savior and their testimony of the work is infectious! 

We've also been nourished by the sage wisdom of apostles of God. Our 2nd day here we sang in the choir during a devotional by Elder Bednar. It was so electric to feel the Holy Spirit in that room with 1600 other missionaries! 

You quickly come to love your district, in our case we were in a large district of 12 couples going all over the globe to serve in Africa, Denmark, the Phillipines, Norway, England, Canada and various stateside missions 

One hilarious quip- when Sister Thelin was introducing themselves (on the far left) and the mission they will serve in (the Book Warehouse), she said, It's great, we don't even have to wear clothes on our mission" Rob quickly piped up and said, "Whoa, I wanna serve one of those missions too!" After we all had a good hearty laugh, she explained they can just wear regular clothes because it will be a dusty warehouse. She has Stage 4 cancer and her husband can hardly walk but they want to serve where and how they can, so I believe there's a mission for everyone. If ye have desires, ye are called to the work. 

One of the sweetest parts of the experience is meeting and conversing with the young sisters and elders in the lunchroom. Once we got used to seeing sisters in pants and some of their outlandish footwear, we saw beyond it to their earnestness and goodness! They inspire us as well. 

I told this sister on the right she liked like Brigitta in The Sound of Music but she hadn't seen the movie. What?!

We've looked far and wide to find anyone going to India, so far we've only met Elder Singh from Spanish Fork who's dad is Indian but he is learning Portuguese. We still have a week to go so we won't give up but swimming through the many missionaries with no discernible hints on their nametags, it might have to be divine intervention if we do.

For those who may not have heard yet, they let us know of our interim assignment the Friday before we left that we'd be serving in the Salt Lake Church Headquarters Mission. We were quickly stuffing  sweaters, boots, and other warm clothes into our suitcases! Though it will be a chilly few months, we think it will be wonderful to be downtown during the holiday season and close to my sister Lolly and husband Tom. Again, we will let you know what our assignment will be when we learn ourselves. We are hopping in a van next Friday and being whisked up North to our apartment. Our new address will be 131W 200 N #23, Salt Lake City, Ut 84103 for a few months until our visas are ready.  We love it all, and will try to bloom wherever we are planted! 

A legendary missionary you may have heard of. GGG Grandfather Woodruff!