SEPTEMBER 2023 - Family, Friends, Reunions and FALL

 

September has to be one of my favorite months of the year!  I love the cooler nights and the amazing color on the mountains.  If the plants in the yard can survive the heat of July we have the most beautiful September flowers and plants.  

SCENES OF FALL

Bridal Veil Falls

Provo UT Courthouse

Maple Hills, UT

SUNSETS

KAJA AND JESSIE

On September 2 we spent the day with Kaja and Jesse at the Payson Temple to witness their marriage and sealing for Time and Eternity.  We served our Mission with Kaja in Vienna and consider her a special friend.  It was nice meeting both of their families and enjoying the festivities together.  They had their reception that evening in a beautiful venue on a golf course.  The evening sky was so beautiful.  

It is always fun being with former missionaries and this was the beginning of several gatherings this month.  

Brooklyn Pendleton, Kaja, Sam Costa and Ammon Bennett - Cooper and Ellie Vickers did not make the picture to complete the "group".  It was a really fun evening and we are so happy for this couple and the life they will share.

SUNDAY SCHOOL - TEMPLES

I had the opportunity of teaching Sunday School teaching 1 Corinthians 2-7.  Oh, how I love the teachings of Paul as I have studied and come to understand them better.  The title of the lesson was "Be Perfectly Joined Together."  We talked about Unity in the Church and with our neighbors.  Chapter 3 talks about Men's works will be tried by fire, (the Holy Spirit)  and the Saints are the temple of God.

To show an example and to have some class participation, I had 9 volunteers come and form three groups.  Each group was given a bag of Legos.  They were similar in content.  I asked each group to build something with their blocks working together on the build.  That was all of the instructions. While they were building, the rest of the class read in Chapter 3:

For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.  According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid for the foundation, and another buildeth thereon.  But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.  For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.  . . . Every man's work shall be made manifest:  for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fires shall try every man's work of what sort it is.  If any. man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.  . . . Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which Temple ye are. . . . And ye are Christ's and Christ is God's. 

I honestly had no idea what each group would build.  As I put the bags together I thought, "what will they come up with?"  When we finished and saw what they each had built, I was touched by the Spirit that they were way more in tune with the lesson than I could even imagine.  They each built Temples.  What was amazing to watch was how they worked together and built their structure in less that 5 minutes.  

Jesus Christ has given us the foundation to build our lives upon.  As we follow Him, He will help us through the Holy Spirit, build our lives in alignment with His will and design.  What we do with this life and how well we build it will be tested by Fire.  In other words, as my father would say, "The tempering of the steel."  Each day of our lives we face challenges, tests, obstacles, etc and how well we align ourselves with Jesus Christ will determine how well we will stand.   As a body of Saints, we build the kingdom (Temple) together in Christ's name.  Paul was trying to tell the people of his day how important it was to meet together united as one in the cause of Christ.  We too have been given that charge with the same promised blessings.  

Needless to say, the building activity was a favorite for those who participated.  They had all built with Legos before!  One man in his 80's did not know what Legos were and enjoyed watching them come together into a building.  

The Provo Utah Temple is very special to me.  It is the Temple we attended and learned in for 2 years while we were students at BYU back in the 1970's.  It has served many people and especially all of the missionaries who attend the MTC before serving their missions.  On January 1, 2024 it will be closed.  It is no longer large enough to handle the needs in this area.  They will remove it and build a new structure over the next three years.  We wanted to go see it and attend a session one last time before it is closed.  It was a memorable evening.  

Provo City Temple

The Salt Lake Temple has been under construction for the past three years to shore up the foundation and make it earthquake safe.  It has been fascinating watching the progress the past 2 years.  It has about 1 more year before it will be complete.  I look forward to having it once again be the beacon on the hill in downtown Salt Lake City.  

We have a tradition on Labor Day to go out to breakfast.  We took Logan with us this year to One Man Diner.  Now that is a look of a well fed boy!

I had the opportunity to attend the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival at Thanksgiving Point.  I did not really know what to expect and it was delightful.  I loved the music and the stories told.  I hope I can go again next year.  

Josh and Julie came for a weekend visit.

Mural in Provo

We had such a nice day with Josh and Julie.  They drove from Portland, Oregon to visit just for a day.  We went to a local Brazilian Restaurant that was delicious.  Josh loved how authentic the food was and it brought so many memories from his mission in Brazil.  We walked around downtown Provo - Julie wanted to visit the Yarn Store - the oldest yarn store in Utah.  We finished up at one of our favorite ice cream shops - Handals.  The Cinnamon roll ice cream is my favorite.

Julie is a master knitter.  She made me a pair of socks.  They are so cute and will be great for Fall and Winter.  They are a special gift made with Love.

Our Zinnias are so beautiful this year.  Preslee needed to earn some money for the Ballroom Dance Team she is performing with.  I made up several bouquets and she sold them to people in the neighborhood.  They were very generous and it really helped her earn some of the money she needed.  It is amazing as I have been creating bouquets for the past month and giving them to people.  They just keep producing and getting bigger every day.  They just keep giving so that I can keep giving.  

WICHITA KANSAS AND BYU

We arrived in Wichita just in time to enjoy a beautiful evening watching Nora at the Soccer fields.  The Sunset was stunning.  We packed in several activities in the few short days that we were visiting.  So glad to get to see Nora play in a game.  She takes soccer pretty serious - she told her team she was going to the BYU/Kansas University Football game and would be cheering for BYU because someday she wants to play on their soccer team.  

GAME DAY!

We drove to Lawrence, Kansas for the Football game.  We went to the Tailgate party for BYU and got some fun swag and photos.  We had tickets through our daughter Beth who works for Meritrust, a sponsor of the University.  So - we sat in the middle of the KU season ticket holders.  We got to hang out at the Courtesy Area for the KU sponsors and clubs.  We were definitely the minority but we met some great people.  The game started with an Air Force Fly over.  One of the pilots was a KU alumni.  It was exciting watching them as they made two sweeps of the stadium.  

David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium

Jayhawks vs. Cougars

Let the game begin!  K I C K O F F!  

BYU had a good first half and went into halftime on top.

The second half was not as fortunate for BYU.  

Beth got to be on the field during one of the Time outs for a presentation by her company.  She is over media and was on the field to take pictures of the presentation.  It was a fun experience and we can say we were at the Historic first game for BYU in the BIG 12.  

After Game hamburgers and Ice Cream at Freddy's

Sunday Nora and William had a Piano Recital.  Oh how it brought back memories of when I was their age and playing in recitals.  They are playing very good for their ages.  William played a long piece and worked hard for it to be just right.  They are both very musical.  A great way to end a Sunday and a wonderful weekend.  

William at the piano

Heading home and waiting at the Wichita Airport for our flight.  Two hour delay for flight to DFW.  It seems to be the way of flying these days.  We had a nice flight and made our connection at DFW - Happy Day!  We needed to get home for Russ to have an eye appointment and Hosting at The Tabernacle Display in Highland, UT.  He had to wear his dark glasses because his eyes were still dilated!  The display is a replica of the original Tabernacle in the days of Moses.  This is a picture of the Holy of Holies and the Ark of the Covenant.  

MISSION REUNIONS FOR THE ALPINE GERMAN SPEAKING MISSION

Senior Gathering on Friday morning.  This is always a favorite part of Reunion time.  We had a delicious breakfast with casserole, so much fresh from the garden fruit and amazing muffins and other sweets.  The fresh grapes, plums, pears and berries were soooo good.  We love reminiscing and catching up on each others lives and all that we are doing.  This is a very special group of Senior missionaries that we were so blessed to serve with.  Thanks to the Bunker's for sharing their beautiful home and hospitality.  

Friday afternoon we gathered in Provo Canyon Park for a gathering of all of the missionaries we served with.  The numbers are dwindling as some have graduated, married and moved out of the area.  Grateful for all of those who came so that we could have a "gathering of the clan".  We love our mission family and it is always good to be together.  

We served with Ricardo Vargas from England.  We also were with him on staff at Cumorah Academy.  He was selected as one of 13 students to be a Cumorah Ambassador and was here for the Cumorah Meetings so he also got to attend the Mission reunion.  We picked him up in Salt Lake and brought him back to the reunion.  It was so fun being with him and showing him a few things in our area.  It was especially fun for him to see some former companions that he has not seen in two years. 

Ricardo Vargas

After the Reunion we drove Ricardo to Maple Hills - about 40 minutes south of Lindon to the Cumorah Gathering Accommodations.  It was so beautiful driving close to the mountains and the beautiful leaves.  We were greeted by the Brazilian students from Cumorah.  What a Reunion!  We love these students so much!  Hearing of their excitement and experiences of being in the USA for the first time was very special.  It was a dream come true for them.  

My Blog is late this month because the last few days of the month were very busy for me.  All of these events came at the same time.  I am going to tell about the events of the week with the Cumorah group this month instead of splitting it between months.  

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Sunday evening was the first event for the students.  An open house with dinner for all previous Mentors, Advisors, Interns, Students and future mentors were invited to attend.  We had about 70 people.  I was asked to cater the event and so I spent three days baking and cooking for the event.  We served Pulled Pork Sandwiches, potato salad, coleslaw, green salad, pickles, olives, a variety of chips, apples with caramel sauce, ginger cookies with cream dip, snickerdoodles, pumpkin chocolate chips, chocolate chip with salted caramel chips, brownies, and granola bars.  

It turned out really nice and everyone seemed to like the dinner.  The Sedivy's have a beautiful home in Maple Hills and had the tables all set up outside on their back yard that is gorgeous with the fall leaves.  Unfortunately it poured rain.  They moved all of the tables into the garage.  Just as the guests were arriving the clouds cleared and so they quickly put the tables back outside.  The Sun had gone down and so did the temperature so it was too cold to sit outside.  With all of that, it is a very big home with two dinning rooms and other areas, they were able to make it work for everyone to be inside.  

These are the students from our Semester who where chosen to come as Ambassadors.  They are so good to us and we were grateful for all of their help.  It was nice meeting Mentors and Advisory Couples from other Semesters.  

Below is a picture of all of the Ambassadors - a great group of Young People.  

Thursday night was Cumorah Connect - a gathering of Mentors and potential Donors and Volunteers.  There were about 120 people who gathered in Springville at Bridle Up Horse Ranch.  SO MOTIVATING AND UPLIFTING.

Patrick gave a very inspirational message and overview of what Cumorah is and provides for Young Adults.  He then introduced 4 of the students who came and shared their experience and change in their lives as a result of attending a Semester of two at Cumorah.

This is Jose' from Spain.  He did not speak any English 1 year ago.  He could not even say Hello when he met Patrick for the first time.  After 1 Semester he passed the English Test to be able to return for another semester of additional English and Leadership.  In our Semester he was one of the top finishers in the Public Speaking Competition.  His life has certainly changed for the better.  

He is also the picture on this Poster.  A study and survey  determining the percentage of students with Low, Moderate and High Ability to Feel and Share Divine Love before and after last semester.  You can see that when the students arrived only 13% felt they had Divine Love they could feel and share with others.  At the end of the Semester there was a 50% increase and 65% felt they had Divine Love they felt and could share.  I have witnessed this with the students and it is life changing.  

Fernanda from Brazil is making 5 times the salary now from what she was making before Cumorah.  One of the goals for each student is to be able to secure employment that is better than anything they have had before they came to cumorah.  

Every category increased.  Faith, Hope and Love.  Great qualities to help students form a firm foundation in life and they expand and increase in educational and work environments.  

I love this picture of Russ with the students.  He really has a great relationship with them.  

Pedro - Brazil

Sabrina - Spain

Fernanda - Brazil

Bob Hanson with the Cumorah Ambassadors 

Wow!  What a month.  These stories are just the highlights.  We continue to bike ride on the Murdock Trail, decorated the house for Fall and Halloween, ongoing yard work, helping Emily and enjoying life.  

I have read 3 really good books this month that I would recommend to add to your reading list:

Before the Fortress Falls by A.L. Sowards.    Story of the Siege of Vienna in 1680's

Prophets See Around Corners by Sheri Dew.   Story of Latter-day Prophets

For Times of Trouble by Jeffery R. Holland.  Compilation of the book of Psalms and his interpretation and council. A daily study of the Psalms.

RECIPES

This smoothie is so good and healthy and especially good on a FALL Day!

It is TOMATO time in Utah.  My garden is still producing Roma and Cherry Tomatoes.

I have found a quick way to make a delicious Sauce that can be used for Pasta, Zucchini zoodles, spaghetti squash, or anything else you would use Tomato Sauce for.

I use about 10 Tomatoes and 1 cup of Cherry Tomatoes 

Cut Tomatoes into fourths.  You can leave Cherry Tomatoes whole.  

Spread on Cookie sheet lined with foil.

Add 2-3 cloves garlic, divided

1/2 onion, chopped fine

fresh herbs like Basil, Rosemary, Thyme

Drizzle with Olive Oil

Bake at 350* for 30 min. or until skins pop and are soft.

I slip the skins and put mixture in a bowl or blender.  I use my Immersion Blender and Puree until smooth.  You can also put in the Blender and Puree.  Add Salt and Pepper to taste.  

Can be frozen, canned or refrigerated for a few days.  It is ready to add meat as desired.  

This is so easy and you do not have to blanch the tomatoes to remove the skins.  After roasting you do not need to take the skins off but I choose to.  

Enjoy!

The Grimmett's