Saturday morning it was time for Kefford, Ryker, Avynlea and I to volunteer for a shift at the Meridian Temple Open House. We had to be at the Temple at 7:00am for a prayer meeting and instruction before our shift began at 8:00. This was opening day for tours for the public and everyone was really excited and really nervous about the massive amount of people they were expecting. After a prayer and a thought they started dividing the volunteers into groups according to where they would be. Kefford spent his time in the Celestial Room and Terrestial Room. His job was to make sure the tours stayed on route where they needed to be and to smile and look handsome and welcoming. Job well done I am sure. He had his Bishopric buddies in there with him and he had a really good time.
Ryker was in front of the Temple putting shoe coverings on guests and Avynlea and I were in the Reception tent behind the Temple removing the shoe coverings.
I was really happy to be able to have been with Avynlea serving. We had fun but it really was exhausting and somewhat painful work with all the bending over we did. We had Tessa Trites with us and before it got busy we took the time to get our picture taken in the Reception Tent.
I was really tired at the end of our shift which lasted until 12 pm and was happy to be done but really happy with the service we performed. I enjoyed seeing people and found that a lot of people felt awkward with us taking off their shoe coverings while many people mentioned how pampered they felt. During our shift I felt the Spirit at different times and I just felt overwhelmingly happiness that all of these people had the opportunity to go inside whom normally wouldn't be able to.
As soon as we got back I had to dress in warm clothes and head out to The Barnyard with Kefford. Kelsey and Brit had Stake Conference meetings they needed to attend and so I went with Kefford to help out. I was happy to help but not happy to be sitting outside on this day. It was freezing cold and I froze despite my attempts at layering and dressing warm. The first couple of hours we had a fair amount of people come but then it started to sprinkle and the amount slowly trickled down until the people stopped coming. I was impressed with the small amount of people who kept coming despite the wetness but as soon as the sprinkle turned to rain it cleared out and became a ghost town. I suffered for a few more hours while we waited to see if the rain was going to stop and more people would arrive but it didn't happen. I called my Mom and talked to her for a little over an hour and that was a nice distraction from my body turning to a popsicle. At about 6:30 when the rain kept coming down we called it quits, packed up and happily, on my end, went home.
Kefford had me tell my Mom that I would send her a picture of me with Tony the Pony and when I got off the phone with her he took the picture and I was able to send it.
Later that night Avynlea came to me to share some exciting news she had. She and her friend Shaeden volunteered to teach their Sunday School lesson the next day. She said she was worried about getting ahold of Shaeden to plan it because her family is not good at answering their phone or checking text messages. Avy told me that she said a prayer that they would be able to get this worked out and went to call her friend. She borrowed Ryker's phone and right when she went to push in her number the phone rang and it was Shaeden calling about their lesson. Avy was so happy that Heavenly Father answered her prayer and they were able to get together to plan a great lesson.