Sister Sistah

Last fall, when Steve had been meeting with the missionaries, the elders asked us if they could set up an appointment for us to go tour Temple Square. Honestly, I was thinking to myself, "oh my gosh, I've been to Temple Square a million times, why do we need a tour?". I'm sure Steve was thinking the same thing, but being the polite Southern bred man that he is, he accepted, and we ended up making it a family affair, as even Steph decided to go along.

When we walked in and met the sister missionaries who would be giving us a tour, I thought to myself, "Wow, they couldn't have paired Steve up with a more ideal set of sisters... or should I say sistahs.

Sister Barnes is Black and Polynesian and Sister Seve is Polynesian from Australia. Sister Barnes told us about her father's (who is black) conversion story and a lot of the things she said really hit home for Steve.

They did a presentation for us with a movie that emphasized forever families, and as we were watching it I know we were all thinking about Steve's mom who passed away 2 years ago. We all ended up in tears at the end, the spirit was very powerful.

In the short time we spent with them, we really bonded with them, and so after Steve got baptized we really wanted to share the news with them, we knew they'd be so excited. As luck would have it, the first two times we went back to Temple Square to find them, they had both been sent "stateside". (Temple Square missionaries get a chance to serve 3 months somewhere in the country and then come back to Salt Lake for the remainder of their mission.)

Finally, a few weeks ago, Steve, Alex and I stopped by Temple Square and wandered around for a while but didn't see them. Feeling defeated once again, we were about to head out when from a distance Sister Barnes and I caught a glimpse of each other and she remembered us. Sister Seve was there also and they were so excited to see us and hear about Steve's baptism. Most of the time, the missionaries on Temple Square don't get a chance to see the results of the "fruits of their labors", so I know it meant a lot to them that we came to find them.

These ladies even remembered Stephenie by name and asked how her softball season was going... talk about impressive! We were able to exchange email addresses and plan on keeping in touch.

Alex reflecting by the reflection pool on Temple Square. Perhaps he's contemplating the meaning of life. (Actually, he's probably thinking about Thomas the Tank Engine... or goldfish crackers.)