Interesting information for my Realtor friends. When Brigham Young and the saints arrived in the Salt Lake valley in 1847 he marked a spot for a temple with his cane. He said, "Here we will build a temple to our God." The base and meridian lines run right through Temple Square as the center point of the city and the city was organized from this point.
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This is the base meridian marker which is at the south east corner of Temple Square. The plaque in the previous picture is on the wall about the marker.

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The United States Meridian Base line runs east and west through the middle of Temple Square.

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This is my $15 suit that I purchased from DI. It also has a pair of pants with it. The blouse cost $4. What a bargain. We love DI. Our apartment is also furnished in early DI.
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This is our first official day on Temple Square. President Cruikshank took us on a walking tour above ground and through the tunnels that connect the buildings and the underground parking areas. We came home and took a nap. I believe what they say about our mission being intensive.

This is Ed's new hat - necessary to keep the head warm as many of our posts are outside. It is still cold here and the winters are quite severe. The Church Office Building is in the background. Most of the snow is gone since we had several days of rain last week.

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We attended an organ recital today. The organists perform six days a week at noon and at 2 o'clock on Sundays. Richard Eliott did a great job today. The colored lights behind the pipes change from blue, to mauve, to gold, to red. Very impressive.
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This is the Assembly Hall which is next to the Tabernacle. It is used for Stake Conferences, funerals, musical events, etc.

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The reflection of the Assembly Hall was outstanding on the glass front of Deseret Book corporate offices across the street. In the foreground is a monument depicting the handcart companies. Brigham Young had a wall built around Temple Square to provide work for the saints. The wall serves as a great barrier from the noise of the city.

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Ed and I have really missed walking on our treadmill in the mornings. So, thanks to Lori, we made a new discovery - KSL.com classifieds. We purchased this great treadmill and tomorrow we will be back on our exercise routine. We really need it after the great food at the MTC.
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We arrived at the Missionary Training Center on Monday, February 18 and immediately began intensive training for our mission. What a place this is. There is a huge maze of buildings and something going on in every room. There are about 1650 missionaries here now. In the summer this count could go to over 2200.
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The flags around the MTC represent many of the countries where missionaries are called to serve. Most of our teachers were young returned missionaries and they did a tremendous job. It is impossible to find a finer group of young men and women than here at the MTC. The whole week was a spiritual feast. We are so thankful to be serving a mission. It is awesome.
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And, speaking of feasting - the food here at the MTC is great. Three meals a day with at least 4 separate menus to choose from. Most missionaries gain about 8-12 pounds if they are here for language training and stay 2-3 months. Ed and I put on a few ourselves. The cafeteria is huge and luckily senior missionaries go to the head of the line.
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This is our residence while at the MTC. All of the buildings on the MTC campus are named after great Church leaders of the past - ours for Jacob Hamblin. If you are interested in learning more about Jacob Hamblin just type his name in the http:// line.
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While we were at the MTC we visited Johanna's grave in the Provo Cemetary. As we drove up the lane it was very impressive to see MILLET from afar. Johanna is buried near many members of the Snow family.
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The names of Ed and Johanna's children are engraved on the back of the headstone.
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I won't do this every week but this Music and the Spoken Word (February 17) was so outstanding. The Tabernacle Choir - ladies black, men white, the Temple Square Chorale - ladies red, men black, and the Orchestra at Temple Square presented an awesome program. Seeing it on television is one thing but being there was the best.

We serve six days a week either from 9 to 3 or from 3 to 9. When we have the Sunday afternoon shift we can attend the program inside the tabernacle, otherwise we can hear it from outside. If we're on duty off the square we will miss it.

New name tags, new suits, new coats, new shoes, ready to go to the Missionary Training Center tomorrow. A note about my coat - the sleeves were too long so I took it to the Italian tailor near our apartment and he shortened them - for $25. I now have a Burlington Coat Factory coat with Italian sleeves.
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Doesn't Ed look like a great missionary? The tabernacle is in the background.
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The sun on the temple was awesome. This is truly the greatest place to serve a mission.
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This is our home away from home. We have the entire ground floor of the building. The laundry facilities are in the basement. Another couple will live in the top apartment. They will arrive in March.

Our address is 117 1st Avenue #1, Salt Lake City, Utah 84103. Our phone us 801-355-9063.

If you can't comment on the Blog and would like to write, my email address is jvpugh@juno.com.

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This is view of temple square from the street in front of our apartment - which is to the right. To get the best view we crossed over the road.
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This is our front yard. Even though we are in the middle of a very big, busy city we feel like we live in the country because of all the space around us as you can see from the next pictures.

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This is the view of Brigham Park just to the north of our building.

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This is our back yard.
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This is the view of our apartment from the front door. Since I have a little experience as a Real Estate Broker I will take you on a visual tour. We are very, very fortunate to have so much room. The best part is that it already feels like home.
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Our living room is very large with lots of places to sit and visit. Wouldn't it be fun to catch up on all the news?
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One couch is a hide-a-bed.
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Here is our dining room with enough chairs to feed you all - please come visit. The picture of Christ was a bargain at DI for $10. The centerpiece was a steal for $1.50. We love DI.
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The living room/dining room has an alcove we use for the office. This is Joyce's computer table.
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Here is our piano and Ed's computer table.
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Our second bedroom is set up as our sewing center. Marla Jones and I donated our commercial serger to the Humanitarian Center and they were kind enough to deliver my commercial sewing machine to Salt Lake. Ed's sewing machine is on the desk. The rest of the room is our "dorm."
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This is the first quilt I sewed. It takes about an hour and I hope to have time to sew quite a few while we are here.

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This is our dorm. We have three extra beds all ready for your visit. Please come and visit.
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The bathroom is accessible from both bedrooms. The water gets hot after it runs a while. At least the water is plumbed into the house. We could be in a foreign country and have an out house.

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This is our bedroom. It is interesting to take 2 single beds and put them together. We have learned to sleep to the side as our feet sometimes hang over the end. We got a very heavy mattress pad so the "hump" is not too noticeable. Thank goodness we had a sewing machine to alter the sheets. A king bed is longer and wider, but we managed. Thanks to Janet we have a wonderful bench for the comforter and to sit on when we tie our shoes.
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This is the kitchen. You'll notice it was made just for us - no dishwasher - but we do have two refrigerators.

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Our favorite games are Scrabble and Sudoku. Perhaps when we get "into things" we may not have much time for fun and games.
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We made the trip just fine. Getting a phone, address, and internet have been challenging. We plan to update the blog tomorrow.

Well - we were hoping to leave today, but our house looks like a disaster area. We are praying for good weather and a safe trip.

We had hoped to leave today but our house looks like a tornado struck. Our phone has been disconnected, our internet will disappear today and this will be the last message.

President George Thompson, Joyce, Ed, Bishop Lowell Allred

We were set apart as missionaries February 3, by President Thompson. Both Ed and I have served a previous couple mission - this time we have new companions. Needless to say we are thrilled to be going to Salt Lake City Temple Square.

I am including pictures of the boys and their famillies. Yes, time flies!

Kelly's Family: Jaleyna 16, Curtis 20 - Serving a mission in the Philippines, Wendy, Britney 12, Aleisha 19, Kelly, Haden 14, Taylor 9. (2008 ages) They live in Spokane, WA.

Roger's Family: Samantha 12, Roger, April 10, Robbie 6, Leanne, Ryan 7. They live in Ephrata, WA.

Troy's Family: Troy, Christian 9, Leslie, Anna 4, Emily 2. They live in Ephrata, WA

Humanitarian work and quilt making is such an important part of my life that I could not see myself without a sewing maching in Salt Lake City. In 2007 Ed and I sewed over 300 quilts. (Yes, for a physics professor he's a great seamster.) We will be doing missionary work 6 hours a day, 6 days a week but that still leaves enough time to sew. The question was, "How does one get a commercial sewing machine in the back of the car with everything else?

My long-time partner Marla Jones and I decided it was time to donate our serger to the Humanitarian Center. We wanted it to be used. In negotiating with Brother Yancey about the donation I asked if he would transport my sewing maching along with the serger. He agreed. Miracles never cease. The machine will be ready for us to pick up at Deseret Transport when we arrive in SLC. Can we expect another miracle - someone with a pickup to take it to our apartment?

The last of the fleece on its way to the Humanitarian Center.

Another family goal was creating a chess tournament for the youth of our area. The second annual Waypoint Foundation Chess Tournament was held Saturday, January 26, 2008. Roger and Troy had great fun organizing and administering the tournament. Forty-eight players competed. It was a great day. There were a few more participants this year than last and the boys look forward to filling the gym in future years.

Christian did very well in the Chess Tournament, winning 3-1/2 games. We look forward to the year he will win. Good job, Christian!