July 23-August 23, 2020 - Pioneer Day, Hikes and Temple Progress

Pioneer Day - July 24, 2020

Pioneer Day would have normally involved a big parade in Salt Lake but with COVID-19, it was a rather quiet day.  We spent the morning in the office and picking up lunch we had arranged from Cafe Zupas.  Four of the zones watched the movie Legacy in the North Visitor's Center (NVC) theatre 5, which was where  Man's Search for Happiness was shown, back when Elder Burkinshaw was a guide on Temple Square in the late 1970's.  When the movie finished about 11:00am, we served them either a sandwich or salad per their preference in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building (JSMB in missionary jargon).  Then at 12:00pm, the other four zones came in to the JSMB for their lunch and afterwards we went with them to the NVC to watch the movie.  We had forgotten that the story line for Legacy followed the courtship of two young converts, Eliza Williams and David Walker.  The Sisters were quite boisterous during the "mushy" parts ;-)!  Elder Walker, the mission financial secretary and his wife, then shared some stories of their pioneer ancestry and it was a nice activity. 

The lunch area in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building basement where we had Zupa's salads and sandwiches.  

After the mission activity, we drove up Big Cottonwood canyon to hike up to Donut Falls.

The wildflowers (purple are called sticky purple geraniums and the white are called spreading sandwort from the carnation family) were beautiful

The shallow creek that we walked through to get to Donut Falls.

Sister Burkinshaw at the bottom of Donut Falls.

Elder Burkinshaw at the bottom of the Falls.  We didn't go all the way to the top.

A friendly chipmunk stopped to greet us!  Unfortunately we didn't have anything to feed him but he looks like he's getting plenty to eat! ;-)

Tuscany (formerly the Heather) Restaurant

On the Saturday after Pioneer Day, Aunt Robyn had been wanting to take us to dinner at a nice restaurant in Cottonwood Heights called Tuscany and when we got there, we realized it had formerly been a restaurant called The Heather, where we had our wedding breakfast.  It was a wonderful ambiance and excellent food and we ate outside.  We appreciated Aunt Robyn's kindness and afterwards, we found some fun photos of our wedding breakfast.

Elder and Sister Burkinshaw in front of the Tuscany Italian Restaurant.

Sister and Elder Burkinshaw with Aunt Robyn (age 3) during our wedding breakfast at the Heather restaurant on November 20, 1979.  Grandpa Bob Burkinshaw is on the far left and Grandma Kay Stevens on the far right.

Elder and Sister Burkinshaw exiting the Heather Restaurant following our wedding breakfast.  You can see the back of Grandpa Gary Stevens, Aunt Lori and Aunt Kary and cousin Eric Olson.

 

Departing Missionary Farewell Dinner

On Friday evening, July 31, we held a farewell dinner for the departing Sister missionaries.  Normally the dinner would be held in the JSMB but all the buildings on Temple Square are closed, so the previous mission president, President Craig Fisher is a member of the Oakridge Country Club in Kaysville and reserved their dining room for this event.  It was very nice.

All 29 of our departing Sister Missionaries on the putting green of the Oakridge Country Club.

Elder and Sister Burkinshaw with Sister Ivonne Solis from Mexico City.

Elder and Sister Burkinshaw with Sister Sarah Rosero from Puerto Princessa, Phillipines.  It was through Sister Burkinshaw's extra efforts in searching contacts that we were able to obtain a flight for Sister Rosero to return to her homeland (where she was quarantined for 14 days before she could go to her home).

Elder and Sister Burkinshaw with Sister Samatha Galan from Guyton, GA.

Elder and Sister Burkinshaw with Sister Aira Steinmetz do Santos from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

Elder and Sister Burkinshaw with Sister Tian Yi Yuan from Beijing, China.  It was quite a process for our Chinese sisters to return home.  We had to get each of them a "burner" phone to record their temperature for 14 days and record it on the WeChat app and they also had to have a COVID-19 test certified within 5 days of their departure.  We learned many new things!

Elder and Sister Burkinshaw with Sister Meghan Clower from Leesburg, VA.

Elder and Sister Burkinshaw with Sister Erica Sanders from Fisherville, VA.  Sister Sanders father is Grant Sanders who grew up in Byron, Wyoming!

Neff's Canyon

On our P-Day, Saturday, August 1, we were looking for somewhere new to hike.  We normally walk 4 miles each morning up South Temple street from our apartment on 200 East up to Reservoir Park above 1300 East and back.  So we decided to hike Neff's Canyon near Mount Olympus.

Looking up Neff's Canyon towards Mount Olympus.  It was quite a rocky trail and fairly steep but was mostly shaded.  We didn't see many people on the trail.

Looking down on the Salt Lake Valley from partway up Neff's Canyon.

Elder and Sister Burkinshaw with the obligatory selfie along the trail up Neff's Canyon.

Stevens Family History

While reviewing some family history, we discovered that there was a plaque in the Murray Cemetery in memory of James Eyre and Ann Naylor who are Sister Burkinshaw's third great grandparents on the Stevens line.  James Eyre and Ann Naylor were born in on the eastern coast of England opposite Liverpool.  They had thirteen children, eleven of whom lived to adulthood.  James was a farmer and shepherd and Ann a diligent homemaker.  They joined the Church in 1847 along with seven ot their children.  Of those seven, five emigrated to Utah before 1865.  In 1865, James, now age 70 and Ann, aged 67 began their journey to Salt Lake with their two youngest children, Benjamin, age 25 and Edwin age 20.  On the voyage across the Atlantic, Ann died and was buried at sea.  Crossing the plains, James died at Hams Fork, WY near just north of present-day Little America.  Their two sons, however, completed the journey.  In 1995, their descendants placed a plaque to honor James and Ann adjacent to the grave marker of Edwin's oldest son, in Murray City cemetery, not 100 yards from where Elder Burkinshaw's brother Kim is buried. 

Sister Burkinshaw's 6 Generation Fan Chart (showing burial locations) with James Eyre and Ann Naylor, third great grandparents, highlighted.

Sister Burkinshaw with the plaque to the memory of James Eyre and Ann Naylor Eyre in front and the grave marker of their grandson Edwin Eyre Jr. in back.

The plaque to the memory of James Eyre and Ann Naylor Eyre in the Murray City Cemetery.

Salt Lake Temple Construction

It has been about 8 months since construction began on the Salt Lake Temple so here are some pictures of the current status.

On the north side of the Temple, you can see that the sealing wing (where we and all our married children were sealed) and the Annex have been torn down.  This had to be done to provide access to place the base isolation system under the Temple foundation.  

This artists rendition shows that a new, slightly wider sealing wing will be constructed later in the project which will better match the rest of the Temple's granite and design.

This is a close-up of the north side of the Temple. The excavation is about 30 feet below ground level which is more obvious as you observe the size of the men working there.  The top 14 feet is the foundation of granite and the remaining 16 feet sub-foundation(much of it hidden behind the concrete that was poured over it in the 1963 renovation) is of a special sandstone called firestone.  

Looking west towards the Tabernacle and the North Visitor's Center, this picture gives some perspective on the 30 feet of excavation around the Temple.

Exposing the foundations is part of the foundation strengthening effort, which is currently happening on the north side of the temple. The process involves drilling a 3” hole into the foundation footings at different angles, to depths of 8'-14’ on the north and south walls and 10’-35’ on the east and west walls (as the tower foundations are larger). The hole is then filled with high-strength grout. This grout fills the drilled hole as well as pushes further into voids and joints in the existing foundation to consolidate the foundations. 

If you take a look at the north and south side foundations, note the inverted arches.  Then Elder Boyd K. Packer said an April 1993 general conference talk (The Temple, the Priesthood) "Sixteen large, inverted granite arches were built into the new foundation. There is no record as to why they did that.  If someday perchance there be a massive force wanting to lift the temple from beneath, then we shall know why they are there."

Exposing the foundations is part of the foundation strengthening effort and the east side of the Temple, looking towards the Conference Center, shows the uncovered granite foundation and the concrete covered sandstone sub-foundation.

The exposed north side of the Temple clearly shows the granite foundation and the sandstone sub-foundation for the Temple.  

This artists drawing shows how the base isolation system, placed under the existing foundation, will de-couple the ground from the foundation so that during a 7.3 earthquake, the Temple will only feel a 5.1 earthquake.  Since the Richter scale is logarithmic, this means that only about 1/100th of the earthquake will be felt by the Temple.

As an aside, even though it has been announced that the Tabernacle Choir Christmas program has been cancelled, workers are busily putting up Christmas lights all around the areas of Temple Square not impacted by the construction.

Elder Burkinshaw has aspired to have a cherry picker lift like those used on Temple Square to put up his Christmas lights but a simple ladder always sufficed. ;-)

Better Days - Centennial of the 19th Amendment - Women's Suffrage

While many people know the the 19th Amendment, which guaranteed women the right to vote, was ratified August 18, 1920, very few people know that 50 years before that, in February 1870, thousands of women from Willard to Washington cast their ballots in a territory-wide election to vote for their congressional delegate, a non-voting member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Utah women’s votes were historic and unprecedented. Women citizens in Wyoming had gained the right to vote in 1869, but they wouldn’t vote in their first election until September of that year.  On that historic election day in Salt Lake City, women such as Fanny Thatcher, Eliza R. Snow, Lucy Decker, and Seraph Young voted at City Hall on the corner of First East St. and First South St. (modern day State Street and Second South).  Here is a short video which explains how the "Better Days" non-profit organization, headed by Neylan McBaine who is Aunt Robyn's good friend, is making this historic recognition of women's rights more known and understood.

Aunt Robyn invited Elder and Sister Burkinshaw to accompany her to some of the activities associated with Better Days on Friday, August 21st.  Here are a few pictures.

One of Elder Burkinshaw's favorite parts of the activities was the Dole Whip (pineapple softserve ice cream cones) at Better Days!

Sister Burkinshaw with her "First to Vote" Heritage banner and Elder Burkinshaw against a backdrop of phrases representing women's suffrage and the Utah State Capitol building.

After the Better Days activities, we went with Aunt Robyn and her very sweet friend from her ward, Sister Martin, for dinner at Ruth's Diner, which is up Emigration Canyon.  We had a great time and Sister Martin shared some of her experiences helping to recruit high profile medical professors at the University of Utah. 

Holbrook Canyon

On Saturday, August 22, Elder and Sister Burkinshaw took a PDay hike up Holbrook Canyon, which is just behind the Bountiful Temple.  It was a great place to hike and even though it was a warm day, the paths were shaded and the temperature cooled significantly as we climbed up the canyon.

Sister Burkinshaw by a clear, cool (obviously snow runoff) stream in Holbrook Canyon.

Elder Burkinshaw standing on a bridge over the stream in Holbrook Canyon.

The view down the canyon was a little hazy because of the smoke from wildfires just east of the San Francisco Bay area carried here by unusual jet stream winds.

The view up the canyon was more clear and it was a great hike.  

In two miles up the canyon, the vertical elevation gained over 1100 feet if the Apple Watch is correct.  You can see the Bountiful Temple at the beginning of the hike.

Miscellaneous Mission Pictures

While the pictures in the blog may give you the impression that mission life is just fun hikes, activities and going out to dinner, the real mission life is a little more mundane.  Unfortunately Elder Burkinshaw doesn't have pictures of the wads of hair, cream rinse, soap, etc. that he pulls out of the bath tub drains or the interesting purees that come out of the frozen garbage disposals, but here's a sampling of some of what goes on day-to-day for a senior missionary couple.

Sister Camilla Fernanda Jimenez Guevara (Carazo, Nicaragua) and Sister Alice Lynn Smith (Tolleson, AZ) joined us for lunch at Zupa's.

For our August 5 transfer, we needed a regular set of bunk beds for one of our apartments so Elder Burkinshaw had to disassemble the existing bed and then assemble a regular bunk bed along with carrying all the pieces back and forth between our storage unit on the 8th floor to the apartment on the 3rd floor.  He finished late in the night.

Sister Calee Cummard burned the bottoms of her feet when she was walking barefoot on some rocks near the Mormon Trail and didn't realize how hot they had become in the afternoon sun.  The result was some huge blisters all over her feet that made it painful to walk.  For several days she could hardly get around.  Here Elder Burkinshaw is popping the blisters with a sterilized needle to release the pressure.  The fluid literally squirted out (that's what the paper towel is for) but the next day, she came in the office and was dancing around!

Before COVID-19, most of the meals we had with mission meetings was catered in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and all we had to do was call them.  Here, Sister Burkinshaw arranged with Panda Express to prepare several types of rice and main courses, pick them up (over in the Gateway Mall) bring them back and set up the serving table and then serve the Sisters with rubber gloves and mask.  The Sisters really liked Panda Express!

Our three sisters from Mainland China not only had to record and report their temperatures for 14 days before being allowed to fly home but they also had to have negative COVID-19 tests.  Sister Burkinshaw took them to the University of Utah testing center in Sugarhouse and here is Sister Yuan just before they twirled the swab up into the back of her throat - uncomfortable!

When our zone came in for their interviews this past transfer, Sister Burkinshaw got frozen lemon and lime fruit bars for each Sister and put a fun tag on each one.

Sister Burkinshaw prepares an extensive departing packet of letters for the missionaries, their families, their bishops and stake presidents as well as certificates, travel itineraries, passports, etc.  Here are Sisters Liao, Yuan and Zuo following their exit interview with President Larsen with their packets.

Periodically, the Sisters will "heart attack" our apartment door with post-it notes with kind thoughts and sayings on them.

Here is Sister Burkinshaw helping assemble feminine hygiene kits at the Days for Girls service project that the mission performed this transfer. Due to the huge ammonium nitrate explosion in Beruit, Lebanon recently, there was a tremendous need for these kids so our Sisters assembled over 10,000 of these kits in less than two weeks. 

 This has been one of our favorite mission assignments.   

Recently, the Church moved into Phase 2 for several Utah temples which meant that several of our Sister Missionaries who received their calls and came on their missions without the opportunity to be endowed, could now do so.  Here are Sister Avery Marie Stevenson (Alpine, UT), Sister Rebekah Neifert (Bear Lake, MI), Sister Pua'ena Napuaokalani Kapu (Honokaa, HI) and Sister Lesly Gisela Garcia before they received their endowments at the Ogden Temple.  Elder and Sister Burkinshaw were invited to present a Temple Preparation class to these Sisters. Rather than the traditional Temple Preparation class, we used published quotes and videos from the Church to prepare the Sisters for this experience. Throughout the Doctrine and Covenants, the temple ordinances were described as the endowment of power which would prepare missionaries to proclaim the gospel.

“… you shall be endowed with power from on high …And from thence…go forth among all nations” (D&C 38:32-33) 

We close with an important principle taught by the Prophet Joseph Smith which helps us put into perspective the ultimate objective of our missionary labors.

“What was the object of gathering the … people of God in any age of the world? … The main object was to build unto the Lord a house whereby He could reveal unto His people the ordinances of His house and the glories of His kingdom, and teach the people the way of salvation; for there are certain ordinances and principles that, when they are taught and practiced, must be done in a place or house built for that purpose." (Teaching of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, Chapter 36 - Receiving the Ordinances and Blessings of the Temple, 2011)

The Lord gathers the Saints so they can be endowed in the temple; He endows them with power so that they can gather additional Saints.

Elder and Sister Burkinshaw