Serving And SeaQuest!

Y'all know the drill by now. Here's the summary! :)

1- Sunday

2- Starting at the Distribution Center. :)

3- Distribution Center again

4- Ordinance Worker at the Temple!

5- More temple. :D

6- SEAQUEST!

1- Sunday was pretty good. I enjoyed the talks and got to spend some time with my siblings after church. We played the board game Sorry, and the whole time they teased me because of the way I say it. XD I also spoke with Bishop about a calling, which I'll be starting this week! I'm really excited about that. :)

2- Monday I basically spent most of the day cleaning and reorganizing the rest of my room, so not much of note. On Tuesday, I got to start serving at the Distribution Center! I feel like it's a lot to learn, but it'll come with time. I helped out a few customers and watched some training videos. (If I didn't explain the Distribution Center, it's just a little place where people can come to get church supplies and temple clothing.)

3- I went to the Distribution Center again and got to meet some new people there. They lost a shipment last week, and it still hadn't arrived... :(  It wasn't as busy as Tuesday, so I got to finish up the rest of the training videos. I also got to see the embossing machine for putting names on scriptures. That was cool! :D

4- On Thursday, I had my first shift as an ordinance worker in the Brigham City temple. It was so great! My neighbor Sister Wilson is also an ordinance worker, so I got to see her quite a bit! :)  I had to get up at 4:30 in the morning, so that was pretty rough... I got to bed early on Wednesday night, though. I drove to the temple and got there a little after 5:00, then got ready. We had a prayer meeting at 6:00, then I started my training. I mostly helped out in the baptistry and with initiatory. It was neat to learn more about the different ordinances of the temple and be able to play a part in that. :D

5- My next shift at the temple included being a sort of usher for a wedding. I helped instruct patrons that were there for a wedding, and also helped direct another group to the next exit. I also had a couple of free periods to study up on the words of ordinances. I'm trying hard to memorize them, and I feel like I'm making some progress! I got to help out in the baptistry in the morning and it was neat to watch some youth baptisms. I mostly passed out towels and helped clean the floor afterward. It gets really slippery because it's all tile!

5- I absolutely love being in the temple! The layout is still slightly confusing to me, especially because at first, I didn't realize that there are two sets of stairs, one at either end. XD The paintings on the stairwells are similar to me, so I kept getting mixed up. Once again, I really enjoyed the peaceful feeling of being there. There really is no place like the temple! I'm going to work on setting up a time to go there as a patron this coming week. :)

6- I got to go to SeaQuest today! It was so awesome! :D  Hallie and Marissa, our cousins, came over to spend the weekend. We went to SeaQuest with them and they loved it! :) I got to see a bunch of my favorite animals. Hansel and Gretel the false water cobras have almost doubled in size since I last saw them! Some baby turtles are in the adult tanks, and some other animals moved exhibits or tanks. There were a lot of neat improvements that I saw, like a hay rack for Norman the tortoise's food, so that he won't step on it and scatter it. There was also a mantis shrimp, which I know SeaQuest has been dying to get! I saw a pair of violet turacos, super neato birds! Those were a surprise to me!

 

6- I got to pet some lizards, feed the stingrays, and say hi to the macaws! I think Echo the blue and gold macaw remembered me. She was fluffing up her head feathers like she wanted me to pet her, and she was talking softly. I wish I could have held her, but... sadly I'm not an employee right now. Coca the cockatoo was very talkative! She kept saying, "Hi Coca!" and "I love you!"  Probably my favorite part was that I got to pet a few fish who were really skittish last time I was there. A remora and a grouper. They held still and let me stroke their flanks. I also got to pet one of the blacktip sharks! Not too many animals were hungry because the day was busy, but I still had so much fun! Just going to see the animals was worth it.

Welp, once again, I'll try to attach pictures, but my phone is being pretty finicky, so let's hope that it works! If they do, they're all SeaQuest photos. :)

Echo the blue and gold macaw, Galaxy the three-legged iguana, Apollo the reticulated python, an alligator lizard hanging upside-down in his exhibit, a blue and yellow poison dart frog, Pandora the red tegu (big, fat red lizard), Red the red-knee tarantula, a baby sloth, and Hansel the false water cobra curled up in his water dish. :)