Our other activities

Although we are not without challenges in the Guayaquil temple mission, it is a great time to be here. Now we are midway through our six month extention and are more involved with the work in and out of the temple than ever. There are times when crowds of people come to the temple. This tests our abilities to help them as they do their work. Other times it is less busy and we can focus more on getting ready for the next wave of visitors. The temple is open from Tuesday through Friday for two shifts. One shift begins in the morning at eight AM, the other begins at 6 PM and also has three sessions. The temple missionaries help with all of the ordinances of the temple, but they have special responsibilities to open and close the temple, to manage the clothing issue, and the baptistry. The Saturday schedule is for continuous sessions beginning at eight AM on the hour until two PM. Often there are special sessions as well on Saturdays. A common extra session is held frequently at six AM at the request of one of the local stakes. (See a prior post for more on the special session) The missionaries always are in the temple on average two hours before the first session begins. This means that our actual time in the temple is between six and eight hours. Those of us who have responsibility at the front desk are there longer than the rest since we arrive before the workers and we are the last to leave after everyone else has left the temple. Still, this is one of the best assignments that we have as missionaries, to greet the workers and patrons as they come to the temple and as they leave. Directing the work in the baptistry with all of the young people is also especially rewarding for us.
As you have probably noted, we have quite a bit of "free" time for other activities. If we are on the morning shift, we finish up by two PM. This leaves several hours of daylight (always gets dark at 6:30) for other things. If we serve on the evening shift, we do not enter until 4:15 PM, which leaves the long morning free for other activities. Since we are in fact missionaries, it would seem that we would be involved in proselyting. We haven't done that. The rule is that we only do activities that will not conflict with our temple assignments. We cannot accept a regular calling in the ward that we attend, nor be involved in something that might conflict with our temple work. So, the sisters cook and sew. (I hear my wife operating the sewing maching in our bedroom) Packages are prepared for needy families especially during the Christmas season. Some of the brothers have been involved in engineering projects, maintenance and construction projects as well as sculpting and painting. Three of the brothers went fishing today with several of the temple employees. And several of us are involved with teaching music - vocal, guitar and other string instruments, and keyboard. Teaching music lessons has become for us a very rewarding experience.
Some of us are involved with a ward choir that is preparing for a Christmas program this weekend. The missionary directing the choir has been trying to teach them to sing parts and follow directions. It should come together by the weekend. The missionaries were invited to the temple recorders home for christmas bread and hot chocolate. Good food, conversation, and ambience was enjoyed by all.