Gathering

𝐆𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠.

Monic and I arrived late on Monday evening, and already our days have been filled with people we love, unexpected reunions, familiar faces and some very tender moments.

On our first day together, our dear friends and hosts, Cathy and Paul Ehlert, took us into downtown Salt Lake City to visit the beautiful new Temple Square Visitors’ Centre.

Part of the experience is a new guided 25-minute tour which gives visitors an opportunity to see full-scale replicas of rooms found in many temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

There is a welcome desk, a baptistry, an instruction room, a sealing room and a celestial room.

For anyone who has wondered what a temple looks like inside, it offers a lovely, simple way to understand a little more about what happens there and why temples mean so much to members of the Church.

Afterwards, we wandered around Temple Square.

There is still so much change taking place, but it was wonderful to see many of the new statues and displays that have been added, all helping visitors turn their thoughts towards Jesus Christ and His life and teachings.

And then came another kind of gathering.

As we walked around Temple Square, we quite literally bumped into some very dear friends from our years serving as Mission Leaders in Belgium and the Netherlands.

First Bruce and Jean Bingham, then Brian and Angie Cordray and finally Stan Neilson.

It was just one of those lovely little moments when paths cross again.

We also took some time to visit with our dear friend Elder Massimo De Feo.

I think that is one of the things I love most about Salt Lake City at this time of year.

People come from so many different far flung places.

Friends, families, missionaries, former missionaries, and church leaders. People whose lives crossed years ago and who suddenly find themselves standing beside one another again, gathering for General Conference and reunions.

Of course, there is never enough time to see everyone we would love to see. That is already becoming very clear. But perhaps too, that makes the moments we do have together even more precious.

Salt Lake City has long been known as the “Crossroads of the West.” For me, this week, it feels like that in a very personal way.

Our lives seem to be crossing again with people who have become part of our own story. And as I catch up this week, I’m only capturing the experiences here of day one!

Since then, our days have been filled with even more joy, wonder, friendship and gathering.

There is much more still to come.

Who has been part of your story that you would love to gather with again?