So you want to be an usher...

Tuesday I was excited to be able to help out with the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. We are in this temple district and every stake has a few days that they need so many volunteers. Matt helped in June with parking and had a good time except when it rained on him. I got up bright and early Tuesday morning to help with the 8-12 shift. We had to be at the church to carpool over at 6. And I didn't get to sleep until 2. We had been asked to Usher. So we got there and got our assignments, some in the temple, some on the grounds. I was told as I got my number that I looked like a useful sort of person and they had something else in mind for me. So after a short devotional and some instruction, they walked us over and started dropping off people at their places. I start hearing, "You'll be the usher here and Emily, this is Emily, will be helping you." After they say this to three sets of people, I start to get the feeling that I'm not just going to be standing there smiling serenely and gesturing the way they should go. No, I end up managing the three tents where you go see the short film before entering the temple for the tour. I told them when to start the film and made sure the missionaries were there and signaled to the other ushers which tent we were filling and organized large groups and pacified people who had been told to go to tent three and had to go back to tent 1 because 3 was full, and basically made it all run smoothly, which it did most of the time. I really needed a walkie-talkie. But I walked so much in unsuitable shoes that my feet really hurt after 4 hours of that. But it was really a great experience and it was fun to feel part of such a great thing. We feel really lucky that our kids have been able to go through two temples this year. I know it's really made an impression on Josh. From points around where we live you can see the Draper, Jordan River and Oquirrh Mountain temples. It's pretty cool.