Watching President Kimball’s funeral and hearing the announcement of the new First Presidency.

Knowing my teachers genuinely cared about me.

Hearing Elder Streeter (me too, Ardis Parshall) quote passages from The Chronicles of Narnia.

Taking gorgeous pictures of the Provo Temple in the thick fog (back when the true, golden spire was still on it).

Meeting my newborn nephew when my sister from Provo came by for a short, authorized visit.

Learning to chill when I was thinking those elders outside really shouldn’t be snowballs because it was against the rules, and another elder in my district (on his way to Haiti) asked, “Don’t you think Joseph Smith would have done it?” He was right, of course.

Waking up with the sound of Handel’s Messiah playing loudly in my brain that I couldn’t concentrate on my studying, even though there was no actual source of sound at all.

Talking to missionaries who had joined the Church as adults and admiring their courage, conviction and determination.

I really liked my branch president in the MTC. He was a likable kind of guy; although, I didn’t care for the Sacrament talk assignment. ;-)

I thought the non-ecclesiastical employees at the MTC were nice, the clerical staff, bookstore employees, etc. But the branch presidents and the MTC president were totally unlike the leadership in the wards and stakes I was in back in Ohio and Kentucky. It was a pretty jarring difference. I did not have a favorable opinion of them at the time.

In fall 1973, the Asian and Pacific language missionaries went to the Language Training Mission in Laie, Hawaii, on the campus of Church College of Hawaii.

So, what did I like most about the LTM in Hawaii?

1. It was Hawaii. Duh! What more need I say?
2. Lizards. Provided diversion during class.
3. The Tongans/Samoans (don’t remember which) climbing coconut trees.
4. Hawaiian sunrises.
5. Not being in Provo, my hometown.
6. No cold weather.
7. Eating at the CCH cafeteria: jello with chopsticks–an adventure!
8. Spiro Agnew resigned from office while I was there! Good riddance!
9. Did I mention that we were in a tropical paradise?

Actually there were only two of us and my sister is 6 years older. My mom had just been through the complete teenage years with her when I turned 11. She decided that she was going to put up with “Where is that shirt I wanted you to wash” nonsense for another six. So when I started sixth grade I got the lesson and my Mom went back to work.

I remember the lesson at 11yo, “here is the washer, this is how it works, etc.”

We had a missionary from Tooele in our mission whose last area was Lehi. His mum would pick up and do his laundry every P Day.