10 Year Mission Reunion
Warning: this post
talks about the Mormon Church quite a bit. Not in a preachy sort of way, but
just the facts folks, just the facts. If you think you might get offended, just
skip it. If you are interested, read on.
I drove through Ottawa
finally! It was on Friday morning (October 5th) at 4am and traffic was really, really dead,
but it still counts. Little Dragon and I took Dave to the airport to fly to
Zion. Hah! He went to his 10 year mission reunion in Salt Lake City. I wanted
to go with him but I have been to Salt Lake a few times already and I figured
it would save a bunch of money if he went solo.
Plus, I would have wanted to go to the malls and outlets and spend a
bunch of money we don’t have which doesn’t help our situation.
He had never been to
Temple Square or any of that before. So I was very happy playing secretary for
him and scheduled his car rental, hotel room and a list of must-sees. We got a
sweet deal on Priceline (which can be such a gamble on the quality of hotel you
end up getting) for a 3 star hotel for only $55 a night at the airport Hilton
and $12 a day for an economy car which was upgraded to the next level when he
went to pick it up.
Friday afternoon/night was occupied with his mission
reunion in Alpine, Utah. So I told him on Saturday after he attended the
morning General Conference, he needed to make time to tour Temple Square, go to
the Joseph Smith Memorial building, see the Beehive house and go to the Mormon
Museum/Art Gallery (free admission this weekend!). He did all of these things
minus the Beehive House, but plus went to the Preisthood session with his
missionary trainer, Jay Talbot, who is apparently now a dentist in Montana. A
lot of these young men are now skilled professionals. One of Dave’s companions
is a big shot lawyer in California who recently was in a multi-million dollar
case with something to do with World of Warcraft or Halo or one of those stupid games.
This picture was taken in the Mormon Museum. These are the tools the men used to carve the granite stone into blocks. So insane!
With those tools it built this! I am so glad I didn't live back then. And for that matter still glad I don't live in Utah.
David served in
Montreal. He was happy to visit with some of his companions. Missionaries are
always in twos (they do this for safety reasons) so many special bonds are
formed (not in a gay way, well for the majority of missionaries that do not
want to be ex-communicated from the Church). David also got to meet up with his
mission President and his Mission President’s wife. David and Wendy Ulrich were
David’s mission presidents. A mission president and his wife (and kids if they
have some that still live at home) are in charge of all the missionaries in their
area. To be called as a mission president you have to be able to leave your
residence and job and be financially ok for three years. Needless to say
mission presidents are usually loaded. Interesting fact: Stephen R. Covey was a
mission president for the Ireland Mission when he was in his 20s (back in
1962).
Dave Ulrich is a
business consultant for huge corporations. He will go into a company and tell
them how to manage things better and get paid $20 grand a weekend. Not bad. I
wouldn’t be surprised if Dave Ulrich knows Mitt Romney as they are both from
Michigan originally and are in the same line of work.
Wendy Ulrich has her
PhD in psychology and has had many books published, rubbing shoulders with such
Mormon celebrities as the glorified Sherry Dew. Her latest book is called The Temple Experience which discusses
the use of symbolism in Mormon Temples and explains how attending the temple is
a healing process. I haven’t read much of it yet, but it does sound
interesting. Do not let Gigi buy the book, we will be sending her a signed copy
soon, for Christmas perhaps. Sadly, David
forgot to get a picture with them. I guess that’s why bringing your wife along
on trips is a good idea. This is as close as I could get.
Here is another picture David took while he was in the Mormon museum. These are the death
masks of Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum Smith that were murdered by an
angry mob in Carthage, Illinois. They never had any photographs taken of them
so this is what artists refer to when trying achieve the greatest likeness
possible. Cool, but still pretty dang creepy.
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