This Great Work

 Dear Friends, Do you know how blessed you are to live so close to temples?  So blessed!  To help me stay connected to the temple, I would be very thankful if you would send me words or phrases that stand out to you from your temple visits.  It keeps me connected and thinking about the ceremonies so they stay fresh in my mind.  You can send me the words via email, Whatsapp or text (regular texting works--I just can't get emojis, pictures or lengthy messages with regular texting).  If you don't have my contact information, leave me a comment and I will send it to you.  I will be forever thankful for every word/phrase I receive.   Love from China to each of you! Darcee

 At the time we booked our flights back to China from the US (June 2023 trip) you needed a PCR Covid test 48 hours before landing.  Because of the cost of those tests and the headache of slow results from our Oct 2022 visit, and the high cost of flying directly into China from the US ($4000ish each ticket), we opted to go to some place cheaper to go through that process.  The Philippines and Vietnam were the cheapest choices. Because my grandparents had served a mission in the Philippines in '82-'83, and because they had a temple, I opted for there.  (The approximate cost to fly to the Philippines was $1050 per ticket + $250 from Manila to Shanghai.  We could have taken the budget flight out of Manila for only $70 each, but Tom's boss told him not to take the budget flight---which we were very grateful for after take off in the non-budget air craft.  We were very concerned about the air-worthiness of the plane, it shook and rattled in ways we had never expe...