Temple Square

...later that day, on our way to Temple Square in Salt Lake City, we stopped at a gas station to meet with Gerardo's brother (Rolando).  As we were parking, we saw some familiar faces... it was the Irrizarys!  What are the odds of finding old friends from Florida, now living in Arizona, in Orem, UT?

Sofia and Stefania had not seen their cousins since Summer of 2006, and they were happy to meet with them again...

Once in Temple Square, we started at the Visitor's Center.  Sofia took many pictures from the prophets of ancient and modern times...

The upper floor at the Visitor Center has a beautiful statue of Christ.  The children listened to a brief narrative of Christ as the Creator of the Universe...

We then went to the Conference Center, located across the street from Temple Square... it had started snowing, and it was getting really cold!  We toured the facility until it was closed before the scheduled time, as the snow outside was making it dangerous to drive... and yes, we had to cancel a planned dinner at the Pie Pizzeria because our cars could not make it safely up the hill.  On our way down, we saw Rolando's car slide out of control, and had it not been by a good Samaritan that came to the rescue, we may still be there trying to get the car out of the gutter... :-)

We started early on Sunday morning to make it to the 9:00 AM Mormon Tabernacle Choir presentation.  This was probably the coldest day we have ever known.  5 degrees Fahrenheit (a mild day for any Canadian...) is way to cold for Tropical people like ourselves...  The presentation was beautiful. We really enjoyed it.  Then we ran to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to attend Sacrament Meeting.  I felt fortunate to have been there.  It was a very spiritual meeting, and I will always remember the testimonies that were born on that day, including Stefania's... she surprised us when she got up and went to the stand and shared a simple but powerful testimony on our Heavenly Father and his love for each one of us.  

After Sacrament Meeting, we took some more pictures from the penthouse of the Joseph Smith building, and then went back to the ground level to take some pictures of the Salt Lake City temple.  We could have taken more pictures, or enjoyed the view outside, but it was hard to smile for the pictures when we were not only freezing, but also starving...

... which lead us to drive up to the Pie Pizzeria.  We were so hungry, we thought we would be able to eat their largest pizza, but as soon as we saw it on our table, we knew we would have pizza for a week...

            

            

Later in the afternoon we stopped at the Church History Museum.

To close the day, we went to the Palmer's.  Anjanette organized a party for us, and she invited some friends from Guatemala.  We enjoyed their company and her food was great.  Many thanks, Anjanette and Brett!!