" . . . exceeded my fondest expectations"

Leona and Lou

about 1989-90

In speaking of their experience on a mission in Europe, Dad wrote the following about their marriage which I think may contain some of their secrets to a long and successful marriage.

This kind of experience, shared with my beloved wife, enhances a marriage experience which had already exceeded my fondest expectations.  But now we had much more uninterrupted time together than ever before.  We had no telephone in our room, no truck or automobile, and no TV.  I really didn't think I could survive with no football games or sports of any kind to watch.  We had no news except once an hour over the Armed Forces Radio, and we missed it most of the time, because we couldn't stand to listen to the music that went with it!

So why was it so great?  Well, we spent a lot of time talking and reading and visiting with our fellow missionaries.  We read the scriptures more than we ever did before, we did some writing in our journals and a lot of letter writing.  Not having a car, we did a lot of walking - we had to get groceries every day , and walking was very interesting because of the close forests and interesting towns.  We loved to see the beautiful homes and well-kept gardens and yards.

 In front of the statue "The Shepherd and His Sheep"

on a walk -- March, 1990

Happy 66th Anniversary!

Birthday flashback

We have some great photos of Mom's in younger years, especially during the time that Dad was in Adak during World War II in 1944 and 1945.  She regularly wrote to him and sent lots of snapshots.  The comments below this pictures are her words as written on the back of the pictures.

So in honor of her birthday - enjoy!

This is sure good of Eldon
Leona - Eldon - Charlotte

 

  _____ says this suit is the cutest thing I've got.  

I'm saving it for you.

This was my birthday spanking.

Pinky wants you to know she really gave it to me after the picture was taken.

Celebrating another great year - 
Happy Birthday!

He's got spirit!

Forty nine years ago, Jim was a cheerleader for Heaton Junior High.

Today he is his family's greatest cheerleader!

Happy Birthday, Jim

No Problame!

Swiss Temple schedule
week of September 4, 1989

The Swiss Temple served stakes and missions in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Austria, and Switzerland, and sometimes groups from northern Africa. The stakes and missions are assigned for a one-week period, one to five weeks a year. The members from Portugal had about a 24-hour bus ride to get to the temple. Pres. Ringger said most of them spent about ¼ of their annual salary to spend a week at the temple. Most people who came either had their own temple work to do, or had previously sent in the family group sheets for temple work for their relatives, so there was a lot of paper work to do, and we had to help them see that they got the work done for their kin.

Brother and Sister Portalano
Responsible for the hostel

The Church owns a hostel across the street from the temple, next to the forest. It could handle about 200 people, with six bunks in a room for the women, and six bunks in a room for the men. Honeymooners are not too happy with this arrangement! Downstairs in the hostel is a large kitchen with several stoves, refrigerators, sinks and tables where families would cook and eat part or all of their meals. They often brought some of their food with them, and would go to the local stores for milk, etc.

On a clear day we could see the Alps from the steps of the temple.

The patrons would arrive by bus and cars, with a few coming in motor homes and trailers, arriving usually on Monday evening or early Tuesday morning. If a large group arrived, we would open up the temple on Monday evening and encode their recommends, rent their clothing [white clothing worn in the temple] and assign them lockers. This would make things a lot smoother on Tuesday morning. At 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday, the patrons would be standing at the front entrance to the temple waiting for it to open. They would be visiting and admiring the view of the Alps from the steps of the temple.

Mr & Mrs. Juan Rodriguez - Louis & Leona Butler
temple workers from Seville, Spain

Brother Mongiovi - a tailor
Temple worker from Italy who came to the Swiss temple very often

Meanwhile, prayer meeting would start at 6:30 a.m. in the temple chapel, with the temple missionaries and temple workers from the stake/mission in attendance. President Louis Ringger would preside and conduct this meeting, and since he spoke German and also English, French and Italian, he would give greetings and instructions in four languages. If there were Spanish or Portuguese, we usually had another interpreter or two. When we sang, we had books in many languages and we would pick up our songbook in our language as we entered the prayer meeting. Every hymn was sung in the 4-6 languages!

After observing this for several weeks, I wrote this:

NO PROBLAME

Communication is sometimes difficult
When different languages we speak;
But there is always one ready answer
After using hands, head, body and feet.
NO PROBLAME!
They had traveled for 24 hours
On a hot, stuffy old bus.
The hostel was noisy, and the beds were strange.
The youth wanted to stay up all night.
But at 6:45 they are waiting at the door
to come into the house of the Lord.
All year they have waited and yearned to return,
And now, with recommends in hand
they visit and chat and look at the Alps
as the temple workers prepare for the day.
As the temple doors open, they proudly present
their recommends to the Temple President.
All clothed in white and ready to serve,
They respond to the workers’ every request,
NO PROBLAME!
May we all learn to say to the Lord,
NO PROBLAME!

A warm welcome

Vincia and Camilla Botta
temple missionaries from Italy

13 October 1989 – One of the first persons to greet us was Sister Botta, from Italy. She saw us come in, and she rushed into the room and started hugging Leona and kissing her on the cheeks; Leona was so surprised that she didn’t know what to do. She was also speaking in Italian, so we didn’t know what she was saying!

Later in his history, Dad made this reference to the Bottas:

Brother and Sister Botta, temple missionaries from Italy, told of their conversion (which is a great story, but will take too long to tell). However, let me tell you about Bro. Botta’s great sacrifices. He had a well stocked wine cellar when they were baptized. After lunch and dinner he greatly enjoyed a glass of wine as they visited. His wife, as usual, put the glass of wine by his plate after dinner. He looked at it, tears rolled down his cheeks, then he said, “Take it away.” After that he would quickly leave the table after eating and go back to work in his cabinet making shop – no more husband and wife conversations after dinner. Sister Botta got tired of that, so she brought the wine back and got a commitment from him that they could have time to visit after dinner without the wine.

I'd like to know of their conversion - if I can get Mom to tell it to me, I'll add it later.