Monday, July 27th, 2020

San Antonio, Texas

120th operating temple

Dedicated: 22 May 2005

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Light of the World

Isaiah 60:19

The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.

Book of Mormon/"Come Follow Me"

Alma 39-42 "The Great Plan of Happiness"

Alma 39 with James

April General Conference

"Finding Refuge from the Storms of Life"

Elder Ricardo P. Gimenez

It is said that "to one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible." (This statement has been attributed to Thomas Aquinas but is most likely a loose paraphrase of things he taught.) However, we have limited understanding of the things that happen here on earth, and often we do not have answers to the question of why. Why is this happening? Why is this happening to me? What am I supposed to learn? When answers evade us, that is when the words expressed by our Savior to the Prophet Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail are completely applicable: 

"My son, peace be unto they soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high" (DC 121:7-8)

I am in charge of the Lambson Study Group topic for this week. My topic is "Am I Saved?" I have three talks chosen but I need to listen to them before I send them out. I guess I will have to do that tomorrow because today I am traveling to the valley.

I had my infusion today and I also saw Dr. Kumar. I needed to be at the AARA at 10:00. James and I had a few minutes so we stopped at Del Taco for a snack before my appointment. I saw the doctor first, which took about five minutes then I went in for my infusion. Dr. Kumar wanted me to get a chest xray today but they were too busy so I scheduled one for next month. 

James picked me up and we went across the street to Costco to get some walnuts for him and some things for the Grapp family. I noticed the guy who went in ahead of me did not have a mask on and no one stopped him. I wore my mask most of the time I was in the store. 

We were going to go to lunch but James had something he had to take care of at the job in Mesa. The neighbor was complaining about the fence being on his property. The guy was pretty reasonable when James went over to talk to him  and James told him he would get him a copy of the surveyors report. 

Our next stop was at the LaGlorietta subdivision in Chandler where Greg Hatch hired James to do some work. James met Armando there and they determined what needed to be done because of the concrete that was under the dirt where they were going to pour a slab today. James called Greg and he said he would pay an extra $800 to take care of the extra work involved. From LaGlorietta we went to a Chase bank to deposit the check James got from Mario and then it was on to Lois and Dawn's in Tempe. 

James had a Zoom meeting with the bone doctor in Flagstaff so I brought my computer in to Lois's and set it up for him. He had the meeting but the sad thing is they had never ordered his xrays from Summit so it was all for naught. They said they would get the xrays and get back with him but he was pretty upset they had not already done that.

Lois handed me a bag with gifts in it for my birthday. She also gave me three quilts, a book to read, and a stand for my tablet or a book. She wanted to give me a plant but I declined because I am not good at keeping plants alive. She is very kind and generous.

Instead of working at Montessori where things are still up in the air because of the coronavirus, Dawn is going back to work at ASU on August 16th. She will be working online coaching teachers on how to teach.

We left Tempe and headed for home. We got into a hard rainstorm and the burnt desert smelled like charcoal when it got wet. It was raining so hard some cars were pulling off to the side of the road. 

In Payson we stopped at Culver's for some dinner. I got a butter burger and a dish of ice cream. James got a fish sandwich. There was more rain around Heber. There was no rain in Vernon but we could tell it had rained earlier in the day. We stopped at the Grapp's and gave them the stuff they ordered from Costco. Cammy gave me a check. James left some of our stuff with them so he will have to go back and get it tomorrow.

One of the things about being in the car most of the day is that I did not get all of my steps and neither did James. We walked for awhile when we got home but we were soon tired and went to bed.