Monday, July 13th, 2020

Perth, Australia

106th operating temple

Dedicated: 20 May 2001

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Lamb of God

DC 76:21

And saw the holy angels, and them who are sanctified before his throne, worshiping God, and the Lamb, who worship him forever and ever.

Book of Mormon/"Come Follow Me"

Alma 32; "Book of Mormon Central"

April General Conference

"A Good Foundation Against the Time to Come"

Elder Gary E. Stevenson

As I contemplate the next four years of the life of this beautiful, noble, exalted, and awe-inspiring Salt Lake Temple, I envision it more as a time of renewal rather than a time of closure. In a similar way, we might ask ourselves, "How could this extensive renewal of the Salt Lake Temple inspire us to undergo our own spiritual renewal, reconstruction, rebirth, revitalization, or restoration?"

 The first thing I did this morning was to work on my blog. I finished everything except downloading pictures when James told me he wanted to leave for town before 9:00 because he had "lots to do today." I  hear that phrase quite often. I got up and got ready to go. We left for town with my two boxes of books, and a load to take to Goodwill.  

After dropping off our donations at Goodwill, James always makes me take the donation slip to fill out, James dropped me off at Walmart. He went to Home Depot to get light bulbs and then across the street to Circle K to get gas and a car wash. I was finished with most of the shopping when James returned to Walmart. His assignment was to pick up my prescriptions and pick out a watermelon. He was so funny picking out the watermelon, thumping and holding his ear close. He made several choices before he finally decided on the "best watermelon in the bunch."

Walmart is refusing to take cash at most registers. I guess there is a coin shortage. I heard of a woman who only had cash and was not able to get her groceries. I think someone should have volunteered to put her purchases on their card and then taken her cash. What is the world coming to?

After finishing at the scan and go we headed for Taco Bell for some lunch. While I was eating my tacos James went to Harbor Freight to do an exchange. Next it was Tractor Supply for supplies for the fence. Finally we were on our way home. I looked at my watch as we left Show Low, 11:45. I told James we should have stopped at the post office on our way to town because now by the time we got back to Vernon it would be closed. He said it was okay he would come back and get the mail. I knew I would have books, which I did, seven of them.

I got some throw pillow for the couch upstairs. When I went to put them on the couch I made a quick run-thru of all the rooms. It's a good thing I did because there were more dead ants in Ian and Sheri's room. 

When things finally settled down I finished my blog post and was going to buy a few books. I need to buy 50 more books before the end of the month and in order for them to get to Amazon before textbook season, they need to be mailed this week or at the latest the beginning of next. 

I heard from Laura today. She got the book, "Grace Where You Are", that I sent to her for her birthday. Her birthday is Wednesday. She seemed excited to read it.

I checked to see how Summer was doing and Kacey said she was fine, just a little tired. I just figured she would get the virus because her boyfriend tested positive.

Sheri, Ian, Max, Evan, Joshua, Rowan, Ollie, and Ziggie arrived around 6 p.m. That had brought dinner with them, three pizzas and some breadsticks from Little Caesar's. So much stuff unloaded in the kitchen. Alex and Joe are coming up tomorrow so Sheri brought lots of food. I bet we still go to Walmart tomorrow though. 

James tried to get the boys to ride Luna but no one seemed interested. Sheri, the dogs, Ian and I went out to watch James ride. He was kind of "showing off" but running her and then stopping quickly. It's okay. I am just grateful that he loves to ride her.

We had scripture and prayer together, reading Alma 32. Sheri made sure of it.

 Idaho Falls Temple

From Book of Mormon Central

 I love how Max and Evan have their legs up and spread out and

Joshua is sandwiched in between them with his legs

straight out. They are all sitting together on the

broken chair. Maybe I should get an updated picture today.

Thursday, June 25th, 2020

Fukuoka, Japan

88th operating temple

Dedicated: 11 June 2000

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Lamb of God

Revelation 13:8 (Moses 7:47)

And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

(And behold, Enoch saw the day of the coming of the Son of Man, even in the flesh; and his soul rejoiced, saying: The Righteous is lifted up, and the Lamb is slain from the foundation of the world; and through faith I am in the bosom of the Father, and behold, Zion is with me.)

Book of Mormon/"Come Follow Me"

Alma 20 with James; Sunday journal; Study Guide

April General Conference

"Finding Refuge from the Storms of Life"

"When faced with these storms, we often experience feelings of despair or fear. President Russell M. Nelson said, 'Faith is the antidote for fear'-faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. As I have seen the storms that affect people's lives, I have concluded that no matter what kind of storm is battering us - regardless of whether there is a solution to it or whether there is an end in sight - there is only one refuge, and it is the same for all types of storms. This single refuge provided by our Heavenly Father is our Lord Jesus Christ and His Atonement."

Lambson Study Group

"Personal Revelation"

L. Lionel Kendrick

BYU Devotional

May 20, 1997

This was one of those rare occasions when James got out of bed before I did. He went in to make us some tea and a few minutes later came back asking where the checkbook was. I guess Anthony is headed for the church and James is going to meet him there to pay for the hay he brought us. I tried to tell James where the checkbook was but he couldn't seem to find it. I got up and wrote the check so James could be on his way. My tea was waiting for me when I got to the kitchen.

My morning consists of my blog and my book business with a break to read scriptures and have family prayer with James. I bought four books today, all the same book. It was priced $44 on Amazon and I found it for $16.66 on Bookfinder for one copy. The next three copies I found for $17.30. I should be able to make somewhere between $25-30 per book. Also it is ranked 65,558 which is extremely good! It should sell quickly. The book title is "Psychology, Core Concepts."

James asked me if I wanted to go to town with him this afternoon. I told him I had not planned on it but I would go if he would allow me to shop for the dessert I am making on Sunday for our "Come Follow Me" group. He murmured a little and then decided it was worth it to have me go. I kept him awake, his words not mine, by reading to him from "Aunt Dimity and the Summer King."

Our first stop was the Vernon post office where we picked up 8 books. One book was actually a set of six books. When we got into town we picked up a new tire for little Cat at Robert's Tire. James took it to Center Tire for them to mount because last time Robert's charged him $50. We drove to Walmart and James dropped me off. I reminded him he was going to pick out a watermelon. He said he was going to Tractor Supply to get feed and a fly mask for Luna. He also gassed up and washed the car. When he returned to Walmart I was in the scan and go line. OH yes, I forgot to mention that Walmart is now requiring us to wear masks. We waited in line for about 20 minutes. I struck up a conversation with the woman in front of us. She is a grandma raising her grandson. She is a 3x cancer survivor and has a blood clot in one leg and a swollen sore knee on the other. She was so upset when she got to the check out counter to find that it was credit cards only. She only had cash. The attendant came over and said to scan her items and then she would take them to the return counter to check her out. The woman was so stressed she began yelling and using bad language. I felt so sorry for her and for her 8-9 year old grandson with her. James and I both hope that the missionaries will find her and teach her the gospel. I should have gotten her name for them. As we left Walmart there was a line of masked potential customers waiting to come in. They are now limiting people in the store. When will this nightmare end?

James dropped me off at Walgreen's to get an Amazon card for Camrie's wedding shower while he picked up an order of refried beans at La Casita. Walgreen's had no Amazon cards. I thought, well I will buy something and then get cash back on my debit card and give that to Camrie. I bought some popcorn and used my debit card but there was no cash back. What a wasted trip. I walked down to La Casita and James picked me up as he was leaving.

James had gotten a call from Center Tire. They couldn't mount the tire because someone had already tried to mount it and broken the valve stem or something.  We picked up the tire and took it back to Robert's. James was worried they would argue with him and say they weren't responsible. Instead they were very sorry. They got him a new tire and when he said he was going back to Center to have it mounted they offered to mount it for him for free. He left a happy man and was grateful for their kindness. I guess we won't completely give up on humanity.

After getting home I told James we forgot to do the most important thing. When he asked me what? I said, we forgot to deposit your check. It is quite upsetting because now one of us will have to go back to town again tomorrow.

James and Luna went out this evening. They saw 30 cow elk, 15 calves, and one bull near Elkin's pond.

I stayed home and studied. I listened to Emily Belle Freeman on Inklings Institute. We are to read Elder Soares's talk on the Book of Mormon and study the Book of Mormon Translation in the Gospel Topic Essays. I love this study group! We are also studying the next line of the Restoration Proclamation. I also worked on my study guide and Sunday journal for the "Come Follow Me" study. 

I finished my 12,000 steps at 10 p.m.

 Sometimes I have to remind James

Evie, Rachel's daughter and Denise's

granddaughter

Nauvoo temple

 Lake Powell

Monday, June 15th, 2020

Fresno, California

78th operating temple

Dedicated: 9 Apr 2000

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, King

Moses 7:53

And the Lord said: Blesses is he through whose seed Messiah shall come; for he saith - I am Messiah, the King of Zion, the Rock of Heaven, which is broad as eternity;whoso cometh in at the gate and climbeth up by me shall never fall; wherefore, blessed are they of whom I have spoken, for they shall come forth with songs of everlasting joy.

Book of Mormon/"Come Follow Me"

Alma 13:1-19; "Don't Miss This"

April General Conference

"United in Accomplishing God's Work"

Jean B. Bingham

"As children were born to them, Adam and Eve taught their family what they had learned from heavenly messengers. They were focused on helping their children also understand and embrace those principles that would make them happy in this life, as well as prepared to return to their heavenly parents after having increased their abilities and proved their obedience to God. In the process, Adam and Even learned to appreciate their differing strengths and supported one another in their eternally significant work."

"Keys of the Priesthood"

Russell M. Nelson

October 1987

Lambson Study Group

"Covenants"

After finishing my blog for the day and reading scriptures and saying prayers with James, I began working on preparing my books for shipment. I took the ones that needed labels removed into the laundry room where with a wet rag, a hot iron and a removal spatula I was taking the old labels off. James came in and announced he was going in to town to get a new tire for the Cat. I panicked. I said, but I need to take my books in and I'm not ready. I don't want us to make two trips to town again today. He asked me to hurry and get ready to go. I told him I needed his help. He took over the job of removing stickers while I got ready to go, and prepared the shipment information online. I was having James put the books in the box and getting it ready to go when I realized I had not put stickers on the books yet. I yelled "STOP"! I came in with the labels and began taking the books out of the box and putting labels on them. James then put in packing paper and sealed up the box while I went to print the outside label for the box. I was amazed how quickly we got all of this done. Two heads, and bodies, really are better than one!

We dropped the old Cat tire off at Robert's Tires and picked up the new one on the way back. James dropped me off at the far end of the Walmart parking lot while he went to the UPS Store and Home Depot. He was just finished at Home Depot when I called him and asked him to pick me up at Walmart, which he did. We had wanted to go to Firehouse Subs but he said the line was way too long. We were hungry but I didn't care where we went. James chose KFC because we both like their coleslaw. We ordered a large container of coleslaw, James ordered a three piece meal and I ordered three chicken tenders. It cost us $20. That's our eating out for the week. So expensive. I think we should have gone to Taco Bell or waited to eat until we got home. 

They had no Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches at Walmart. I do not like the Great Value ice cream sandwiches so I asked James if we could go to Safeway and see if they had any Skinny Cows. They did not, but James got us a nice watermelon. He also got me some mochi ice cream, mango flavored. He really shouldn't have. I can't eat just one and they are 100 calories a pop. I ate all six of them before the day was over. 

Tasty!

An addiction food I can't keep in my house,

very often at least.

After Safeway it was back to Robert's Tire and then home. We started reading our new Aunt Dimity book, "Aunt Dimity and the Summer King." We stopped at the post office and mailed Ruby's panda mask for her birthday and picked up a book. I was so glad to finally be home. Show Low is a rat race in the summer time. I am grateful for the peace and quiet of Vernon.

It's my turn to choose the study topic for our family study group this week. I chose the topic "Covenants." Here are the talks I chose, there are five of them. It's hard to narrow them down. 

1. "Always Remember Him"

 Elder Ulisses Soares

BYU Speeches

February 5, 2019

2. "The Transformative Power of Covenants"

Ellie L. Young

BYU Speeches

June 11, 2019

3. "Look Unto Jesus Christ"

Elder Kim B. Clark

April 2019 GenCon

4. "Children of the Covenant"

Russell M. Nelson

April 1995 GenCon

5. "The Power, Joy, and Love of Covenant"

Linda K. Burton

October 2013 GenCon

Sheri called this afternoon saying she needed two new air conditioning units and it was going to cost her $30,000. I told her dad was taking a nap but he would call her and they could discuss her options. She has had trouble every summer with her air conditioning units. Wolf Mechanical installed them and their has always been a freon leak.

I went to bed at 10:00. I woke up at 12:24 and couldn't go back to sleep so I finally got up and wrote some of my thoughts down:

I am not truly happy in our present situation. We need to downsize. We have too much to take care of. James works so hard and he's always behind and down on himself for not being able to do everything. If we had less to take care of we could focus more on church and temple work. I am questioning my book business too. I want to work on my life story but I can't seem to find the time because of book biz. I feel a need to get our things in order.

After writing this down I finished some Book of Mormon study and went back to bed and slept like a baby.

 I ordered this lamp today for my corner of

the world