Monday, September 2nd, 2019

Rexburg, Idaho

125th operating temple

Dedicated: 10 Feb 2008

By: Thomas S. Monson

Jesus Christ, Glory of

Matthew 24:30

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Book of Mormon

Alma 60:14-28

New Testament "God is Not the Author of Confusion, but of Peace"

1 Corinthians 14-16

1 Corinthians 14:1-28

General Conference

Careful vs. Casual

Becky Craven

"It's impossible to live a perfect life. Only one man was able to live perfectly while dwelling on this telestial planet. That was Jesus Christ. Although we may not be perfect, brothers and sisters, we can be worthy: worthy to partake of the sacrament, worthy of temple blessings, and worthy to receive personal revelation."

Well the contest is set. It's the mouse against the human (James).
James has set two traps in the pantry with peanut butter on them. So far the mouse has licked the peanut butter off the traps five times and not been caught. James has devised a new trap for the mouse in the storage room who is as evasive as the one in the pantry. Here is the trap.

He definitely had to explain this one to me.

He said he would put a plank on the ground

leading up to the top of the bucket. 

The mouse would walk out on the Slimfast bottle to 

get the peanut butter and the bottle would turn

and the mouse would fall to the bottom

of the barrel where he would eat the poison James

had placed there and die. Quite ingenious I

must say. Hope it works but I think it's too big

to work in the pantry. 

James went out to visit his friend Anthony today. Anthony has a police scanner and told James all about the escaped convicts. It seems they shot and killed a man in Tucson and took his 100 guns. They were caught in Utah and while being transported back to Arizona they escaped and tied up the two guards. They were last seen in a red GMC truck they got from a friend in St. Johns. 

The real clencher is that they are residents of Vernon and members of the Hells Angels. Anthony says they have friends in the area and could be hiding out in someone's garage. So far they have avoided an arrest.

After leaving Anthony's James went into town to get gas in the car. He was lucky he made it because the gauge said he could only go another 20 miles. He got an extra 10 gallons to have on hand.

Since I went to sleep at 2 am I slept in until after 8 this morning. I'm not sure what happened to me last night but it was the worst case of insomnia I have ever had. I was so tired that I asked Cammy if we could wait until next week to continue our watching of "When Calls the Heart." She of course said yes and that relieved a little stress for me.

Stacy sent me a video of Ricky Nelson singing in the movie "Rio Bravo" which made me want to listen to some Ricky songs so I downloaded an old album from I-tunes and listened while I worked.

I only sold one book today but I have improved my Inventory Performance Index. It went up from 480 to 511. This is because I have sold so many books and I keep repricing. I looked for books to buy. My goal is to buy 3-5 books every weekday.

I walked this afternoon and evening while watching episodes of Chopped. One of the chefs on one of the episodes was from Bourbon and Bones in Scottsdale where Jared Ammon works. He didn't do very well and was the first one to be chopped.

For FHE James and I listened to David and Emily on YouTube discuss 1 Corinthians 14-16. We also listened to the next presentation by someone else called, "Teaching with Power." It was a totally different approach than David and Emily's but we love it too. He focused on the importance of the resurrection of Christ as discussed in 1 Corinthians 15.

James and Sheri both got letters from Ben today. Here they are:

                                      Grandpa

Sheri's letter and Ben's answer:

 Missed my friend Catherine at church today.

She was in Mesa for a baby blessing.

 Happy Cat Monday!

 Brings back memories of being a teenager

and laying on my bed listening to Ricky.

Sunday, September 1st, 2019

Helsinki, Finland

124th operating temple

Dedicated: 22 Oct 2006

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Glory of

Matthew 17:2

And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.

Book of Mormon

Alma 60:1-13

New Testament "Ye Are the Body of Christ" 1 Corinthians 8-13

Review

General Conference

How Can I Understand?

Ulisses Soares

"When we accept the Savior's invitation to 'come and see,' we need to abide in Him, immersing ourselves in the scriptures, rejoicing in them, learning His doctrine, and striving to live the way He lived. Only then will we come to now Him, Jesus Christ, and recognize His voice, knowing that as we come unto Him and believe in Him, we shall never hunger nor thirst. We will be able to discern the truth at all times, as occurred to those two disciples who abode with Jesus that day."

Around 8 this morning as I was getting ready to go take a shower I got a text from Tamara asking if I could print out all of the ministering changes. I immediately began and realized that I was going to have to go to church without taking a shower. I think I got ready in ten minutes. 

James was able to do Maxine's temple confirmations and I handed the cards back to her before sacrament meeting.

President Beeler presided at our meeting today. Chuck conducted the meeting. James thinks President Beeler is here to 'scope out' for the new bishop. Today wasn't a good day for that because our congregation was four times as big as it normally is because of the holiday weekend.

At the end of the meeting President Beeler shared his testimony. He testified of the blessings our stake and this area in general has received from the Lord. We fasted and prayed for moisture for several months and we received it. Now we have a Prophet coming to speak to us in two weeks. He said that the Vernon members are the salt of the earth and they have not lost their savor. He testified of the Savior and the Restoration.

Sister Wood taught Sunday School. She used Emily and David's handout and told everyone about their Youtube videos. It was a good lesson with lots of participation. I sat by Cammy and Sister Tesarek was behind us. We visited a little afterwards. Sister Tesarek is our newly called Relief Society activities committee chairman. She is young, and out-going and I think she will do a great job.

Normally when we get home from church we immediately fix lunch before our rest time. Today we went straight to rest time because we had not completed our 24 hour fast. 

Every fast Sunday I get out the talk by Elder Shayne Bowen, "Fasting with Power." This talk helps me to understand why I need to fast as the Lord has commanded and according to His laws. It helps me to focus and to realize the blessings that come in no other way but by living the true law of the fast.

When we did break our fast I fixed corn and croissant sandwiches for lunch. 

This afternoon James and I FaceTimed with Jared, Kacey, and Charlie. This has become the highlight of my Sunday.

Charlie is a climber, not a walker. Kacey tried to help her was and she walked backwards. So funny!

James worked on helping the Tesarek's with family history and wrote a letter to Ben. I caught up on my blog.

Another thing I look forward to on Sunday is pictures of
these two sweeties!

I love that President Heyman is the 

presiding authority in our area.

Yellow flowers everywhere on our ride home from church.

Hunsaker's at their annual Labor Day weekend
campout on Green's Peak

 Gail's family 
Micah, Tim's son was baptized this weekend

Wendy's family enjoying some of the sites
near their new home in Utah

So happy for Tyler!

 Have you tried these?
Delicious!

Rain is always a welcome relief around here

Richmond, Virginia temple

Elder David A. Bednar dedicated this temple on Sunday, September 1st, 2019.

Jared said that Charlie was a climber. I mentioned it to Sheri and
she said Evan was too. She sent me these photos taken his
first year.

This one is the best!

Saturday, August 31st, 2019

Sacramento, California

123rd operating temple

Dedicated: 3 Sept 2006

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Glory of

Matthew 16:27

For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

Book of Mormon

Alma 58:30-59:13

New Testament "Ye Are the Body of Christ" 1 Corinthians 8-13

1 Corinthians 13

General Conference

Closing Remarks

President Russell M. Nelson

"Brothers and sisters, we regard a temple as the most sacred structure in the Church. As we announce plans to construct a new temple, it becomes part of our sacred history. Now, please listen carefully and reverently. If I announce a temple in a place that is special to you, may I suggest that you simply bow your head with a silent prayer of gratitude in your heart. We do not want any verbal outbursts to detract from the sacred nature of this conference and the Lord's holy temples."

We left for the temple at our regular time. We listened to our scriptures and our conference talks on the way after starting out with a prayer. The gospel is so wonderful!

The brothers and sisters separated for training today. Sister Elmer and Sister Brimhall, wife of one of the counselors to the temple president, did the sisters training in the chapel downstairs. 

Sister Elmer spoke about the importance of not correcting one another during the performance of ordinances. She also said we should not trade positions with anyone else because she needs to know exactly where each sister is at all times. 

I am the veil director again and my dear friend Sister Humphreys from St. Johns is my assistant. She has worked at the temple for over 15 years and performs her duties well, yet she is quiet, unassuming and humble. Also, she is a big fan of my rolls. She is one of the only ones who knows the secret about the rolls.

We had two live sealings today. One was a couple from Concho who had previously received their endowments. The second was a couple going through the 9:30 session and then were sealed afterward. This was their first time at the temple. James was the assistant to the brother. He had never done it before and when he presented him at the veil he let the brother take his card with him. It was an easy mistake to make. But one of my jobs as the sister veil director is to make sure the own endowment cards are on the top of the stack before we take them to the office. Brother McHood was the brother veil director and I asked him where the own endowee card was for the brother. He looked through the stack and realized it was not there. I told him to check with Brother Lambson who told us the brother had his card and was now in the sealing. At first President Brimhall wanted Brother McHood to go into the sealing and get the card. But after some consideration it was decided he would wait until the sealing was over, which he did, and he got the card and there was no further problem.

This session was such a big session that I missed my scheduled half hour in initiatory. I also went down to the baptistry where I was scheduled to go after initiatory and there were no patrons, so I was released to go.

James took my phone today and got 9,000 steps for me at the temple. I know it sounds like I'm cheating but I probably took that many steps going up and down the stairs as many times as I did today.

It was 97 degrees when we left Snowflake and was 86 in Vernon.

We rested and snacked and then started our fast around 2:30. James went to the dump and worked on the railings this afternoon.

It is surprising how tired I am after a shift at the temple. The Spirit really is draining. I worked on my books for awhile this afternoon. I have now sold 215 books. My account balance is $2,270.81 which is the amount of money Amazon owes me. My total sales number is $7,637.02. I was hoping to get to $10,000 by the end of August but didn't quite make it. I'm am still pretty happy about where I am.

James said he heard an elk bugle this evening and also heard another one answer. I guess it's that time of year again.

I finished walking to get 15,000 and then James and I sat down and watched the new Hallmark movie, "My One and Only" starring Paschal Hutton and Sam Paige. Paschal play Rosemary on "When Calls the Heart" and I kept thinking she should act like Rosemary, but I am pleasantly surprised when she doesn't. You would have to know Rosemary to understand. 

 Scarlett at another birthday party

Scarlett in her favorite shoes.

No more daily Charlie pictures since she turned 1,

just a couple of times a week.

Lola and Ivy

 Joe looks like he's feeling a little better 

after having his wisdom teeth removed.