Wed, June 1st, 2022: San Antonio Texas Temple, James's breakfast and card, "Top Gun", Lunch, Visit Lois & Dawn, Nap, Carrabas for dinner,

 

San Antonio, Texas

120th operating temple

Dedicated: 22 May 2005

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Second Coming

Isaiah 52:10

The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

Book of Mormon

Alma 9:19-34

"Come Follow Me"

Judges 2:13 "Who were Baal and Ashtaroth" Judges 6

AprGenCon

"Preaching the Gospel of Peace"

President Russell M. Nelson

President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

His gospel is the only answer when many in the world are stunned with fear. This underscores the urgent need for us to follow the Lord's instruction to His disciples to "go . . . into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." We have the sacred responsibility to share the power and peace of Jesus Christ with all who will listen and who will let God prevail in the lives.

"Missionary Service Blessed My Life Forever"

President M. Russell Ballard

Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

While attending college, several friends and I decided to serve missions. Visiting with my bishop, I filled out my missionary application while my parents were out of town. When my parents returned, I surprised them with the news that I had been called to serve in Great Britain. I am grateful for their enthusiastic support of this decision and for good friends who helped me decide to serve.

My missionary service prepared me to be a better husband and father and to be successful in business. It also prepared me for a lifetime of service to the Lord in His Church.

Happy 54th Wedding Anniversary to Us!

James got up before I did and fixed breakfast, fresh fruit, eggs, and 1/2 a toasted muffin. He also bought me a card. 

We went to the new "Top Gun, Maverick" movie this morning. We went to the new theater at Scottsdale Fashion Square. The seating is all recliners. It was so relaxing and we loved the movie! Tom Cruise looks pretty good for someone who will be 60 on July 2nd. 

After the movie we went down to the food court and had lunch. I went to Chipotle and James went to Charley's and got a cheesesteak sandwich. 

James was intrigued by the three-wheeled car in the mall.

After lunch we drove to Tempe to see James's mom and Dawn. 

We enjoyed our visit. It was great to see mom look so good.  They started showing us some of the quilts mom has made. 

This is one of Dawn's favorites

As we were getting ready to leave Dawn asked if we would like to come over tomorrow afternoon/evening to play dominoes. We said we would. Dawn said she would call Dave and Laura, and Terry and Cathi. She said we would also have dinner. Sounds good.

We went to the resort for a short rest and then we went out to Carrabas for dinner. Darrel & Trina gave me a gift card to Carrabas or Outback for Mother's Day and we chose Carrabas. I had a steak with garlic mashed potatoes and broccoli and James had mahi with artichoke and lemon sauce, and garlic mashed potatoes. We both had a salad and bread too. I could only get through about half of my meal before I asked for a box. James ate all of his. I am not a big fan of garlic mashed potatoes. I would rather have plain mashed potatoes with butter or a baked potato. James felt the same way. The garlic was a little strong. I got marsala sauce with mushrooms to put on my steak. It was delicious and the steak was cooked to perfection and very tender.

When we got back to Scottsdale James had to get something at Home Depot so I went to Staples and found a notebook I liked better than the one I got yesterday at Target. The only problem is this one only has 80 pages and the ones I use have 100. Somehow I will make it work.

I downloaded a cardmaking class from Lisa's Handlettering. I think I am really going to like it.

Our anniversary was lowkey but enjoyable. It was nice to get to spend the entire day with James.

Smoke from the Marshall Mtn fire

Tue, May 31st, 2022: Manhattan New York Temple, My infusion, Machaca burro from Elmer's, Target, Walmart - June notebook, Ben & Jerry's, Succulent puzzle, 17,000 steps

 

Manhattan, New York

119th operating temple

Dedicated: 13 June 2004

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Second Coming

1 Nephi 21:11

And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.

Book of Mormon

Alma 9:7-18

"Come Follow Me"

Judges 2:1-19; 4:1-16 The Lord offers deliverance when I stray

Judges 3-4

"The Power of Deliverance"

Elder L. Tom Perry

April, 2012

I finished all of the conference talks for this month!

My infusion was scheduled for 10:15 this morning. It takes an hour and when I got out James was outside waiting for me. He had bought me a machaca burro from Elmer's and encouraged me to go back to the resort to eat it, which I did. I also had my own little order of strips with cheese and sauce. Yummy!

James worked in Casa Grande this morning helping pour concrete. When we got back to the resort he took a shower and a nap. I ate my lunch and did some walking and then I took a nap. Later in the afternoon/evening after it cooled down a bit we went shopping. I forgot my June notebook and since tomorrow is the first day of June, I need a notebook.  

Target had one that was the right size but it looked like a comp book. I got it because I was pretty sure that Walmart did not have what I was looking for. It was the right color, purple. We didn't find anything else at Target that we wanted to buy so we headed to Walmart. 

At Walmart I bought a couple of T-shirts and James bought some groceries, a watermelon, some cherries, and Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice cream, our favorite. We also bought some Hagan Daas butter pecan.

Back at the condo I do the sweet succulent puzzle and James indexes. Somehow I managed to get 17,000 steps today.

It was a most relaxing day for me. 

I had ice cream too Charlie!

A cabin in Australia or New Zealand

I did this one by myself

Mon, May 30th, 2022: Copenhagen Denmark Temple, James goes to Globe, Breakfast, Walmart, Chikfila, Addy, Max, James, Popsicle puzzle

 

Copenhagen, Denmark

118th operating temple

Dedicated: 23 May 2004

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Second Coming

Isaiah 49:11

And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.

Book of Mormon

Alma 8:18-9:6

"Come Follow Me"

Judges 2-4; 6-8; 13-16 "The Lord Raised Up a Deliverer" Judges 2

AprGenCon

"Now Is The Time"

President Russell M. Nelson

President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

We have received important direction for the future. My prayer is that the Spirit has spoken to you directly about things the Lord would have you do.

Jared left around six this morning to go to Globe to work. We had family prayer before he left and then I slept in until eight. I got up and decided to make myself some breakfast. I got out a skillet and without any Pam or butter I made a grilled ham sandwich with cheese. For a garnish I put some strawberry jam on my plate. 

Breakfast on the balcony

  I did some walking before I got ready to leave. I left around noon because I am stopping at Walmart to get some gift bags and cards. I am delivering graduation gifts to Addy and Max.

After shopping at Walmart I got some lunch at Chikfila and then got gas at the Walmart gas station. I was shocked to see that gas is more expensive here than it is in Show Low. I paid $5.19 a gallon. It was $4.41 in Show Low when we left.

As I was driving to Mesa to see Addy, I got a call from my friend Catherine Halcomb. She called to tell me that there is a fire near Vernon and the Wallace's may have to evacuate. The fire was started by someone on Marshall Mountain. She called to ask me to pray.

I had a nice visit with Addy and Darrel. Darrel wanted to make sure that we saw their pool. It looks nice. Addy seemed to like her gifts and cash. She is working at Panera now but only gets a few hours a week. Trina and Ruby came in while I was there. They had been shopping for camp. Ruby came over and gave me a hug. She had friends with her so she went back to be with them. I talked to Rowan about coming to the resort on Thursday and told him I would pick him up. He agreed. James was supposed to meet me here but he forgot and went to the resort. He lost his key and when he went to the office to get another one they told him the room was registered in my name and they needed to talk to me before they could give him a key. How humiliating when James is the one who earns the money to pay all of our bills. I did not get to see Lola as she was gone to Disneyland with Trina's parents. 

Sheri was home from work when I went to see Max. Max came upstairs and I gave him his gifts. He gave me a hug, said thank you, and went back downstairs. I visited with Sheri for a few minutes and said hi to Evan who got his hair buzzed for the summer. It looks really good. Sheri wanted to take Evan to Kohl's to get a swimsuit so I said goodby.

James was a little stressed when I got back to the resort. He wasn't sure if he locked the Peeler's house when he left. He said he would not be able to sleep tonight if he didn't go back and check. I was in the boys room putting together the popsicle puzzle I brought. He wanted me to go with him. I said I would if he would help me do this puzzle when we got back. He agreed. 

As we were driving south on the 101 James decided he should call and see if Owen's daughter and son-in-law were at the house. They were, which means we do not have to go to Globe! He asked if the house was locked when they got there and Terry, the son-in-law said yes, it was. 

When we got back to our room James was true to his word and helped me finish the popsicle puzzle.

My wife made me do this puzzle

I saw on Facebook that the Marshall Mountain fire is 80%

contained and no one has been asked to evacuate. Good news!

We need to pray for rain!

  

Sun, May 29th, 2022: Accra Ghana Temple, Record attendance of 323 in Vernon sacrament mtg, Emer. Prep, Leave for SDO, Arrive and go to bed, Charlie, Scarlett, Lola

 

Accra, Ghana

117th operating temple

Dedicated: 11 Jan 2004

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Second Coming

D&C 88:104

And this shall be the sound of his trump, saying to all people, both in heaven and in earth, and that are under the earth - for every ear shall hear it, and every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess, while they hear the sound of the trump, saying: Fear God, and give glory to him who sitteth upon the throne, forever and ever; for the hour of his judgment is come.

Book of Mormon

Alma 8:1-17

"Come Follow Me"

Review: Joshua 1-8; 23-24 "Be strong and of a good courage" 

AprGenCon

"Our Heartfelt All"

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

"For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living."

With this simple observation, the Savior taught us how offerings are measured in His kingdom - and it's quite different from the way we usually measure things. To the Lord, the value of the donation was measured not by the effect it had on the treasury but by the effect it had on the heart of the donor.

Inklings

1) Walking the Covenant Path, coupled with daily repentance, fuels positive spiritual momentum 2) Larry S. Kacher "Ladder of Faith", 

Alma 4-5; John 2:1-11, 3) Trust - Hebrew: Chacah - to confide in, have hope, make refuge 4) We recognize that obedience to God's commands enables us to be trusted of Him. With His trust comes increased light. Luke 5:9.

We had 323 people in our sacrament meeting today. Both overflows were opened and all of the chairs in the building were used. Even though the room was this full, there were still some seats upfront. The Grombach's asked us to sit by them, which we did.

It took so long to pass the sacrament that there was only 20 minutes left for speakers. Tina and Steve Allen were the speakers.

Tina was assigned to speak on Becky Cravens talk, "Careful vs. Casual". She spoke about being committed to the Savior. She told about Steve's accident in January 2019 when he fell off a roof he was working on and then Jackson's accident where he suffered a traumatic brain injury which did not allow him to go back on his mission. When she prayed to the Lord to ask him why these things were happening she said she was told that the Lord had told Steve not to get on that roof and he had prompted Jackson not to get on that ATV. Tina said that through a friend, Trudy Rawlings, she has learned how to draw closer to the Savior, to forgive, and to let go.

Steve used Elder Lynn G. Robbins talk, "Seventy Time Seven" as the basis for his talk. Brother Allen told about Jackson's experiences getting beat at wrestling and what he learned from his defeats. The Savior always allows us second chances. The Savior's boundless love and mercy is available to us as we repent. 

Since this is a fifth Sunday, the bishopric was in charge of the second hour. They ask Brother Ken Johnson, the stake preparedness "expert" to come and speak to us. It was excellent. He named some recent disasters around the world and then asked us what kinds of disasters we could experience in our area. Our biggest potential disaster is fire. He mentioned several websites including providentliving.org and ready.gov. He said we could go to the Apache county website and sign up for disaster alerts at Ready, Set, Go. He said that one of the most important ways we could prepare is to have a 72 hour kit for everyone in our family. Part of our 72 hour kit should be important documents which can be downloaded onto a flash drive, kept in a notebook or a fireproof container. 

 James fixed us some shrimp for lunch and then we both took naps. I needed one since I didn't get much sleep last night. 

We got ready to go to the valley after our naps. James is taking his truck and I am taking my car. It was around five when we left. James followed me until we got to Payson where he said he needed to stop to get gas. I am sorry he has to buy gas on Sunday. That is something we usually avoid doing. 

As we dropped down into the valley their was lots of either dust, or smoke from a fire. I arrived at the resort first with James right behind me. He went inside to check in. We have been assigned room 2061-62 in the Palm Court. The resort is packed and it was difficult to find a parking space close by. James carried most everything up from both vehicles while I tried to create some semblance of order by putting things away. It was after ten when we went to bed. We were both very tired, but the bed is wonderful.

Sheri was not able to get us a temple time to take the boys to do baptisms this week, but she scheduled one one the 14th so I guess we are coming back down.

Sat, May 28th, 2022: Redlands California Temple, Temple shift, James go to the ER, Pain meds relieve his bowel blockage, Lola in Cali, Charlie, Addy

 

Redlands, California

116th operating temple

Dedicated: 14 Sept 2003

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Second Coming

Isaiah 45:23

I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.

Book of Mormon

Alma 7:14-27

"Come Follow Me"

Judges 2:13 Who were Baal and Ashtaroth? Judges 6

AprGenCon

"Come Into the Fold of God"

 Elder Randy D. Funk

Of the Seventy

Alma's baptismal covenant invitation to those gathered at the Waters of Mormon begins with this phrase: "Now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God." 

A fold, or sheepfold, is a large enclosure, often constructed with stone wall, where the sheep are protected at night. It has only one opening. At the end of the day, the shepherd calls the sheep. They know his voice, and through the gate they enter the safety of the fold. 

We left for our temple shift at 5:30 this morning. Our goal was to leave by 5:20. We still made it in plenty of time for preparation meeting. President and Sister Perkins are presiding today. President Perkins is very soft spoken. I remember President Seaman saying one time that he is the humblest man that he knows. He seems very kind. 

We were short-handed today and it was a very busy day. All three endowment sessions were full, there were sealings and several own endowees. I am not sure who all works our shift anymore but I have not seen Sister Kayla Whiting, Sister Crandall, or Sister Cochran for a long time. 

I was the first follower in the 9:30 session. We had two own endowees in this session, a brother and a sister. I was the presenter for 8 sisters at the veil. President Van Winkle was our receiver. I know him because he was in the stake presidency when we were in the Show Low stake. 

The Hamblin's are such awesome coordinators. Today they allowed the Cureton's to go home early. The Cureton's live on the other side of Williams and it takes about two and a half hours for them to get here. 

When I was working in initiatory I asked one of the sisters where she was from. She said, California and then she added: "Wherever I am, I always go to my temple." I loved this.

Here are some of the sisters and brothers I worked with today: The Hamblin's, the Elmer's, the Reidhead's, the Cureton's, Sis Darolyn DeWitt, Sister Wilkins, Sister Neff, Brother Nichols, Cory Webb, the Scotts' who are subbing in the baptistry for the Frei's who are camping near Vernon with their grandchildren. The Willis's who are subs. Kerry Ballard, an old friend from high school who works on the afternoon shift came over and spoke to me this afternoon before his shift started. He said his granddaughter graduated from Snowflake High School this week and he attended her graduation. He said our pictures were still up on the wall in the gym. I asked him what he meant and he said they have been up there since we graduated. I guess they put up the graduating classes photos for all to see. I feel sad for Kerry. He has skin cancer and his face is very scarred. He has very little hair, just a few long strands randomly on his head. 

On the way home we stopped at Sonic, got a hamburger and shared it on the way home. James complained of a stomachache. He is not feeling very well. When we get home he goes straight into the bedroom to take a nap. I settle in to the recliner in the family room. 

After an hour or so, James came out of the bedroom and announced that he was going to go to the hospital emergency room. He said his stomach was bloated and it was very tender to the touch and he was miserable. I told him that if he was going, I was going too. I went into the bedroom and got ready to go. I drove because James was so uncomfortable that he did not feel like driving. We arrived at the hospital and got James registered and then we had to sit and waiting for almost an hour. He was finally called back and assigned a room, Room 11. A P.A. came in and asked him several questions as James laid on a very uncomfortable bed. While we were waiting for someone to come in and give James some pain meds, the phlebotomist came in and drew some blood. She did not seem very proficient and I was a little worried. Someone had to come in and help her enter the information into the hospital computer. I left at this time to go wash my car. I went across the street to Circle K and bought the $15 wash. James would not approve but I want my car to be clean when I go to the valley on Monday. I also went to Walmart and got some snacks to take with me on Monday since I am driving down by myself. All this, of course, is based on the fact that James will be okay and they will be able to help him get over this pain. 

When I returned to the hospital, he had an IV and he seemed so much happier. They had given him some pain meds and they definitely worked. They did a CT scan and while they were gone the kids were asking me how he was doing. I did not know how to explain what was going on so I asked James. This is what he said: 

The swelling from the ulcer caused by the radiation treatments for cancer, caused an obstruction that trapped gas in his system, which caused serious pain. The pain killer allowed him to relax and everything is back to normal and he can go home.

What a relief, in more ways than one.

 It was around 11:30 when we settled in to bed. I could not sleep. I got up and went to the recliner in the family room but I couldn't sleep there either. I was pretty miserable most of the night. I read some of the history of the Basha family in Arizona. I read an article about The Ostrich where Jared Ammon works. The author interviewed Jared and it was interesting to read his answers regarding why he likes being a bartender.  I listened to the song "More" which James and I call our song. I listened to Nathan Pacheco and I also watched a movie all designed to help me fall asleep. I also listened to Bobby Vinton's love songs and it reminded me of when I was in high school. I finally got a couple of hours sleep before it was time to get up.

 

Lola and Ivy

Lola and Minnie

Polaris

Addy & friends