Thursday, November 10th, 2022: Up @ 3:40, Croissants for brkfst, J makes a fire, Donna & Stefani, Lunch, Rest, Old Christmas movies, Whole wheat bread, "Your Endowment", Texted Dallin, Addy, Tanna

 

Lubbock, Texas

109th operating temple

Dedicated: 21 Apr 2002

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Son of man

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

3 Nephi 26:1-21

"Come Follow Me"

Joel 2 "I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh." Hosea 12-14

OctGenCon

"Be Perfected in Him"

Elder Paul V. Johnson

Of the Presidency of the Seventy

Aaron being saved by his brother's blood has spurred many thoughts about the atoning blood of Jesus Christ and the effect of His Atonement on us. I would like to focus today on the permanent, life-giving change that occurs as we allow the Lord to work miracles in us.

I woke up at 3:40 this morning and I was ready to get up, so I did. I had my gospel study and prayers and then began blogging and had my first breakfast, 1/8th of a piece of pumpkin pie with Coolwhip. Later James reminded me that I had said I would make ham & egg croissants this morning for breakfast. I immediately went into the kitchen and made two ham, cheese and egg croissants. Again, as the last time I made them, James says they are the most delicious egg & ham croissants he has ever had. 

After eating breakfast James went over to build a fire in the fireplace. I had asked him to do this before my ministering sisters got here at 11. Donna Peeler and Stefani Hunsaker are my ministering sisters and they arrived right on time. Stefani handed me a small bag of peanuts with candy corn. She says this was the special treat her mother would make for her dad when he went hunting. I thanked her and said it was a good treat for me because I am pre-diabetic. 

Stefani, Donna and I had a nice visit. Stefani, her husband Sean, and their son Tyler and his wife and daughter will be going to Midland, Texas for Thanksgiving. Stefani & Sean's daughter, Camrie lives in Midland with her husband and five children. She has twin girls who will be a year old at the end of the month.

After Donna and Stefani left I made a bag of orange chicken from the freezer for dinner. After eating, I relaxed in front of the TV until I got so tired I turned it off and took a nap. I ate too many carbs today and didn't keep track of my blood sugar. I need to do better. 

James did some indexing and then came in and we listened to the end of our book while we walked. This book had a little too much violence in it for my taste but at least the hero and heroine did get married at the end. We will probably start a new book tomorrow.

I made whole wheat bread this afternoon. James ground the wheat for me, about 3 cups. He said it was the best whole wheat bread I had ever made.

I got a new book in the mail, "Your Endowment" which is supposed to be good for people new to the temple. I am going to read it and see what I think. 

Here are some gospel talks, etc. that I studied today. "Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives" by Russell M. Nelson, April 2018 General Conference. This went along with the section of the "Come Follow Me" lesson that we studied. 

I listened to a BYU talk that Jared & Kacey recommended by Jenet Jacob Erickson called, "Designed for Covenant Relationships." It was excellent. Here is a quote I liked:

"This is the love God is calling us all into. We are deeply relational beings, designed for love and connection with God and with one another."

I know I posted this picture yesterday but this one

has captions.

Tanna Conrad

I love my new plants that don't 

take any water.

After last nights snow

 

Wednesday, November 9th, 2022: James leaves for valley, dead mouse, Temple w/Catherine, 60mph winds, Charles Patterson, January, EQ,For the Strength of Youth,Election results,Chicken Slinger,

 

Snowflake, Arizona

108th operating temple

Dedicated: 3 Mar 2002

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Son of man

Mark 10:45

For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Book of Mormon

3 Nephi 24:1-25:6

"Come Follow Me"

Hosea 6:4-7; Joel 2:12-13 Devotion to God must be felt inwardly, not just expressed outwardly. Hosea 10-11

OctGenCon

"Beauty for Ashes: The Healing Path of Forgiveness"

Sister Kristin M. Yee

Second Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency

Just as Abigail was willing to take Nabal's sin upon herself, so did the Savior - in an incomprehensible way - take upon Him our sins and the sins of those who have hurt or offended us. In Gethsemane and on the cross, He claimed these sins. He made a way for us to let go of a vengeful heart. That "way" is through forgiving, which can be one of the most difficult things we ever do and one of the most divine things we ever experience. On the path of forgiveness, Jesus Christ's atoning power can flow into our lives and begin to heal the deep crevasses of the heart and soul.

James left for the valley before 5 o'clock this morning. He has a meeting in Glendale about the airport job at 9 a.m. As I was fixing my breakfast in front of the stove & oven I looked down at the mouse trap sticking out from under the oven. There are two. The white one looked kind of funny. I took a closer look and realized there was a mouse with his head stuck in the trap. Gross! I called James and told him he left a dead mouse behind. He said: "Just take it outside and sit it on the picnic table and I will take care of it later. You aren't so squimish that you can't do that are you?" "Yes I am that squimish and I won't do that!" He says it will stink, and I said it won't and he can take care of it when he gets home. 

I prayed and journaled, did some gospel study, and ate my breakfast but didn't have time for much of anything else before it was time to get ready to go to the temple. I left the house at 9:30 to pick up my 88 year old friend Catherine. When I got to her house and she started walking down her walkway I thought the wind was going to blow her away. I went around to help open the door for her and put her temple suitcase in the backseat.

When we get to the temple I dropped Catherine off near the front door. Hopefully she won't fly away like Mary Poppins. I watch until she makes it inside and then I loop around and park where I can see the mountains, including Green's Peak,  to the right side of the temple. Before I get out of my car I put a scarf around my hair to save it from too much damage. 

The 11:00 session is small, 11 sisters and 8 brothers. Maybe the w ind is keeping people away. The last time I came to this session on Wednesday, January Smith Stratton and her husband Blaine led the session. Today another of my high school acquaintances led the session. His name, Charles Patterson. I knew him as Charlie in high school. In high school Charles was not a member of the church. He lived in Show Low and his parents owned the bowling alley. Charlie was the class clown and he could be very annoying. He was not one of my close friends. I am sorry to say, I tried to avoid him as much as possible.  Today I was so happy to see him in the temple taking charge of an endowment session. I wanted to speak to him but I did not get a chance.

Normally on the way home we stop at Sonic for some lunch. Catherine loves their All-American hotdogs. She told me today that the last time we came she was very sick the next day. Because of this she did not want to order a hotdog. I told her how much I liked the chicken Slingers so she ordered one and we shared some French fries. Catherine loves to talk and she told me about the upcoming Halcomb family reunion the Saturday after Thanksgiving in Gilbert. 

 All of Catherine's children are adopted except for her oldest son, Kelly. She does not have that many grandchildren but she does have 22 great grandchildren of which I am very envious. 

Catherine is close to a member of our ward, Ellen Kostusiak. She got to know Ellen because she and Kerri are Ellen's ministering sisters. Ellen is a recent convert. She comes from a Jewish background and is lacking in gospel knowledge. She has a word of wisdom problem but none of that stops Catherine. She wants Ellen and her husband Dave to be sealed in the temple. She knows how much Ellen loves Dave. She and Kerri took scriptures over to read to Dave & Ellen. One scripture they read to them was: D&C 82:10 - I the Lord am bound when you do what I say. When you do not what I say, ye have no promise.  Catherine wants Ellen to know that if she does not get married in the temple she and Dave will not be together in the next life. 

During this visit Kerri and Catherine discovered that the only scriptures the Kostusiak's have was the Book of Mormon. Kerri went home and got a couple of extra sets of scriptures and gave one to Ellen and one to Dave. They ask them to read the Doctrine and Covenants, Catherine says she also wants them to read Moses in the Pearl of Great Price. When they left the Kostusiak's they asked them to consider what they had said and they would check back at a later time. 

I was impressed that Catherine and Kerri care so much. One of Ellen's problems is that she is a smoker. Catherine can identify because she used to smoke two packs a day. Ellen loves Catherine and hopefully Catherine can influence her to do the right thing.

James got home from the valley around 4:30. He brought home a check for $1,500 from the guy he is working for at the Glendale Airport. James went in to take a quick nap. I heated up some crab cakes I got at Walmart the other day. There were four of them. James had three and I had one. They were very good and I will be buying them again. After eating, James hurried off to an Elder's Quorum Presidency meeting. 

James brought me home a "For the Strength of Youth" pamphlet from the bishop's office. Thank you, Honey! James is a little overwhelmed and discouraged about his meeting. The bishop wants them to completely redo their ministering districts. They had just made new assignments and now they will change. The bishop wants people who live close to each other to visit each other. It sounds like a good theory but it is more difficult to work out in reality. We will see how it goes.

No final election results yet.

Bob & Cheryl Horne's granddaughter

o

Scarlett getting ready for Christmas

Tuesday, November 8th, 2022: Up @ 3:44, Midterm Election Day, J Globe alone, No Gilbert temple tomorrow, Sonic, Ross, Wlmrt, "Follow HIm" $500 Peeler bonus

 

Columbia River, Washington

107th operating temple

Dedicated: 18 Nov 2001

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Son of man

Matthew 20:28

Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Book of Mormon

3 Nephi 23:1-14

"Come Follow Me"

Hosea 1-3; 14 The Lord always invites me to return to Him. Hosea 4-6

OctGenCon

Follow Jesus Christ with Footsteps of Faith

President M. Russell Ballard

Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Brothers and sisters, I testify that as we follow Jesus Christ with footsteps of faith, there is hope. There is hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is hope for all in this life. There is hope to overcome our mistakes, our sorrows, our struggles, and our trials and our troubles. There is hope in repentance and being forgiven and in forgiving others. I testify that there is hope and peace in Christ. He can carry us today through difficult times. He did it for the early pioneers, and He will do it now for each one of us.

I was up at 3:44 this morning. Today is midterm election day. We sent our ballots in the mail. I had prayer with James before he left for Globe by himself. At 7:00 after reading scriptures and listening to a talk by Elder Uchtdorf, "Point of Safe Return", I wasn't feeling well so I took some Tramadol and laid down for awhile. 

When I got up from resting I felt better so I went over and finished my blog for November 4th and talked to Stacy on the phone. We decided I would have James drop me off at her house around 8 o'clock tomorrow morning and we would go to the 9 o'clock session at the Gilbert temple. James had a meeting at the Glendale Airport at 9:00. When I hung up I went online to schedule myself in the 9 am session and found that there was only one seat left. I called Stacy and said we could go to the 8 o'clock session but James and I would have to get up too early. Instead of going tomorrow we are going on Tuesday, December 6th, the day after my next infusion. James can go too and that night we can go to the Mesa Temple lights. By then Stacy should be able to get a dress that fits and a new pair of shoes.

After my phone conversation with Stacy I got ready to go to town. I am doing my errands today. I am out of one of my prescriptions and need to pick it up along with my Tramadol at Walmart. 

I place a Sonic order to pick up at 12:05. I arrived at 12:10 and checked in. They said they would bring my order right out but I waited 10 minutes and called again. It was 12:30 when they finally brought me my food. I know they were busy, but this is a little ridiculous. I ordered the grilled cheeseburger on the 2 for $5 menu. I ate the first one but it was not very good so I threw the second one away when I got to Ross. At Ross I bought six blankets and an artificial plant. At Walmart I picked up my two prescriptions and bought three blankets before doing my grocery shopping. On the way to and from town I listened to "Follow Him." 

When I got home and put the groceries away I had a salad and a piece of pumpkin pie that I bought at Walmart for dinner. Pumpkin pie with lots of Coolwhip is my favorite pie. I listened to "Original Grace" and "Seeking Jesus" while I walked. 

When James got home from Globe he had a surprise for me. He handed me an envelope that had $500 in it. He said Owen was at Globe today and not only did he take him to lunch, but he gave him this cash as a bonus. He said he was out of money for the house but was so grateful for all that James has done and wanted him to have this bonus. James tried to refuse but Owen insisted. 

We both went to bed around 9:00 because we are both getting up at 4 a.m. James is going to the valley and 4 is my normal time to get up now.

Cake by Courtney

Elder McCoy, one of our missionaries

DWTS 90's night

Witney & Wayne

Charlie & Mark and Val & Gabby

Trevor & Emma

Vinnie & KoKo

Tonight's moon