I got my temple recommend today. 🥰
I… Don’t think I’ve been to the temple since, gosh, probably 2019? I think the last time I went to the temple I was actually a temple worker at the Kansas City Temple.
I love that Temple. 🥰
And now I have a recommend again, and I’m excited. 😊
I’ve tentatively made an appointment to go to the Casper, Wyoming Temple this week to spend some time serving in the temple.
Yay 🥰
I love the temple. 🥰
Anyway, let’s see… I think I slept decently well last night? As much as I keep trying to sleep in other positions other than on my right side, which is my least favorite side 🙃, it’s the only side that I can sleep on with out significantly aggravating my spine issues. So, we’ll just keep going with it.
Uncomfortable blessings. 🙃😊🙏🥳
I honestly don’t remember much of what I did, if anything, for my morning routine. I think I must have done something. I think I got up somewhere around 6:30 or 7:00 and then good morning routine stuff, but I just… don’t remember.
Having not had a bath or a shower in 2 weeks, it was about time. 🙃
Gratefully, I have non smelly genes, so I’m not a bother to anyone else. 🎉
But I did want to be clean to put on my Sunday clothes and go to church, not to mention it’s been a whole 2 weeks since I jumped in the water at Cascade Falls 🙃, so there was only one thing to do!
Lathered myself up with all my clothes still on, as per usual, lathered my hair all up with my nice little biodegradable soap, and then plunged in the deep end of the pool at the bottom of the falls.
This time, though, I did a little exploring of the downstream part where the big pool spills over some additional rocks, and I found this perfect little hot tub type spot. It even has what look like a little steps going down into it, and it’s about the same size and shape as a hot tub, but it’s just sitting right there in the middle of the creek so you can sit down and just enjoy the water running by you.
The water isn’t warm, mind you, it’s technically considered a warm spring, I think, but it’s still something like 66°?
But it’s a temperature that you can get used to and hang out in for a good little while.
I couldn’t spend too much time there because it was mostly just for me to get a bath and get going to church, but I did spend a little extra time in the little… cool tub area, and it was nice to have some spine pain relief. I kind of wish I could live in water in that regard. 😅
But I’m grateful for the pain.
One day, maybe many millennia from now, when I’ve had my own Gethsemane of sorts, I’ll be able to give the Savior the gift of a friend who actually understands.
Anyway, there was an older couple who came down to the falls while I was hanging out in it. I think they smiled seeing me in there. Hopefully they didn’t see my shower glove and bar of soap in my little plastic bag next to the falls, but they were standing right there, so I’m sure it was pretty hard to miss. 😆
Anyway, I took long enough that I ended up being late to church–fortunately, not so late that I missed the sacrament, but it was a good little rush once I got there to try and figure out church clothes and hair and shaving and whatnot. I don’t think I got to the parking lot until a few minutes after church started, and I didn’t have a pair of clean pants for church, so I had been trying to rinse off the mud that was on my rain pants from the other day, but the pants were still soaked. When I put them on, they were still dripping around my ankles. 😆
So I just put on my dirty pants that, gratefully, didn’t actually look dirty at all 🥳, went quickly to the bathroom to both use it as well as to make sure my hair looked halfway decent, and then headed into the sacrament hall.
I’m grateful that I’ve been able to make it to church every regular Sunday since I started going back in the beginning of April.
Second meeting was good, two missionaries spoke in the little tiny branch, and then I shaved between meetings. Priesthood was also good.
I was the youngest one there. 🙃
Sometimes I still feel like I’m in my early twenties. My brain sometimes I think thinks it is.
But when I look in the mirror, or in the zoom meeting reflection of myself, I look at myself and kind of go, what the heck?!?!
😆
Good thing I don’t really own a mirror other than my rear view mirror and side mirrors. 😆
It’s a bit of a shock to see myself.
Although!
I think I’ve lost a fair bit of weight! I haven’t been on a scale for a good long time, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m 5 or 10 pounds lighter than I was a month or two ago, and it’s good weight that’s being lost, although I’m sure I’m losing some muscle weight as well since I haven’t really been going to the gym since being on this trip.
Anyway, came back from church and I think we ate lunch? I honestly don’t even remember at this point.
Oh yes! Heather made grilled cheese sandwiches, and Hans ran out to minister to a gentleman in a nearby hospital.
Before I had a chance to eat my sandwiches that my wonderful sister made for me, it was time for my temple recommend interview with a member of the state presidency.
This one went a lot more quickly. I think we were probably done in maybe under 10 minutes, but it was very meaningful for me to have a temple recommend again. 🥰
This… is a big deal for me. 🥰
After my interview, I ate lunch with my sister, and then after lunch, we went on a little walk around the “neighborhood,” and then I spent some time trying to remember all the names of my students that I taught at the little private school in Utah so many years ago.
There’s one student who said something that I remembered that he’s been important to me recently, and I wanted to reach out to him and let him know that his example has been meaningful for me all these years later, but I can’t for the life of me remember the young man’s name.
I spent a good little while going back through, scouring my memory to come up with the names of the students, and I’ve come up with all the names but two of my poor students. I only had 14, and I’ve remembered the first and last names of 11 of those 14, and the first name of the 12th, but then I have two students that I can’t even remember their names.
That’s sad. 😞 Those kids were my whole world for the time that I was their teacher.
I could just go through my memory stuff and find their names, but I’ve been trying to do it by my own memory, and here and there, a name will pop in.
I’m not ready to give up just yet. 🙃
Anyway, I took a little nap, getting up a couple of times as names popped into my head, writing the names down.
Super windy day today, so I left the van windows open to feel the breeze blowing across me while I dozed.
I do love wind. 😊
After getting up, I knuckled down and caught up on my journal. I do want to write every night. I was thinking it would be better to write during the day when I’m on my phone doing work stuff and can multitask, but I find that I just forget too much.
So here I am writing my journal entry tonight, and I’ll keep working on it at night instead of during the day like I had thought might be better.
Went in the trailer and hung out with Heather and Hans the rest of the night, eating dinner and having a lovely gospel conversation that was just… wonderful.
Gratitude:
- I’m grateful for Cascade Falls. I absolutely love that little place. It’s just a simple little park, but… it has a little part of my heart. 🥰
- I’m grateful to have been able to make it to church on time enough. 🙃
- I’m grateful for Heather and Hans and all their food prep and kindness.
- Ungrateful for God’s help and love and restoring my peace and happiness and joy and even building upon where I once was, helping me see new vistas and experience new changes of heart. 🥳
- I’m grateful to be able to be in a place where I can just enjoy gospel conversations. When I was in my darker place, I knew that my heart would spring to life a little bit when I was present for gospel conversations, but I just kept myself away because I just didn’t want to go there. Too much pain. Too much anxiety. And now that’s all washed away, and I feel I think freer than I’ve ever been in my entire life.
Glory to God. 🥳🥰🎉
Success:
- I think it was a good thing for me to just stay quiet in church today. I didn’t make any comments during elders quorum, and I think it’s good for me to just be quiet for a while.
Improvement:
- Better time management. 🙃 I should have left for Cascade Falls much earlier than I did, and then I should have been watching the time much better than I did while I was there. I want to be on time to church.
I love you all. 🥰💚
Lift the world.
Bring it on.
~ stephen
Lift the World 