I love Temple Tuesday. 🥰
Today has been such a wonderful day–beginning to end. 😊
I actually got a decent night’s sleep last night, despite being parked in the parking area just off the side of the highway.
I had my fan running and my white noise app pumping rain sounds to my marshmallow ear buds, so I didn’t really hear the loudness of the big rigs going by on the highway, and I wasn’t worried about being bothered.
So I just… slept. 🙏
I think I finally got up somewhere around 8:00, did some morning dailies, and then after spending some time chatting with the Big Guy, spent some time pondering what my message to our small Branch was going to be on Sunday.
I was grateful, and honestly, a little surprised to have a fair bit of inspiration pop in, including a very specific statement/phrase that felt like God pretty much just plopped it right in my mental lap.
It certainly didn’t feel like anything that I would normally come up with, nor anything that I’ve been thinking about.
I’m grateful. Part of my spiritual efforts this morning, Allah what I mentioned the other day about how it’s easy for me to seek the spotlight and to seek the honors and praise of men… So part of my spiritual efforts this morning were to seek the will of the Lord about what He would like me to share and not what I might come up with on my own for what I might want to share.
And that’s when the little bit of inspiration began to pop in here and there, with me taking notes as the ideas came in.
I’m grateful for this opportunity to seek the will of the Lord with regard to the message that I share with the members of the branch here, and then to receive instruction and enlightenment to that end. 🙏
After taking a handful of notes, I decided to go ahead and head on down the road toward casper. It was nice to only be a 35 minute drive instead of an hour drive like it usually is. I think next time I’m going to try and stop at the very last parking area that’s about 18 minutes east of casper. That will make the drive in the morning half of what it was today. 🙃
I got gas right after getting off the freeway, as I didn’t trust that I could make it all the way to the temple and then back to the cheap gas station on what little I had left in the tank.
Watched somebody in a very large motorhome, towing a vehicle behind the motorhome, try and take a shortcut through a gas station where there wasn’t room at all for the motorhome and SUV it was towing to go, which ended with the motorhome taking the corner to sharply and dragging the side of the SUV against one of those concrete barriers that’s there to protect the gas pumps from people accidentally running into them.
Lots of damage to the vehicle they were towing. 😕
I don’t know if they actually even realized what had happened, because they just kept right on going, and when the young lady across from me ran over to tell them what happened, they just drove away.
😬
After getting gas, headed over to the temple, getting there quite early.
Today was the day where instead of filling my ears with scriptures and talks and whatever else, I just felt like it was important to have to turn off all the inputs and to just listen and ponder today.
And it was wonderful. 😊
I hung out in my van for a little while just sort of thinking and whatnot before going into the temple. When I did go into the temple, I decided to go about a half hour earlier than my appointment, with a thought that maybe they might need someone to help in either the baptistry or the ceiling session, but when I got to the desk and told them I was early, so I was able to help if they needed help anywhere, they said they didn’t think there was any need at the moment, so I just went ahead and got dressed and ready for the initiatory session, sitting down on a bench outside the initiatory room just soaking up the temple and the feeling in spirit there.
Have I mentioned I love the temple? 🙃
I’m so grateful to be at a place right now that I’m able to go. It means the world to me.
As I sat on the bench, with 25 minutes, or so, left before my session was to begin, one of the lady Temple workers came up to me and asked if I would be able to help on the sealing session, and of course, I was really happy to. 😊
So I went and dressed myself for the sealing session, and was excited to find out that it was actually a live sealing!
There was a gentleman there being sealed to his mom and dad, and I got to act as proxy for his dad.
Really beautiful experience. 🥰
Then there was a lady there with families that included multiple boys, one family with three boys to be sealed to their parents. So I got to participate in three more sealing ceremonies where multiple siblings are sealed to their parents at the same time.
That’s not very common, in my experience, so it’s sort of new and fun when I get those opportunities.
After that, I participated in the proxy initiatory session before heading over to my favorite, baptisms and confirmations.
Have I mentioned that I love love love doing baptisms and confirmations? 🙃
I have the opportunity to be baptized as well as to baptize two people, and then I have the opportunity to confirm one person, and it was, as always, and absolutely beautiful experience.
Having been to the temple now 5 weeks, 5 Tuesdays in a row, some of the temple workers now already know me by name. 😊
After the temple, I headed over to the Planet Fitness gym and spent the next two plus hours doing a super workout, doing nearly every exercise that normally takes me 3 days to do. Usually, I have a day for biceps and back, a day for chest, triceps, and shoulders, and a day for legs and abs. But today, I did them all. 🙃
I’m amazed at how much strength I had having not really had much to eat. The only thing I had to eat before going to the gym was one serving of pea protein powder mixed with water, but I was much more energetic and determined today than I have been in the last few gym visits, and it was really good.
I want to plan well and make the most of my visits to Casper.
Speaking of which, I keep wanting to go and revisit Martin’s Cove. I think the last time I was there was maybe in 2010? It’s been a good long time, and I’d like to go again, but it’s another roughly 2 hours added to the driving day, and I don’t know that I want that much time driving with my spine issues. I feel like I’ve gotten a pretty good system going driving half the trip the night before and then the second half on the next day.
From the gym, it was back to a gas station to add whatever gas I used in the 15 miles, or so, that it took to drive from the first gas station to the temple and back. With the gas prices in Casper being $2.63 a gallon, my goal is to not have to fill up again until I get back to Casper. For that to happen, I fill up at the station right next to the freeway right before leaving, and then I can’t do a whole lot of driving once I’m back in South Dakota.
I mean, I’m going to do whatever driving I need to do, and that’s no big deal, but it was nice today because I was able to drive all the way back to Casper for the first time without needing a fill up since the last time I was in Casper. 🎉
Walmart, as per usual, was next, and though I expected to buy much less food this time than in times past, I somehow managed to spend just about as much as usual, and I also bought two pairs of sweatpants, so it was an even bigger bill altogether.
So much for spending less this time. 😆
Chatted with my friend Cory for a bit as I was loading everything in my van and then for a little bit on the beginning of the drive.
Answered a couple of JustAnswer phone call on the drive home, which didn’t come close to covering the cost of the gas, let alone the gas and food, but that’s fine. It’s sort of an unspoken goal that I have to be able to pay for the gas of the trip while on the trip.
But I usually end up calling people and having really great conversations, which doesn’t really make it possible to answer JustAnswer questions.
Just a handful of miles north of Lusk, I saw a truck that was towing a trailer broken down on the side of the road heading south, so I pulled over and asked if he needed any help, and he said he needed a floor jack, which I had, so I pulled over, and he grabbed the floor jack out of the special compartment, after I emptied all the rest of the fluids out of the compartment.
With my jack, he was able to quickly jack up his axle and put on the replacement wheel and tire. He had already been there for a couple of hours fighting to try and find some way to get his trailer jacked up (one of the tires had basically exploded).
He had tried everything he could think of, including disconnecting his trailer from his truck and trying to use the electronic Jack on the trailer to lift it high enough to get a new wheel and tire on there, but it was of no use, and not only that, but he damaged the motor for the electronic Jack, leaving him unable to raise or lower the jack in order to get it hooked back up to his truck and safe to tow away.
It was at that point that if we were going to solve the issue, we were going to need to be a fair bit creative.
At first, I tried to help him bend back the bent part and find a way to screw the motor back down onto the shaft where the gears are, but all attempts failed, and when he tried to force it, he stripped the screws, leaving him unable to bolt the electric trailer jack motor to the jack.
Gratefully, if you remember back to when I got my South Dakota license plates, I spent some time taking off a set of brackets that had previously been on my front bumper. Several of the bolts were so Rusty that they just snapped into when I took them off, but there were a handful of little candy cane shaped bolts that didn’t break, and I had this idea that we could use those candy cane bolts and the nuts that were with them to squeeze the motor back in place.
So the gentleman drilled through the holes that he had stripped out to make them wider for my little candy cane Bolt, and then we slid the bolts through the holes in the Jack itself, and then through the slots in the motor, and guess what?! It
It worked!
Not only were we able to bolt the motor back onto the jack, but he said it was even more solid than it was before. 🥳
I’m not really surprised, as originally, it was just long screws, and now it was candy cane bolts and nuts.
It took a good long time for us to get to that point, and once we got there, we thought we were home free, except for now the motor wouldn’t even turn on. We’d gotten it bolted on, hopefully lined up, but now it wouldn’t turn on. 😶
So I went and got my jump box to supply direct power to the motor, and it still wouldn’t work. I supplied power and ground, but still, nothing. Gratefully, the gentleman noticed that one of the electrical connectors had become unfastened from where it was supposed to be, so once we plug that back in, hooked up my jump box and my little jumper wires again, I was able to raise the jack high enough to get the truck back underneath it, and then I was able to lower it down onto the truck, and then lift the electric jack all the way into the up position to keep it from getting damaged if going over uneven ground that happened to be higher at that point.
What an adventure! The sun was hot, and I wasn’t wearing long sleeves or long pants or my big huge hat, so I got a little cooked, but he was grateful. After spending what probably was three and a half hours, 2 hours of that in discouraging, fruitless efforts, we were able to get his wheel and tire on, fix his trailer Jack motor and Jack assembly, and get him on his way.
🥳
While I was helping him, I decided to check the oil in my own van and found that it was super duper low. I couldn’t find the record that I made for when I last changed it. I don’t recall it being that long ago, but for some reason, the little note that I attached to the Google sheet was missing, so the only info I had for the last oil change was from over 5,000 miles ago. Pretty sure I changed it one more time since then and put a note in the Google sheet. I remember putting a note in the Google sheet, but I couldn’t find any evidence of it.
🤷
Go figure.
So after finishing up with the gentleman and taking a selfie with him, I drove a few more miles down the road to another parking area and proceeded to change my oil. I couldn’t find a new filter, so I ended up just changing the oil without changing the filter. If you can only change one, better to change the oil.
After draining all the oil out, looks like I was somewhere around 3 quarts, maybe three and a half quarts, and I should have had six. 😅
Oops. 🙃
From there, I had a really great gospel conversation, which Cory, gratefully, recorded, so I’ll have a record of that. Saw rattlesnake on the side of the highway. It was dusk, but as I drove by, I saw a snake coiled up right on the side of the road, and I figured that it was likely to be a rattlesnake, so I did a u-turn, and drove over and noted that yes, indeed, it was a rattlesnake! That’s only the third rattlesnake that I’ve seen in the wild. I’ve seen two up Provo canyon–one next to Nuns Park, and one up Lost Creek canyon.
And now this one. 🥳
I will omit any mention of my perhaps having gotten out of the vehicle to get a closer look and a better picture. 😁
Continued chatting with Cory while I took a little dip at JH Keith Park where the Springs bubble out of the ground.
Then drove back to my sister’s place, unloaded my massive frozen food Hall, which my sister gratefully found places for, ate some playing Mini wheats with frozen berries on top for dinner, chatted with my sister for a little bit, and now here I am, coming up on a quarter after midnight, ready for bed!
Today was just… a wonderful day. 🥰
Gratitude:
- I’m grateful for the spirit and it’s teaching me and guiding me today. I’ve had many experiences with the spirit and with joy since turning back to god, but today was the first day where I felt like I was getting inspiration with purpose for a particular cause, and I was grateful.
- I’m grateful that my AC broke in Washington state. I’ve chosen not to fix it yet, and I’m grateful that I have the opportunity to be uncomfortable and be hot, which I can use as a reminder of what it’s like for others who can’t afford to fix their air conditioning.
- I’m grateful that despite having so little to eat and generally being sleep deprived and probably with not enough nourishment to really do a good gym workout, nevertheless, I was able to have a really great workout today.
- I’m grateful I was able to see the rattlesnake.
- I’m grateful I was able to think about things I was grateful for regularly throughout the day today. It was just a marvelous day.
- I’m grateful to have had another day where I was just… truly happy. 🥰
Success:
- I gave my sincere and worthy effort today.
- I fought off thoughts that were not what I wanted to have entering my mind.
- I’m happy. 🥰
Improvement:
- I still see plenty of room for trusting God.
Thought of the Day:
“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
Psalm 119:105
Hand of God In My Life Today:
The guidance and inspiration this morning helping me know what He would like me to talk about on Sunday. 🥰
Loves. 😊
Lift the world.
Bring it on.
~ stephen
Lift the World 