(written on the 23rd)
I’m grateful for Temple Tuesday. It’s… such a wonderful pick-me-up. 😊
Up, to the gym for a bit. I didn’t do a full mega workout again, and I forgot to take my shower stuff into the gym.
Did about a half workout and then enjoyed the hydro massage bed.
Hot day. We’re in the middle of a pretty hefty hot spell. Every week that I go to Casper, whenever I come out of the gym, there’s a white van parked next to me with solar panels and a fan unit and whatnot on top.
Well, today I hung out and chatted with the gentleman who lives in the van. I guess he comes over and parks in the parking lot at some point in the morning once he’s left wherever he spent the night. I didn’t ask if he has a gym membership, but I would imagine that he probably does.
Got to know his story a little bit and also chatted with him about his solar panel set up.
Forgot his name. Why do I forget everybody’s names? 😅 As a teacher, I worked so hard to remember everybody’s names. I’d go home and look at their pictures, and memorize their names, and things that I had learned about them…
But it’s so easy for me to forget.
Anyway, today I had scheduled an endowment session and then a baptismal session afterward. Gratefully, despite getting caught up in the conversation with the gentleman in the parking lot, I made it to the temple and was changed and ready with a few minutes to spare before the beginning of the session. 🙏
The baptismal session didn’t have very many people, but the people who were there had lots of family names, so it ended up being a pretty full session, timewise, at least.
As always, it was a wonderful day in the temple. 😊
Having bought so much food last week, I didn’t even go to Walmart this week, just headed back to South Dakota.
I stopped off at the soaking pool and spent some time working on it. Someone had been there and messed around with things a little bit. The flat rocks I’d put to plug up the day drain pipes had been removed, and one larger rock had been put in its place. They’d also pulled some of the green plants up in an attempt to further seal the drain pipes. 😕
There wasn’t any mud on the sidewalk, so whoever it was must have either taken their shoes off when they walked back up the little trail or come up the creek. Coming up the creek was only really realistically possible now because I had cut away some of the foliage and logs and whatnot that were blocking the path up the creek, so it’s sort of my fault that someone could come up the creek. 🙃
I mean, there’s no harm in anybody coming. I’m just trying to have a place for solitude where I can just think and be outside in the heat and enjoy the lovely water and whatnot, so… the more people who know about the place, the harder it’ll be to find solitude.
Anyway, I don’t really remember much else about the day. 😅
One thing that did happen in the evening was that I got an email back from the New Zealand immigration office. My visa was approved, but with a… complication. They granted me a multiple entry visa, which allows me to spend 6 months in every 12 in New Zealand through August of 2029. 😶
That’s pretty cool! But not the complication. The complication was that my request was for a 6-month continuous visa, and my reserved plane ticket was for a trip just a week shy of 6 months (leave the USA on October 25th and come home April 20th, but the Visa, though allowing me in the country for 6 months of every year would only allow me for a maximum of 3 months at a time.
😅
I’d been instructed to write a cover letter specifically requesting the 6 months straight precisely so this issue wouldn’t happen.
But it did, so I guess I’ll see what that all means.
Gratitude to My Father:
- I’m grateful I didn’t need to go to Walmart today, though I forgot I was out of soymilk, so… I’ll be using the oatmilk my sister Tish bought for me in Washington.
- I’m grateful the drive back went quickly. I forget what all I listened to, but it’s usually a lot. 🙃
- I’m grateful that the people who found my little pool didn’t do anything too damaging to it. Just pulling up plants. Granted, those plants are for both beauty and camouflage, but it was only a couple of handfuls.
- I think I’m grateful my visa application was approved. 🙃
- I’m grateful that being in cold water for so long makes it easier to bear the Rover oven that’s been baking in the sun all day.
- I’m grateful that the parking area for the pools is behind a hill, so cars stop baking about an hour earlier than otherwise.
We. Celebrate. Successes!!! 🥳:
- Hmmm… I don’t feel like I’m having any real successes right now.
Reflections on Where I Can Improve:
- I’m wanting to be done with this pool project, and starting to get a little… what’s the word… anxious doesn’t have the connotation I want… Internal stress because I want to be using my time differently and didn’t think it was going to take this much time, and I keep thinking I’m almost done, but it keeps taking a long time, etc. etc. So there’s this tension of feeling now like I’m wasting valuable time, but neither do I want to leave it unfinished.
Thought of the Day:
“Man, by searching, cannot find out God … The Lord must reveal Himself or remain unrevealed…”
Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder, Anthon H. Lund,
Hand of God In My Life Today:
The peace in the temple is just wonderful. 😊
I’m slipping, though. I’m not being true to my own personal values. I’m still running from so many of the challenges that I want to face and overcome.
I’ll get there.
Lift the world.
Bring it on.
~ stephen
Lift the World 