(written on June 3rd from notes taken previously)
I actually slept in today!
And ironically, I totally forgot that I didn’t want to today. 🙃
😆
I was actually hoping to go attend another church in the area to begin my efforts of reaching out and bringing people from differing backgrounds together on common values (a little interfaith ministry work, so to speak).
Buuuuut… I slept in.
I probably already mentioned this before, but if I didn’t, being a small town like we are, fewer than 4,000 people, most of the churches meet at the same time on Sunday, which makes it challenging to participate in my own while also reaching out to others.
I don’t like the idea of reaching out over email or phone as a first connection.
Anyway, the Lutheran Church started at I think 9:00? So I was going to swing by there before going to my own church, but… slept in.
I suppose that probably wouldn’t have worked out very well anyway, as I imagine their first meeting lasts at least an hour, and I would have to leave sooner than that to make it back to my own church on time.
Oh well, I’ll figure it out.
I headed over to J.H. Keith Park and enjoyed a refreshing soak/bath before heading on over to church.
At church, I got dressed and then ended up chatting in the parking lot with one of the other members for a good little while before heading in.
It was testimony meeting this Sunday, even though it’s the 5th Sunday, because we’ve got stake conference next Sunday.
Surprisingly, for the first time since I’ve been in this Branch, it was a slow testimony day. In fact, multiple of the people who for their testimonies today were folks that are just in town for the summer.
Lovely testimonies. 🤍
I almost got up. 🙃
I noticed that one of the members was having a hard time, so I chatted a little bit with that member.
Sunday School was a bit different today. Today, we watched a video of two of the members of the quorum of the Twelve Apostles talking about the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
That was really cool.
After church, thinking of how wonderfully welcoming the members in that Cheyenne, Wyoming Ward had been to me a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to pay it forward and welcome the new peeps, so I caught one couple and chatted with them for a bit. Good stuff. 😊
After that, I went to talk to the branch president about the possibility of me being able to get sacrament at home so I could go visit other churches that were at our same time slot– realizing as I was asking him and listening to him reply how less effective of an idea that would be.
The branch president was super cool about it, but as I thought about it, I realized it was a pretty dumb idea.
That was followed by the realization of another dumb idea. I had made a spreadsheet of members of the branch with the goal of reaching out to see what I could do to be a blessing in their lives and what we might be able to do as a branch to bless them in whatever it is that they might need, and once again, as I was going over the spreadsheet with the branch president, I just recognized how ridiculous some of the things were that I had included, how poorly thought out they were.
I sort of wanted to shrink with embarrassment as the realization hit me of what I had included in there. Gratefully, the branch president is a gem.
Although he might be wondering what kind of a brain I’ve got operating in my head to be thinking some of the things that I was thinking. 😅
But it’s good for me to be internally humbled and to not try and save face.
I’m a utopian dreamer, and sometimes I don’t recognize immediately that my ideas, though perhaps wonderful in a perfect world, might be destructive in the current world.
Anyway, headed back to the ranch after church. I want to play the piano, but I don’t want to bother anybody, and I only like being the center of attention when I want to be the center of attention.
I don’t think I’d do very well as a celebrity. 😅
I spent some time journaling, horse mucking, hoof-dirt cleaning, and making connections with River. 🥰
Saw this little baby as well… came walking right up toward me, stopping perhaps five or eight feet from me.
The little thing’s lack of fear toward me might be why the other two or three little ones died. 😞
I think I’m starting to find my way back to the spiritual realm of light that I lived in and feasted on for the majority of the years between 2009 and 2016.
I still have a ways to go before I’m back there, but I’m feeling the roots of my little plants of faith starting to take hold. 🙏
I’m feeling the desire to escape into non-uplifting things diminish significantly, and today, each time I thought about it, the thought came into my mind, Stephen, how much do you want the Spirit like you used to have it?
I’m grateful to have had the strength to act on those little nuggets and to choose pure light over distraction. 🙏
I hope I can keep making that choice.
Went to dinner with a family from the branch that invited us over. Lovely couple. They were both entrepreneurs, running one business and building another, and we spent a good long time chatting about business that they’re in process of building.
Good stuff. My brain is wired for business ideas, so I soak that kind of stuff up. 🙃
After getting back to the ranch, I spent a good little while chatting with Dad and Cindy. Sadly, I hadn’t reached out to Cindy on Mother’s Day, so this was definitely a long time coming. 😬
I’m going to try and get back to my weekly phone calls like I used to do years ago. 🤞
Heather and I had a lovely gospel conversation and then listened to a talk and chatted a good bit, After which I spent time journaling and more time on gospel stuff before crashing for the night.
Lift the world.
Bring it on.
~ stephen
Lift the World 