Not sure why it was different this morning, but the sun didn’t heat up my van early?
It wasn’t because it was behind clouds. I figured that must be the case, but… no?
🙏
There was somebody parked next to me, though. I’m guessing they arrived sometime this morning? And they left not too long after I got up.
I dumped water on the last of the coals that were still hot, spent some decent time chatting with the Big Guy, and then got my little butt on the road, destination the Payson Temple. 😊
I did want to get a bath first, so watched the map as I drove to see when I would cross over a river/mountain creek, and gratefully, I came to a perfect little spot.
After a refreshing dip (and clean hair!), I got back on the road for the hour I had left to drive to the temple.
At first, I reserved a spot for the 1:00 session, realizing that I was going to get to the temple pretty much exactly when the 11:40 a.m. session started, so I wasn’t going to have time to change and make it for that session; and the 12:20 session was full, so 1:00 was my only option, at least that’s what I thought at first.
After reserving my spot for the 1:00 session, I realized that each session had a certain number of walk-in appointments available, so I decided to cancel my 1:00 reservation and try for the 12:20 session as a walk-in patron.
Success! 🙏
Oh my golly… the Payson Temple is… gorgeous. I’ve been going to the little Casper temple for so long that the contrast is striking.
It’s not that the Casper temple is drab, it’s just that the Payson temple is… sort of mind-blowingly beautiful? The Casper Temple is definitely beautiful, but it feels more like it came with a functional focus, whereas the Payson Temple is bordering on… opulent? 😅
It felt so nice to be in the temple today. I felt like I received a huge infusion of light, and despite seeing myself in the mirror again (granted, I didn’t look too closely 😅), I didn’t slip into darkness: I held onto the peace and light, and I did so the entire rest of the day. 🙏
Oh, I guess I did come a little close to chasing the light away while in the Springville Super Wal-mart. I stopped off to offload my plastic-bag recyclables, my trash, and to hopefully buy some new church shoes.
For whatever reason, many of the shoe options were missing prices, and after looking for a long while and finally asking about them, I found out that the Springville Walmart doesn’t have the self-serve price checking machines that other Super Wal-Marts have.
Gratefully, a lady helped me look some prices up, and then I found a way to do it myself with the Walmart app.
Sadly, none of the church shoes that were on clearance were the size I wear (nor were they very attractive 😅), but I did come away with a pair of tennis shoes on clearance for $13 bucks. I’ll use those as my new work shoes and save the shoes I bought last time I was in Utah as my go-out shoes.
I might or might not have bought myself another type of ice cream as well. 😶
😆
The gas station was cheaper than all the other ones in the county, so I decided to top off my tank there even though I hadn’t really driven all that far since the last time I filled up. While I was at the gas station, a couple of I think maybe middle easterners? Pulled up next to me and asked if I would fill their tank for them in exchange for a gold ring.
🤔
That… no. I wasn’t positive it was a scam, but… no. So I gave them five bucks toward putting some gas in their truck and then got back on the road heading up to Salt Lake to visit my friend Robyn.
I decided to ask AI whether or not there was a similar scam running that it was aware of, and jackpot, yes, the AI described pretty much exactly what I had experienced. Apparently people will buy fake gold rings from Temu for like a dollar a piece, waited to feel like real gold, and even stamped with an 18 karat gold stamp but costing as little as $1 because they’re made out of… heavy brass? Something like that.
I really hope no one got taken in by them. 🤞
Had a great time visiting with Robin. I think it’s been… maybe two years since I last saw her? I probably stayed for a couple hours or so, and she gave me a tour of her place since a lot of it was redone after the flood damage.
We also had a great little spiritual discussion. 🤍
She has a new dog that I’ve never met before that wasn’t really keen on meeting a new person, pretty much barking the entire time I was there, but it was also heartwarming for me to see Tuckie (the last of the dogs she had when I lived here before) recognize me and want to just hang out with me. 🥰
He’s old and frail now, almost dying a couple weeks ago before making a miraculous recovery. 🙏
Cory was next on my list to visit, spending the next… gosh, three hours? talking with him and his mom.
Lovely, mentally- and spiritually-stimulating conversation about, among other things, the source of God’s power.
I’m grateful for Cory, and it was fun to have his mom as part of the conversation, too. 😊
Last stop of the night was to my brother Richard’s place, arriving about midnight and then chatting for a bit before wishing him a good night.
I’ll visit with him a bit more in the morning, and then I’ll probably find a random church to go to before visiting my uncle in Spanish Fork.
Good day today. I’m grateful. 🙏 I managed to pull myself away from the mountains and seek light, and I was given the gift of being able to hold on to that light.
That’s not a small thing. 🙏
Between the temple and visiting friends and family, it was simply a good day. 😊
Lift the world.
Bring it on.
~ stephen
Lift the World 