San Diego Temple

Monday, May 8, 2023

Yesterday was the annual devotional they hold for temple workers. While I love all these devotionals this one seemed special.

There have been rumors for months that the San Diego Temple will be shutting down. The beautiful stained-glass windows need to be repaired. Some are broken and others leak. Lisa even told me that there are what looks like bullet holes in some of them. Well on April 17th the church made this announcement. 

The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced the San Diego California Temple — the Church’s 45th temple and operating since 1993 — will close in July 2023 for extensive renovations.

So it is now official that the temple will be closing down but there are a whole new set of rumors about for how long and what they will be doing. While nothing has been announced, the most common rumors are the glass windows will be repaired and that the cafeteria will be repurposed. Shortly after the operation of the temple returned to normal following Covid, it was announced that all temple cafeterias worldwide will be closed. That was a loss, but I understand that it was an unnecessary expense.

So, the official last day for the temple will be July 31 but that is a Monday and temples are not open Mondays or Sundays, so the actual last day is Saturday July 29th.

The San Diego Temple is very precious to me, and we have been so fortunate to have it with us from the time we moved here in 1992. They closed the Cardston temple shortly before we moved from Alberta and rededicated it on June 22, 1991. Kira was able to go to that rededication with us. I think you were supposed to be twelve but since she was almost twelve, we snuck her in.

The renovations for that temple were wonderful. It originally had a water fountain in front of it, beautiful tile floors and curved benches in the Telestial room.

The water fountain had been filled in with dirt and made into a flower bed because the brutal west winds kept the fountain filled with leaves. The tile floors had been carpeted over and I think some of the murals may have been painted over as well. My dad was the engineer at the temple during all of this too, so we got detailed reports.

Many miracles took place during the renovation of Cardston Temple. The carpets were removed, and the beautiful tile floors were restored. When the curved wooden benches were removed, they had been sold and decades later every single bench had been tracked down and donated back to the temple. They wanted to add a new entry way into the temple but the quarry where the original granite had been secured had been shut down. Fortunately, when they built the temple the scraps and excess granite had been dumped in some farmers field just outside of town. This farmer had kept the pile of granite and there was just enough left to build the new entry way.

They designed the entry way to cover the original water fountain which is now operational inside the new entry way out of the nasty winds.

Dad managed to find the original beautiful custom light fixtures in the temple basement so those were refurbished and reinstalled.

So we attended the rededication of the Cardston temple in June of 1991, moved to San Diego in July of 1992 and attended the dedication of the San Diego Temple in April of 1993. We were blessed.

I remember one of the first fast Sundays after we moved here, they asked us in Sacrament Meeting to fast for the temple because they didn’t have enough parking for the expected attendance. Shortly after that fast, the office building just north of the temple went bankrupt and the church bought it. That office building has a parking structure that borders the temple parking lot so they then cut an opening into the parking structure from the temple parking lot. During the day the parking structure is used for the office building but in the evening when the temple has the greatest need for parking, office building is closed, they open the gates to the parking structure and it is used by the temple. The perfect solution but I do feel bad at times that we fasted the office building into bankruptcy.

We were also told that Brigham Young had once prophesied that in the last days there would be “a temple by the sea with a garden on the roof”. This is a lousy picture of the Atrium, but you can see how beautiful it is. While the temple is about a mile from the beach, I think one could say it is “by” the sea and while the atrium isn’t technically “on the roof”, there is nothing but open sky above it so I choose to believe that this temple is a fulfillment of Brigham Youngs prophecy.

Another story that we were told about the San Diego temple is that the architects were a Catholic couple. A husband-and-wife team. I found that both sad and amazing at the same time. It is sad that they can’t go into the temple and admire the wonderful work that they did.

The San Diego temple has this beautiful grand staircase that goes from the dressing rooms up to the endowment rooms and then on up to the sealing rooms. It is completely unsupported and free standing, and it is gorgeous. We were told that in the original design there was supposed to be a water fountain in the center of the staircase at the bottom. This end of the temple is next to the I-5 freeway and the water fountain would drown out the freeway noise.

While the road noise is clearly audible it isn’t a distraction, but that fountain would be amazing. Apparently, the fountain was cut from the plans because the cost had gone so far over budget.

It seems like most modern temples have a theme. The Calgary Alberta temple has heads of wheat throughout the temple. We were able to tour the Payson Temple and it has a theme of peach trees from the local peach orchards. In fact, I just read that thirty-nine of the temples adopt a theme from the local culture. While I don’t know for sure, but I believe the San Diego Temple may have been the first to use such a theme throughout the temple. The eight-sided star is found all through the temple. While it wasn’t by intent, it turns out that the eight-sided star was the seal of Melchizedek. I think that is very cool.

The original design included a large reflection pool where the large lawn is currently. The temple was built during a nasty drought, and they decided that it would look bad to build such a large water feature. They decided to make it into a lawn. While I would have loved a reflection pool, there have been thousands of great wedding pictures on that lawn.

I wondered for decades if these stories I had heard about the temple were all true but then several years ago while we were participating in an empty nesters Family Home Evening, one of our meetings was a presentation by William S Lewis, the architect of San Diego Temple. He gave a wonderful presentation about the temple and then afterwards during a Q&A I asked him about all these rumors. He confirmed that they were all true.

The rumor that the architects were a Catholic couple were only partly true, he employed Dennis & Shelly Hyndman to work with him. They were devout Roman Catholics. They were quite sad that after the temple was dedicated, they would never again be able to go inside. If they are still alive and if they haven’t since joined the church, then it looks like they will get a chance to go see their beautiful temple during this next open house.

He told me that the eight-pointed star had no meaning when he chose to use it as a theme throughout the temple, he has since learned that it was a symbol of Melchizedek, and he loves that connection.

So, the temple will be closed for an undisclosed length of time. People are saying it could be as long as two years or more. I will miss our temple, but it will give us a good chance to visit the many nearby temples. Newport Beach, Redlands, Los Angeles and probably even Mesa and Gilbert. I also want to make a trip down to Tijuana to attend that temple.

Mocking Birds

Tuesday, May 2, 2023

For a few weeks now we’ve notice a nest in our lemon tree and we have seen a couple of Mockingbirds flying into and out of the tree. A week or two ago we heard what sounded like baby’s squeaking in the tree. We couldn’t see into the nest from the ground so I stood up on my new wall and moved away some branches and this is what I saw. 

We were thrilled to have babies in our back yard, but we were kicking ourselves for not checking out the nest sooner. We have now been checking the nest every day watching the baby’s progress. According to google, the eggs incubate for about 14 days and then after they hatch the babies can fly after another 14 days. 

We want to enjoy them now because it looks like they will be leaving us any day now.

--------------------trivia--------------------

The difference in time between when Tyrannosaurus Rex and Stegosaurus lived is greater than the difference in time between Tyrannosaurus Rex and now.

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Samarah

Monday, May 1, 2023

Poor Sam & Sarah (Samarah) are the last of the kids to live in the frozen north. Last Tuesday they finally decided that they had had enough of the cold and came to visit us for a week. They spent the week visiting the beach and have made a few trips to Sea World. While she was here Sarah asked Mom if she would put on a baby shower for her. Sarah is expecting a little boy in August.

Friday night we had a bonfire on the beach. I guess Sam has never done a bonfire on the beach.

The bonfire was great, I don’t know why but a hot dog cooked over an open fire always tastes so much better than a hot dog cooked on a stove.

The bonfire brought back all kinds of memories from when the kids were home. We used to have the kids save all their homework for the entire year and then as soon as school was over, we would have a bonfire at the beach and the kids would burn all their homework. They looked forward to it every year. It wasn’t long before all their friends joined in on the tradition.

The baby shower was held on Saturday at Desiree’s house. I was not invited but from all accounts it was great and had a big turnout.

After church on Sunday, we decided to go to Sea World with Samarah. Mom snapped this picture of me giving Sarah a hand rub in church. All the time, growing up Sarah and I would take turns giving each other hand rubs. It was fun then and it is still fun.

At Seaworld we spent most of the time watching some of the shows and riding on little Ezzy sized rides.

They leave on Tuesday. It has been good having them here this week. I probably won’t see them again until after their baby is born. 

----------trivia----------

Humans share 50% of their DNA with bananas.   

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My Yard

Recorded on Wednesday, April 24, 2023

I have been working on my yard since Covid first started in 2020. I’ve enjoyed the work, but it has been a long time.

The first thing I had to do was to repair our deck. It was ridden with termites and was getting to the point that I was scared to let anyone walk on it. I tore it down to the foundation and rebuilt it. Most of the supporting structure was still good but I did have to replace one strut. Most of the joists were replaced and all the decking and railings.

I then built block walls all around the yard. I separated the flower bed and built a planter on the downhill side, built a wall across the back of the yard, and terraced the uphill side with two short retaining walls.

I then wired the yard to put in flood lights and two outlets. I then plumbed the yard to add a faucet in the back and all the irrigation lines and a drain. I also added power, water and a drain for an outdoor kitchen. I am now to the point that I need to put in the pavers.

Adding pavers is the last step and I’m kind of excited. It will also be the most expensive and the most work. First, I need to dig out all the dirt and back fill with a base compound that is mostly crushed granite. That will need to be packed down. I will then put down a layer of sand and then the pavers.

Saturday, I dug out dirt from about 9:00 until 5:30. It was hard work, like I haven’t done in a long time. I sweat like a pig (that is a funny term because pigs don’t sweat) and drank gallons of water. According to my Fitbit I burned 6,388 calories on Saturday. Here is a graph of my heart rate.

It is good to finally be able to have the end in sight. My goal is to have the yard done enough that we can host Lisa’s 60th birthday party here on June 30. Wish me luck.

I used to include Trivia at the end of each of my posts. I think I will start that again.

-------------------- trivia -------------------

Russia has a larger surface area than Pluto

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Water Leak

This entry was written in my journal on April 18.

I have a very sad tale to share. For years now I have noticed that the soil just outside the kitchen window has been damp. I didn’t think too much of it though because that is where the water valves are for the sprinkler system, and I just assumed they were leaking a little bit.

A couple of weeks ago when the rains finally took a break, I noticed that the sidewalk on the side of the house was wet. This was very unusual and was a new thing. I say it was new but with the rain we have been having it could have been leaking for months I wouldn’t have noticed because everything was always wet. My first thought was that it was a leak in the irrigation system because I had just completed the sprinkler system in the back yard. I turned off the water to the sprinkler system and checked the next day and everything was still wet.

The only other source of water near this area is our master bathroom directly above the wet spot. We have Lisa’s sink, my sink, and the shower. I figured it would be a hot water line because they are always the first to go. I climbed into the attic and cut the hot water line to the shower and checked the next day. Still wet. I then cut the hot water line to Lisa’s sink and the next day it was still wet. I then tried my sink. Finally, I cut both the hot and cold water to the master bathroom. Still wet. This whole process has taken more than a week and I am getting frustrated.

After much thought and pondering I figured it must be the kitchen sink, but it is six feet away from that side of the house. I then noticed that the ground just outside the kitchen window was still wet and since the irrigation valves had been completely removed, I knew that it was coming from the kitchen.

I didn’t even want to think about running new water lines to the kitchen because it would be almost impossible to run new water lines where the old ones went but I cut the hot water line to the kitchen and voila, the next morning the sidewalk was dry. Yay, I had found the leak but now how was I going to replumb the kitchen?

I dedicated last Saturday to replumbing the kitchen. From the moment I woke up until I went to bed was spent crawling in the attic, under the sink or in other small, cramped spaces. It was an exhausting day.

My first lucky break came when I realized that the heating duck to the kitchen drops straight down through my closet from the attic. Ever since we moved into this house, I’ve wondered what this 18” x 18” enclosed space in my closet was. I’ve been tempted to cut a hole into it just to see. Well, climbing around in the attic I realized it is the heat duct.

The next lucky break is the fact that the kitchen has a dropped ceiling so this heat duct opens up into the dropped ceiling where I can get at it.

The third lucky break is that I have installed pot lights in the kitchen ceiling so I can remove those lights and access the inside of the dropped ceiling.

Once I had figured out the plan it didn’t take too long to get the new pipe run from the attic down to the kitchen wall but now I was stuck. So far, I had managed to do all of this with only cutting a small hole under the kitchen sink and in the wall of the kitchen cabinet where no one would see them and in our master bathroom which would be easily repaired. Now I needed to cut a hole in the kitchen wall and that was going to be a problem.

Once I cut the old pipe there was no going back so before I cut it, I double checked everything. As I was looking under the kitchen sink, I saw what I thought was water damage down inside the wall. It then dawned on me that all I had to do was cut the pipe under the kitchen sink and replace that portion of the pipe. That would have been a two-hour job rather than a ten-hour job. I promptly tucked the new pipe inside the drop ceiling, replaced the pipe under the kitchen sink and cleaned up. I then dropped on the couch exhausted, frustrated that I had wasted my Saturday but confident that this problem was now behind me.

Imagine my frustration Sunday morning when I woke up to find the sidewalk wetter than ever. So, Monday evening I was back at it. I managed to get the pipe from the dropped ceiling to the sink by cutting a single hole in the kitchen wall and after an hour of great frustration and skinned knuckles I had the water line connected. Now there was no chance of a leak. I had new pipe all the way from the attic to the sink and I could see every connection and none of them had a leak. Last night I went to bed confident that the problem was behind me. I would watch it for a day or two and then patch up my holes.

This morning I happily headed out to the side of house to relish in my dry sidewalk only to find that it was wetter than ever. I was so depressed, but I instantly realized the problem and that made me even more depressed. The leak was in the dishwasher. I had just spent ten hours and hundreds of dollars solving a problem that could have been fixed in less than an hour and probably with no cost. I haven’t pulled out the dishwasher yet but it could be as simple as tightening up a fitting but as old as it is I will probably need to buy a new fitting. Worst case we will need a new dishwasher but the money I’ve spent could have paid for half of a new dishwasher.

You do need to cut me some slack though, after all, I have polybutylene plumbing which is known to be susceptible to leaks and I have already had to repair two leaks in the attic. So, when water starts flowing out of my house it is understandable that that is where my brain goes first.

Lisa hates our dishwasher, so she is hoping our dishwasher is unfixable.

Coronado

Monday, April 17, 2023

On Wednesday we made another trip to the beaches. This time we checked out Silver Strand Beach and Coronado beach. We had heard that they were good beaches for seashells.

Silver Strand did have a lot of seashells, but they were all the same kind of shell. We wanted a wider variety of shells. The shells at Silver Strand were mostly this very pretty clam shell. They were very pretty shells but how many do you really need?

We decided to move on to Coronado. We went a bit north of the Hotel Del to a part of the beach we had never been to. At first, I thought it was going to be a bust. The beach was a beautiful beach but there were not very many shells and the ones that we did see were not particularly nice ones.

And then I saw a sand dollar. We don’t see many sand dollars in San Diego and the ones we do see are usually broken so I was kind of excited. I then found another sand dollar but this one was completely intact. And then I found another and another and by the time we left I’d found around 25 sand dollars and at least a quarter of them were completely intact. We didn’t find many other shells, but the sand dollars made it worth it.

We then decided it was time for lunch, so we had a wonderful meal at this cute little bistro on the main drag of Coronado. If you look carefully, you can see me sitting on the right-hand side of the sidewalk eating area.

After lunch we walked through the downtown area to check out the little shops and then headed home. It was another great day.

Spring Break

 Friday, April 14, 2023

This week is Lisa’s spring break and while she has plans to complete a lot of unfinished work around the house, she also wants to do some fun stuff so on Monday this week (April 10^th) we played. Lisa is in a marine science class this semester and the students have been assigned to collect 15 different species of some kind of animal. In a show of support to the teacher and the students she is collecting shells along with them. The first thing we did this morning was to go the beach and look for unique seashells.  

Lisa looked up the best beach for collecting shells and Tourmaline was high on the list so off we went. It was a dingy and cold day, but it is always great to walk on a beach and it was good to get out for a change. I have been so focused on getting my smoker working properly that I have not been running or taken any breaks for a long time.

The water was just as cold as the air and after ten minutes my fingers and my feet were numb. We were able to find some cool looking shells but there wasn’t a whole lot of variety. She definitely has more than 15 different species though. She’s going to make a shadow box to hang in the bathroom. I think it is going to look nice, so I’ll take a picture when she’s done.

When we were sufficiently frozen, we then headed to the Midway Museum. I can’t go to that place often enough. It is so huge that every time we go, we see new things. This trip we focused on the talks they have on the top deck. They have one for launching and one for recovery. I think it is funny that they don’t say take off and landing but launch and recovery. I suppose that is more appropriate though because they shoot the plane into the air with a catapult and catch it with a wire.

This trip we spent most of our time on the top deck. In the past we have spent a lot of time down in the engine and boiler rooms and up in the tower, which they call the island.

The presentations were fascinating, and it always amazes me what a bunch of kids barely out of high school are able to accomplish. They can launch a plane every 45 seconds.

When we were too hungry to focus on the Midway anymore, we left the ship and ate tacos at the Carnitas Snack Shack located on the waterfront right in front of the Midway. This is one of our favorite places to eat Taco’s. They are delicious. It was a fun day.

Beauty and the Beast

Thursday, April 13, 2023

I have never been much for the arts. While I enjoy going to band concerts, orchestras, musicals, and other plays, I don’t feel the need like some people do. Since my wife and the majority of my kids feel otherwise, I have gained a measure of appreciation for the arts over the years. Once the kids reached an age where they started learning musical instruments and taking dance lessons then I found myself going to more and more of these.

The kids are now all gone but Lisa still likes to go to some shows either downtown, in the community or at the high school. I enjoy going with her.

Of all the musicals they could have put on, Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorites. Last Friday we went to the final showing and since Lisa works at the school, she obviously knew a lot of the cast, prop workers and people in the pit. I even knew some of them. 

After the show Lisa, of course had to stop and say high to everyone she knows (and many that she doesn’t know). The guy in the picture with her is Robert Townsend. He used to work with Lisa’s good friend from high school, Danny Austin. Danny is a choreographer for the musical group “Jersey Boys”. Robert is now a teacher at Westview and teaches the theater group.

Phillip Carey

Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Perhaps my favorite calling ever was when Lisa and I taught Primary together. She has a gift of being able to connect with people in a way that I just don’t understand and that is doubly so with children. When we taught these classes I was able to go along for the ride.

We first taught ten-year-olds, which in my mind is the perfect age, but we were then asked to teach eight-year-olds. I was a little disappointed, but we were able to bond with them just as well as we did with the ten-year-olds.

I remember on our very first day, one of the little girls promptly climbed on my knee during sharing time and gave me a huge smile. It melted my heart. Her name was Ashley Johnston. I loved it, but quickly realized that this just wasn’t going to work, every girl in the class now wanted to sit on my lap and it became a fight. Even the girls who didn’t fight over sitting on my lap, because they were too shy, I could tell that they really wanted to but they weren’t about to take on Ashley who could be a little intense. Sitting on my knee soon became against the rules but they tried for the entire year.

My real surprise came within the next few weeks when suddenly one of our little boys came up to me in church and gave me a huge hug. His name was Nathan Carey. That quickly became what we did every time we saw each other. It was great. In fact, even today we hug those kids whenever we see them and some of them are now in the young men’s and young women’s. Sadly, most of them are in our old ward since they reorganized the ward boundaries. 

Nathan’s parents are Phil and Larissa Carey and they recently moved to Spokane Washington because he was getting ready to retire. His family has moved but he had a few months left to work so we do see him from time to time.

Last week when we were serving in the temple Lisa saw Phil and talked for a little bit. When they were done, she told him to give Nathan a big hug from her. He said, “why don’t you give him one yourself, the family is in town for my retirement celebration from the Navy tomorrow?” So, that is what we did.

The ceremony was held at the Veterans Museum and Memorial Center which is in a beautiful old church in Balboa Park. There were about a hundred people there and probably a quarter of them were from church. Apparently, Phil was a Commander in the Navy, but he actually worked his way up in the ranks from a humble beginning when he joined the Navy at seventeen as a simple enlisted man. I guess that is not very common and it sounds like officers who work their way up from enlisted soldiers are quite respected. At some point during his career Phil went back to school to get a degree in nuclear engineering.

Even before we entered the building, we could hear a band playing and we knew that one of the instruments was an Oboe. That always gets our attention. They were a quintet selected from the Naval Band. They were good.

The ceremony talked a lot about how wonderful Phil was, but I was also impressed how they devoted a lot of time talking about his family. It was a great ceremony and I’m glad we were able to attend.

Leg Aches

Recorded in my journal on March 28, 2023

When I was a child I would frequently get leg aches. It only happened at night time and they hurt so bad I would lay there and cry. My dad would come in to my bedroom or I would go into his bedroom and he would rub my legs. They stopped by the time I was maybe sixteen or seventeen but despite the pain at the time, I look back onto those nights when my dad rubbed my legs with fondness and warmth.

My parents always told me that they were growing pains and that makes sense to me because I was 6’2” when I was fourteen. So when my kids started getting leg aches I just assumed that this was normal. I also knew just what to do, I would rub their legs to get the blood flowing and to heat up the leg and it seemed to help. I had no idea that this ritual would have the same effect on them that it did on me. I also realize that night time leg aches are not all that normal. Let me share a thread of text messages that were exchanged in our family chat today.

Sheba

I’m pretty anxious to get my yard done. I’m close to the final steps. As soon as I can bury the power lines, water lines and sewer drains I will be able to lay down the pavers. Last week Lisa was at Roots Tech and as it turned out Jeff’s wife Tiffany was in Texas with her mom and I think her sister so Jeff called me up and told me he was bored and wanted to come help me in my yard. I gladly accepted his help. He also brought along Zander who was also bored. We got most of the electrical done but it went slow because we were working in behind the south wall where I’ve been dumping all the blocks, rocks and dirt.

It rained all week so this week things were pretty muddy yesterday (March 11) and to make things worse it was drizzling off and on all day. Jeff called me again in the morning and asked if he could come help. I gratefully accepted his help. Once again he brought Zander. I don’t think Zander was as anxious to help today but he came anyway. It was pretty early in the morning and I think Jeff dragged him out of bed.

We finished all the trenching, got most of the electrical finished, most of the sewer line finished and got a good start on the sprinkler system. One more week should do it and then it is pavers.

As I was trenching across the back of the yard I pulled up a couple of pieces of boards. I was pretty sure they were pieces from a pet casket. Bridgett, Sheba and Cyrus are all buried in that spot and I made a casket for each of them. Not long after, my fears were confirmed when we uncovered a couple of Sheba’s leg bones.

 Here is a picture of Sheba in her better days.

It was a long day but we got a lot done thanks to Jeff and Zander. I had just crawled out of a wonderful shower after sending a lot of mud down the drain when we got a call from Kathy Marx asking if we wanted to go for dinner with her and Mark. Mark is her new boyfriend. That is a long story that I will have to share at a later time.

We had a wonderful dinner at Rosita’s and we got to know Mark a whole lot better. He is a wonderful guy and I’m so happy for Kathy.

Neil deGrasse Tyson

So Monday night (March 6) Lisa told me that she had a surprise she wanted to give me while we were in Las Vegas but she forgot it and home and even though we had been home for a week she had still forgotten to give it to me. She then told me she had tickets to go see Neil deGrasse Tyson speak for tomorrow night. That would have been the next day.

I wasn’t sure who Neil deGrasse Tyson was but I didn’t really care, any astrophysicist who can sell tickets is probably plenty good enough to entertain me. When I saw his picture I did recognize him and I believe I have even seen him host shows on TV.

He turned out to be an excellent speaker. I can’t remember the name of the topic he chose to speak on but it was something like “Cosmic Oddities” or “Strange Facts about the Universe”. He did a great job and I could have listened to him all night. Thank you Lisa for thinking about me

Elder Palmer

There are three kids in Justin’s family, Jared is the oldest, and then Justin and the baby is Chelsey. Jared ended up marrying a girl from Temecula and we were quite excited to have some of Justin’s family with roots near us.  As it turned out they ended up divorced and Jared’s wife (Amanda) moved home with all the kids. Justin and Kira have remained in touch with them all but I have had little to do with them.

A month or two ago I was assigned to work with a young man who was going through the temple for the first time and as I was going through the schedule I found it interesting that the kids last name was Palmer. That was cool but there are a lot of Palmers in this world. What I found more interesting is that his escort was his bishop Cameron Riches who grew up in our ward.

I showed the schedule to Lisa during our preparation meeting and she nearly started crying. The Palmer kids name was Logan Palmer and he was Justin and Kira’s nephew. He had been called on a mission and was getting ready to ship out to Honduras. He was rather excited when I told him that I was his Aunt Kira’s dad and the whole temple experience was quite special. While he didn’t really know us we were the closest thing to family that he had there and Lisa was able to tell him all kinds of stories about his great grandpa Asael Delbert Palmer who actually has some pretty interesting ties to the San Diego Temple.

Lisa and I walked out the temple with them and they invited us to his farewell talk. The farewell talk was yesterday (Feb 27).

We listened to our wards talks on Zoom as we were driving up there and then we had a wonderful sacrament meeting with them. Logan gave a great talk most about service but he tied in his Palmer heritage and talked a lot about Delbert and a fourth great grandfather who also had some amazing missionary experiences. Apparently he was able to convert and entire mob who was bent on killing him.

It was also quite funny at one point in the talk where he suddenly stopped, stuck his finger in his mouth and started wiggling his finger around. He then stopped for a moment and said, “I think I just swallowed a mosquito”. After a moment or two he then said, “got him”.  He then carried on with his talk and the first thing he said, “…my summer job was selling pest control”. It was hilarious, after the mosquito incident he went right into pest control and the entire chapel burst into laughter.

The guy sitting next to Logan spoke last and he had an incredible story. He grew up in the LA slums among gangs. His story about he stayed active in the church while his brother ended up in and out of jail was incredible. His brother came to him once and asked for a blessing. After the blessing he got his act together and was able to stay clean until he died a couple of years ago. I really want to know what he died from.

The middle speaker was the Bishops’ wife. It was interesting to see the bishop sitting with his wife. That doesn’t happen often.

Last week we drove to Hemet for a baby blessing and the flowers were beautiful due to all the rain. They were still beautiful this week but not as nice as last week.