Tuesday 7-9-24

Today I woke up and had a lot on my mind 

I have a lot of trials coming my way

In the middle of June I received a letter saying I might be losing a lot of my disability benefits 

So I’ve had that on my mind for a while

It is now July 9 and I haven’t received anything this month

So this is my first trial after my baptism

So my goal is to stay strong 

Stay positive 

and to seek out help

To not get frustrated

And to trust in God

So I’m gonna go about my day as usual, 

and this is how it started…….

I woke up and got right down on my knees and started to pray…

All about all the trials coming up 

and what I’m going to have to do differently 

and how I’m going to be able to keep working out

And improving my body at the pool

And helping other people at the pool 

And with all the other people I help with my form of aerobics…….

Am I going to lose my access to the pool, because If I do, 

I’m gonna lose my ability to keep myself staying strong, 

and I’m just gonna go back to my old weak self

By not being able to stay strong

Here in this amazing Pool

This amazing Healing pool ( in my opinion)

((I need to apologize real quick you’re gonna get a side track thought 

that just came into my mind and I need to write it down here…))

 

I can do amazing things in the pool, but outside of the pool.

 I am strong but I can last about an hour before I’m exhausted and if I push it, I can keep going, but I really reap the penalty later on in the day.

I can last about three hours of doing outside decent work before I am in so much pain in my back

 that I just can’t go anymore.

But with me being stubborn, and I’ve always been this way, I am going to keep helping as long as I can, because I said I was willing to help

And I pay for it later, but I feel good about talking to everyone about God…

And I believe God is blessing me 

because I am willing to help others, even though I am in pain

Last year I took a temporary job in Salt Lake

And I worked for him for a month and setting up his tool shop really simple easy job 

they would bring in the boxes I would reach in and sort them out and

My only instructions were set it up how you would.. your way..

 (He had just rented a shop down by the railroad tracks

In north salt lake)

And that was kind of odd 

To me

so I set it up as I would set up my shop if I had one

And I had this job for about a month and I finished everything in the shop

And then he asked me to go do a job in his home, which was his work office

And as I was setting up a chair in his garage 

I twisted wrong, and my back went out

And I called an employee and told her

 I can’t move I can’t walk. I am in absolute pain.

 I am crying. 

I am going home.

She suggested to me to call Terry the Boss the owner of the company 

And tell him everything that happened 

and I did…….

And I told him I am done working

 I am not going to work anymore. 

I need to go to get checked out. 

I am done working thank you for allowing me to work.

And I went to an amazing doctor and explained and showed her my back.

 I couldn’t walk. 

I couldn’t move my legs without horrendous pain

I said I want this out of my back. 

I had electrodes in my back 

that is a lot of The scars on my sides  of scar tissue that you’ll see on my back.

And this was the only doctor that trusted me 

that believed in what I was saying about how bad my back was

I don’t have her permission to say her name so I’m not going to, but if I do get her permission, I will write it in here

She then proceeded to do an amazing surgery,

 but I was in a lot of pain because after because I have had my back opened up at least six times through testing 

through back surgeries

 through you name it 

I’ve been poked

 I’ve been prodded

All I have to say is ouch !!!

 the surgery was on march 1 of 2023 I believe

And as I was in so much pain and agony, and at my lowest of lows, that is when I turned to God

And then I had my amazing understanding of how I needed to change my life……. Through my Heavenly Father’s guidance 

Wow, I had a total sidetrack thought…

 I am so sorry…

I’m gonna get back to what I was talking about )

…

                                           All the things in my life I was about to loose……

( if you got side tracked like I did…sorry )

Car insurance…..

Food…..

And my daily life routine…

How can I keep Talking to everyone…

How am I able to do Service…

And my biggest worry is, how am I gonna pay for my medical cannabis?

If I loose all my money and benefits ?

And so on…

And so I’ve been trying to think of all kinds of things that I can do

And that’s where I realized my mistake….

In my Prayer

In the middle of my prayer I just stopped….

Before in my past, I tried to do everything on my own 

I tried to fix everything on my own

And I would never seek help on how to do it

So this time around 

I have been going and talking to as many people that I know 

who I trust

And asking their opinion, and asking what they would do

Asking for scripture’s on sticky note pads from people who I talk to

And so that’s what I prayed for today 

is that I would understand in a deeper way

What I need to do and the steps I need to take to prepare for whatever is coming

So I stayed at the pool for an hour and a half

And it was more of another relaxing workout for me 

not too crazy, but not too calm either

I felt  inspired to text somebody and ask if they were going to the pool today 

because their normal days are Tuesdays and Thursdays in the afternoon

He then responded that he was going to be there at 2:30

I asked if I could join him

He said absolutely

 So knew I was coming back later today

So I did a relaxing workout

And then, the friend that told me he could not go Bowling yesterday

Called me up today and invited me to go

And my very first thought was 

I am so sore because of yesterday, 

Bowling yesterday

 the trip over the weekend 

Trimming the tree

 in my mind, 

The first thought was….      I don’t want to go !

But today was not about me…

Because of my prayers 

Because of what I’m doing today, 

I’m trusting God rather than myself 

Or my own thoughts…….

So I said, what time do you wanna go 

and we scheduled a time 

Then I drove to

To jack and Jill’s bowling alley in American fork Utah 

We set up a league style game 

switching lanes back-and-forth after each throw/ frame

His Bowling name is Tiger

My Bowling name is Super Grover

We talked about life and I told him about everything going on and what I’m stressed about

And we talked about all the concerts that he has been going to

And we played cards 

while we bowl 

as a competition against each other

If you roll a strike,  you get two cards

 if you get a spare  you get one card

And if you pick up a split as a spare, you get two cards

Best poker hand wins

At the end of the game

you don’t win anything, 

you just win and you get a high five from the other person

This is how we kind of compete back-and-forth with score, 

and with the cards to make it more fun

My first game that I bowled was a 179

My second game I bowled, 179

My third game I bowled a 179

And my fourth game that I did not think I was gonna do 

because after  three games 

It usually kills my back…

I bowled 179 points

The people at the counter said they had never seen that before

They have heard of people getting three games in a row but it’s really rare, 

but they have never seen somebody get four games in a row with all the same score

The owner of the building was there, His name is Jack

 and he saw the three games in a row. After it was done

But he walked away, after the 4th game started and then workers at the front counter told him how I finished the fourth game

So I have so many witnesses that saw it. 

It was so cool.

After I finished the fourth game, 

I celebrated that I got a 179 out loud and celebrated 

everybody looked at me kind of like I was crazy

Everybody else that was Bowling…….

 because in the Bowling world 179 

is not that good of a score compared to other scores

I then went up to the counter and talked to them for a while

So I jokingly said, I want my name up there with everyone else, on the wall

 (Which you can see under my score in the picture )

but I want my plaque to say  

::DAVID:: 179 x 4 

So it doesn’t really compete anywhere with a 300 score which is the best score ever

But I truly think today was my best bowling games ever 

because I was so focused on what I was trying to do

it wasn’t till the third game that I wanted to get a 179 and then in a fourth game that was a really hard one to figure out how to get 179 again

In the 10th frame, I got two strikes

And on my next throw, 

I had to get four pins

 out of all 10 pins being up, 

so I went to the front counter and I asked Bryce how he would do it 

and he said either go to the left   Near the 7 pin

or to the right  near the 10 pin and hit it like this….

and he explained what he would do 

And I thought about it and I said OK I’m going towards the 10 and I threw it and I got it 

Wow!!!

And today, during this Bowling session was one of my best bowling games ever 

but I did not know this till the end

If I would have not gone today

And I would’ve listen to my body and of not wanting to go 

this would’ve never happened…

What an amazing score…

Game…

For four games 

716 total pins isn’t that impressive 

Compared to 900 pins in three games…..

 but to be that consistent that many times in a row 

that’s crazy.

And then my friend Tiger went around telling everybody what had just happened

I then jokingly said to the front counter

Tiger ( I pointed at him) He’s going to pay for my games cause he didn’t think I could do it

And then Tiger said 

that is so cool Grover !!! 

 I’m gonna pay for your Bowling today !!!

So another blessing came my way

He kept going around from place to place…….

  each bowling lane telling them what just happened with my scores…

I asked for them to print out my scores

But they said that their printer was having problems with error code or something

So I was not able to get a print out

But they did try several times to get it to print out it just never worked

But the person that works in the bowling ball shop (Bryce) was there and the owner of the establishment was also there 

ask them…

And I said, I’m sorry Tiger but I need to go

I thanked him for paying for my game and being part of this amazing score/games

But I felt like I needed to leave

As I was leaving the bowling alley, 

I was going towards the freeway 

 I noticed that a car was stopped in the middle of the intersection, 

in front of deseret industries in American fork Utah 

trying to turn left with all her flashers on

So I pulled up behind her car 

and put my flashers on also, and got out to help

I then walked over to a man trying to push the car

And I said excuse me, and he turned around

And He  jumped…..

really bad…..

like I had scared him…..

I was wearing suit pants, white shirt, and a red tie

And I’m guessing I look like an authority figure

 and so I’m guessing I scared him…….

in that horrible feeling way….. like your in trouble…..

So I immediately said I’m here to help. 

I’m so sorry for scaring you.

And his mannerism calmed down immediately

And then he said, thank you so much for your help

I talked to both of them ( the woman in the car and this guy trying to push the car)

to figure out what was wrong with the car

 the  little woman in the car said

 “it just stopped. 

It wouldn’t turn

 it wouldn’t go into drive

 It wouldn’t go

 It won’t even go into neutral. 

I don’t know what’s going on.”

somebody else pulled up, 

In the dirt across from Deseret industries 

while we were trying to push the car

And they tried to figure out what is going on

The traffic starting to back up so

I took the authority to direct traffic

 away from this car,

 so no accidents happened 

and traffic handled perfectly. 

Nothing went wrong while we could not move this car.

So we have a few people in the intersection trying to push a disabled car

That wouldn’t move no matter what we did

We turned it off 

We turned it on.

 We put it in gear 

we put on the brakes 

we tried everything you could think of…….

The car would not move.

 It was stuck in the middle of the road. 

All the while the young woman is in the car

(Probably embarrassed with everybody trying to help her, but nothing is happening)

Traffic is just going by normal. 

No problems whatsoever.

Except for her car being in the middle of the intersection in the road

And about five people standing behind it trying to figure out what is going on

This all happened in about 7 light changes 

This has been happening  while we’re standing in the middle of this intersection

Trying to get this car to move

And then another guy drives over in a work truck 

Parks in the dirt 

He has a shirt on that has a car from his work logo on it 

and his Name tag on 

 And he asked around

 what’s going on how can I help?

 What can I do?

And we explained to him the problem

And he asked the woman to step out of the car 

and he did something 

and within 2 minutes

 he got the car running and working, 

and he was able to pull the car out of the intersection

 over to the side of the road.

He then explained to the woman on how to fix it, 

so it didn’t happen again

And then he walked over to the other side of the road back to his work van/truck

The woman then sat in her car while the other people went over and talked to each other 

They all were saying thank you for all your help

I walked over to the Woman

 it looked like she was crying about what just happened and how stupid she felt.

 (That’s the impression that I got.)

So I went up to her and I said 

don’t worry about it.

 Just relax 

things happen. 

Just let it go and focus on what your day is going to be 

and not what just happened

I told her stupid things happen to great people 

and you just have to let it go 

and move on

She smiled then I went over across the street

 and I shook everybody’s hand that helped out and told them 

thank you for helping

I got back into my van and drove away

I then arrived home

And invited my mom to play a little bit of dominoes until my next appointment

We played three rounds and this time she really got me this time 

she got a lot of points

We have one ongoing game that we play so many rounds

And then we get up and move or do stuff and then we continue to play later on, but we always keep the same scorecard

So we can just add the points

We talked a lot about the gospel and things coming and it was really fun to talk to my mom again 

So I noticed what time it was and said I’m gonna go help the people at the pool and I’m sorry but 

 I couldn’t play this round anymore 

so we stopped

I show up to the pool around 1 o’clock 

Earlier in the day, a pool technician texted me and said they were having problems in the pool

So I told him I would show up around 1 pm and help them out

But the people left at 12:30 

And just texted me 

They had just barely left…….

so on a paper in the back room on the ph chart that I typed up 

I wrote how to solve the problem that they were having

So that they could just refer to the note next time and get it solved

That took me a little bit to fix and now it should be easy from this point on

For the technicians

And I just stayed at the pool because I knew I had an appointment at the pool around 2:30

So I continue to do my work out that I was doing earlier and just took it easy

And somebody came in the pool that I haven’t talked to in quite some time

She comes in the afternoon and that’s why I don’t see her anymore in the mornings 

We talked about a lot of things that she’s struggling with, and how she wants to improve her life and

Her current struggles that she has going on and why she is in the pool today at this time

We talked for about an hour as we were both working out walking back-and-forth

And then we said our goodbyes, and she left

I continue to work out in the pool and clean at the same time

When I need a break from exercise  I clean and slow my heart rate down but keep moving 

And then my appointment came that I was waiting for at 2:25

He was early 

Sweet…….

I have been showing him all of my exercise routine that I have made up 

(with the help of the Fyzical staff,  Who in the past I have asked for help on how to do things

So I do it correctly )

so that he can improve his life

And so we talked about my problems and while we talked 

he gave me all kinds of good advice 

And then we talked about about some of his amazing life 

and his new calling he starts this week

We just continue to work out, and he tries all kinds of new exercises that I was showing him

And the hardest, one for him, but he did a really good job

Was…….  hold his one leg up in the air 

while he’s laying on his back in the water… like you’re floating

So what you do is you hold onto to 2 Floaties 

1 on the left hand and 1 in the right  hand

And then you float with your feet straight out in front of you

Head back

Just float

But you need floaties

(Trust me)

This is a really powerful core exercise in the pool

Then what you do is with one leg, 

you lift it above the water surface while you keep the rest of your body floating 

and your toes are out of the water with both feet

I will have to take a picture so I can explain 

but I’m not in the pool right now,

 so I’ll do it later and add it…….

And what you wanna do is just hold your foot above the water

 it sounds super easy

The first time he tried it, he got five seconds

I asked him put that leg back down and try the other leg

He then tried it again and he got 15 seconds with his other leg

I then explained to him how I did it

And I took the time to explain it to him and I said 

At first I’m just going to hold on to this floaty 

so you can understand how it feels to float

With one leg up out of the water

So we did that for a minute or so

And then I challenged him to try it again my way

And he got one minute on his first leg = that was five seconds..  when he tried earlier 

And then I said, OK let’s put that leg down.

 Let’s give it a rest cause you never wanna push yourself when you try something new.

So then I said

 this time I am not going to count out loud.

 I was counting every five seconds 5,10,15,20 and so on…….

Then on his second leg = that he got 15 seconds earlier 

this time he got two minutes on this leg. 

He was improving fast.

I then said this time I’m not going to count out loud 

at all 

but I’m going to watch you so you don’t hit your head on the walls

Close your eyes and focus

This time he went for three minutes and about 20 seconds before he just couldn’t do it anymore.

If he keeps this exercise up, he is going to be amazed at how strong his core is going to get

I then showed him other ways of manipulating this exercise on a bar rather than on Floaties

And then I showed him how to target each section of his core in his stomach

And we talked and discussed all kinds of stuff, and we worked out the whole time

We were the pool from 2:30pm from his appointment all the way till fifteen minutes after the pool closes

5:45 pm

The only reason

We were able to stay longer After the pool closed

is because I was with him in the pool

A small bonus of volunteering…

I then said sorry we need to get out.

 I need to close the pool 

 thank you for your time

 I will let you know

Later tonight about what happened with the advice you gave me today

So I told him that I would follow up with him about what he suggested for me to do…

I then drove to my next appointment

I scheduled an appointment with my Bishop

The first thing I did after we said hello

 is 

I asked for a Calling

A Service missionary

And then I told him about my situation of seeking other singles wards, 

For a month now I’ve been trying to seek out a singles ward that I can go to 

because I’m single

I’ve gone to three different ones and they have all said you’re too old

Our limit is from 25 years old to 45 years old

And for a month I was kind of confused about this

But I got three separate answers 

from three separate people

 last week and the week before 

that I need to be in this family ward

The one that kind of sealed my testimony of where I need to be

And what ward I need to be in, is when I talked to the

Quorum of the 70’s member

Which I talked to on a Sunday

In my previous blog

I then told him (the bishop)

I’m going to join this ward and I would like to meet with him please

So I said to my Bishop 

I told him about everything going on  and 

in my trials coming up

And what I got out of him, 

the most

Out of all the advice he gave me

It was this…

“Open up your scriptures

And pray

And trust God that He will answer you…”

After the meeting 

In a way, I was kind of hurt

At 1st…..

I was hoping that he would tell me what I needed to do

 about all my problems coming up and how to solve it

Or just how to get started 

And I was kind of bitter in my heart

Because of the confusion that I felt

Still after our meeting was over

But then 

A thought came to my mind again

This is not about you today…

I then texted my brother that was in the pool today while floating and exercising 

And told him about my experience with the Bishop and we talked for a little bit back-and-forth and then I said good night.

I have gone around seeking scriptures from so many people, 

With my little sticky note pads

and this scripture keeps coming up over and over

Proverbs 3:5-6

I went home and started to think about everything the bishop said

And then I prayed for forgiveness for the way that I felt about him(the bishop)

 at that moment….earlier tonight 

And an understanding came to my mind…

About forgiveness…

If somebody just brings up their past over and over, 

and just keeps talking about it

Then they haven’t let it go

They haven’t forgiven themselves for it

And by dwelling on the past, 

or some thing that happened

It is not going to allow them focus on the now…….

or 

the future like they should be worrying about…….

Because all they’re doing is thinking about the past…. 

These thoughts pop into your mind

“what if I fail at this again “

“what if I make all these mistakes and more like I did before….”

“I am sick of trying..but going no where”

You are holding yourself back…

By not letting your past go…….

Please Stop talking about all your past mistakes 

Stop talking about other people’s mistakes 

This works the same way, when bringing up someone else’s problems

 of something they did in their past…..

Every time YOU talk about someone else’s past mistakes

To their face or behind their back

YOU are not letting them heal

And YOU have not forgiven them….

for what they did in their past….

That hurt YOU in someway….

Or hurt someone else in someway….

And if by chance…….

They HAVE REPENTED of this mistake…

And YOU keep bringing it up….

YOU are now taking their opportunity of healing to go away

Because YOU are talking about them….

About their past mistakes…..

With what they have already let go…

They have REPENTED…

But YOU keep bringing up the past….

And YOU are FORCING them 

to re-live that moment over and over 

every time YOU do this…..

Every time YOU bring up their past….

YOU are taking their healing opportunities away 

every time YOU bring up their past…….

So where this is going…

by my feelings….. of not getting my answers…..from the Bishop…

I got hurt inside…..

And if I don’t forgive him now…

For him doing…….nothing wrong

Then, next time I need to go to him

I’m not going to trust him 

no matter what it is about….

So I need to forgive him now…

for hurting my feelings, even though he didn’t do anything wrong

I need to sit back. 

Relax

And 

Focus on what he said.

And trust him ( the Bishop)

And trust in God…

Not in my feelings of being hurt or not getting the answers that I wanted

I need to apply the advice he gave me

Which was read the scriptures

Actually, read them 

don’t listen to them

Don’t put them on audio 

But take the time to read them.

And then get down on my knees and pray

Just like the scripture says that I just posted 

::David::

7-9-24