Tuesday 7-2-24

 I woke up this morning and decided to read the introduction to the book of Mormon on first Nephi chapter 1 before chapter 1 starts

And I got a lot of insight about what I should do today

From the description of what Nephi and his family was going to go through on their journey 

So 1st thing i did 

I went over to the neighbors dog

And i gave it the chicken breast with no bones in it

That i used last night to get it to come to me

I felt bad last night for showing her food but not giving it to her

After that i walked in and prepared my meal for the day

I then took the trash out and as I was putting something in the trash can 

it came around and hit me in the bridge of my nose and it started bleeding 

So I took care of my face and the item in the garbage can 

Then I decided to go to the pool today and rather than working out

I decided I was going to clean the pool and do a deep cleaning all around it 

Because I knew that this week I wasn’t gonna be here from tomorrow-Wednesday on till Monday

so I wanted to make sure that everything was good and ready for everybody that was going to come while I was not here

I scrubbed the walls

I sprayed off where everybody walks 

so they don’t have little pebbles and dirt or whatever 

where they’re walking

And then I swept out the floor of the pool thoroughly

And I had just finished doing the walk down ramp and the first shallow Lane

When one of my friends came in

I had my head down in the water

I could tell I got hit in the face when I put on my snorkel mask on

My face and nose was very tender

And then I heard something and I turned around and I said

Well hello 

good morning

She asked me if I could tighten the exercise equipment that she had on her hands

It is hard for her to do

I adjusted the equipment for her

And then she asked me what movements she needed to do

I said you want to move forward and backward with your arms and hands

you want to move your arms all the way down by your legs and then come up to the water and then back down to your legs

I said the most important thing is…….

be a child again. 

Have fun while doing it…

Don’t wear yourself out because you think you can do more than you can

Because you will feel it tomorrow 

But take it easy have fun and enjoy being in the pool

Try not to worry about all your activities and what your life is about

Dont count how many you are doing

 Just go to the music

Rest when you need to

And when the song changes, change your exercise to do something different

Just relax and enjoy the pool

And have fun while you’re in the pool

While you exercise

Then she said thank you, and she went back to trying to figure out how to use the red hand paddles that she had on.

By doing different movements in different ways 

 rather than doing the same thing over and over will get your body stronger

Rather than just working on one muscle group over and over

A lot of people that come to the pool 

just do the same thing

And at first, they’re excited because they get to lose 5 or 10 pounds

But then they get frustrated because they’re not losing anymore.   

yet they’re still coming every day

And they can’t figure out why they’re doing all this work 

but nothing is happening

And the reason is 

your body is doing the same thing and it’s built as much muscle as it can in that area…….

you need to work on other areas also

And as you start flapping your arms around or doing something different in your regular routine

That is when you’re going to start losing more fat and gaining more muscle 

But after a while, it seems like it’s not doing as good as it used to

Rather than giving up on it, we need to add to it

For example, when exercising I could run back-and-forth in the pool

And then the next week I would add half pound weights to my hands

And see if I can do that for a week 

run back and forth with very light weights

And then the next week after that, I wanted to try 1 pound weights

And if that’s too heavy, I go back down to the half pound weights

Until I feel comfortable enough to hold 1 pound weights, 

knowing that I can do it

And I use the 1 pound weights as long as I can

And then I moved up to the 2 pound weights

And then I moved up to the 2 1/2 pound weights

And so on…….

I am now running with 10 pound weights in my hands

I am absolutely blown away at how much God has shown me what I can do

From that Priesthood blessing that I got 

from the senior missionary

Telling me that I could accomplish anything as long as it was righteous

I work out 5-6 days a week

 not only for me

But if I see somebody that needs help, 

I want to be strong enough to be able to go over and help them

I need to serve God because of all this new found strength that He (God) has given me !

All my life I have always wanted muscles

I have always wanted to be stronger

But I have a very tall, very skinny body 

After all my back surgeries and me giving up on life

I got as heavy as 214 pounds

And for a very tall, 6 ‘ 3” man

I had a very big spare tire in my belly which I’m still trying too Get rid of

I allowed my body to get so weak 

that I couldn’t even walk anymore

But in that blessing…

that I got from  

the senior missionary that knocked on my door…

That gave me hope that I could change

I now weigh 135 pounds

And it is amazing how strong I have become since March 2023

And I owe it all to my Heavenly Father 

And because of His amazing plan of happiness

I was able to be baptized and start over again

And now I can look to His Son, Jesus Christ

On how I can live my life better…

Sorry I got sidetracked. 

I Continued to sweep and vacuum up the second and third lanes

Then i noticed some bubbles coming up

And i swam over and investigated 

I alerted the owner 

Then I told him i can’t volunteer 

From tomorrow- Wednesday til Monday 

Im going on vacation 

He said ok

We then talked about a few other things 

like the pool jets in the pool

When they will hopefully start working again 

 

I am so grateful for all the work the pool mechanic does 

 he always has a fun joking attitude 

He is always smiling and when he needs to…….

he ignores everyone and gets to work 

so he can focus on the task at hand

Several times i have asked him questions 

and he has described in detail 

why and how he does it 

so I can learn it better…….

It is amazing the teachers that are being brought into my life

Helping me learn how to teach better 

if I ever have the opportunity to teach…….

While I am working on the pool or any other activity

I like to get things done right the 1st time

 then i dont have to go back over and over 

till it gets done right

I just finished cleaning the pool. It is now 11 AM.

I got in my van typed everything up so far 

(So I didn’t have anything, that I don’t remember later)

I’ve been thinking about all the items I need for this upcoming trip

And as I was thinking about what I was going to sleep in 

The guy called me and said I don’t know what your going to sleep in, 

but I’m sleeping in my truck

I said I’ll go to my sisters and see what I have stored there that I can use

It was very ironic that i was thinking about sleeping right when he called

I then drove to American fork

And went through a shed and found a few items I can use

Then since I was already in American Fork, 

I decided to go visit my nephew again at his firework stand 

I pulled out my tents and sleeping stuff and put them together 

Some were missing items

I’m glad I checked before I left on the trip…

I am Glad I Listened to the Holy Ghost to check 1st…

We had a few cars pull up as we were talking.

And then a black Tesla pulled up, 

They bought about a hundred dollars of fireworks 

then drove off 

and we heard a clunking sound, and my nephew said 

oh no…….

They just drove off with another one of my cones

Under their car front tire

I then looked around and remembered seeing way more cones yesterday 

About 5 of them

He now only had 1 

Out front

With the 2nd one in the car front tire under the body

 My nephew then said 

oh well…….

I said no way…….

 I’m going to go run after the car till it drops it then bring it back

It took me  about 7 minutes to walk/run to where it dropped it at

Then when I got back 

I decided I was going to fix it so nobody else drove off with his cones 

So I came up with this

I only used what I or he had on hand and you can see the two cones in the wood crates

The time is now 2:45

After I left the firework stand 

I drove to the shed that I went through earlier because I was missing pieces of the equipment I grabbed earlier 

But I couldn’t find the missing parts 

So I decided I was going to my storage unit which was on my way home

So I jumped on the freeway and drove to orem 

I got off the freeway and there was a Tesla on the side of the road with its flashers on 

this car was purple

I then turned right to see if he was ok 

then I pulled over

And my sister called me

And told me about a mini fridge I was trying to throw away this morning 

It was this item that smacked me in the face this morning 

And the garbage man refused to take it because of some unknown reason 

It fit as far in the garbage can as much as anything else I could fit in

So now I had this thought on my mind and I totally forgot about the  purple tesla 

I then turned around and drove into the storage unit 

And I entered my code

And it said

 Unknown code

I typed it in again

And it said the same thing

Unknown code

So now I’m a little mad

About what has happened with this code 

and the fridge…….

I swear I can feel my face more 

now That I am talking about it 

Ouch…….

So I then thought I don’t want to go in there angry 

So I said a short prayer asking

For the ability to be calm friendly and full of light as a disciple of Jesus Christ would do…

I parked extra far from the parking lot so I could mellow my self out before I entered the building 

I then entered and an amazing smile was focused upon me  as I was entering the room

And she said how may I help you

I said I can’t get my code to work….

She then said what unit do you have?

Then I told her my  unit number and my name

And she confirmed a few things

Then I told her the code I was putting in and I showed her the paper with the code on it

And she kinda laughed 

Trying not for me to see her laughing 

She said 

This is what they did. . . 

Who ever gave you this code #

She said they wrote the code in a code with in a code

And I said it figures 

My family is full of jokesters 

And then I laughed 

As I was leaving 

I turned around 

And I asked may I ask you a question?

She said sure…

I said are you religious 

She said yes 

I said awesome 

Can I ask a favor of you

She said sure 

not knowing where this is going…….

I then pulled out my pink sticky note pad and asked her to write down her favorite Scripture 

She then asked me a very polite and extremely kind question 

She said what church did you get Baptized in to.

( I think she did this…because she did not want to offend me,

 So she had a scripture no matter what church I answered 

She in my opinion was ready with any scripture) 

(I would refer to her,  as My new Sister. As having her cup full

 of the love of God and ready 

full of answers to talk about God in the most loving way possible, with out any contention…

She is full of love)

I then said

I got baptized into 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on may 23rd

And she got another smile on her face

My sister then said I have this memorized 

And she wrote down

Helaman 5:12

She then said I like your question it was unique 

I said want another?

She said absolutely 

Then I said what is your favorite color 

And she said 

She had three

I said out of those three what is your favorite 

She then said yellow 

It has always been my favorite as far back as I remember 

I then asked what is her favorite animal… that is yellow

All she could think of  was a  giraffe 

I said that’s not yellow

I then mentioned a ton of different kinds of animals 

Like birds …reptiles…fish…butterflies… and small creatures 

She said oh butterflies

But then 

She said a bird

Then I asked her one more question about the yellow bird

I said what three qualities does a bird have that you wish you could have ?

And I will keep her response between my sister and myself…

 if she wants to tell you

 that’s between her and you

Our conversation led us to talking about exercise 

I then was talking about getting more energy throughout the day and she said 

she was exhausted 

I then showed her a picture of my back 

And how I have improved 

And I said would you like to see that it is really my back

Because most people can’t believe that is my back in the picture 

She said yes

I then lifted up my shirt in the back

She was amazed 

I then asked if she wanted to hear my conversion story to Jesus Christ 

She said yes

I then showed her my blog page

And she said 3 more scriptures just popped in my head 

can I write these down

And I handed my sister 

the pink sticky note pad

And she said 

As she was writing 

I use this scripture 

when I’m in trouble or have a lot of doubts

I’m not sure which one she said it about 

she was writing the scriptures down fast 

like she was super excited about sharing Her testimony of Jesus Christ 

through my blog…….

I definitely consider her my SISTER NOW !!!

(These are now going to be out of my scriptures 

So you will notice my colors I use to mark my scriptures ) and side notes

She wrote 1st Nephi 6:4

Alma 37:37

Moses 1:39

This was really cool. This was the most scriptures 

I’ve gotten from anybody…….

so far with 

my sticky note pad inspiration

We finished up talking

I asked her if I could write about our conversation

And she said yes

I then told her I am horrible with names

And I was going to refer to her as sister

She smiled and said that was OK

And then I went back to my storage unit 

and grabbed way more than I needed 

but that’s usually the way it goes at the store too..so I’m not surprised

As I was working, I got a text, but I didn’t know it cause I was walking back and forth

So once I was done grabbing everything that I hope is all there

I looked at my phone and I got a text from somebody saying that we have not paid our bill yet

But we paid, and we have documents saying that we’ve paid it

So now my frustration is back again 

because I have to deal with this now before the vacation so I don’t have to deal with it while I’m up there

And dwell on it

So I drive from my storage unit over to the cable company

And the really dumb part about this is I gave up TV I gave up cable and video games and all that two months ago

And they still want us to pay for it

The hardest part about all of this is I used to work for these guys

And so I’m trying to be super kind 

because I understand what they’re saying

And I see it now from the customer point of view

And finally, I just decided this is what’s gonna happen 

we are going to pay this much money and this is Done 

I am sick of it.

All this is doing is causing negative feelings with them

With my family

And with me, and I hate being angry

Or frustrated or whatever 

I’d rather just stay happy and enjoy life 

not just have it be miserable from all my stress

So again, I sat out in my van before I enter the building

And I prayed again that I can get all this anger and frustration and everything out before I go in and talk to them

When I entered the building, there were already about six people ahead of me

And I went up to the lady who was behind the counter 

I said I’m here for a specific thing

I am looking for the last person I talked to 

and I don’t want to talk to anybody else and I was very bold about it

I then said is it OK if I stick my head around the corner and look at all your employees and see if this person is here?

She told me go ahead

I did not see him when I walked in but soon as I put my head around the corner that was him

And I walked immediately back to her

 and I said the guy right behind you 

behind this wall. 

I want to talk to him and nobody else.

She then told me that it was gonna be about a 20 minute wait

I thought about it 

I thought about everything I had to do and if I wanted to wait

I then told her OK

I said, let me go out to my car, get a few things and then I will come back in the store

and wait just for him

I went out and got my iPad

And began to write about everything

While I was sitting and waiting my back really started to hurt

I was sitting on a comfy bench thing

Then, across the room, I saw a empty hard chair

And I went and sat on that, 

and it relieved my back pain quite a bit

Another employee came up to me and asked me my name, and I said I am only wanting to talk to him and I pointed to the guy

I am grateful you came over to help me,

 but please help somebody else,

 I only want to talk to him

This was about 20 minutes into the wait

About 45 minutes of waiting 

I began to write

About my experience at the storage unit

And as I was writing about my new sister 

I began to cry

And then he called my name

And as I walked over to him, I had tears just running down my face

And I said, don’t worry these are not for you

I’ve been writing about my Savior Jesus Christ, and that is why I’m crying

He said, don’t worry about it

So I then told him a very long, very long story about this whole stupid thing going on

And I tried to keep the spirit and the peace and the tears of joy coming out of my face

The whole time I was talking to my brother across the counter

That was very difficult, because I was angry about all this, but at the same time I had tears running down my face from what I had just written 

In the end, we figured out how much I owe for equipment that was from years ago

And I said this is the last payment you are ever gonna get for or from me

You have been extremely kind and I thank you for it 

but this is really dumb !

And so I took his card

I circled his info

On the back of the card, I wrote down how much he quoted that we owe

Now I’ve got to go in my bank account and see if I’ve got that much

And I’m just gonna get rid of it today and get away from my thoughts, 

so I don’t have to think about this for the vacation coming up

After all this is over,

 I get home

And soon as I pull up, I see that dreaded mini fridge just looking at me again

And I’ve seen it pretty up close

The door at least

And so I tip the garbage can over

And shimmied this mini fridge out of the garbage can

And then I had to figure out how to get it up in my van so I can get rid of it 

and I could take care of this new ongoing problem of today

“The Dreaded Mini Fridge”

Ahhhhh………

And I swear when you get reminded of painful things happening to you during the day, you feel them again

And so….

I’m thinking about my face and the fridge and everything that’s been going on, and it starts to frustrate me again

And then I thought about all the amazing spiritual experiences I had today

I then went into the house

And I went up to my family, and I started to tell them about everything today 

and the Holy Ghost comes back to me so strong 

and I forgot about my pain and frustration.

Was awesome…….

Then

Yesterday, my mom asked me a very deep question

This is something I’ve been thinking about all day

She asked me

Why do you think?

I was born and brought to this earth…

And all I could answer was this…….

 it is not going to be exact

I said, that is a very hard question for me to answer

I said, I don’t know too much about your life other than the things you’ve told me

But what I have seen is the type of mother that you have been to me

And I said, so I’m going to give you that point of view…about you

From my eyes…

I said, 

I know that you have brought me up differently all throughout my life

you have taught me more then other boys and how to be a mother with father qualities…

Because of the way that you brought me up 

From what I remember, your parents were not very kind to your family in ways

And so you decided that you were going to bring up your children differently

And so you did 

And I believe your teachings have made

 me to what I have become today 

Because I have no interest in guns, or shooting or hunting

That is not something that weighs me down

Because I have no interest in sports other than to play them myself not and watch them on TV

Because of these teachings, I like to go out and do stuff rather than sit back and watch

Because you taught me how to be a hard worker

I like to work hard I don’t like to sit around. I don’t like to be lazy and I don’t like to gossip.

Give me a shovel and I will work

Yes, I will be hurting later.  

But it will be totally worth it to me

And if the atmosphere is great, when I’m working, then I will show up the day after 

That

Day after day until we get it done

I know that I have issues in my body

And because you taught me great patience

I am able to deal with it patiently because of your teachings… mom

And I don’t know when you taught me how to pray

 because I don’t remember my childhood

But I know that you taught me all about Jesus Christ

And because of your teachings about your beliefs

That has brought me to this point today

And I know I love to serve people

I know I love to talk to people

And I know I love Jesus Christ

And if I would not have ever had you 

if I would’ve had any other mother

There’s no way I would’ve turned out the way I have

So in my opinion

I was given the ultimate mother

To guide me

To lead me up to this point in my life…

I LOVE YOU MOM !!!

As I was talking to her, my back started to really hurt

So I took a very hot bath with bubbles in it, so I could smell strawberries

And I thanked God for this amazing day that I had

While my head was under the bubble bath :)

And just forget about all the pain and problems that I had today

And then I prayed that I could have the spirit with me throughout the night

As I was getting ready to lay down, I got super nauseated

And so for the next few hours

I just laid in bed trying to sleep

I was wondering 

because I’ve been busy all day long 

trying to stay busy

I wonder 

when I got hit in the face earlier today

 that made me off in someway

Not saying a concussion, but I’ve had a slight headache all day, and once I got done with my day, that’s when I got super nauseated, and felt like I had to lay down

After a couple hours the nausea went away, and I was able to go to sleep.

I woke up several times throughout the night

But the spirit is and was So Strong with me throughout the night…

As I went back and

Read this I remembered 

that I have also been pondering 

about my year supply

All day long 

that I heard about from the church in previous talks

If something happens…

am I prepared for me and my family ?

When I went back and grabbed my camping gear and noticed that a lot of it was gone or missing 

It reminded me to check all I have stored so far…….

To see what is good.   Still….

 what is bad….

and what I need to replace…

I am so glad that I went and checked first 

before I just left  for my trip and thought it’s going to be OK

 This gave me an example of what I need to do 

and check everything to make sure 

I’m ready just in case something happens…

With my 72 hour kit and year supply

::David::

7-3-24

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