Boise, Idaho, Temple Open House

28 October 2012

Friday we left for Boise about 10:00am. It was a bit on the cold outside, but the sun was out. There were some clouds floating across the sky and some were even down on the ground at the base of the Wellsville mountains. As we travelled closer to Idaho the skies filled with up more with clouds.  It looked like we might get rained on but it never happened.  We stayed on 84 all the way out of Logan into Idaho.  We didn't stop until we reached Twin Falls about 12:30pm.  We ate a quick lunch at McDonalds then continued on to Boise.

Our first stop was the Employment Center.  I wanted to touch bases with Sister Lee and Sister Remnet, my MTC companions.  It was about 3pm when we walked into the ERC.  We compared notes on our two AJS programs.  Our next stop was the Boise Temple Open House.  Unlike the Brigham City Temple Open House, they had guided tours with explanations until we arrived at the Celestial level, then it is was silent.

I took Sister Bews to her family's place which wasn't more than 20 minutes away then headed over to Sister Lee's and Sister Remnet's apartment.  We went to Sizzler to enjoy their salad bar (I'm becoming a fan of the Sizzler salad bar), then back to their apartment to talk and catch up.  I stayed the night with them.  Sister Bews went Trunk or Treating with her family and spent the night with them.

Our trip home was much longer.  I wanted to go through Preston, Idaho, to see what the area looked like.  Our mission and ERC serves all the way to Preston.  We stopped again at Twin Falls for a bite and took pictures.  Sister Bews has been past Twin Falls but never stopped there to see the sights.  We only stopped for gas in Pocatello then headed down I-15 and took the Downy/Preseton exit to 91.  The rest of our trip was along 91.  It is pretty country and farmland along that route.  Most of the cities are less than 1000 in population until you get to Preston which is just over 5000.  Highway 91 is two lanes until you get to Preston then it goes to four lanes through Logan and Brigham City until it hits I-15 again.  We left Boise around noon and arrived in Logan at 6pm (I thought it would be 6:30pm).  We ate dinner at Sizzler then went to the apartment and crashed.

Snake River

SNOW !!!

6:30 AM

23 October 2012

I looked out the window this morning to see the ground covered in snow.  It was still falling from the sky.  How fun!  Later today it rained, but the ground was still pretty white in Providence.

Noon

19 October 2012

Nathan has had his own way of doing the AJS program.  At first he spent a lot of time on the computer.  About the first part of September we got him out networking a bit.  He went to Salt Lake City to attend the Networking meeting they had there.  He also started making contacts with headhunters on line.  He has had several interviews over the past few weeks.  Yesterday he had a third interview with EMC in Draper and they offered him a job.  He took a day to consider it, then said yes.  He will move his family to the Salt Lake area because he doesn't want the two hour commute from Logan--I don't blame him.

At the afternoon meeting, Nathan presented the tie he received from Michael to Randy.  He had worn it to the temple which was one of Michael's conditions.  He actually wore it to several interviews including EMC.

16 October 2012

I feel like I haven't succeeded when our candidates don't get jobs or settle for something different than what they originally aimed for.  I realized today that I am focusing on the temporal more than the spiritual side of this calling.  During a staff meeting today we were talking about our candidates and the difference in their demeanor when they first come in compared to where they are later on, especially after taking the Career Workshop.  They walk in feeling beaten down and leave with hope.

14 October 2012

The Relief Society President stopped by this evening and gave us a list of five ladies who desperately need reliable visiting teachers/friends.  Two of them of moms (one a single mom), one just became a widow, and two live in an extended care facility.  The two in the extended care facility rarely have family come to visit them.  One comes out regularly to church, one occasionally attends the sacrament meeting they hold at the facility.  Guess we will be kept busy.

13 October 2012

Belated Happy Canadian Thanksgiving

Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving on the second Monday in October.   They  don't have pilgrims, but they do celebrate the harvest.  If they waited until November, like we do, there would be snow on the ground and the harvest past.

We were invited to the Bigelow's to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving.  Sister Bigelow is a Canadian also.  They had invited everyone from the ERC to dinner.  I think close to 30 people came.  They had put together the whole works for everyone. I learned that some Canadians put mashed potatoes in their stuffing mix, besides having them as part of the main course.

11 October 2012

Today President and Sister Hiers of the Utah Ogden Mission came to visit us at the Employment Resource Services center.  Janea, one of the director of Deseret Industries, gave them a tour of Deseret Industries.  They were able to meet both Becky and Paul, our manager and assistant manager.  President Hiers invited Becky to join us for lunch.  There were a total of seven of us:  the Eubanks, Becky, Sister Bews, the Hiers, and me.  We went to the Sizzler and enjoyed their salad bar.  (I would like to go back there again.)  The Hiers are such a sweet couple.