August 9, 2014

     I seem to always be a week behind in my journal, but I am somewhat caught up. I am currently on a flight to Salt Lake City for an exciting job in Heber City. This opportunity has come very sudden, but it was slow in the making too, which probably means I did not expect to be given the opportunity. During this past week, I went back to my work at the Oakland Temple as an ordinance worker for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was planning on switching to the Tuesday day shift, but I was given this job opportunity. I think that I already began writing a journal entry for this week. Since it is not synced on to my laptop, I am going to have to write it all over again. The Oakland Temple went through a lot of renovations, but the topic that I would have taken a picture of in the renovation is not complete. I did design a fireplace for Shaundra's house. I have an image of that to share, but I don't know if I like it. The topic that I began writing about last time was hanging out with a group of my Young Single Adult Branch.

     When I returned to the branch, there were three new people, and I did not feel too much acceptance from them. Trevor, my little brother, insisted on hanging out with them while he does not feel the acceptance from them much either. I joined them anyways. After institute we went to the Boardwalk. It was nice to hang out at the Boardwalk. I enjoyed the rides that we went on, but I felt alienated from the other people that we hung out with because I was not chill with them. I would not say that it was worth my time and money. I would say that it was basically hanging out with Trevor. We went on two rides. The Big Dipper, which did not impress me much, was somewhat enjoyable. I enjoyed the second ride better. It was the double shot. We thought of some ideas to improve the thrill ride because it only shot you up about 100 feet, letting us fall after, and it did that twice. We thought that randomizing the pattern of the ride would make it more thrilling. The original idea that I thought of was after it shot up, if it had the thrill ride rod, or whatever you want to call the structure, reached into the earth; that would be a thrill, and the ride should say in the ground for a period of time, so the general public would not know how far that it goes in the earth. I wanted the ride to fall for more time. It only fell for about 5 seconds, if that. I am more excited about my opportunity that all the thrill of that night at the Boardwalk.

     A couple weeks before the Spring semester ended, Trevor told me about a family business that he toured while the family was on a family vacation. It is a granite query. The most impressive part of the tour was a saw that he described was granite, but it required water. I imagine it as a water blade. Trevor recommended that I take an internship with them, if I can do that it would be a second choice. I want to intern at an architectural firm; preferably a small one. I did want to work with Trevor's idea because the company is a supplier for the construction industry, and I am interested in learning their relationship with the industry. I was hoping on finding a job as in the construction industry over the summer, but I wanted to prepare my portfolio first. I am happy that I have a job before I completed my portfolio or applied anywhere else. I am really excited to work with the company because it is a family business. Another impressive thing that Trevor told me about his tour was that the company revealed that they are providing the stone for the second new Provo temple. I have no idea what I will be doing. I am use to working production. My mother and a friend of hers thinks that I am going to be working in an office. She kind of prepared me for anything too. The person that I was recommended to contact is Aaron Hicken, a manager at Delta. I don't know the official name of the company, but I know that Delta is part of the name. Aaron is pretty cool. My mother remembered that he drove me around on a four wheeler once during a family reunion, and she recovered the photo, giving it to me. I don't remember the experience well, but I remember the photo.

     Talking about photos and temples, I really look forward to seeing a photo of the re-installation of the Oakland Temple's waterfall. It was part of the temple's original design. I was hoping to get a picture of where it is going to be, but I forgot my phone. I could have gotten it with Trevor's phone was I was distracted with informing my new boss that I prepared to arrive in Utah tonight. After I was set apart as an ordinance working the temple president told me all he could recall about the renovations that took place. The Oakland temple had the oldest wiring of all the temples of the Church, but it was completely updated. That was impressive to me. That takes a lot of work. They completely remodeled the bathrooms on the baptistery and the sealing floors. It was so funny. The new bathroom in the men's locker-room is much larger than before. Trevor did not have the spatial capabilities to comprehend how they got more room for the bathroom, but I do know how they did it. They just removed a section of the ordinance room locker room.

I love serving as an ordinance worker in the temple, and I always seek to serve when I am home. The Oakland Temple President has always blessed me with the ability to recall the words of the ordinances. I was thrown in to serve in the initiatory and the name booth without question. When I first confirmed an anointing, I paused to say the right words, and I felt the spirit tell me the next words to say. Waiting for another witness, other ordinance words told me the words to say. After the first ordinance, I knew that the spirit was with me to lead my service, and I had no problems recalling the words of the ordinances. It is so wonderful and joyous to serve in the temple. I always encourage people when I write about my temple service. The Oakland temple is always in need of volunteers. Don't be afraid. Don't procrastinate opportunities to serve. A counselor in the temple presidency thanked me for my service; although, I was only able to serve one week. He pointed out that many people always procrastinate volunteering in the temple, and he likes that I do not procrastinate my service in the house of the Lord.

When the temple president was telling me about all the upgrades in the temple, he revealed something that I always wondered about. I see all over the place in the temple a square or a tall rectangle without a bottom, and I had no clue why the architect persisted on that design. The temple president thinks that it represents mansions as written in the scripture. “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” In the Celestial room, the wood finish is lined with these tall rectangles, and he imagines them as rows of mansions. He said this because many parts of the celestial room was fixed. There were many little things to do.

      Shaundra wants a fireplace in her master bedroom, and I did see one place that feels fitting for it. I work a lot of times on the building at the top view of the building, so I am not sure that I like it, seeing it from inside. I think that it looks too long, but the design is not bad. It has 14 square feet, which is pretty big. One thing that I liked is that I had the back wall of the fireplace as glass, so people on the deck can enjoy it. A deck for the master bedroom is not part of the original design, but I don’t need to follow the original design. I don't think that there much to explain. The fireplace curves from an angle parallel to the bed, bending towards another wall. The floor and the walls of the fireplace are brick. The interior wall is stone, and the barrier, preventing the ashes or whatever to get on the carpet is porcelain, but I hoped that I would be another stone.

     It is now August eleventh, and I finished my first day of work at Delta Stone Products less than 2 hours ago. I had to go through a drug test, which took a lot longer than expected, giving me about 3 hours of physical work. The work is production, so I am use to the work. The station that I was placed at was surprisingly similar to the work that I do at Santa Cruz Nutritionals. There are people that feed stone into saws, which cuts it about one inch thick, for we are producing 1 inch veneer. The cuts of stone are dropped on a conveyor belt, and I use my sorting eyes to see if the veneer is too thin or too thick; then I palatalize the veneer of a proper width. Most of my coworkers speak Spanish, so I did not escape that work environment. We have gigantic saws probably, having a diameter longer than ten feet, that cuts the stone. During the tour of the plant, I saw my coworkers, carving segments of the new Provo temple. The tour guide said that there are going to be parts of the temple that seems to be windows, but it is stone.

     Since I have come to Utah, Bruce, my uncle, picked me up, and I stayed the night with them until Sunday. I got to meet Avery, who is my Joanna's daughter. Joanna is Bruce's daughter. I am more comfortable with playing with Eve and Ezra. During the weeks they often time visit my grandparent's house, so I have enjoyed playing with them.

Avery loves her grandfather a lot. They dance and sing together. She loves to listen and sing along to a Messiah CD, the classics by Handel. I didn't feel comfortable enough around her to play. I stuck an end of a jump rope in the couch, so we might play, but she wasn't up for it. She stuck the jump rope in the couch, and played with my uncle though.

     This last paragraph of this journal entry is somewhat dedicated to Eve and Ezra for the chances that they read this when they can. I should give them a copy of this as a gift before I go. The great relationship that they give me gives me a hint of how fatherhood is. There is so much love in their eyes, and Eve's love is not containable. They are the children of Billy, the son of Carl. Carl is my uncle. They are a lot of fun. I was bummed that she did not remember me. It makes sense, since she is so young. I only met her once before at Thanksgiving a couple years ago. Ezra talks now. He is three years old now. I wish that there is somehow that our great relationship can be preserved in mortality. Both of them will probably forget me again, when I leave. I don't know how much that I remember from my childhood. She is 6 years old. On Sunday evening Eve showed me to all her best friends, and we stayed out until after 9. I met Danica and Katie, and we all rode bicycles around. I was surprised, adding a lot of fun to the evening, when Ezra was riding his tricycle I saw that there are foot placement things, so I can ride on the back. The joy from this activity endured so long that Eve jumped on the tricycle too, and all three of us enjoyed it. Eve introduced me to another best friend of hers, and we played on the trampoline. Danica and Katie did not enjoy the bigger kids, playing on it. The girl, who was the best friend of Eve, was about 8 years old. As I was jumping around avoiding being taken down because that was the game of the girl, who owned the trampoline, I accidentally broke the trampoline. I loved playing with the children because they enjoyed the little things of the experience. I don't need to do back flips or front flips. I was not raised with a trampoline, so I have none of those skills. We found this weird tree that grows wooden flowers, and we visit it most every day that we hang out. We also hang out at a stream/gutter. I was going to publish this article a couple days ago, but they love to play so much. I could not have them wait. Yesterday we went on a walk further than my grandpa would like. Since we were just around the corner of doing a few things that I wanted to do personally, I decided to do them. Eve wanted to come along, but they could not come. I saw in her eyes a disappointment and a deep longing to be with me. They always ask for me when they come home. I said that Eve's love in not containable because I have a couple cute experiences. On Monday evening, I was going to a hay party, and Eve & Ezra were going to a wedding reception. When we had to go our separate ways, Eve stood in front of me with a look that she wanted to express her love for me, and she jumped toward me, giving me a hug. The second experience was similar. We were talking on the porch, and she put her arm on my shoulder. As we were talking, she said one of the cutest things that I ever heard to the effect of. 'There are some people that I can't resist smiling when I am around them.'

     I might as well conclude with the rest of this week so far. I went to the hay party put on by John Robert Hicken. I believe that he is my grandpa's brother. There were a lot of little kids. I got a video, and you can see them all. We are riding the slip in the video. I must of looked like a very random guy; although, a few cousins were cool with me. Joel and Mack are my coworkers, and Joel recognized me because we worked together that day. I saw Mack at the factory, but I didn't meet them there. The third cousin that was chill with me is named John. The family had a four wheeler that had about 6 seats, hanging of the back. It kind of looked like a rollercoaster. I didn't feel like trying it because it didn't look comfortable, not having padding, and they looked small. After all the dinner and fun, we had family home evening. John Robert told the story how the farm land was acquired, saying that an ancestor was given the land by a prophet. I assume it was because they were living the Law of Consecration. He gave land to the people to create main street and the city of Heber, but the land was swampy, so another person gave better land for the same purpose. I don't remember anything else said by John Robert or Allison, his wife.

     Yesterday after work I took a picture of the new Zion's Bank, which is one of the latest completed projects of Delta Stone Products. At work I feel like I am working out all day long, unpacking and lifting the stones to be put through a machine that cuts the stone, making it about an inch thick veneer. I learned how to break rock up to 8 inches thick with a hammer on Tuesday, and I learned how to use a sledge hammer today, which is now Wednesday the 13th. I basically have done this one thing the past two days, unpacking and lifting the stone.

     I miss Eve and Ezra today.