2 October 2017

25 September 2017

After entering in some data that was given to me over the weekend, I went to the job-site early in the morning. I did not do my normal routine. I went around two sections, recording the progress thus far on the building plans. I did not get back until 1:00.

During lunch, I heard a loud noise. Since the visitor center is closed to the public, I sit next to a big tree near the job-site trailer to eat. I used to walk to a park about a seven minute walk away from the trailer. I looked around the tree, seeing my coworker Audriana. We caught up with each other from the weekend.

Stuart Hicken, the son of Karl, read grandpa's StoryWorth entry about his Navy career. He was wondering Irwin Hicken's thoughts about going to war against Japan, since he served a mission in Japan. I called grandma to see if they would like to communicate a response to Stuart's question. StoryWorth seems to be bringing a greater unity to the family.

26 September 2017

Yesterday I finished work late because a report from a foreman for Sunday was not delivered. We had to figure out what we were going to do. I left about 5 pm

I called Jessica to tell her what was going on. She said that all she ate was a banana.

On my bicycle ride, I took my time, pondering this sad situation. Why does my wife practically starve herself every day? What can I do? I could not think of anything. I knew that I needed to get a pizza. She only had about one hundred calories up until that point. I laid around the house pondering the sad situation. I finally got up to get Jessica to come with me.

An odd thing is that two Little Caesars were remodeling. We had to drive all over town to get our five dollar pizza. Third store was the charm after calling a few other Little Caesars. When we arrived there, I saw a recent Instagram post by Jessica Frech that I understood too much.

jessicafrech, surviving these last few weeks with the help of pizza and @themimiknowles. and it's almost my birthday monthhhhhhhh. ☠️🎃👻

During the car drive, we spoke about the possible reasons for her behavior. Her reasons were not straightforward. Unmotivation was the main reason, but why? We concluded that she needs to rewire her brain away from her negative thoughts. I recommended that she start writing in a gratitude journal daily. Satan seems to try to attack us every Monday to mess up our Family Home Evening.

27 September 2017

Yesterday I missed writing in my journal because Truebeck, a General Contractor, hosted a barbecue for the subcontractors, finishing the Visitor Center and Transit Center. I met Audriana for lunch again.

After work Jessica and I went to the perpetual education fund “self-reliance: personal finance” class. We learned how to put tithing and savings first. People tend to do it after all other bills are paid. Tithing and savings should be a first priority. You will not even notice the change of pay.

Work was hectic today. I am still trying to figure out how to change my routine. A guy, doing everyone's time cards, was designated to do piece counts by the superintendent. He is overwhelmed by the first task now, and he has to do a task, which is probably equally as time consuming. I think that I have to go back to my old routine. I can't rely on the overwhelmed guy. One foreman is giving me data, but the original foreman that gave me the Daily Construction Reports quit doing them.

28 September 2017

On Tuesday I have my first personal missionary experience. My life has not been an exemplary life of missionary work. As I have said before, I am trying to settle into my life; investing more into people, community, the company that I work at, the ward, and more. Missionary work is one aspect that I would like to begin practicing. It is hard to do this when my life changes every 14 week according to the semesters at Brigham Young University - Idaho. This is my time to live, doing my best works.

I was talking to a crew, and we spoke about how long that we have worked for Columbia Stone Inc. I said that I graduated recently, getting a job about a month ago. When I said that I studied at BYU Idaho, I was asked if I were Latter-day Saint. After my confirmation, one crew member said that he was born in the church, but he is the black sheep. I listened to the crew unbiasedly, when the other crew member affirmed that half of his family is active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.   I invited him to General Conference, but I am not sure if he heard it because he didn't answer. I did remind him of General Conference though.

I also invited another coworker to general conference because he seems to be a seeker of truth, going to a non-denominational church. I taught him that our church has prophets and apostles, and he discredited that saying that every church leader is a Prophet. He said that he believes in the Bible not needing more scripture, and I taught him that the Book of Mormon was prophesied to come forth in the Bible.

Ezekiel 37:19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.

He knew of the scripture. He asked me if I had a spiritual experience, and I said yes. He said that people of all religions have spiritual experiences. I think that he has been calloused to missionary work. He made me a deal. If I would watch a documentary, he would watch general conference. I really like the documentary, watching it last night.

It is called "The Agenda: Grinding America Down." I always knew that Satan was at the source of the effort by the liberal movement, but I never got around to looking into it. How is Satan leading the liberal movement? Watch the documentary, and you will learn that the Communists' effort quit taking-over the world militarily. They are seeking to destroy society around the world like Venezuela by changing the culture. Their influence is at the core of public education, Hollywood, news, music, politics, environmentalism, feminism, gay rights movement, and more. Everyone will think that this paragraph is really random, but you should watch the documentary on YouTube. It is free. I can't explain it well.

The missionaries brought me some 13 Article of Faith cards last night. On Thursday night we did not hold our active member lesson. I am grateful for their effort to follow up.

1 October 2017

Today is Sunday, the second day of General Conference. My journal transcription has been off this week because lunches during the week have been late or disrupted. I am going to summarize what I want to cover from the week, and see what I can expound on. My bachelor's diploma was delivered to my hometown address.

Mom is trying to clean out from the house of the individuals' items that we have collected over the years. I got all my journals that I have written in the past, planning to publish them. I surprisingly don't have much from my childhood to take to my apartment.

My coworker suspected that I never been on a scissorlift, and he invited me to join him to set a bird trap on the caps in the building.

On Friday afternoon as the crews concluded their day, a foreman complimented me because I am very punctual and consistent.

Jessica and I cooked lad na for dinner one night. I thought that it was funny because I cooked a lot lad na, having leftovers. I was hopeful that Jessica would have a good lunch, but the next day I found that Jessica gave me all of the leftovers. 

Lad na is a Thai dish. Lad means noodle. It is a wide rice noodle dish. My mom can preserve the noodles well, but ours did not come apart well. I don't know how mom makes the dish have a gravy. I followed her directions, and I barely had any gravy. It tasted great though. I put mustard greens, cauliflower, baby carrots, green beans, and tofu in the pan.

This weekend Jessica and I went to my parents’ house to watch General Conference. After I talk about the time with my family. I will write about my general conference experience.

We played a few games. We played two games of Machi Koro Deluxe on Friday night with Mickey, and we played a game of Tokaido last night with dad. Both Jessica and I won the games of Machi Koro deluxe. I think that the main reason that we won was that the game is slightly different with the new cards. We seem to have adapted better than Trevor and Mickey. I am still undefeated in Tokaido.

Trevor stays up very late, so I was surprised that I was able to stay awake for the first four sessions of conference. I was too tired to engage in the fifth session well, and I took a nap during it.

I would have to look at my notes to go into a lot of detail, but I would like to write about the talk that impressed me the most. It was Elder Jeffrey R Holland's speech. I am not going to summarize it. I noted the following two precepts about perfection from his talk: "Finishing or completion is the New Testament definition of perfect." and "Perfection is a gift from Heaven." There is a concept in the Church. The phrase is 'Time and All Eternity.' Time is the temporal state of this earth to prepare for its Celestial Glory. The earth will begin and end in Terrestrial states as the Garden of Eden, and time on Earth will end at the conclusion of the Millennium. All eternity are the periods surrounding time, which is before and after mortality. I understand the insights from Elder Holland into perfection as this. During judgment after the end of the millennium or at your resurrection, we will present our lives to God, who will give us the gift of the completion of the second estate or Perfection. I have a question. Are you living the life worthy of receiving the gift of completion of your time on Earth ready for Celestial Kingdom? A perfect life and a life worthy of this gift are different. It is impossible for a mortal to live a perfect life. The life of beings in the Celestial Kingdom are beyond mortal comprehension. The comprehension of Celestial beings are beyond our mortal understanding. The Celestial Glory and Perfection is a gift from God, if the Holy Spirit of Promise confirms the faithfulness to our covenants. This experience gave me a new understanding of how Christ is the author and finisher of our faith.

2 October 2017

After General Conference yesterday we played a game of Machi Koro by another set of rules. My beginner's luck disappeared.

One thing that I wanted to write about is a friendship with a Mason. His name is Steve. He suspected that I have never been on a scissor-lift, and he invited me to join him. We are good friends, and I am grateful for his engagement in my life and our friendship. Birds occasionally live in the building, and we set a trap in on a cap of the building, putting parts of torn donut in a cage. Steve pointed out that we were at the highest point of the structure other than walking on the roof. I took a picture of all the floors beneath us and the ceiling.

I am good friends with many people at work, and I hope to maintain them for years. I spoke to the sister missionaries a previous week about the special culture of my company. Many of the people have worked on temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Some crews are father and son. I have met many people with relations with the church. I hope to one day share the gospel with some in order for them to understand and live the fullness of the Gospel, which is the way to eternal life and happiness.

Another thing that I forgot to add is that I finally paid off my medical bill from an incident about a year ago. It is great to be debt free.