DAY 9 - Temple Day

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

Location: Mesa, AZ

Campsite: Nicolette's Apt. Complex

Today, I went to the temple. It was awesome. The Mesa, AZ Temple is much different than the San Diego temple, actually, I think they're polar opposites in every way. San Diego is very organic, very flowing and curvy. Lots of open spaces, and very roomy inside. The Mesa Temple on the other hand, is very boxy, very rigid and very confined on the inside. There are lots of little corridors and passageways that are everywhere, and everything is at a 90 angle, no curves. I actually got lost a few times in there. They don't have as many signs pointing you in the right direction as some temples have.

The thing that was very cool about the Arizona Temple, is that it reminded me a lot of the Salt Lake Temple. They had lots of paintings on the walls, large murals in the hallways and in the endowment rooms, and the actual endowment process takes place in two different rooms, kind-of like how the Salt Lake Temple is, split up into different rooms. The architecture inside of the Celestial Room is also similar. The way the walls and design are make it very similar, just not as extravagent.

The paintings were very interesting, as they were all about the history of the area, like having wall murals of the native indians, and Joseph Smith and other prophets with them. It was very unique, and I'm glad they have those murals up there. The baptistry is different too, there's lots of paintings where the baptismal font is too, which was cool. I liked the temple, very cool.

There's a visitor's center attached to the temple grounds, and it's amazing. Though much smaller than Salt Lake, they have something that SLC doesn't have, and that's the "Reflections on Christ" exhibit. This is a little private room you walk through by yourself as music plays about the Savior, and they have pictures and paintings on the entire life of Jesus Christ. It touched me, it's really cool to see all those pictures, and they are done really well. I liked it a lot. I wish they had something like that in Salt Lake.

They also have a Christus, which was cool to see too. I thought SLC had the only one, but I guess a lot of visitor centers do. Around 5 I think.

The rest of the day, I just hung-out, didn't do much. That night I cooked my famous Thai food dish for my friend Nicolette, which she enjoyed very much. A little spicy for her taste, but I think it can always use a little more. Mmmmm, that tasted so good.

This leg of my trip will not be as exciting for my readers. I'm sorry. I am taking a small pit stop in Albuquerque, NM to visit my sister, and my grandparents. So, my blogs won't be filled with heightened emotions, and crazy experiences probably until Monday or Tuesday of next week, but hang in there, and stay tuned, I will have more crazy experiences when I go through the nothingness of Texas, and run into hillbillys and weird Texans.

Tomorrow, I take a bus from Mesa to Albuquerque. Like I mentioned before in an earlier blog, I will be skipping that stretch for now, with a vow to come back later this year, or the beginning of next year to finish that stretch. I just do not feel very comfortable about taking on some of the biggest hills and mountains on my trip with my current physical condition. I would like to be in better shape, and actually would like to do that with one or two other people, just to be more safe. I know that if I were to do it now, I would find myself not being able to get to most of the towns at night before I ran out of water, and would suffer the risk of dehydrating, and other scary things like mountain lions all by myself. I'm going to be more safe, and brave that stretch with a group.

So, if you think it would be fun to take a week or two this winter and go about 500 miles through this beautiful area of the country with me, post a comment on this day's blog, and I'll be in contact with you.

Spritual Thought of the Day:

From the Pages of the Book of Mormon...

Mosiah 3:19 (Page 153) = " For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.

We, all of us here on the earth are called the "natural man". The natural man refers to the natural desires and tendencies that we want in this life, whether it be money, pleasure, or power, etc. It is our responsibility, and our duty (to repay Gos for all that He has done for us...) to do everything we can to resist those desires, which are directly polar opposite from what God wants us to do, and how he wants us to live our lives.

I promise you that God will make you into the type of person that deep, deep down inside of you you really want to become, if you will but only resist the natural man, and embrace God's plan, The way to that lasting peace of mind will be crystal clear in your mind, and you will find yourself looking down, and seeing yourself already on the path to becoming that person you really want to be.