One of the things that I quite enjoyed on my trip was getting the chance to listen to a pretty significant portion of The Three Musketeers on the way. I've been listening to it since the beginning of the year, but it's a 24 hour recording, so getting through it has taken a significant amount of time. The speakers on my Kindle are okay, but sometimes are too soft for me to hear everything, especially if I'm running the sink or something loudish. Having the story pumped through the car speakers and being able to focus my attention more fully on it was great. In fact, I was able to finish the book on my way home. Now I can claim some familiarity with French literature, which I've typically avoided. The Three Musketeers was quite fun, though also quite scandalous in some ways. I guess I never really expected much different coming from the French, though! I can't see why it's called The Three Musketeers instead of The Four Musketeers though. It seems unfair to poor D'Artagnan, but I suppose the title could be considered a minor spoiler at that point. Pretty much, D'Artagnan and Athos are the only ones worth their salt anyway; you could fairly well dispense with Porthos and Aramis without much loss!
I also decided that I was going to stop at the Brigham City Temple on my way up. I've wanted to go there for awhile, and it seemed a good opportunity as I had no fixed schedule. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that they run only 5 sessions a day. I barely missed the 12:00 one by a few minutes. It turned out okay, though, as I was able to do sealings instead. If I had done a session as I planned, I would have probably missed seeing the beautiful sealing room. It was quite possibly the most beautiful I've ever seen. There are intricately carved accent panels that run around the room as well as a gorgeous ceiling painted with a large circle of peach blossoms. The alter and doors were also quite detailed. Afterwards, I was able to enjoy the Celestial Room for awhile as well. It is quite small, but also very lovely. The temple's theme is clearly peaches, though mostly the blossoms. The Celestial Room carpet even had peach blossoms etched in it in the middle. The only place I saw actual peaches was in a painting in the stairwell.
I'd say that the Brigham City Temple interior is probably the most beautiful I've seen in Utah since moving here. The only one that I would say surpasses it is the Salt Lake Temple, but I haven't been there yet since moving back. The Brigham City Temple exterior seems to echo some designs from the Salt Lake and Nauvoo Temples in the window shapes and layout, though much of the exterior is more in line with modern temple designs. I was told that there are also murals in the Endowment Room, and I always love those, so I will have to go back and see those another time. Maybe when Marinda gets back. It's nice to have something new to anticipate there still.
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| View of the temple from the front door or the tabernacle. It was quite windy and cold there. |
While I was in the temple, I was thinking about how beautiful I thought it was, though it is also small and had a somewhat smaller capacity for getting work done. This made me think about how each temple has it's own beauties and capacities, but in all of them you feel the same Spirit and the same work is done. Each belongs to the Lord, brings glory and honor to Him, and encourages everyone who associates with it to do the same. It serves its purpose well and does all it can with what it is given. When it's best becomes insufficient, another temple is provided to help carry the work forward. This should be true of our personal physical temples too. They are each beautiful in their own way and have different capacities. They can each also be dedicated to the Lord and accomplish good while spreading positive influence to all who encounter them. We must each use all the talents and abilities we have been blessed with along with our temple, and when we do all we can, and more is needed, the Lord will send others who also use their temples well to move the work forward. I hope to use the body I have been blessed with in this way, that it may house not only my own spirit, but also the Holy Spirit. I am so grateful for the Plan of Salvation that gives me the opportunity to enjoy and learn to be a better steward with the wonderful gift of a body.
After getting out of the temple, I went across the street to the Brigham City Tabernacle, which I wasn't aware was there before I went. It was also one of the most beautiful tabernacles I've seen in Utah. Apparently, the one there now was built in 1897 after the original tabernacle burned down. I sadly didn't get to see the inside, but hope to see that someday as well and perhaps attend a meeting there, as the pictures of the interior also look quite nice.
The temple and tabernacle are right in the downtown of Brigham City, which seems to be a very quaint little town. I'd love to go back and spend some time there in the future. It would be fun to go when they do their Peach Days at some point, though no doubt the temple is more busy when the festival comes around.
The rest of the trip up was pretty uneventful. I made good time and got to Grandma's house at about 4:00. Pretty much immediately after I moved my suitcase in, we started consulting on Grandpa's book and got to work on a few things. Mostly the first evening consisted of getting clear what all should be included and discussing some layout ideas and locating files which were somewhat confusingly hidden on both the Mac and the PC. The confusing part was basically that nothing was named what I would have expected, which lead to more creative searching and plain and simple hunting. I did get pictures chosen and inserted for Grandpa's autobiography too. Because I've never used anything Apple more than for a minute or two in the past, I figured I'd compile and edit everything on the PC. We finished up work at 11:00, which was a little later than I might have entirely wanted since I didn't know church was at 9:00 until the end.
I was kind of groggy for church, especially because I didn't sleep all that well, but I still had a good Sabbath. Grandma is the ward choir director and had asked me to sing Oh My Father with the choir for her. We practiced it a little Saturday night, and I discovered that I have sung the arrangement not all that long ago. This was fortuitous, though I had learned it with the words for Come Thou Fount as that is the tune of the arrangement. It was a little puzzling to keep the words right, but not too bad. Grandma said that her choir fluctuates in attendance badly, which is why she wanted some help. She wasn't sure which part would be needed, so we went through both. At the beginning of sacrament, she asked me to sing soprano after looking though the congregation, but when we went up to sing, she whispered to me to sing alto, as a bunch of sopranos sprang up. In the end, it was one of the better attendances they've had for a performance apparently, but at the practice after church, the numbers were much diminished. I can see it being frustrating to have no idea what your numbers will be most of the time and having people switch in and out frequently. Grandma does a great job with conducting, despite her protestations, in any event.
After church and lunch, I took a small nap and Lance and Skye's family came over. It was great getting to visit with them. Having them in Idaho Falls has made visiting Grandma's house even more enjoyable. It was nice to get to catch up with them for awhile. They even gave me a good tip about a reality show called Kid Nation that aired in 2007 where 40 kids were left to set up a society mostly for themselves, apparently. It sounds like an interesting concept, so I'm going to have to try to track it down, though it doesn't seem to be on Amazon, unfortunately.
That pretty much covered the weekend. It talk about the rest of the week in future posts.
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