Temple Trip--Albuquerque

Albuquerque Temple

Albuquerque Temple

With Bro and Sis P (friends of Mullennax')

Temple Trip--National Parks

Petrified Forest NP--Big Log

 

Petrified Forest NP--Big Log

Petrified Forest NP--Big Log

Petrified Forest NP--Cactus

Petrified Forest NP

Petrified Forest NP--Cactus

Petrified Forest NP--Cactus

Petrified Forest NP--Cactus

Painted Desert NP

Painted Desert NP

Painted Desert NP

Painted Desert NP

We visited these parks Monday on the way from Snowflake to Albuquerque.

Temple Trip--Snowflake

Snowflake Temple

Snowflake Temple

Snowflake Temple

Snowflake Temple

Salt River Gorge

Salt River highway crossing

With Brother and Sister B and their temple map

The second half of the drive from Gila Valley to Snowflake was some of the more interesting terrain we traveled through on our trip.  For the first half we back-tracked up to Globe which was very dry uninviting desert.  But we began to gain more elevation and entered a juniper-pinion pine forest like we see on the road to Eureka.  Then suddenly we came to a river canyon, the Salt River.  It had dramatic cliffs and views as we descended to the river then climbed out on the other side.  Someone said that this river canyon would be world famous for sight-seers if not for there being an even bigger canyon up north.  I added a couple of pictures from the web to remember this canyon.

Out of the Salt River canyon we kept climbing to a ridge that was about 8000 feet above sea level.  This was the Mogollon (pronounced Muggy-yown, people said) Rim.  This is an escarpment that runs 200 miles eastward from mid AZ to near the NM border.  It forms the southern boundary of the Colorado Plateau which covers the NE fourth of AZ.  On the high slopes of the ridge we went through a Ponderosa Pine forest that reminded me of how the east slope of the Cascades in Washington state where I was raised.  We gradually descended to about 6000 feet at Show Low and the country was a high flat prairie with high desert vegetation reminiscent of some of the valleys in southern Utah. 

I could relate to this from my reading Louis L’Amour novels that many of them (for example, some of the Sackett family stories) were set in the area along the Mogollon Rim.  And I learned that he had a tyhing about this area and even built himself a cabin along the Rim, near a town named Payson, AZ.  The cabin has been preserved and is a tourist attraction.

Snowflake, about 10 miles north of Show Low was out on this high, flat terrain, and was another of the Mormon settlements in Utah.    It was founded in 1878 by leaders Erastus Snow and William Jordan Flake, hence the combined name.  The temple was dedicated in 2002 and has 11 (soon to be 12 it was announced the Sunday we were there) stakes in its district, with most of them within a 30 miles radius, so the immediate area appears to have a predominantly LDS population.  We saw at least half a dozen LDS chapels in the little twin towns of Snowflake and Taylor (total population about 10,000, with at least 2/3rds LDS).

The temple was at the top of a knoll visible to the country around it.  It had a water feature in front with water tumbling over some rocks.  It was attractively decorated.  It had the basic small temple design with a single 2-stage endowment room arrangement and no chapel.  One difference however was that the entrance was on a lower level which included the baptistry, with a stair case leading up to then main ordinance level.

While attending the temple Saturday late afternoon, we got acquainted with a couple (the B family) who invited us to attend church in their ward the next morning and to have dinner with them after.  They were interesting people.  He had recently been released as their ward Bishop and had just joined her a temple worker.  They met at BYU where she was a roommate to Sister N who lives in a neighbor ward here in Spanish Fork and who Wendy knows as a temple worker.  He has an engineering degree and is still active professionally working from home.  They are one of the few couples I have known who still have the goal of visiting every Temple in the church.  They may be falling behind, but they have two big maps (World and North America) with pins stuck in all the places of temples they have attended.   The total right now is 92.  Recently they were in Peru, and were frustrated because they found the temple closed and couldn’t check that temple off.  His father, Wilfrid B, was an anthropologist, who had taught at places like the University of Georgia and was faithful LDS.  He said that his dad was well-acquainted with John Sorenson and believed that he had consulted with Bro. Sorenson on some of the latter’s papers on Book of Mormon geography and culture.

Temple Trip--Gila Valley

The Gila Valley Temple, with Mt. Graham, 10,720 feet in height in the background

Traveling toward Gila Valley from Phoenix, we saw mostly desolate desert, and the area within a few miles of the temple was the most hospitable we saw on the whole route.

Cactus on hillside, between Globe and Thatcher AZ

The temple was quite attractive, and serving a small population, it seemed neighborly and friendly.  It was dedicated in 2010, and while a small temple with the single 2-room progressive design, an added waiting chapel was a nice improvement over the design used in the Snowflake temple.
We felt this temple must be a very significant addition and resource for this little Mormon corner of the world, since its dedication.  It serves 7 stakes (about 20,000 people).  Three of the stakes are in the immediate area, and the other four are scattered in the surrounding area.
The upper Gila Valley was where Pres. Kimball was raised, in the area of Safford, Thatcher, and Pima.  It was a Mormon settlement started in 1879.  The Gila River provides water for farming and sustenance but not a great amount.  The river rises in the Black Mountains at the continental divide in New Mexico and runs westward about 600 miles absorbing several other rivers and draining (sort of) the south half of Arizona and also some part of Sonora in Mexico, eventually joining the Colorado River just north of the Mexican border.  However water from these rivers water is mostly used along the way.  Gila Valley in the area of the temple has an elevation of about 2,500 feet above sea level and is very hot, like Phoenix. We saw some agriculture, including quite a few cotton fields undergoing harvest as we passed.

Field of cotton near Pima AZ

Temple Trip--Gilbert

The Gilbert Temple is in an upscale, very modern community in the SE part of the Phoenix metro area, about 15 miles and 25 minutes from the Mesa Temple.  It is spacious and near twin to the Payson temple, with different but equally beautiful decor.

Temple Trip--Mesa

Mesa temple grounds--petrified log

Mesa temple grounds--lemon tree

Mesa temple grounds--orange tree

Mesa temple grounds--grapefruit tree

Mesa temple grounds--cactus garden--Tree Cholla(?)

Mesa temple grounds--cactus garden--Mexican Fencepost

Mesa temple grounds--cactus garden--yucca(?)

Mesa temple grounds--cactus garden--Saguaro

We enjoyed being in this historical temple (dedicated in 1927) and stayed all day.  (It has a cafeteria.)  The temple has four separate endowment ordinance rooms plus a V room, mostly created out of the original progressive endowment rooms, in a remodeling that took place in 1974-75.  The grounds are large, covering 22 acres, with lots of grass, and a large visitor's center.  There are two reflecting pools, one on the north between the temple and the visitor's center and the other on the west by the main entrance.  We were fascinated by the citrus trees on the grounds and also a cactus garden.  I did a little research to try to find names for some of the large and more interesting cactus varieties on display.

Temple Trip--Phoenix

Phoenix Temple

Beautiful temple inside and out.  The celestial room is oval and the V was impressively wrapped around it on one end and the viewed from the second ordinance room through an opening of Greek pillars.  Very different and thoughtfully designed.
We recalled that there was intense opposition from neighbors to this temple.  Now it seemed peaceful, and entirely fitting in its place.  We hoped that the antagonism had disappeared.

Temple Trip--Las Vegas

Las Vegas Temple

This temple is special in that Wendy received certain promises here while visiting here a number of years ago.  It has a very dramatic look and feel in the celestial room, and is one of the most impressive I have visited.  This room is located on an angular point to the south and is tall with lots of glass and is decorated with a Silver State theme, white and silver, that glisten in the day-time sun.   You step into it from a not too bright hallway, and the contrast takes your breathe away.

It is also impressive as a place of refuge and protection from a very adverse environment outside its walls.

Temple Trip--St. George

St. George Temple 

One of my best selfies

Painting in Visitor's Center

I was interested in this painting in the Temple Visitor's Center, showing the Sacred Grove vegetation as not being leafed out yet at the time of the First Vision.  This is probably correct if  the date of the vision was in early April as many believe.  

We found someone we knew at the Visitor's Center and had a nice visit.  This was Sister Jessica Starta, serving as a sister missionary.  Her family lived in the Mt. Zion Branch in North Carolina when we served there on our mission.  She was a sweet little girl of about 12, very loving and very committed.  We were not surprised to see her serve a mission.  Missionary work is quite interesting at the Visitor's Center.  They cater to foreign tourists, who arrive there by the busload on their way to tour the nearby national parks.  A lot of the displays in the Center were bilingual, English and French.

Temple Trip--Cedar City

Cedar City temple, under construction 24 Oct 2016

This shot was taken across a vacant lot on the ridge to the south of the building.  It is placed on a low hill to the west of the city and is becoming surrounded with beautiful homes.  There will be a very prominent view of the temple as you approach the city along I-15 from the north.  According to web site ldschurchtemples.com, it should be ready for dedication in late 2017.  We're looking forward to when we can add this place to temples we have attended.

Arizona Temple Trip--10 Temples in 10 days

Wendy and I left on on a 10 day temple trip a week ago Monday, October 24th, during a 2-week period when the Payson temple was closed for cleaning.  We went down I-15 to Cedar City to check on progress on their new temple, stayed in St. George temple housing that night, and attended that temple and also the Las Vegas temple on Tuesday, and then drove as far as Kingman AZ.  On Wednesday, we finished the drive to the Phoenix, AZ area, attended that temple in the late afternoon and then drove to a nice motel in Mesa AZ about a block from the Mesa temple.  We spend the full day Thursday in the Mesa temple.  On Friday morning we made the short drive to attend the Gilbert temple, then drove to the Gila Valley temple near Thatcher AZ.  We arrived in time to do a temple session on Friday evening, and then did another session on Saturday morning, after which we made the drive to Snowflake AZ, arriving in time to do a temple session in the evening.  On Sunday we attended church in the ward belonging to a nice couple we met in the temple and also had dinner with them in the afternoon.  We really enjoyed the ward, which had a powerful sacrament meeting featuring testimonies of ward members about their conversions and about serving missions, a strong gospel doctrine class, and a special RS-Priesthood meeting on member-missionary work.  We found the B family to be so kind in opening their home to us in the afternoon.

On Monday we left for Albuquerque, traveling by way of Petrified Forest and Painted Desert National Parks where we paused to view some highlights.  On Tuesday we attended the Albuquerque temple in the morning, then traveled during the day to Monticello, where we were able to attend temple sessions in the evening and again the next morning. We then drove northward through Moab and Green River and west across 1-70 then up the Hwy 89 to Ephraim, where we had reservations at a B&B owned by a lady who had worked briefly with Wendy at the Payson temple.  We took Wednesday evening off from the temple and watched the Cubs win the World Series.  Then we spent the next morning at the Manti temple and arrived home in the mid-afternoon on Thursday Nov 3rd.  We had traveled 2041 miles.

Here is a summary of our temple work:
St. George, 25 Oct:    Endowment session
Las Vegas, 25 Oct:     Endowment session (WC)
Phoenix, 26 Oct:        Endowment session
Mesa, 27 Oct:            2 Endowment sessions (1 WC), 2 Sealing sessions
Gilbert, 28 Oct:          Endowment session (WC)   
Gila Valley, 28 Oct:   Endowment session (WC)
Gila Valley, 29 Oct:   Endowment session (WC)
Snowflake, 29 Oct:    Endowment session (WC), Initiatory session
Albuquerque, 1 Nov: Endowment session (WC)
Monticello, 1 Nov:     Endowment session (WC)
Monticello, 2 Nov:     Endowment session
Manti, 3 Nov:             Endowment session (WC), Sealing session
Endowments: 13 M 13 F
Couple sealings: 36
Child sealings: 3 F
We were witness couple 9 times.  Endowment films: A:1, B:2, C:8, D:1. Live:1

Something from the past

Here is an e-mail exchange today, which was fun:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kim:

 

Thanks for your kind e-mail.  Some 30 years ago, I was a career employee of the Utah child welfare agency, serving in the state office with a variety of assignments for strategic planning, effectiveness evaluation, and management system development.  While a full-time employee, I also worked on my doctorate, which I completed in 1990.  Our agency was interested at that time in preventative family-based services in child welfare, and I found faculty at the Graduate School of Social Work with an interest in testing these same kinds of programs.  I became part of a research team under the direction of Mark Fraser and Peter Pecora which published several books and articles flowing out of this research.  (One of these two men would be the primary authors of most of the reports.)  I wrote my dissertation on a piece o f this research.  We did not have the luxury of using controlled samples in these studies, but utilized correlational techniques such as event history analysis to try to tease out contributory variables for program successes.  During that time, as a favor to a friend who operated a small private non-profit youth treatment agency, I did some evaluation work on their programs.   I noticed the potential to develop a controlled study as they were not able to serve all of the families referred to them for a home-based intervention, and this became the study to which you refer.

 

I retired at about that time and have not had the opportunity to pursue other similar studies since then.  My wife and I served a service mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and I spend my time in various service and family projects, but not this kind of research.

 

If I have left out any detail in which you are interested, get back to me.

 

Robert

 

 

 

From: Kimberly Hokanson

Sent: Sunday, October 16, 2016 9:13 AM

To: roberte@lewisfam.com

Subject: 2004 Article

 

Hi, Mr. Lewis,

 

I'm a doctoral student at Boston College, and I'm using your 2004 article, "The Effectiveness of Families First Services," in a class project.  I just wanted to drop you a line to tell you how much I loved this study.  Have you done any others?

 

Hope all is well.

 

Yours,

 

 

Kim

Spiritual impressions described by Truman Madsen

      I am sharing something that I ran onto, in which Truman Madsen attempts to put into words descriptions of kinds of spiritual impressions, especially some that he concludes that seem to confirm that our inner self is the eternal intelligence made into a spirit child of God the Father.  This attempt to describe, to me seems unparalleled and intriguing.  Do any of these ideas seem meaningful to you?
    “Here is an attempt to capture the flavor of the Latter-day Saint “experiment in depth,” revelatory touches with the self that seem to disclose the longer-than-mortal sense.  (Inevitably we veer into the oblique but somehow more expressive language of simile and metaphor.)  There are:
    – Prayer flashes, when our words outreach thought and we seem to be listening above ourselves, completely at home while we are surprised at hints of hidden spirit memories within.
    – Familiarity of persons, immediate luminous rapport – this face or that gesture or motion –  that elicits the sense of recall, a premortal intimacy, especially in the environs of teaching and being taught.
    – Haunting sensations, usually visual, sometimes auditory, of a landscape of life or a bitter predicament in the soul, that call up simultaneous feelings of “again” and “for the first time”; like being thrust, as leading actor, into the last act of a play without knowing, and yet almost knowing, what occurred in the first two.
    – Numbing protests from below sometimes of unrelievable urgency or guilt, that are ruthless in unmasking our pretense.  These are not simply the yeas or nays of “conscience” about acts, but bell sounds of a whole self that will not be muffled, that ring with presentiments, thrusting us toward ends that seem tied to an elusive but white-lighted blueprint inside.
    – Shades of consciousness that occur just at awakening or just before sleep, unpredictably impressing while they express, in images or silent words or free association.  By the sanctity of their feeling-tone, these are different than our usual helter- skelter menagerie of thought.
    – Dreams and illusions that seem not to be mere dreams or mere illusions, catching us quite off-guard and lingering in their after-effect, as if life were a game of internal hide-the-thimble and we were “getting warm” to our own potential.
    – Unaccountable reverberations (e.g., in tear-filled eye or tingling throat or spine) from a phrase or sentiment (which, for the speaker or writer may be merely parenthetical), or from a strain of music, or some trivial stimulus in the midst of drudgery, bearing a holy atmosphere of spontaneous and total recognition.
    – Reflections of our faces in the mirror when we look in and not just at, our eyes.  As if light were coming to the surface, and a curious recovery, and even awe, of the self occurs. There lurks an autobiography, a soul-story that is foreign, yet intimate, unfolding a more-than-I-thought-I-was.
    – Right-track feelings, the sense of the foreordained, like emerging from a fever to find that roughshod or happenstance trials have been presided over by some uncanny instinctual self who knows what he is about.  Just before or just after turning a crucial corner, this someone nearer than you, that is you, holds a quiet celebration that injects peace into the marrow of the bones.
    Such flashes and drives are tied to the whole gamut of complex mental life and may have neat and utterly mundane naturalistic explanations (such as the chemistry of the occipital lobe). Yet the joy that comes from these uprisings, rooted, as they seem to be, in some more primal creative being and that, in turn, in God, supersedes any of the pleasures of human possession or external manipulation.”
(Truman G. Madsen, “Eternal Man,” Deseret Book Company: Salt Lake City, UT, 1970, pp. 75-76)