Mormon Battalion, Former Missionary Visitors, General Conference Weekend

The Tequila Factory is always a hit with the missionaries who have completed their 12 weeks of training. Their trainers enjoy the Mexican lunch buffet as well.

Then down the hill they walk to the Mormon Battalion for a tour, a photo and panning for gold.

With this group we did something different. President and Sister Allen, the new director of Mormon Battalion, invited us to walk two buildings down to their apartment where we met for our after-the-tour meeting.  

It was nice to be in a homey environment and they served ice cream sandwiches and popsicles to us after the meeting. They are such delightful people!!

The following day we had our new leadership meeting with the three new district leaders and three new sister training leaders.

As happens quite frequently, we had a former missionary stop by to see us. This time she (Cassie Davis on the far right) brought her new husband and his family to meet us.

It is always a must that we take lots of photos.

This one made me laugh because one of our senior missionaries offered to take a photo of all of us. Her finger was covering part of the lens. And her husband was staying inside so as not to be in the photo, but alas, there he is in the photo peering out the window at us. Photo bomb!

GENERAL CONFERENCE WEEKEND!!!! Woo hoo!!! Hurrah!! Hurrah!! Hurrah!! Not only do we LOVE to hear our prophet and all the leaders give their divinely inspired talks, but...

we also LOVE the fact we had nothing extra scheduled for that Saturday and we could watch the proceedings from the comfort of our home and in the comfort of our casual clothes.

We tried our hand at homemade pizzas and spent a little time in the beautiful weather outside while munching on chocolate-covered almonds. Ben and Haley had brought some of those with them and I had gotten a hankering to have a big container for ourselves. YUM!!

It was a great day to keep my feet up and to keep ice on my foot.

For Sunday's general conference sessions we were no longer in our casual attire. 

Between sessions we made the drive to Del Mar to attend a Farsi baptism. The coastal scenery made it totally worth the drive there and back.

And we were thrilled for the Persian who had decided to be baptized. Glen had done the baptismal interview and his attendance at the baptism was requested.

We are amazed at the stories of these people who escape from Iran and have harrowing experiences getting to America. And we love to hear how they learn about our Church and what happens spiritually to bring them to the point of baptism. It always strengthens our testimonies of the truthfulness of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

A Day of Adventuring

We found ourselves with a rare free day and decided to make it a day date of adventuring.

We went to Kit Carson Park in Escondido to see what Queen Califia's Magical Circle was all about. Turns out that part of the park was closed that day, so we could only peer in through the fence.

We walked on trails all around the rest of the park.

Next we went to the Alta Vista Botanical Gardens located close to our mission office in Vista.

I was curious as to what the horse sculpture was made out of as it was so rough and patchy.

As we got closer, we saw some cotton on the ground...

Upon closer inspection, we could see the horse was made of cotton balls. I had to send a photo of this to Sarah. She has some weird thing about cotton.

I just googled this strange syndrome and found there is a name for it: sidonglobophobia.

Anything cotton makes her cringe. I'm sure she is feeling very uncomfortable just looking at this cottony horse tail.

So, to clear her mind and make her feel better, here are some pretty flowers.

There were sculptures all throughout the botanical gardens.

There was a kid-friendly part of the gardens. I hope all the children who pass by there notice the butterfly bench.

Glen tried his balancing skills.

We peeked through a fence and saw the Moonlight Amphitheater.

I enjoyed that place, but Glen didn't think it was worth the money we paid to get in.

Then we were off to our third adventure of the day. This one is in Encinitas near the ocean.

We always see this Self-realization Fellowship Center and have wondered about it.

Well we learned the white structure with the gold domes is just a facade. There is dirt and a place for parking vehicles in the area just beyond the walls.

Further up the hill and closer to the ocean are the Tranquility Gardens located on the cliffs overlooking Swami's Beach.

The Golden Lotus Temple was built on the cliffs, and over time the erosion of the shoreline caused the temple to have to be relocated.

We walked around the area a bit by Swami's Beach and we got a closer inspection of the leaning totem poles.

The Cardiff Kook statue is right in that same area. It's always entertaining to drive by and see how he has been dressed up as it changes all the time.

We finished our day by having dinner at California Pizza Kitchen enjoying our salads before the pizzas came.

What a much-needed, fun, diversion day we had where we got plenty of exercise mixed in with the beautiful nature, scenery and artistry we were able to enjoy.

Quotes of the Week

We live in a world of comparison. Social media has made this worse. We should not compare ourselves with others. Please remember that the Savior is interested only in our personal growth.
--M. Russell Ballard

Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can.
--Ezra Taft Benson

The Savior has taken your very personal challenges and mistakes upon Him. He has shouldered them for you so that you would have One who will minister with full understanding of where it hurts and why.
--Ronald A. Rasband