July 19, 2005 (IJ)

I gave Vinny the Book of Mormon today and it was a great experience. After talking to him and deciding to give him a book, I planned on writing my testimony in the cover. Unfortunately, I was in a huge rush this morning and was afraid I would be late to work because of traffic. All the way there, I was thinking that I wished that I had written in it earlier. I figured that it would be fine without my personalized message. Miraculously, I got to work almost 20 minutes early. I still don't know how that happened because traffic was about as bad as it always is. Anyway, I had just enough time to jot down some inspired words before I had to go inside the building. I saw Vinny almost immediately and said, "I brought you the book I was telling you about.". He was pretty excited and started to thumb through. He opened the front cover and saw that I had written in it. When he saw my writing, he was really pleased and gave me a hug and said, "This is so kind of you. Thank you so much. I am going up to my office right now to read it.". I couldn't help but grin from ear to ear as I walked down the hall to the kitchen. If any of you have the opportunity to share the Book of Mormon with someone, I think it is incredibly important to write in it. Think about it.

The other really cool thing I got to do was make a rub for some baby back ribs that Chad needed for tomorrow. I am supposed to think of a sauce/glaze for them tonight. The rub I thought of contained chili powder, cayenne, black pepper, kosher salt, cumin, garlic and fresh cilantro. I am thinking about making an apple honey glaze. I think it might be just sweet enough to compliment the spiciness of the rub. I hope so. It was nice of Chad to give me (another) opportunity to be creative. He's really good about that.