Bethel Installation

After a break for dinner, we installed six girls into offices for the next term.

After the Installation, Bryan and and several of the DeMolay State officers performed the Rose ceremony for our new Honored QueenAfterwards we had refreshments and a dance.

The DeMolay State Officers crashed at our house after the installation.  This evening we all went Cosmic Bowling.

Installations

Earlier this month, Bryan served as an Installing Officer for Mt Hood Chapter in Portland, while Jennifer and Susan attended the Installation of Bethel 19 in Gresham.
On the 21st, the Bethel had an installation practice, a gift exchange, and then went to the local cinema to watch National Treasure 2.

Yesterday was the Installation for both Bend Lodge and Bethel 11.  I was installed as Worshipful Master.

The Bethel Daughters performed a Masonic tribute, forming the square and compasses.

November Bethel Update

In November Bethel 11 had elections, determining who will be our Line Officers for the next term. Jennifer was elected Junior Princess.

She also attended the Occasional Grand Lodge in Eugene, where she met up with other Job's Daughters in our state.

And had their picture taken with the Grandmaster of Masons in Oregon.

On the last day of the month, Bethel 11 held a Purple Party sleepover at the Lodge. We played games, ate ice cream, and had an open meeting for prospective members. Later we decorated the Lodge Christmas tree and watched a movie.

Heading north

From Napa, we drove to Fairfield and stopped at the Jelly Belly factory for a tour. We've done this a couple of times, and it's always fun seeing the candy get made and picking up some flops (rejected Jelly Beans) at the gift shop.

Then we headed up to Redding, where we stopped at Turtle Bay. This is a nice facility with interesting information about the Sacramento River. It's free with our OMSI membership.

Our last stop on this trip was Bethel 356 in Etna, a small, isolated town in northwest California. Etna's Bethel is small, but they have several young members and hope to grow larger and stronger in the next few years. The Etna Lodge building was built in 1867. They were excited to have visitors, and presented Jennifer with a nice gift.

 

Today, Bryan marched with his Boy Scout Troop in Bend's annual Veteran's Day parade.

Richmond Initiation & Napa Sleepover

On Saturday, we had lunch and attended an Initiation at Bethel 15 in Richmond. Richmond is currently a fairly small Bethel, so members from Napa 185, Dublin 1, San Leandro 132 and Bethel 11 in Bend, OR helped with the Initiation. There was almost a full set of officers, and our girls did First Messenger and Chaplain. It was also the official visit of the Deputy Grand Guardian.

From Richmond, we headed north to Bethel 185 in Napa for their Elections Meeting and Sleepover. Our girls sat in as Chaplain and Junior Princess.

El Segundo 295 & Burbank 97

Thursday night we attended a meeting of the Bethel 295 in El Segundo. It was an open meeting, held so prospective members could learn more about Job's Daughters.

Last night, we visited Bethel 97 in Burbank. It is one of the largest Bethels in the state, with a full set of officers and several members in the choir. Its Bethel Guardian is a Grand Messenger. It was their election night. Some of their members were absent, but their choir members filled in very well.

Halloween at Disneyland

We stayed at the Grand Californian Hotel, and Monday morning had breakfast at Storyteller’s. The kids enjoyed meeting characters.

Wednesday evening the kids went trick or treating at the hotel.

That night we attended Mickey’s Halloween Treat at California Adventure. The kids met characters, collected candy, and watched a special Halloween parade. This morning we checked out and, after a few more hours in the parks, headed north.

Heading South Again

Last week, we headed down to California to visit Disneyland and some more Bethels. On our last visit, we had told Bethel 129 Jennifer could help with an initiation on our way down, but it took longer to get out of town than we had hoped, and we arrived in San Jose too late. We met up with another member of our Bethel, and continued down to Southern California, to spend a few days at the Disneyland resort. Both parks were decorated for Halloween. 

We hopped between the two parks, enjoying attractions and meet8ng characters. In Disneyland, we checked out Tom Sawyer’s Island, which had recently been enhanced with Pirate stuff. While there, we ran into Jack Sparrow. 

We also experienced the Submarine attraction, which had reopened after almost 10 years with Finding Nemo elements added.

Grand Bethel Tea

This weekend, we drove four Bethel 11 daughters over to Forest Grove for the annual Grand Bethel Tea at our state's Masonic and Eastern Star Home.  During the year, we send letters to some of the residents of the home, and after the tea, we visited with them.

Then we went out to dinner with Bethel 67, and spent the rest of the night hanging out at Washingon Masonic Center in Portland.

Bryan meanwhile with camping with his Boy Scout Troop.  It was their annual Webelos Woods event, at which the Boy Scouts show the Webelos Scouts some of what they will be doing in Boy Scouts.

Shadow Night & Miss Job's Daughter Pageant

This week Bethel 11 had a "shadow" meeting, where the Masons from our Lodge follow the Daughters around and try to mimic their actions.

On Sunday we drove over the mountains to the pageant to determine Oregon's next Miss Job's Daughter. This year we had three contestants, and one of them asked Susan to be her coach for the pageant.

We were very excited when she ended up winning! She will represent our order at all the Masonic family events for the next year, as well as competing at Supreme Session next summer.

Leadership Camp

The first weekend of October, Susan and the Bethel Guardian Secretary took six Daughters from Bethel 11 to Leadership Camp.

While there, they played games and learned more about Job's Daughters.

Jennifer was one of two Bethel 11 girls chosen to compete in a "Jeopardy" game - testing their knowledge of Job's Daughters. Her team won.

Bethels 14 & 277

Monday night we visited Bethel No 14 in Pleasanton, home of the Grand Bethel Honored Queen. Unfortunately she was unable to make it to the meeting, but she sent Jennifer a nice present. Pleasanton does not currently have a Marshal, so Jennifer was able to robe down with the other Daughters. Pleasanton is also home to two Supreme Bethel Officers, the Representatives to Missouri and Wyoming, who are sisters and the Jr and Sr Princesses of Bethel 14. Jennifer also won the coin march prize.

We made visiting Pleasanton a priority, because we lived there until Jennifer was 5, and Bethel 14 would have been her bethel if we had not moved to Oregon. One of the Daughters was a former neighbor of ours. After the meeting, we had a nice long conversation with the Bethel Guardian. It ended up being longer than expected, because Jennifer locked the keys in the RV when she went to change, and we had to wait for a tow truck to open the door.

Our last stop was Stockton, where we attended a non-regalia meeting of Bethel 277, and Jennifer visited with the Grand Bethel Representative to Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. The Guardian gave us a tour of the Masonic Temple, which is in downtown Stockton and has several Lodge rooms.

Grand Receptions

Saturday evening we attended the Reception for the Associate Grand Guardian of California, which was hosted by Hayward Bethel 261. Many of the California Grand Bethel officers were there.

Jennifer was able to sit with and was introduced with the California Grand Bethel Girls.

Jennifer with the AGG, Miss California Job's Daughters, and the Grand Bethel Rep to Oregon, Idaho, and Washington.

Today we attended the reception for the Grand Bethel officer from Bethel 129 San Jose. She is the Representative to Brazil, North Carolina, and Ohio. The reception was held at the Santa Clara Lodge, and was hosted by Bethel 129, who did a great job. Jennifer did the Ohio Flag Tribute during the ceremony and again had fun spending time with the California Grand Bethel girls. The theme of the reception was Jungle Fun and they sang Jungle songs and had a scavenger hunt.

More Bethel Visits

On Thursday, we drove northeast on I-8O to Auburn, for the official visit of California's Grand Guardian and Associate Grand Guardian to Bethel 148 of Auburn and 102 of Grass Valley. A Member of Honor Ceremony was done during the Meeting to make both the GG and AGG MOH's of both participating Bethels. The GG and AGG gave bracelets to all of the girls that had signed a petition for a new member and praised the girls on a nice meeting. Jennifer will treasure her bracelet and it will forever remind her of this meeting with the GG.

Before the Offical Visit we had dinner in the dining room where we met many people. Following dinner and clean-up, the GG and AGG met alone with all of the girls and had a friendly question and answer session. Some of the questions were: What is your favorite state besides CA, what is your favorite ice cream, and which historic person would you most like to meet? The GG had not thought of her answer yet, when Jennifer said Ethel T Wead Mick. That was definitely the answer she was looking for. 

Jennifer was 5th Messenger at the Official Visit and afterwards she was interviewed and photographed for the California Job's Daughter Newspaper. We will be waiting to see her in print in the next issue. The evening closed with make your own sundaes and a presentation to the HQ's and GG from Jennifer.

We also met the CA Grand Bethel 2nd Messenger, and the Grass Valley HQ who was the Supreme Rep to Colorado. 

This morning we attended a meeting of Bethel 129 in San Jose. It was a non-regalia meeting, followed by a practice for the reception of their Grand Bethel Representative.

Visiting California Bethels

From Sacramento, we drove south to Fresno, and on Monday night attended the meeting of Bethel 49 in Fresno, which was Susan's Bethel as a girl. It was the 80th anniversary of the Bethel, and several PHQ's and PBG's were in attendance, as well as a Past Supreme Guardian. We had heard it was one of the stronger Bethels in California, so were disappointed when there were only 8 girls there for the meeting. Still, Jennifer enjoyed visiting them at refreshment after the meeting.

Tuesday we drove to Selma to attend the meeting of Bethel 151. We arrived at the Lodge a few hours before the scheduled meeting, and when an adjacent business owner asked if he could help us, we asked him if he knew whether the Job's Daughters were meeting that night. He made a few calls, and a few minutes later, the Bethel Guardian came by and invited us to dinner with her husband and youngest daughter, a Past Honored Queen. Selma is a fairly small Bethel, and was just placed under reorganization, although the Bethel Guardian hopes they will emerge from it shortly. Many of their members are busy with sports, and were unable to make it to the meeting, so they opened with four daughters and Jennifer. The good news was they had two Jobies-to-be come to watch some of the opening and closing and submit petitions. The girls will be initiated next meeting. Afterward the Bethel Guardian invited us to come by her house, and we visited for an hour or so, and promised to keep in touch.

Today, we drove north to Citrus Heights, a suburb of Sacramento, and attended the meeting of Bethel 292. They have a large Bethel, with almost all their chairs filled. They even have a musician. Bethel 292 has a Grand Bethel officer, the Representative to Alaska, Montana, and Canada. It was very impressive seeing so many girls and such good ritual work. Afterwards, we had rootbeer floats.