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.

Sunday morning we drove from Napa 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.

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.

The El Segundo Lodge had a cool mural painted on its side.

Friday morning we checked out of the Grand Californian and, after a few more hours in the parks, headed north.

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.

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.