I continued my ongoing temple tour on Sunday afternoon. I have now visited 10 LDS temples in eight states in a month and a half. My NBA sports writer journey has taken me from the West Coast to the East Coast, from Philadelphia to Florida and from Minnesota to Memphis.

While it was great to check out a temple in Tennessee this weekend, the visit left me wanting for more.

Without turning this blog into a confessional, I’ve struggled on physical, emotional and spiritual levels over the years, including while traveling. To that point, one reason I decided to do the Bon Jody Temple Tour was to keep myself spiritually grounded while bouncing around the country for my job writing about the Utah Jazz.

Visiting these temples has given me spiritual strength and peace. It’s added more of a meaningful purpose to my travels (although having a job to provide for my family is worthy cause by itself). It’s been one neat experience after another.

That was no different this time around, but Sunday could’ve been even better. [Read more…]

I recently spent some time in Orlando, home of the Floridian Mickey Mouse, alligators, tourists paying money to hang out with the famous mouse and to watch alligators, and, last but not least, the largest McDonald’s in the world. That McDonald’s proudly served 100 billion customers on the night I went there with my family a few years ago. Or so it seemed.

On this business trip — side note: Writing about the Utah Jazz sounds much more official and important if I call road games “business trips” — I didn’t have time to frequent any of the local hot spots or tourist traps. I did make time between my job responsibilities, however, to drive out into the Magic City suburbs to visit the LDS temple in a town called Windermere.

It was well worth my time, which, by the way, seems to be the theme of the Bon Jody Temple Tour that I’m doing while traveling around the country to write about the Utah Jazz this NBA season. [Read more…]

When I was a kid, my dad stopped smoking, stopped drinking alcohol and started going to church regularly with the family. Eventually, Big Tom received his LDS temple recommend.

September 11, 1982 was a big day for the Genessy family. That was the day when my mom and dad were sealed together in the Jordan River Temple, which was 16 years after they were married at the East Millcreek Third Ward chapel on July 8, 1966. As an awesome bonus, my siblings — Tommy, Tami, Kelly and Natalie (from heaven) — were sealed to our parents on that September morning 34 years ago. I remember being dressed all in white and feeling wonderful that my family had that opportunity. It was neat for me as an 11-year-old to get to be inside the temple at such a young age, too.

For better or for worse, we’re stuck together as a family for all eternity. (My mom probably won’t like the phrase “stuck together,” so let’s stick with “sealed together” so I’m not in hot water.) [Read more…]

People are more important than places.

That’s the frame of mind I had while making a decision that complicated my travel schedule but made it possible for me to visit a friend earlier this week during my road trip.

This past January, I was in New York City when Snowmaggedon pounded the East Coast with a blizzard so fierce that it shut down the entire city. I was stranded in the Big Icicle for three days. Manhattan received so much snow that officials banned driving around, which made for a really bizarre but incredible experience.

That same weekend, I happened to meet an owner of a pizzeria, Clinton Square Pizza in the Lower East Side, who is New York’s biggest Karl Malone fan. I took a video of Steve enthusiastically endorsing The Mailman as the best power forward in NBA history in his Bronx accent in front of his pizza oven, and posted it on Twitter. Jazz fans went nuts. Karl Malone’s awesome wife, Kay, saw the video [Read more…]

Going to see “The Book of Mormon” on Broadway is a big priority for some people who visit New York City.

While I am staying at a Midtown hotel that has that scripture in the nightstand (#TeamMarriott), I had a different but kinda related item on my must-do list for my short weekend trip to the Big Apple with the Utah Jazz.

My New York state of mind? Go to the LDS Manhattan New York Temple.

(Hitting up Shake Shack normally would have been high on that priority list, too, but I’m trying to be good on the health front, so I focused on things of a spiritual nature instead of a sinfully delicious one on this visit.)

Though I knew I could visit the outside of the temple at any point of my stay in NYC, I was really hoping to visit the interior and go through a session. Time was of the essence, though, because my flight was scheduled to land at JFK airport at 3:01 p.m. and the final session began at 5 p.m. [Read more…]

I was sitting inside of the Newport Beach LDS Temple on Saturday night — yeah, I know how to party when visiting southern California — when a temple worker and I had a brief but meaningful conversation.

He asked where I’m from, which led me to telling him about my travel-intensive sports writer job (this Californian likes the Utah Jazz, by the way) and my personal challenge of visiting as many LDS temples as I can this season. I explained that I’d kind of fallen away from the Mormon church to some degree. I’m working on my relationship with God, and my temple tour is one strategy to help keep me on the straight and narrow while I’m on the road.

The thoughtful man, who was dressed in all white clothing, leaned over and said he wanted to share a scripture from the Holy Bible that’s helped him during the many years that he’s been alive, as he put it. Whispering in reverent tones, he recited a powerful passage from the Book of Nahum (Chapter 1, Verse 7) in the Old Testament.

The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.

Trusting in God and having faith to follow His way even in challenging times leads to happiness, the volunteer temple worker explained in his own words. As that scripture points out, not only is the Lord good, but He is also a strong hold in the day of trouble. He is our greatest lifeline. He is our safety net. He is a warm hug on a cold day. [Read more…]