August 2022 Trestleboard

The Trestleboard is an official publication of Twin Peaks Lodge No. 32, which is a legally constituted Masonic Lodge operating under charter granted by the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons of Utah. The Trestleboard is published for the sole and exclusive use of the members of Twin Peaks Lodge No. 32, and any other use is expressly forbidden.  The editor of The Trestleboard is Glen Van Steeter.  Submissions of educational articles or other announcements may be sent to the editor at [email protected], and if selected for publication, will be given full attribution. All submissions are subject to the approval of the Worshipful Master of Twin Peaks Lodge No. 32 and the editor of the Trestleboard.

The Lodge Secretary endeavors to keep our roster as accurate as possible. If you are moving, changing your mailing address, phone number or email address, please update your information in GrandView or notify the Secretary so that your information can be kept current.

Twin Peaks Lodge Secretary

Mea Culpa from the Trestleboard Editor

Brethren all, I did not publish a Trestleboard in July and this one is very, very late. I believe that an explanation is due. In mid-June, I decided that it was time for a new vocation. The high-tech industry is amazing, challenging, and always fast paced. The company that I was working for was releasing three significant releases (updates) of their cloud platform each year. In addition to serving my customers as a technical architect, there was the need for lots of after-hours work to keep current on all the new features being added to the platform every four months. I found that I was neglecting my wife, my mother who lives with me, my grand-daughter, and my Lodge, pretty much in that order.

For the last five weeks, I have been intensively training to become a school bus driver for the Jordan School District. As I had no Commercial Driver’s License, much of that training was the required knowledge in order to competently and safely operate 40 foot long, 8 foot wide, 10 and one-half foot tall, 36,000 pound vehicle on our city roads. Well… as of today, August 5th, I have completed that training and passed my practical examinations.

I apologize, but I do hope that you will understand my motives and forgive me.

Incidentally, there is not one school district in Utah that is not seriously short of drivers. If you are looking for a position where you can serve the community, I recommend that working for a School District Transportation Departmen is worth considering.

Glen Van Steeter, PM – Twin Peaks Trestleboard Editor

The Lodge is “dark” this month, meaning that we won’t be having any meetings at the Midvale Temple. However, being “dark” doesn’t mean we aren’t doing stuff! Please consider attending some of the activities that Twin Peaks is holding in August. On August 6th, we are running a promotional booth at the Midvale Harvest Days celebration, sorting food at the Utah Food Bank on August 13th, on August 22nd, we will have our meetup dinner at Slackwater Sandy, and on August 27th, we will be visiting Hill Aerospace Museum for our Twin Peaks Family Day.

Next Stated Meeting: September 12th at 7:30 PM

DATE & TIME: September 12th @ 7:30 PM
LOCATION: 7689 Center Square, Midvale Utah
DRESS: Business attire. Depending on how warm it will be, you may be able to dispense with the tie and jacket.

August 6th, Midvale Harvest Days

TIME: 2 pm to 7 pm
LOCATION: Midvale City Park, 425 6th Avenue, Midvale, Utah
DRESS: Casual, but in good taste. This is a promotional event.

COME ONE, COME ALL!

Come on out and visit our promotional booth at the Midvale Harvest Days celebration being held at the Midvale City Park on August 6th between 2pm annd 7pm. We will be selling ties and doing a silent auction for a $500 custom suit and passing out flyers.

THOSE WHO HAVE VOLUNTEERED

Please arrive at noon to help setup the popup, tables, chairs, and other stuff. It will be warm, so make sure that you wear comfortable clothing. Ideally, wear shirts or hats that promote Freemasonry!

August 13th – Utah Food Bank

DATE & TIME: August 13th, 8 am to 10 am
LOCATION: 3150 S 900 W, South Salt Lake, Utah
DRESS: Comfortable clothing for working (see below)

VOLUNTEERS ARE STILL NEEDED!

Brethren, the Utah Food Bank desperately needs help! The demands on their resources are as great as ever. We currently have about five members who have volunteered for this worthy event. We need at least ten members, and we are allowed up to fifteen! If you can move and sort food and household items, lift and move boxes weighing 25 to 50 lbs and stack them on pallets, then we can use you!

HOW TO VOLUNTEER

If you are a member of our private Facebook group, go to this link and click “Going”.
Or, if you aren’t, send an email to the secretary at [email protected] and I will forward to WB Bob Hartman, who is the coordinator for this event.
The secretary also sent out a Google Form via email that you can signup with.

HERE ARE THE REQUIREMENTS

• You need to be able to sort items and be able to lift light to moderately heavy items.
• You will need to wear comfortable, casual clothing for performing this work.
• You cannot wear open-toed shoes (sandals, flip flops). Sneakers or light boots are best.
• Currently, masks are not required. However, we will bring masks if the Food Bank decides to re-implement mask rules.
• Parking is limited. Please carpool.
• Do not leave valuables in your vehicle while you are working your shift.

For carpooling, we will meet at the Midvale Masonic Temple at 7689 S. Center Square at 7:15 am on August 13th. We will leave at about 7:30 am, which should get us to the Utah Food Bank location about 10 minutes early. We will then go in and get registered.

GO THE EXTRA MILE

You are invited to bring non-perishable foods with you to the Utah Food Bank.

August 22nd, Twin Peaks Meetup at Slackwater Sandy

LOCATION: 10290 State Street, Sandy, Utah.
DATE & TIME: August 22nd at 7 pm.
DRESS: Casual

Slackwater is an artisan pizzaria with a fine selection of pizzas, sandwiches, soups and salads.

August 27th, Twin Peaks Family Day at the Hill AFB Museum

DATE & TIME: August 27th from 9 am until about 1 pm.
LOCATION: Hill Air Force Base Museum – 7961 Cottonwood St Building 1955, Hill AFB, UT 84056
DRESS: Casual. It’s likely to be hot (outside).

Are you the kind of person that looks up when you hear an airplane flying overhead? Does your curiosity get triggered when you see an old plane, a new plane, or a unique airplane? Are you interested in history and the sacrifice made by the men and women of the U.S. Air Force? Or, would you like to spend some time with your brother Masons, friends and families? If so, we offer a pleasant way to spend a Satruday morning!

Come join us for our Twin Peaks Family Day at the Hill Aerospace Museum in Roy, Utah. This is one of the best areospace museums between the Mississippi River and the West Coast. with 70 aircraft on display and thousands of artifacts. Currently, there is a display of the history of the “Mighty Eighth Air Force”, which was one of the major bomber formations that helped to defeat the Nazis during World War II.

And you can’t beat the cost, ‘cuz it’s FREE! (Donations are always gratefully accepted, though!)

ALL ARE WELCOME

Members, family, friends, acquaintances, are all welcome to join us. Just send an email to the secretary at [email protected]. If you do send an email, put “TP32 Hill AFB Museum” in the subject line, please.

WEAR COMFORTABLE CLOTHING. You will be walking alot, and some of the displays are outside, so it can get warm. You may also want to bring some bottled water to drink.

Afterwards, if folks are up to it, we can arrange to have lunch in Roy before heading back to the Midvale Masonic Temple.

CARPOOLING

Parking is generally pretty spacious, but if you are interested in carpools, mention it in your emails to the secretary and we’ll arrange it. It take about an 45 minutes in weekend traffic to get from the Midvale Masonic Temple to the museum.

We hope to see you there!

Welcome our Newest (Newer?) Entered Apprentice!

We welcome Brother Stephen Sumbot back into the Twin Peaks clan. He applied to finish his Degrees in Masonry, which was enthusiastically approved by the Lodge membership. We held a ‘refresher’ EA Degree for him on July 18th at the Midvale Masonic Lodge. After a two year hiatus, you would have thought that the degree team might have been somewhat rusty. Well… you would have been WRONG! The EA degree presented that night was frankly one of the best I have ever seen or participated in. Everybody was “on their game” and the degree was impressive and dignified.

Brother Stephen, welcome back to YOUR Lodge!

Birthdays

Masonic Anniversaries

We only have one brother who was raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason in August. Please congratulate him on a long career in Masonry.

• Brother Lawrence D. McGill, raised on August 10th, 1965 and has 57 years of service.

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS

These brethren were born in the month of August. Give them a big round of applause for making it another year!

• W. Bro. Glen Van Steeter, born on August 2nd.
• Bro. Frank Keller, born on August 14th.
• W. Bro. Robert Denning, born on August 27th.
• W. Brother Richard Hunt, born on August 30th.

WHAT CAME YOU HERE TO DO?

To learn to subdue my passions and improve myself in Masonry.

The youngest Entered Apprentice has just committed himself to Masonic Education. With a thunderclap, the Lodge has committed itself, its officers and members, to providing that Masonic Education.

But, what IS Masonic Education? Certainly, there is a wealth of Masonic Education in the various lectures and charges given that night and in the nights that will follow. The coach or mentor, will spend countless hours on language, style, words and phrases. He and the new Brother will talk about the history of Masonry in general and this Lodge in particular.

It may be, given time and good encouragement, the new brother will invest himself with the language and systems of our Craft, and provide lectures and talks to assist others in obtaining Light through our Fraternity. As we teach others about Masonry, we expose its great secrets to ourselves. Never has any man given such an oration that he, himeself, has not become better for it.

For the present, let me focus on this: “To be a good man, and true.” This is so important to the Craft that it is literally the first lesson that we learn in Masonry, upon our first admission to a Masonic Lodge. The Senior Deacon takes the arm of the candidate and guides him surely and with fidelity through the cermony, and a bond of trust is established, as it must be. The candidate, for reasons then explained, trust that no evil will befall him, even in the hand of this “stranger”; and the Senior Deacon is promising to be a good man that can be trusted, who will not allow the candidate to be harmed, regardless of his wordly wealth or distinction.

During a previous educational feature, those present exemplified the lives of the most influential Masons they had known. To a man, all of the example depicted lives well lived, mankind served, charity given, and brotherly love displayed. In fine, they were good men, and true; Masons who inspired each of us with the good of the Fraternity and the value of its education. In truth, and think about this for a moment, we were so positively affected by their example that we were there that night!

From our closing prayer” … that we may, each one of us, practice out of the Lodge those great moral duties which are inculcated in it …”

Am I an operative Mason, practicing what I learn? Or just a Monday night visitor?

Presented by Worshipful Brother Robert M. Hartman, Past Master of Twin Peaks Lodge No. 32, for this Trestleboard.

33 & Beyond – The Royal Art of Freemasonry

Imagine that you are in a dark room. There is no light and no sound. You cannot perceive anything in the gloom. You have no direction, no concept of where you are. You may feel lost. Then, a candle is lit. There is a man, dressed in dignified clothing, only six feet away. What is going on here? Then he says:

“Even a little bit of light can dispel much darkness.”

This man then quotes from Genesis 1:

“In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep… and God said, ‘Let there be light.'”

And a light shines down from above. There is an altar, and upon that altar is the Holy Writings. Thus does the new Entered Apprentice begin his journey, receiving inspiration and instruction, of which the light is a metaphor, in order to find meaning in his life and his place in the universe.

Brethren, I have described to you only one small part of an amazing video that I have recently watched. It was recommended to me by my wife, who had found it on Amazon Video the previous day.

33 & Beyond: The Royal Art of Freemasonry is a video I highly recommend that you watch, as soon as you can. David Winter of ABC News wrote that this video is “…perhaps the most fascinating and important documentary ever made on the subject matter of Freemasonry.“

Lovingly crafted by Johnny Royal, who is a Master Mason and a member of both the York and Scottish Rites, released this work in 2017. While living in London, he stumbled upon the Grand Lodge of London. Intrigued by the architecture and beauty of the building, he began researching Freemasonry and quicly found a connection to the values of our Craft, its history, its lore, and its edcuation. Brother Royal is no neophyte to the art of digital film-making, and he has directed digital campaigns for President Barack Obama, Vice-President Al Gore, and rock icon Elton John.

It took 7 years, 140 hours of video, hundreds of interviews with distinguished Freemaons from all over the world.

If you are an Amazon Prime member, you can stream 33 & Beyond: The Royal Art of Freeemasonry at no cost as of the time this was written. If you aren’t into streaming, you can also purchase this video on DVD and Blu-Ray Disc.