Cycles

So yeah it’s been a while, and I noticed that when I don’t post on my blog it seems like other people don’t post on theirs either. It’s a vicious cycle. Isn’t that kind of a weird pairing of words? Usually when I think cycle, I think about bicycle or popsicles…which isn't really a cycle at all. But life is full of cycles, there’s ATP cycle from AP Bio (cue the collective groan here), there’s the human development cycle, there’s mathematical cyclic motion, there’s even the seasons, which I like to think of as a more picturesque kind of cycle.

Well two weeks ago, Provo went through a change of seasons. One day it was just like the Tri-Cities, the next it was just like Seattle all morning and then all of the sudden, this:

We had snow for probably two days straight and it covered everything. Walking in between classes became a joy as I saw the pure white blanket that hid campus from view. I watched grounds crews blow out the sprinklers, and the process left a diamond coating on the fresh snow. I got caught walking to the temple with a neighbor from back home in what we clearly thought was a blizzard, and it was AWESOME. Enjoy the rest of these snow pictures from Provo, because now it’s all gone due to a little less chilly temperatures and some rain.

 Okay I lied. Those first two are of White Pass Washington....I miss snowboarding. I can't wait for the season to start :)

College Cookin'

Woe is a college student without ingredients to make things to eat. I live on a diet of tortillas, PB&J, PB&H, potatoes, occasionally chicken, fast food, and cereal. Basically it’s cheap, easy to fix stuff that is available on a semi regular basis. Best part is I’m not gaining any weight because I walk everywhere on campus :)

 

That’s why I’m sooo grateful for home. In two weeks I will be home, free to cook whatever I want to a certain extent because momma has all the ingredients that I don’t have. Home also means free to not cook if I don’t want to, and the consequence isn't fast food. It will be glorious. Six weeks after I’m home more permanently, I will go to the MTC, then the CCM, where food is mediocre compared to home cookin’ but not as bad as fast food.  After that, I’m told my mission has women that cook for the missionaries on a daily basis, Peruvian food every day. So so stoked for that!

Credit for the incredible toon goes to this awesome blog: http://missionarytoons.blogspot.com/2011_02_01_archive.html

On Patience

Patience is a virtue they say, and usually I have plenty. I can wait for forever for Christmas, for Thanksgiving, for my birthday, even for my mission (3 months, 4 days, and 1 hour as of…now…or this writing.)  The few things I don’t have patience for are the BYU C S lab and whining. I have been sitting here for well over 25 minutes to be helped and it’s in the middle of the day, not even peak hours, mind you. The TA comes over to help for a single problem at a time and then it’s back into the list. I hate this. I feel like they are wasting my time for me and it isn’t fair—that’s my job.

Whining is basically what I do on here…yeah. I just don’t do it out loud very often at all, if at all. It’s not even just the whining itself, people who habitually whine gain this quality to their voice, I swear it! It’s like the world’s way of warning other people, “Hey this one’s a whiner, watch out!”

Patience is probably a quality I will gain much, much more of while on my mission. I hope so at least, this impatience thing is a little unfamiliar and it makes me kind of irritable :/

Gordon B. Hinckley gave an address at BYU in 1998, in which he said, 

“I want to urge you to stand a little taller, to rise a little higher, to be a little better. You have been spoken to along these lines before. If you did not want to hear it again, you did not have to come today. We will take a moment for any of you who would like to leave.”

I would like to hope that I would be one who sat resolutely, open and ready for the self-improvement talk that followed. Here’s a link: BYU Speeches. ENJOY :)

Families

My my, over a week since my last post. Oh well. So I started doing this thing where I call each of my siblings to talk to them personally every week. At first it was just kind of an idea that seemed really nice to me, to stay so connected to family. Now, it's something that I definitely do. I talked to Darci last Thursday, Kolby on Monday, Melissa Thursday, and Braden pretty much every day this week because of the fiasco that's been applying for a passport.  In addition, I call my mom/sometimes dad almost every other day, sometimes multiple times in a day in attempting to get ahold of Melissa or Kolby.

I love how I feel when I am close to my family. I love knowing what is going on in their lives and just checking in every so often. The thought just occurred to me, what if instead of gossiping to be "in the know" on who-likes-who and whatever other trash we fill ourselves with, we spent the time to know what's going on in the lives of our family members? I'm convicned that if that were the case, there would be a lot less problems in high school. I'm glad I'm at college, where I can just refuse to be a part of it - it's awesome!

Anyhow, families are incredible, and they last for all eternity, so treat them right! Those of you away from home, try out sibling calling, you'll love it. Those of you at home, try forgoing the usual Sunday afternoon nap to spend quality time with a sibling, it does wonders. Those of you without siblings....gosh I don't identify with you that well, but spend time hanging out with your parents, or even your grandparents, they're the coolest!

I love my family!

Midterms...Yup

Midterms are hard....and that word doesn't even begin to describe how ridiculous the whole process is. Don't misinterpret this post, I actually don't know any of my recent midterm scores yet. I just want to write a short post about the midterm itself....but not the test because that would mean breaking the Honor Code. :)

So here goes. First thing we get to school, no biggie, just another school year, except you have to cook and clean and walk everywhere and shop for groceries. With that said, the schedule is rigorous but then its not, kind of like if I'm not studying then I'm in class, or I'm at the girls' dorm with my favorite chill time friends (we drop beach volleyballs filled with water from balconies...yeah). So it's kind of a super busy but not kind of place. With classes, most of the time the bell rings and suddenly my hand is tracing letters across the pages of a notebook so fast I have to strategically plan to flip the page sometime soon. There's that much material, and it seems like it could all be on the tests. So I go through about a month of that, solid. I'm feeling pretty good about it all, confused on a few things, but overall not too worried about anything coursework wise, except the related possibility of getting carpal tunnel syndrome from writing notes.

Well then they tell me that we have a test on the last month of firehose-to-mouth style learning and they may just modify the things we've learned so it's not straight regurgitation (understandably, this is college, people). It's called a midterm and involves studying like you're taking an AP exam and usually it counts for 10% to 25% of the semester's grade, so failure is not an option. There aren't really any tests in between except  the odd quizzes online (kind of a joke for the most part - open book:)) so there isn't really an opportunity to cement the material as you go. Review starts and you wonder when you ever heard the professor say things like Lockean liberty, but there it is in your notes, so you commit it to memory post haste.

The day comes (really they give you a range of days, with the last two being "late days" with a fee involved but no other penalty) and you feel nervous enough to stick to the ceiling like Spiderman if a loud noise or two disrupts your normal schedule. Then you get to the testing center - purgatory of college life, except that they say more prayers are uttered there than in any other building on campus - where a sight like this greets you:

Fun right? And that's just to get into the building. Somewhere between 10 minutes and an hour later, you get to the front of the line, where a too-cheery-for-this-place person gives you your test and wishes you luck. Next, you get the option of going upstairs where they play classical music, or packing sardine style into the rows upon rows of desks with every other unfortunate student who finally ran out of study time. You take your test - totaling anywhere between an hour and three hours - and leave feeling drained. Then you get to go home and make dinner.

College is the best though really. I love it here, and the midterms seem like just a trial that confirms that I am supposed to be here more than anything. People in line are all sympathetic and a few even try to make light of the situation. 3 midterms down, 2 to go :D

Viva Perú!

On January 30th, I enter the Provo MTC (Missionary Training Center). I will become proficient but not fluent in the Spanish language in three weeks, then, in all likelihood I will be flown to the Perú MTC to finish in a total of 8 weeks learning what will change people’s lives for eternity in the Perú Lima North Mission.

It’s going to be a long four months of looking up things like, the average height of a man in Peru is 5’ 4.5”. What’s even cooler, the women are 4’ 11.5”!!! I will have a giant Peruvian flag on my wall:

And I have already started trying to read the Book of Mormon in Spanish. I can’t wait!
Just a few more pictures of the country:

Looks a little like Southern California, no?

Alpaca, like llamas...but Perúviano!

The City of Lima.

Why I'm Serving a Mission

Mark Zuckerberg was at BYU last year I think. As I anticipate my mission call, I can’t help but think his words to the BYU students at his forum are truly applicable to the Gospel—even if he didn’t mean them to be that way:

“You have to really love and believe in what you’re doing. I think that’s the most important thing. If you start to build something … it’s hard and you encounter a lot of challenges. If you don’t completely love and believe in what you’re doing, it actually ends up being the rational thing for you to stop doing it or succumb to some of the challenges, because there will be huge challenges that you face.... Most people have something that they’re super passionate about, and I would just encourage you guys to find that thing.”

When applied to the Gospel I don’t think I could ever not serve a mission. It’s just too important to me not to share it with people I know I will come to love.

I wrote an application paper on why I want to go on a mission for mission prep. It’s supposed to be written to a non-member audience. I’m going to post it below just so it might reach somebody looking for truth.

          Application Paper #1

Going on a mission is one goal that I’ve had since I was very small. I knew back then that it was the right thing to do because the prophet said to. Specifically, President Spencer W. Kimball (prophet from 1973 – 1985) said,

“Certainly every male member of the Church should fill a mission, like he should pay his tithing, like he should attend his meetings, like he should keep his life clean and free from the ugliness of the world.”

It’s important to listen to the admonition of the modern-day prophets because they are the Lord’s mouthpiece here on Earth. We know this through modern revelation found in the Doctrine and Covenants, a book of scripture written by God through his prophets in the early days of the restoration of the church. In D&C Section 1, verse 38, (commonly denoted D&C 1:38) we read,

“What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same” (emphasis added.)

This means that whether I hear the voice of God Himself, or a prophet gave me the charge to go on a mission, it is the same thing, or it should have the same effect on me. This same reason to go is usually the most base reason given by young men of the church for their choice to submit the necessary paperwork. It is their obligation to go as holders of the priesthood. Beyond this basic explanation, the desire to serve a mission comes from a love for the Gospel, a desire to spread its happy message, and a respect for the infinite power of Christ’s atoning sacrifice.

As I have grown older and matured in the gospel, I have recognized that the decision to serve a mission should come from those reasons, rather than a sense of duty, if I am to become an effective missionary. I know that this is the one true Church upon the earth today. I know this because the spirit testifies it to me when I hear the truth spoken in meetings, when I sit in the baptistery at the temple, and when I read the scriptures. The spirit is described in D&C 9:8,

“But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.”

 This is not to say that the spirit always manifests itself as physical warmth. The spirit is felt in different ways to different people. I feel sudden inspiration enter into my thoughts, while others say that they feel a general idea of what is the right thing. However the spirit is felt, it always testifies of the truth when truth is given.

 The Gospel holds so much joy and happiness in its different doctrines. For those mourning the loss of a loved one, the Gospel includes the belief that families are sealed for time here on earth as well as all eternity afterward. For those who feel they have sinned or transgressed the laws of God, the prophets teach that no sin falls outside the repentance process.

 The Gospel of Jesus Christ, which I will spend my mission preaching, includes five key components: Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Confirmation, and Endurance to the end. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I believe that faith precedes miracles. In other words, one must believe in Christ and his Atonement for our all of our pain and sins before the miracle of true conversion can occur. The second principle, repentance, relies on the desire of members to progress towards a Christ-like perfect life, free from sin or transgression. Repentance is the process by which we use the Savior’s Atonement to cleanse ourselves of our human flaws. Baptism is the first ordinance that a convert to the church receives. The first part is baptism by water, in which the convert is completely immersed in a font of water by a worthy priesthood holder, and then brought forth, having been washed of all their sins. It is important now to note, that baptism comes after the first two, faith and repentance. Next comes the second part of baptism, the baptism by fire, or confirmation. The term baptism by fire doesn’t refer literally to fire, but it refers to the spirit that it invokes. The confirmation gives the convert the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost if he or she lives worthily to keep it with him or her. All the member then has to do within the Gospel to receive exaltation is to continue to progress, or endure to the end.

It’s really that simple, and the most important part is that Jesus Christ himself has invited all of his spirit brothers and sisters (us!) to partake of the blessings associated with coming into his fold. In Matthew 11:28-30 we read,

“(28) Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
(29) Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
(30) For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

 As I have prepared my mission application and delved deeper into the scriptures as well as the words of the living prophets, the Gospel light has begun to burn within me. I feel the desire to teach the Gospel to those that I haven’t before considered. I know that the happiness and peace it will bring into their lives is exactly what they are looking for. Walking out of the Stake President’s office after completing me final interview I wanted to start right then and there. The Gospel has such an incredible power to change us for the better and I want that for all of God’s children here on earth.

 Christ lived a perfect life and died for every individual person who ever lived and ever will live on the earth, that’s what it means when I say it is an infinite Atonement. The leadership of the church has published a testimony of Christ, called The Living Christ, which in part reads,

“We offer our testimony of the reality of His matchless life and the infinite virtue of His great atoning sacrifice…He gave his life to atone for the sins of all mankind. His was a great vicarious gift in behalf of all who would ever live upon the earth.”

His atonement, which includes the suffering in Gethsemane and the subsequent trial and crucifixion upon the cross of Calvary’s Hill, encompasses all of human error, discomfort, and suffering. It is personal in that He suffered for each of us individually, to satisfy the eternal law of justice with his mercy. His gift makes it so that all of mankind has the potential to enter heaven with visages “as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18.) It is that power that I want to let the world know about, that it is accessible by all and He stands ready to receive all who come unto him.

I know that this Gospel is true. I know my Savior gave his Atonement for me personally, and that without it all of the earth would be in a sad state. I know that the scriptures bear the truth, and all who read them will feel the Holy Spirit testify of the truth to them. I know that the Gospel has power to change people for the better and that it brings lasting joy into the lives of those who accept it. I know that Joseph Smith Jr. was the instrument by which Christ restored his Gospel to the earth in these latter days and that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet who carries that work forward today, under the direction of the Father and the Son.

This, my testimony, is the greatest reason that I have for going on a mission. With this knowledge, I cannot keep the message to myself. It demands to be seen in the “eyes of all the nations” (1 Nephi 22:11.) I will willingly give two years of my life to the Lord for the perpetuating of His work because I know it is true.

Perspective is Everywhere

College has a way of making things occur to you in powerful ways. Prime example: I haven't read for more than 8 hours of a day for years, especially textbooks. That's college, friends, lots and lots of reading. And I love it! The books that are assigned are textbooks, but they're written with the intent of educating the reader; they want to make you better for reading their book. Perspective is everything. In my first week here, a talk was given by the BYUSA president. He quoted from a poem written by Carol Tuttle that goes like this:

HOW I FINALLY TAUGHT THE BIG GUY A LESSON

I did not provoke the fight so I feel no remorse for what I was
forced to do. We were arguing, and seeing that I was right and he
was wrong, he decided to fight to cover for his stupidity.

He swang at me first, but being in the top of condition, I was able
to act quickly and block the punch neatly with my head.

Whereupon I jumped to the ground knocking him down on top of me.
Then I placed my ear in his mouth and poked his finger several times
with my eye.

His teeth hurt from the strength of my ear, and he became irrate and
tried to kick me, but I cleverly blocked the onslaught with my ribs
and face.

I scrambled to my feet and ran to my car in hopes that I would get
away and save this man from my deadly hands. Before I could start
the car he pulled me from the still open door. I then proceeded to
swing at him, but only managed to hit myself in the head. I
said: "Whats this? Two against one?" That was the final straw-I
lost all control. There will be no mercy!

Taking him in my death grip, I pounded him in the knee with my
stomach-then I hit him two or three times hard in the fist with my
teeth! He had had it! I could tell. After that he didn't even try
to pick me up off the ground. He was too chicken!

I love the perspective Tuttle introduces to our lives simply from looking at the situation from another angle. What if everyone had that kind of unbeatable attitude? This poem actually reminded me of the Captain America movie that came out last spring. I watched it last night with a group of friends (moving outside after visiting hours were over of course!). The message of the movie is so much different from what the world wants us to believe about ourselves. It's empowering to know that there are still believers out there, people who know that being a hero isn't about being strong, or having special powers. Being a hero is all about knowing who you are inside, knowing what's right and standing up for it.

In church today, I noticed that the girl sitting next to me was writing quotes in sacrament/testimony meeting. Things people had said inspired her enough to be written down. The first one came from a man in my ward, recently returned from his mission. He has cerebral palsy and has a hard time controlling his physical body, including speech. He came up first to the pulpit and bore his testimony so strongly that I couldn't help being reminded of the love for Christ that many with disabilities have. He said that trials are a blessing, and that he always looks on his major trials that we all can see as a blessing in his life. She wrote down that quote, and I commented on it after sacrament meeting. I've always wanted to be the person that writes notes in church, but I couldn't do it consistantly enough. Here's for another attempt after being so inspired as she was.

It occured to me at church that no other church on earth, to my knowledge, has such a dedicated corps of young adults. We wake up in time to go to church at 8:30 AM on a Sunday. We go to church and actually participate. We run our ward because it is a YSA ward. And we fill the chapel with the same Spirit that all of us feel in our home wards. Next to our chapel, we can hear the other ward singing their hymns offset from ours so that the sweet Spirit that music brings is present throughout the whole meeting. I love this Gospel and the joy it brings to all who partake in it.

I know this post seems a little random and kind of long, I just suppose there was a lot on my mind today :)