happy is he who can discover the causes of things in old latin

Lesego Mholo and I had a profound conversation about the love of God in her service within the Young Women last Sunday. I simply wanted to publish her insights, but she is going to write an article about it. She has a great understanding about what true love is. Here is a hint of her wisdom.

me: Do you have a calling in the YW?

her: i never thought i cld love som1 more than i love myself bt i hv realized tht i love these girls wen they r sad m sad.

me: What does this love led you to do?

her: yah m a second counselor

me: i sacrifice every thing hv just to be wit them nd being a part of their lives nd making sure they hv a helping hand

This is the final article that we put together today.

We r connected in humanity by hardships nd thoughts, the air we breath the cosmos, the flesh nd spirit. things around us  complement human life , we myt be different bt we all cum from 1 God. The love we hv for our Heavenly Father shows clear desire to thrive in His presence once more; furthermore, the love we share shows the true desires of our hearts. the cronicles of life ties us together from the begining of life. we might sin differently  nd think we know better than the other person bt the organic compounds of our nature nd spirit connects us. we r drown closer to wats familier to the  patterns nd rules we create in life. we find comfort in wats familier to us nd the last part its in latin meaning (happy is he who can discover the causes of things) felix qui potuit rerum cognos cere causas.

My Little Christ Like Elements P.4 (Generosity)

A [post] in time saves nine
-Rarity (sure she didn't make up the quote but if it was said in the show it counts in my book...)

I feel like this WAY too often...

So you thought I forgot about these Christ like elements didn't you? "Not really, I was expecting you to either A) Do one eventually or B) Suffer an unfortunate accident at the hands of The Analogyzer." Yea, to be completely honest, I expected the latter too, but that's besides the point. Fortunately, we have come to peaceful terms with one another but forgot to coordinate the actual posting of the posts, so as such, enjoy these two posts about Generosity. I wish it could've been on Loyalty, but that's neither here nor there... So I've been generous with the amount of posts I post on this here blog. "What's with you puns...? Half the time they're not even funny..." I can make sandwich jokes if you want. "By all means, pun it up!" So anyway, I learn almost all my lessons from the greatest source of happiness, My Little Pony the scriptures!

So the element of Generosity is given to a certain unicorn whom I'm not exactly a big fan of, but that is also neither here nor there. "What is here or there...?" Not that! So what Christ like element is Generosity synonymous to? That's right! Charity! "You didn't let me answer..." I was scared of your answer... So what is Charity? Let's check the scriptures!

"And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—
But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen."

Now there are A LOT of grains of Awesome! contained in that scripture, but let's focus on a specific part, ZOOM IN PLEASE!

"Charity is the pure love of Christ."

Who WOULDN'T wanna be like him?

So when we are charitable or generous, we demonstrate the PURE LOVE of Christ. With the Easter season behind us, we have to continue to remember the greatest love and act of charity ever done for us, Christ's Atonement. Because of him, we can overcome death, I don't think you understand the complexity of that sentence. "I don't think you understand what complexity means..." Maybe, maybe not, I really wanted to use that word though. In an ultimate gesture of love, Jesus Christ, gave his life, so we could live and as it says, "Charity never faileth... It believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." 

So why should we be charitable? I swear I already answered that question like five times but that's fine, I can answer again. So there's a certain value that not many people possess which is the value of self-sacrifice. "I just don't feel like me dying is something I wanna do." Well, not all self-sacrifice is literally sacrificing one's self. It starts as small as a smile to someone who's having a bad day and can be as big as sacrificing a big time opportunity to serve the Lord. Alright, nother story.

So there was this plane crash sometime ago in a frozen lake or river, mind you this is me paraphrasing this entire story cause I can't find the source. So, as the plane was sinking, a National Guard helicopter came aspinning to the rescue and hovered over the wreck dropping a rescue ladder or net, whichever. There was a large amount of people cluttering to be saved but there was a man, he must've been in his mid 40's maybe early 50's. He might've been just a regular person, going about his day, maybe on this flight to see his kids, we don't know. As this ladder/net descended, he grabbed it and offered it to EVERY PERSON before himself. Here was this man, a man worn by age in the middle of a freezing lake, on top of a sinking plane helping everyone to safety while disregarding his own safety. As the ladder/net came down one final time to save this selfless man, he was gone... He had succumbed to the freezing temperatures.

I want you dear reader to think for a second about what must've been going on in this man's head. There HAD to have been a point where this man knew, he knew... that if he didn't get on, he would die. There was a time where he HAD to have thought, as he secured the last person to safety... This is it for me... And yet, he did it. He sacrificed himself, so that others could see another day. He died, so others could live, and if that isn't the biggest allegory for Jesus, I don't know what is. No one knows who this man was, his body was never found, he was never identified but his love was felt by all on that

A REAL American hero...

flight, especially by those whom he saved. I imagine that after they were taken to safety and warmed up just a little, they waited to thank this man, and to their surprise, they found out, because of them, he had suffered, and he had died. For the rest of their lives, they will be forever touched by the example of this man whom they never met, but who loved them enough to die for them, and THAT time I was talking about Christ, and THAT'S why we need to have Charity. 

The odd thing is that we do not . . . really believe that the man in the water lost his fight. . . . He could not, [like Nature], make ice storms, or freeze the water until it froze the blood. But he could hand life over to a stranger, and that is a power of nature too. The man in the water pitted himself against an implacable, impersonal enemy; he fought it with charity; and he [won]. [Roger Rosenblatt, Time, 25 January 1982, p. 86]

"This post had almost nothing to do with that one unicorn you were talking about..." Yea, well lame characters don't get a lot of attention on my blog... But because you asked, check out this Awesome! video! No really... Do it...

Good Week

so i have been learning a lot, just how to have more charity, its hard. 

ever since me and my companion have been working on this by  talking more openly and adressing concerns promptly and just serving eachother more has helped us love one another more, we have already felt the difference in our unity when we teach, and feel more peace we. We have seen some tiny miracles too.

WE were coming home from dinner last night and we were thinking to come home and finish out studies, but for some reason i thought it was important to go see this one person before we went home, he wasnt there, but his mother in law was. We asked her when he will be back and if there is anything we can do for her, she said she was ok but we were welcome to come in. We entered with the purpose on starting with "How to Begin Teaching." She opened up a lot and shared all her life story with us, heartaches and current deaths in the family,  and expressed how it made her feel, she feels vengance and hate, sorrow, sadness in her heart and vengance for the people that have wronged her. My companion and i were just listening to her. After we just knew what to say, we testified of the Saviors love for her, and because of him she has the ability to be healed and to replace those feelings of hate and anger with peace and happiness, even in the midsts of her difficulties. My companion did such a great job with her spanish and listending to the Holy Ghost to know what to sayso she can to comfort her. Since this women got her sons name tattoed on her arm, desiring to have his memory always with her untill she died. Hence,  we testified of the plan that God has for the family, and how we can be together forever, these circumstances have given her the humility she neede in order to accept the Gospel. My companion and i were on the same page and that was thanks to the Spirit, we felt it and we know our investigator felt it. This reaffirms and strengthens my testimony of why speaking with kindness and serving one another and praying for one another really invites the spirit of God into the lives of individualls and makes our homes stronger, because we center it on Christ. I love it.

Well allthough we have  huge area, we have decided to ride bikes during the day instead of driving all of the time. Thanks to that we have been meeting tons more people willing to hear our message! I am really excited for teaching all these new people!!!!

well i neeed to do better at writing bullet points on what to write ya'll because i forget sorry!

love oyu all

Hermana Salas

How is a college education worth it?

My perspective of my college education after reading this article out of the Dow Jones reprints remained mostly the same. After getting an exposure to the great possibilities from an university, my expectations of education has grown. During high school, university education felt to be an option but not the recommendation, especially since I was educated and advised from special education teachers. College education was always seen as the way to learn a profession. The article that this one page paper is about is called “Weighing the Value of That College Diploma” by Sue Shellenbarger. In my opinion it is addressing an audience that is sceptical or questioning the worth of a college education. The following topics will be addressed in this paper: the controversy of student loans, the opportunities of attending a college, and other benefits of  thereof.

The article is realistic, saying that choosing a degree should have a goal career in mind. If you don’t come out of college with a purpose of your diploma, it will most likely be useless. A statistic from the article that is suprising is that the widening wage gap between college and high school graduates is only sixty percent on average. This facts were informative, but they don’t seem persuasive. Many people are going to college with little job experience, and a college education is costing much more than what it was for the parents. One of the quoted mothers of Sister Shellenbarger’s article claimed that she graduated with a forty thousand dollar loan from Stanford in the eighties. Today the average student loan weight for the class of 2012 is twenty-nine thousand dollars. (http://money.cnn.com/2013/12/04/pf/college/student-loan-debt/) That is only with sixty percent of students borrowing money each year. 10 percent of them about 1.2 million students have more than 54 thousand dollars of debt, and three percent have more than 120 thousand dollars in loans. (http://www.asa.org/policy/resources/stats/) Analysing the statistics, comparing the debt that the mother of the article to the current debt loan, the student loan debt is not bad. (http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2012/06/04/dont-cry-for-stanford-undergrads/) The fact has been known that the return in the  investment in a college degree has been at least 15%. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/wp/2013/09/24/five-myths-about-college-debt) Although tuition prices and expenses are intimating, it is managable, if the cost is prepared for properly.

The opportunities of an university are much greater than not going to college. I tried to make an argument against the optimistic article that this paper is based on, but the pessimistic view is so immature compared to the hard working standards required in college education and success. If one wants to wallow in pessimism and despair in life, that individual can choose to spin the statistics. I understand that it is hard to face the investment and risk of thousands of dollars for the future; however, one’s college investment is in themselves. A mature fellow can come out of college education successful easily. I cannot think of an institution with the opportunities as much as a college.

Other meaningful statistics in the article that should bouyed up your hope in the benefits of a college education are the following numbers: 42% of college graduate claim that they are happy compared to the 30% of non-college graduates. There is a maturity that is obtained in the youth from college education, for there is a lower percentage of the graduates of these institutions that smoke, and they are more likely to take care of themselves with daily exercise.

Sue mentioned that the people that struggle in college and getting into college are more likely to succeed afterward and during. Diplomas alone give limited opportunities, but it gives you the means to accomplish what you desire. If one takes full advantage of the opportunites that will come from a college education, one can succeed in whatever they pursue. When people don’t take advantage of the opportunities of a college degree, doing the bare minimum, the opportunities given to them will be few.

In conclusion college diploma are worth the investment; unless, the graduate does not seize the many opportunities given to him or her. Student loans should be okay. There are so many opportunities at colleges and universities that this option should always be recommended first. The standard of living of a college graduate is statistically greater; however, a graduate needs to use the knowledge that is learned intelligently. If not, success is not probable from the education.

Great thing to share the gospel is through your good example.

Family Day is approaching. The annual celebration in our company. I'm planning not to join because my family is too far from me anyway but they said that it is mandatory as long as it will not affect the scheduled time. So, I did. I registered. Everyone is excited except for me! (haha! lols. the total party pooper girl). As usual there will be a dance competition and everyone is invited to join. Our account has less participants then one of my supervisor saw me and said that I must join them since I am a dancerous girl (I dunno if this word is in the dictionary but I know it's in the Urban Dictionary though.). That's what my supervisor called me. I declined to the invitation because I know how to dance however I'm really good at it. The next day my other supervisor invited me again to join in the dance club and again I declined! It was I think past 4:00 PM, my supervisor asked me the favor to join in the dance club since they really need participants in the dance competition. She talked to my co-dancers and told them that there should be no sexual movements involved in the dance so to make me dance with them. I agreed to dance. One reason that I really don't want to dance with them is because of the world's steps. Until now, I still wonder what makes my supervisor say that. I don't know what I did that makes her personally talked to my co-dancers and told them to make a little modest with the dance. I know that it's not easy for other people to adjust for us because they are the majority. I really don't if that was because the way I talk, mingle or the clothes I wear but one thing that I know is that I live what I believe is true and good for me. I can share to other people the gospel of Christ that shows disciplined and commitment to stand out in our people. I was amazed because the Family Day's theme is featuring the 90's dances and our dance steps were simple and it was great modest steps. Truly, it concluded that as long as we live what we truly believe we will be blessed and the world will adjust to us. It feels great though. I know that if we continue to be brave enough not to be in the world and follow our standards we will be blessed. 

B Strong this is only for U

• I know that one-day
  Your joy will fade away
  So I hope and pray
  That U do not
  Replace it
  With hate
  For you know there
  Is nothing in this
  World that I would
  Not do for U
  So be
  Strong when
  Your joy fades
  Away
  So I am writing
  This silly
  Rhyme for U
  But always
  Remember to be
  Strong for I love U
  So much
  There is it enough
  Money to keep me
  Away
  So this
  Silly rhyme is
  For U
  To be strong
  For I love U so Much
  
  Remember
  U
  Have to be strong
  When your joy fades
  Away so I pray
  U never replace
  It
  With hate
  For this world
  Has much more
  Then hate
  Awaiting for U

Doctor Post

"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but *actually* from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint - it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff."

-The Doctor

Exhibit A

I have seen one episode in the series known as Doctor Who. "Who?" Who. "Who's who." I'm not playing this little game with you... "Fine..." It's an episode called 'Blink' and I actually thoroughly enjoyed it once upon a time. Now all you Whovians are probably all saying, "that was a good one. Or, you probably liked it cause it had the least of the doctor. "How are you gonna guess what people are saying?" Because they ALL tell me that! But that's besides the point. You know, this show is like ridiculously popular, but like in all things in life, "if it exists, there are ponies of it." 

So in 'Blink,' you have these alien peoples known as "Weeping Angels," which may be one of the most metal names I've ever heard. "Focus..." Right. Their name literally describes what they look like. They're these stone angels that have their hands over their eyes like they're crying. You then find out that they move and attack you only when you're not looking at them. So if they touch you, they send you back in time and feed off the life you COULD'VE had. "That's depressing..." You're telling me... "I am." So the doctors wise words of advice are,

"Don't blink. Blink and you're dead. They are fast. Faster than you can believe. Don't turn your back. Don't look away. And don't blink. Good Luck."

So where does this tie in with anything? "Do I even need to ask?" Could you? "No." Fine

Your joke was not funny.
Me: Aww...

Mr. Grumpy Cat... The adversary is always watching my friend, and he is disguised so well, you may not even notice that he's there. Often hidden in plain sight, he will wait till you're not paying attention, when your guard is down to lunge at you, kind of like a crocodile come to think of it. "What kind of crocodile?" A SPIRITUAL CROCODILE! Now that link that I KNOW for a fact you skipped, go and click on it cause it's a neat video and kind of essential if you want to know what I'm talking about. "What if I never know what you're talking about, do I still have to watch it?" There's a part where a crocodile eats a Wildebeest... "Why didn't you say anything sooner?" So we all learned about Crocodiles when we were in Elementary school. Unlike me, they are the ultimate masters of patience. They will literally wait for hours, stalking, creeping, and any other ings till a single unsuspecting creature gets too comfortable, thinking nothing bad could happen, it's an antelope, what does it have to worry, until SNAP! into the jaws of death. Now, I have done a lot of research on gators and crocs in my younger years. Once these
behemoths grab hold of ya, they ain't lettin go. Then they start to do what's called the death spin, they will literally spin you underwater until you drown and well, that's that... "As if I didn't have enough to worry about..." 

Didn't even see it coming...

So often times, things that look super innocent are the things that the devil, adversary, whatever you wish to call him uses to get you, and why? Cause it's so easy! Why try hard to get you to do something as heinous as murder, when he can get you to maybe forget a prayer every now and then, or maybe, steal that $0.69 pack of gum, you know, the small things. Little things lead to big things and before you know it, you end up like that poor thing...

And there are also secret combinations, even as in times of old, according to the combinations of the devil, for he is the founder of all these things; yea, the founder of murder, and works of darkness; yea, and he leadeth them by the neck with a flaxen cord, until he bindeth them with his strong cords forever.

Could this be the mysterious origin of the
Weeping Angels...? Probably not...

So these weeping angels look very innocent, kind of like the Boos from Mario. You look at them and they look really really innocent, heck, you have probably seen one at least 5 times in your lives. I'm not sure why people have decorations of angels crying but that is neither here nor there. They just sit there, looking all innocent, they don't exist when they are being observed. In the sight of any living thing, they literally turn into stone. And you can't kill a stone. Of course, a stone can't kill you either, but then you turn your head away. Then you blink. Then, oh yes, it can. So before you know it, you're trapped. Or sent back through time, wherever you want to take this metaphor... "Did you just quote Doctor Who and mix your own stuff in it?" Probably. 

Just like this angel, sin looks so innocent...
Until...

This happens and then you realize, it's too late... 

I have met people who have gone down the long, depressing road that sin and temptation takes you and let me tell you, it is sad. I have met someone who has reached the lowest point of their lives, where they themselves say, "It is too late. I've ruined my life, and there is no going back..." To hear someone say that to you, to see that the life they have lived, that they have stooped so low and have realized that the precious gift of life that they have been given was squandered... That changes you, which is I guess why I decided to choose this topic, post, whatever. "You mean you don't carefully plan every one of these?" We won't get on that... So the important thing to get out of this, to those few who are reading this... Don't get to that point. Keep a watchful eye out, cause those angels, those crocodiles, that adversary is EVERYWHERE, and they won't think twice to bring you down to the gall of bitterness forever. Stay strong reader, God is there for you, just don't blink.

And don't wait till it's too late...

Hello Beautiful!!!

Happy Easter!!! 

How are you? 

How was your weekend? 

This week has been long. We had a lot of things to do this week. On Tuesday we got to attend the Temple! Oh how I've been so looking forward to it. I felt like I needed to just go in and be there. It felt so good. I learnt so much about the importance of the covenants we make and also the power that comes from keeping them.Wow! honestly I never really fully understood all the covenants ( promises) I was making when I went in the first time. I am so glad we get to go again and continue to learn more. One thing that really stood out to me as I went this time was how binding our covenants are and how much power the Lord blesses us with as we strive to Faithfully keep them. I've always read that Covenant Keeping brings power but now I feel like I understand it a little better. I also learnt how our covenants protect us. I was really struck by how much Satan will try to lure us to not take our covenants seriously because he knows how significant they are. I am grateful for the Temple and the opportunity we have to live so close to it. I also just realized the responsibility that comes from having all this knowledge wow! it is a lot of work. My companion Sister Oakes is super good in living the Law of Consecration she shares almost everything with me.lol:D 


Last night we went to visit the Yakylvich Family, they are a part member family in our ward. They live  in mobile home and I have just come to love them so much! their lifestyle reminds me of life at home in Fiji  where there are a lot of yelling here and there and family always around within so little space but still everyone got along at the end of the day. Well Last night Sister Oakes felt prompted to go visit them so we did and when we got there only their son AJ was home. AJ is alot like how Harry my brother was. Just misunderstood always getting into trouble and always being yelled at. Last night when we visited him we learnt that he had gotten in trouble at church for something really bad and that he was feeling so down and so alone? I don't really know I just felt like he had so much negative feelings inside of him and I wasn't really sure how to help him. ( He's 15) Before visiting him Sister Oakes and I had prayed that we might know exactly what to do and say as directed by the spirit to help them in the way that they need. I was reminded of this prayer as we met with AJ and we felt that we should pray with him. We did and Sister Oakes offered a beautiful prayer and in my heart I just felt so much love for AJ I knew that that Heavenly Father loved him and knew him and had a perfect plan for him and he knew exactly what he was feeling and all that was going on in his heart. As we ended the prayer both my companion and I were fillied with Tears as we shared our Testimonies with him. We felt so much love for him and I know that he felt it too! Oh  that was such an amazing wonderful experience for me to again feel of Heavenly Father's love for his child so strong! I know that AJ will be ok he's gone through alot of things and I just know that Heavenly Father will bless him if he continues to hold on. AJ's father is not a member but he totally supports his wife and children. I really want to help them and help them come closer to their Heavenly Father and become an Eternal Family.

I love you Muchos!!!

A Miracle Story

Hello how is everybody?!

this week was nice we have a miracle story

so we called this man that is a member who doesnt come to chuch ever. He answered, we said hi and asked how he was doing, also asked if he wanted to come to church with us on sunday, he said no thanks. we asked why not. He told us that he doesn't want to and started laughing, so we laughed with him. So we asked if we can visit him and he agreed. He invited us out to lunch and we brought an awesome member with us, hermana Canales, she is so spiritual and fun. She made the lesson a whole lot better.

He opened up to us a lot, It turnes out that he has been a member of the Bishopbric and has been in the young mens presidency and has gotten sealed in the temple, so he knows alot and he knows the church is true, but he and his wife were divorced but still live together he feels that he is not ready to go to church becaue he feels unworthy and like he is not being true to the promises he had made with GOd. I can tell that he was truly humble and that he needed the lords help.We shared some scriptures with him and bore our testimonies about the saviors help and love for us. The best thing about it is hat he is feeling godly sorrow that works repentance, for he wants to reconstruct his marriage and be active again, becaue he loves the chruch. We dont know why they divorced but all i know is that he can fix it and they can be a happy family again with the saviors help.  Do any of you have any good advice for us to help him, or maybe just for him? (you can share some talks, scriptures etc..) this is a difficult challange for us. He knows what is right, but just needs a good reminder. Anyway he came to church yesterday with his whole family! It was os GREAT!

today is my birthday and i woke up to a great surprise my housemates made some cupcakes and lit them up with candles but before that they ding donged ditched the door and filled the proch with balloond and then i saw them runn away. haha it was fun, they are so sweet, we just got back from the Zoo, it was fun :) thank you for those that wrote me letters for my birthday, it made me really happy and i loved the beautiful pictures!! you know who you are!!! :)
 
We are teaching a lot of less active members and we are working iwht one to get him ot progress more, by getting the Priesthood and going through the temple. WE also have another young married couple we are working with , he is a returned missionary and they are semi less active, his wife Liz has doubts about everything, but slowly the other elders helped her undestand that temple work is important, even for the dead, because there is an after life. As we we were teaching her the plan of Salvation, she had a question about baptisms for 8year olds, she felt that it is too young, although that at that age they already know right from wrong, she thinks it is a great committment to put a child under.I read the scripture that says "learn in thy youth to keep the commandments of God" and that as a mother it is her job to help him live up to those commandments. Well she is a slow working progress, but we love her and will love her and help her through that journey to get married in the temple.

love you all gotta go!

Hermana Salas 

Closer

by Isidro Zapata

Lord plz
let me know
What is on your mind?
For I will not make it
Through these darkest
Days you need to show me
How to get closer to U
So please Lord let me
Know what is on your,
Mind I need to know
So I can never be
Blind
Teach me
Lead me
Show me how to
Get closer to you
For I am so tried
And I am running
Out of time
So let me speak
My mind
Lord I need a
Little more time
To do what
U
Want me to do
Instead of wasting
All of
my time
Trying to write
A rhyme
So you need to
Tell me what
To do to get closer
To U
I can no
Longer afford
To waste any more of my time so
Give me a verse
To know the light from the dark
to become closer to you

April 18, 2014

     This past week has been very productive, but I have let loose a little bit on scripture study. I was studying every day for a few weeks. Most every day of this week has been amazing. I went to the temple twice before I came up to Rexburg for school. One thing that I was grateful for was that God prepared for me to baptize more than Jesse and Naomi, who I was working with on Monday for a trip up on Tuesday. I was inviting as many as could make it to the temple on a Tuesday, but only Jesse and Naomi House could make it. Naomi House is a convert of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in my home branch, and she has been at BYU Idaho the past few months. Naomi is the unnamed friend that I refer to occasionally. She developed a great relationship with Trevor, and I embraced it. We are really good friends now.

     I learned to not have a strict plan for my service in the House of the Lord. When I returned from my mission, I found out that a counselor in the branch presidency served as an ordinance worker in the Oakland Temple every week, so I went up with him for a long time. Ordinance workers at the Oakland Temple serve six hour shifts, so I had those hours to serve God alone. This is not an option for people that have a limited-use temple recommend, for ordinance workers need to watch those people closely since they cannot serve freely in the many ordinance service opportunities there. Since I am endowed, I can serve in most every ordinance in the temple. The six hours of service was very freeing, and there are situations and options that change throughout the day; therefore, I learned to follow the spirit to seek and find these opportunities smoothly. I told Naomi and Jesse that we should not go in with a set plan, for the staffing within the temple at least in the Oakland Temple is limited in accommodating people. Jesse and I should not go in the temple abandoning Naomi to be received by the ordinance workers, since they usually have assignments. It's hard to round up the workers. I recommended to Jesse that we avail ourselves to the option of performing the baptisms for the dead, which is a privilege for endowed priesthood holders.

     When we arrived, we did make ourselves available to serve with Naomi in the baptistery, and the ordinance workers liked that Jesse and I could help serve in it, taking over the baptistery. Jesse baptized two other girls before Naomi for the dead first, and I confirmed them for the dead, giving them the Gift of the Holy Ghost. After Naomi was baptized, Jesse and I baptized each other, and two other girls came in; then, I took over the baptismal font, baptizing them as well as another brother. I was very grateful that God let us baptize five more people other than ourselves multiplying our fruits. This is a reason why I recommend that you serve in the temple with flexibility. I furthermore recommend that you avail yourself to greater capacities of service in the temple; for example, one can serve as a veil worker, volunteer, and ordinance worker.

     I am now in Rexburg, Idaho; preparing for my fourth semester at Brigham Young University: Idaho. I am feeling very good about this semester. It has been very smooth. One odd thing is that there is not many people here. There is usually a lot of people, walking everywhere and preparing. I was just speaking to a friend, and she said that there is only eight-hundred freshmen this semester. A new roommate of mine said that he was one of four-thousand, when he first came. It's the lowest that it has been in a while. I am meeting a lot of returning students and seniors about to graduate. It's weird to not see thousands of freshmen. I feel that my friends and I may have been impatient because we changed wards because we wanted a more mature ward. Last semester practically seventy percent of the ward were freshmen. We were tired of the immature freshmen. We saw that the student body will have to mature, since the age requirements of missionaries were lowered, but we seemed to have forgotten that in the past year.

     My two new roommates are Tyrel and Trent. It seems that Tyrel will fit well in our lives among the roommates, and Trent has left for the weekend. Logan is having a new friend join us for this semester, so we basically have a full house of cool people; no lame roommates.

     One thing about me that could be explained is that I enjoy meeting new people and being their friends. Yesterday I saw a Korean girl that reminded me of a foreign student that my family hosted. Her name is Dambi Kim. Her personality is very funny, and I wanted to get to know the sister that reminded me of her. The cafeteria did not have many people in it, so it was not too difficult to find her. Her name was Emily, and her personality was very similar to Dambi's. She said that she hated Rexburg. When she said that, I described to her how she reminded me of Dambi. I said that she had bold opinions too, and she was afraid of animals. One time we had a picnic at a park, and some birds flew in near us. Dambi was scared, screaming and retreating. Another story is that there was a cat sitting in front of our house, and she again was scared, and she just stood there, waiting for something to happen. I believe that my father came home from work, and she was still standing there.

     Emily related to her, saying that there are not that many animals in Korea; at least Seoul. Squirrels are frightening to her; dogs too. One time she was walking from a Chinese restaurant with friends and food, and she saw a dog. She was so scared that she threw her orange chicken on the ground and ran. All her friends laughed. She also related a similar cat story to that of Dambi. A cat stood in her path at Korea, and she froze there until other people could to follow pass the cat. It seems to be a Korean thing.

     I love talking to people and learning from them. I ate lunch with a friend today that I could write about, and Jesse and I had a good time tonight with a couple girls. I might as well write about it, since this may be the only time that I do. I know my friend because she works at the cafeteria and she is studying education, which I did too. We related pretty well with that. She is a teacher's assistant. Teachers love her as a TA, and Students hate her as a TA because she sustains the BYUI learning model. According to her and the learning model, "A" students are the most amazing students imaginable, understanding the concepts well, and apply the principles in the class to an extent that is admirable. The average students that merely do what the teacher asks gets C's. One thing that I thought was interesting about my friend is that everything seems to be controversial to her.

     Tonight Jesse and I wanted to go out and do something, and people are usually not spontaneous enough to go out on the spot especially when not many people are around. We went out in search of Mill Hollow. When we finally arrived, I ordered my sandwich, and Jesse ordered a shake to my surprise; therefore, I had to surprise him. When I saw two girls, waiting for their food like me; I asked if we could join them. Most of the time, when I ask if I can join them, it works out. I do this a lot, but I have never done it with company. Jesse was a little apprehensive at first. The two girls were named Heather and Becca. They are not my type because they don't have much passion for things. I asked what they like to do and hobbies, and I got nothing. They liked hanging out. I run into a lot of girls that have no productive habits or activities that they would do on their own. I wanted to still be their friends though because I learned something this week, which will be included in my next paragraph. Since Becca said that she wants to go see Divergent, a movie, and Jesse wanted to too; I got us at least a double date, planning to go see it next Friday.

     One thing that I learned is that I need to be quick to seize the moment. I have three quick experiences to relate. (1) Jesse and I were walking home from the store, and a girl drove us home. (2) I bought a carpentry book, and the girl, giving the book to me, offered me a job. (3) A girl said hi to me twice, sitting in a car. Each of these moments had great opportunities for service, friendship, and development. The girl that drove us home coincidentally lives in our apartment complex, and we missed a great friendship opportunity. Missing a job opportunity is always annoying. Pondering the situation of the third moment, I was on a jog, and a girl said hi to me, and was about to get out of a car; then, I stopped, not really noticing her, and I walked across the street because I was going to buy something. When I stopped and crossed the street, she pulled her leg back in the car and shut the door; then, she said hi again, when I crossed the street. I ignored her though because I did not want to deal with a girl’s random escapade. I realized after that this situation was a moment of great opportunity. She may be lost. I should have gone to serve her. Another experience, teaching me about seizing the moment, was verbally expressed to me yesterday. I attended a meeting of the college of physical science and engineering, and the faculty members addressed us as if we are attending the school for our first semester, giving us the advice of a hope of inspiring the greatest generation of students. There are so many opportunities in the world especially at a university. They said if you are very passionate about contributing to your field of study, just talk to a faculty member, and your desire to further the development in the schools progress in the field can be used well. Networking is a great fruit of this advice. School is not about classes and assignments.