April 19, 2014

One night last week, I knew that I was going to not be able to sleep because I took a long nap late in the day. I was somewhat decided on watching the new Johnny Lingo movie, but last time I watched a movie on my own, I found my favorite movie; however, Johnny Lingo is up there as my favorite. I place it above the category of Disney. I already wrote that my favorite movie is "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time," but the point at this moment is that it is a cartoon animation.

I was exploring animated films, risking my virtue, chastity, or purity, and I would like to admonish you to limit the risk of the purity of your mind to the minimum. I learned that if one is risking it's virtue, he has already compromised it. I watched a video, introducing me to the greatest animated films of all time in the opinion of the YouTuber. These films glorified in destroying the virtue of a soul, and I have written my pondering on this subject of art. I will start with discussing, the virtue, integrity. Escapism is next. My initial revelation follows. Exploring unnecessary things is addressed after that. I conclude returning to the subject of virtue and chastity. I had Jesse review this article, and he wanted me to add that all art is not like this.

 Why can art deny the morals of man, which I call integrity? Integrity to me is the honor of a man. If a man entered into a contract, integrity calls him to live up to everything within it. Integrity includes all the good principles of life; big to small, for it esteems the small to be great. Why do artists say that the rules are made to be broken? If you don't break them, you are limiting yourself.

It glorifies the people without integrity, showing that this is normal. It promotes immorality, saying that this is the norm; therefore, you can join it. When the opposite is assumed, the vast majority should have integrity, which we trust, but Satan wants to destroy all that humanity hopes for. We hope for integrity in humanity, but he says integrity is not needed to be heroic and virtuous. You don't need to be pure and clean to be a hero. There is no integrity and virtue in humanity. These people save and inspire the world. Heroes are carnal. Heroism is carnal. Is art attractive and carnal? Does art please the natural man? Can virtue come from filth? Can purity come without repentance? Here are some examples, where art has no integrity. I have seen that a boy offered up his virginity to be seen by 45 people for art; secondly, a pop artist had someone puke on her during a performance. Art is so disturbing now a days. Describing it is not simple. It seems that the more that it is in the world of Satan's disorder the more beautiful that it is. What is acted upon is not beautiful. When one gives up its agency to a being that wants to destroy the intelligence thereof, the individual is acted upon, usually meaning that we are following the temptations of Satan; however, this is oftentimes what art is. A fruit of the spirit of Holiness is temperance. Soap operas are another example of this too. I see that losing the grasp of yourself may be sought after when participating or viewing this art.

Escapism seems to be part of it. I feel it, saying "I hate my life. I don't want to deal with it anymore. Let me forsake my existence for a moment. Let me give my agency and virtue to another's mercy." This seems to be tempting because it is a tendency of the natural man. It gets more attractive the more that you do it, giving up your soul to art and getting lost in Satan's world. There is a shock value sought after. People want to feel everything, and people don't want to feel anything. People want to trust humanity is beautiful, but want to know how they should not trust humanity. Do artists need to deny themselves of virtue in order to make art? Is this beautiful?

Pondering why art seems to deny integrity, I see that it is Satan glorifying himself, blatantly showing himself to the world that denies his existence, saying this is reality; his reality. Satan does not exist to his world, but does he? Are the promptings of Satan beautiful?  Desires of Satan tells the world that it has no integrity, trying to help it recognize that there is no hope nor integrity and virtue. Why are the philosophies of man mingled with scripture and Satan's deception beautiful? Why is art carnal? Why is denying virtue, destroying it, and taking it away art? Why does it embrace sin? Is it for money? To be set a level above another, yet to be united in carnality? To be praised of the world or accepted? Is it to be heard, seen, expressed, recognized, and understood?

I am prompted to say something about art, teaching that which is not understandable and should not be understood. Is that which is not understandable attractive insomuch that we should participate in it again to try to understand it? Is one understandable? Is recognizing this art? That which is not understood thrown at an individual for him to seek to understand is how I understand is overbearance. If the depths of knowledge is revealed to that which has not the slightest clue about it, the individual may misunderstand it, and trust can be denied. Can this be beautiful and art? This seems to be a part of shock value. People want to understand that which is not understood; even though, it is destructive and chaotic. Satan wants us to be lost in the depths of that which cannot be understood and should not be understood. There is a lot of insanity; therefore, we should understand it. Is insanity the new norm? This is a way Satan wants to destroy trust in humanity to make us believe that we do not deserve agency and don't have agency. Let's be acted upon, for it is art. Is chaos and the destruction of life beautiful and art? This comes from not acting as true intelligence. True intelligence acts for itself? Does true intelligence do that which is not fruitful? Does true intelligence create that which does not uplift? Is it acted upon denying itself agency, integrity, and virtue? Does creating that which is not understandable come from true intelligence? I was talking to my brother about how there is a philosophy about how humans think like how computers operate, and I said that how can someone create that which it doesn't understand. Computers need to be designed to be understood to be usable. I believe that there can be foundations of technology that can be created that are not understood by man, but should we explore that which is not understandable? Should creating something that is fruitless be art? Should we participate in that which will not bring progression? What will happen to us, if we do? We will digress. Can writing a book and reading a book that doesn't make sense be fruitful? I feel that I can easily do that. Denying virtue and integrity is easy, but why is it esteemed art? What if I write something that doesn't make sense to the normal man, but it can make sense? Should it be understood? Would it be overbearing? Virtue, integrity, and purity is "that which was most dear and precious above all things, which is chastity and virtue" according to Mormon, the man that abridged the Book of Mormon.

The talk that impressed me the most in general conference was by Sister Reeves. She addressed her grandchildren and the world at large concerning this most dear and precious above all things. She addressed pornography, but chastity, understanding it, is what I want to write about. The chastity of man is a pure mind, which does not seeks sexual relationships, but it seeks eternal life. It requires temperance unto resisting and hating sin, hearkening to the great mind of God, which is the Holy Ghost continually. Chastity never seeks the temporary pleasures of the world, but always desires that which is true and faithful. Chastity has real intent unto these things. It cannot be obtained without the pure love of Christ of charity. Lusting is sin. Thou shalt not covet. Chastity is a most vital part of integrity. I truly do place chastity and virtue as the most dear and precious above all things. I pondered for hours yesterday about addressing a girl about this subject, warning her about a guy that wants to take away her chastity and virtue. I will ensure that my children understand this, counseling with them often to have the wisdom of the principles of integrity and chastity very early in their lives. These things are most cherished to me, and I trust my children that they can apply this wisdom well. Imagine if the two most chaste and virtuous people marry, having the greatest integrity. Would not this union and relationship be the most beautiful, happy, and fruitful?

My Little Christ Like Attributes P. 4 & 1/2 (Generosity)

"It's really a RARITY when I can think of a good quote to start these off!"
-Elder Coon

Well hey! Guess who it is? It's Elder Coon again! "You didn't let me answer either!!" Correct! And guess what I didn't do this time? Knock out Elder Lopez! "Yeah, I noticed. That's an improvement I suppose." Indeed. We have, in fact, worked out an agreement so that I can post a little more liberally and in exchange, he can stop getting a mysterious involuntary nap every week.

BUT, as was mentioned in the previous post, being coordinated is not one of our strong-sui

See? Ponies can be manly!

 ts, so we both accidentally wrote posts about Rarity. "You two must really like Rarity then!" That's the weird thing! We don't! Rarity is actually one of my least favorite ponies. She's just kind of...girly. "She's a PONY." Irrelevant! Just consider this a bonus post. Luckily, Charity is a big subject, so I'm going to focus on a different angle than Elder Lopez. On to the analogyzing!

So remember when I made that post about hope and there was that time all the ponies were in that scary forest? "Yeah, with those evil trees and that freaky manticore thing?" Yeah that time. Well there was another creature they had to contend with on that journey: a Sea Serpent. And he was MAD. Nightmare Moon, the despicable fiend, and done the unthinkable to this Sea Serpent. That dastardly, detestable, devilish sovereign of the night....messed with his facial hair.

"...What?" She tore his mustache off! You should know that a man's facial hair contains like, 80% of his pride. So if someone robs you of half your mustache, that's like 40% of you self confidence just gone! Imagine you had a beard you'd been working on growing for months, and one day you woke up and found someone shaved half of it off. Wouldn't you be a little upset? "No, I'd be MAD. You do NOT mess with a man's beard!" Exactly!

Be honest, you can't even tell!

So, the band of ponies come to a river and find this enraged Sea Serpent thrashing in the water. They eventually determine the source of the anger, the missing mustache half. Rarity, the girliest, frou-frouest, fashiony-est pony of them all, immediately grabs a sharp object and without a second thought, chops off her beautiful tail. "Well that's rather gruesome!" Okay, she chops off the hair of her tail. Now understand this. Rarity takes great care in her appearance. She really loves that tail. Yet she sacrifices it, gives it to this troubled Sea Serpent, and uses it to fix his mustache.

This is the meaning of Generosity! It is, in a word: sacrifice. It's giving up something you love to someone who needs it more. And in the end, you'll be rewarded for your sacrifice! "So in the end it'll all be balanced out?" Nope! That's the best part! Whatever you sacrifice here in this life, it is guaranteed that your reward in heaven will be greater. "So it's not really a sacrifice after all. It's more like an investment!"

Yes, but sometimes things God asks us to sacrifice are hard to give up. Sometimes he asks us to give up things we enjoy, for example: money, fame, a not-so-good TV show, etc. Sometimes he asks us to give up things we think we need, like a job, friends, or the internet. And sometimes he asks us to give up EVERYTHING. "No he doesn't!" He does! "Name one instance." Challenge accepted!

There once was a young man who was quite wealthy. He had heard of the Savior Jesus Christ, and sought him out to ask him what he needed to do to be saved. Jesus gave the typical answers: obey the commandments. The young man replied that he had kept the commandments from his youth. Then, in Mark 10:21, it says: 

Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

"Man, that's rough!" Eeyup. And this young man just couldn't bring himself to do it. He thought that he needed what he had, or that he couldn't live without it. Luckily, God knows better than us. He never asks us to do something beyond our capabilities. And whatever he asks us to give up is actually weighing us down. Now that I think about it, Rarity can teach us another lesson about that. 

So usually Rarity represents the Element of Generosity, right? "Sure, whatever you say, cap'n..." I prefer the title 'Elder' or 'Commander', but anyways, there was this time where Rarity was BRAINWASHED by non other than the very incarnation of chaos, Discord! Discord went around twisting each of the elements into their opposites, so Rarity ended up being greedy instead of generous. Furthermore, Rarity was brainwashed into thinking that a huge boulder is a gigantic diamond, which she dubs Tom. "Tom?" Yeah, she wasn't in the finest mental state at the time.

What we see.

So Rarity INSISTS on dragging around this boulder, because she believes it to be priceless. Nopony can convince her to leave it behind, so she lugs around this huge weight on her shoulders for nearly 2 episodes. "You know an episode isn't a real measure of time, right?" FOR A LONG TIME. Geez.

The point is, it would've been much easier for Rarity if she had trusted when someone told her to let it go. "You better not start singing that song." Don't worry, there'll be none of that here. But when God tells you to give something up, just trust Him, and do it.

What Rarity sees.

Thus concludes my teachings on Generosity, which is a small part of Charity. We could pull several more posts out on the subject of Charity, and I'm sure we will in the future, but for now, this post is really long.     So we'll do that later! 

I'd like to thank you for reading two blogs about a pony you may not care for much. "Well, the other post wasn't really about Rarity. In fact, the only place he mentioned her name was in the opening quote. Which was still better than your quote." This is true on both accounts. But thanks anyways! Excelsior!

Hey Beautiful!

Hey love! 

This whole week has been a little crazy but at the same time Great and alot of unexpected things happened. First of all this past Tuesday was transfers and we (Sister Oakes and I) were told that we were both going to be staying. The next day we received another call saying Sister Oakes had to leave and another SIster was coming her name is Sister Green. I was so sad that whole night because I felt so inadequate and scared because I had not only been in Harbor 1st ward for 2 weeks. I was feeling so down because I've come to love Sister Oakes and I just felt like I was about to fall off the edge of a falling building. I prayed alot to feel the comfort and reassurance of the spirit. I prayed that I would willingly accept Heavenly Father's will in all of this. I knew that he knew what was best for me and that he would always provide for me. I reflected back on all the times I had felt and seen Heavenly Father provide for me. The next day I finally confided in Sister Oakes and told her all that I was feeling. She reminded me again of Heavenly Father's love and she helped me alot! That morning as I was praying I felt impressed to read Joshua 1:9 'I will not fail thee nor Forsake thee" and I felt so comforted knowing that Heavenly Father knew exactly what I was feeling and that he would always provide for me. We finally said our "see You Laters" and Sister Green became my companion on Thursday. That night after a long day. We came back home to our apartment to see that it had been broken into and the window was open and it's lock was broken. We were both so scared we called our Zone Leaders and they quickly came over. We went into the apartment and it looked like nothing had been taken. So to be safe that night we slept over at our Sister Trainer's apartment. The police finally came over to file a police report and this morning the Finger Print guy came over. So that's been my week. It's been pretty busy. On Friday Morning our Sister Trainers made breakfast for me!!! they are such great examples to me. 

Another Miracle that happened this week was that on Saturday we went over to visit our investigators; Rozana and Philip and as soon as we got to their door. Rozana came out crying she had been going through alot with her Family and felt like she couldn't turn to anyone. We listened to her as she just cried and she shared how she feels like Heavenly Father was the only she felt she could really turn to and she was so grateful that we came over that day. We shared with her a scripture in 3 Nephi 12: 3. " Yea blessed are the poor in Spirit who come unto me, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven"
( I was reading this scripture a couple of days prior and I was learning so much about what it means to be poor in Spirit; I came to learn that being poor in Spirit means recognizing how much we need God in our lives; recognizing how much we are truly dependant on him to be able to live and progress.Just like how a poor person needs help with material things in order to survive. I came to learn that part of being poor in Spirit means relying on God; and recognizing that we need him in order to progress) I was so grateful that I had learnt this lesson and as we shared with Rozana I loved how she was such a great example to me of someone who is poor in Spirit. She is such an Amazing Person and she's got such a big heart. We invited her and her brother Philip to church the next day. The next day came and we went over to Rozana's house to help her get ready. Her mom answered the door and right away said," Rozana the Mormons are here" hahaha that was funny!Philip couldn't come because he had slept in. We went to church with Rozana and it was such a great Experience for her. She loved it! it was perfect too because it was fast and testimony Sunday. She was so happy!!!! During Relief Society. Rozana (Ro) participated and asked questions and then at at the end when the Sisters were given time to shre their testimonies Ro looked at me and asked if anyone could go up. I said yeah would you like to go? she Was like Yes and she went right up and shared her testimony of Heavenly Father answering her prayers through us and helping her to know that he's there:) That was such an amazing Experience. I am really grateful for her and her amazing light and Faith in God. She's so excited to come again next Sunday!!!! Her brother Philip called us after church and apologised for sleeping in he sounded really sorry and really sincere, It's just been so amazing to see how these amazing people are growing and to be able to grow with them and feel so much love for them. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father loves each of us and sees the potential that each of his children have to one day become like him and be with him again. 

Another Amazing Experience this week was being able to meet with Thomas and Victoria. They are such great people. About a year ago Victoria saw an add on TV to get a Book of Mormon and so she called the number and then Missionaries showed up at her door:) They've been meeting with Missionaries and their only hold up right now is that they are not married yet. Victoria still needs to get divorced from her previous husband and it's all a long process I think. After a long time we finally got to meet with them both and at first Victoria had a lot of questions about there being only one true church. She was not really willing to accept that. It was a rough start because it got to the point where it started sounding like a debate. I didn't really feel comfortable with that because I know that that wasn't why we were there. My companion was talking alot! And that didn't really help. So I really prayed alot in my heart to know what to say and that Heavenly Father would help me to feel of his love for Victoria and Thomas and their family. I finally spoke up and expressed my testimony for the Gospel and Heavenly Father's love for Victoria and her family. I felt the tone in the room change and that gave our member who came with us her opportunity to share her conversion story. It was such a great lesson towards the end; because then Victoria seemed to calm down and realize that all we were asking her to do was to sincerely pray and find out for herself.That Sunday Thomas was able to come to church. Even though Victoria didn't come with him. He expressed that she really wanted to and will try again next time. I am grateful for their family. I am learning alot about love and how important it is to let that be my motive when we're teaching people and when we're interacting with people. I've come to learn that when we truly love people. They will feel that and they will be more willing to listen because they'll feel that we truly do care about them. I am grateful for the gift to be able to feel Heavenly Father's love for each of his children and to be able to share that with them. I know that he lives and I know that he will help me to help them. 

Have a Great Week!

I Love you Loads
Nadi

Success starts with the Companionship

Hola amigos!

I asked my companion during companion study a question. how do i know God loves me? do i always feel his love, therefore i have nothing else to compare it to? sometimes i just want a really hard trial so that i can rely on God more deeply and pray and trust him more fervently, so that when i teach and testify that GOd loves us and comforts us and answers our prayers, i can say it with more meaning and power, i want to be able to tell them they can get through it with His help, becaue i did or went through it most recently.  My companion feels the love of God more because she has made a complete 180 in her life and she can feel that difference, and i feel normal or averagely loved sometimes. I am happy don't get me wrong. i Guess heavenly father is is giving me a break, because i have gone through so much in my past already. And when i did have a tough life and found the gospel i felt more loved and more converted becaue i felt that great difference, that love and support from God. Then my lovely companion made me see something that i haven't rally thought of before. We remembered how we didn't super get along at first or just didnt understand or communicate as much, and  how much we tried looking for people to teach, but no one was progressing and we didn't feel like we werent gettting very far in the vineyard. Well as soon as we had companionship inventory and made up and decided to improve our companionship, the blessings started coming, becaue now heavenly father was able to trust us with his children. Success in every phase of missionary work starts with hte companionship. We have 4 new progressing investigators this week and have had many great lessons with them. 

the first Jorge: he is a man that we almost missed, but we felt that we hsould walk back and talk to him and shout "hola como esta!?" becaue he was up sitting on his balcony.he was really nice and he even came down and  we had a nice conversation with him and we told him that he was loved by his father in heaven and that he has  a plan for his happiness and  that our message can bring him more joy in his life. He agreed to have us teach him more. Later that week we had a lesson with him outside in sidewalk under the street light at like 8 at night. We taugh him the restoration, he had a real sincere desire to know and really htinkkng about everything we said, he agreed to pray about it and will be baptized when he knows it is true.

Pepe and his family: We had a lesson with them and they were a referral from members and they came to church becaue their friends invited them, after that we strated teaching them. We felt so special because the member set up  the lesson and invited her recent convert friend and the family was waitning for us, we all got there around the same minute and introduced ourselves to one another, Pepe came out and welcomed us in, the crazy part was how many people showed up, it was the sister who referred the family, her r.c friend and her husband and her daughter and her daughters friend, then us, so a total of 7 people went in there to deliver the goods and we were in  charge of teaching, they were in chrage of testifying and i felt sort of  a lot of pressure to be perfect , they mustv'e felt  some presssure to understand everything or to knot sound dumb by asking a question i don't know but it went well. The lord answred our prayers and calmed me down and gave me confidence. The during the part when we were going ot explain the first vision, my companion and i sang "Joseph Smiths First Prayer" it was glorious and we loved it. He is the type of man that overanalyses things, which is good, but he feels like he needs to have a perfect knowledge of things , our next visit will defenatly have to be about faith and how all we need ot do is have a willlingness ot serve the lord. They are so great and they came to church again.

Azucena: We met her through trackting, the old fashion way of finding. That is considered the hunting part of missionary work, it is slower and you only get one at a time, but it is so worth it, then fishing is working with the members because it is more effecient and fruitful. Being a hunter or a fisher are both very awesome ways to do missionary work.  We knowcked at her door and she is just a super sweet lady that is filled with faith and loves the scriptures and consideres them such a gift from a loving caring father in heavcenthat left her with instructions for  a successful life. We did how to begin teaching with her and introduced her to The Book of Mormon and was so excited to have it for free. We are so excited to teach her. We had a lot of people promise us that they will come to church this week 7 but only 1 came grrrrrr, people and their agency! i hate it.

well i love you all take good care, and Happy Mothers day, thank you all the ones who have been like  a mother to me in my life :) have fun.

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...