May 25, 2014

 past couple weeks has been very busy. I figure that the culminating event was the Temple to Temple Relay yesterday. We ran from the Rexburg Temple to the one in Idaho Falls. It seems like the things that I have done in the weekend are the more interesting things to write about. One thing that I have enjoyed in the week that I would like to write about is people. Before I get into that since this is the introduction paragraph of this entry, I would like to write about the interesting things that I have done over the weekend. I won a mile race; ran my first steeplechase; had my first experience in a construction site; had a picnic with my Temple to Temple Relay team; said goodbye to a good friend, who quit school; hung out with an old FHE sister; watched a couple movies; went on adventures, exploring stush apartments; studied how to frame a wall; home-teaching; & more. I wrote a journal entry dedicated to my friend that quit school, but Jesse did not feel that he would be comfortable with the details that I wrote, since he is a peculiar person. I should copy and paste the paragraph that Jesse thought was appropriate to publish now; then, I will write the precepts that I am prompted to, enjoying people during the week and weekends. We had a philosophical conversation about life on Logan's birthday last year. Logan is the good roommate that I had for more than two semesters, who quit, and I would like to relate the philosophy to you.

     We had a really cool FHE group, and a sister was leading us on a hike to a secret special refuge spot that she use to visit every week. Her name is Loretta Lepley. She may still do it. On our walk a debate sprung up about the word chemistry within relationships because Jesse felt that there was a good chemistry among our FHE group.  I forgot what the girls was saying chemistry meant to them. It is probably the stereotypical meaning. Chemistry to Jesse, who was the main philosopher, taking on the girls, related chemistry to throwing a bunch of people together. How the relationships get along is the chemistry. Some groups get along well. Some are unstable. Some are boring. Some don't relate. Logan, Jesse, and I had good chemistry among each other, and taking him out of our groups is going to mess with the chemistry. It's like taking a Hydrogen molecule out of water. Hydroxide is not healthy to consume. Stabilizing the chemistry is going to be interesting.

     The one thing that I love about my God, the father of every man's spirit, is the he hears my remembrance of him and his beloved son Jesus Christ as prayers, granting according to my righteous desires. One of my desires is to be a great friend to people. I always wish to be prompted to befriend and further deepen friendships with people especially during my meal times. Meal times are sacred social times especially family dinners. I consistently see the guidance of the spirit of God to opportunities to befriend and further deepen friendships. I sincerely seek these opportunities; occasionally, when I reach the end of my possible realistic search to visit with someone, a friend to befriend will be provided still. I don't believe that my precepts of this paragraph needs an example to be understood, but I will give one anyways. One lunch, I was looking for someone to eat with. I am sensitive to not be super awkward, walking around too long to find this person, but I reach the end of my possible realistic search. As I stood about to sit alone, a classmate identified me, inviting me to eat with her, and I was able to befriend her.

     I will now move on to the weekend interests. During the mile race that I won. I went out to break the record for the true mile of 1609 meters. I was disappointed to find that I ran exactly 5 minutes for the race. I heard the second place person, coming behind me, as I slowed down in the second half of my race. The pace that I started out with was on track , but I did not endure to the end. That was the first race of the track meet, and a final race of the meet was the steeplechase.

     I was planning and not planning to run the steeplechase because I spoke as if I was going to run it; however, when the team was trained to jump over hurdles, I was too scared to jump over a three and a half foot hurdle especially ones that do not fall over like the ones in the official race. I did it though for the experience. I could not overcome my fear of jumping over the hurdle, but I made it through the race. My attempts to jump over the hurdle was what I would do, if I had to jump over a small fence quickly. Jumping over the hurdle in one leap is a lot more effective than my approach. It was hard to keep up with the top pack, since I did not overcome my fear.

     The track meet was on Friday evening, and I had my first experience at a construction site on Saturday morning. Having to leave early, I planned a gathering with my Temple to Temple Relay team, and I said goodbye to Logan in the evening.

     The construction site experience was installing drywall in someone's basement. My first experience was snapping a chalk line. Since we were putting up Gypsum board, we needed to break it to let the board fix the wall. After breaking the board, I was given the opportunity to screw the Gypsum board into the studs. This opportunity was a first for me, using an electric drill. I was working with two classmates, and they seemed to have gotten impatient with me because I was slow. A funny thing was that they were making so many mistakes afterwards that it was probably just as slow. Since I had to meet with my Temple to Temple Relay team for a picnic, I pulled back from the from the situation, leaving early.

     The picnic went well; although, none of the girls ran with us. Our plan was to jog to Nature Park. Brenden, Devin Collins, and I arrived in about twenty minutes. Brenden has been on all three of my Temple to Temple Relay teams. He is a friend from my first apartment complex before I moved to Nauvoo Housing. I know Devin from Boy Scouts. He was from Gilroy though. We went to a hiking place called Philmont. We only knew each other from the one trip, and I had not seen him until I took the Family Foundation class at Brigham Young University - Idaho. We were sitting right next to each other, and we did not recognize each other. We were talking about where we were from, and we recalled that we hiked Philmont together. We have not hung out very often, but we have done a few things together since then. Our relationship is reverenced as a great friendship. When Brenden, Devin, and I arrived at the park, we expected to meet with a few other team members. Jesse Kaupert was planning to do another style of workout that day, so he didn't run with us. He was on our team though. Paige Dexter, the roommate of Naomi House, was planning to drive up our lunches. It was taking Paige a long time to come. We were probably waiting for at least twenty minutes; maybe a half hour or more. We were chill though, chatting. When Paige and Jesse arrived, we were surprised to see that Naomi, who was planning on running with us, was with them. She came with the bad news that she hurt her ankle somehow, so she could not run. We ate our lunches briefly, deciding who is going to run what legs during the relay. Naomi and Paige left early to chill next to the lake. We joined them later, and we practiced, skipping rocks. Naomi and Paige could barely throw well, so they had troubles. We enjoyed ourselves. Paige could not run with the team during the relay either because she had the rare opportunity to see her father.

     This weekend was Memorial day weekend. Logan left us that evening. On Monday an former FHE sister visited us, and we played soccer. We also watched a movie with Paige and Naomi. We may have planned to go see a movie, but we never made it. I am trying to recall, if we went exploring and star tripping. I don't really like star tripping, but the other girls enjoyed it; plus, we went to a park as we explored, and I had already spun around a lot on a thingabob. Star tripping is when you find a dark location outside, and the stars need to be out. You spin until you are dizzy, and someone shines a light in your eyes. When someone does this, you lose your sense of balance, and you just fall over without any control. Maddie and Jeanette were hanging out with us, and Maddie has a chronic problem, not having enough blood in her tall body. When she star tripped a couple times, she began acting as if she was drunk. She could barely walk, and her sense of logic was off. I assume that she didn't have enough blood in her body to get a good amount of oxygen in her brain. I am unsure if we did this on Memorial day Monday or watching a live action movie about the Oneders or Wonders, a one hit wonder band from the 60's.

     We ran the Temple to Temple Relay the following weekend. Naomi found a couple runners to replace Paige and her. These runners are named Kelsey and Hannah. Our team members were the following: Aubrey, a roommate of Naomi; Loretta; Brenden; Jesse; Hannah, Kelsey, Devin, and I. I loved this team because everyone knew each other. There was not one person that did not know another member of the team prior to the race. Brenden knew Devin from last relay race. Jesse knows Loretta, Naomi, Aubrey, and I. Loretta was an FHE sister of Jesse's and mine from last spring semester. Hannah knew Loretta from mountain climbing, and she is Naomi's best friend's roommate. Kelsey was a friend of Naomi's. I loved the natural fellowship of the team. We were not concerned about time and place. I don’t even know the pace that I ran. We had time to hang out with horses, feeding them grass. I have never fed horses before. A few were dominate, and a few ran when we gave them grass. Not many stops had bathrooms, and many of my team needed to use the restroom. It was funny because three of our legs had to start with another teammate, since they were not ready to receive the baton, when our runner arrived. That runner was Hannah. During one leg, hanging out, we skipped rocks, but we didn't skip them off water. We bounced them off the road, trying to hit a fence post. When Hannah finally ran her leg, which was the last leg. We were surprised that it was taking so long for Hannah to finish 2.6 miles. It ended up that she got lost, having to run about a mile extra. Our results showed that we finished twelfth, but I say that we finished top ten because we were only a few minutes slower than the other teams ahead of us, since Hannah got lost, running an extra mile. After the relay, we were planning on going to the zoo, but we decided not to. We did enjoy eating lunch at the Olive Garden. On the drive home, I asked out Hannah, but she did not return my call or texts, so I let her be.

     Today is Friday June thirteenth. I am on a bus ride home after enjoying a tour of the Jackson, Wyoming office of the Big D Signatures department of the company. Last week was mid-terms, and I had two tests. I also had a test this past week for ARCH 100. I got decent grades on each test. I don't have anything to complain about. It was a little stressful though, facing a test covering fourteen chapters.

     Things are finally normal after the Temple to Temple Relay. I usually go to the temple each weekend, but we have been busy. Jesse and I went to the temple last Saturday, and I invited Paige to join us. Deanna joined us too. She is another roommate of Naomi. We did initiatory, and ate at the Hickory after. It was refreshing to hear the words of the initiatory ordinances. I like getting the Big S Burger at the Hickory because my family has a tradition of eating grill cheese sandwiches each Sunday. The Big S Burger is a half-pound burger with two grill cheese sandwiches as the buns.

     I also ran in a track meet this past weekend. I felt very fast during the week and some workouts, so I was inspired to run an 800 meter race. I did pretty well. I was disappointed in the pace that I ran the second lap. I only had one competitor. When we started the first lap I sat on my opponent to see his pace. Since his pace was not following my strategy, I passed him about 150 meters into the race, finishing the first lap in 60 seconds. Here is my disappointment I ran the second lap 10 seconds slower than the first; however, I did win the race. I was happy about my results. I don't really run the 800. I focus on the longer distances. I ran the 5K too, but I did not race too my potential because I could not know my pace. When I ran the first 5K, people told me my pace each lap, but they did not do that this time. The timer on the score board did not start until my third lap or so. I just ran it. I ran about a minute and a half slower than the last time that I ran the 5K race. During the meet I would stay aloof from everyone else because I don't want the sun to drain my energy. I relaxed in the shade, and another athlete joined me; then, after I ran, I was surprised to see that girls of my distance team was hanging out near the tree that I was in the shade of. They were not in the shade though. That was nice to have everyone else join me.

     I received an email from Brother Stutz, who is the organizer of the track, cross country, and many other events at the school. He invited me to apply to be a coordinator of Cross Country in the Fall. I would basically organize and promote the competitive sport. I hope that I get the position. I have many ideas to promote it. This was exciting as well as the Big D Signature's construction site and office that I visited.

     Big D a high-end construction company working of becoming a billion dollar corporation this year. Their quality of work is exceptional. A competitive advantage that they have is that they collect old wood, and they can be employed to build houses with this wood. The wood is beautiful. They built their office, and the old wood was touted as i beams, structural, and interior details. I was wondering why the beams had square notches in them, but my teacher informed me that they were where the joists and other beams were inserted for structural purposes in older buildings. They led our crew to a construction project called Paint Brush Point.

     At this location a river in a national park was being polluted by a building falling into it, so they devised a plan to fix that part of the national park. The river was dilapidated, so they had to hire a guy from Alaska to restore the river banks. Big D was so impressed by the skill of the guy, describing him as a painter of a physical river bank. Restoring that building was important too because it has historical importance. It was property of the Rockefeller's, if I recall correctly. They reached a restriction though.

     The setbacks of the property let Big D work with only a few square feet. This is how they solved the problem. They approached a neighboring property owner, and Big D asked them if they would be willing to trade property with the national park in order rebuild to the Rockefeller cabin. The neighbor approved. Big D said that the cabin did not have a foundation, so the first few logs were rotten. My framing systems teacher, Ron Kinville pointed out that the structures to contain the foundation concrete were assembled different than usual. I don't fully understand what he was saying, but my connection is that there is lumber placed on the outside. I think that the lumber makes the exterior face look like the cement is wood as the picture shows. They also built the foundation that way because it was the old standard.

     The owner of the property was able to build their third home here. The supervisor, showing me around, said that he did not know the names of the owners, but he provided me information that would make it easy for me to discover who the owner is. The owner is on the board of directors of a corporation. They have two children, and two other homes; one in London and the other is in California. The supervisor even provided a name of a child and the corporation, but I don't think that it Is appropriate to disclose them. The owner had the house be built in separate parts within the property.

     The property had many original concepts for me to consider. They have a two floor garage separate from the main living area of the residence. This building seems to accommodate guests, for the top garage can be accessed from the street. The design of the buildings were not very open, for the top garage's stairs leading to the living area of the guest did not let them access the living area without them going outside of the building. Their seems to only be one way around the house. I don't know, if this is common. On the main living building of the residence. The residence seem to protect their privacy by having their personal and entertainment rooms only be accessed by a uniquely designed spiral stairwell.  The entertainment room is not an average room either. A bookshelf is going to be a hidden door like in the movies, leading to a wine cellar. The spiral stairwell was unique because the it is not going to be supported by a structural member coming up in the middle, but the stairs are held by the wall, surrounding them. The spiral stairs leads down to a deck that can be accessed by the children's rooms, and other ways that I don't know. The deck can be retracted, uncovering a hot tube. The children's rooms can be considered as too luxurious because the doors to them are curved, costing about three thousand dollars each.

The non-exclusive area of the top floor has a deck too. The interior finish living area of this floor and other parts of the house is a beautiful cherry wood, and the view of this room is gorgeous too. The picture that I got is lousy because of the lighting, but you can get a hint of the view and the cherry on the ceiling.

The supervisor pointed out an architectural flaw in the design that they had to address, and fix. The structure did not hold the wall underneath the windows well enough, and the walls would rattle with the wind, pressure, and door shutting.

 Walking out on the deck, I got a picture of the boastful yoga/ art studio and the river. This upper level has two fireplaces, and one was original to me because it is an exterior fireplace.

 

I call the yoga/art studio boastful because it is going to have two chandeliers and an impressive stereo system. Another original idea of the studio is that the large glass windows are doors; however, they do not open up to a deck. They don’t open up to anything. The studio has a steel post foundation, requiring insulation underneath the floor. The doors that led people out to nothing is illegal; unless, they have a railing signaling that the door does not go out to a deck. The owner insists of not having the railing, and they plan to have one installed temporarily.

     I wrote much of this journal entry on the bus ride to Jackson, Wyoming, but today is Sunday, the 15th of June. I am jumping further into the future in each paragraph of this entry. This week I did not hear about my track meet until Thursday, so I have not been mentally preparing myself for the meet yesterday. The training that I have been receiving with my team has not been maintaining my confidence. Every time I run, training with a team, when we run speed workouts regularly, I actually feel that my speed is slowing down in races because I am not getting enough mileage in the week. I want a minimum of 30 miles a week of running. We don't get close to this. This is messing with my mental preparation. I actually feel weak running, and I don't feel like racing. This is why I decided to not race yesterday. I have goals, and I don't feel that I am on track to achieve them. What is the use of running to achieve high level performance, if your training and mental state is not good enough to support the goals? When the time came for the meet? I did not feel like running fast like how I would need to in an event a mile or shorter. I did want to beat my current 5K time though. I have only ran it in 18 minutes. I can run faster than that. I have been focusing to much pacing myself well, and I thought to race without pacing myself. The track meet didn't run the 5K this week though, so I just hung out, watching my teammates. They did the steeplechase, and I took pictures. Ryan ran the mile, about the same time that I ran, a five minute mile. An air show was going on at the same time as the track team. Jesse and Joe were planning on going the whole week, but I was not interested in going. We were also planning a bonfire last night.

     We were originally planning on going to the ice caves. We were hoping a lot of friends were going to come, so we decided to go to the dunes instead. After devotional, I ran into Nick Hicken, who contacted me to meet each other a couple weeks ago to connect our lineage with Patriarch Thomas Hicken. His email was this.

"Hey Alexander,

Hey my name is Nick Hicken and I was looking up another Hicken on the school directory and saw your name and I'm just curious if we are related and how so.

I know my great great grandfather was Thomas Hicken, so don't know if you come from that line.

Anyways, I just wanted to connect with you so just email me back if want.

Thanks.

-Nick"

And my reply was this.

"Dear Nicholas Hicken,

I am Alex Hicken, the son of David Glen Hicken, who is the son of Glen Irwin Hicken, the son of Irwin Hicken, who served a mission in Japan, when the great earthquake destroyed many cities, who is the son of John Henry Hicken, who is the son of Patriarch Thomas Hicken, who was in the first stake presidency of Heber City, Utah, a first settler thereof.

Do you eat at the crossroads much? I oftentimes indulge in good company there.

Sincerely,

Alexander Nielson Hicken"

We met up, and we got along well. He really loves Bob Marley, and that topic came up easily because I served in Jamaica, which I am proud to say got their first stake last weekend. Nick feels like Bob Marley  is a man sent to Jamaica like Buddha, Confucius, and other religious figures like Muhammad. Well at the devotional I invited him to the bonfire, saying that there will be a lot of girls because we invited four apartments of close friends. Our track record does not match our hopes though. Only Naomi came. None of our FHE sisters came. Jesse invited an old friend and her apartment because we had our haircuts done by her, and a good friend turned out to be her roommate, who I was thinking of asking out. Jesse also invited another ward sisters apartment. Naomi's roommates didn't make it either. We expected more people to come, so Nick invited a bunch of his friends and roommates. They were named Jon, John, Keith, and Brian. I did ask the girl out, who is the roommate of Jesse's old friend, and she came. Her name is Chelsea. I decided not to write about this date. It was Jon, John, Keith, Brian, Nick, Naomi, Chelsea, Tyrel, and I, who went, and Naomi's best friend, McKayla met us out there with her boyfriend. Nick's friends were good sports. We waited nearly a whole hour for Jesse and Tyrel to come with wood and glow sticks.

    John was funny because he is studying to be a mechanical engineer, and he is all into explosives as his desired profession. He jumped on building the fire, and had a huge fire going in less than five minutes. He said that he camped every weekend from age eight to eighteen or something like that. He was coaching everyone on how to cook hot dogs and s'mores. After the initial fire that John made started dying down, we played stick ball.

     This is the second time where we went to the dunes, having a bonfire and a game of stickball. Jesse cut the glow sticks, and poured the liquid on tennis balls, and the game is similar to Golf. We are trying to throw our ball into a bucket in the least amount of throws, and the distance is determined by a partner, hitting the tennis ball with a stick. Jesse calls it a dowel. It is the rod in a closet that holds up hangers. We enjoyed the game. A few funny things happened, but I only recall one to tell you. A few friends and I were gathered around the bucket because we already finished throwing our ball in it, and tennis ball without warning flew down and hit me in the chest. It hit me hard enough that the glow stick fluids splattered on my shirt.

     Yesterday is now Sunday, and I want to finish this entry. I finally got out into the field from my church calling, which is a missionary chairmen for the Elders Quorum. It is a basic role to help all the struggling Elders. We separated into two groups with the Elder's quorum presidency. We both had about five people to contact, but none of them lived at their apartments. One supposed to have lived at my apartment. Gratefully I noticed before we knocked on my apartment door. We only found one person in our list, and all the others are in an unknown location.

     During Sunday school, I was instructed to go to a Family History class, which taught us about familysearch.com and treeseek.com. The web programming is messed up on my account because the information on my father's account about my mother's side is not showing up, and we live in an age where work does not need to be doubled. It should show up in my genealogy. One thing that we were instructed on was connecting sources to our names to validate that the information was accurate. The instructor was saying that if you make connections with the ancestors, their additional work that they have done should be added to my profile. I could not find how to do that, but I did find some sources proving that I have two brothers and my mother is our mother. My brothers were not even listed, when I first started my work on familysearch.com. 

My Little Christ Like Elements P.6 (Magic)

"I wouldn't be standing here if it weren't for the friendships I've made with all of you. Each one of you taught me something about friendship, and for that, I will always be grateful."
-Twilight Sparkle 

"And Magic makes it all complete!"
-Also Twilight Sparkle

"Please tell me you didn't buy that
JUST to do that..."
Err... No...?

So here we are, at the grand finale of this great and VERY long series of Christ like Elements and we have arrived at the apex, one of the most important and vital elements, it's kind of the one that brings them all together. We have, Faith. So what is faith? "It's just like believing in stuff right?" Close I guess. There are a ton of places to find what exactly faith is but we'll use my favorite cause darn it I'm the one writing this! "Is that technically breaking the fourth wall?" Doesn't matter cause here we go!

"And now as I said concerning faith— faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true."

So that being sai- "I practically said just that... Believing in stuff..." Well... I said you were close. But you definitely lacked the principle of it. "What...?" You're missing the Hope part. Yes you can believe, and you can believe all you want, but if you don't have the hope, what's the point of it? "So is that to say that if I have faith and hope that I'll fly, It'll happen? "No and no..." I also do not suggest trying that because 1) I care. and 2) With you gone, who's gonna read my blog? "You think you know a guy..." Elder... but no, because that would be useless. "But you always say God can do anything. Why doesn't He show it by making me fly?" An excellent question. Someone asked that same question, his name? Korihor. "Story time?" Story time.

"And now Korihor said unto Alma: If thou wilt show me a sign, that I may be convinced that there is a God, yea, show unto me that he hath power, and then will I be convinced of the truth of thy words."

So Korihor is described as being an Anti-Christ and like most people, wanted God to show him a sign to prove of his power. So legit right? Wrong! I've learned very often that you don't tempt fate, or God for that matter but luckily for the saints in Zarahemla, Alma, who you'll probably remember by clicking here, was there to protect the faith, 

But Alma said unto him: Thou hast had signs enough; will ye tempt your God? Will ye say, Show unto me a sign, when ye have the testimony of all these thy brethren, and also all the holy prophets? The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator.

Korihor, fearing for his sideburns.

The end of that story goes that Korihor got what he asked for. He was struck mute and could never lead others away again. 

Miracles do not produce faith, but strong faith is developed by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

True faith brings miracles, visions, dreams, healings, and all the gifts of God that he gives to his Saints.

Faith is kind of like taking a step in the dark. It's that light at the end of the tunnel. It's the foundation that without, all these wonderful Christ-like Elements, would be made useless, and it's all centered on Christ. 

Many people will say that they accept Christ as their Savior, but I accept that vegetables are an important part of a balanced diet, doesn't mean I like it. When you have faith, you have to believe, truly believe that He is there, and not just that, but that He loves you and that by His grace you are saved, after all we can do. 

I've learned for myself that Christ lives and that he is always there for us. I've challenged Moroni promise which is,

3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.
4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

and by doing so, have found for myself the truth and you can too. It's been a long, stressful, but fun Elements of Christ series, but like all good things, it must come to an end. But to wrap all things up, Paul has this to say,

If there is one thought I can leave you with, it's this one. 

Seeking Employment Requires Creativity

     

Creative hiring as spelled out in, the Wall Street Journal article, To Find Best Hires, Firms Become Creative is not as creative as I imagined that it will discuss. Using personality surveys and other tools is effective and more professional, but I would not call it creative. Hiring people without these tools is not creative, but I would not call using tools of effective hiring methods creative. Soup and Company's method of hiring was creative.

     There is a higher standard of efficiency in business insomuch that getting hired for a job is actually a skill. Businesses are looking for people that fit their company; therefore, one can't give out your resume to random companies, expecting them to respond favorably. One needs to apply themselves to their careers as creative as the companies hiring to be employed.

Invisible......

This post is dedicated to all those on the island of misfit toys...


I hesitate to share a post that is so incredibly personal, but I do in hopes that it gives peace and comfort to some, and motivation to others.....
So this will be a two part series......stay tuned for tomorrow.


When this song first came out, I thought it was cheesy and silly.

But then my life got to a place where it suddenly took on a great deal of meaning.

I don't want this to be a whiny sad, woe-is-me post.

This post is not about me.  Or at least not just about me
Its about anyone who has ever felt left out.
Anyone who has ever felt worthless and not good enough.
Anyone who has ever felt invisible.

I truly believe there is strength in numbers.
There is comfort that comes with shared experience.
You are not the only one.




More on over on my blog....
sillyswilly.blogspot.com

Baptism of Rey Dominguez!!:D

here is your favorite missionary during personal study time ;)

hello this week was  wonderful we were able to have the baptism of REy Domingues. His faith has grown so much and i have a good feeling that he is going to be a strong faithful member of the church and he is going to serve with all his heart. WE love them so much he is so cute!  he always texts us with all his spiritual experiences. we love them they treat us llike family.

Oh i got to speak on sacrament meeting about my conversion , it was so good, i also talked about my momma and how I am teaching her and how much i LOVE her! we should all love each other as much as i love her because we are all children of God. i shared this scripture alma 36: 24 Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance; that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be born of God, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. 

ok we taught  my mommy on Friday!! it was so special we taught her about faith and repentance, the lesson was great but it got even more spiritual when i shared  a personal experience we shared together! this is what i explained to her during the lesson

Joseph Barton, Bishop Pond (now brother Pond;) were over at our house. My mom and i were really angry and frustrated with each other, so my mom decided to  invite them over. They came and listened to my mom i admitted to her that i was being very prideful and didn't care of how upset she was at me, i didn't think i needed to change and that i needed to work things out with her. Also she had a hard time forgiving me and we just didn't feel any love in that room. they made us hug but we didn't feel sincere. Brother Barton asked if she would like a priesthood blessing and she did, then i got one as well. Immediately after that we felt the power of God and his Strength come over us, which gave us the ability to forgive one another and to have a mighty change of heart that caused us  to want to repent.
The love that came over us was so strong that we knew God loved us and that he has the power to give us the strength to reconcile and to have that peace and joy we cannot get on our own. Humility and Repentance before God and each other  is so good, and if you feel like you have the capacity to do it, pray with all the energy of your heart so that you may be filled with his love and strength to overcome. Her and i cried a little bit and i know that she will come around some day. We invited her to check out the church because she will never know if she will like it or not if she doesn't try it out. She smiled and said ok. except she will be going to the watsonville ward, because it is in Spanish. Well love you all and pray that you will all be led to those people that are ready to hear the gospel. 

service project at vicky zazueta's

Heya Love!

This whole week has been great! We met with Reynaldo (Ray) one of our newest investigators and he is such an amazing individual! he is 21 and has been through alot in his life. During that lesson we went with a member her name is Raelyn and she is so great!!! She's 16. In that lesson we learnt that Rey had gone to mormon.org like we invited him to and he had written down everything he had learnt about Repentance. He was also sober and all cleaned up!!!!  That was a blessing because all the previous times we'd met with him he was always drunk! We invited Rey to be baptized and he accepted!!! We are so excited for him!!! He's going to have to make alot of changes in his life but it's truly been so amazing for me to see his willingness to change and come closer to Christ. Wow! what a blessing!

On Friday while we got a call from Victoria (one of our investigators whose family we're teaching) telling us that her husband and her daughter were in a car accident! He was tired and dozed off on the wheel! She had called to ask us to pray for them. Now Victoria when I first came into this area was not always as open. She at one time had straight up told us that she did not want to read the Book of Mormon.So for her to call us like that was such a big step! Wow! that was an amazing blessing for us. We asked her over the phone if she would like her Husband to get a priesthood blessing and she agreed, That evening we went over to see them. Thomas( her husband) looked so sad and so down! Neither of them had gotten hurt but he was worried he might lose his job because that was a company vehicle. Oh he looked so depressed. We went over and sang songs for him and then later the brethren came to give him and his daughter Aura who's 17 a blessing. The next day Thomas texted us and told us that he felt like God had let him down and he wasn't feeling to keen on meeting with us that night. We went over anyway with Raelyn (our member) and knocked on their door for a good 5 minutes but no one answered, We were so sad!  Then we said a prayer and decided to sing hymns at their door steps until some one opens up. We stood there for a good 10 minutes then finally Aura came to the door, She was so suprised! She was like how long have you been singing out here? hahaha we had a good laugh about it then finally went in. That evening we had an amazing lesson with Aura we taught her the Restoration and it was so great to have Raelyn there because she was able to share her testimony with Aura!!!! We invited Aura to be baptized and she has accepted a Baptismal Date for July 5th!!!! That was such a great blessing!!! I am so glad we stayed and sang at their door.lol. we told Aura it was all only because we love her!!! hahahahaha ( I bet she must've been thinking we were a bunch of crazy girls!) She is so great! We invited her to say the closing Prayer and it was the sweetest prayer ever! we could all feel that she was really speaking from her heart, She was nervous at first but then she got the hang of it! We have been so greatly blessed by the Lord. The next Day Sunday! Thomas (Aura's Father) texted us and told us that Victoria's (his wife and Aura's Mother) car got hit 2 times while parked on the street right after we left!!!! He said he'd been drinking and didn't think they were going to come to church. My companion and I were so sad for this family and all that they've been going through! that Sunday Morning my heart was continuously drawn out in prayer for Thomas and his family. We didn't really how we can help them not feel discouraged. In my scripture study that morning as I was praying and pondering I came across this scripture in 1 Samuel 7 about the Israelites and how the Lord delivered them from their enemies because they had repented and diligently served God. I loved that scripture so much!!! especially because for the Israelites even as they fasting and praying and doing all they could within their control to serve God their enemies the Philistines kept coming closer and closer to battle and it wasn't until they were literally so close did the Lord hit them with Thunder right before their eyes. I learnt from that scripture that truly we need to hold out faithful to the end. Even when all else seems like its falling apart the Lord will always deliver us if we continue to be faithful! That morning before church we went to Thomas' house again and knocked. Victoria answered and guess what? She was allready getting ready for church!!! Oh my companion and I were so happy to hear that from her!!! We then asked if Aura was coming as well. She went to wake her up too!!! Then Thomas came to the living room. We sat and talked and he said he didn't feel like going to church and he was just feeling so down. We prayed with him and shared that scripture with him and he was like Wow! is that story really true? We bore our testimonies to him and immediately he told us "Ok I'm going to church"  I was filled with so much peace and just so incredibly Happy and Grateful!!! One that Heavenly Father has blessed us with this amazing Family and two that he answered our prayers and helped us to find share what Thomas needed to hear. That whole experience is one I will never forget! What a Blessing and a huge miracle for us!  

Then last night we were also able to go with the Tuiaana Family ( they are a less active family that are definitely becoming active again) They are so special to us! They have a son Anthony who's not really sure whether to serve a mission or not. He brought his friend Andy and another returning Less Active and we all went together.The Fireside was just amazing and in one of the Talks one of the Elders said that he felt to speak to the Youths present who debating whether to serve a Mission or not. He encouraged them to make that decision to go. We were so glad and grateful that we went with the Tuiaana Family. 

We received our transfer calls last night and My companion and I are both staying!!! We are truly so happy!!!! 

I Love Love Love You!!!!

Nadi

Jolly June!!!!

Hi Chika! 

This week has been a big blessing for me. Last night we had the Privilege of having Elder Russel M Ballard come talk with us, to instuct us and encourage us it was such a life changing experience for me. I felt the spirit so strong and Ii knew with all my heart that he truly was an apostle of the Lord. The first great big blessing I felt yesterday was when we had first gotten to the church building (it was at my old ward building in Torrance) I saw a youth named Chris (he's about 16) When I was serving in his ward his family was less active and I had been thinking about them alot! We got to talking and I was so happy to see him there. He explained that he had come to church all on his own without his family because he heard an apostle of the Lord was coming!!! that was a great big blessing for me to see the Faith he had. Then as we listened and was instructed by Elder Ballard and two other General Authorities Elder Swaitzer and Elder Acosta from the Seventies I learnt and felt so much:) I learnt the importance and helping people to change and Repent and how if I am to help them change and repent I need to be able to have a testimony of Repentance myself and be changing and relying on the Lord everyday. I also learnt more about being helpers. He shared the parable of the Lost Sheep in Luke 15 and how the shepherd went all out to find the one and carry him on his shoulders back to the fold. I felt such a renewed desire to find and help each of Heavenly Father's children here all along their way back to their Father in Heaven. I loved it!!!! It was such an amazing lesson for me. Prior to this meeting a couple of weeks ago I was thinking alot about how I'm finding myself just going through the motions of Missionary routine and not really giving it my all. Last Night Elder Ballard counseled us to go out every morning with the Faith that as we talk with people we will find people to teach and we will help them get on their path towards Baptism and eventually towards returning home to their Heavenly Father. I totally recommitted myself to this. I know this was definitely an answer to prayer. He also shared a story about a blind Missionary and the great Faith in the Lord to help him everyday on his Mission. That was such an amazing story of Faith for me. I really am grateful to be here Mama and to be learning all these wonderful truths here at this time. As Elder Ballard concluded he looked at each of us in the eyes and promised us that our Families were being taken care of and that as we give our all we will come to enjoy the time that we have now to fully serve the Lord. I felt the spirit confirm to my heart the truth in those promises, I thought of Harry (my Brother)and I know and have Faith that he'll be ok and you'll all be ok and taken care of because an apostle of the Lord has promised it. I will continue to give this work all that I am and that I have. After Elder Ballard left everyone was quietly pondering all that we had just felt when an Elder suddenly cried out in moan. He was having a seizure.I didn't want to look back at who it was but we heard him.The whole room was quiet and I was feeling so scared. I looked around and I saw other Missionaries with tear filled eyes. I prayed in my heart that Heavenly Father would bless this Elder so that he could feel the comfort and love he needed. We were all praying in our hearts and I just felt such a warm feeling of peace and love. I have never felt such consuming love around me. I knew that as we as a Mission were praying for this one Elder Heavenly Father and his angels were definitely there with us that day. How grateful I am to be here in this mission at this time. That Elder quieted down and there was such a spirit of Unity and love in that chapel. It was such an amazing experience I will never forget. I know that truly a lot of what we get from the Meetings we go to is dependent on the effort we put into preparing for it. I have a testimony of that. 

After the meeting we came home and later that evening we went out to work. I shared with my companion my desires to go out with that Faith to find people to teach and help them on the path back home to Heavenly Father. We've made that our goal to go out with that kind of Faith that he will provide. We visited a couple of people and while going to visit an investigator named Ray, We parked our car and came across this group of Girls (about Young Women YSA age 15-19 yrs) Almost Every time we've gone to that building we've always run into these girls. Their names are Alandra, Alysa, Araia and Nelly. The first time we met them a couple of weeks ago we invited them to check out Mormon.org Alysa was always rude and not really interested in hearing what we had to say, The second and third time we met them we talked abit more and re invited them to check out the website again because they hadn't done it. Then finally last night we met them again and we learnt that Alysa the one who was always rude and cussing was in a car accident yesterday and the car they were in turned over and rolled and was totally wrecked but none of them including her that was in the car got badly hurt. She shared how she felt like she was going to die and she knew that when she got out of the car she was ok and recognized that it was a miracle. We shared with her our Testimonies of God's love for her and protecting her and we immediately recognized that she was more willing to listen and even requested amormon.org card. We learnt more about these 4 girls and we talked about what we do as Missionaries. I just felt so much love for these girls! they definitely special because we always keep running into them. We taught them about God's love and God's plan for them as his daughters and we will be meeting with them again!!!! The whole of yesterday and last week has just been a great big blessing for me and my companion. We found a total of 6 new investigators!!!! How grateful I am for the spirit for always encouraging us "Talk to Everyone" and strive to have meaningful conversations. I know that if didn't make it a goal to do that we would've never found all these new Investigators. The work is going Great!!!!

I know that God is real and that he lives and looks out for all of you! He loves you!!!!

and I love you too!!!

Sister Koroitamana

A Call to Arms! (WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!)

"...For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required..."

-Luke 12:48

Now I've never been an asking or a begging man but simply put, we need help! The klaxon is blaring and this is a call to arms! "What the?! What's happening?!?!"

Dear reader, by now you have read a lot about Satan or the adversary or whatever you wish to call him. Sure he has a lot of names, but one thing's for sure, he's not a good guy. You wanna know what's worse? "Goodness, what could be worse than that?"

He owns the internet dear reader...

We (The Royal We) need your help to take back the internet from his evil clutches and it won't be easy, but it CAN be done. "What can you or I or anyone possibly do?" Oh reader... Have you learned nothing? Well first, let me share a scripture.

And it came to pass that he (King Benjamin) began to speak to his people from the tower; and they could not all hear his words because of the greatness of the multitude; therefore he caused that the words which he spake should be written and sent forth among those that were not under the sound of his voice, that they might also receive his words.

                                                                          (Mosiah 2:8) italics added

Now one of the things we (as missionaries) do is help and invite others to come to Christ and that's how we're gonna take back the internet! Much like King Benjamin not being able to have everyone hear his words, we can only do so much, so here's where you come in. 

June 10th is when all of this is going to go down! Here's what you can do.

Most Importantly!
Add the #discoverthebook and the #Calledtoshare hashtag in everything. Also,

Like so.

• Join the Discover the Book and the Called to Share page on Facebook
• Invite everyone and I mean EVERYONE!!! Your neighbor, your friends, your dog to the event and do what it says!
• Share the event on your own Facebook profile and tag people in it OFTEN.
• Message everyone you know and invite THEM to invite everyone THEY know! It's the snowball effect dear reader!!!
• Change your profile picture to one with the Book of Mormon to spread awareness. Don't have one? Click here!
• Share it with a famous person/page or just about anywhere on Facebook, who knows who might see it?!

We can't do this without you reader, if you choose to accept, you will be part of the biggest movement in Facebook! Remember dear reader, we're here to take the internet back from Satan!!!

#TBT: When I Went to Visit the Kansas City Temple

Lets go back a few years to a great weekend trip to Kansas City!



Can I please tell you how amazing my weekend has been?  You guys are gonna get an awesome three post day..cause I have three very important things to talk about!

First I had the amazing pleasure and honor to attend the open house of the Kansas City Missouri Temple.

For those of you who did not know, when our church builds a new temple, the building is open to the public for a few weeks before it is dedicated (then only worthy church members may enter).

I felt so blessed to be able to enter this beautiful building.  We went through at a time when (according to the tour guides) there were more people going on tours than there had been at any other time so far.  And yet it was still quiet and peaceful.  You would think a couple hundred people would make more noise...but nope!  The weather held off too...so that was really nice.

I was not able to take pictures as it was not particularly appropriate in such a sacred and holy place.  But the church has released these pictures..so wanna take a little tour with me???  (all pictures can be found on http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/mormon-kansas-city-missouri-temple-open-house.)

See the tour.....

http://sillyswilly.blogspot.com/2014/06/tbtmy-trip-to-kansas-city-temple.html

Google Doodles

(Hey if you can find a quote that Google has said then you are crossing borders I never thought were imaginable!)

Show ALL of  the doodles!

One of the things I really miss about not being a missionary is seeing the cool Google Doodles every so often. I mean, yes, Google is going to eventually own the world and yes, we will be subjected to them as they will become our supreme overlords, but hey! The Doodles are nice to look at! "Everything you said in that sentence is so totally wrong..." Wrong? or right...? "No, wrong..." Oh... Well then. So I'm gonna do something a little different reader, this is gonna a short post but I'm gonna tell it with... PICTURES!!!! But first, a video! Ha! Now you HAVE to watch it! "Or I can skip past it..." Oh... Well I guess there's that... But because I don't know how Trademarking and Copyrights work, I'll take the safe route and say that I own none of these Google related images.

Every one of these doodles were created by someone. Each one of them has a certain
flair that never before existed, and will never again. 

Some are simple.

Some not so much.

But all are unique.

So why is that important? As the video said, "The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul."
We all want to leave something in this world that was never there. 

Yet, we all have different talents, I can't draw to save my life. How will someone like me ever create?
Perspective is a fickle thing. Some see drawing as creating when there is in fact so much more.

Some however will use the excuse that they are not the creative type. Look around you, go ahead, do it.
Everything you see was put there so you can mold it as you see fit. The world is literally your oyster!

There is a universal truth that we all share, We ARE Children of God, God who created all that we know
and love. So if we are his children, genetics dictate that we MUST have inherited a fraction of that. 

If you can't find something, ANYTHING to create, you aren't trying hard enough. Take this blog for instance,
what started as a funny idea turned into so much more, a chance to share, to create.

You are a dreamer, we all are, but that's how all good ideas started as, an idea, a chance to put a little of
you in a world that lacks it. So what's the next step? To do it!

Many will try to stop you, to tell you "You can't possibly create anything, everything you do will amount to nothing.
I say, balderdash. Look to the person next to you and smile. You just changed something.

Dr. Seuss once said, "Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you."
You are because God loves you and knows you can make a difference in this world.

Whoa... this one's trippy... Whoops, sorry. So all that being said, it's time for you to go out and do something,
to show the world what you're made of, to create something that you can call your own.

And I can testify to you, that at the end of the day, there is one person who will look at your creation and say
with a big smile, " My child made that." and that's our Father in Heaven.You are the sum of your parts,
and one of those parts is a spirit child of God, so go create something and remember,
"UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.
-Dr. Seuss (I really like Dr. Seuss)

God's Plan for the Family

this is the visitors center trip we took last Tuesday. we took the Correa family from Puerto Rico, they are really firm in their religion. the other day she texted us after we had dropped her and wanted to know if there is a day that we can go to the visitors center. my companion and I were super excited thinking that perhaps she had a sincere desire to know if our message was true and to give it another try. We had a good time at the visitors center especially the "God's Plan for the Family" part, my compabnion ans I showed her with the computer on how Book of Mormon and the Bible work together,  but she wasn't super eager to learn about what the Book of Mormon had to say although her family was really nice about it and actually wanted to look up scriptures. WE also watched the Mormon messages about the Modern day prophets, but it wasn't something she seemed to not care about. It is sad to see that some people choose not to ask God and to learn and study for themselves before they immediately reject it, but we know and have faith that we planted a seed in her heart and that someday they will want to learn for themselves if this is true. 

On the other hand our investigator Rey Dominguez and his wife to us there, he is already helping us in missionary work and he is so great and sincere. He is getting baptized thiscoming Saturday, a year later him and his R.M wife will be getting sealed in the temple. Yaay I am so excited!!