"What did I do wrong?" by Isidro Zapata

Why when we love
Someone & then it
Falls apart why is our
First reaction is
What did I do wrong?
We blame ourself before
We come to understand we fell in love with a Myth & the
Self destruction goes on
In our own head
Why is that our First Reaction?
Is it because we became
Drunk in Love & fail to
See the other Persons faults
Before it was to late
That the other person
Was just a Myth in our own mind
And the Real Person
That we fell in love with
Was never who they pertend
To be
And we were unable to
Uncover the Myth & see the Real Person
As time moves on & learn
From our mistakes do
We become less open to others
Because we let a Myth
Kill what God gave us
The Perfect gift
To be able to Love
Do we become cold
& to guarded to show
Others God's Perfect Gift
He gave to all of us
Their are Millions of Myths
Out in the world
&
A few truths
But just because we are
Fooled by a Myth maybe
More then once
Should we allow a Myth
To ruin what is
True & A Perfect Gift
God Gave Us
The Gift to
Love another
This coming holiday
Show others
Family, Freinds & who ever else
That you still have
The Perfect Gift to
Love

December 20, 2014

     These past two weeks have been so intense that I did not start writing this journal entry until a couple days ago. My fifth semester at BYUI has ended, and I am grateful that God blessed me that I passed three of my four classes. During the week before finals, the two classes that I had with Brother Harker, which were mechanical systems and electrical systems, pulled out a bunch of unforeseen assignments, and I had to give up on my accounting class, realizing that I could not pass it, since I failed the second to last exam. I was so busy that I had to pull my second all nighter of my Brigham Young University - Idaho career. My grades may have been higher if I neglected social activities, but I give a priority to family and friends especially Jessica. We gave each other as much time to each other as reasonably possible. We saw the Hobbit movie; and a neighborhood's Christmas lights, which were synchronized with songs that they set up as a radio station. We also attended a Christmas party that our friends put together. Mom invited me to attend my home ward, and I continued my friendship with a man named Russell. I told Jessica that when I was befriending him that people around me would try to bail me out of the situations where we would be talking because he has mental conditions that makes him think differently than most people. I am currently on a bus to work with him from his invitation. At the Ocean YSA Branch later that Sunday, I was invited to teach Sunday school, since Trevor is the Sunday School President. It was nice to teach again; although, my preparation was distracted, since people from the ward wanted to catch up with me. I also organized the track and field association's presidency. They are solid. I am unsure  what they were able to accomplish so far, but I was not able to accomplish my agenda before the semester ended, since I hoped to get the shirts of both of the teams approved and printing for people before they left for the winter, but the school did not approve the designs. I can't think of much more that happened; other than, I toured both the electrical and mechanical systems of the iCenter of the BYUI. Today is now the 29th of December, and I now have to add my Christmas break to the list of things to write about. I finally got around to contacting my internship administrators to see when they would like me to come up on Saturday night. That day was a little slow, but I was able to accomplish the critical things that I planned to do like enroll in my class for the winter and pay my bills. I was unable to get around to prepare for Christmas until the day before because at church on my first day back in Santa Cruz, California in a while, catching up with people, an old friend named Russell. I don't know how to pronounce his last name. It is like Detrick or something like that. He is working for a sister that home taught my family, and I worked with him on Monday and Tuesday. When I finally got around to deciding my gifts for my family and Jessica's family, thinking of gifts for my family was easy, and I used more creativity for the Christmas gifts for the Ledesma family. On Christmas Eve, we went caroling to the usual friends, but we visited that sister that home taught us, which we have not before, and she got emotional. Trevor is really into Yugioh, and I played with him and his friends. I decided that I don't like to play Yugioh because the community spends so much money on the cards.

     During the semester, I was worrying that I might fail out of school because I asked a friend if my classes this semester is a fluke how hard it is. He said that it will remain as hard that it is now. It will probably get harder. I told Jesse Kaupert that my mother failed out of nursing school twice. I can easily just not have the ability to make it through school, but I just worked as hard and smart as I can. I trusted that God will provide the way for me to pass my classes because he inspired me to be an architect.

     I was hoping to pass all of my classes. My methods and materials class of construction management was so easy. It felt like all the work for the entire semester was put into the take-home final. I got a couple Bs on my accounting tests, and it was bring up my grade to a state that I could possibly pass the class, but I failed the second to last test. I saw that it was possible to get a C in the class with my grades in my accounting class, if I did the extra credit for the class and got a 100% on the final; however, I saw that Brother Harker, who taught two of my classes, was pulling a bunch of assignments out of nowhere. For example, he was sitting on an assignment because most people failed it, and he let everyone do it over. He did the same thing with a heating and cooling demand assignment. My construction classes had so many expectations that I could not give any time to try to catch up with my accounting class. I had to stay up all night to complete the take-home final for my Methods and Materials class on the Sunday before finals week. I didn't have any time for accounting; insomuch that, I quit attending the class. On the Friday before finals week and crunch time, I quit attending accounting class to complete a wiring assignment to show Brother Harker that I can wire all the circuits that he showed the class.

     In previous semesters there were a special schedule made to make all the finals fit because the finals were oftentimes longer than the usual length of the class. There was no final schedule given to me this past semester, so I was a little confused. It was a surprise that we met at the usual times, and we had our finals. I was told what the finals were and what to review, and I did prepare, but I was amiss of the time and days of my finals. After a week of assignments popping out at me, I had to deal with finals popping out at uncertain dates, and I did fine on them. On my electrical systems final, I was required to wire several circuits from new angles. I am grateful for Chris Welton for being my tutor because he taught me the theory so well that I got 100% on all my wiring tests including the final. There were three parts to all three of my construction management classes' finals. There were a crazy long take-home final part for both of my electrical and mechanical systems classes. That took me many hours to complete. I basically worked on my mechanical systems take-home final for two whole days straight for Thursday and Friday, and I was supposed to make sure that my apartment was clean for white glove check on Friday. Trevor Sweat, the same friend that drove me up to Rexburg from Heber City, drove me to Provo, Utah because I wanted to leave my luggage in Heber City, since my winter internship is going to be there. Trevor Sweat was uncertain if he wanted to go home on Friday or Saturday, but I was flexible. As I was working on my take-home on Friday, I realized that my time to prepare and do my necessary things to leave came. I asked my apartment managers how the storage system works, and when I returned to my apartment, I received a message from Trevor that he was planning to leave in about thirty minutes. I had not done any packing or anything. It is good that I am a very simple person. I basically packed all my stuff in my luggage and my storage spot in about 80 minutes; plus, Jesse had me store his property too. Trevor came late, and I finished just in time. I still needed to complete my take-home final while we were on the road to Provo. Early in the semester, I put my computer on a high contrast mode, which made it easier on the eyes to see at night, and it was good that I did that on the trip to Provo, since it was dark. I did complete the final, and we had to stop at a Burger King to fill out the multiple choice test with its WiFi. I am grateful to have gotten an 80% on that effort.

     The Hobbit movie was not directed the same way as the previous J. R. R. Tolkien book films. I do not like it. 80 percent of it was violence and destruction. I would give it a 5 out of 10 probably less. It is so bad that I don't want to give too much thought to the score that I would give the movie. I did not like how they were saying that this insane Orc army was coming, but the dwarfs were mowing them down like they were not even an army; plus, basic physics does not apply to Legolas. It was ignored like it was a low budget film. I could tell other people's low opinions of it, but I don't think that it is worth it.

     Over the past few weeks or so, we were planning to go to Pizza Pie Café. Paige can eat a lot of pizza. She ate like 26 slices, and she is planning to set the record with thirty the next time that she goes. She had a roommate join us, and I don’t know how she never hung out with us until basically the very last day of school. As we stood in line for the pizza for the first time, I suggested to Rachel that we go see the neighborhood that synchronizes with a radio station. Rachel was excited about it because she claimed to be one of the most enthusiastic of Santa's elves. My friend told me the location of it through Facebook.

     This friend made me sandwiches at the Crossroads for BYU-Idaho for at least a year. Her name is Cadison Shurtliff. She decided to quit a couple weeks before the semester. She has basically made me the same sandwich every day for maybe 3 semesters. I don't know how long, but she got emotional, saying good bye and making my sandwich for the last time.

     Paige is a master driver, and she found the neighborhood with the light show easily. We did not have room for me to sit with everyone, and Jessica joined me in the back of Paige’s station wagon. When we arrive, we were checking all the radio stations to see which one matched. One of the houses did not match the actual show, and we were confused at first. It was not just one house that had a light show synced with the radio station. I recall that it was three of them. When we approached these three houses, they had a sign that told us what radio station to listen to. Everyone was excited, when we found the actual station that it was synced to. There were about four songs that the radio station played over and over, so it must have been a private radio system. Jesse thought that it would be so cool if one of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s songs were part of the program, and we got so excited that one was. The show was more amazing than we thought that it would be. It was good that the producers of the show had the radio sequence only have for four songs to keep the audience captivated for only about fifteen minutes.

     My flight was the next day on Saturday. We stayed the night at a family friend's house of Jesse. It was chill to actually wake up to no assignments to complete. It was interesting to sit in on the conversation of Jesse and her family friend's mother, catching up because I knew everyone that they were talking about. When we arrived at the airport, it was a little slow, and we arrived a little early. Jesse and I bought tickets at different times, and we were unable to buy tickets next to each other, but I sat next to him anyways.

     When I sat next to him, he warned me of the duty that I just sat in. It is the emergency exit operator. We joked that we should add this to our resume. We made sure that we were trained, and they trained us on our duties in like 10 seconds twice. We saw the guy putting our luggage on the conveyor belt up to the plane. Since we had been trained and had the duty of emergency operator, we felt that we had an in to get the job of putting the luggage on the line. We wanted the job to get ripped. Jesse joked that it would be extra effective because the weights vary. We joked that we should invent machines that would change the weight each time that you lift it. Since the weight of an object can change just by putting them further apart, we joked that it would be funny to hang out with a friend at the gym; then, when the machine would expand, it would push the guy leaning against the machine across the room. We just had a super long series of silly jokes like that.

     The next day after arriving home was Sunday. Mom wanted Trevor and I to attend their sacrament meeting because there was going to be a bell choir. I don't know how, but we arrive late, missing the bell choir. We left with plenty of time. After Sacrament I sat and spoke to Russel to catch up with him, and I was surprised that he sounded more sane than before. He said the his doctors have figured out his medicine needs. He said that he has been working for Filis Forsyth, and he needed help to take the concrete that he taken from the floor of the bathroom to the dump. I took the opportunity to work, and this decision did not give me much time to prepare for Christmas. I wrote a letter to Jessica's family explaining why I was late in sending my gift package to them. I will copy and paste now a quotation of the letter because I wrote of my experience as a Christmas message. Jessica's father didn't know what to make of the letter, and I agree. It was an awkward two days.

"Dear Ledesma Family,

Hi. I am Alex Hicken, and I am grateful that Jessica and I have been led to date steadily. For this reason, I am writing you this holiday season. As you may tell by the personal letters for each of you, I love writing. I write letters for Jessica each week even when we live only a couple blocks away. I am sorry that my gifts for you will be late. They are coming in the mail late because I believe in the counsel of Christ in 3 Nephi 12:41 "Whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain." I say this because I was given an opportunity to work with a man Monday and Tuesday, who fights for his sanity with prescription medicine, for he turns into a very weird person without them. He gave me two days of work and great experience; although, the work that I was paid for was only a small part of the first day. I believe that the second day was him, seeking a closer friendship with me, since I am one of a few friendly people to him. When I was working with him, I had a revelation as he was teaching me skills of self-reliance.

     It felt very fatherly to serve each other. He was teaching me skills, and we were fixing his car together. My family has a cartoon of how Christ was born and raised. I think of a scene of Joseph teaching Jesus carpentry. Since I thought that the man was treating me as his relationship with his father, I asked him whether he worked with his father like this. He said no. He is so used to repairing everything on his own that working together was natural. Although his father's relationship was not like that for him, it felt fatherly to me to teach someone of less experience how to work, sharing your wisdom with them. I love learning the nature of how parents can be, and the special relationships that they have to their children, looking forward to applying this to my life. This is my Christmas story for you learning from Joseph, raising the Christ child.

     I don't expect that you will read the letters to each individual directly after this first one. I don't want to dominate your Christmas. You can read each personal letter privately at a later time. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Alexander Hicken"

     I arrived late to the first day of work because my parents misspoke telling me that I had a dentist appointment. Russell got easily frustrated especially on the first day. He just jumped into doing the work, which was to replace his bumper. For some reason, he felt that using power tools were more effective than manual man strength tools. We had to take apart some bolts to put in some spacers, so it can fit better on the car. In his frustration, working without much thought, he broke two or three wrenches with the strength of the power tools. We figured out how to get the bolts of the bumper only after breaking a bunch of tools. I never imagined this experience in my entire life. We could not fit the spacers after all because his destructive work ethic stripped the final bolt. Rus claimed that he had a very high IQ, and I believed it because he figured out how to get the new bumper on.

     His high IQ was evident in his self-reliant personality. He figures out everything without education or instruction. He was unable to graduate with a degree. I was surprised that I could relate to him well. One lame thing which indicated that I could not relate to his high IQ is when he was driving me home. I was just reminding him of the exit which was most convenient to get to my house. I did not expect him to remember where I lived because he only been to my house like once a couple years ago, and I did not give him my address again. He accused me of backseat driving and hassled me about that. Going down 41st Avenue, I asked him if he was going to move over a couple lanes, so he could turn without mistake. He again hassled me, and he was surprised that I did not remind him where to take the last turn to get to my road.

     Russell asked if I would like to help him work on his truck on Tuesday, and I consented. He said that it would let it be more convenient for me to receive my payment. The second day moved quickly, for we were planning to fix the bumper and put some lights under the tailgate. When we got the tailgate off the truck, after fixing the handle, Rus thought that it would be fun to repaint the tailgate, so it can match the car better and look nice. We did this, and it took a long time sanding it. I wanted to leave early in the afternoon, but this new project forced me to stay until after 5 PM, since it takes a while for the paint to dry. I wanted to leave after lunch, and he provided me lunch; however, he turned on a film that should have been the conclusion of a show that he has been watching, which he invited me to join him. I felt manipulated. Even after we finish getting his car put back together, he wanted me to help him take off a flat tire from his trailer. I was not as anxiously engaged to help because how I felt, and he pointed out that I was not as helpful as before. A family standard of mine is to be home by 6, and I knew that if I continued to work with him; I would not get home on time. He wanted me to help him put his tools a way after. I decided at 5:30 that I was going to run home, so I left. I got home a little before 6, and Rus left a message on my phone saying that he finished putting away his tools about 6, assuming that I had not made it home yet. I obviously did not need his generous ride home, which he offered. He, defying my trust, made me think of his ability to do unspeakable things.

     The hardest person to shop for was Jessica's sister, Jasmine, because I had no clue of her interests. I know that she likes to play on the computer a lot and she likes a pop artist, but I forgot his name. That is basically all that I know about her; other than, education is very hard for her. It took me about 2 hours to decide on a gift for her. Gifts for everyone else was simple after a little thought and exercise of creativity. I purchased a new plant for Jessica to take care of and her favorite snack that I shared together the first time that we worked out together, which was dried sea weed. Trevor is really into Yugioh, so I got a gift certificate for him to the place that he hangs out a lot at.

 An interesting thing is that he spend all of the money on that account on me to build a deck. I will now explain my opinion of Yugioh.

     Yugioh is a game that demands a lot of knowledge and money. The culture of communities from what I saw are very generous and friendly, but the generosity takes the spending of hundreds of dollars. I would expect that one needs to reciprocate the generosity to be taken into the fellowship well. Trevor bought me cards to make a good deck, and it was good enough that I can beat him practically every time. He said that he would have to buy more cards to make a better deck. It is not fun to beat Trevor over and over. Do you see the perpetual spending of money? It's a very expensive hobby. I don't want to waste my time and brain on a game.

     My friendship with Jessica is going well. We keep current with each other like we did before by having meals together, but we talk over the phone or Skype with each other every day. We share pictures of each other's lifes with each other to learn more about our home lifes.

My middle school is named after this beach. It is called New Brighton. 

This beach is famous for a boat that is made out of concrete. 

     I really like the situation that was proposed by Brother Stutz. He explained a vision of purchasing the T-shirts. It is by personal order at the T-shirt press at the BYUI bookstore. I really like this because it is not the conventional way that business is organized. Usually many shirts are ordered and manufactured on expected or guesstimated count. This vision of selling shirts does not even require the funds of my sport of Track and Field. The logos of the shirts have not been solidified. I am still waiting for that; then, I will inform everyone interested in the shirts that they are available to be printed.

     The last thing that I have for you is a video that I made from a fun PowerPoint that I made explaining the heating and cooling process of the university and the iCenter.  I hope that you enjoy it as much as enjoyed the variety of humour and fun that I put into the presentation.

     I have been basically working on writing this journal entry this whole week. The time has slowed down a lot this week. Staying up late makes me wake up late and nap in the day. I want to get into a routine of going to sleep early tonight. I wanted to make sure that I caught up on my journal before I move on to other things. I am waiting for my internship administrators to tell me, when I should come up. They told me that they would tell me Monday, but it is Friday today. Trevor and I bought my parents Settlers of Catan for Christmas, and it took us a while to get to play a game. We have played two nights in a row, and I have won both times. The way was basically the same both times, but Jesse Kaupert are coming tomorrow to play a game with his brother and Naomi hopefully. I expect that they will dominate.

"so in the world of today: 2 Jan 2015" by Sam Orr

so in the world of today:
-North and South Korea say they are considering talks.
-To get more Middle Eastern buyers, Harper Collins created a series of maps that exclude Israel entirely.
-20 states will raise the minimum wage
-The CDC is declaring a flu epidemic.
-A sex offender in Idaho was released years after conviction, because his prosecutor quoted ‘Dixie’ in closing arguments (the man is Black).

"so in the world of today: Dec 30, 2014" by Sam Orr

so in the world of today:
China may’ve blocked gmail.
Over 50% more cops were shot in 2014 than in 2013.
A man tried to kill an officer in North Carolina
An officer shot an armed black fella. The department wont reveal the officer’s name.
House minority Whip Scalise spoke at a gathering of the KKK in 2002.
Representative Grimm is resigning after pleading guilty to tax fraud.
The three architects responsible for common core have come forward with fears about the program.
Putin’s main political rival was convicted of fraud. This lead to a protest.

"so in the world of today: 23 Dec 2014" by Sam Orr

so in the world of today:
A federal court struck down NC’s abortion ultrasound law.
Obama is being sued over his immigration order.
The Pope criticized the Vatican.
Sony will be showing ‘the interview’ at select theaters.
A spokesperson for the US state department refused to deny shutting down the North Korean’s internet.
Anti-police protesters crashed a funeral for a slain officer.
The economy has grown at its fastest rate in 11 years.
Fema overpaid flooding victims and now it’s asking people to send the money back.

"So in the world of today: 20 Dec 2014" by Sam Orr

So in the world of today:
Russia spent more than usual in military spending.
North Korea is emphasizing cyber warfare.
Egypt detained nearly 10,000 militants, rioters and protesters this year
Lots of people in NY are upset about an officer getting away with murder.
Two officers in NY were killed by one of the Anti-Cop activists.
Lots of Spaniards protested the new anti-protest laws.

"so in the world of today, 19 Dec 2014" by Sam Orr

so in the world of today:
-The NYC mayor met with protest leaders
-Congress spent 120 million on tanks that the military says it does not need.
-The Hamas are shelling Israel, and Israel is retaliating again.
-A study found that the Secret service needs money and a new director from outside.
-6 tons of radioactive water was accidentally released in Fukushima.
-The US killed 3 important Isis members.
-The Franciscan order is out of money.
-A greenpeace activist vandalized the ancient Nazca lines.

November 26, 2014

     Thanksgiving break has been great so far. Paige showed me her skills of driving in ice and snow. I am still scared of driving in Utah's winter. The unity of Paige, Rachel, Jesse, and I hanging out for this break has been good so far. We cooked and we have not done any other adventures outside yet. Driving in the Ice was stressful enough for Paige, and we had homework to do too.

     Since I am from California, I have no idea what knowledge and skills that Paige employed to get us to arrive safely at the cabin in Bear Lake. The roads were fine until we started driving up into the hills of Bear Lake. It was full of slick ice. Paige's efforts, driving on the ice, is so stressful that she consumes ibuprofen to relax. We had to drive the car today, the 27th of November, because we did not make it to the top. When we stopped, it was funny because we drifted off to the side. It seemed fine because we needed to park anyways. When we hit the side, the most funny part was that we spun 180 degrees perfectly because how slick the road was, and we let the car be parked there.

     Since today is Thursday, the 27th of November, I get to write about our glorious Thanksgiving that we had. We still follow the honor code of BYU Idaho. Last night we went to the other cabin to sleep, and the cabin was barely insulated and it was not heated. In the morning we waited to go back to hang out with Paige and Rachel at 10 AM, which is the earliest that you can visit a girl in their apartment. When we arrived, Rachel was already up cooking, and we cooked all day until Thanksgiving.

     Last night was rough sleep wise because as I said the cabin was barely insulated and it was not heated. I had an odd thick comforter that would only provide insulation, touching me, if I moved it. I told Jesse that it felt like it was floating above me. It was so cold that my bed was only warm on the mattress underneath me, and moving around required re-positioning my rigid comforter. It was a rough night.

     In the morning, I woke up about eight, and the wait to come to the warmth of the other house was slow. I didn't have my scriptures, but they did have some good books. I tried reading Speaker of the Dead again, but I realized that the logic behind studying other intelligent aliens in person is very destructive, which turned me off from the continuing reading the Ender's series. Communing in that cabin was hard because you feel that the floor, outside, the wind, everything is sucking heat out of you. Jesse was reading the Fantastic Mr. Fox book, and I stood listening to him reading it. As I stood, I had to stand in one place to keep my feet comfortable because the floor would suck the heat out of my feet if I moved around.

     One adventure that we went on before we went to visit Paige and Rachel is that we explored a trail that we saw going down into the valley. As we walked it was interesting because we saw animal tracks. It was mainly moose, but there was one random big print. We suspected that it was a wolf, which was a little scary, but we did not really need to worry about it because it was looked like it was on the surface of about four inches of snow frozen; plus, there was only one. It was a little funny because Jesse led the way. Since he had nice boots, I would step in this footsteps in order to not get my shoes wet. When we were walking back, I tried to step in his footstep again, and I stepped on the wolf track.

      When we arrived at the house, Rachel had already baked the rolls. I helped bake a cream of tartar berry pie. We worked well together, seeking a happy peaceful Thanksgiving together. The girls were stressing out, and we had to move the car again as I said before, having the feast soon after.

     Seeing my Turkey when I returned was a little sad because I could not see any meat on him. As we moved him around, he almost ripped in half. I thought that he was pitiful. Everyone else was proud of him though. We also went all out on setting up the table. We were all pleased at how everything was prepared. When we sat down, we felt relief and excited. The spirit of the occasion was interesting. That feeling of relief and excitement sustained itself, and we were all speechless. It felt reverent and sacred.

     Today is now Friday, the 28th. Last night was glorious kind of. I built a fire in the furnace, and it lasted most of the night. I decided to start organizing Track and Field for the Spring of 2015 because guess what! I was chosen to be the Track and Field Coordinator. I spoke with Jessica today, and Paige, Rachel, Jesse, and I went on a hike. Now it's Sunday! We did not do much yesterday. I did engage in communication to cultivate better relations with my older brother. We have only spoken to him a handful of times over the past 4 years or so. This is one of the things that Jessica and I decided to do together because we both have older siblings that are married, which we don't communicate much with. It has been a week since Jessica and I have been dating steadily, and I wrote her a Words of Affirmation letter. I should do that each week. We played games and almost made an igloo.

     The glorious thing about Thursday night was that it was warm, but the thing that made it kind of glorious is that I was sleeping in the highest bed of the cabin. It got really warm; insomuch that, I was uncomfortable, and the thing that made me more uncomfortable was how dark that it was. I thought that the furnace was leaking smoke in the house. I even yelled out my concern in the middle of the night before I realized that the pitch darkness was not smoke. It was a good thing that Jesse didn't wake up, and I slept on the main level for the rest of the vacation. I am surprised of my fear that I discovered. I don't usually claim that I have fears.

     My Track and Field Coordination is off to a good start. People are very supportive. I met Amie Whipple at cross country and the P2B conference. She said that one of her life goals is to be a track coach, so I approached her first about being a coach. She is dating the cross country coach that dominated, and she said that they would like to be a team coaching the middle and long distance events of one team. I chose to create an event with Facebook inviting most everyone that I know at BYUI to the founding meeting of the Cross Country and Track and Field Association  mainly so I can have a good list of all the possible people interested for myself to contact. Alex Galbraith contacted me about being the Track and Field Association President. It seems that he has a lot of ideas. I asked a few people about being leaders in the association, but they did not seem to have as many ideas. We will see when I interview them. I asked Vanessa Vankatwyk for help finding coaches for the throwing events. Although Vanessa is small, she is surprisingly very passionate about throwing. When I was taking BIM in the Spring, I saw in a presentation of the first BIM class' work a throwing facility. I was hoping who would be so passionate about the sport to model such a big facility, and I did not expect to meet the creator. Vanessa was that person. She said that she would coach, but she is graduating before the spring semester. She recommended that I ask you a guy named Jorge Olveiras, but he may be too busy to coach. He is super friendly, but he is already involved with a chess club and Jujitsu. I hope that I am creating a healthy competition in my efforts.

     Oh yeah. I was told that I got the position to be the Track and Field Coordinator in Wednesday on our way up to Bear Lake. The first thing that I did is develop a vision for the season. I did not bother think of a developed vision for the association because I am not running it. The event for founding the association is going to be on Wednesday, and I am going to present my vision to those who come. It is interestingly intertwined with the Track and Field sport. I am having the position of the President of the Association separate from my coordinator position, but we will work together with Brother Stutz to establish coaching standards for the season. I need two team leaders, and the association needs two vice presidents; therefore, the position will be the same. I need the two team leaders to develop team unity for their individual teams, since we are going to have two teams. I am going to have all three members of the presidency play important roles in suggesting coaches, which I choose. Vanessa asked what type of individuals that I am looking for to coach, and this is what my response was. "I want an individual that would try to recruit as many people as possible to be a thrower, having great enthusiasm and passion, a contagious coach." My focus is a combination of developing unity and competition to retain my athletes. I don't expect expertise. I will develop standards for them with the legendary Brother Stutz.

     I like my conversations with Jessica because they are so realistic. There is a special unity that we have. This partially comes because how similar we are to each other. The conversations come naturally, but we are comfortable with silence. She was unable to play with her cousins that much, running around because her knee pains. Guess what! Devin's knees are feeling better! I am excited to start working with him again.

     I am not going to share what I wrote to Jessica because it is for her.

     Last night we wanted to do something because we have been sitting around all day, writing or doing other homework. We decided to make a snow man; however, our decision morphed into making an igloo. We got baking bread pans, and we started making brick walls. I don't have snow boots, so my Converses got soaked and cold after a while. I didn't endure to the end, but a wall fell apart soon after I left. I didn't miss much.

Today is now the 7th of December. This week has been glorious just as every other week. I organized the Track and Field association, and Jessica organized my birthday. It was the most glorious birthday. Usually I have to think of my own birthday party because I don't believe that anyone would put together an actual party for me. These two things sum up my week. Nothing much really happened. Jessica has recovered from her knee pain, and we ran yesterday! We also attended the BYUI Christmas Concert and the Yule Ball.

     I had about 10 people committed to attend the founding meeting of the Track and Field Association. Jessica, Rhett Mullins, Amie Whipple, and Kaleb Martin were the only people who attended. Rhett's commitment made him a trusted candidate to be the president of the association.  Alex Galbraith said about an hour before the meeting that he would be too busy to be the president of the association. Jessica felt awkward at the meeting because she had nothing to contribute. Amie and Kaleb are going to be the long and middle distance coaches for the 6 PM team. Their attendance was great, for they had many great ideas and opinions. I could not find any white board pens around, so I had to purchase some quickly. I wrote up my vision on the white board, so people can follow along easily. My presentation and the audience's participation was great. I don't believe that I missed anything. Tyre Russell was a candidate that I hoped would be a Team Leader, and I am grateful for her willingness and enthusiasm. I interviewed Rhett and Tyre and gave them the position the next day. I was hoping that Cory Hafen would be the second team leader, but he is too slow to coordinate consultation. Jeffrey Wood is an enthusiast of Track and Field. I gave Cory the rest of that day to reply to my request of meeting with him about being a team leader. Since he didn't, I had to network, and see who I can get as a team leader. It was a Friday, and I wanted to get the Team Leaders chosen because I want to print their team shirts by next weekend. Jeff invited his friends to like the Facebook Page, and Valerie Nielson did. I know her from Track and Cross Country. I asked three people to meet with me that day, and I was surprised that all three was willing to meet with me. I met with Amanda Reaser, Irvin Silva, and Valerie Nielson. It was not that hard to choose the second Team Leader because Valerie Nielson caught the vision of the Track and Field Program, coming up with many ideas.

     My birthday was that evening, and Jessica asked me to come to her apartment at 6 PM. I felt so happy for her effort to organize it. It was a great environment. Jessica says that she is not creative, but her birthday party plans were the most original that I have ever seen. She had various friends including herself prepare a part of a four course meal. Jessica prepared a most tasty Tomato Soup. Vanessa Vankatwyk, who is coincidentally Jessica's Sunday School teaching companion and the same person who is really into throwing mentioned above, made us a salad. At that course of the meal, I asked Jessica if she would like to begin a tradition of having one meal a day with each other. It is important in familial relationships to keep current with each other to maintain trust, understanding, relevance, and more. We figured that a family only has about 1000 meals together, when raising a child, if they commit to having it once a week. If we have meals with each other each day, it is multiplied by 7. 7000 meals with a family is not that much. This brings into perspective the precious time that we have to give each other in mortality. We need to give each other our best. Eating breakfast and dinner together would double the amount of meals in a family. 14000 meals is more comforting. Jessica and I often have two meals a day with each other. After salad at Vanessa's apartment, we went to my apartment, where Jesse prepared us the main course. Jesse cooked us grill cheese sandwiches, a family tradition; then, we went to Paige Dexter and Naomi House's apartment for dinner. They tried to make it a surprise, but it was not too surprising. I surprised them more when I popped a balloon on the cake's candles. The occasion's materiality was manifest in the typical confetti, streamers, balloons, blow tools, and another party toy. These things have never been in a birthday party  of mine, so that made is even more special with the coordination of everything. The love of Jessica and my friends that helped prepare everything was felt greatly, and we enjoyed ourselves for desert together. Jeanette was bummed that we forgot to throw the confetti at the surprise, so she decided to throw it at Jessica and I. I got it all in my hair and jacket, tracking it even into the temple yesterday. After enjoying the cake, we decided to play Apples to Apples, having the most joyous time. Jessica and I's unity is special. We matched clothing without even trying these past few days, and the funny thing was that when I judged during the game. A high majority of the time like 8 out of 10 times I chose her card. She seems to have my humor, and Jessica chose my card like half of the time too. It was all coincidental.

      Over the next couple days we enjoyed the Yule Ball and BYU Idaho Christmas Concert. The Yule Ball had an interesting feeling that it was like a country dance. We hung out with a good group of friends, getting plenty of pictures. Some people fell in the dances including Rachel Dunlap. We ate at the Hickory before the ball, and Naomi, Rachel, and Jessica was preparing and getting dressed at Paige's apartment. Jessica looked gorgeous. She told me to come to the apartment at 6:30, so I reserved a table at 6:40, but they were not ready. We didn't get there until 7. We only practiced the dances the Wednesday previous, so we were a little confused. It's all fun though. The BYU Idaho Concert was amazing and very creative. Jessica and I have a good tradition of holding hands whenever appropriate. Jesse had a date, and Rachel came alone. We all sat in different location because we did not coordinate sitting together.

'One Penny' by Isidro Zapata

One Penny
I caught You
I know Right?
Just crazy
You were Strong
Standing Tall
But before the
End Of the Day You would fall
& I Would
Now Stand Tall
When I did
not let you spend
NOT ONE DOLLAR NOT EVEN
one penny
That Day
I Was Showing Both
of U
I was strong
Doing good without
Any Of It From
Either Of You
WHAT I FOUND
OUT ON THAT DAY
that when I thought I
was weak &
going to fall
I had BEEN
The One THAT
had always stood tall
and most of
all strong enough
to love you
& forgive U

November 16, 2014

     This past week was not as big as last week, but an interesting thing happened. It was inspired by my blog. A friend named Tamara Rawson, who I met in my business class, writes for the Scroll, the BYU Idaho Newspaper. Somehow she was so inspired from my blog article that she got everyone excited at the Scroll to write an article about me. I accepted Tamara's request to send a photographer to take pictures of us, when I was working out with Devin Collins. One thing about me that I love about myself is that I think a lot. I had some ideas this week that I hope to practice in the future, which can change the world. I am unsure if I should continue to write the development of my friendship with Jessica. I think that I would regret not recording it, so I will. My grades are getting better! When I am asked how I am doing, I answer "It's getting better; always getting better." I got a 99% on the second half of my Mechanical Systems' midterm and a 80 on my Accounting test! Devin Collins is feeling knee pains, and Jessica is not use to feeling sore. I did a presentation in my Electrical Systems class. I am not your standard student; although, I was unable to prepare a formal presentation. It was instructive. I think that I have enough to write about according to this introduction paragraph. I usually write with the intention to reveal my personality to my posterity. I think that writing about school work is boring, so I am unsure if I will do that.

     On Monday morning I woke up to an email from Tamara, saying that she wants to write an article about my cross country experience. Tamara was in my group of my business class usually, sittin right next to me. We set up an appointment for Tuesday. We spoke about fifty minutes. It felt like a conversation to catch up with an old friend, but she asked about my coaching style and my cross country experience mainly. I did go off of tangents. I think that she invited them though. I told her about a couple of my runners that I would recommend for her to interview. I gave her the phone numbers of five of my athletes, but she was only able to interview Kiana. Since I gave her abundant material to write about, I thought that it would be hard for her to put together an article. Devin Collins did a video interview with me to, and I had him sent her his interview with me. Upon the thought of the difficulty of writing the article, I followed up on Tamara and Kiana on the progress of the article. Tamara said that her article will only be 500 words long. Jesse, my roommate, said that was not much, and Kiana said "Cool! 500 wrds is better than none!" I have both perspectives. It's short, but it's better than none.

     That evening I ran with Devin with Katie taking pictures of us for the article. I asked Katie how she would like us to do the photo-shoot, saying that we usually run for twenty minutes. She said that she would need the twenty minutes to figure out her camera settings, so we went off. I was surprised how happy that we should look in the pictures. Our conversation had me smiling, and we enjoyed every minute of our run. Katie took pictures of us each lap that we ran. She took like 50 photographs. After the run she wanted to take portrait pictures of me, holding my shoes over my shoulder, and she was taking a bunch of pictures of me even when I was taking off my shoes. Posing for her portraits were naturally funny to me, and she did not need to ask me to smile because how awkward she was.

    My ideas have mainly been inspired by my Methods and Materials class because it is more theoretical, and less skill based. On Monday morning, I was reading that the purpose of an exterior wall is to resist the forces of light, wind, water, and pressure, and my idea was why should we resist these elements, when there is a lot of energy that can be harvested. In this same class, one of the first things that we did was watch a documentary on the construction of the new world trade center. It said that the building needs to resist hurricane winds year round. A lot of energy can be harvested from towers. They resist pressures that can blow out or suck out windows. I suspect that these pressures are usually pretty constant. I expect that a device can be placed to resist these pressures and produce electricity or a useful service. My buildings can be self-sustaining producing their own electricity, and the excess energy will need to be sold. I can make a utility company. You can harvest energy from the elements that building resist. Another idea that I have can from an explanation that insulation in an old house usually should not be replaced because there is moisture and condensation that is formed when there is a difference in air temperature from the inside and outside. The humidity coming from the inside of the house to the outside cold condensates in the wall. If you replace the oftentime insulation-less old house exterior walls, condensation is formed in the wall insulation, which can be very messy. This idea can produce water, which would be nice for drought land like California. My physics teacher said that there are lands which are deemed infertile because there is too much salt in the soil, and the fertility of the land can be restored if pure water is used to wash the salts out of the land. These were my ideas.

      Jessica and I have been keeping up developing our friendship. On Monday we were planning to run, but her gym shirt was dirty. She refuses to wear her dirty gym shirt as most guys usually use a singular gym shirt multiple times a week

     We went on a walk instead. I thought that the school had a program where one can rent a gym shirt, so we checked out that option. The school quit renting gym clothes though. I think that we got dinner too. We thought that our accounting classes were covering the same topics, so I helped her study the next morning. The textbook for her class is not good. We figured out some of her confusions. Mostly it was terminology that had very similar definitions, and when we tried the homework, the definitions were broader than what we thought that it was. On Wednesday we got to running. We ran a lap, and we decided that I should teach her running form. She is a solid runner, not jogging slow; although, she has to stop to rest every five minutes. I told her to be careful if her calves get tight because that causes shin splints. We make sure to stretch our calves. I didn't do it with her at first because I rarely stretch; however, doing an activity properly is easier with someone, so we decided to do it together. On Friday we went on a walk, and she asked if we can lessen the amount of time that we run because her legs were so sore. She also asked what would happen if she quit after one day. I said that it would get worse because your body will think that activity is just a one-time thing, taking its time to recover, and she would get more sore for a greater extent of time. If she kept running, her body would recognize that running is going to be a regular thing, healing the muscles faster and reducing the pain. She said walking to classes were very painful, but her body has already gotten used to the routine, not being sore.

     On Friday evening we were going to planning to go to a formal event called Opera Scenes with the gang with Rachel, Paige, Jesse, and Nephi. I decided that I wanted to get a haircut to prepare for the formal event that night, so I asked Jessica if she can meet up after our accounting classes. I thought that we had our accounting classes at the same time because we have a class at the same time in the Smith Building. My thoughts were not correct though; however, we did meet up after the class. When she came, she looked at me as if I had a glorious spontaneous adventure to be found. I just imagined that I was going to walk her to her next study session or class, and I could get some of her haircut preferences or ideas. As we walked, we didn't seem to have a decided course until she asked where the hair salon was. My haircut seemed to be the glorious spontaneous adventure. I showed her around town as we made our way to the salon. We checked out the movies at the cheap theater and went straight to the destination afterwards. I really liked my barber and my haircut. The barber had 46 years of experience, and I let her be creative as I usually do, since Jessica didn't have any suggestions. She didn't ask any other questions for my preferences other than how long that I would like it. I liked that. I think that Jessica likes me because she thought that it was funny whenever the barber sprayed my hair with water because I had to squint and wink. The barber sprayed my face. I think that only someone interested in me would notice that, thinking that it was cute. Afterwards we went to have brunch, and we studied together until she had a study session. I like that we have a mature productive relationship, where we have the temperance to study next to each other without chatting too much.

     Opera Scenes was amazing. Jessica and I are looking for to the full on opera in the Spring. I told her the day before that she needed to let me pay for our dinner when we went out to dinner because I think that she likes to be independent. I already said before that she usually paid for herself. I don't feel like writing about the show. It was weird to get used to the subtitles. The expression of and in the singers showed the opera scene well. I don’t like the intense stories, and how the actors have to inflict those situations on themselves. I wonder if there are effects on the body, mind, and spirit for acting such terrible circumstances.

     Today is now Thursday. I sorrowfully have to write that both Jessica and Devin are enduring knee pains. I must be doing something wrong. Yesterday I interviewed for the track and field coordinator position. The article about me came out in the Scroll on Tuesday, but it is not on the website yet. I successfully wired my first circuit on my electrical systems class. My internship opportunity with RJ Enterprises has been approved by the school today, which is November 20, 2014. I have been hanging out with Jessica every day this week, and she doesn't mind. I am racing the turkey trot this Saturday, and she said that she wants to watch me. I need to win the turkey for Thanksgiving.

     Late last week, Devin said the pain of his injury has been maintaining itself over the weekend, and I endured the sorrow of witnessing Jessica develop an enduring injury similar to Devin. She felt a pain developing on the insides of below her knees, saying that she felt that shin splints may be causing her knees to bend inward. I asked more about how it felt, and she said that it felt tight like a muscle. That confused me because there is little muscle on the inside section below the knee. I asked which way does it hurt when she moves her leg, and she said that it hurts when she pulls her leg back with her hamstring. We decided to stretch our calves, hamstring, and quadriceps. As we did that Jessica expressed that she wants to finish her run of that day. After stretching, we attempted to run again, but the pain changed to a bruise feeling, and she did not jog for longer than ten yards.

     My interview for the position of being the Track and Field coordinator went great. It was pretty simple because all we did is review my plans, which I made with Brother Stutz with the director. I was surprised by Brother Stutz' decision at the end of the interview because he spoke to the director committing him to quick decisions concerning the coordinator of Track and Field. The director said that he would like two weeks to decide, but Brother Stutz asked me if having December fifth until the end of the semester to do what I wanted was enough time. I said that it was not enough time because it would only give me a couple weeks to round everyone up, organize a Track and Field and Cross Country Association, and start choosing coaches. My surprise was that Brother Stutz committed the director to make a decision by this coming Tuesday, working with my schedule and plans for the next Track and Field Season.

     Check out the first circuit that I successfully wired. It is a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI), protecting a couple other outlets. Last Friday I completed a few more circuits for my lab class, and the only mistakes that I had were instructions on what to do on things that I did not know about like what do you do with the grounding wire in the box, which is plastic, and the light fixture does not require grounding. I wanted to practice grounding a metal box, but I could not figure out how to use the attaching thingumabob, so he showed me how to do that too.

     I got an email, approving that I can enroll in the winter semester for an internship, and I went to confirm with the school if RJ Enterprise has completed the master agreement form. They did! I need to figure out some things know for my winter stay in Heber City, Utah now.

     Saturday was a big day in my life. I was hanging out with Paige and the gang, and I asked her  to "Guess what I did today."

     She answered "You won the turkey."

     I replied. "Yes, but I asked Jessica if she would like to date steadily again." She was so excited for that she texted Rachel, and Rachel asked me about the great news. She already knew it, so I didn't tell her that we are dating steadily. I did tell her the story though. I will tell the complete story at this time. We watched Interstellar, which is an amazing film. I insisted somewhat on walking home in the daylight because I wanted a good environment to ask her, if she wanted to date steadily again. I planned to walk home on the shortcut path, which is more scenic and private than the rest of town; although, there is no lights, so I didn't want to walk home in the night on that trail. When we walked home on that path, it started hailing on us, and I learned from the flood of last semester that it is better to hide from the hail than to endure it on the travel. We found a spot to hide next to a bridge. I actually came to like that the hail was in our occasion because the path was completely covered with hail, making it a solid pure white scene. When the hailed slowed up and we started walking again, I knew that the time was coming. The time came when our conversation slowed up.

    I said "When we walked home on this path, I was planning of asking if you would like to date steadily again."

     Jessica said "Sure."

     My reply was "Cool." I thought up a good conversation afterwards to have a good start to our relationship, and I didn't think of how I will reply to her approval of us dating steadily.

     I decided to set everything straightforward. I asked "What do you understand is the purpose of dating steadily?" She did not have a definite purpose. I said that a friend from my old YSA branch taught me that the purpose of dating steadily is to see that if the relationship is good enough to make marriage workout. I told her that I have never kissed anyone and that I want the most happy, fruitful, and mature relationship with her. There are a lot of immature couples here. I also said that when we are steady dating, it is time to set the habits of a fruitful marriage and figure everything out. It is too late if you begin to figure these things out when you are engaged. We decided to talk about the things that are most important to us the next day and how we are ensure that we establish them in our relationship. That conversation went well.

Things Most Important to Jessica and I

     There is a program that I downloaded that I was introduced to in an education class, which helped us organize the conversation. We read the chastity part of For Strength of Youth pamphlet and spoke of the law of Chastity misconceptions that we see in most relationships at Brigham Young University - Idaho. There are so many immature relationships. We always hold hands when we walk around especially when it is slippery from ice.

     When we walked over a slick section of the sidewalk, Jessica slipped, and she lost her phone. After we searched for it that night, we trusted that humanity would return it to the Lost and Found. I sent a message to the phone for whoever retrieved it to contact me. The phone was returned, and I was contacted to inform Jessica where it was at. In the evening Jessica informed me that her phone was switched by her mother to only connect to iPhones via text and calling. I didn't think that her parents would oppose us dating steadily, but they did. We spoke about it today. They think that she has not dated enough to know who she wants to marry. Their opposition to us dating is messing with my head. I hope that they don't resist us dating too long.

     The article about me, winning the turkey trot, was expected to come out today by the journalist (November 25, 2014). John Combs, who got fourth in the Cross Country Championship Race, asked me before we ran the 5K, if I have any friends, joining me. I said that I didn't because I want to limit the competition, since I need to win the turkey. It was cold, and the track was covered with slush and wet. I didn't want my shoes to be wet, and I found that the astro-turf did not get my shoes wet; therefore, I ran my warm up around the field. The race started about 9:15, which I was not used to. The coordinator had everyone come at 9:00. Usually races start at the time that we meet, so I arrived more than 20 minutes early. I warmed up running more laps than usual, since it was starting late. The race was the same as the past two years, but it went backwards. We unconventionally ran two warm up laps as part of the race. I, of course, did not see it as a warm up. I used it to check out the competition, and get a good placement therein. There was not much competition. There were only two people running in front, which is the most ideal location to be behind. After running 700 meters, and the competition slowed down. I knew that getting the lead position this early will basically guarantee my win because it is really hard to catch the leading person from a distance. When I was about half way up the hill, I saw a confusing scene. Runners from a turkey trot race was running very fast in the opposite direction of me. When I passed them, I realized that I should not worry that I ran the wrong way because their bid numbers looked different than ours. Having two races running in opposite directions was not hard for me to adapt to; although, John Combs said that the cones showing the path did not make sense to him. He stood for a minute confused. It was at a point where the runners had to run a sharp turn left into a parking lot, 180°, and run back to the main road. When I ran that part there was a guy about 50 meters behind me. I learned never to look back in a race, so I pressed forward until the finish. I was grateful that the guy never caught me. I won the turkey! Tamara, who wrote the article about me, received me at the finish line. Jessica didn't make it because 9 AM was too early. The first thing that Tamara asked was "Have you ever thought of being a famous runner because you are famous here?" She mentioned how I am always in the paper and they are interested in writing about me. I think that it is just her. I just wanted to get my turkey, and go do yoga with Jessica. I needed to get the Turkey because Jesse, Paige, Rachel, and I are having Thanksgiving at Bear Lake, and my role was to provide the turkey.

     As we did yoga I was happy that she said that her legs didn't hurt, but today, the 25th of November a few days later, she said that her knee pains are getting worse, hoping that it won't interfere with her job opportunity, when she goes home. I seem to have come full circle. After yoga we had lunch at Togo's and watched Interstellar.

    

     

Edited out tangents: I am so minimalistic that last time that I was asked to take pictures, it was spontaneously for a classmate from last semester during Halloween as we visited a pumpkin patch. I only took one really good picture, and the family of my classmate was impressed. It looked like a good family photo.

"Happy Thanksgiving!!!! :)" by Sister Koroitamana

Heya Love!
Transfers was this past week and my new companion is Sister Tanton. She is great and she has really red hair hahaha:) She has been out about  9 months and she is slowly loving being a Sister Training Leader. I know it's taking a lot out of her and I know that sometimes she feels scared. I can honestly say that I know how she feels. Right now I am working on just loving her more and helping her to become her fullest potential. I miss Sister Matheson and all her craziness and our great times but I know and feel that Heavenly Father called Sister Tanton here for a reason. I guess I am learning to involve her more especially as teach. I really want us to teach equally and not have to feel like I'm the one doing the talking all the time. That's really the last thing I want to be. We've really been working on that and yesterday I fasted so that I could know how to help her and involve her more. I was in church and as we listened I felt like Heavenly Father really just wants me to love her as Christ would. So I will work on that. 

This week we also continued to teach the Paguyo Family. They are doing so well. Christina is having a little of a hard time giving up coffee and she doesn't really see why Coffee and Tea are a part of that. We've been praying really hard to know how to help her! please pray for her. On Friday night we were on Exchanges and as I went to bed that night I was thinking alot! about Christina and how we could help her. I felt prompted to share the Restoration again with her and especially pointing out the role of Prophets and how they can receive revelation for our needs. I also felt to encourage her and teach how to receive her own revelation from God of this through the Book of Mormon. I quickly got out of bed that night and wrote this down because knowing me I would surely forget the next morning. ( I realized that most of my promptings usually come when I'm all comfortable in bed- I think Heavenly Father is testing me to see if I value his promptings enough to get up and write it down hahaha:) So Lately I've decided to keep a promptings Journal by my bed. I'm happy to say that It's helped alot!

On Saturday we went with the Paguyo Family to the Visitors Centre and Mama it was so incredible to see them feel the spirit there and just loved being there. As soon as they drove onto the temple grounds Petey (who's 9) immediately recognized that things were different here. He told us he just felt so peaceful and it was all nice quiet compared to all the noise he's used to in his neighborhood. Christina (Petey's Mom) shared how she felt like even on the Temple grounds it felt like it was a whole other world away from the Busyness in Los Angeles. I just wanted to cry and my heart was so filled with Joy and comfort as they expressed how they felt even before touring the Visitors Centre. Oh the funniest thing happened as well. As we were in front of the Christus Christina shared how earlier that day they were all in a store and Austin (who's 5) told the lady at the store that God was his Father :) then he pointed to Christina and said that she was his Mom and then he pointed  to  Pete (his Father) and said that Pete wasn't really his real Father because Heavenly Father was his Father :) 
we all just laughed as we heard this and it was sooo amazing to me how he was taking in the things that we'd shared with his family. Christina definitely helped him clear that up. At the Visitor's Centre I really felt like it was the most inspired tour we've ever had. I loved the spirit we all felt there and Christina and Pete committed to really read and pray about the Book of Mormon to help them get their own answers from God. Mama I love their family so much! As we went to the room where it showed God's Plan for Families it was soo special to watch the video about this family living the Gospel then it was even more special to see the Paguyo family learning and taking those steps to live the Gospel. We shared something we liked about the person sitting on our right and Austin mentioned that he loved that his Mom prayed with him:) The Gospel is sooo Cool! The next they had other commitments to go to so Christina mentioned that they might not be able to come to church that Sunday! I prayed so much on Saturday to know how to help them choose to follow God first. We woke Sunday Morning and really just promised them blessings of Peace that Heavenly Father has for them if they choose to come to church. ( I am learning that if we really do love someone we will ask them to do hard things because that's the only way they will grow - Oh it's soo hard for me to ask people to do this and make these changes because I know that it's hard sometimes, but it really does bring me alot of comfort and love to know that Heavenly Father really loves them and wants to bless them and the only way that they can truly be happy and feel that fulfilling Joy is through following Jesus Christ and making changes to come closer to him) That day they all chose to come to church! I was really grateful and in awe at the love Heavenly Father has for them and the love that they all have for him.

I Love you Heaps!!!!

Sister Koroitamana:)