Conclusion!!!!

At the beginning of the semester when Sister Steadman told us that we would be keeping a blog, my first thought was: "ugggh!"  I am someone who really doesn't enjoy a lot of social media things.  I do have a facebook but it is mostly so I can write messages to people that I met on my mission in Germany.  It is much easier to stay in contact through internet then it is writing letters and such.
But after a while of these blogs, I didn't really view them as being such a burden.  Instead I began to view them as being almost a journal where I get to tell stories and write about things important to me.
           It wasn't always the thing that I remembered to do, I usually found other things to do before updating my blog, but I did really enjoy seeing what experiences other people in my class had.  That was probably my favorite thing.  While in class you don't hear about certain stories or feelings that a lot of these classmates have had in their lives.  That is what I really enjoyed was being able to read what others have experienced.
          I must honestly say I really came to enjoy this class more than I thought I would.  My fiance took a writing 150 class last year and she seemed to always be so busy with it and stressed out by it.  But for me that hasn't really been the case.  I enjoyed most, not all, but most of the projects we had in the class a lot more than I thought I would.  I am grateful for the time I got to have with it and for everything I learned!!

Christmas!!!!

This is by far the warmest december I remember having before in my life.  This entire first week it felt like it did last year in the beginning of october.  I heard on the news last night that yesterday was a record breaking warm day which is very interesting cause on that exact day one year ago, it was a record breaking cold day.  It was almost as if its trying to balance itself out.
In spite of the weird warm weather, I am still so excited for Christmas.  it is truly my favorite time of the year.  I basically started looking forward to it back in July to be honest.  I am also excited to spend christmas not only with my family this year, but also with my fiances family.
I was with them last year and we had a huge rock band party and it was awesome!!  I really want to cherish this christmas and the next few weeks because I will be leaving for 5 months on January 13th for the Air Force.

I am grateful for what I have learned this semester and for the different classes I have been able to take!! It has truly been a huge blessing.  i will be taking summer classes when I get back but until then I get to embark on this new journey in my life.

American Airman!

I briefly touched on it once before, but a couple months ago, with the support of my fiance and family, I joined the United STates Air Force.  I have been going to drills the weekends they have been held and gradually been learning and preparing myself before I leave for basic training.  It has pretty much been basic training, for basic training.
My job that I will be doing is I will be a hydraulics specialist.  So I will basically learn to master the workings of the aircraft from top to bottom.  I am someone who really likes to do hands on things so I am really excited for this opportunity.  It is a  six year enlistement and basically during that time after my training and what not I will work one weekend a month and that is about it.  And by doing that, I get all of school paid for plus get paid a good amount just to go to school.
I will be leaving for basic training right after the winter semester begins.  I will be leaving January 13th and be in basic training for 8 1/2 weeks.  From there I will then go to tech school where I will learn my job and I will be there for about 12 weeks, so five months altogether.  I get back June 2nd and in the meantime my fiance will be doing study abroad in Italy and she will get back a week after me.  We will then have about a month and a half or so to prepare for the wedding and will probably get married either July 31st or the first few days of August! I am super excited for this next chapter in my life!!!

How I met my fiance

This isn't the most usual way of meeting your fiance that I've ever heard of....
When I was a senior in high school there was this girl that I totally developed a crush on.  I got her phone number from one of our mutual friends and one day I called her and asked her on a date.  After that she completely played hard to get and was impossible to get a hold of.  It absolutely drove me insane.  But every now and then she would text me or something and ask to do something.  I left on my mission not long after this... I'm sure you are assuming that the girl I just talked about is my fiance.....well guess again..... my fiance is actually this girls little sister!! hahahahah plot twist!!!

yep I was on my mission and didn't ever really hear from my fiances sister, aka the way I met my fiance.  So I got home and came to see that she had gotten married and just kinda dated other girls for about a year.  Well it turns out her little sister, my fiance, comes to BYU and we would always see each other on campus and say hi and stuff.  Well one day we talked and got lunch together.  After that I decided I wanted to ask her on a date so I did, although I had no idea how potentially awkward it could be... It was all up in the air and I was super nervous.... So we went on the date and I had a blast and I was completely head over heels for Amanda aka my fiance aka the younger sister of my original crush and we began going out a lot.
I was so worried amandas sister was going to be so weirded out by the situation, but it turns out she loved it!  Luckily I never kissed her when I had a crush on her, or else that could be potentially much more awkward.  It's a total blessing now that her older sister was the way she was with me because I saw her and the family enough to get to know them, including amanda my fiance, but also wasn't around her enough to make any moves or anything because she intimidated me too much haha but now I get along awesome with her sister and her sisters husband and we visit them all the time and they are some of my closest friends!! so everything worked out just great!!!

Songs about me!!!

I love country music.  Absolutely love it.  Most of my friends however are not big fans of it.  Neither is most of my family.  That is why it is so funny to me that I love it as much as I do.  I didn't really grow up listening to a lot of it.  Some John Denver here and there but he's not even country, he's folk.
But somehow that twangy, weird, stereotypical genre of music completely sucked me in when I was about 10 years old after getting a hold of my uncles old garth brooks cd.  I absolutely loved every song on it and would listen to it before going to school almost every day.
If there was one country singer that I've really come to love more than all others, it would probably be Brad Paisley.  Maybe its because I'm a hopeless romantic and he has the best love songs, or maybe its because I love the guitar and he was voted the 79th best guitar player of all time by this guitar magazine.  He was I think one of two country singers on the whole list, maybe even the only one.  Country somehow just had/has a way of being completely relatable to me.  I love the messages, the sound, the lyrics, just everything about it.  But I don't only love country music.  I actually have a very broad taste in music and pretty much love everything.  Country, Rap, Rock, Alternative, Disney, etc.  I listen to it all!

That old german language

I was lucky enough to serve my mission in Berlin Germany.  It was truly the best 2 years for my life!!! It was simply amazing and I had such a blast doing it!  Right from the beginning I was so determined to master the german language.  This was because in my MTC district, I was the one who had the least amount of experience with German.  

So I studied the language intensively.  Every free second I had I was studying the language.  Whenever I got the chance on a bus, train, bathroom, wherever I was studying the grammar or trying to memorize new vocabulary words.  Because quite frankly I was horrified when I first got to the country.  I didn't understand anything that was being said and my trainer wasn't the most talkative person I had ever met in my life.  At first it was like I was running into a brick wall with the language.  I think Mark Twain said it best about the german language: "Surely there is not another language that is so slipshod and systemless, and so slippery and elusive to the grasp. One is washed about in it, hither and thither, in the most helpless way; and when at last he thinks he has captured a rule which offers firm ground to take a rest on amid the general rage and turmoil of the ten parts of speech, he turns over the page and reads, "Let the pupil make careful note of the following exceptions." He runs his eye down and finds that there are more exceptions to the rule than instances of it. So overboard he goes again, to hunt for another Ararat and find another quicksand. Such has been, and continues to be, my experience. Every time I think I have got one of these four confusing "cases" where I am master of it, a seemingly insignificant preposition intrudes itself into my sentence, clothed with an awful and unsuspected power, and crumbles the ground from under me. For instance, my book inquires after a certain bird -- (it is always inquiring after things which are of no sort of consequence to anybody): "Where is the bird?" Now the answer to this question -- according to the book -- is that the bird is waiting in the blacksmith shop on account of the rain. Of course no bird would do that, but then you must stick to the book. Very well, I begin to cipher out the German for that answer. I begin at the wrong end, necessarily, for that is the German idea. I say to myself, "Regen (rain) is masculine -- or maybe it is feminine -- or possibly neuter -- it is too much trouble to look now. Therefore, it is either der (the) Regen, or die (the) Regen, or das (the) Regen, according to which gender it may turn out to be when I look. In the interest of science, I will cipher it out on the hypothesis that it is masculine. Very well -- then the rain is der Regen, if it is simply in the quiescent state of being mentioned, without enlargement or discussion -- Nominative case; but if this rain is lying around, in a kind of a general way on the ground, it is then definitely located, it is doing something -- that is, resting (which is one of the German grammar's ideas of doing something), and this throws the rain into the Dative case, and makes it dem Regen. However, this rain is not resting, but is doing something actively, -- it is falling -- to interfere with the bird, likely -- and this indicates movement, which has the effect of sliding it into the Accusative case and changing dem Regen into den Regen." Having completed the grammatical horoscope of this matter, I answer up confidently and state in German that the bird is staying in the blacksmith shop "wegen (on account of) den Regen." Then the teacher lets me softly down with the remark that whenever the word "wegen" drops into a sentence, it always throws that subject into the Genitive case, regardless of consequences -- and that therefore this bird stayed in the blacksmith shop "wegen des Regens." 

This is just a small excerpt of an entire piece he wrote on the subject of german. haha luckily I came to become fluent in it after about 7 months of intensive studying and now I absolutely love it!!!

Come what may and love it

Come what may and love it
This talk is honestly one that changed my life.  It was given by Elder Wirthlin a couple conferences before he passed away.  In this talk he spoke of different principles that all of us should adapt into our lives that will help us be happier.  One of my favorite things that he said was that we must learn to laugh.  He then goes on to say, "Have you ever encountered a driver, that when you make a mistake, reacts as though you've insulted his family, his honour, his dog, and his ancestors all the way back to Adam?"
President Wirthlin was just such a happy guy who was so easy to get a long with and relate to.  In this same talk he also tells a story of his daughter.  She was waiting for a blind date and soon a man came to the door.  He seemed somewhat old but she didn't want to be impolite, so she introduced him to her parents and then walked outside and got in his car.  After a few minutes she came running back inside bright red in the face because she came to realize that he had come to pick up another daughter to be his babysitter.  President Wirthlin then said that when the actual date came, he couldn't even go out to meet him because he was still in the kitchen laughing too hard.
I personally feel that is something we as members can improve on, or at least me.  I seem to take things pretty seriously sometimes and find myself getting stressed for stupid reasons.  That's why I love this talk so much.  Learning to laugh was just one example, he gave plenty of them and that is why its a talk that has stuck with me all of my life.  He really knew how to convey they message to me and made it personal.

Disneyland, is it the happiest place on earth?

      Last summer I went to Disneyland for the first time in 19 years.  I was beyond excited and so ready to ride all of these rides that I was too small to go on when I went there as a 4 year old.  I was there with a couple buddies and we were just having an awesome summer vacation trip in california.
        We went to several beaches and what not and then the 3rd day that we were there we went to Disneyland.It was great, don't get me wrong, but honestly I don't know if I will ever go back unless I have some crazy awesome incentive to go back or unless someone else pays for me.

I say this because it cost $140 for a 1 day pass for disneyland and california adventure.
        I was more than willing to pay it however and we proceeded to go on rides and what not.  The beginning of the day was awesome.  No lines really at all for any ride and I loved it!  But around 11 o clock, it was as if every person from china, mexico, and europe decided to go to Disneyland that day.  We waited in lines for probably 6 1/2 hours of the other 8 hours that we were there after they arrived.  It was absolutely awful.
As the day went on I gradually got more and more of a sour taste in my mouth.  Like I said being there was awesome and I'm glad we did it.  But at the same time, I kinda hate lots of people being crammed together in a small place haha

Agency, don't mess it up!!!

         So right before my mission, a few friends and I decided it sounded like fun to go offroading on the other side of Utah Lake.  Although we did this plenty of times, this time was different due to a significant contributing factor... There was an insane lightning storm overhead and it was pouring.  For most people this would be enough for them to use their common sense and decide to postpone such plans.
       We however were not ready to allow a little storm like this to ruin our plans.  We drove out there in my Jeep cherokee I had at the time.  We made it up a giant hill without any problem and it was even beginning to quite raining so much.  At this point it was just mostly windy and there was some lightning every now and then.  As we got to the top of this giant hill and i peered down at the windy bend that was before us, I almost remember literally hearing a voice saying, "do not go."  But, me being a dumb 19 year old out for an adrenaline rush, I proceeded to press the gas and we started our we down the other side of this mountain.                  Right as we came around a corner, maybe 100 yards from the top, we got high centered when trying to avoid some debri in the road.  So it was 1230 at night, we were out of cell phone range, and it was me with 4 girls.  To put it lightly.... I was screwed.
        We then prayed more than I think I had every prayed up to that point in my life.  We tried everything I could think of to get it loose but just couldn't come up with any results.  In the midst of all of this, my engine started smoking profusely.  So I began getting super frustrated and my friend suggested we say one more prayer.
        We did so and then basically out of frustration I hopped in the drivers seat not expecting anything to have changed and I floored it.  Almost as if my car lifted off the ground I was suddenly out of the ditch and we were able to make it back home after being stuck for a couple hours.  I am grateful for Heavenly Father helping us that night.
          But, because of my stupidity, of course there were consequences that came of that.  Let's just say, my jeep had major problems after that and my mom had to sell it just a couple weeks after I left on my mission.  ALWAYS LISTEN TO THE STILL SMALL VOICE SO YOU DON'T BREAK YOUR PRECIOUS JEEP!!!!

inappropriate times to laugh= best laughs

          The other night I was in the library.  My fiance and I were doing homework and right now the library is open till 2 instead of midnight like normal.  As it reached around 1 am or so, we were gradually coming to a close on that round of homework.  There were roughly 8 or 9 other people there.  Then one of those moments that isn't funny unless you were there happened.
           A kid was sitting to my left a couple computers down and was apparently watching something on the internet.  Like I said it was now 1 am and everyone there was surely getting ready for projects to turn in or finals.  But as it was dead quiet this kid started to laugh so loud.  It wasn't just a laugh like haha and then it was done.  It was more like a HAHAHAHAJHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAKHD;LAFHSKHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHSL;AFHSA;LDKHFA;LDSKJF;ASLDKFJA;SD.KJF;ALKSDJFWQIOEPUOIJSZLKAHQH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
           He was laughing so incredibly hard and it didn't seem to phase him even a little bit that he was in the middle of the library.  Instead, amidst the quiet students sitting around him, he proceeded to laugh uncontrollably.  After a few seconds I felt so awkward at the situation that I too began to laugh super hard.  It made it even funnier because it was a situation where I shouldn't be laughing.
           That's always how it happens.  Whether its someone falling down, farting in church or whatever.  Situations are so much funnier when it is inappropriate to laugh.  But they make great memories.

Eli's Episode

             It was a day just like any other.  My companion and I were out walking around just visiting some old contacts when we got a phone call from an American.  Being in Germany, this didn't happen much unless it was a fellow missionary.  However this time was a man wanting to meet with us.  He knew where the institute building was and we all agreed on meeting there.
                 We went and waited for him.  After a few minutes he arrived and was an older chubbier guy with longer hair.  Almost seemed to have a hippy look about him.  We proceeded to begin the lesson and before we could get five words out, he went off.  Not in anger or anything like that, but he would not stop talking.  No matter how much he talked and tried to explain what he wanted, we had no idea.  He was speaking english.  But in spite of that, it was as if he was speaking Arabic.
                So naturally, because he wouldn't stop talking no matter how much we tried to intervene, we began to drift off mentally.  After about 45 minutes of this something caught our attention.  Eli made a loud exhale and flung his head back while staring at the ceiling, his head then dropped forward and he sat there motionless.  We were absolutely stunned.  We had no idea if this man just talked himself to death and gave up the ghost or what.  But that is certainly what it sounded like.  My companion and I glanced at each other in shock and then proceeded to say, "Eli?"
                He then snapped out of it after about 10 seconds of sitting like that and asked for a glass of water.  I got him one and after he drank it up he proceeded with, "ok, so are you guys in??"  Completely confused my companion and I looked at each other having no idea what he had been talking about this whole time and also what he was now talking about.
              Following this my companion reluctantly said, "So what do you want from us exactly?"  Eli completely exploded.  He started yelling and screaming and cursed us and then left with us sitting there completely stunned.  I will never forget that experience haha

Thanksgiving

This thanksgiving was definitely one worth remembering.  Since my fiancé and I are both from American fork, that means holidays will be more simple, but at the same time the opposite is true.
To start out the day I played in two turkey bowls and only minor injuries such as bloody noses, bruises, and hurt pride were a part of these games this year.  Usually someone breaks a bone or gets a concussion.                    However this year was pretty tame and that was actually appreciated by most.
My fiancé and I then drove to Salt Lake City and had a dinner there with my stepfamily.  Following an hour of that we drove straight back for dinner on another side of my family.  Lastly we went to her house and once again had dinner.
            In the span of 3 hours, we had 3 turkey dinners.  Upon eating and finally relaxing I went into her garage and weighed myself.  I think I ate about 9lbs in food throughout that day because I was 9lbs more than I was the last time I weighed myself a week ago at the gym! But it was a great day and was so worth it.  However I don't think the 3 dinner thanksgivings are gonna be a common occurrence from now on.
            I'm sure we will find a way of dividing  among years so that it's not so hectic.  But it was good for her to meet so much more of my family, since I have about 60 cousins just on one side. Now on to the last 2 weeks before Christmas!!

Herr Bachman's pistol

“Elder run!”  It is as if everything is moving in slow motion as I hear the screeching of my companions chair across the cold hardwood floor. He is running for the door.     

Amidst this slow motion and frantic fear, I say to myself, “is this really happening?” Suddenly the previous events of the day begin playing in my mind that have been leading up to this moment. 

During companionship study Elder Bangerter, my new trainee, says, “I think we should work in Lichtenstein today.”  At this point I stepped off the plane in Berlin about six months ago and still feel like a new, unprepared missionary.  Although I am the trainer, this suggestion is greatly appreciated.  “That’s not a bad idea Elder,” I reply.  “It’s been a while since we have worked there, we have multiple contacts we can visit.”

Thankfully, we have a car in this particular area where we are serving.  Driving on the skinny, cobblestone layered streets is perhaps one of my favorite things to experience when not teaching.   We begin the thirty minute drive to the small town of Lichtenstein and I can’t help but appreciate and gaze upon the beautiful, blooming, yellow and green hills that surround us.  I think to myself, “this is the best mission in the world.” 

While attempting to visit our different contacts, Elder Bangerter persistently asks new questions regarding the German language.  “How do you say ‘I would like to have’ or ‘I traveled to South America’.” Questions such as these constantly break any potential silence.  I am however fully appreciative of every question.  Particularly because it shows me how my studying and learning of the German language has significantly progressed from six months ago. 

“Ok, here is the apartment of Herr Bachman, a man we talked to a few months ago, maybe he has some time,” I say.  We ring the bell and wait on the doorstep.  Lichtenstein is located in what used to be East Germany, so the building in front of which we are standing is the epitome of a typical DDR building.  Paint peeling, concrete crumbling, cobwebs everywhere.  All of these buildings are very similar.  If they were destroyed in World War II, they have all been rebuilt by Communist Russia.  That means they are big, grey, concrete buildings that have multiple, mediocre sized apartments. 

But of course, many of these buildings have not been updated or anything.  This means that since the Berlin Wall has come down, many of these buildings, especially in small towns like this one, have been neglected for the growth and improvement of new buildings.

While we are standing there, Elder Bangerter says, “Oh my gosh! Elder do you smell that?” In that instant I too inhale the smell of what can only be described as a combination of beer, urine, throw-up, and body odor.  We quickly turn our heads and see Herr Bachman about 30 yards down the road, walking in our direction.  “That’s Herr Bachman,” I say.  I almost have an impulse to walk away very quickly before he notices us in his drunken state due to my low tolerance for horrible smells.  But my companion, being the great missionary he is, shows greater resistance to this temptation than me.  “Hello Herr Bachman, we were hoping to see you.”  He says, or actually attempts to say. Herr Bachman smells and looks as if he has been sleeping in beer for three days.  “Hello boys!  I wasn’t expecting you.  Come upstairs to my apartment and we can talk.” 

On any other occasion, I would immediately accept this invitation to teach a lesson seeing how this doesn’t happen a lot.  But before I can think of any excuse not to follow the drunken, smelly, uncoordinated man upstairs, we have already been ushered into the stairwell.  “Come on up and have some beer or coffee,” he says.  This is a typical invitation in Germany. While climbing the steep, creaky stairs, Herr Bachman asks, “So you are Americans?”  “Yes,” we reply.  “I hate America,” is his response.  As missionaries however, we are not supposed to discuss politics or anything of that nature and therefore don’t respond.  He is absolutely plastered anyway. We assume he will forget that whole topic by the time we reach the top of the stairs. 

Before I know it, we are sitting at his table, in a surprisingly clean and organized apartment. Aside from what appears to be thousands of empty beer bottles on the floor in what I assume is his bedroom. After small talk we begin our discussion. 

“How do you feel about God?”  We ask.  “I don’t know.”  He mumbles.  “I grew up atheist and don’t know anything about religion or God.”  After getting into a discussion that I’m sure he only understands 13% of due to his drunken state, we introduce The Book of Mormon. “This book comes from God,” Elder Bangerter says, “he has spoken to us through prophets and this book can help you find faith.”  I am gradually becoming more and more satisfied with this lesson.

Suddenly, as if a timer goes off in Herr Bachman’s head, he quickly stands up and makes his way to his bedroom.  Elder Bangerter leans over to me and whispers, “What is he doing?”  My first response is, “probably getting a beer.”  Suddenly Herr Bachman emerges from his room, and his making his way back towards us. 

            “Elder run!” screams Elder Bangerter as he is now sprinting for the door.  I feel my heart racing as a realize Herr Bachman did not come out with a beer.  Running his thumb slowly across the handle, it occurs to me that Herr Bachman is holding a pistol.  Here we are with a drunk, grumpy, America-hating German who is stumbling toward me with a pistol waving around that as far as I’m concerned, could go off at any moment. 

            In spite of this chaos that has erupted in the last three seconds, I remain calm. I slowly stand up and make my way towards Herr Bachman who at this point is a few feet between me, and the hallway where the exit is located.  As I approach him, I realize that he is on the verge of tipping over at any moment.  His eyes are red and his head tilted.  The closer I get, the more I realize why I was so repulsed by him when were at the outside door.  I slowly lift up my hand and simply ask, “can I see the gun?”  Almost as if he didn’t realize he was even holding a gun, he looks down and sees a shiny, silver, 9mm hand gun glistening in his hand.  Without hesitation he lifts it up and sets it in my hand.  I quickly remove the clip and round from the chamber.  I then sit down with Herr Bachman, explain to him that we have to be somewhere and say goodbye. 

            “Elder Bangerter? Where are you?”  I say as I make my way down the stairs.  I then think to myself, “this is going to make an awesome story come Monday when we do emails!”  “What took you so long?!” Elder Bangerter exclaims from outside the door as I emerge from the cold, dark, concrete building.  “Elder, from now on, I’m going to be the one who sits closest to the door,” I reply.  

Dating is the worst best thing

          In august I made a decision that would change my life.  I proposed to the girl of my dreams after dating for about 11 months.  Sounds pretty typical for an RM at BYU.  For us, however, the situation is a lot less typical than you would think.  I met her back in highschool.  She was actually three years younger than me.  The reason I met her, and it's funny/weird/crazy to think now, is cause I had a huge crush on her older sister who was in my grade and we would go on dates.

            This sister got married while I was on my mission, so after getting back I dated around and had almost forgot about this girls family.  But after being home for a year and beginning school at BYU, I began seeing my fiance, Amanda, all over campus.  We would stop and talk sometimes and what not, but not much more than that.  Then one day we kinda randomly got lunch together and after that I asked her on a date.  My life has not been the same since.  Best decision EVER.

              Up to that point of coming to BYU, I must say I was definitely done with dating for a while.  It just seemed so much more than I bargained for here.  I once heard a statistic that 10% of the girls at BYU get asked out by 90% of the guys.  I thought this was pretty amusing because it seems true.  I had roommates who were always frustrated with trying to progress in relationships with girls in our singles ward.  But they were not the only ones, it seemed that everyone of both sexes was getting fed up with dating. haha That's when I took a break from even thinking about it and then that's when I ran into Amanda for lunch that one day.  Moral of the story, don't worry about dating so much! It'll happen when it happens and when the time is right!

Family history I am doing it

I just turned in my family research paper and it feels so good to finally have done!  Mrs. Steadman has told us that is the hardest and longest paper that we will do this semester.  Although it was not my favorite thing in the world to do, I am grateful for the experience.  I can especially say that now that it is done.  It took a good amount of time to do.  My topic surrounded smoking and how tobacco companies succeed in getting new customers in spite of all the well known knowledge of the dangers of tobacco.  I did this because a few people in my immediate family smoke and quite frankly their stupidity amazes me at times.

It took me a while to really decide what I wanted to even write about, but once I was able to make up my mind it seemed to click rather quickly.  I think my least favorite part was getting all of the sources gathered up and putting them in order correctly on the works cited page.  That was BY FAR my least favorite part, although I do understand why it is so important to do it that way.  But that could be because I waited till the last minute to get all of that info finally gathered up for that.  All of the sources.

I really did enjoy going into a deeper meaning of the topic of my paper.  It helped me see some of the statistics regarding children of people who smoke and what not.  It was honestly a very interesting topic that I could find myself getting more and more intrigued by.  Something else that came to be of great interest for me was how the amount of smokers is decreasing drastically in the United States.  The anti-smoking ads seem to be having an effect.

For me the hard part wasn't necessarily finding a good thesis for my topic.  But rather expounding on my thesis for 9-10 pages was the difficult part.  All in all it ended up being an enjoyable experience and I feel pretty good about my result.  It took a lot of work and analyzing, but it ended up being a paper that I learned a lot from.

Come listen to the prophets voice

Unfortunately, I was not able to listen to many of the live sessions this last week during General Conference. I am in the Air National Guard, and this last weekend we had training all day on saturday and sunday.  But I was able to watch the Priesthood Session live, where I was able to hear one of my favorite talks given in recent memory.
              Dieter F. Uchtdorf gave a talk entitled, "Lord, is it I?"
In the talk President Uchtdorf tells the story of The Last Supper and how during this the Lord says one of the people present will soon betray him.  Instead of looking around for the person to put the blame on, they were exceedingly sorrowful and looked into their own hearts and asked the Lord, "Lord, is it I?"
Throughout the talk, President Uchtdorf uses several examples showing how so many people have such a distorted view of how they actually are.  Many times the successful see themselves as being better than they are while at the same time not giving others enough credit.  In his own words, "when we start believing that our contributions at home, at work, and at church are greater than they actually are, we blind ourselves to blessings and opportunities to improve ourselves in significant and profound ways."
          This talk really struck home with me, because I constantly am comparing myself to my friends and other people and there are times where I almost look down on my friends because they make choices that I don't agree with.  In reality, I should be concerned with where I am spiritually, because heaven knows I have a lot of improving to do.  
             This talk really makes me desire and strive to set aside pride and instead strive to constantly improve myself.  He gives a promise for those of us who look in ourselves and are constantly striving to improve.  "Those who want to improve and progress, those who learn of the Savior and desire to be like Him, those who humble themselves as a little child and seek to bring their thoughts and actions into harmony with our Father in Heaven—they will experience the miracle of the Savior’s Atonement. They will surely feel God’s resplendent Spirit. They will taste the indescribable joy that is the fruit of a meek and humble heart. They will be blessed with the desire and discipline to become true disciples of Jesus Christ."

Indian blood

I have been given the assignment, along with the rest of my class, of finding a story or event from my family history and writing a research paper about it.  There is one particular story that I always enjoy telling/ hearing about.  I don't remember all of the details surrounding the story but basically I have Native American blood in my family and from my understanding, it comes from my Healey side.  I am extremely curious how this story happened and how it came to be that a Native American woman came into my family however long ago that it was.
 From my understanding she was Cherokee, but I have never really asked any of my family on that side how it came to be.  So I intend on researching that story and what that changed for my family as well me.


Caleb:
I like this idea. It's always fun to find that your ancestors had traditions that you had never heard of before. I can't think of a more fascinating attempt of discovering more of your ancestry than of researching an ancestral culture so different from your own.

Hey me too! Supposedly. No one really knows if its true or not though. I live right next to a reservation and the Natives actually have a huge impact on the culture of the whole town. I would try researching Cherokee cultures and seeing what aspects from their culture could have been brought into your family.

You could also look into the history of the Cherokee tribe. See what happened to them through out history. Were they mis-treated?? 

It's not terribly clear as to what you are researching.  I'm not sure what your thesis is.  Is it about the Cherokee's or specifically about your grandmother's story?  Both of which I think will make an excellent paper.  I think it's a very interesting topic and you're clearly interested in it.

I have Native American blood too. My great something great grandparents were Cherokee. My grandfather's name was Chief Chicken Warrup. Weird right? My dad's really into it. I could probably get you some background if you need help! -katie vincent

College and its glory weeks

     So after a crazy week of three tests and this rhetorical analysis being due, I am glad to say that I at least have finished the rhetorical analysis.  The tests are still a work in progress.  :) This paper wasn't too stressful though. I feel that one of the things that definitely helped me the most was using the packet and the examples within it.
     Something else which I feel like really helped is that I feel like I definitely made it less stressful on myself by spreading the writing out over a couple days and not trying to bust it all out in one sitting which is what my tactic has been pretty much my entire life. haha
      I would write a paragraph or a sentence and reread it to make sure it made sense because I feel things sometimes make a little more sense in my mind and are a little more confusing when I try to explain it and write it down.
      I did enjoy some aspects of this assignment.  For example the speech given by President Kennedy which I focused on, was interesting to read and understand because its not the most popular speech but for LDS members it was pretty significant at the time because he spoke in the Mormon Tabernacle.  But at the same time there were many parts of this speech that ended up being somewhat difficult to show enthusiasm or interest in because it focused mostly on globalization and why America should do it.  Not that that's a bad topic or anything, it just was not the most interesting paper I have ever used for my topic when writing my own paper.
      I did not use the skim method that was discussed in class, so if I were to do this again, I would probably implement that in some way.

compound fracture makes a heck of a story

Its funny that we now have the opportunity to write about a family story.  While watching the BYU game tonight I was reminded of one that will probably be told for the rest of my life!

       About 6 years ago, my family and I were down in Moab for one of my sisters races.  The day before the race we were all hiking and climbing around on double arch and my older brother was climbing up a rock wall.  After getting about forty feet up, he came to a spot where he couldn't figure out how to get out of it.  Before my other brother could give him directions on where to possibly place his feet, the sandstone gave way and he fell about 40 feet.  I was standing at the bottom as he hit and when he did he was knocked out cold and breathing very heavily and loudly making freaky noises while doing so.  His eyes were also rolled back.  I thought he was basically about to die.
        My other brother from whom I spoke about earlier is a paramedic, so he went to work immediately on my brother.  It was then that I noticed all the blood and looked down and saw his ankle was completely snapped with the bone sticking straight out.  He gradually came to and started grunting and yelling in pain.  It took about 3 hours for life flight to get to us and he was then flown to Colorado to the hospital in Grand Junction.
        He made a full recovery and was back to doing dumb things in no time.  It was definitely a race that we will always remember.  

WElcome to the 21st century of social networking

I can now be a part of the "blogging" world and I am curious how it's gonna be.... I'm just gonna wing it...

Elder Bednar has super inspiring talks!!
I am currently in a Writing 150 class in which my professor asked us to read and post about his talk, "Things as they really are."  He also gives a talk with the title "to Sweep the Earth as a Flood"  in reference to using social media to spread uplifting messages about the gospel.
       I can personally say that I thoroughly enjoy getting on Facebook and seeing new mormon messages or other short clips that I have not yet seen before!!  That's basically the whole reason I still have Facebook in the first place, cause there are multiple uplifting messages and videos that I have not seen before!!!
       His talk "Things as they really are" really hit home with me because I have personally felt the desire lately to spend more time "gaming" and less time planning my wedding with my fiancé.  That sounds evil, but for those of you who have planned a wedding you know the pain...
      But like I said it really helped me to put things in perspective and really couldn't have come at a better time.  What can be done to see things as they really are?  I feel for every person it is different, but I guess the phrase "all things in moderation" totally applies here.