Monday, June 30, 2014

first week of the new Transfer

hello everyone. well we've had a pretty good week we have two new investigators. the first is Pola she is from Mexico, she lives with a member and she took her to church one day and she liked the classes more than sacrament meeting, well because that day was fast and testimony meeting and she didn't enjoy it because she affirms the same conviction for her church being true. It didn't make much sense to her in that manner. Anyway she only goes to church when she is in Mexico, she is of some branch of Christianity. We think since we are Christian too she should come to our church because it is closer. However, she likes to go visit her family on the weekends since she works all day 5 times a week as a maid for the member., even though it means that she is slowly distancing herself from God. We taught her the restoration and it was great except she went off on a lot of tangents, but we didn't want to interrupt her, and tried the best we could to relate it to what we wanted her to understand like Joseph smith being a Prophet and how much God loves us that he will give us a guide in these days as in the days of old and asked her to meditate on that that knowledge can mean to her in her life. Since we know that reading and gaining a testimony of the truthfulness of The Book of Mormon to be the word of God is essential in knowing if everything else about the church is also true, we tried to have her know what it is and how it can help her in her life. She doesn't want to read anything else but the bible, and believes we "praise" Joseph Smith even after we explained that he was only an instrument in the lords hands to bring His  complete church back on earth. We decided that our next lesson would be to show her how the Bible and The Book of Mormon work together, and also answer her list of questions so we can research them together. It'll be fun we are excited :D They are both really sweet ladies they even gave us fresh eggs from their chickens and offered to show us how to cook tamales and homemade flour tortillas!!! yum

we also did service for the Muniz family wow they are splendid!! her here are some pictures

we taught a women named Beatriz she is a sweet sweet lady about late fifties. we went over to visit her and she told  us to come in so we came in and she told us to wait, so we were in the living room waiting awkwardly while she was being shown a presentation from a Cutco Rep in her kitchen. I took a peek to see who she was talking to. at first I didn't know it was for kitchen knives I thought she was buying a  weapon and planning a savage murder attack, so I thought this lady is probable a psycho and what have we gotten ourselves into?! but then after waiting and waiting some more I asked my companion if we should leave, she told me perhaps so I asked sister how long will you take, would you like us to come back a different day? she said yes I will probably be done in about 45minutes,so yes come back a different day please. weird right? if I didn't ask her she would've just had us waiting, haha people are so funny. so we went back a different day and did a get to know you /how to begin teaching. She loves Mormons because one time she was invited to go to a baptism and everybody went out of their way to introduce themselves to her and we so friendly, she said that that is the way we all need to love one another. She lost a 24 year old son and so we told her how this message will fill her with hope. she seems happier when we left, she said she will get baptized only if she gets a confirmation that it is true. Hurrah for Israel!! 

then we got feed a feast for break fast conchas( Mexican sweet bread) and pizza and tortas aka big Mexican grilled sandwhiches,,, so yum!

Happy 4th of July Week!!!

Heya Love! 

How was your week? How's your family? How are YOU!?

This week I have been doing a lot of reflecting. One night we went to try and visit some investigators and when we got there we sang for them and in return their Son Eli started playing the guitar and singing for us. Oh Man he sang Bob Marley's "Is this Love?" song and it was so good!!!! Oh I was so amazed at his talent but at the same time I caught myself not being as worried about the fact that we weren't suppose to be listening to worldly music like that. Oh it was sooo hard. I was really surprised at how hard that was for me. Even after we got home I kept thinking about it and how easy it was for me to get carried away with that song and completely lose focus on why I'm here.That was such a scary experience for me. Even though I was praying so hard to not think about that song it seemed like nothing was helping and it was hard because part of me wanted to entertain that song in my mind. I shared this with my companion and she kind of helped. During this whole experience I realized one thing. I realized my need for a continual spiritual nourishment to help me have the strength to continue on and not give in. I thought about a less active family we are trying to help get to the Temple. Their Dad Brother Tuiaana really wants his family to be there and so he's been trying to quit smoking and prepare to enter the Temple. He's been doing so good cutting down; but he mentioned how weak he feels when he's not smoking because his body still wants it.This experience helped me to realize how hard it was for him to not give in. I fasted to be able to overcome this weakness and something I've learnt is really to pray always. I realized that I couldn't do it on my own and I needed my Savior. I know that he lives and his love is real. I have come to rely on him so much. I've come to learn that  I really just gotta give my all to him and trust him and follow him. I definitely want to share this with Brother Tuiaana and his family.

Besides all of that news this week has been great. We found a couple of new investigators this week. Some of them live in a half way house (a house where the state helps to pay for people recovering from addictions to live in) we are teaching a lady named Debra who lives there and on Saturday we went by to teach her and found out that she had gone to the ER the night before and no ones' heard from her. We spoke with one of the room mates who helps run the place his name is Robert. While talking with Robert we learnt that he too was a recovering addict and is trying to change his life and find peace. We shared about the Atonement with him and he was willing to learn more and have us come back to teach him!!! (that was Miracle #1) We invited him to church and organized a member ride for him. The next day we went by to see if he was still up for church  but we came by and he wasn't home. His Roomies told us he had gone down the alley. We decided to go see and while walking back we met him with a friend walking back home ( Miracle #2) Robert said something else came up so he couldn't come so we decided to ask his friend if he wanted to come? His Friend Sammy said he was looking for some peace in his life so he said yes he'd come!!!! ( Miracle#3) Our member came to pick Sammy up and when we got to church we learnt that Sammy had brought another Roommate with him- Nicky!!! (Miracle#4) They stayed for all of church and loved it!!! This week has been filled with so many great miracles. I know that Heavenly Father truly has hastened his work!

Lots of Love!!!

Nadi

Friday, June 27, 2014

The Parable of the Feast!

*This parable was not of my own thinking, perhaps one day you will hear one of my parables, but today is not that day.

I'm trying to teach as Christ did.
Hey Reader, so not a lot of time today and I felt guilty for being late twice so I wanted to leave you with a quick parable that a member once told me that I thought was funny, clever, and well... Just read it. 

A certain man traveled far and fasted for many days and many nights in a far away land to better serve the Lord. At the end of his mighty fast, he found himself famished, and he, being in the wilderness, headed back to his home.

Along the way and being close to home, he met with a certain woman and he being hungered, asked the woman of her bread and water. She gave him of her own and the man, being filled, went along his way. As he arrived to his home, the man discovered the town had prepared a great feast for him in his honor, but he, being filled of bread and water, could not partake.

"You're gonna make me do this biblically aren't you...?" Please...? "Sigh... What meaneth these things which you speak...?"

Well, my beloved reader, it means to never settle with what first comes our way, especially if it's not as good as we would like it. In life, we will have to wait for many a day and night and we will be eager to partake of the first thing that comes our way. But, we being faithful, have much better things waiting for us than a simple meal of bread and water. If we do what is right, and wait the full amount of time, we will find that our feast will be waiting for us where we are supposed to be. 

Beware of Pricing: The Decoy Strategy

The Decoy Price Strategy is presenting in an advertisement three options, and two are the same price; however, one of the two similarly priced products is inferior. The product that is inferior and has an equal price is the decoy. Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist, did a study on an advertisement by the economist newspaper. They offered selling subscriptions for its online website for fifty-nine dollars; however, the other two options were 125 dollars for both online article access and the printed newspaper, or the printed newspaper alone. Dan found in his sample survey that sixteen percent would choose the online subscription, and the rest would choose the online and printed subscription. The decoy can be seen as the printed newspaper, since no one chose that option. Dan did the survey a second time without the decoy, finding that the online subscription would be prefered sixty-eight percent of the time. The decoy pricing strategy is clearly more profitable because the majority chose the more costly subscription price. The third option lets people ponder a more informed decision; however, the effect can be skewed to the hope of the corporation. I am pondering, showing the Apple website and their prices of the iPhone in our in class presentation. They showed three products, and I am surprised that they do not display the iPhone 5 with the iPhone 5s and 5c. Apple chose to show the iPhone 4s instead of the iPhone. There were many options for the comparison of the three products, but the pricing tells us what offer is the decoy, and what product that they are trying to sell. The two products that were the same price hinted me at that. The simplest option for the 5s had only 16 gigabytes of memory and a price of 199 dollars. I could tell that the 32G iPhone 5c is the decoy because it cost the same, and it looked a lot worse than the 5s. Appearance is important to the decoy pricing strategy. I was also surprised that they had a buy now button that did not indicate any specific one of the three, which can reveal the product that they plan to sell the most, and my suspicion was right. The 16G iPhone 5s was displayed first on the buy now link. This is one of many pricing strategies.


























Thursday, June 26, 2014

Postamorphosis

"I'm a beautiful butterfly!!!"
-Heimlich, you know, from 'A Bug's Life'

Take a good long look dear reader... That... was me about a year and a half ago... "Gross... Mustaches aren't really your thing huh?" Well, once upon a time I thought so...

Enjoy this gem while it lasts...
I guess in retrospect or hindsight or whatever you wish to call it, it was a bad idea, but hey, I thought I looked good. At least the mustache. I looked fantastic with beautiful long black locks but that's a story for another day. "Do I even want to know...?" Yeah, probably not. Well, there's a lot you can tell from the pictur- focus, keep reading... Okay, NOW look at it. There's a lot you can tell from the picture like- "That you can't grow facial hair to save your life?" Okay... I get it... It was bad... "Was it Halloween cause it looks like you're wearing those skeleton sleeve things." No, I'm actually that skinny, but that's neither here nor there.  

"So I don't get it. A while back, you told me you were a missionary or whatnot, but that's not what I imagined a missionary would look like. In fact, if someone who looked like that knocked on my door, I would probably laugh at his pathetic facial hair and then close the door." That was uncalled for...  But that's exactly right, I mean, if I saw someone who looked like that, and I did look like that so I know how it looks, I would be kind of freaked too, but that's where the whole change thing comes in play.

Everything I described in one neat picture!
So in the story of A Bug's Life, we have Heimlich whose quote is right up there, and who's likeness I share in no way, shape or form. It's mostly the fact that he's a caterpillar and I'm not. Kind of like in Lion King when Raffiki's all like, "It mean's you're a baboon, and I'm not." "Neither here nor there?" No it's sort of here, but not quite there... So Heimlich as previously stated, is a caterpillar who just can't wait to become a "beautiful butterfly." He's also German for some reason, oh and he eats a lot but if there's one thing I learned from the book, 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar,' It's that they eat a lot. "So where does the whole change thing come into play?" Oh right, so much like every other caterpillar, Heimlich can't wait to become a butterfly cause, well, It beats being a caterpillar and then, at the very end, after being in his cocoon for an indiscernible amount of time, he emerges. Of course it's a kid's movie so he looks pretty much the same but with tiny wings but he's happy so that's important right? "Ehh..." Well, much like in the movie, in real life, becoming a butterfly is important to a caterpillar's life. It's the end goal, but it's not easy, it requires for it to completely change everything about it and there's no going back but it's for the best and therefore, it undergoes a metamorphosis. 

So where does that mind-numbing picture of me come in? "That's a great question, but let me guess, it's neither here nor there?" Actually it's up there. C'mon reader, keep up! "Sigh..." So, rewind a year and half ago and we meet Elder Lopez, pre-Elder, but because I haven't heard my first name in awhile and it sounds weird to me now, we'll refer to me as, Elder Lopez. So year and a half ago I worked at Subway doing tons of Awesome! things with Awesome! people which included, dressing up as a giant sub and dancing in a street corner to attract customers, and no, that's not an expression. Maybe one day you'll see the spectacle that was, Subman, but not today. So there I was being Awesome! looking gnarly and working with not very much desire to go on a mission. As you could tell, I already didn't look the part and I was on my way to Assistant Manager which was a pretty big deal for me cause not only did I have a job, but I was good at it and was climbing up the ladder. But, one day, I received an answer that I should go on a mission which kinda shook my world, so I had to take the necessary steps in order to make that monumental leap.

Now Pause.

So here I am, doing my own thing with the freedom I wanted, and I had to give it all up. Sure i didn't have A LOT, but what I DID have, I valued. "So why'd you give it all up?" Well, dear reader, short answer is that I love God more than I loved anything I had. Yeah, it was a major sacrifice, and yeah I miss some of it but there is never a day that passes that I regret making that decision cause I know that not only was my decision the right one, but it was the decision that God needed me to make. So much like in the scene from 'V for Vendetta', I shaved my head, (and yes, much like Natalie Portman in that movie I wept for the loss of my long beautiful hair) brought a razor to that awful sliver of hair I called my mustache, figured I'd shower for once (that one's a joke, I always shower...) and donned a suit and before you know it, this was how I ended up. Look how happy I look!

What can I say? I clean up well.
Okay... You can stop looking...
In the end, much like Heimlich, well I guess unlike Heimlich, I changed everything to fulfill such a sacred call and like a beautiful butterfly, it ended for the best, but my story isn't an unusual one, it's an Awesome! one, but not an unusual one. For a similar story, click here!
You're still looking at the first picture aren't you...? "I just can't keep my eyes off it... Can I put it in my wallet?" No... 

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Transfer News and Some Fun in the Sun!


 You will never guess what President called me to do! I just got training a missionary for three months, now Sister Baros is off to train herself and becoming a sister training leader, oh I'm so proud of my baby! that same day she also had a heat flash and was so thirsty but she only had to go to the bathroom tons of times and still l couldn't quench her thirst, then I had her lay down and put some peppermint on her and another sister put her wrists in ice cold water, then we asked her if she was ok but she started crying, haha I remember that feeling you just sort of get a bit delusional and have emotional waves, but don't worry this happened a bit before she got her new assignments. then president told me that I would be training a new missionary as well, crazy. Im excited tho, although I wanted to be with an experienced missionary but I also see the benefits from training, especially to continue to put into extra practice all the awesome stuff ive learned with my last with a fresh new moldable companion. Plus I know this is a sacred trust from the Lord, he knew that I would do my best and that I will help her become a powerful missionary, which then will be beneficial to the whole mission because we all influence on each other and learn from one another, I know that as I do my best just as I did with Hermana baros they will become great leaders and be great examples of humility and love for others. The lord has so much in mind for me, I cant wait to see the trails that await us these next few transfers, because although they are hard and at times not pleasing they are learned from and we are more converted as we rely on the saviors teachings.


hello my friends these are some pictures of the last sisterhood night with all my house mates, the really gorgeous one is sister Garrett, I also trained her.





Monday, June 23, 2014

Hello Beautiful!

Can you believe it's the almost the last week of June already?!?! AH! Time is flying so fast!!!! How are you holding up? 

This week was a good week it was long but I am slowly but surely improving (I think) on being more open with my companion. It's definitely getting better. I am learning so much about working together and relying on each other. I've come to realize that I love being independent and not having to rely on other people. I was fasting this week so that Heavenly Father would help me to know how I can help our companionship grow closer together and become more successful. I learnt alot during and after my fast. As I was reading through our Missionary handbook I desired to become a more Christlike companion I guess I never really looked at being a senior companion as a leader but as I reread the handbook and pondered upon it. I learnt this: 
"Successful missionary work and appropriate missionary conduct begin in the companionship under the leadership of the senior companion.The assignment to serve as a leader is a sacred trust from the Lord through the mission president, and both the president and the Lord will receive an accounting ofthis responsibility"
I realized that I had a responsibility to be a good example and influence on my companion. The Lord and President Weidman trust me to be her companion. I guess I never really considered being a senior companion being much of a leader. I'm glad I was led and guided to learn this. I then was reading an ensign article and came across an Article titled "Christlike Leadership" WOW! I was in awe at how well Heavenly Father knows me and is eager to help me. I love all that I am learning. One thing I loved was how the Savior allowed his disciples the opportunity to grow as they were learning. He never just did the work for them but he allowed them to learn for themselves. He was totally selfless. I want to be like that.

Last week we also fasted with our Investigator Thomas. He and his wife (who he's not married to yet) are having some problems and so we offered to fast with them. We really didn't know how else we could've helped them but I am so glad to know that this is the Lord's work and we don't have to figure it all out on our own. Thomas has such great desires to come closer to God and change and it just makes him so sad that Victoria (he's wife to be) is not quite on the same page yet. For Father's day their kids were drinking and he was so sad and angry too that his wife allowed them to do that! Oh please pray for them. After we fasted we were so amazed at how Thomas was dedicated to reading his Book of Mormon. We shared scriptures with and it just blew my mind to see how the spirit was able to help him apply the scriptures to his life. I love the Book of Mormon!!!! What a great Miracle. On Sunday we texted them and didn't really get a response. Then while we were sitting in church Thomas, and Victoria and their grand baby walked in.They came to church!!!! That was such a great Blessing!!! We didn't even need to ask them. I love the Spirit:)

We recently just had a training and President Weidman promised that if we applied all that we had just learnt we would be able to find more people to teach and reach our 20 conversations goal. We have been doing our best to apply that and last Saturday we went out of our apartment and in my heart I remembered Elder Ballard's talk that we as missionaries should go out with the Faith in our hearts that we will find people to teach and help them on their way back to their Heavenly Father. I loved that promise. That Day we worked really hard and I could so tell that the both of us were doing all we can to make sure we worthy of the Spirit's companionship. We found 4 new investigators that day. That was a Miracle and a blessing!!! We were both so grateful. 

Have a great one, Friends! 

I love you!!!
Sister Koroitamana

Sunday, June 22, 2014

June 22, 2014

     This week was mellow. We did not do anything this weekend. The Track and Field finals is next week, and I finally took control of my training, running about thirty miles. I only ran four days of the week because I have been a workaholic the past couple days. I never been a workaholic. I am going to have to learn a time balancing act of the never-ending work of an artist and the people in our lives. I would work diligently as I was hanging out with my friends, watching the world cup or playing video games. After writing about track and my workaholic experience, I will write about interest group efforts of this past week.
     Track has been disappointing. I went to the meet yesterday, preparing to run the 5K, and they were setting up for the steeplechase again. I thought that they would be alternating each week the 5K and steeplechase. I did not even stay around to watch my teammates run. They didn't offer the two mile race that I was aiming to accomplish goals in, and they don't even race the event that I have compromised my goals to be. I am pondering not running during the final meet. My competition has been weak all semester, usually having only one runner chasing me.
     I would like to share pictures of the tenant improvement that I designed. My teacher and teacher's aide were disregarding this assignment as one just to learn the program of REVIT, but learning design skills are important for architects. I am going to work proudly on my first official design project in BYUI, not letting my instructors to limit my effort on it. A tenant improvement is a temporary interior development for business owners to work in a building that is not completely constructed. It is also known as a TI. I originally planned to have the glass second half of the interior partition wall to be curved inward at the top, making the executive and the staff office like a dome. I was hoping that the parabolic shape of the glass would trap in more natural like from the outside in the building. The teacher aide said that task is too advanced for me at this time with all the due dates. It's not time now to learn it. I did make the glass curve with my curved walls, but I don't think that the glass is actually curved. It is just straight glass aligned with the curved walls according to angles. I don't have any lights in it yet because the reflected ceiling plan is due Wednesday, and I need to submit the floor plan, TI call out, and a door schedule on Monday. Those chairs are stretched because of the view. They are not actually benches. When I visited the Big D Signature office, they boasted a very open office, so the associates in the building can relate more easily. I made the walls completely glass framed with mullion between the executive office and conference room; and the staff office and the general office. Big D found transparency beneficial. I could have the mullion walls be completely retractable instead of permanent, but I have not figured that out yet. It would give the executive more room in his office. This is the view to the conference room from the executive office. The executive office is packed with two bookshelves, a credenza, a settee, two side chairs, a desk and executive chair. I am having the couch and chairs face each other as well as a monitor mounted on the wall for a display of visual aid tools and development. Space is so cramped that the executive has a student desk. I imagine that he will have the latest technology, so his desk is optional. He can use a tablet or wireless keyboard to access the monitor. When I was looking up monitors or TVs, I was surprised to find a forty-thousand dollar TV with a 85" screen from Samsung. I never imagined such a product before. 

     Group efforts has been interesting this week. My week ended bad because a due date surprised us. We needed to come up with 40 resources for a career research project. We failed at that, and we rushed an assignment, getting a bad grade in our lab. The lab for my Construction 120 class went well though. We had to construct a small set of stairs. Efficiency was a goal, and we did it intelligently. I took some pictures. There were candid photographs, so they are not taken well. I even stood on the stairs. Another experience that I had in a group setting that was interesting is an activity from FHE. It was part of a school assignment for the FHE group leader. We had two decks of cards, and one was set in a pattern on a table in the next room by the group leader. We had to work as a team to duplicate the pattern in another room. The group leader gave each person one of two roles. One was a team member, and the other was saboteur. Each person had about a minute to go to the table to memorize the pattern, and they would guide the group to organizing the cards when they returned. People in the group were able to vote members of the team out for being saboteur. During the activity, each member went up, and I could detect that no one had ill-motives. Members on the team insisted that a saboteur existed among us; although, we did realize that it is possible that no one may be a saboteur. A roommate decided that he could not trust anyone. The slightest odd behavior rose suspicion. Since I am not a normal person, odd teamwork skills brought me under damnation; although, I was not a saboteur. I was voted out so fast that I did not even realize it until they skipped over my turn to lead the crew with what I saw. Two other girls voted out a guy, but it was for fun. They conspired against him before we even were given roles. I thought that my roommate could be a saboteur because he was breeding distrust and leading the crew, but I realized that he would have to be an amazing actor. Unless ill-motives were obvious in people's actions, I was not going to judge anyone as a saboteur. It ended up that no one was a saboteur. I feel that this can be applied to people with trust issues and inferiority complexes. I had an inferiority complex when I returned from my mission. I felt like no one was really my friend, and they were either good friends or trying to avoid me and get me out of their lives. This illustrates that people can act in ways that may confuse a person, but that individual should not assume anything; unless, he is blatantly, trying to misuse you or some other ill-motive. I also learned that my input may not be presented in a way that people understand is good. When we were building the stairs, I repeatedly suggested that we need to subtract the header board width from the stair length by asking "Aren't we supposed to cut the header board width from the top stair?" They disregarded it though until the teacher instructed us to cut out that width. My suggestions in the saboteur card game were not understood/respected. I expect that it is because I have learning disabilities, and I don't work the same as normal people.








Thursday, June 19, 2014

Post-o Libre!

"Underneath the robe you find a man. Underneath the man you find his nucleus."
-Ignacio "Nacho" 

I've been looking for every comparison and reason in the book to be able to talk about this movie and I finally found one. "You really wanted to do this one didn't you?" Oh you
"Say that to my face."
-Nacho
 have no clue. Besides Sponge-bob, this is one of my most quoted movies. "That's... quite frankly kind of sad..." I'll let Nacho tell you what I think about that (See pictu- "Yea, I get it..." How'd you get in here?) Now pride is quite the stumbling block in everyday life. It gets me time after time AFTER time again... And then some... You'd think I'd learn and then, nope. Taught another lesson. But sometimes, it's not only pride that gets you, it's the attitude of why you do certain things. Attitude determines a lot, you'd be really surprised. "I always am..." I'll take that as a good thing...






Some people have rougher starts than others...
So Nacho Libre follows Ignacio or Nacho as he's known around the small village of... Somewhere in Mexico... He's a monk who's not really content with his role of chef for a convent/orphanage he lives in. Even as a small child, he's had dreams and aspirations of being the world's greatest Luchador. "I personally wanted to be an Astronaut." Huh... I didn't know that about you. Anyway, one day, he decides he's tired of being kicked around and mistreated and with the help of Steven "Esqueleto", they become the dynamic duo known as.... Nacho Libre, and Esqueleto! Nacho justifies his doing this by saying it's for the orphanage, and at first it is. Despite losing because they are beyond awful, they still make money because Lucha Libre is a lucrative business apparently. By using this money, Nacho DOES in fact buy better food for the orphanage, but after first making sure he has a lot of nice new clothes and the stuffs. So like with many things in life for many of us, Nacho is doing it for the right reason, but with the wrong attitude. 

Appearance is half the battle
So why is attitude important? I mean, if you're doing good things, who cares why you're doing it? "Cause it's all about the 'tude?" Well, yes... I mean, I guess that's an answer. But to be more clear, if you're gonna cook someone a meal, what's better, half of a turkey sandwich? Or an actual cooked meal? "What's with you and sandwiches...?" I worked at Subway, give me a break, some of it stuck. Just answer the question... "The one with all the effort. But that makes no sense, I've seen the movie, Nacho tried his hardest to win, there was in fact effort involved." Outdeed there was, but if someone cooked you that meal while complaining the ENTIRE time, all you would do is feel like you're being a burden. In all, you wouldn't feel good. That's the difference. 


So Nacho sucked because he was fighting for the praise of the world... And he also kinda sucked, but in the end, when it really counted, he let Jesus take the wheel and fought not for praise but for the ones he loved.
There comes that crucial moment in all our lives where we take a stand and fight for what we thought was right. For NACHOOOOO, it was that moment when he had a boot to the neck, going one on one with his idol, who he realized was kinda a jerk. It was at that time, when the orphans were coming in that he realized who he was fighting for. As a popular hymn goes, 

             Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
                 Now is the time to show.
                    We ask it fearlessly:
                       Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
                          We wage no common war,
                             Cope with no common foe.
                               The enemy's awake;
                                  Who's on the Lord's side? Who?



So as Nacho learned, it's time to fight the good fight against an enemy who isn't gonna go easy on us and will stop at nothing to make us stay down. Sometimes we'll win some, other times, we'll find a boot to our neck, but we always have to remember who it is we're fighting for and with what attitude. If we're fighting for the praise of other people and for our own personal pride, I can guarantee you we're not only gonna fail, but we're gonna fail hard. Joshua puts it a very nicely. He even puts it in a nice little bow. 
"And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

So stay on the Lord's side and you too will find yourself with power and strength you didn't know you had. "You feel better after doing this one?" Not really, I feel like I didn't do it justice. "Ehh... Win some, lose some." Hey, if Nacho can do it, so can we, and judging from that picture down there, I'd say he did it.

If you fight for what's right, you'll find yourself on top. Which is half a wrestling joke.
"Yeah, a not funny one."

Monday, June 16, 2014

Half way there:)

Hi! How are you? How was your week? 

This week has been so long. It was okT his week was our Stake Conference and it was so great!!! did you know that they have 2 days of Stake Conference here? I just found out. Well this Stake Conference was special because they were releasing the old President and calling a new one. It was truly a memorable experience to see and learn how it was all done. We had 2 General Authorities from the Seventy join us (Elder Walker and Elder Ah Sam) it was a great experience. That morning on our way to Church we texted our investigators to let them know that we were on our way and shortly after we got there they arrived!!!! That was a big miracle for us because they hardly ever come early to church and what was even better they had actually dressed up! Oh it was so great to see them. Their names are Thomas and Victoria. We got to seat the 4th row from the Front and it was all so good to have them their. The spirit was truly felt in the hearts of all those present and right after the closing Prayer was Said Thomas stood up and went over to shake the General Authorities hands!!! Wow we got a shock and were so happy when Elder Walker came down to give  him a hug:) What a blessing!!!! Victoria was so happy!!! They are so excited to be baptized they just need to have Victoria divorced from her previous husband and get married to Thomas. They are truly amazing! Please pray for them. 

I am grateful to be serving here with all the Elders and Sisters here. I love learning from them all and I loved learning from District Meeting this past week. One thing that really stood out to me was How Can we allow the Holy Ghost to be the Teacher. I am grateful to be learning this lesson. We had a lesson right after District Meeting with Sheri and Raul our investigators and as we went in I prayed in my heart that the Lord would help us to allow the Holy Ghost to be the teacher. That lesson was truly one of the greatest lessons I've ever had. As I sincerely listened and just loved them and (really trying not to be thinking in my mind while they were talking) the things to say was truly given to us as we spoke and it was so simple. I was learning with them! After we had taught the Restoration Raul ( Sheri's fiance) expressed how he had been to a lot of other Christian Churches but he had never had anything explained to him like what we shared. He shared he had always felt like he was in a limbo having unanswered questions and not really getting answers from the church's he was going to. He expressed how the Restoration made sense. I loved that Experience!  I hope all of the lessons we go to will continue to be like that. I am grateful to know that the Lord is with us in this work. I know that the promise in this scripture is so true : D&C 84:85.

I love you Heaps!!!

Nadi

Temple Trip!!


yesterday after our lunch break we received a call from a man who got our number from a member that he is staying with. He asked us if he can get a priesthood blessing because he wasn't very good and was about to give up on his faith. He told us that he was baptized as a Mormon and hasn't come to church in a rally long time. He said Ill try o be here when you get here. So we rushed and picked up the elders and went over to his house. he wasn't there and so we waited for like 40 minutes we were talking to the member and she told us that he might be drinking with her husband and when she went out we were came to a conclusion that we cant give a drunk man  a priesthood blessing. He walked in the door and  introduced himself and I thought for a second to tell him to sit down and talk with us, but I dint take action. The elders told him that we would like to comeback a different day when he was sober. He said that "well if that is the way it works alright then." and walked out the door. we all left the house and walked by him while he was siting outside and said bye and took off, all five of us without offering to help him or listen.  We all felt bad about it but it didn't even cross our minds to just listen to him before we judged him and turned him away. Well he called us as soon as we parked out side of our apartments. He expressed his feelings on how sad and how much it hurt him to see  that we didn't even show that we cared. As  missionaries we are not going to turn away from people just because they have family problems, addictions, or broken hearts . You will listen to them and show compassion and try to help them. I don't even care about me, but I just wanted to tell you that you just cant do that to people, they need your help. As he was telling us all this it cut us all to the very core. he went on to say that I never ask anyone for anything  ever and  this was a huge step for me to want to ask for help from the church and I feel that God hasn't answered my prayers and when I saw that you left it confirmed to me that God isn't there. So we repented and apologized to him and told him that we are imperfect humans and missionaries and we shouldn't have judged you without getting to know you first and if Christ himself would've visited you, he wouldn't have turned you away but would've listened to you and loved you regardless. We, as his representatives, didn't live up to that name we wear on our badge. Nevertheless, we thanked him for showing his faith and humbling himself enough that he asked for help and for loving us enough to want to teach us this great life lesson about compassion. We asked if he can give us another opportunity to come back and show to him that we care about him. He was so happy to hear that and gladly accepted. We went back and opened up to us and we all shared personal experiences with him about faith and how God is always there and how he has helped us in our difficulties.  He really appreciated the tears we shed to express how God has helped us and to do it in front of others because that showed him that we cared. He talked about how ever since he left the church no one even cared and it would be nice if when I died someone will remember me and wanted to cry. No one in this world he said wants to be alone, no one to talk to and to not feel loved, all I can ask for is to have someone care about me. Then an elder offered him a hug and he said of coarse and they hugged, he was overcome by so much love and started to cry, even said that his heart skipped a beat. I was right next to them as this happened, so I tried to avoid the situation and walked away quickly, with my head tilted to the side, to the other side of the living room and my companion acted as a magnet right behind me and asked: "where are you going"
"we can't hug him I'm just trying to get away."
so she sat down and he came towards her with his arms extended and she extended her hand to shake his and said "sorry I can't hug you." and one of his arms came down to his side as he gracefully kept his other arm up to shake her hand and said "I know". Then we all shook his hand, but the love in that room was so strong and all I wanted to do was hug him and cry with him. Which would've been appropriate, but I wimped out.

we taught my mommy this week about the importance of setting goals in life and ponder about the things that you do now and how it effects your future. also shared 2 nefi 4 and related nefi's experience with hers. WE are going to teach her again in a month or so just to let her ponder on what we've been teaching her, and let her make the choice on her own.

we have learned so much this week about love and I had the best companionship inventory in the history of my mission on Friday it was so edifying and we recognize how far we have come, and how she was an answer to my prayers of wanting to be more converted unto Christ, and how together we've been able to learn effective communication and unity. Its was a very sacred moment we shared together and I love her.


May 25, 2014

 past couple weeks has been very busy. I figure that the culminating event was the Temple to Temple Relay yesterday. We ran from the Rexburg Temple to the one in Idaho Falls. It seems like the things that I have done in the weekend are the more interesting things to write about. One thing that I have enjoyed in the week that I would like to write about is people. Before I get into that since this is the introduction paragraph of this entry, I would like to write about the interesting things that I have done over the weekend. I won a mile race; ran my first steeplechase; had my first experience in a construction site; had a picnic with my Temple to Temple Relay team; said goodbye to a good friend, who quit school; hung out with an old FHE sister; watched a couple movies; went on adventures, exploring stush apartments; studied how to frame a wall; home-teaching; & more. I wrote a journal entry dedicated to my friend that quit school, but Jesse did not feel that he would be comfortable with the details that I wrote, since he is a peculiar person. I should copy and paste the paragraph that Jesse thought was appropriate to publish now; then, I will write the precepts that I am prompted to, enjoying people during the week and weekends. We had a philosophical conversation about life on Logan's birthday last year. Logan is the good roommate that I had for more than two semesters, who quit, and I would like to relate the philosophy to you.
     We had a really cool FHE group, and a sister was leading us on a hike to a secret special refuge spot that she use to visit every week. Her name is Loretta Lepley. She may still do it. On our walk a debate sprung up about the word chemistry within relationships because Jesse felt that there was a good chemistry among our FHE group.  I forgot what the girls was saying chemistry meant to them. It is probably the stereotypical meaning. Chemistry to Jesse, who was the main philosopher, taking on the girls, related chemistry to throwing a bunch of people together. How the relationships get along is the chemistry. Some groups get along well. Some are unstable. Some are boring. Some don't relate. Logan, Jesse, and I had good chemistry among each other, and taking him out of our groups is going to mess with the chemistry. It's like taking a Hydrogen molecule out of water. Hydroxide is not healthy to consume. Stabilizing the chemistry is going to be interesting.
     The one thing that I love about my God, the father of every man's spirit, is the he hears my remembrance of him and his beloved son Jesus Christ as prayers, granting according to my righteous desires. One of my desires is to be a great friend to people. I always wish to be prompted to befriend and further deepen friendships with people especially during my meal times. Meal times are sacred social times especially family dinners. I consistently see the guidance of the spirit of God to opportunities to befriend and further deepen friendships. I sincerely seek these opportunities; occasionally, when I reach the end of my possible realistic search to visit with someone, a friend to befriend will be provided still. I don't believe that my precepts of this paragraph needs an example to be understood, but I will give one anyways. One lunch, I was looking for someone to eat with. I am sensitive to not be super awkward, walking around too long to find this person, but I reach the end of my possible realistic search. As I stood about to sit alone, a classmate identified me, inviting me to eat with her, and I was able to befriend her.
     I will now move on to the weekend interests. During the mile race that I won. I went out to break the record for the true mile of 1609 meters. I was disappointed to find that I ran exactly 5 minutes for the race. I heard the second place person, coming behind me, as I slowed down in the second half of my race. The pace that I started out with was on track , but I did not endure to the end. That was the first race of the track meet, and a final race of the meet was the steeplechase.
     I was planning and not planning to run the steeplechase because I spoke as if I was going to run it; however, when the team was trained to jump over hurdles, I was too scared to jump over a three and a half foot hurdle especially ones that do not fall over like the ones in the official race. I did it though for the experience. I could not overcome my fear of jumping over the hurdle, but I made it through the race. My attempts to jump over the hurdle was what I would do, if I had to jump over a small fence quickly. Jumping over the hurdle in one leap is a lot more effective than my approach. It was hard to keep up with the top pack, since I did not overcome my fear.
     The track meet was on Friday evening, and I had my first experience at a construction site on Saturday morning. Having to leave early, I planned a gathering with my Temple to Temple Relay team, and I said goodbye to Logan in the evening.
     The construction site experience was installing drywall in someone's basement. My first experience was snapping a chalk line. Since we were putting up Gypsum board, we needed to break it to let the board fix the wall. After breaking the board, I was given the opportunity to screw the Gypsum board into the studs. This opportunity was a first for me, using an electric drill. I was working with two classmates, and they seemed to have gotten impatient with me because I was slow. A funny thing was that they were making so many mistakes afterwards that it was probably just as slow. Since I had to meet with my Temple to Temple Relay team for a picnic, I pulled back from the from the situation, leaving early.
     The picnic went well; although, none of the girls ran with us. Our plan was to jog to Nature Park. Brenden, Devin Collins, and I arrived in about twenty minutes. Brenden has been on all three of my Temple to Temple Relay teams. He is a friend from my first apartment complex before I moved to Nauvoo Housing. I know Devin from Boy Scouts. He was from Gilroy though. We went to a hiking place called Philmont. We only knew each other from the one trip, and I had not seen him until I took the Family Foundation class at Brigham Young University - Idaho. We were sitting right next to each other, and we did not recognize each other. We were talking about where we were from, and we recalled that we hiked Philmont together. We have not hung out very often, but we have done a few things together since then. Our relationship is reverenced as a great friendship. When Brenden, Devin, and I arrived at the park, we expected to meet with a few other team members. Jesse Kaupert was planning to do another style of workout that day, so he didn't run with us. He was on our team though. Paige Dexter, the roommate of Naomi House, was planning to drive up our lunches. It was taking Paige a long time to come. We were probably waiting for at least twenty minutes; maybe a half hour or more. We were chill though, chatting. When Paige and Jesse arrived, we were surprised to see that Naomi, who was planning on running with us, was with them. She came with the bad news that she hurt her ankle somehow, so she could not run. We ate our lunches briefly, deciding who is going to run what legs during the relay. Naomi and Paige left early to chill next to the lake. We joined them later, and we practiced, skipping rocks. Naomi and Paige could barely throw well, so they had troubles. We enjoyed ourselves. Paige could not run with the team during the relay either because she had the rare opportunity to see her father.
     This weekend was Memorial day weekend. Logan left us that evening. On Monday an former FHE sister visited us, and we played soccer. We also watched a movie with Paige and Naomi. We may have planned to go see a movie, but we never made it. I am trying to recall, if we went exploring and star tripping. I don't really like star tripping, but the other girls enjoyed it; plus, we went to a park as we explored, and I had already spun around a lot on a thingabob. Star tripping is when you find a dark location outside, and the stars need to be out. You spin until you are dizzy, and someone shines a light in your eyes. When someone does this, you lose your sense of balance, and you just fall over without any control. Maddie and Jeanette were hanging out with us, and Maddie has a chronic problem, not having enough blood in her tall body. When she star tripped a couple times, she began acting as if she was drunk. She could barely walk, and her sense of logic was off. I assume that she didn't have enough blood in her body to get a good amount of oxygen in her brain. I am unsure if we did this on Memorial day Monday or watching a live action movie about the Oneders or Wonders, a one hit wonder band from the 60's.
     We ran the Temple to Temple Relay the following weekend. Naomi found a couple runners to replace Paige and her. These runners are named Kelsey and Hannah. Our team members were the following: Aubrey, a roommate of Naomi; Loretta; Brenden; Jesse; Hannah, Kelsey, Devin, and I. I loved this team because everyone knew each other. There was not one person that did not know another member of the team prior to the race. Brenden knew Devin from last relay race. Jesse knows Loretta, Naomi, Aubrey, and I. Loretta was an FHE sister of Jesse's and mine from last spring semester. Hannah knew Loretta from mountain climbing, and she is Naomi's best friend's roommate. Kelsey was a friend of Naomi's. I loved the natural fellowship of the team. We were not concerned about time and place. I don’t even know the pace that I ran. We had time to hang out with horses, feeding them grass. I have never fed horses before. A few were dominate, and a few ran when we gave them grass. Not many stops had bathrooms, and many of my team needed to use the restroom. It was funny because three of our legs had to start with another teammate, since they were not ready to receive the baton, when our runner arrived. That runner was Hannah. During one leg, hanging out, we skipped rocks, but we didn't skip them off water. We bounced them off the road, trying to hit a fence post. When Hannah finally ran her leg, which was the last leg. We were surprised that it was taking so long for Hannah to finish 2.6 miles. It ended up that she got lost, having to run about a mile extra. Our results showed that we finished twelfth, but I say that we finished top ten because we were only a few minutes slower than the other teams ahead of us, since Hannah got lost, running an extra mile. After the relay, we were planning on going to the zoo, but we decided not to. We did enjoy eating lunch at the Olive Garden. On the drive home, I asked out Hannah, but she did not return my call or texts, so I let her be.
     Today is Friday June thirteenth. I am on a bus ride home after enjoying a tour of the Jackson, Wyoming office of the Big D Signatures department of the company. Last week was mid-terms, and I had two tests. I also had a test this past week for ARCH 100. I got decent grades on each test. I don't have anything to complain about. It was a little stressful though, facing a test covering fourteen chapters.
     Things are finally normal after the Temple to Temple Relay. I usually go to the temple each weekend, but we have been busy. Jesse and I went to the temple last Saturday, and I invited Paige to join us. Deanna joined us too. She is another roommate of Naomi. We did initiatory, and ate at the Hickory after. It was refreshing to hear the words of the initiatory ordinances. I like getting the Big S Burger at the Hickory because my family has a tradition of eating grill cheese sandwiches each Sunday. The Big S Burger is a half-pound burger with two grill cheese sandwiches as the buns.
     I also ran in a track meet this past weekend. I felt very fast during the week and some workouts, so I was inspired to run an 800 meter race. I did pretty well. I was disappointed in the pace that I ran the second lap. I only had one competitor. When we started the first lap I sat on my opponent to see his pace. Since his pace was not following my strategy, I passed him about 150 meters into the race, finishing the first lap in 60 seconds. Here is my disappointment I ran the second lap 10 seconds slower than the first; however, I did win the race. I was happy about my results. I don't really run the 800. I focus on the longer distances. I ran the 5K too, but I did not race too my potential because I could not know my pace. When I ran the first 5K, people told me my pace each lap, but they did not do that this time. The timer on the score board did not start until my third lap or so. I just ran it. I ran about a minute and a half slower than the last time that I ran the 5K race. During the meet I would stay aloof from everyone else because I don't want the sun to drain my energy. I relaxed in the shade, and another athlete joined me; then, after I ran, I was surprised to see that girls of my distance team was hanging out near the tree that I was in the shade of. They were not in the shade though. That was nice to have everyone else join me.
     I received an email from Brother Stutz, who is the organizer of the track, cross country, and many other events at the school. He invited me to apply to be a coordinator of Cross Country in the Fall. I would basically organize and promote the competitive sport. I hope that I get the position. I have many ideas to promote it. This was exciting as well as the Big D Signature's construction site and office that I visited.
     Big D a high-end construction company working of becoming a billion dollar corporation this year. Their quality of work is exceptional. A competitive advantage that they have is that they collect old wood, and they can be employed to build houses with this wood. The wood is beautiful. They built their office, and the old wood was touted as i beams, structural, and interior details. I was wondering why the beams had square notches in them, but my teacher informed me that they were where the joists and other beams were inserted for structural purposes in older buildings. They led our crew to a construction project called Paint Brush Point.
     At this location a river in a national park was being polluted by a building falling into it, so they devised a plan to fix that part of the national park. The river was dilapidated, so they had to hire a guy from Alaska to restore the river banks. Big D was so impressed by the skill of the guy, describing him as a painter of a physical river bank. Restoring that building was important too because it has historical importance. It was property of the Rockefeller's, if I recall correctly. They reached a restriction though.
     The setbacks of the property let Big D work with only a few square feet. This is how they solved the problem. They approached a neighboring property owner, and Big D asked them if they would be willing to trade property with the national park in order rebuild to the Rockefeller cabin. The neighbor approved. Big D said that the cabin did not have a foundation, so the first few logs were rotten. My framing systems teacher, Ron Kinville pointed out that the structures to contain the foundation concrete were assembled different than usual. I don't fully understand what he was saying, but my connection is that there is lumber placed on the outside. I think that the lumber makes the exterior face look like the cement is wood as the picture shows. They also built the foundation that way because it was the old standard.





     The owner of the property was able to build their third home here. The supervisor, showing me around, said that he did not know the names of the owners, but he provided me information that would make it easy for me to discover who the owner is. The owner is on the board of directors of a corporation. They have two children, and two other homes; one in London and the other is in California. The supervisor even provided a name of a child and the corporation, but I don't think that it Is appropriate to disclose them. The owner had the house be built in separate parts within the property.
     The property had many original concepts for me to consider. They have a two floor garage separate from the main living area of the residence. This building seems to accommodate guests, for the top garage can be accessed from the street. The design of the buildings were not very open, for the top garage's stairs leading to the living area of the guest did not let them access the living area without them going outside of the building. Their seems to only be one way around the house. I don't know, if this is common. On the main living building of the residence. The residence seem to protect their privacy by having their personal and entertainment rooms only be accessed by a uniquely designed spiral stairwell.  The entertainment room is not an average room either. A bookshelf is going to be a hidden door like in the movies, leading to a wine cellar. The spiral stairwell was unique because the it is not going to be supported by a structural member coming up in the middle, but the stairs are held by the wall, surrounding them. The spiral stairs leads down to a deck that can be accessed by the children's rooms, and other ways that I don't know. The deck can be retracted, uncovering a hot tube. The children's rooms can be considered as too luxurious because the doors to them are curved, costing about three thousand dollars each.

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


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


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

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




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

"Hey Alexander,

Hey my name is Nick Hicken and I was looking up another Hicken on the school directory and saw your name and I'm just curious if we are related and how so.
I know my great great grandfather was Thomas Hicken, so don't know if you come from that line.
Anyways, I just wanted to connect with you so just email me back if want.
Thanks.

-Nick"

And my reply was this.

"Dear Nicholas Hicken,

I am Alex Hicken, the son of David Glen Hicken, who is the son of Glen Irwin Hicken, the son of Irwin Hicken, who served a mission in Japan, when the great earthquake destroyed many cities, who is the son of John Henry Hicken, who is the son of Patriarch Thomas Hicken, who was in the first stake presidency of Heber City, Utah, a first settler thereof.
Do you eat at the crossroads much? I oftentimes indulge in good company there.

Sincerely,

Alexander Nielson Hicken"

We met up, and we got along well. He really loves Bob Marley, and that topic came up easily because I served in Jamaica, which I am proud to say got their first stake last weekend. Nick feels like Bob Marley  is a man sent to Jamaica like Buddha, Confucius, and other religious figures like Muhammad. Well at the devotional I invited him to the bonfire, saying that there will be a lot of girls because we invited four apartments of close friends. Our track record does not match our hopes though. Only Naomi came. None of our FHE sisters came. Jesse invited an old friend and her apartment because we had our haircuts done by her, and a good friend turned out to be her roommate, who I was thinking of asking out. Jesse also invited another ward sisters apartment. Naomi's roommates didn't make it either. We expected more people to come, so Nick invited a bunch of his friends and roommates. They were named Jon, John, Keith, and Brian. I did ask the girl out, who is the roommate of Jesse's old friend, and she came. Her name is Chelsea. I decided not to write about this date. It was Jon, John, Keith, Brian, Nick, Naomi, Chelsea, Tyrel, and I, who went, and Naomi's best friend, McKayla met us out there with her boyfriend. Nick's friends were good sports. We waited nearly a whole hour for Jesse and Tyrel to come with wood and glow sticks.
    John was funny because he is studying to be a mechanical engineer, and he is all into explosives as his desired profession. He jumped on building the fire, and had a huge fire going in less than five minutes. He said that he camped every weekend from age eight to eighteen or something like that. He was coaching everyone on how to cook hot dogs and s'mores. After the initial fire that John made started dying down, we played stick ball.
     This is the second time where we went to the dunes, having a bonfire and a game of stickball. Jesse cut the glow sticks, and poured the liquid on tennis balls, and the game is similar to Golf. We are trying to throw our ball into a bucket in the least amount of throws, and the distance is determined by a partner, hitting the tennis ball with a stick. Jesse calls it a dowel. It is the rod in a closet that holds up hangers. We enjoyed the game. A few funny things happened, but I only recall one to tell you. A few friends and I were gathered around the bucket because we already finished throwing our ball in it, and tennis ball without warning flew down and hit me in the chest. It hit me hard enough that the glow stick fluids splattered on my shirt.
     Yesterday is now Sunday, and I want to finish this entry. I finally got out into the field from my church calling, which is a missionary chairmen for the Elders Quorum. It is a basic role to help all the struggling Elders. We separated into two groups with the Elder's quorum presidency. We both had about five people to contact, but none of them lived at their apartments. One supposed to have lived at my apartment. Gratefully I noticed before we knocked on my apartment door. We only found one person in our list, and all the others are in an unknown location.

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

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