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This blog post brought to you by none other than the talented Elder Nate Storey. "C'mon Elder Lopez, sycophancy is so beneath you..." You shut your mouth...

Hello readers I going to tell you about one of the greatest Disney movies of all time. "Cinderella?" No! "Sleeping beauty?" Not even close. It's Tangled. 

People will watch this but won't
even give MLP a chance...
-Elder Lopez

In the movie Tangled, Rapunzel lives in a tower hidden in the woods. (Why they make random towers in the woods, I'll never know...) She lives there with her mother who has told her never to leave the tower because it is "dangerous." (Which is technically true, but the REAL reason her mother doesn't want her to leave is because she is using Rapunzel's magic hair to keep herself young. It's magic. It's Disney) every year on her birthday Rapunzel sees floating lights rise up into the sky from her tower window. She wants more then anything to know what these are but she can't from her tower and her mother refuses to take her to see them or to let her leave the tower cause she's one of those evil stepmother type figures.

While the mother is out, a notorious thief by the name of Flynn Rider barely manages to escape capture after a great and relatively easy heist and seeks refuge in Rapunzel's tower which doesn't go as well as he would've hoped. One would think that a naive eighteen year old Disney character would be easy to manipulate, but then again I don't have my own Disney movie... Yet. After some negotiation Flynn agrees to take Rapunzel to the kingdom to see the floating lanterns in exchange for his bag which has the stolen crown in it.

The journey is not easy.

Now that I remember, this was a fantastic movie!
-Elder Lopez

They run into palace guards who want to arrest Flynn for his crimes, bandits who want revenge on Flynn, a near death experience, and horse named Maximus that is determined to bring Flynn to justice. As you probably could've deduced, Flynn isn't very well liked. It might be the nose though. But through all these trials they endure and keep going towards the kingdom.

The hardest of all these trials is and the one that cuts the deepest is when Rapunzel's mother finds her and tells her that she needs to come home with her. When Rapunzel refuses, her mother tells her that she is being foolish to trust in Flynn. She tells Rapunzel that Flynn doesn't care about her and he just wants his bag back. Her mother leaves telling that she will find out the hard way that what she says is true. (Which is actually a technique Satan is very infamous for, it's called a half-truth.)

But it's still no MLP...
-Elder Lopez

The next day Flynn takes her to the kingdom and Rapunzel has a great time at the celebration before the lanterns. She learns the lanterns are for the lost princess and the King and queen the release them in hopes she will come home. When Rapunzel sees the lanterns rise into the sky it is more amazing then she ever imagined. She comes to learn that she is the lost princess. Because of the journey to see the floating lights she finds her real parents a new home and a new friend in Flynn.

It is the same for us. Each of us has a Heavenly Father who so desperately wants us to come home much like the King and queen of the kingdom. He sends the spirit and the gospel to draw us back to him and we may want to know but we can't always understand what it is or how it will help us from where we are at. We have to investigate the gospel. There are some in or lives that will try to keep us from the light because they don't understand it and they don't think we need it just like the mother tried to keep

You want clever songs? MLP's got that.
You want animation, it's got that too.
-Elder Lopez

Rapunzel from leaving, they'll use clever words and half truths to keep us from discovering the truth for ourselves. But there are also Flynn Riders in our lives, people that help guide us through the journey to the gospel. It might be missionary or just a friend who is a member. Though the journey is not easy and there will be those who try to tell us our friends can't be trusted or we are being gullible or foolish, it'll be worth it because when we finally "see the light" and realize all the gospel is and all that God has in store for us it is more wonderful then we can imagine. We discover that we are a child of God. The trials of the journey aren't so hard because of the joy we find in the Gospel.

I'm just saying, give it a chance, you just never know where true happiness lies...
(It's in the Gospel but MLP definitely helps.)
-Elder Lopez