Small and Simple Things

"They [scriptures] can become stalwart friends that are not limited by geography or calendar. They are always available when needed.... Learning, pondering, searching, and memorizing scriptures is like filling a filing cabinet with friends, values, and truths that can be called upon anytime, anywhere in the world. - Elder Richard G. Scott

"The Power of Scripture" Oct. 2011

While walking home from class this morning, a man stopped me and asked if I was a Christian. He appeared to be homeless, or at least going through a rough time. When he stopped and asked me that question I immediately began thinking, "oh great, where is this going?" I was in for a bit of a surprise. When I told him I was a Christian, he asked if I could share a verse that I had read from the Bible that morning or a favorite verse about Christ that I knew. I froze, not knowing what to say. I had read my scriptures that morning, but I had read a section in the Doctrine and Covenants and couldn't think of anything to share from it.

By amazing coincidence (meaning the Lord put a few things in motion here), Kelsey and I are taking an institute class together and our teacher has been encouraging us to memorize scriptures. So over the past couple weeks Kelsey and I have been working on this. I choose to memorize (or rememorize) Alma 37:6-7. It was always one of my favorite scriptures, but I didn't have it memorized anymore.

Well it turned out that it was the only scripture I could think of, so I explained to him that I was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and that we have additional scriptures that teach of Christ and shared that verse with him. He told me that when he had lived in another state that some Mormons he was friends with had shared that verse with him and how it reminded him of another verse in the Bible. He then thanked me and continued on his way.

I was grateful as he walked away to have had a verse that I could share with him. As I walked home, I realized just how applicable that scripture was to me right now. It truly feels like things in my life have been lining up just right at the moment, but more than that they are things that truly would confound the wise. I mentioned in my previous post about my crazy semester, but it is a semester that counselors told me not to do. But I felt strongly about taking each class that I am in right now, and I have no doubts I needed to be in all these classes. They have opened some really unique opportunities up for me.

I learned two important lessons this morning: we should always have a verse of scripture memorized that we can share at any time and the Lord really does operate through the small and simple things to bring great things to pass.

To end, I mentioned our trip up to Stanley. Well my friend Jon put together this awesome video of our trip. You should check it out.

New Adventures

It seems everyday brings with it a new adventure this semester. Kelsey and I had a great end to our summer: spending a week in Idaho with some of my best friends and a few days with her family. We went to a cabin in Stanley, Idaho with the guys I have grown up with. We had a blast playing at the lakes (even though the highs were in the low 70s), hiking, disk golfing, and just hanging out. We then spent the final weekend before school started at Downata Hot Springs in Downey, Idaho.

We came home and school started the next day. I know I am crazy, but I'm taking 18 credit hours this semester. It's just the way my schedule worked out and I felt strongly I needed to take each of these classes this semester--and so far it has without a doubt been the right choice. One of the classes that logically I "should have dropped" was biomechanics. Luckily I didn't and am now getting to the chance to help with research in the biomechanics lab and they have some awesome research going on currently.

In addition to school and the new research I am becoming involved in, I have my own honors thesis that I'm trying to get moving on. Dr. Podlog (or Les, my thesis supervisor) and I nailed down the research question over the summer and so now it is on to reviewing the literature, designing my experiment, getting all the necessary approval, and carrying out the actual research.

On top of all this, I'm trying to find time to get in all the required job shadow hours for physical therapy. It hasn't been happening much so I need to get in touch with some physical therapists to see if I can come in and job shadow/intern with them. If any of you happen to currently be in physical therapy, I would love to hear if your physical therapist would allow someone to come in and job shadow for a two or three hours a week.

I have more news to write about, however my break from physics homework is coming to and end so it will have to wait. I hope everything is going well for you all and I enjoy reading about all your many adventures.