Dear Fall

It has been two years since our last encounter and I realize as I sit here looking at the mountains how much I have missed your beautiful colors. They don't have fall down in brasil, just a hot winter and a hotter summer. I wish I was up in those mountains and not doing homework. I look forward to fall break so I can more fully enjoy all your wonders. I look forward to seeing the changing leaves up close, to hear them crackle under my feet as I hike the trails and breath in your clean, crisp air. I walk out of work at night and am exhilarated by your refreshingly cool temperatures. You are by far my favorite of all the seasons. Spring always gives you a run for your money, but when this time of year arrives I always remember why you are my favorite. I look forward to these next few months together and will lament when you again depart only to return in another year. Thank you for being the best of all the seasons.

6 Months? Say What?

So I guess it is about time I finally post something. Its been a long absence from the blogging world. What to even say? This month will be six months since I got home from the mission. I can't believe how fast time has gone by. And how long ago the mission already seems. It really feels like it was part of a completely different lifetime. School started a few weeks ago for us at the U. One of my friends made the comment today that we are already almost a quarter of the way through the semester. That was a crazy thought. My classes have all been good so far. I am taking psychology 1010, a portuguese class, professional writing, and an intro to professions in psychology and one for professions in medicine. So it has been an interesting semester so far.

School has been pretty time consuming, and if I'm not there than I am likely at work. Things at Clearlink have been great. I say this every time I post, but it has been a great learning experience. I never thought I would like a sales job, but this one has actually been enjoyable. There are some days that are just flat out rough. Had a few of those days last week. Days were I literally barely even got one sale. Which is not a good thing. At all. But it has been a great chance to learn and grow as a person. I have been able to develop a lot a skills I have lacked and I wouldn't say I have perfected them by any means, but they at least now exist. Some people can be tough to talk to, but others can be so much fun. It is crazy, but sometimes you got lost in conversation with people on the phone. I have gotten to work really closely with my coaches too and become good friends with a lot of them and some of the other reps as well. It is such a different experience. I mean there are a few other people who are mormon there, but I definitely stand out from the crowd. It has been a good experience to be around these people. And has definitely helped me to be a lot more grateful for my upbringing in the Church and just knowing what my purpose is here in life. I need to a better job talking about the church with people at work though. I need to do some repenting there.

And if I am not at either school or work, then I am with this girl:

Labor Day Kelsey and I took advantage of me not having neither school nor work and went bowling. The first picture is from when we hiked Adam's Canyon during the summer. So we have been having lots of fun together these last few months.

This week is panning out to be a good one. Somehow I get to speak again this sunday. Another family ward. I think I am getting asked to speak more often since getting home from the mission than while I was on it. Figure that one out. But as much as I fear public speaking, I also really enjoy it. Another one that doesn't make much sense haha.

Life since getting home from the mission definitely has been far from anything I thought it would be. I think every single on of the plans I made for when I got home has gone awry. So I am just rolling with the punches so to speak. Life has been nothing like I planned for it to be, but I can tell you that without a doubt it has been much better.

Well I think that is about all I have to say for now. Too many stories to choose from meaning I will just give up and not post anything so I will just go with this little update. Hope everything is going well with you all! I will try and keep this a little more up to date in coming days.

Words to Live By

My head seemed to be full of things to write in this post until right now. Seems to happen quite often when I try and blog. I am just really happy right now with the way things have been happening since I got home from my mission. I can tell you that nothing has gone according to plan, but it has all been happening exactly as it should. Life is just good. I guess today I am going to revert to my original idea and just share what have been a few of my favorite quotes over the years:

"Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit."

Aristotle

the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value."

Thomas Paine

  "Difficulty is the excuse history never accepts."

Edward R. Murrow

"I've read that I flew up the hills and mountains of France. But you don't fly up a hill. You struggle slowly and painfully up a hill, and maybe, if you work very hard, you get to the top ahead of everybody else."

Lance Armstrong

"Success is not measured by what you accomplish but by the opposition you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds."

Orison Swett Marden 

"Pain. Love it, hate it, get angry at it. Breath it with every breath, feel it with every step and use it. It lets you know you are still alive, more alive than most people will be in their whole lives."

Strauss

"Scars heal...glory fades..and all we're left with are the memories made. Pain hurts, but only for a minute, yeah life is short, so go on and live it"Megan Rose Leighliter

To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift."

Steve Prefontaine 

Don't allow anyone to tell you what you can and cannot do. Be tough, be stubborn, love yourself, and find friends who believe in you. Recognize your victories."

Joan Benoit Samuelson

"If you are ever going to achieve as much as you can in a sport, you are going to have to be willing to make a leap of faith to learn how much your body can handle."

Meredith Rainey Valmon 

"Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even checkered by failures, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat"

Teddy Roosevelt

"The main cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what we want most for what we want at the moment." 

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

Mark Twain

"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better."

Samuel Beckett

Don't wish it were easier; wish you were better. Don't wish for less problems; wish for more skills. Don't wish for less challenges; wish for more wisdom.

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. 

"We should not let our fears hold us back from pursuing our hopes."

JFK 

"The good Lord gave you a body that can stand most anything. It's your mind you have to convince."

Vincent Lombardi

"The good is ever the enemy of the best"

Dr. Charles E. Diehl

"It is not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required."

Winston Churchill

"There will come a point in the race, when you alone will need to decide. You will need to make a choice. Do you really want it? You will need to decide."

Rolf Arands

These are but a few of my favorites; however they are some that have been the most motivational and that I have come to realize how true they really are. Hope you all enjoy.

Summer Fun

Well I figure now that it has been over a month since my last post it is time to update the blog. Summer has been fantastic. Couldn't ask for more. Work has been great. It may sound funny, but working in this call center has been such an amazing opportunity. We take inbound sales calls. Basically people call me and I have to sell them the product they called in about. It has been so incredible. I have learned so many things that I wish I better understood on the mission. And I am so thankful for my mission because I learned so many things that have helped me in this job. This job has really made me a better person, and I think that is what most motivates me to go every day. Yes, the pay is excellent. But what I love is the chance that I have to grow. I have not only learned how to be a better salesman and close the sale, but also how to be better person, how to make decisions, how to resolves conflicts, how to listen to and identify another's needs, and how to talk with people about themselves and make them the focus. It has been like a mini mission in some ways. These were all things I learned in my two years as a missionary, but now I have been given the chance to develop them more. I love my job.

Church has been great as always. I spoke in another family ward this month. That was pretty fun. We will see if I get asked to go speak in another ward in august. I have spoken almost everything single month since getting home. I can tell you I really don't like speaking in church, but at the same time I do. So I have enjoyed it even through all the nervousness and butterflies in the stomach. I also was just called as co-chair on the fhe committee, so if any of you have done awesome fhe activities, or been to awesome activities, let me know what they were. Please.

Life in general has been incredible. Basically if I'm not at work I am hanging out with Kelsey. We have had lots of fun summer adventures. Hiking Adam's Canyon. We went shopping one day and I finally got new sunday shoes. Let explain what I mean by finally. I had been using the same pair of shoes since jr. high. Yes, since I was in 8th or 9th grade. I had had them so long I don't even remember when I got them. I even wore them a bit on my mission. So I finally broke down and bought some new ones. I also got a spiffy skinny tie. We have had lots of fun doing movie nights and game nights with all our friends. That is one of the funny things with my job. Hardly anyone is mormon. Or active. So I hear them talking about a good time being going to the bar and getting drunk. And when I have a great weekend I probably just played games with friends. Funny how different our lifestyles are. But I definitely prefer mine over theirs.

Hard to believe school starts in less than a month. Still don't have much of an idea what I am going to do. I am thinking that I will actually double major in psychology and exercise and sport sciences with an emphasis in physical therapy. I am kinda leaving the english thing behind. But I still am thinking of looking into teaching: seminary and institute. So we will see what happens with that one and how things play out.

Think that is going to be it for this post. Oh, my other bit of news. I bought a car this month!!! It is an '02 honda civic. So that was pretty exciting as well. Hopefully it doesn't take so long for my next post. I will try and do better at keeping you all in the loop!

Moving Forward

Our mortal lives are a constant struggle between choosing a oneness with God and a oneness with the world.

Elder Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement

Read that quote yesterday while reading Elder Callister's book. Loved it. I love looking at our choices in that light. Will this bring me towards a oneness with God? or a oneness with the world? Kinda puts things in a different perspective for me.

Come participate in the gospel of Jesus Christ

Bishop Crosland

Our bishop welcomed all those who were in attendance for the first time and invited them to come and participate in the ward. But not only in the activities and the family nights and the ward prayers, but also in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was something that I really liked. Shows what all those things are really there for--all those activities and everything else we do in the church. The whole purpose of our activity in the church is to bring us to activity within the Gospel.

Be patient and continue forward

Aaron Burt

Aaron gave a really incredible lesson in priesthood and talked about hope and the gospel. He based it off of Elder Maxwell's talk called Hope through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Really liked when he talked about moving forward. It is something I have been finally learning to do in my life. It is so easy to tell Heavenly Father to make our decisions under the pretense of "seeking guidance." I had an institute teacher this spring who talked about that. He said how sometimes we ask Heavenly Father to let us know that we are making the right decision (i.e. marrying the right person, choosing the right job/major) but what we are really asking is that He promise us that things will work out or that we wont have any problems, etc. We talked about how that it isn't really right. Heavenly Father wants us to learn and grow. So we have to go through challenges. And sometimes that also means making our own decisions. I have been coming to learning in my own life that when I seek to move forward everything just kinda falls into place. But only when I am trying to move forward and make decisions. When I wait for Heavenly Father to give His stamp of approval, well then I just kinda sit there for awhile. I am realizing that Heavenly Father does guide my life, but He also leaves me to make my own decisions and work things out for myself. And I have also seen that as long as I follow the commandments and the counsels of my leaders, He wont let me go astray. Sometimes I feel like I am just making a million unimportant decisions. That I'm taking unimportant baby steps towards no where. But one day those baby steps will carry be a long ways. So we can't hesitate to take them thinking that it is too unimportant or insignificant.

Lately life for me has been pretty good. I can't say it has been free of challenges, but I am starting to see the way that trials don't always have to come in the form of something bad happening to us. Sometimes our trials can be to see if we will faithfully fulfill our callings or if we will place other things first. Our trial can be to see if we will follow the prompting of the Holy Ghost to reach out to a friend. I never understood that before. I always thought a trial had to be something bad that happened to you to see if your faith would be shaken like a friend or family member passing away. Or those seminary videos where you got offered a drink or things of that nature. Maybe those are two extreme examples. But what I am trying to get at is the idea of something bad being involved. I see now that really a trial can be whether or not we will live up to the potential within us or succumb to our own complacency in thinking that we are good enough, that we have done enough. That we have plenty of time in front of us to worry more about things of a more spiritual nature.

So those are my thoughts of the day. Life really has been good. I just finished my first week out of training at work. It was good. Rough, but good. It really has been a fantastic learning/growing experience for me. Dan and Anthony are both home. Another awesome happening of the last few weeks. Yes, all three of us stood up at the same time yesterday to bear our testimonies. I don't what was a bigger coincidence, that or our entire bishopric wearing identical gray suits. Excited for the date we are planning for the weekend. I am going to take one of the Kelseys from volleyball. Extra excited about that. Volleyball of course continues to be awesome. I feel like I am even getting a little better. Hopefully that is true. What else to say? Life is just fantastic really. I have been loving summer so far. Definitely has been a memorable one in many ways. Went biking this morning (today is my day off). First time in two and a half years. Needless to say, I am broken. But it feels so great. Hope all of you are doing awesome!

Going from Good to Best

Got to speak in sacrament meeting today. I still get just as nervous as ever. Seriously, I shake so much when I get up to speak. Here is the outline/short hand version of my talk.

“What actual changes did I make because of anything I heard or was asked to do in conference?” (Asked by Elder Holland at our Regional Conference)

·      Did I make any changes?

·      “Do our church meetings do anything?” (Asked by Elder Holland)

“[It is] good to hold a meeting, better to teach a principle, but best to actually improve lives as a result of the meeting.” Elder Dallin H. Oaks, “Good, Better, Best”

·      It was good that I listened to conference

·      Better that I learned principles

·      But Best would have been to have made actually changes because of what I learned in conference

We see an example of an effective church meeting, the best kind, in the Book of Mormon when King Benjamin gives his final address to his people. After hearing his address, the people of Zarahemla had “no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually” (Mos. 5:2) and that change brought with it the desire to act and “enter into a covenant” (Mos. 5:5).

Each of us can think of a time when we have experienced this same mighty change not only in our desires but also in our actions that comes as a result of a best church meeting, general conference, institute or seminary class, youth conference, or perhaps even a simple personal study of the scriptures. So what can we do to experience these best church meetings more often? We can learn much from the example of King Benjamin’s people.

1.     “The people gather themselves together…that they might go up…to hear the words which…should [be] spoken unto them” (Mos. 2:1).

·      Went up with real intent: Fully intended to do what they committed to do, or to hear the message they had gone up to hear. They didn’t go up for a nice vacation or to see old friends, while these might have been benefits of making the journey. Their true purpose was to hear the words of King Benjamin.

·      We too must go with that same attitude to hear the words that will be spoken unto us. There may be other blessings that we enjoy—such as the association of good friends and family—but we should not let those things that are good distract us from what is best.

2.     “And they pitched their tents round about the temple” (Mos. 2:6).

·      In a modern day revelation, the Lord said, “Behold, it is my will, that all they who call on my name, and worship me according to mine everlasting gospel, should gather together, and stand in holy places; And prepare for the revelation which is to come” (D&C 101:22-23).

·      The Lord explained in another verse of scripture how it is that we can “prepare for the revelation which is to come” while standing in these holy places:

Therefore, cease from all your light speeches, from all laughter, from all your lustful desires, from all your pride and light-mindedness, and from all your wicked doings (D&C 88:121).

·      Thoughts and conversations about the “things that matter most.”

3.     “And they also took of the firstlings of their flocks, that they might offer sacrifice and burnt offerings” (Mos. 2:3)

·      Thought and Pondered about Christ’s atonement

·      While we may not offer sacrifices and burnt offerings, we do offer the sacrifice of our sins, our weaknesses, and our imperfections when we partake of the sacrament and we make an offering of our will and the best we have within us.

·      We also renew our baptismal covenants and the promise that “[we] may always have his Spirit to be with [us]” (D&C 20:77)

o   Sometimes, because of today’s society, we overlook the importance of events such as the sacrament. Society teaches us to judges things based on the rarity of its occurrence: the more often something occurs the less valuable it is.

o   At times we adopt this attitude in relation to our church meetings. We value some meetings as more important because they happen less frequently throughout the year; however, the fact that we hold sacrament meeting weekly attests to its importance. What other saving ordinance does every member of the church participate in not only more than once for his or her own self, but also weekly?

o   It is also important to note the order in which things happen during sacrament meeting. Why do we take the sacrament and then listen to talks? Why do we even listen to talks? One possible reason is that right after partaking of the sacrament is one of the moments in which we are best prepared to receive the promptings of the Holy Ghost as we have just renewed the promise to have his constant companionship; and those promptings will come as we hear the words spoken and will show unto us the changes we need to make in our lives to more fully live our covenants that coming week.

To qualify ourselves to receive those precious revelations that will guide us through our next week and help us turn a good meeting into a best meeting, there are some things that we must do. Elder Richard G. Scott, in his talk entitled “How to Obtain Revelation and Inspiration for Your Life”, stated:

Inspiration carefully recorded shows God that His communications are sacred to us. Recording will also enhance our ability to recall revelation. Such recording of direction of the Spirit should be protected from loss or intrusion by others.

A few simply steps can help us to record and keep sacred this revelation.

1.     Write down the question: “What actually changes will I make because of anything I heard today?”

2.     Answer that question. Form specific answers instead of generalities. "I will attend the Temple weekly or every other week" instead of "I will attend the Temple more often."

3.     Write out how you plan to accomplish those goals you have made for yourself.

4.     Make prayer a part of the process and be accountable.

As you pray personally...seek inspiration on what you should do…. As you follow your plans, pray and ask the Lord for guidance. Have a prayer in your heart throughout the day that the Spirit will help you know where to go, what to do, and what to say. Ask yourself, “What more can I do?” In your prayer at the end of the day, give an accounting of your work.

Preach My Gospel, pg. 151

5.     Finally we must follow the promptings that come to act.

·      Heavenly Father will bless us not only with the inspiration of what to do but also with the power to do it.

"The Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."

1 Nephi 3:7

"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power"

2 Timothy 1:7

You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.

We Bought a Zoo

·      Faith is a principle of action and power. First we must act, then the power comes, "something great will come of it," and miracles will happen. The Lord will not put words into our mouth until after we have opened it and he will not part the sea until we have taken the first step and gotten our feet wet.

As we do these things we will move from having meetings that are good, to better, and finally to best. We will experience real change in our lives; even the mighty change of heart and we will make and keep sacred covenants. We will not only receive his image in our countenance, but also have it engraven upon us.

Learning to Act, and Not to be Acted Upon

Ok, so it seems like everything lately that I have posted has just been the more social side of life, so I figure I should have at least one post with the more spiritual things. I have had a lot of poignant thoughts of late and so I thought I would share some of those.

Really everything I have to say today has a common starting point. Back in November of last year Elder Bednar came to our mission. I think that was one of the most influential moments in my mission and has caused great changes in me and my way of seeing the gospel ever since. If you pay ever take the time to read Elder Bednar's talks, you will notice that without fail, he mentions acting and not be acted upon, referring to 2 Nephi 2:14. He will explain that we have been created to act, making us agents. We are not to be objects that are simply acted upon. That simple preface has greatly changed my way of seeing myself and the gospel. Here are three of the ways I have seen that I turn myself into an object hoping to be acted upon rather than becoming an agent and acting for myself.

Prayer

There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.

 Doctrine and Covenants 130:20-21

During our conference with Elder Bednar, he talked to us about praying with faith. He gave an explain of a prayer that each of us has heard: the member prays and asks Heavenly Father "to bless those who aren't here today that they will be here next week." Elder Bednar said, "That is a sincere prayer, but faithless." He explained that a true prayer of faith requires action on our part. He explained that Heavenly Father wouldn't magically make those people come back, wouldn't send His angels to bring those people back, when He a congregation full of people who have covenanted to do exactly that. He continued by explaining that a prayer of faith would be to tell Heavenly Father that we recognized many of our brothers and sisters weren't there, and that we were going to leave right then to go and get them--that WE were going to do everything to make sure they were with us the next week, even bring them with us. Elder Bednar said that they only we would ask in such a prayer is that Heavenly Father inspires us that "we don't all visit the same person." That, he told us, was a prayer of faith.

My mission president talked with us about that some time later as well. Talked about how we pray before leaving every single day that we can find people prepared to hear the gospel; and then we go through the entire day without talking to anyone and we wonder why we didn't find anyone. Or we say it is because Heavenly Father didn't answer our prayer or that it just wasn't the day to find someone. He then continued on to talk about how great it would be if instead of our families and friends praying that we find those that are prepared to hear the gospel, that they pray that we might be obedient, so that we can have the company of the Holy Ghost and be lead to those who are ready.

Yesterday when my mom said the prayer before dinner, she said something that I say daily, but it just kind of clicked finally. She asked Heavenly Father that He lead and guide us. And I realized something. Why would Heavenly Father not lead and guide us? Why do I always ask Him to lead and guide me as if He weren't going to? I realized that a much better petition would be to ask His help that I might recognize His guiding hand and the voice of the Holy Ghost--that I might have to the courage to follow the course which He is charting for me. I suddenly started to better understand the scripture quoted above. I feel that sometimes we--and especially myself--worry too much about the blessing when we pray and not enough about our own part. We ask Heavenly Father to bless us as though He wouldn't otherwise. And I do feel like we should ask those blessings. But I feel that more important than asking the blessing is that we ask that blessing as a consequence to our "obedience to that law upon which it is predicated." I feel it more important that we pray to recognize the promptings of the Holy Ghost rather than ask that we be guided.

When we just ask the blessing, we turn ourselves into objects to be acted upon. We ask Heavenly to make us an object and drag us through the right path. What He wants is that we be agents, and consciously act and choose to follow the path. Of course He will guide us, but it is more of Him telling us where to step, rather than forcing us to step there. I think that we often don't realize that that is what we are asking Him to do in our prayers--that we ask Him to remove all opportunity for growth. We subconsciously seek for the plan that Lucifer introduced and that we all rejected. It is quite the irony.

Fear and Weaknesses

And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

Ether 12:27

This is another scripture that has taken on new life for me recently. I think many times we turn ourselves into objects (we don't act) because we fear failure. We fear that our weaknesses will inhibit our ability to achieve success. I know that has been a big factor in my own life. Throughout my mission and even more so in just the last few weeks I came to better understand not only this verse, but also this entire passage of scripture that must be examined in its whole to understand that single verse.

As we examine this passage we can see that it is Moroni relating his personal experience of writing the plates. First he expressed his fear that comes because of his weakness in writing. He fears that the Gentiles will mock him and not accept this record that would become so important to their salvation. The Lord promises that the meek will accept his weakness. Moroni is comforted and recognizes that the Lord works according to our faith--which Joseph Smith called a principle of action and power--and prays that the Gentiles will have charity. That Lord responds that it matters not if they have charity for he--Moroni--has been faithful.

Application time. So many times we have something we need to do. A prompting to follow. Maybe it is to share the gospel with someone. Maybe to call a friend. Maybe to stand up for our beliefs. The possibilities are limitless. And what is the first thing we do? We start justifying why we can't complete that task. We fear the Gentiles will not accept us because of our weakness in writing. Or in other words, that they will mock us. We fear that person we will share the gospel with wont accept. We fear our friend will think it weird that we called or be annoyed. We fear that we will be mocked because of the things in which we believe. We let our fears paralyze us. Sometimes we fear that we won't be successful sharing the gospel, that we won't know what to say, or that we are just one in a sea of many. At any rate, we let fear act upon us and turn us into objects rather than being agents.

But that is why what the Lord says before promising that we will make our weaknesses strong so important. In verse 26 the Lord responds to Moroni's fear saying, "Fools mock, but they shall mourn; and my grace is sufficient for the meek, that they shall take no advantage of your weakness." The fools will mock us. Some people won't accept our message. Some will make fun of us because of those things in which we believe. But more importantly, the meek will not take advantage of us because of our weakness. They will accept our humble offering. And they will be blessed. And while today the fools may mock us, one day they will mourn that decision.

And this is what life is really about: learning to overcome our weaknesses through faith in Christ. And that requires that we act. That we step outside our comfort zone. That we do hard things. Or things that are hard to us. And sometimes it may not all work out the way we want it to. But we will be able to say that "[we have] been faithful; wherefore [our] garments shall be made clean" (verse 37).

Complacency

“The purpose of the gospel is … to make bad men good and good men better, and to change human nature.”

President David O. McKay

in Conference Report, Apr. 1954, 26

This is the final way that has really been on my mind lately of how we turn ourselves into objects rather than acting as agents. Something I have noticed in life is how easy it is to become complacent--to become content to be where we are. It is in many ways similar to what I just wrote about; but this time instead of fear paralyzing us and keeping us from acting, we keep ourselves from acting. Again, we don't want to step outside our comfort zone. I think many times we see the power of the Atonement as being relevant to sin. It helps us repent. It helps us fix what we broke. It helps us to become clean again. In other words, it helps "to make bad men good...." But I think sometimes we think that that is as far as we need to go. Sometimes I think that we think that is the extent of the Atonement's power. Or that that is its most power function.

However, the Atonement requires us to step much further than just becoming good. It requires us to become better. It is not enough simply to have "no more disposition to evil," but we must have the disposition "to do good continually." I feel that the greatest power of the atonement isn't to make us clean from sin. That is absolutely necessary, however it would be meaningless if it were not for the Atonement's power to make us perfect. The true power of the Atonement lies in its ability to change human nature. But that change cannot be partial. It cannot simply include the abandoning of sin, but must be composed of the abandoning of sin combined with the adopting of righteous habits and characteristics. And the Atonement helps us to make those part of our life as well. It requires action, or faith. But through its power we can find ourselves becoming more Christlike.

So those have been my recent gospel thoughts. I hope that you were blessed with some inspiration for putting up with my lengthy rambling and jumble of thoughts.

Week One of Summer

Wow, has a whole week already gone by? It seems like it has gone way to fast. Many times throughout the day I think of something I should write a blog post about, but it doesn't ever seem to happen. Just too much going on right now. However today I have a bit of chill time before heading over to institute, so the quick rap up of my first week of summer and who knows what other random thoughts will accompany this post.

My summer couldn't have had a better start as I went and played volleyball last wednesday. I know I always talk about volleyball, but I seriously can't even begin to tell you how much I love it. It has probably been my best experience since getting home from the mission and I have gotten to know lots of new people.

Which already brings me to one of my random thoughts from the last few days. And weeks I guess. I don't know why, but it is so much easier now for me to make new friends. Well, I should say that differently. I know why it is easier: because of the mission. But I mean it is easier for me to make new friends that keep the friendships going from before. I just feel like there is this huge gap that exists between my high school life and my post mission life. I find it fairly easy now to take to new people. But I struggle immensely to carry on a conversation with people I have known and been friends with for years. In a lot of ways I also don't really want anything to do with my "former life." I wish I could keep all my friends but just start those friendships over. Of course there are a lot of memories I would love to keep, but also so many that I would love to get rid of. I guess that is one of the reasons I really like making new friends: I get to start off with a clean slate. It is something that has really helped me understand Pres. Uchtdorf's talk a lot better. Because seriously, the more I feel like this the more I realize how important it is that I let things go and treat others how I would want to be treated and just forget some things.

Work has been going great. We actually already starting talking calls last wednesday and I made a sale that first day. I have made a couple sales since which has been sweet. It is really tough at first but you start getting the hang of it. It is hard to learn all the sales process and the products and remember all that while talking to a customer, but it is starting to come. Today was a bit of a frustrating call. Right now we only spend a few hours on the phone and I didn't get a sale on any of the first five calls I took. And some were just fluke things which makes it even more frustrating. But I finally managed to get a sale on my last call that I took today which was a little moral booster.

Last week was really a pretty quiet one. Saturday was a crazy day though. Got up and did a lot of work in the yard because we were doing a mother's day bbq with my siblings. That was lots of fun to get the family together. After I went and met up with Ali Lindsey for a little and it was really good to see her again. Highlight of the day was heading over to the temple and spending a little time there. It had already been almost three weeks since the last I had gone. It really is just so relaxing to be at the temple. I didn't do baptisms saturday, however I do think that baptisms are my favorite to go and do. After we have been through the temple we seem to forget that we can still do them, but i really think baptisms are my favorite and when I feel the most peace. Yes the celestial room is great, but that doesn't mean the rest of the temple isn't.

Watched Midnight in Paris with my mom on saturday night. Loved all the random people they throw into that movie. I just kept laughing everytime a new author got introduced.

Sunday. Great day as always. Went to Anthony's homecoming. Forgot to mention I visited him on thursday not long after he got home. Oh yeah, and friday went to the reception for one of my best friends. I should add one of the pictures from that. But so sunday. Homecoming. My own ward. Ward prayer. Game night. Not much else to say. Spiritual and social. Can you ask for more?

Monday. Just work and then an awesome fhe activity. Went to the park and played some random games then played ultimate frisbee. It has been a long time since I played. It was great to once again be running up and down the field after that flying disc, jumping over people and diving to catch it.

Other random thoughts. Girls. Yes, girls. So I know all of you girls rant about us guys. Don't deny. I have listened to many of you as you rant about us. So here are a couple of my recent frustrations. And just know that I am totally laughing as I talk about all these things. While they may be frustrating and leave me exasperated, I find them totally ridiculous and worth having a good laugh about.

First. If you are going to talk to me, please, talk to me. I realize that a guy like me--that strong and silent type that is so completely average, not that great looking, balding, and with no sense of style--can be really intimidating to talk to. So I will do you a favor and do everything I can to carry on the conversation if you come and talk to me. I am a lot better at it now than I used to be. But please, don't come and say "hi" to me only to then not say anything, give me one word answers, and just act totally uninterested in the conversation. That you started. By coming up to me. You didn't have to come and talk to me. So don't act like you don't want to talk to me.

And second. If you are going to act like I don't exist, I am going to make it really easy for you. If you want to pretend you don't know me, I won't try and convince you otherwise. If you don't want to acknowledge my presence, I won't try and force myself upon you. But don't act like I don't exist expecting me to try harder. And don't act like I don't exist and then pretend it never happened and be totally fake with me about it later. Seriously. Just be honest. I won't get my feelings hurt.

Anything else on my mind recently? I am sure lots of things but that is everything that really stick outs right now. I am really looking forward to this week. It is already going to be another busy one. Volleyball tomorrow. Thursday is temple day for stake conference. Friday I already have one reception to go to plus anything else that goes on that night. Saturday there is a session of conference to go to. And sunday stake conference itself. And of course, all the other adventures sure to happen in between. Needless to say, I am looking forward to this week.