Fair Dinkum

Revelatory

2011-06-26T17:19:00.001-06:00

There were a number of buzz words that around during my time as a missionary. The one that was around most of my time in Australia was “revelatory”. Revelatory planning, study, in our thoughts regarding those we taught, ect… We were challenged to be revelatory missionaries. A.A.M. missionaries constantly seek revelation for the words they know God has for them to speak.

Then I returned from my mission. I had just come from a good habit of seeking revelation to help others. I expected help and direction because I was a representative of Jesus Christ. But suddenly I was left to myself, or I felt. As most returned missionaries are I was a little disoriented and still am at times. I wasn’t receiving revelation as frequently as I had been. And then the Matthew 7:7 verse came to mind and I realized I must seek revelation to receive it. To be revelatory forever one must seek revelation, seek Gods will.

I also realized I need to still trust in God, that he still will answer my prayers. Still trust in his promises. Understand that he is still anxious to help me, to direct me. To help me develop worthy goals and start down the path of reaching those goals.

Latest Pics from Mt. Gambier

2010-02-27T13:20:00.024-07:00

South Australia border Michael

Fair Dinkum sign with Michael.

Yvonne and John
Kangaroos

Bridge water Coast

Michael and Elder Metekingi

Chinese Tower by Blue Lake with Michael looking on.

View from the Tower at Blue Lake

Michael in helping hands

Michael in a Akubra hat

Michael in a Akabra hat with Brother Blackwell.

Yvonne and Johns baptism with Michael and Elder Metekingi and Bro Maxwell

Michael on Mt Shank

Michael with a possum

Michael and Kapollo

Michael on Elders street

Blue Lake
Michael at Blue Lake
Elder Rea, Elder Metekingi, Michael, and Elder Murphy

Michael in Kingston

Faith In Jesus Christ

2010-01-31T18:15:00.001-07:00

*posted by Michael's sister via an email.

Faith is confidence in something or someone. Faith that leads to Salvation and Eternal Life needs to be centered on Jesus Christ.

Faith in your friends, your family, or even the Prophet will not bring you Salvation...

That being said, faith in others is not a bad thing, but your full confidence should be in Jesus Christ.

Reflect for a moment on your relationship with your Savior. What part in your life does he play?

How close are you currently to Him? Are you striving to grow closer to Him?

May I suggest an exercise? I would invite you to read 3 Nephi 11:14-15 and reflect upon your

relationship with Jesus Christ.

14 Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side,

and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet,

that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth,

and have been slain for the sins of the world.

15 And it came to pass that the multitude went forth, and thrust their

hands into his side, and did feel the prints of the nails in his hands and

in his feet; and this they did do, going forth one by one until they had

all gone forth, and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands,

and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he, of whom it

was written by the prophets, that should come.

Love ya
Michael Kelm

Faith is confidence in something or someone. Faith that leads to Salvation and Eternal Life needs to be centred on Jesus Christ. Faith in your friends, your family, or even the Prophet will not bring you Salvation... That being said, faith in others is not a bad thing, but your full confidence should be in Jesus Christ.

Reflect for a moment on your relationship with your savoir. What part in your life does he play? How close are you currently to Him? Are you striving to grow closer to Him?

May I suggest an exercise? I would invite you to read 3 Nephi 11:14-15 and reflect upon your relationship with Jesus Christ.

14 Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world.

15 And it came to pass that the multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet; and this they did do, going forth one by one until they had all gone forth, and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he, of whom it was written by the prophets, that should come.

Love ya
Michael Kelm

Covenants

2009-12-29T20:48:00.003-07:00

A covenant is a sacred promise man makes with God and in which God makes promises of Blessings. The difference between a promise between a man and a man, and a promise between man and God is that God sets the terms. He chooses what we promise him and he chooses what he promises us. Just like a good parent sets the terms for reward with a child, so does God set the terms for us.

Covenants are not there for God to control us for the sake of His own ego, God is not self-centered. God gives us covenants to safeguard us from what can really damage us. Covenants are the way by which we can return to live with Him.

How do we enter into a covenant with God? In order to make a covenant with God you must preform a sacred ordinance by one that holds authority from God. An ordinance is a symbolic act in which you make those covenants with God.

Why does one have to hold authority from God? Let us reflect on the way God organized the worship in the tabernacle during the times of Moses. There are twelve tribes of Israel. The tribe of Levi had the authority from God to preform all the sacrifical rites that symbolized the Atonement of Jesus Christ. This authority is called the Priesthood, the Authority to act in Gods name.

This authority is not taken upon men of their own accord. It says in Hebrews 5: 4 "And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron". Even when Jesus ordained his apostles he made it clear in John 15: 16 "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you".

To get into the Kingdom of Heaven we must all first believe in Jesus Christ. Have Faith in him and desire to follow him. When we desire to follow him we will repent of our sins, our breaking of God's commandments. Once we do that we will be willing are ready to be Baptized by someone with Authority from God, which is a sacred ordinance in which we make covenants to follow Jesus Christ and leave our old life of sin.

That is not all, we must the receive the Holy Ghost from one that has authority from God. The Holy Ghost is a gift from God that will guide us as we are righteous... Then we endure to the end of our life, continuing to grow.

God restored his Authority, his Priesthood, on the earth again. It was lost after the twelve apostles where killed and has been restored by the prophet Joseph Smith. Today Jesus Christ's true church is on the earth again. The church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints..

Promises

2009-12-13T10:21:00.001-07:00

Message brought to you from Down Under, posted by his sister...

My friend once wrote that "righteous men uphold their promises". Back in a time when the world was more civilized men use to make deals not with paper, but with a simple handshake. There was a sense of honor back then that does not exist today.

Far to often in our day people do not commit to anything, any Idea, or anyone. Instead of men giving their whole heart and means to the woman they cherish, and to God through Marriage, men will far to often leave a cowardly back door with which they can easily run away. This backdoor is found in partnerships. Animals have partners, we are not Animals, we are Sons and Daughters of God. These men and women in these relationships have no true loyalty, no true respect, and are filled with selfishness.

I feel like Nephi when he cried, "if my days could have been in those days, then would my soul, then would my soul have joy in the righteousness of my brethern" (Helaman 7:8). But like Nephi I do not like in days of honor and commitment. Still I can be like Nephi and be in the world, but not of the world. I will do my best to keep my promises and commitments.

I hope we can all be serious in our promises.

Love you all,
Elder Kelm.

What Gods Do

2009-11-23T20:43:00.002-07:00

*emailed to Michael's sister from Australia to post online*

What Gods Do

Moses 1:39 “For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”

What is God’s work and his glory?
His work is focused on allowing man to live forever with him. He wants to bring us from our low and fallen state to His high estate.

Now, after Jesus was crucified he dwelt among His sheep in Jerusalem. Then he left them to go and teach His sheep in the Americas (John 10:16). There is an account during that time that has always made me wonder. Jesus teaches the Nephites the manner they should pray and then commands them to pray. The people do so and are filled with the Holy Ghost. Then Jesus does the following in 3 Nephi 19: 19-21.

19 And it came to pass that Jesus departed out of the midst of them, and went a little way off from them and bowed himself to the earth, and he said:
20 Father, I thank thee that thou hast given the Holy Ghost unto these whom I have chosen; and it is because of their belief in me that I have chosen them out of the world.
21 Father, I pray thee that thou wilt give the Holy Ghost unto all them that shall believe in their words.

I am always touched by this account. I use to be confused as to why our Savior would have to bow down and pray to His Heavenly Father. I could understand why Jesus would pray before he was crucified, because he did not know everything, he was still learning about Himself and his mission. This is shown when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane. In Matthew 26: 39 he prays for the cup to be taken from him if it was God’s will. He did so, because he did not know the weight of our pains and sins till he actually did it.

What I’m trying to say is that I can see why he’d need to pray to God before completing the atonement, because he had not experience everything and needed the Father. But why would he need to pray after the Atonement was complete?

Moses 1:39 helped me understand what Gods do. By praying Jesus was giving glory to God. He was lifting God up even high. Jesus was also praying for the welfare of the people. He prayed for them to be uplifted to a point that they can receive the Holy Ghost.

What do Gods do? They lift up everyone around them higher and higher. They add joy and glory to others through their love.

Take No Offense

2009-11-08T19:32:00.000-07:00

Take No Offense

To be angry and unforgiving is selfishness. To have unconditional love and to forgive is selflessness.

For the life of me I cannot remember when my father told me that being angry is a choice. When somebody wrongs us in any way we have the selfish choice of being reactive and childish or the selfless choice of being proactive and mature. I know for myself that only the selfless choice brings me true joy. Being proactive strengthens my relationships with others and helps me see their deeper needs and fears.

I also know that being selfish only leaves me alone and unhappy. The childish pleasure of reacting does not last, because pleasure does not last, while the joy of growing in love towards others is eternal.

Choose not to be angry.

Who are we the children of? Romans 8: 16 reads, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” We are children of our Heavenly Father. You are a either literally a Son or Daughter of God. Now, often people understand that but ignore what this also means. This means that we are all literally brothers and sister! That man walking down the street is your brother, your brother! Love your siblings…

There are times your brothers and sisters will hurt you. They will do something as small as saying a thoughtless word to deliberately hurting you. Some way or another your brothers and sisters will wound you.

The prophet Nephi was always being mistreated by his older brothers Laman and Lamuel. At one point they had just tied Nephi up and by the power of God he broke the bands that bounded him. His older brothers then became sorrowful for their actions. They pleaded for forgiveness. I love what Nephi did in 1 Nephi 7:21, “And it came to pass that I did frankly forgive them all that they had done.”

I would hope we could all be like Nephi and frankly forgive our brothers and sisters like Nephi forgave his brothers. Forgive right away and choose not to be angry.

Repentance

2009-10-25T18:06:00.001-06:00

Thoughts from Down Under...

Repentance

We change our desire to think, believe, and act against the will of our Heavenly Father.

We are sorry our desires of our heart went against the will of our Heavenly Father. We understand that God’s will and his commandments bring us true joy for oneself and for the world as a whole.

We gain a fresh view of God as a loving Heavenly Father that only has desires for our welfare. God is not a selfish tyrannical leader that wants us to do things for the sake of controlling us for His own pleasure. He gives us commandments to help us towards his goal of “bring[ing] to past the immortality (living forever) and eternal life (The way God lives) of man”(Moses 1:39).

When we repent we turn away from sin and resist any temptation to go against our Father’s loving will.

Repentance is continual, we fall short and sin. Jesus asks us to continually improve and continually soften our hearts, so that we can work towards being like him.

If we are baptized by one who holds proper authority, continue to repent and develop Christ like qualities, then we shall retain a remission of sins and we shall return to our Heavenly Father again.

Fighting with Kangaroo's and other pics

2009-10-22T16:07:00.013-06:00

Fullness of Truth, One Day at a Time

2009-10-18T21:37:00.001-06:00

Michael emailed this to me and asked me to post it. Enjoy....

I find that there are some people that want to know everything about the gospel, about their life, and about themselves right away. Give me everything now is the call of these impatient people.

Others know that we learn line upon line, precept upon precept. These people take what they have been given and slowly savor what they know and make new connections patiently.

Still, there are even those that know that they must learn line upon line, but become frustrated when they don’t seem to be growing and learning at the pace they have decided others are growing at around them.

It is important to know that everything goes according to “[God’s] own time, and in his own way, and according to his own will (D&C 88: 68).”

In a revelation given through the Prophet Joseph Smith at Kirtland, Ohio, in May of 1833, the Lord declared:

“Truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come; …

“The Spirit of truth is of God. … He [Jesus] received a fulness of truth …;

“And no man receiveth a fulness unless he keepeth his commandments.
“He that keepeth his commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things.”

When we keep God’s commandments he blesses us. There are times God doesn’t answer right away, because we are not ready for the answer. I believe as we keep the commandments we are ready for His answers sooner then we would be if we don’t keep his commandments… We can’t learn line upon line if we aren’t following the first line.

I believe it is important to note that we will be continuing to grow our entire life. If we have a complete fullness in this life our faith would be destroyed. And we need to have faith and rely on Jesus Christ to have strength in this life.

We should continue to grow in this life and one day, through Jesus Christ we will be resurrected and receive a fullness of truth.

Who do I love the most and why?

2009-10-11T18:03:00.001-06:00

Every Monday I write an email to my Mission President. Sometimes he sends me questions to answer.

One day he asked me “who do you love the most and why?”

At first I was not sure. I wanted to be honest and ended up writing the following to my Mission President.

I love my God. Like anything love grows, my love for him has grown. The seed started with his word. I learned his commandments and as I follow them I’m happier. It’s the same with any advice, if you see the benefit, then you are thankful to the person that gave you the advice. You love them because they showed their love for you through advice. Then you notice his tender mercies in your life and your love for Him increases. Then you get to the point that your told in blessings that he loves you even beyond your understanding. You feel that love fill your body as those words are spoken by other. Then you eventually get on your knees and ask him if he loves you. This time it’s just you and your Heavenly Father. He lovingly answers yes.

Why? Because he loves me even though he knows of all my faults he still loves me.

More pics of Hackham

2009-08-16T10:56:00.005-06:00

Michael's favorite scripture.

South of the Equator...

2009-08-16T10:49:00.003-06:00

Does water drain the opposite direction? See for yourself...

Tim-Tam

2009-08-16T09:16:00.005-06:00

*Posted by Tamara Kelm

Kangaroo Steak?

2009-08-16T09:12:00.002-06:00

Here ya go folks...Kangaroo Steak!

1st Round of pics

2009-08-16T08:24:00.003-06:00

Staying

2009-07-29T20:54:00.001-06:00

We got transfer calls today. I’ll be in this area with Elder Murphy again for another transfer!! Woot Woot!

This week I went to Peter, Luke, and Carol’s house to teach them about the restoration with Elder Fukofuka. Elder Fukofuka were together because of exchanges. Only Peter was home out of the three when we arrived, which was nice because we got some good one on one time with him.

Peter has two main concerns; he thinks that God no longer calls prophets, and that the Book of Mormon is not of God. He believes that the Bible is the only word of God based on revelations 22:18, which reads, “if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.”

We tried to explain that John meant that man should not alter the words of God. This does not mean he does not speak more words through more prophets. This is evident in the fact that Revelations was not the last book written in the bible. Instead it was just placed last in the Bible. You know, all that jazz.

Well, Peter still was convinced, to him only the King James version of the bible is God’s words. So, we decided to help him come to know that God always calls prophets. We had him go get his Bible and turn with us to Amos chapter 3. We then read versus 1-6 to show that there is order to God’s creations and kingdom. Then we read versus 7 to show that God has always called prophets and will continue to do so.

While reading all three of us noticed that there were differences between our Bible and his Bible. Turns out his that version of the Bible wasn’t even the King James version of the Bible. We than help him understand that that was exactly what John had been warning about. He warned against those that would change his words for the wisdom of men.

We then had a sweet time of helping him recognize the spirit and asked him to pray about some things… I loved the irony of it all. =)

I’m pretty sure I’m going to live in Idaho when I’m done with college and whatnot. I like the look of the State and I like the people there. In fact I’ve met so many elders from Idaho here. I guess Australia needs people from Idaho and people that are from Idaho in heart. I’ll certainly have a good network of Idaho people by the time I return.

I’m already getting a little sick of the EFY music we listen to, but there is hope. Our new Mission President is truly thinking of extending our music library. I hope he allows Disney music… Okay, I must admit that I do enjoy the EFY song “shine the light” and a few others.

I might write more in a bit.

love you,
elder kelm

First Letter from Australia

2009-07-05T19:49:00.000-06:00

Well, the trip was way long and they gave us meals based on Australian time, so it was weird to be woken up at 1:30 to eat chicken. Speaking of the time different I think we're 17 and a half hour ahead of ya'll. The half hour difference is way weird.

When I finally arrived in Adelaide I got off the plane and right there was President Quinn, his wife, and the APs. I didn’t know that the security was less serious in Australia. I didn’t know they could meet me at the gate, no worries though. While making our way to my bags I learned that this was President Quinn’s last day as President of the Adelaide mission and that the new mission president would be coming in later that evening, which makes me wonder why I didn’t just fly with him.

From the airport we drove to the mission office, there I had the privilege of being the last missionary President Quinn had a first interview with. From that interview and all that I’ve learned this last week I know that he is a great man. Yeah, I don’t really know how to explain. He just is truly a man that is lead by the spirit.

After the interview I met my companion Elder Murphy and a group of us when out for lunch, there we had some famous Adelaide pie floater. It’s a type of thick vegetable soup with a meat pie in the middle of it. You put tomato sauce (ketchup) on it and the eat it. It’s sweet as* (Australian phrase).

Then I filled out paperwork, got my bike, bedding, and my Australian drivers licence. After all that was finished we finally drove down to my area Hackham west. Hackham west is a rather poor area in Adelaide. You’ll see kids as young as twelve smoking, hear stories of violence, and see graffiti all over. Also in our area is a more middle class area, this area is so beautiful. I love the small homes and every yard is well kept. Adelaide is beautiful… At the edge of our area there are sheep fields that are so green. I really need to get ya’ll some pictures.

Anyway, we arrived at our flat and quickly dropped off my suitcases. Then we got our bikes (yep, I’m in one of the few areas that don’t have cars in Adelaide, which will help my exercise.) and made our to the Lister house, an older couple that were working with. They were less active and are now doing pretty well; they are working toward being sealed in the temple. Great people, but they’re a bit of a pack rats.

After visiting them and teaching them we went to dinner with two Elder’s, Elder Sevy and Elder Knotson in an area next to ours that have a car. =) We ate at Hungry Jacks, which is basically a Burger King or at least it’s the same company and look. Both of the Elders are legends*. Elder Sevy in particular blows my mind.

After eating we taught a Book of Mormon class at the church for new investigator, new members, and less active members. Elder Sevy taught and he was sweet as*.

Then we finally made it back to the flat, planned the next day, and went to bed. Keep in mind that I was dead tired for the time difference.

My companion Elder Murphy is a good hard working missionary. He follows all the rules and knows how to plan. He knows area so well and he teaches by the spirit. He’s from Idaho and has been out 7 months. He’s starting to gain weight, and has a bit of a belly now. This is because he doesn’t like to exercise in the morning and because he was in Elisabeth for one transfer. In Elisabeth the members feed you tons and basically force you to eat all they give you, scary stuff.

Its sad how many less active people there are in this area. That’s basically what task we’ve been given, to help reactivate the less active and get the members involve. We’re also teaching investigators to be sure, but a lot of the work is with less actives.

I’ve had vegemite and am not a fan, but it’s part of the Australian experience.

On the fourth of July we had a Tea date* with the Fekners. Ann is the only member of that family and we’re working on teaching her husband and children. While at the Tea date they cooked us hot dogs and ribs to make us feel at home. We had America flags, sang American songs, and even lit sparklers. Good times.

I’ve got so much to learn, about the geography of my area so that I can get around, about the scriptures so I can use them while teaching, and so much more. It’s a little overwhelming at times. At least I have a lot of direction from my companion Elder Murphy, Elder Sevy, and the spirit.

I love Australia heaps* and heaps.

Love you all,
Elder Kelm

Stuck at the MTC another week...

2009-06-12T20:41:00.001-06:00

Update-

A group of Elder's have not recieved their VISA's yet. On Monday all of them are going out to other state side missions while they wait on their VISA's and then go to their foreign missions. All of them except Michael. They forgot to put him on that list and so he will have to wait at the MTC for an extra week before he gets to go out to another mission while he waits for his VISA. He called tonight to tell us. I almost didn't answer the phone- the caller ID said "No Data". When I answered it I heard- you are lucky Tamara! I was so confused, I though telemarketer...but wait, how did a telemarketer know my name? It was Michael! I'm glad I didn't hang up. He said to tell everyone hello. Just when he called Devin started to chat on Skype with my parents in Brasil. We put Michael on speaker and they kinda talked but got disconnected. Michael did get to tell his mom- I love you!

He asked me to tell everyone. I add since a missionary probably hates nothing more than being stuck at the MTC, that if you feel so inclined, send him a written letter or package to the MTC. Let me know if you need the address.

Goodnight,

Tamara

You know you're a missionary in the MTC when...

2009-06-08T18:29:00.002-06:00

You Know You're A Missionary At the MTC When...

1.) ...it's 8:30 and you think its getting late

2.) ...mailed homemade cookies arrive in the mail crushed into pieces

3.) ...you constantly wish you had more time for personal study, companion study, and role playing.

4.) ...you get excited about a scripture you've found and just have to tell your companion

5.) ...you end the night still discussing the gospel with your companion and your roommates, and are still enjoying it.

6.)...the singing in sacrament meeting is rather quiet when a good portion of the Elders and Sisters are singing the song.

7.) ...when your roommate got the swine flu!

Elder Michael Wolfgang Kelm

2009-05-30T18:47:00.005-06:00

Posted by Michael's sister...

Heading out the door to the airport...and entering the MTC

It' mission, it's mission time

2009-05-24T16:28:00.001-06:00

Alright, my sister will post my updates from time to time. I'm off.

Car Crash

2009-05-16T13:19:00.001-06:00

Well, I got into a car crash today. It was raining hard and Devin was driving me to work. We were about to go through the light on the intersection of Parmer and Lamar. We were on the far left lane and before the light a new lane starts on the left that is a turning lane. Devin pushed the brakes a little and we hydroplaned into the left turning lane. Devin said, "it won't stop, I can't turn! Boom! We hit the red truck in front of us and they hit a car that hit another car. Our truck was totaled and the truck in front of us was too. Luckily nobody was seriously injured. My head aches a little and I'm sure I'll feel it more tomorrow. Scary stuff.

Temple

2009-05-08T16:54:00.005-06:00

I went to the Temple with my whole family and took out my endowments yesterday. Here are some pictures of us outside the temple afterwords.

Being a Cow

2009-05-05T07:21:00.001-06:00

Once you’ve taken on the mask of a cow you gain some empathy… empathy for mascots, because the Chick-fil-a cow suit I was in for over an hour was way hot. I was sweating more then even would at in the cardio movie room in the gym.

At first it was kind of awkward because there weren’t a lot of people in the store to greet, silently, and once I did that I had nothing to do. After a bit of that I decided to try walking through the drive through and wave to all the people there. Big mistake. Remember, I live in Texas and although it wasn’t as bad as it can get the heat was still pretty bad. I ended up even hotter and with only a few waves from others in return to show for it.

When I entered the store again there were four little kids and their mother that absolutely loved me… or I guess the cow. ^_^ I gave them tons of high fives and hugs, which isn’t something I really ever go around doing, so I kind of had to ignore my bubble. As the cow though it was easier.

Then I took pictures with the family and a couple others. Sadly though, I forgot to bring my camera like I had planned and don’t have a picture for you guys. Oh well, it’s just a cow suit.

The Calm before the storm... the happy storm. =p

2009-04-22T13:28:00.000-06:00

It’s great when things just turn out right. Last week I arrived home on Monday. The next day I drove down to Chick-fil-a to pick up a job application and had a nice chat with my old boss. Later that day I turned in the application and drove over to some store to help my mom stock cards. While stocking I got a call from Chick-fil-a asking me if I could come in the next day and start work. So, by Wednesday I got my old job back, which is nice because I’ll only be in town for five weeks before I head off to the MTC in Provo. Not to mention the hard economic times were in right now. I got really lucky.

As of now I’m just passing the time and counting the days until I enter the MTC. Now, I’m not just spending all of my time working. I’ve been reading the Book of Mormon and plan on finishing it and the New Testament before I leave. I also plan on reading all of the discussions in Preach My Gospel and becoming very familiar with it. For leisure I’m watching the series of Lost and playing the Tales of Symphonia for the Wii.

Oh, I have 35 days left as of now. ^_^

I'm Just Happy

2009-04-16T19:27:00.002-06:00

My grades for my first two semesters. I'm just happy about it is all.

Anxious

2009-04-09T18:53:00.002-06:00

It looks like I can now say that I have a full year of college under my belt. One fourth of my college time has already gone by. It amazes me that so much of it is already over and yet I really haven’t started on my major. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to hit the ground running when I get off my mission.

Really though, my concern isn’t about what happens after my mission, that’d be lame. As of now I’m super excited to go on my mission. I just want this next month and a half to fly by, because nothing in between now and my mission is really all that important. Well, not exactly nothing. I guess it’ll be good for me to have some time to prepare some more for my mission. But still!! I wanna go. =p

The Song

2009-04-03T13:05:00.001-06:00

I love my Adelaide song. ^_^

Seasons

2009-04-03T09:04:00.002-06:00

I love the fact that it'll be winter when I go down to Australia. I'll have just finished up one winter and start up another, but the Australian Winter will be much different. No snow, but plenty of rain, so I'm sure going to miss seeing snow like the fresh snow that is falling today. The crunch of it under my feet is still novel to me and I still enjoy how quiet it gets.

Now, when my mission comes to a close I'll have just finished the summer season in Australia, and will be heading back to an Austin Summer, I think. So, I guess its endless cold followed by endless heat for this guy.

Australia Adelaide Mission (AAM)

2009-03-11T13:02:00.006-06:00

Well, it certainly doesn’t seem right for me not to have written anything about my mission call on my blog, so I’ll have to rectify this inequity. Friday the 13th (oOo) of February I got a call around 10:30am from the head resident telling me that my mission papers had just arrived, and, despite the fact that I was in the library, I loudly told her that I’d be right over. Once I received my papers I ran up to my dorm and locked the door, because I wanted to open my papers alone. I then propped my camera on my chair, said a prayer, turned on the camera, and started to open my papers.

Beforehand I had decided I wanted to read the paper word for word and slowly make my way to the location I would be serving, so I used one piece of paper to cover up the lines. This only cover the paper vertically, so I ended up reading the word Australia before I even got there. Anyway, it was humorous when I got to the name of my mission because I didn’t know how to pronounce Adelaide. I’ll post the video up soon enough.

According to the Adelaide mission site “the mission is mostly focused on the Adelaide city and country areas surrounding it (about 3 hours drive each way)” and that makes up about “90% of the mission”. So, despite the AAM’s immense size I’ll probably don’t have that great of a chance going into the heart of Australia.

Um, more facts I guess. 90 Elders are currently serving in the AAM. General Conferences are held in Australia one month AFTER they're held in America… When I leave from Salt Lake it’ll arrive 2 days later than when I left and I’ll be way tired. Um, so I thought I’d just say a little about where I’m going. I can’t wait!!!

I wanna know

2009-02-10T17:02:00.001-07:00

My papers still haven’t arrived and I’m getting more anxious to see where I’ll be serving for two years. For goodness sakes I almost feel like a little kid the eve before Christmas. I had trouble quieting my thoughts down enough to fall asleep last night, which is what used to happen around birthdays and Christmas time when I was a kid. Then I go throughout today and the time mail arrives comes and goes and I don’t get a call from my head resident. Oh well, it’ll come soon enough.

Horror

2009-02-06T08:22:00.001-07:00

I’ve didn’t watch many horror films before I came to college and now it’s become a fun thing to do with my dorm friends during the weekend. Often we’ll make the experience even better by ordering four medium sixed pizzas that come relatively cheap due to some special. Then we’ll pop some popcorn, get some drinks and settle down to a movie most of my friends have seen, but I haven’t. And on occasion we’ll finish around 1:00am or 2:00am and decided to watch another one, because the first reminded one of my friends of another good movie.

I can’t say really love horror and it’s not all we watch, but I think it’s nice to have been able to delve into the genre a little. That and it’s totally a good guys experience in the dorms, in college.

Beginning of semester two

2009-01-26T08:08:00.002-07:00

It isn't quite the same this semester as it was last semester. For one the weather is much colder and snow abounds. For another I miss many of my Fall semester friends that aren't here this semester. Our group of eight guys has shrunken down to four. And it is more like three when Colin spends all his time in classes, studying, and visiting tons of girls. Oh well, more power to him. =) oh, how rude of me. Nate's friend is here this semester and is his roommate. He's pretty cool and he's incorporated into the group. But still it feels small in comparison to last semester.

This isn't a bad semester though. I've gotten a fairly good start on much harder classes and the snow does add a new element of fun. When the snow is good Nate, Tyler, Chris (Nate's roommate), and I go snow skating and sledding. I'll never be good at snow skating and neither will my friends, but it is rather enjoyable to try. Here's hoping I don't break my leg the semester.

Emily is also here this semester and she is in my Book of Mormon class, which is fairly entertaining. And after class I get to walk her to her next class, which I do enjoy. We also have started to workout at the gym together and have gone on several double dates with the help of her roommate Amy. But finding date ideas here in Rexburg is very difficult, especially when you have no access to a car.

Anyway, I'll try to post more blogs more often.

facial hair

2009-01-02T10:36:00.004-07:00

Since I can't have facial hair at BYU-I and I'll be going on my mission after that I decided to grow mine out for a week. I know it isn't much and I didn't let it grow for very long, but I thought I should at least take some pictures of the results.

It seems like my hair grows like my dad's. I have patches of hair that really doesn't grow and it's the same with dad's. Oh well, it's not like I would ever seriously want facial hair.

Home

2008-12-18T11:28:00.000-07:00

It’s good to be back in Austin again and it’s nice to eat free food again too. Oh how I’ve looked forward to home cooked meals, because ramen and pop tarts can only satisfy one so much.
Since I’ve gotten back I’ve had the chance to see some of my high school friends again and surprisingly enough none of them changed much appearance wise. I expected them to all dress differently, have beards, and have their ears pierced. Not that I want them to look weird like that, but I just kind of thought they would. Anyway, it was nice to see them again and go rock climbing with them.
I’ve also seen some of my church friends again this week. On Sunday I was able to finally see Emily and Jarom again. And later that night I went to a game night dealy with them and had fun being around them again. Then Tuesday night I took Emily to the trial of lights and we’ve decided to get back together. Woot, woot!
This break is also a break in which I started working on my mission papers. I’ve finished almost all the paperwork on my end and have finished with the medical side of things. All I need to do now is go to my dentist today and take a picture of me in a suit. After that the paperwork on my end is about done.

Two more weeks!

2008-12-01T11:35:00.002-07:00

Well, I only have two more weeks of school left and then I'm finished with my first Fall semester here at BYU-I. I sat down this morning and plotted and scheduled out my last few weeks here. I now know what I need to study and how much time I need to spend on each class. It's a daunting task, but the grade report of a 90.8 in my Humanities class has given me enough positive pressure to push through this last stretch.

I can't wait till I come home and eat some home cooked meals. As of right now I eat basically eat the same thing every day. It varies a little, but the selection I have is limited. I also can't wait to see Emily and Jarom. I'm looking forward to seeing them the most.

Random

2008-11-25T09:52:00.002-07:00

I’ve really enjoyed coming down to Provo and visiting the Princes so far. At least that’s what Devin says I’m doing. I like how random and spastic they tend to be. Paula will mention she wants to go to Target to buy some shoes and the next thing you know a group of us is off to Target. Paula also really does seem to treat all the guys here as her little boy toys. “Devin, you want to give me ice cream, right”? The next thing you know Paula’s got a bowl of ice cream… sorry to point out all of this Paula, but it’s funny to me... Yay, doctor Mario!

Thanksgiving

2008-11-21T11:44:00.001-07:00

Already my first semester seems to be coming to a close. I'm going down to Kaysville with some of my friends later today and then late tonight I'll make it down to Provo. It'll be interesting to spend my Thanksgiving week down in Utah with Devin family. It'll be the first time I've ever had Thanksgiving at Grandma's and It'll be the first time I've left Rexburg this entire semester. I so want to get out of this boring town for a change! I miss driving around in Devin's red car... Oh well, after Thanksgiving week I'll only have two weeks of classes left and then I'm on a plane home, which is good but some of my friends here don't have Winter semester. It'll be a bummer seeing them go.

Schedule

2008-11-15T10:22:00.002-07:00

It took me a long time and countless revisions, but I finally got my schedule together for my next semester. A special thanks must go out for Emily keeping me company on the phone as I first signed up for classes. =)

FDINT 202 _T_T 7:45-8:45am (The Developing World)
FDSCI 202 _T_T 9:00-10:00am (Issues in Global Climate Change)
FDREL 122 _T_T 10:15-11:15am (BOOK OF MORMON)
FDSCI 206 M_W_F 10:15-11:15am (Light & Sound: The Science of Vision & Hearing)
B 275 M_W_F 11:30-12:30pm (Business Law and the Legal Environment)
FDCOM 201 M_W_ 2:00-3:00pm (FOUNDATIONS PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION)

Ultimate!

2008-11-08T12:04:00.003-07:00

ugh! Only six people showed up to yesterday's Ultimate Frisbee game and you need seven to play, so we played six on six. The other team had 13 players on their team, so needless to say we lost the game, but we were still able to put up a good fight without any subs.

The tournament started today and it's single elimination and once again only six people showed up for the game. Despite this major disadvantage the game was a close game. At half time they were only up by one point and the end score was 12 to 15. Oh well, the season is now over for me.

I'm disappointed in my teammates that basically quit the week before the tournament. They signed up for competitive Ultimate Frisbee and should have taken the games more seriously. That's what the competitive league is for... Us guys that showed up to the game are going to have a party this Tuesday when practices usually would be held. I really look forward to it.

Protein shakes... yum?

2008-11-07T07:26:00.001-07:00

It looks like it's finally time for the Ultimate Frisbee tournament. I have a normal game today at 7:00pm and then tomorrow the tournament begins at 9:00am. I'm totally stoked for these games. We Hawks are going to kick some tail!

I got another update in my life for ya. My friends and I bought some protein shake mix at Wal-mart the other day and we're starting to get a bit Sirius about our work outs. As Tyler would say "I'm going to be huge!" But in reality I'm mostly doing it as a social thing, though I suppose being fit and looking nice for the ladies is a plus too. =p

Halloween

2008-11-01T13:32:00.001-06:00

Well, Halloween night started with no real plans for the my group of friends and I. After a while we almost watched The Village down stairs in the lounge, but Amy called Adam and invited us to trick-or-treating with them. Now I know I'm to old for it and that its somewhat rude, but I wanted to be apart of the crew and decided to go with them. I at least I didn't really go up to the houses to get candy much. I liked to think of myself as a parental unit last night. jk.

After our hunting out we went back to the girls dorms. The girls counted their loot and then we took group picture. Which reminds me, I didn't really dress up for Halloween. I just wore my nifty hat for fun.

Anyway, after leaving the girls dorms us guys decided to go to a warehouse dance that was near by. Lets just say it wasn't a Mormon dance... Yeah, it's sad that girls use Halloween as an excuse to dress immodestly. Soon enough we left the dance.

We got back to the dorm around 1:30 and did not quite want to go to bed, so Noah got The Village from down stairs and we stayed up till 3:30 watching it. Then this morning I had a Ultimate Frisbee game at 9:00am... Which I lost.

19

2008-10-24T21:30:00.001-06:00

Well, it looks like I'm going to turn nineteen tomorrow if I make it till then. Who knows, I may have some freak accident and break my neck before then. =) If I do survive long enough I'll turn nineteen during my Ultimate Frisbee game. What adds more to my joy is the fact that I'll get to miss some boring mission prep class because of the game. woot woot!

I think this weekend will go a lot slower then most of my weekends. A few of the guys I know went down to Provo for the weekend and the rest of us really don't have any plans so far. I would try to set up a date, but I really have no desire to do something on campus. It really does hinder a guy date wise not to have any access to a car... I did in fact go to a The Caucasian Chalk Circle last night as group assignment for my Humanities class. I really like plays. They're a lot like movies in that you can't really discuss them till they're over, but I may try to find some girl that likes plays and take her to one some time. Anyway, those are some ideas running through my head right now, so there you go.

I'm also thinking about messing with my hair style a little bit. I went to the temple and did baptisms for the dead the other day and saw myself in the mirror as I started to dry off. My bangs were completely pushed back and I had never really seen my hair like that before. It was rather interesting. Then at the play I was sitting next to a couple of my group members and two of the girls asked me if I have ever gelled my hair like this one guy in the front row. I said no and that I really never have done anything to it. They told me I should experiment with it and I might. Of course these are just random thoughts that are going through my head right now.

Busy Bee

2008-10-15T07:39:00.001-06:00

Mondays and Tuesdays are my busiest days of the week. On Mondays I have classes till 3:00pm, then I study till 6:20pm, go to fhe, and then come back to the dorms to study some more. On Tuesdays I have class till 1:45pm, I then go to devotional from 2:00-3:00pm, practice Ultimate Frisbee from 3:15pm till 4:45ish, eat dinner, meet with my science group, and then finally get back to my dorm to study.

I don't mind the busy days much, but I would mind if I had a schedule like that every day of the week. So all in all I'm happily busy.

Snow

2008-10-10T07:44:00.000-06:00

According to popular Intel Rexburg is going to get some snow either today or early tomorrow. In fact I saw a couple of flakes at 4:00pm yesterday. This news brings forth both excitement and dread to us residents. I look forward to seeing and playing with the fresh snow, but I also think it’s already cold enough. Oh well, it looks like I’ll be buying long johns or thermal underwear this weekend.

Speaking of the weekend, I have an ultimate Frisbee game at 9:00am Saturday. Like the snow I both look forward to it and don’t. I don’t have any sweats to wear under my shorts yet, so I’m going to be uber cold throughout the game. On the other hand my team, the Hawks, is playing some team that has two of my dorm friends on it. I truly look forward to crushing both of them.

I guess everything revolves around it being cold for right now, because I think I’m going to stop going to the gym early in the morning when the snow hits. I don’t know it’s worth the effort to get to the gym. However, I will still go to the gym during the day regularly.

Curfew is not a battlefeild.

2008-10-07T11:44:00.003-06:00

Attention Biddulph Hall Resident:

Recently we have had issues with students staying out past curfew for reasons not condoned by the church or university. If you are a part of this group please understand that even though “no one is checking” the Lord knows the intents of your heart and it is not worth selling your soul for an extra thirty minutes of play time.

If you are aware of a roommate or neighbor that is having a hard time adhering to the honor code, please talk to him directly letting him know that you are concerned for his spiritual well being. If the situation doesn’t improve, or if there is a major concern, please discuss the issue with your student living coordinator, your bishop, with me, or you can talk to the honor office directly.

The following is from a devotional given by President Clark titled The Strategies of the Enemy: “The Enemy has spread fear of getting involved when someone is in trouble. The Enemy whispers, ‘Don’t get involved; it’s not your problem. Don’t tell; you will be a tattletale.’ You don’t need to be a more “righteous-than-thou” person. We are all sinners. We all have troubles. We have all been wounded spiritually. But you who have felt the redeeming power of Christ, you who know His love and His grace, you know He can heal all wounds. If you reach out in a spirit of love and humility, you can help the spiritually wounded find the Savior. If you need to, call for the medics: talk to your bishop, call the Dean of Students, tell someone who can do something that you have a friend in trouble. Don’t be silent. Don’t leave the wounded on the battlefield!”

Do I really even need to explain how silly this is?

96

2008-10-06T15:20:00.002-06:00

Yay, Michael is very happy! I've been worried about my pre-calculus for some time now and last week we took our first test. The test was over a ton of content and only ten questions, also it was worth like 10% of my grade. Scary. Needless to say I studied a whole lot for a week. Anyway, today in class he handed us back our tests and I made a 96. Woot! It just goes to show you kids out there that studying helps. That and energy drinks. jk

First Game

2008-09-27T10:34:00.001-06:00

My first game of Ultimate Frisbee was intense. The games are 70 minutes long and there are two halves. We had 11 guys on our team and they had 13 guys on their team. Seven players are on the field per team at one time. Every two scores the four guys resting would sub in for the four tired guys on our team. Get the idea?

Ultimate is so much more tiring then even soccer and it's much more fun to play. Within the first ten minutes of the game we were losing 3 to 1 and then by the end of the first half we were losing 7 to three. After regrouping and some constructive criticism the second half was our game. With five minutes to go the game was tied 9 to 9. We managed to stop them several times within feet of the in zone, but eventually we were overpowered and they scored.

So we lost, oh well. It was still a darn good game though. Talk about a workout. =)

Ultimate Frisbee

2008-09-21T14:21:00.000-06:00

Adam, Colin, Tyler, and I decided to go to Ultimate Frisbee try outs Friday. I almost wasn't able to go due to the fact that I was doing laundry when I found out. Luckily for me Joesph was kind enough to take my close out of the dryer for me. I'm going to be on the Hawks and I have practice Tuesday after devotional and Thursday at 3:00pm. I don't know if any of my friends are on my team but it should be fun regardless.

Today was the first really cold day here in Rexburg and soon it will get worse. Man alive do I need a scarf.

Racquetball

2008-09-13T18:24:00.001-06:00

I’m exhausted as of now. After dutifully studying a couple of my subjects and a visit to the library I went to the gym with some of my friends. Most of us in the group don’t really know how to work out with weights, so the Colin and Adam (the two who do know how to work out) showed us some basic work outs to try. Once we were all pumped up we decided to go swimming, but we went to exercise instead of for leisure. Colin was on the swimming team at his school and he led us in some laps. Colin looks like a somewhat overweight guy, but don’t be fooled. He’s incredibly strong and
could swim so much longer than the rest of us.

By the time we were done swimming it was three and boy were we hungry. The pizza place was the only one open, so we headed over for a slice. The food made almost everybody tired and sleep and everybody but Adam and I went back to the dorms. Adam and I still had energy, so we rented some racquetball and played racquetball for one and a half hours. Of the games we played Adam won them all. I still enjoyed it though.

Tonight there is a dance in the fields on the other side of campus and I don’t feel like going. We’ll see though I guess.

Week 1

2008-09-11T07:48:00.002-06:00

It's been one week and already is seems like I've been here for ages. I've only gone through three days of classes for goodness sake. On top of that I haven't even done and laundry yet, though I plan on taking care of that today. Yay twenty dollars worth of quarters my parents gave me!

The guys in my dorm are okay enough. This morning at 5:45am we went to the gym and run on the treadmill for 30 minutes or so. Adam goes every morning and I'm thinking about doing the same. We'll see though, because most people think they will but can't commit. Friday we're going to go rent rackets and play racket ball at the Hart center and maybe even Saturday too.

Just so y'all can have random names the guys on my floor are Adam, Austin, Tyler, Josh, Colin, Nathan, Joesph, and Noah. We rock and the ladies know it.

A little slice of life

2008-09-07T17:22:00.000-06:00

At the end of the Get Connected there is what's called I-night. They have all sorts of fun things set up. Like Laser tag, wheel chair basketball, sumo wrestling. Just tons of activities. Anyway, my roommate and I didn't just want to go to I-night alone so we called up Emily tillo and asked if we could join her and the girls in her apartment. Then when we were about to leave we ran into all the guys in our I-team and they joined us. We all ended up picking up the girls that were in our I-team. When we got there there were about 25 of us. From there we split up into smaller groups. I went with Lisa, Alora and Tyler. My roommate josh went with some other group.

Lisa, Alora, Tyler, and I rode a mechanical bull (which throw me off the padding and onto the cement), rock climbed, skated, got in some weird NASA spinning thing, and rode a two person bike. While waiting in line for the NASA thing we play all sorts of social games. We even went by turn and name animals be the ABC's and had to remember the previous animal's.

It was way fun and I got to meet a lot of people. =)

Single

2008-08-28T05:04:00.000-06:00

As planned, yes I know the fact that we planned it is a little weird; Emily and I have broken up. Four months is to long for a long distance relationship and it'll be four months before Emily comes up to BYU Idaho as well, so we decided to break up or at least put things on hold… A good friend of mine told me that I need to "taste" the "31 flavors" and I'm taking that advice.

I've learned a lot from my first relationship with Emily… I still Love Emily but this isn't what's in the cards of life for now. It's time to focus on having some fun (not that being with Emily wasn't enjoyable), lots of college study, and tons of mission preparation.

Packed

2008-08-25T17:31:00.002-06:00

I've only got a couple of days left and I'm leaving hot, humid Texas. Due to my future lack of Texas, and my Texan friends, Jarom, Paula, Emily and I played Conspiracy at Emily's house as a last little hurrah. I'm really glad Jarom told me to try and set up something to do together. I'm going to miss all three of them very much.

Afterwards took all of my close and personal items and dumped them all in the middle of the living room. Devin had packed the day before so I decided to pack as well. It took a lot of shifting and weighing, but I finally got every thing together.

So I'm all packed and ready to go! woot!

Alumni

2008-08-15T10:26:00.000-06:00

There is a tradition in the Connally Band to allow the band seniors to go up to the roof and watch the band perform that years show for them despite all the holes the senior members leave. Two years ago a senior’s kneecap popped out while up there, so the tradition was crush for my senior year. We got to watch them from the stadium, which isn’t the same. =/

But today I went and watched the band learn new charts and near the end some techs and I were allowed on the roof and watch the band perform the first movement. The band sounded really good for what stage they’re at and I can tell that their show is going to be awesome. I even enjoyed the color guard’s contribution to the show. Which honestly is always a little questionable to me.

Picture Collecting

2008-08-14T15:10:00.002-06:00

For a while now I’ve wanted to have a picture of me at various locations around Austin. Places I’ve seen all my life and am going to be without for a while. The problem though was that I don’t have my camera because it’s in the shop getting fixed. So I just gave up on the whole idea. Then Emily and I made a day available to go out on a date and it feel on me as the guy to come up with a date idea. After a couple of days of thinking I came up with a date that involve all those pictures I wanted.

Since I’m basically stuck at home until work or just plain stuck on non-work days Emily picked me up and did all the driving. It was a nice change to have her as the driver, because I got to experience her driving habits like she’s gotten to experience mine.

Our plan was to drive into down town Austin and drop her car off at the institute, but when we got there the code for the parking lot didn’t work. I called Devin and asked him to repeat the code again just to make sure I hadn’t heard wrong. Still no go, so I went inside the institute and got them to help me open the parking lot. After that exciting beginning we walked all the way to the UT clock tower. Once there we kind of timidly waited till I finally stopped an officer and asked him if he’d take a picture of Emily and I in front of the tower. He kindly took the picture and it turn out right with just one try.

From the UT tower we walked to the Texas State History Museum. At the museum I went inside and asked an old man if he’d take a picture of Emily and I in front of the Star that’s in front of the building. Both pictures the man took turned out just fine. Then we continued walking in the hot, humid, horrible Texas summer heat.

Our next destination was the statue of the UT Longhorn in front of the Erwin Center. I was a little worried that there wouldn’t be anyone around to take our picture, but we lucked out and a man happened to be passing by right as we got to the longhorn. He kindly acted upon our request and took a picture of the two of us. This ended the picture taking in down town Austin, but it wasn’t the end of the picture taking. It was in fact the beginning of a long walk back to the car at the institute.

Once in the car I gave poor directions that eventually got us to Zilker Park. Emily and I had had a canoeing date there once so we went down to the little rent-a-canoe place and had the man there take a picture of the two of us. He was kind of into taking the picture and wanted to have the right lighting. Rather humorous really. On the way back to the car Emily wasn’t paying attention to where she was going and happened to be a bodies length in front of me. Some bikes were passing by and she just kept walking. I reached out to grab her, but she was to far away and just barely got missed. It scared me for a second there.

From Zilker Park we took Mopac all the way down to an Amy’s ice cream we’ve gone to as part of other dates. Emily wanted have pictures taken in one of those picture booth things and there just happens to be one in that Amy’s ice cream. The first picture took us by surprise but the last three were good… Behind the Amy’s ice cream there is a bunch of trees and some stone cow’s that people like to sit on and take picture. I asked some teenage girls to take our picture and the picture turned out alright enough.

From Amy’s we drove down to the pond by the church and took a few pictures by the pond using the timed feature on the camera. Then from the pond we drove to the church and took some picture inside the building and some outside by the trees in the back. Thus ended the picture taking part of the date. ;)

From the church we started our way back to my house. Along the way we stopped at a Whataburger and went through the drive through. Once home we ate, chatted, and then parted ways as Emily drove on home.

Good date, good pictures, good memories.

scramble

2008-08-12T08:36:00.001-06:00

As this summer comes to a close I keep getting busier and busier as the time clicks down. Speaking of busier, my hours went up this we for work as well, which makes me happy. I mean who doesn’t want more money? What makes me so busy is my work, of course, dates with Emily, a movie with the Fam, and a trip to Main Event with a lot of school friends this week. Following this week I’ll need to make sure I’ve gotten together all the little things for school and spend time with Emily… got to be with her as long as I can =)

I’m stoked for college though. I’m ready for this next transition in my life. That and I’m sick of this dang Texas heat.

Long Hours of Church

2008-08-03T20:22:00.000-06:00

I went and got his patriarchal blessing this afternoon from Patriarch Dwayne P Wright. It was a good experience and a lot was given in his blessing. It will be nice to get a copy to read. Then at the stake Priesthood meeting this evening I was sustained as an Elder and will set apart next Sunday.

That's all I got to say on the matter.

Sand Box

2008-07-26T15:40:00.000-06:00

My Dad has wanted a shed in the backyard for years and years now, but has never been able to bring himself to purchase an over priced shed. Well, today he took the first step to getting a shed. Early this morning my he borrowed three wheelbarrows and put his boys to work. Dad, Devin, and I took the sand out of our old sandbox and took it it a neighbor that needed it for some project.

There goes my childhood sandbox. I guess things are just changing mood in my life. I had plenty of good times in that mosquito infested box... oh well, at least moving the sand was a good workout for my lower back.

Chick-fil-a

2008-07-25T09:36:00.000-06:00

Working at chick-fil-a this summer has been.. interesting to say the least. My coworkers have all been rather nice and helpful and I respect the company, and that's not even including the fact that chick-fil-a isn't open on Sundays. That fact alone has been beneficial to this Mormon boy.

I work the night shifts from around 3:30 (it varies) to 10:30 typically four days a week, then they usually give me a lame four hour day as well. This means I'm not quite getting all the hours I'd like to be getting, but there isn't much I can do about it this late in the game. It's to late to get another job with the summer quickly coming to a close... oh well

As far as the food goes I'm completely sick of it. During our breaks we're allowed to order some of the items on the menu for free, but I just can't stand it any longer. Therefore I'm going to start bring food from home because I just wasn't made to eat fast food every work day. Regardless of chick-fil-a's marketing, I really have been in the mood for some hamburgers. I'd be happy to "eat more" cow. =)

Storage

2008-07-24T20:18:00.001-06:00

In face of the fact that I'll be moving out and going to college soon, I've spent the last while organizing my possessions. I have now thrown away a huge chunk of my childish past and what remains will either go with me to school or go into the attic. I've even filled two containers full of stuff this week, but I hit a stopping point the other day. After boxing up the majority of my legos I've come to my favorite sets that probably will never be made again due to the many missing pieces... Oh well, I guess I'll just wait till my leaving time gets nearer before I crush the old sets.

Trying it out

2008-07-24T15:41:00.000-06:00

I think I'll blog randomly and posting things on my blog for the rest of the summer and then tell others about my blog. It'll give ya'll something to read once I'm gone and it'll be a way for me to tell ya'll how things are going up in Idaho.

I also feel weird about making a blog the day I find out my girlfriend Emily has one, but I've wanted a blog sense Devin started helping his boss make one, so it's not really copying is it?