Weekly report

Friday October 17th I spoke at our institute soup and the spirit. It went well, I think. I know I felt the Spirit and hope that others did too. I used a lot of quotes from one of my favorite talks by Elder Jeffery R. Holland it is a CES talk entitled Terror, Triumph, and a Wedding Feast. It is amazing. If you have never read it you should! He talks about how; yes, there is terror in the Latter Days but we are Saints who know that we will Triumph and that ever other dispensation knew we would triumph too. He says that they need us to be successful so they can count themselves successful. He concludes by saying that when the Savior comes we the members of the church of the Lamb of God will turn the kingdom over to the Lamb of God and that we ,who are doing what we are supposed to be doing, will all be invited to the wedding feast.

Saturday I met some friends for pizza at a local favorite called Moose Tooth. It was soo yummy. My two new friends (blessings for reals) are Charlotte and Lisa. They are amazing girls. So hospitable they let me crash at their place anytime. They have done some amazing things in their lives helping each other and serving their families through some hard times. They inspire me.

Sunday we had some wonderful speakers from the High Council. They spoke on service...and how when we serve others our selfish desires diminish and the divine with in us grows. It was great. Monday night I was asked to speak to the Yellow family and I gave the same message about hope in the last days..well I tweaked it a little. Then we played the sign game. It was so much fun. I love the sign game especially playing with my brothers they are so funny sneaking around the person in the middle.

Wednesday night at Institute we talked about the Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith. We looked at some of his books and talked about how much time he must have put in to know and understand so much. People think that others just come by knowledge naturally while they might have some unique talent for remembering things: they still have to learn them in the first place. He was an amazing prophet who truly knew the doctrine of the kingdom and would have no problem helping anyone with any problem by opening the scriptures and teaching directly from them. The word of God is so powerful. I know that the scriptures bring such hope, love, and joy to my life as I read how willing our Father in Heaven is to help us in our weakness to overcome our weaknesses. I borrowed the Emma Smith movie from the Institute and watched it. It was pretty good. She and Joseph went through some ridiculously hard times. I can not imagine loosing all those sweet babies. How grateful we all should be for the principle of compensation as Elder Wirthlin taught about in General Conference. Knowing that every tear cried will be replaced a hundredfold with tears of rejoicing keeps me moving on...doing my best to just be"good."

The movie made me miss my own family like crazy. I'd give anything for a Jared hug, a Coley kiss, a good laugh with mom and neeners and the girls, a signing time video with Jacob, to hear daddy and Spencer play together, ...Christmas is coming soon. =0) Because of Christ I know I'll be with these guys forever.

Thursday one of my students had a major physical blow out. Completely destroyed my room. It was nuts-o I am glad the other students were at PE. I hate it when that happens because I feel like there is always something more or different I can / could have done...even though I probably couldn't in some situations it is just going to happen. Plus all that adrenaline is hard to get rid of.

We are studying wind and energy in science right now and one of my students made me laugh so hard. We were blowing bubbles and I asked the class what direction the bubble were blowing and there were "up, down, left, right, north, and some souths, and then ....his reply was "...towards me." He is like a 10 year old kindergartner. He is so darn cute. They all are. It really baffles me to realize how easily it is to love others you have only known for a short while. Whether they are kids in my class or part of the summer YSA's that I only knew for a few precious months...I love them like I do people I have known my entire life. Love is a beautiful gift.

Our school started a biggest looser competition and I hope to be a fierce competitor. I joined our local YMCA it has a saline pool I had never heard of such a thing...... no worries I have no plans of getting in it ...... for awhile anyways besides I would not share my secrets strategy with them. --those eggs were a lie stephen..a lie =0)

Today is one of my friends Birthdays and we are all going out to celebrate. It should be a lot of fun I am really looking forward to spending time with some of the young singles. We have good times when we get together. Nicole is amazing she is in the air force and her husband in the arm. He is in Virgina and she is here and they don't know when they will get to be reunited. She is always smiling and happy though making me thankful for what I got here and now...on that note y'all have a great weekend. Love ya!

Oh, the October Ensign has a great article (for any political junkies) on Abortion by Elder Nelson. I have friends who try to say that the church supports choice and agency and so then we should be pro-choice....read the article! While Elder Nelson does not make the connection that the Church does not support abortion and should not support a candidate who does. I will. Was it a coincidence that that article came out in October before election time? I think not but that is just my speculation. It is crazy to support a candidate who would "not want to punish his daughters if they make a mistake." Sorry if this if offensive... I couldn't resist putting that out there.