Logan... Part II

Ok Now that I am more coherent, I will update more about the Logan trip for those who don't know.
I got up there Friday night and Whitney and I went to the USU hockey game against Denver, and USU totally dominated, and it was fun to watch, despite the delay for an injury, but that wasn't too bad because we just talked, which is one of my new favorite things I have decided. I like to have a good involving conversation, which is funny because I usually don't like to talk that much. I am more of a listener. Even when it is around people I am comfortable around. If there is a group of people talking and telling stories, I like to just sit back and take it all in, and I am content at that. I know, I'm weird. But I think I'm getting better at that.
Anyhoo.
Back to Logan.
We also watched Star Trek which was sweet. I really liked that movie. You don't even have to be a "trekkie" to enjoy it. (Although I am a pretty big nerd myself.)
Saturday Whitney had a conference thingy for her ASL stuff all day long, so I slept in while Logan donated plasma(I should try this) and when he got back we went to lunch at a pizza place called the Firehouse, and I really enjoyed it. Except my stomach was not feeling so hot (probably the result of a late Taco Bell trip...) and we went back to his apartment so he could study, and I went to the Logan Temple. I really had a good time there. I liked that temple a lot. It is a little different. It makes me wish I could have seen it as it was before the remodeling. But it was really good. As I was walking back to my car I ran into Jerry and Judy Labrum and their son Trevor with either his wife or girlfriend or whatever, I have no idea. It was a really fun surprise and coincidence. They were looking for the Baptistry, but I had no idea where that was, so I was no help. But it was really fun to see them again.
The last event of the day was the basketball game against Wichita State. It was intense!! The students go crazy in the Spectrum. I loved it.
This was my favorite part of the game:

Sunday was funny because Logan's ward starts at 9:30 so I was awake for when he was getting ready but I fell asleep when he left, and didn't get up until 12:25. I had combined with Whitney to meet her at like 12:15 to go to her ward, so I hurried and ran in the shower and got ready ran to the church in less than 20 minutes from when I woke up (shower and all). The best part is that my phone battery was dead so there was no way of Whitney calling me or vice versa. But I made it.
We had a dinner thing after with her ward, and finished the night off with the annual Joseph Smith Restoration fireside with Elder Hales, which was really really good. I got a lot of good things from it.
I will close with a few of the things that he said that stuck out to me.

There are many times when we need to turn to God for help but Satan tries to do all he can to stop that from happening. We must remember just one thing: Light and darkness cannot occupy the same place at the same time.

The great work of God moves forward despite trials!

When a family member or someone else close to us is sick or struggling, or needs help, we must know that it is for our benefit and learning as well as theirs. (he then told a story about when his mother was really sick when he was the Presiding Bishop. She asked him why this was happening to her, and he replied that maybe it was to give her more patience. She said: "I already have mine. Do you?")

So maybe a family tragedy or emergency, etc. could be more for our own benefit than theirs.

We need to record our testimonies and spiritual experiences in journals for our posterity to read.

"God hath made broad shoulders for the burden. We rejoice in our tribulations." -Joseph Smith

Logan... Part I

I'm too tired to talk about my weekend, so here are a few photos. I will explain more tomorrow. The end.

This is my aforementioned Temple attire reenacted. Yes, I am awesome.



Logan Temple

New shirt and stuff

Well I have been a real slacker at writing lately but thats ok. Things have been going pretty good since I last wrote. Valentines was really good. I Had a really good time with Whitney even though she was worn out from selling cookies all day. She gave me my favorite movie of all time, "The Sting". I always was trying to find it at home and the movie places and it never worked out, so we watched it, and it was awesome. I love it.
I went to the Jordan River temple on Saturday with Logan. He came down from Logan for the day, and we met up and went. We made it all the way there and we were changing in the parking lot, and I realized I brought my suit, but no white shirt! Logan was wearing a red flannel looking button up shirt, so I put that on under my suit and threw on my blue tie. It was hideous, and I was super embarrassed to even go into the temple like that. But it worked out. I had a really good experience there actually, and the thought came into my head that the Lord didn't care what shirt I was wearing, as long as I was there. That made me feel a lot better. I need to go to the temple more often. Its so amazing. I wish I had a picture of the outfit though. Logan told me that I looked like a cheap used car salesman. I thought it was really funny.
I took my huge Art History test yesterday (Tuesday) and it was INTENSE!! I spent the whole day studying, and luckily my teacher cancelled class because she was sick, so that gave me more time to study. I was studying from 7 am until I took the test (with a brief food break) at 6:00. I took a Chemistry quiz first, and then my test and I didnt leave there until 9:00. It was really hard, and a lot of writing, but I think that I did a pretty good job. I at least got all the identifications right ( name date title etc) but that was only a third of the test so we'll see how the essays went in two weeks. But I feel pretty good about it.
Today I went to the mall with Derek and Collin and I bought this sweet Jazz shirt. I have been wanting one for some time now, and I finally found the right size. I am really proud of it, so here is a picture of it.

"...and [Troy] hath chosen that good part..."

So I had a pretty cool experience today in between classes. My Business class got out early, and I went upstairs in the student center to study a bit. I got out my folder to start studying for my Art History test (I will take it Tuesday I think.) but I remembered that I hadn't read any of the talks in my institute class and I was pretty behind. So I grabbed my little booklet and started reading away. I read one talk, and moved onto the next one. That is the one that I really liked. It is called "The Spirit Giveth Life" by President Monson from 1997. I won't go into much detail about the talk, but I really really liked it. It was something that I have been needing to study. The best part about the whole experience was that the way that I was studying made me feel like the way I studied on my mission. I have read the Scriptures everyday since being home, but I guess the quality of my study lacks sometimes. So it felt really good to get a really good study session. I whipped out my scriptures and was really getting into it. I was there for over an hour, it was really good. I made a new goal to study the Scriptures for at least an hour while I am at school. I just felt so good doing it, and the quality of my study was so much better than if I had done it at night like I usually do, plus it made my day go really good, and especially the Institute class went really good too becuase I was already focused. (I played the piano again by the way)
So, thats my new plan. I need to do better. I need to be like Mary and not like Martha!

Luke 10:38-42:

38¶ Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named aMartha received him into her house.
39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word.
40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art acareful and troubled about many things:
42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

Who spilled the milk?

So I gained a bad habit while in Brazil. I guess it started when I was living in an area that had just rented a new apartment, and there weren't any plates, or cups or utinsels, etc (I forgot the name for those... stoneware maybe?). As most of you know, we couldn't drink the water, so we would buy the big 20 gallon jugs and we filled up 2 liter bottles with the water and put them in the fridge to keep it cold. As a result of the no cup situation, I got into the habit of just drinking right out of the bottle without putting my mouth on it. It was actually better because it took less time and was more practical. Mom would get on me for drinking right out of the juice jug or milk or anything while I was at home.
The whole point of this long preface is to help you understand why I am so cool.
So, I was watching The Office with my roommates, and I felt the need to get a cold beverage. So I mosied on over to the fridge, and I grabbed the milk jug. Because of my new trick, I just grabbed the milk and went for a drink. Bad idea. I totally misjudged how much I was going to drink, and I don't know if I squeezed the jug too much, or what, but to get to the point, I got milk ALL OVER! This lead to laughter, which led to milk coming out of my nose, and all that jazz. It was so funny!
I'm sure you can imagine how cool it was.

Barbers

Derek gave me a haircut last weekend, and it actually turned out really good. He has been wanting to get his hair cut for a while now, and there is a girl in the ward that cuts hair, but she was being lame and never would do it, plus she would have charged like ten bucks, so tonight he had me cut it, and I did a good job too! So we decided that we would go into beauty school and learn then start up our own business. What do you think??

Focus, Focus, Focus!

I have had the hardest time lately to stay focused on one thing for a long period of time (ie. homework). Its really starting to get me frustrated, because I know how much I need to do, but most of the time I just can't get myself motivated enough to do it. But the funny thing is that I have been able to get a good chunk of stuff done. I just feel like I am doing worse than I am I guess.
With that in mind, I started writing this post, and got distracted with my roommates as is the case every night (ours is the room that everyone stops in before heading to theirs,) and we looked at stuff online, had group prayer (Christian did it in Spanish and I could understand pretty much everything he said) and now I have found that I have lost the desire to write anything else here. So there you have it. I just proved what I was talking about earlier.
I really need to work on that.
And at getting to bed early.
The end.

6 Months!!!

Well today, February 4, 2010 officially marks six months that I have been home from my mission. Missionaries would burn a tie when they hit this landmark on the mission, so I'm wondering what I should burn for this stupendous day. Maybe my Chemistry book. That sounds like a good idea right about now.
A lot has happened in six months. I can't believe how fast time has gone by. I have been able to do a lot of cool things. I have gone traveling, I have worked, I have sat at home with nothing to do, I have spoken a ton of times in church, I had a calling, I went back to school, I started the dating scene, and many other great things! :)
I am grateful to where I am at right now; six months after my mission. I have gone through a lot. Good things, hard things, big decisions, and a lot of stress. Its a lot different than being a missionary, where you don't think or worry about yourself for two years. All that matters is serving the Lord, and the people. Things are prepared for you, and you are taken care of. No worries other than obedience to the rules and thinking about how to help others. Life was easier then.... sort of haha it was actually the hardest time of my life, but by far the best time of my life until now. I usually don't speak too often about my mission because I am in a new phase of my life. The mission is over. I obviously never want to forget the experiences, and things that I learned while as a missionary, but they are things that will help me in my day to day life. But it sure is different when you have to worry about making decisions that will affect your own future. Like I have said, the decision to go to UVU rather than SVU was probably the hardest that I have ever made, and I was so so so stressed out about it! But after a month of school, I am pleased with how things have turned out, and I am pretty confident that I made the right choice. It definitely would have been pretty cool to go back to Virginia. Who knows. Maybe it would have been just fine either way. But I felt better about staying here, and it seems to have been the right choice for me, and I am ok with that.
It's hard to think about making those important decisions now. Like what to major in, where to work, who to marry, etc. Man those are tough. It was a lot easier when my biggest trouble was trying to find people, and help them prepare for baptism and confirmation (which, isn't exactly a walk in the park either, but the Lord prepares the way when we are faithful).
But thats part of the journey. Thats part of this great adventure that we are in together. We learn and grow each day. We make mistakes, and we try our best to correct them and learn from them. We get challenges, some that are really tough. But if we do things right, we will be able to rise up to the challenge, and be strengthened because of it. The Lord never will put something in our path that we won't be able to handle. He knows our weak and strong points, and knows what will help us and what will strengthen us (if we act according to His will). Thats the great miracle. Thats the real point of our existence. "Men are that they might have joy." We are here to gain experience, to learn, but most importantly to be happy. And if we learn how to be happy here on Earth (I mean truly happy) then we will prepare ourselves to be eternally happy after this life.

"And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it."

-Mosiah 2:41

This is one of my all time favorite scriptures.

I can say that I have been truly happy in my life, but not always. I have experienced both sides. I think we all have. But I do know that I am doing the very best that I can right now, to obey the Commandments of God, and when I am doing that I am truly happy; and what a good feeling that is!

This turned out to be a lot longer and random than I had imagined, so sorry. Bear with me.

Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is that I like life! Que vida boa!!

A Few Pics

FHE

We were in charge of FHE tonight at our apartment, so we had the idea to make Brazilian food for everyone. We were going to make beans and rice, so we went shopping at the Mexican market near us. We got a lot of cool stuff and by the time we got it all and made it back to the apartment it was already like 7:00 and it would have started at 7:00. So Derek and I left and bought some Guraraná and when we got back everyone from the group was there watching the Gordon B. Hinckley movie, and the Brazilian girl we home teach was there in the kitchen. My roommates didn't know how to do it so they called her over to help cool, but we didn't have a pressure pan thing, which would have saved a lot of time, but instead it would have taken a couple hours in a normal pan, so we did some improvising and we made a type of pasta out of the stuff we had in our apartment with the Brazilian twist. It was actually really really good! It was by far the best of the FHE's that we have been to if I do say so myself. Everyone was pretty inpressed. The best part was the Guaraná of course. We had some ice cream too for everyone so most everyone stayed over for a while just chatting, it was really funny. One girl in our group is taking ASL at UVU and she was teaching us some cool signs. The guys were joking around with her it was funny.

Utah State Hey! Aggies all the way! Go Aggies! Go Aggies! Hey! Hey! Hey!

Just in case you were wondering, I had a really good weekend! I will try to give y'all the rundown of what happened. (Which reminds me, we actually watched a movie called "The Rundown" last night.) Anyways.
I ate pretty good this weekend. The best in a while (because I am a poor college student.) Friday, Whitney and her friend Tori made us some shrimp alfredo pasta stuff that was delicious(I have turned into a huge shrimp fan... too bad I was too much of a picky eater before to try them) and on Saturday we went to a pizza place called Fredrico's I believe. And today for Sunday lunch we made chicken fajitas, that were really good too. I made some killer lime juice. (aka limeade) That was my contribution haha. Not too shabby.
We went to the USU basketball game on Saturday, it was really fun! The USU fans are intense! I really had fun at the good old Spectrum. It was Stew Merrill's 500th career win, so they did a little ceremony at the end. I really liked it. I need to go to a UVU game now to see how it compares haha. I'm sure less intense, but oh well.
Saturday night it snowed like a foot! It was crazy. I drove to my friend Logan's house where we were staying, and the roads hadn't been plowed yet, and the Black Widow really struggled. He lives on a pretty big hill, and I couldn't make it up, so I had to go over to another street that was less steep and I just about didn't make it up that one either, but I did. Pulling into Logan's parking garage, I started slipping like crazy, and I ended up getting stuck, but we had the help of 2 random sledders taking advantage of the newly fallen snow. Luckily they were there because I couldn't see myself getting out of that too easily. But I made it.
Logan was pretty cold. And foggy.
I miss the sunny days of Brazil. I am so ready for warm weather. I am a wimp. Oh well.
Anyway, thats the Reader's Digest version I guess of my trip to Logan. It was a good one. I didn't want to leave.
So... thats my story. Just in case you were wondering.