Immediacy

Today Derek Marquis spoke at the weekly BYU forum/devotional. Derek Marquis is the managing director of BYU Broadcasting and shared some insight regarding our responsibility as a Latter-day Saint living in this connected world. Everything is just a few clicks away on the internet, whether it's looking up your "blind date" (thanks to facebook there is no such thing), sharing pictures, checking your grades, shopping, blogging, or listening to music, the internet can perform it. You name it, the internet does it. This idea of immediacy makes it so easy for Latter-day Saints to share the gospel, and so we should. Today, I read this from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. He relates the difficulties a missionary might face to the Savior's Atonement. I would always like to remember Christ's Atonement throughout any difficulty with I am faced.

“Anyone who does any kind of missionary work will have occasion to ask, Why is this so hard? Why doesn’t it go better? Why can’t our success be more rapid? Why aren’t there more people joining the Church? It is the truth. We believe in angels. We trust in miracles. Why don’t people just flock to the font? Why isn’t the only risk in missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal font?

“You will have occasion to ask those questions. I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? . . .

“. . . When you struggle, when you are rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out and made a hiss and a byword, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known, the only pure and perfect life ever lived. You have reason to stand tall and be grateful that the Living Son of the Living God knows all about your sorrows and afflictions” ( “Missionary Work and the Atonement,” Ensign, Mar. 2001, 14–15 ).

Semester in Pictures…

My favorite family visited this winter… THE DALUGAS

We made a stellar igloo that we could all fit and stand up inside.

Rock climbing has become one of my favorite activities!

And obviously skiing is always my favorite winter activity.

Skiing at Park City with the Dalugas and J Long and Zane

Nighttime hike up Rock Canyon. classic.

Race up the Y… it's tradition and Clayton will always win.

Representing our schools. I will forever be a cougar.

Once again… Jimmer Jersey. I do most things in this attire.

The cougars had a good season.

"Krishna Krishna Krishna" They almost had me converted….

Festival of Colors!!! My first time ever. :) The sky was black and

breathing didn't come very easily, but it was a riot. Afterwards we

obviously went and fed the llamas.

Nissin's Goodness in a Cup.

I have been horribly sick this past week (horribly, because who likes being sick?). As instructions go for sickies I tried to get "proper rest" (what even is proper these days?…), drink lots of fluids, eat lots of soup, and indulge in comfort foods... Oh, and according to my roommate, "take lots of NyQuil to knock you out". Anyways, my friend, Riley, gave me Cup Noodles: much more than a soup! to help with my recovery. This concept of noodles in a Styrofoam cup was all new to me. I think I've had Ramen once maybe, and I don't even think that I made it for myself, because following instructions are always hard for me. Tonight I braved that fear of sorts?… I read the instructions probably five times, used my dorm-mate's microwave to boil the water, closed the lid and let it stand for 3 minutes. (It may have been 7 or 10? Time doesn't really matter).

It was actually pretty good! I now just need to master the art of eating these kinds of foods… A spoon is a no go, so I moved on to a fork… and I'm thinking I might invest in a few knifes if I'm going to keep eating like this. But truly the best part is that it's "ready in 3 minutes" or 7 or 10….

Motto for Life

Each year I adopt a motto to pattern my life after?… It's been the same motto since 2008, so I'll keep the tradition of sorts.

"2011: I do what I want." :)

(It's worked so well)

Mmk.. Good to know?..

A few weeks ago we had a lesson in relief society where we were asked to write down everything we disliked about ourselves to show how we are critical of ourselves?.. I think. I sat there with the blank paper in front of me while everyone wrote down their list of things they disliked. I refused to participate, but when my roommate noticed she offered to "help" me out. Kelsie always helps me participate? I now have a list of things she thinks I need to improve?… And I want to say most aren't completely accurate… And the third one was obviously too explicit for the blog world! (Kelsie these days) :)

I understand my divine potential, as an heir to eternal life.

And “[t]his is the day of our mortal probation," a chance to prove ourselves, so to speak… Elder Wirthlin compared our eternal journey to a race of three laps around a track. The first being our pre-earth life and our decision to come to earth. Our earth life is our second lap…"[c]an you imagine a world-class runner stopping along the track at this point to pick flowers or chase a rabbit that crossed his path? Yet this is what we are doing when we occupy our time with worldly pursuits that do not move us closer to the third lap toward eternal life, the greatest of all the gifts of God”. We cannot give up our divine potential for what is seemingly enthralling or the short-lived pleasures of the world.

This perspective may be hard to keep throughout college, with our fast paced lives we may look to others as role models for "fun", somehow thinking that the praise of others will boost our self worth. When really we need just remember that "the worth of souls is great in the sight of God" (D&C 18:10). We all need a higher more confident image of ourselves, "but Satan would have us believe it comes totally from the praise of others when in fact it comes from our relationship with God".

75 days.