Mary and Joseph

I have started working graveyards and they are kind enough to let us listen to our ipods with one headphone. I have found it a great time to listen to the scriptures as I don't have much time to read them these days. I love it!

The other day I was talking to a lady at work who was reading tis book called Mary and Joseph by Robert Marcum. It is historical fiction about the lives of Mary and Joseph, the earthly parents of Jesus Christ. My friend told me that Robert Marcum was doing a ton of research about the culture and all he could about the lives of Mary and Joseph....so I checked it out on CD from the library and put it on my ipod. It took me only two days to listen to it. It was an amazingly informative book! I don't think I ever really thought about Mary and Joseph as real people. This brought them to life for me and helped me to grow to love them. They knew before Jesus was born that He was to be our Messiah but could tell no one. They could not even talk to Jesus about it until he himself realized His call and mission to be the Savior of the world. As it went through their lives, and rituals it made me have a deeper understanding of the Jewish culture as well and a broader understanding of the law of Moses.
At the point in the book that was describing the slaughter of the children born in Bethlehem it never crossed my mind that they had no clue what had happened until years later. The point was brought out that so many children and parents had to die so that Jesus would live, but in the end He died so that they could live again.
This is a book I recommend. I could feel the Spirit confirm so many things as I was reading it. I love historical fictions and have a ton of time to listen to things, so if anyone has any book suggestions that are on tape let me know.

Panorama's

These are a couple of my panoramas from photography last semester, I took a bunch of pictures and then Photoshop merged them together for me....
This is the Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News building ....

This on is the Olympic oval and the poll that was by it for

the 2004 Olympics

I hate how these pictures don't want to work with me!!

to the left and below is the new temple they are building in West Valley/ West Jordan area. I am so excited for that one... it is going to be beautiful, just like the other ones!!

Freezing Time

I started working graveyard shift at this week at work and it has been a little bit of a challenge, but every day I find more blessings that come from it. First one was that I got an 80 cent raise, not too shabby. Second is that I don’t have to worry if school will fit into my work schedule, the down fall there is my sleep schedule suffers but I am learning to adjust.

Third is that I get to meet new people. I have come to find over the last couple of days that there are quite a few less/inactive members that work there. Some have no desire to come back, but there are a few that don’t seem too far off the path that maybe by my good works (missionary work) they will want to come back. and number four came this morning.

Oh how I wish I could freeze time! As I was driving home from work the moon was so beautiful. It was full and huge! It was even prettier because there were wispy clouds behind it that were illuminated by its light. My first thought was, I wish I had m camera, but I don’t dare keep my expensive camera in my car, so I decided to race the sun to see if I could get some picture. It was a warm 26 degrees outside and I didn’t have gloves so a lot of the shots were blurry.
I didn’t get it with the lit up clouds but as you can see I did get some pretty good shot. What a blessing it is to be able to see the beauty of this earth. It made me thankful for the gift of sight today, not that I am not grateful every day it is just something I take for granted. To add to the beauty of the moon I got to see the beautiful sunrise. It's the picture up top, it didn't want to go where I wanted it to. So there you have it.

This morning I hopped on a plane from Salt Lake to San Diego. There was a big storm that was supposed to come in last night in Salt Lake and many people told me I probably would not make it.... I never doubted that I would get here with no delay, and I was right.

As I was waiting to depart one of my dearest friends called me from Iraq where he is serving in the Army. It was so good to talk to him. That added to the joy of my day. It makes me so grateful too for the military!!!

As I was flying in, just before we landed I looked out the window and this is what I saw... I thought it was so cool and had to get a picture.

Christmas was really good. It was so good to be with my family. My dad gave me my grandfather's old camera. It was so neat because then we watched some of my dad's old family slides that Mary and Josh (my sister and brother-in-law) put on a DVD that were taken with the camera.

I have 9 more days here in San Diego and I am so happy to be home, and away from the snow... I hate snow.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and have a very Happy New Year!

Life.... my random blog

I just finished for the semester and I couldn't be happier. It was a rough semester, not that the classes were hard, it is just difficult working full-time and taking 16 units and three semesters straight lead to burn out. I have an easy load for next semester, 12 units and four of the units are institute classes.... I'm so excited for that. I am also interning.

Another big change, I decided to work grave yards at work because they were having issues working around my not so normal school schedule. It should be interesting.

The other week I was listening to an old CES broadcast by Elder Oaks. He let his wife speak for a couple of minutes and she shared a quote by Elder Holland talking about why things are hard and why life is hard. It says "Elder Jeffrey R. Holland addressed that problem while talking to missionaries about their struggles in the mission field. He spoke about the price we must pay to return to Heavenly Father. His advice applies to anyone who is struggling to know and serve God. Many of the missionaries he addressed were frustrated, seeing little success, and wondering if their missions were of worth. They asked, “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 trust in miracles. Why don’t people just flock to the [Church]? . . . Why isn’t it easier?”
Elder Holland replied: “I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. It is not Church doctrine. . . . I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience.” (And I would add that a university experience or this life experience is not easy because it is not a cheap experience.) “Salvation never was easy. We are the Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, He is our Great Eternal Head. Why would we believe . . . that it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? . . . How could we possibly bear any moving, lasting testimony of the Atonement if we have never known or felt anything of such an experience? As [members and] missionaries we are proud to say we are disciples of Christ—and we are. But mark my word. That means [we] must be prepared to walk something of the path He walked, to feel something of the pain He felt, to at least occasionally . . . shed one of the tears of sorrow that He shed” (The Atonement [address at seminar for new mission presidents, June 26, 2007], 8).
Salvation is not a cheap experience, and we should remember that. Never let any trials stand between you and your allegiance to your Heavenly Father. Never let any insult or challenge separate you from partaking of the sacrament and lead you to spiritual weakness and possibly to a spiritual death. Hold fast, and remember what you know to be true."

How true it is. I think all of us at one point in our lives have those thought of why thing are so hard.

A this time of year I am grateful for the birth of my Savior, Jesus Christ, for his mortal parents who were willing to raise the Son of God. I am so grateful for the Atonement He went through for all of us so that we can make it through this life to return to live with our Heavenly Father and Mother again. What a blessing it is to have two holidays a year that are for Christ. Just think how much better off the world would be if we thought more like Christ and more of Christ.

If I don't happen to write on this again before Christmas, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and I hope you remember the reason we celebrate this time of year!

Lights on Temple Square

Sunday night we went to Temple Square in Salt Lake and looked at all the pretty lights (I also pretended to be a photographer and took engagement picture for some friends in my ward). This one is blurry but my favorite super cool one I could not get to up load :0(.... so you are stuck with this not so pretty one. Here is a little of what they have going on....

This is one of the many manger scenes that is around temple square....

A side view of the reflecting pool .... these picture don't do it justice!

The Salt Lake Temple with some pretty lights..

This is in the middle of the reflecting pool. I wish you all could see how beautiful it is!

Music

This might not make any since to anyone but me but, I was in the car last night with my friend Carrie and we were listening to one of our favorite band, Amber Pacific (http://music.aol.com/artist/amber-pacific/2136437). They are a punk type band with lost of crazy drumming, no no dirty language or vulgar thoughts (other wise I wouldn't listen to them). We just love them. Carrie made a comment that I had never thought of while we was listening to them, she said, "It's so nice that I can listen to this and still feel the spirit." It's kind of crazy how true that was and how grateful I am that there is music with a beat like that has and still you can feel the spirit.
That got me to thinking about some other music and how when I listen to the lyrics it makes me think about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. One song that I was listening to a while ago that made me think this way is actually written to be a type of love song but if you think about it as if you are singing it to Christ it is super cool or maybe I am crazy.

Lyrics to Bless The Broken Road :
I set out on a narrow way many years ago
Hoping I would find true love along the broken road
But I got lost a time or two
Wiped my brow and kept pushing through
I couldn't see how every sign pointed straight to you
Every long lost dream led me to where you are
Others who broke my heart they were like northern stars
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you
I think about the years
I spent just passing through
I'd like to have the time
I lost and give it back to you
But you just smile and take my hand
You've been there you understand
It's all part of a grander plan that is coming true
Every long lost dream led me to where you are
Others who broke my heart they were like northern stars
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you
Now I'm just rolling home
Into my lover's arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you

Let me know if you see what I'm saying.