Monday, June 26, 2006

"Following the Special Musical Number, We'll Hear From Brad Dalton"

Okay, so I'm sitting on the stand filling in for Sister Boothe as the conducter (a whole 'nother story let me tell ya!) and Brad Dalton is just starting his talk on living a joyful life. He makes a good point when he quotes someone-or-other in saying that living a joyful life is probably the commandment we neglect the most. He goes on to say that we let the worries of the world interfere our thoughts too much. At school, or at work, or even at home we are always worrying. He works at the YMCA, with little kids. He quickly explains this and says, (and I quote): "Ya know, we worry about everything. We think to ourselves, 'we can't lose a kid, or let them get sunburned.'"

I see through the heads Julia Conti sitting next to her mom. She sees me. I have a clear shot. I'm taking it.

"Lose a kid?" I mouth slightly while making a face reminiscent of Levi's 'You said what?' expression. Julia covers her face with her hands, but I can see her body is shaking with laughter.

The talk continues. It's good. Really good. I listen, and get a lot out of it. I feel pretty safe and secure right now, but then another attack is made available - oh, so available.

Brad says something about how joy may be seen externally, but it's "not an external emotion. It's not, like, a nosebleed."

WHAT?! This is too good to be true! I know I shouldn't have done it, but could you have kept from chuckling just a little bit? NO! I didn't make any noise above an Uncle Steve laugh. (For those of you that don't know, that's just breathing quietly but rapidly through your nose.) I did get a bit of a grin on my face though, and again, Julia saw me, though she tried to avoid my silent, ever-ready, cursed wit.

"Nosebleed?" I jiggled.

Really, it was a great talk, and I told him so afterwards. But in all seriousness, who likens joy in ANY WAY to a nosebleed?!

Sunday, June 11, 2006

My First Talk of the Summer

Okay, so last week Brother Dalton (okay, let's just call him Greg. Brother Dalton's a little too formal for our relationship. Especially since I'm no longer in Church right now.) asked if I would speak this week on Matthew 6:33. I thought I might just put my notes up here. That's a good Sunday activity.

[It is also important to read Matt. 6:20-21]

"Wherefore seek ye first the kingdom of God..." Or, as the JST puts it: "Wherefore, seek ye first to build up the kingdom of God..."

Both translations are important and should be practiced.

Building up the kingdom of God:

[Missionary work] *Full time missions. *Ward/Branch missionaries. *Couple missionaries. *Every member a missionary. > A very important key to this is to make sure that people are aware that they are welcome to learn about the Church and the Gospel. I find many people just don't realize that we are more than welcoming.

[Raising families in the Gospel] *Sister Mindy Nesbit from the Stake women's conference in May gave a class on The Family: A Proclaimation to the World. This is what she said, "It is important to bring topics of the Gospel into open conversation with out kids." Another good proverb: "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." (Just a little trivial fact: I call this the kitchen proverb because it's on a little plaque behind the sink in every house we've lived in that I remember doing dishes in. I didn't know until I was about 10 or 11 that it was actually a scripture!)


-Seeking to obtain the kingdom of God:

*We should be in the world, not of it. *Colossians 3:2. *Submit our wills to His. > Seeking to obtain the kingdom is closely related to the call to Come unto Christ. Sister Heidi Swinton spoke at a devotional at BYU-Idaho this last semester, and she said this about submission: "Our personal submission of will is the only possession we have the true right to give." *Obedience to His commandments. > Mosiah 2:41


I know that God will take care of us. We should plan, but what we should wear, eat, drink, or live should not consume our thoughts to the point of distraction from what is most important; namely Christ and His kingdom. I also know that it is not only our duty, but in our best interests to seek and to build the Kingdom of God.

Friday, June 09, 2006

Terwilliger knew what was going on!

My uncle ordered popovers
from the restaurant's bill of fare.
And, when they were served,
he regarded them
with a penetrating stare...
Then he spoke great Words of Wisdom
as he sat there on that chair:
"To eat these things," said my uncle,
"you must exercise great care.
You may swallow down what's solid...
BUT... you must spit out the air!"

And... as you partake of the world's
bill of fare,
that's darned good advice to follow.
Do a lot of spitting out the hot air.
And be careful what you swallow.

-My Uncle Terwilliger on the Art of Eating Popovers
By Doctor Seuss

Truer words have never been spoken.

Sunday, June 04, 2006

Dancing Queens

Sarah and I got home from work on Friday at about 9:30. (I've started working the night shift at the gift shop so I can get a few more hours in while they're short on people for the next couple of weeks.) She was hot and nasty smelling, so upon entering the common area of our pod, she said,

"Hey, are you gonna take a shower?"
"Uhhh, no I took one between making popovers and the gift shop. Why?"
"Well, I'm gonna take a shower, and then why don't we dance?"
"Yeah, all right. That sounds like fun."

So, while Sarah was in the shower, I was picking some things up off the floor so we'd have a little more room. You see, Sarah and I were ditched earlier tonight. Some friends of ours came looking for us and asked us if we wanted to go to Seasons, Acadia Corps' new restaurant in Bar Harbor. Kyle could go, but I was still working, and so was Sarah. You can imagine we were feeling kind of sorry for ourselves... kind of. Sarah's suggestion to dance was just the thing we needed to have our own little party.

Sarah came in from her shower, put on a shirt, I tossed her a lava lava (meant for any kind of dancing, really. It just makes you feel so ... movable) and we cranked up the tunes. We danced for a good little while by ourselves, then our friend Yulia walked by, and we grabbed her and gave her a lava lava. Yulia was showing us some belly dancing moves, and I taught them a few Tahitian moves, but overall, we were following little Miss Thang Sarah on the free-style. We heard a whistle out the window, so we pulled the blinds. Yulia left, and Amy, Kyle, Brigitte, and Kim got home... holding a camera. Amy and Kim joined us, and I tossed them a couple of lavalava's. The last one I had went to Nicole, who joined us a little later. We danced til almost 11. It was so much fun.

The next morning it was unanimous: we're definitely doing it again sometime.