"Mormons are everywhere!"

Sarah and I were watching the BYU vs. University of North Carolina women's soccer game tonight on TV. In the middle of the game, the announcers said that there were two LDS coaches here tonight. I was confused to what that meant. I thought they were referring to BYU having two coaches that were LDS, which is not news at all considering this is BYU. Sarah ended up finding out that the two coaches they were referring to was BYU and North Carolina. I was shocked. I could not believe that the top teams in the nation were coached by Mormons. BYU, before this game, was ranked no. 1 in the nation. North Carolina was ranked no. 2.

Sarah made the comment, "Mormons are everywhere!" This is so true! Nowadays, I feel like you can find Mormons anywhere and everywhere. They are spreading like wildfire! I am pretty sure Mormons are going to take over the world pretty soon.

The Dead Sea Scrolls...Not Found in the Sea

Growing up, I always thought that the Dead Sea Scrolls were found at the bottom of the Dead Sea. I was enlightened. The Dead Sea Scrolls were found here in caves next to the Dead Sea. A mind blowing realization!

What's Most Important?

Today in my LDS Marriage and Family class, I learned that what we need to do to determine what's important is to slow down and listen to the Holy Ghost.

I feel like I have been going full-speed-ahead since day one of this Fall semester. I am the type that likes to pack in my day/semester with as much tasks as I can. I like being busy. I like having something productive to do. This is not how life is supposed to be.

Today is the first time things are slowing down for me. I never realized how out of place my priorities have been this semester. This was a huge problem with me last year as well. I'm surprised that I didn't learn from my mistake. I have been putting school before a lot of things that are much more important: God and people. This reminded me of Elder Cook's talk, "Can Ye Feel So Now," from this past General Conference. It reminded me of this following passage:

Many who are in a spiritual drought and lack commitment have not necessarily been involved in major sins or transgressions, but they have made unwise choices. Some are casual in their observance of sacred covenants. Others spend most of their time giving first-class devotion to lesser causes. Some allow intense cultural or political views to weaken their allegiance to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Some have immersed themselves in Internet materials that magnify, exaggerate, and, in some cases, invent shortcomings of early Church leaders. Then they draw incorrect conclusions that can affect testimony. Any who have made these choices can repent and be spiritually renewed.

I would highly recommend reading this whole talk over. It's a really insightful one. Actually, all talks are insightful, but this one especially.

I feel like the best way to recognize what's most important is to see if what you're doing is in line with the two greatest commandments: 1) Love God and 2) love your neighbor.

Missiles Targeted at Jerusalem

This is impossible. Who is dumb enough to aim at Jerusalem?!? Jerusalem is sacred to Jews, Muslims, and Christians. There is also a good mixture of Palestinians and Israelis in Jerusalem. If someone were to attack Jerusalem, they are only going to piss off the whole world. Hamas better get their militants under control if they want to survive.

So I'm trying to Google what's currently going down in Israel by typing in the search box "Hamas" and "Israel." Every time I would type in those words, Google would go haywire. So much for the Internet keeping us updated.

Turkey = Gorgeous

These pictures cannot even justify how glorious Turkey is.

Turkey is way too gorgeous for me to only post these pictures. So, there will be more pictures to come.

A stone of a sepulchre

I decided that I'm going to alternate writing about my present and my past (especially in the Jerusalem Center). I'll be throwing around random pictures that I took while I was attending the Jerusalem Center. I'm too lazy to write everything that happened from Day #1 of the Jerusalem Center until the end. I'll try to give a taste of all the different aspects of my Jerusalem Center experience.

During "the Last Days" tour of Christ's life, we went around the Mt. of Olives. Our teachers took us to a place that is assumed to have been graves. Above is a picture (not a very good one) of a type of stone that could have sealed Jesus' tomb. I thought this was neat because the Garden Tomb does not have the sealing stone next to Jesus' tomb. Items like these made me realize how real Jesus' death and resurrection was. 

Mission Papers...Started!

Obama is re-elected, by the way. I can live with that. I want to see what else he can do as president.


Anyways, I started my mission papers on November 4, 2012. I'm already like halfway through filling out my mission papers too. I can't turn them in until like the end of December since my availability date will be at the end of April. I think the earliest I can get my mission call is in mid-January. I'm super stoked!