A Small List of Gratitude

My original plan was to write a blog post like this on Thanksgiving, but I realized today that I will be far too busy hanging out with my little brothers to have time to write a blog post on Thanksgiving. So I decided that I would go ahead and do it today since I am off to Las Vegas tomorrow!

I am grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I feel it appropriate that my gratitude begin with what I am most grateful for. I simply cannot imagine where I would be in my life without the Gospel of Jesus Christ. My testimony of the Gospel is sometimes hard for me to express because for me words simply don't do my feelings justice. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has been my anchor in the worst of times, and I know that that pattern will continue throughout the rest of my life. I am not the brightest person and there is a lot I don't know, but I do know that Christ is my Savior. I know that He established His Gospel to provide a way for us to be truly happy. I know that if we follow Him, we will be blessed infinitely. I have a very strong testimony of God's plan, and I know that we can live in a state of never ending happiness with our families as long as we follow this perfect example and Gospel that Christ established for us.

I am grateful for my parents. I love my parents; I always have, and I always will. I mean no disrespect to them when I say that they are far from perfect. And I won't even go far enough to say that they are "the best parents ever" because I know they've made a lot of mistakes as parents. BUT they were and continue to be the best parents for me; I know that my mom and my dad are my parents for a reason. I know that's true because I look back on a lot of the things they taught me. I look back on a lot of those mistakes they made. I look back on all of that, and I just think, "Wow. My parents may not realize it, but they taught me so much by saying that" or "Wow. My parents made that mistake, but I'll take note of that so I am never put in the same situation." Again, my parents are far from perfect; but I think that is why I love them so much.

I am grateful to be the fifth of eight children. Man, I am grateful for my siblings more than I think anyone will ever be able to comprehend. I am grateful that I was one of the middle children, because it has given me the chance to really get to know all seven of them really well. I would say something awesome about each one of them, but man, words wouldn't do my feelings justice for this either. But I will say that I am beyond blessed to have my older siblings; they've helped me by setting an example. All four of them have been the best examples of what it means to progress and live righteously. I am blessed to have my three little brothers because each of them have taught me valuable life lessons. Like my parents, my siblings are far from perfect, and they've made mistakes. But I love them so much, and I am honored to call all seven of them my best friends.

I am grateful for technology. I wasn't aware of my gratefulness for technology until after my mission when it was so easy--and continues to be so easy--to keep in contact with the Chilean people that I got to know so well. This year, I've gained an even greater appreciation for technology since my older siblings and I are literally able to text message each other every day in a group chat on our iPhones. It is an awesome thing to be able to communicate with people with today's technology--even if they are on the other side of the world.

I am grateful for my mission. I won't go as far as to say that my mission was the best two years of my life. Heck, when people say that I kind of feel sorry for them because I feel that life should only get better after the mission. I can't speak for all returned missionaries, but I definitely feel that my life has only gotten better since. And the reason is simple: While the mission weren't the best two years OF my life, I am fully convinced that the two years of my mission were the best two years FOR my life. My mission taught me so much about how to love people. It taught me how to be self-reliant. It taught me to never give up. The list goes on and on. Now, I will admit that I haven't been perfect about applying these lessons to my life. I will even admit that I wasn't the greatest missionary. But I will also admit that I have no regrets because the mission taught me so much, and it continues to do so as I often ponder the experiences I had while serving.

I am grateful for my job. I had tithing settlement today at church, and man, it made me think of how grateful I am to have a job. Sure, I don't make a lot of money nor is it the ideal job. But I am grateful for the opportunity I have every morning to wake up at 3:30 AM to go and make some money to purchase the things necessary to live. 

I am grateful for my friends. I am grateful for all the good people who have befriended me throughout my life. I feel that I am a pretty awkward person when people first meet me, and I don't always give the best first impression. But man, I am grateful for all the people who have given me a chance by becoming my friends.

I am grateful for food. On a less serious note, I just want to say that I am grateful for all the delicious food in the world. Here in Rexburg, Costa Vida has been especially good to me. I am grateful for all those who provide that food.

Tomorrow's Anniversary

For English this semester, we've basically been working on writing research papers all semester, and so I've been writing a lot these days. I feel that is the reason why I've been in a blogging mood the last few days. Granted, I usually plan out what I am going to write; however, tonight I am just going to type out some of my thoughts. We'll see how it goes. :)

First of all, I was looking back at some of my old posts from back in the day, and I was laughing so hard. It's incredible to realize how immature and ridiculous I was even at the age of eighteen. The funny part about that is the fact that when I was eighteen I really felt like I was mature. And maybe I was for my age at the time. But looking back on those old posts helps me realize that I've at least matured to the point where I don't post ridiculous stuff about The Dark Knight or the most RANDOM pictures and videos. But who knows? I'll probably look at this post another five years from now and think, "Wow. I was pretty immature when I was twenty-three." So, man, maybe it's just a never-ending cycle. That's fine.

The main reason I feel like I am writing this, though, is because tomorrow marks the four (four!) year anniversary of when I entered the MTC. Incredible! This semester I've thought about my mission a little more than usual, and it still amazes me how much I learned and how much I continue to learn from my mission. Even though it was only 1/12 of my mission, it's especially impressive how much I learned in the MTC. Here are just a few examples of the things I learned in the MTC:

I learned an impressive amount of life lessons as a missionary in the MTC.

• I learned that I was never alone. I entered the MTC a handful of months after graduating high school, and so it was my first real time being away from home. Leading up to my mission, it was something I didn't really think about. I love my parents, and they've always loved and supported me in return. I don't mean this as any disrespect to them, but it wasn't really hard for me to enter the MTC and not have my parents by my side. However, it was extremely difficult to enter the MTC and realize that I wouldn't have my siblings around. My siblings are my best friends, and all seven of them have taught me more than anyone will ever be able to comprehend. And so I remember being in the MTC the first few days and thinking, "Oh my gosh. I can't do this." However, by the end of my first week in the MTC, it hit me that my siblings were praying for me every day, and they wouldn't forgive me if I gave up. Not too much longer after this realization, I was reminded also that the Lord would always be by my side--throughout my mission and throughout the rest of my life.
• I learned the true power of testimony. All of my teachers in the MTC as well as our branch presidency were so awesome, and they taught me so much. I can't remember who it was, but one of our leaders told us that whenever a companionship within the district  would start fighting/arguing in the middle of class or something, he would have them get up and bare their testimonies. When I first heard that, I remember thinking, "That's interesting. I don't get why that would be appropriate or effective." It didn't take me long to realize just how quick a testimony can change an environment from contentious to an environment of peace. And it's that way because testimonies invite the Spirit of the Lord.  
• I learned to work hard, but to have fun doing it. While I was in the MTC, I noticed that there were way too many missionaries that would work themselves way too much and stress way too much. Just being around them made me depressed, I will admit. Now, I am not saying that missionaries aren't supposed to work hard. But the MTC taught me that if we are working hard to the point where we aren't enjoying it or having fun, we aren't doing something right. On the flip side, I learned that if we aren't working, and we're just goofing off, that wasn't a good thing either. I learned that there had to be a balance. For example, I remember one day after studying all day, my district and I decided to take my camera with us to gym time, and we did a "photo shoot" of all of us exercising on the exercise equipment. It sounds crazy, but it was fun things like that that helped us both in the MTC and in the mission field.

The list literally goes on and on. The MTC taught me a lot of valuable lessons, and it's just crazy to think that I learned these lessons four (four!) years ago.

With that said, my last random thought for the night is this: I am super  excited for Thanksgiving!! Can't wait to do some road tripping with my little brothers. We haven't road tripped together since last Christmas! It'll be so good to spend a few days with them. Can't wait to joke with them while jamming to some tunes and what not. I am giddy just thinking about it. LOVE those dudes. Oh, and Timmy gets home in FOUR MONTHS and a few weeks!! Just saying.

Too Blessed To Be Stressed

It's been a while since I've blogged, and I have some time on my hands tonight; so I decided to take some time to sit down and write a few thoughts down. I don't promise anything extremely exciting, but I hope at least one person reads and enjoys what I am about to say.

It's football season, and I think everyone reading this probably already know how much I love football--especially BYU's football team. Man, I really do love that team. But my reason for loving BYU's football team might be a little different than the usual BYU fan's reasoning. I am not usually very open about this idea because it's a little strange, but man...I really feel like BYU football has helped me through some of the toughest times of my life. 

Now, allow me to explain myself before anyone calls me sacrilegious or something. Perhaps the best way to do this would be by giving you an example or two. Possibly three:

The first example is really simple and actually has to do with the sport. It was in 2006, and life wasn't the greatest for me as I was struggling through some tough transitions in my life. I wasn't much of a sports fan. I hated sports, actually. But I enjoyed going to my high school's football game in November 2006, and so I decided to give sports a chance. My first opportunity came when I heard BYU was playing Utah. At the time, I didn't realize how big that rivalry was, but I knew it was a rivalry and so I decided to just cheer for BYU since it was the school I always dreamed of attending. 

I didn't know it when the game first started, but by the time that game was over, I would have learned a valuable life lesson: To never give up--even when things seem impossible. How did BYU teach me this? With one minute left in the game, BYU was down 27-31. They needed to go 90+ yards to win. I remember thinking, "Man, it's over. It's not even possible to go that far in a minute." For those of you who don't know, John Beck threw a 15-yard, game-winning touchdown pass to Jonny Harline as time expired to win the game. 

That first experience with BYU football was enough for me to continue following them. In the process, I fell in love with their coach Bronco Mendenhall. Not because of his awesome name or because of his abilities to coach football, BUT because of his courage to put faith and the Gospel before football. As a used-to-be sports hater and a lover of the Gospel, that intrigued me that he would do that. And so I've followed Bronco and BYU football ever since.

And in the process I've learned a lot of life lessons from Bronco. Before my mission four years ago, I attended a BYU football fireside in Las Vegas the night before the BYU vs. UNLV football game. I had my mission call, and I was starting to worry a lot about my mission. I wasn't sure if I would be able to pull it off. I was doubting in myself. But attending that BYU football fireside was huge for me. I can't remember what he said, but Coach Mendenhall spoke, and the things he said were exactly what I needed to hear.

Since that experience at the fireside, I've learned a lot from the football players themselves. One of the most impressive things I've ever seen was last year in 2012 when BYU played Utah. BYU was favored to win, but they lost on a missed field goal. I remember thinking, "Man, that really sucked." I decided to watch the post-game show, and when I turned it on, BYUtv was interviewing Kyle Van Noy. I sat there and thought, "Oh boy...He's probably so mad."

Kyle Van Noy became my hero that day, though. When they asked him what was going through his head during the defeat, all he said was something along the lines of, "I was just thinking about what a blessing it is for me to play this game. I was thinking what a blessing it is to play with my team mates."

Even more impressive was this year when again BYU was favored to win. Kyle Van Noy had never beaten Utah. He was 0-3. This was the year. I was positive it was. I'm sure KVN was positive it was. Heck, every BYU fan was positive it was. But BYU lost 20-13.

Kyle Van Noy's reaction?

Too blessed to be stressed. Again, KVN taught me that when things don't go our way in life, we just need to count our blessings and focus on what we do have.

And these are only a few examples. The list could go on and on, but it suffice me to just say that I am really grateful for BYU's football team and the things they've taught me--especially players like Kyle Van Noy and coaches like Coach Mendenhall. Football is just a game that I've learned to enjoy, but BYU football is a program that I've learned to love because of the small lessons they've taught me--on and off the field.