I just wanted to start off this post by saying that I LOVE SUNDAYS!!! Today was my first day teaching in Elder's Quorum, so that was really special. Tanner helped me with the lesson a lot. It was on service. We were supposed to ask a lot of questions, but there's not a lot of participation at 8:30 in the morning. There were plenty of people there, though! One girl in our ward made muffins and passed them out at the guy's dorm to make sure everyone was awake. I thought it was a pretty good idea, and it got a lot of people out to church on time!

Our Sacrament meeting was also really awesome. Our theme was also service. There were two really good talks, then one of the Elders Quorum presidents did a special musical number. He sang "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief," one of the best hymns on charity. Then, after another really good talk, Jared gave an amazing talk. Honestly, he knocked it out of the park! After church today, with all of the motivation to do good, I imediately washed the dishes. Which turned out to be a good thing. Jeremy's parents came in for parent's weekend and made lasagna for lunch. It was sooo good! And for dinner, I went to Julia Kirby's house and had some manni katti fixed by her mom. It was just a day of good Italian food!

This evening, I went to a fireside on missionary service, then ward choir, and ward prayer. Sundays just make me feel like a pro!

This week has been pretty good. I've been doing lots of reading about the Rough Riders, mostly from Teddy Roosevelt's book about their campaign. It's been really interesting to learn about the "Splendid Little War" from a first hand account. One of the main themes President Roosevelt brings out is the men's pure desire to serve their country and prove that they have what it takes to be called the best. The Rough Riders were some pretty macho guys.

In Chemistry this week, we got to talk a little about organic chemistry. I've heard some horror stories about o-chem. It's the class that makes doctors not want to be doctors any more. I think it's pretty fun, though! It seems like the only thing in chemistry that has rules, but no confusing exceptions to the rules. It's just been basic naming and construction of molecules, so I'm sure it'll get harder later. I think I'll be alright. In my recitation with my TA, we were doing some o-chem drawings on the chalkboard. I decided that it originated from aboriginal cave-paintings. They look just like that if you have no idea what they mean.

After the football game (which BYU dominated by the way, 56-3), Tanner and I kept a tradition we've had. We'll race down the stairs by the Marriot Center. So far, I've won two, he's won one, and we tied the last one. We decided to race home after that, and he smoked me. I am way out of shape, but, to my defence, he had a bit of a headstart and I had jogged up a hill to the stairs. I am determined to get back in shape, though. School gets in the way of fitness.

On Friday, I went on my very first blind date. A couple of my neighbors and I were asked if we wanted to go on a date with some girls from a different apartment. They're in my stake, but not in my ward. We baked cookies and played Balderdash. It was a really fun date! We kept it short and sweet.

Just a little heads-up, next week will have some pretty exciting things. A few fun things, a few scholastic things, and a few crazy things. Stay tuned next week!

The Week Consistency Died

I had been doing so well! One blog every Sunday! I apologize for not filling you all in on what happened last week. Now, I don't even remember what happened. It shall be known from hence forth as The Forgotten Week. Anyway, I'm sure I had some fun times, some hard times, some growing experiences, and plenty of lazy experiences.

This week was again full of lazy experiences. I have relearned how to waste time watching TV and playing on the internet. However, I have created a plan and am excited to execute it to ensure my success! I wrote some guidelines on how I'm going to spend my time. I am also going to do better with my planner. I know that it works, I just need to use it!

I also started to learn how to play Eidelweiss, from the Sound of Music, on the guitar. It's not great, but I'm getting there! With some consistent practice, I think I'll get it down!

I had my second Chemistry test this week. I worked really hard to memorize the things I had to know and learn the principles. It definitely payed off! I felt very good about my test, but I won't find out my grade until Tuesday or later.

I learned the value of old horror films on Friday evening. I got to watch The Cat and the Canary with Tanner. It had lots of suspense with plenty of humor, too. It's a great, classic film! The only thing that would have made it better is a cute girl I could have held onto!

Saturday was also pretty fun! I dropped eggs off of a parking garage on a date! I was working with Michelle Bury and Tanner was with Mariah Smith, both from our FHE group. We wrapped them up in wrinkled newspaper, popcorn, Santa hats, and zip-lock bags and dropped them three stories. Suprisingly, neither of the eggs broke after three drops! We made pizza at home for dinner. They were super yummy!

Today, I'm going hometeaching for the first time here! I am so excited! Hopefully, everything will go well!

And that just about wraps up this week. Sorry I couldn't tell you about last week. I'll definitely do better to keep writing!

General Conference Week!

This week has been pretty good. I've done well keeping up on my homework, BYU won their football game, I've rediscovered how awesome mac-and-cheese can be, and this weekend pretty much ended things on a super note!

I didn't do anything very exciting, except for go to our Ward Talent Show. We have some really talented people! One guy did movie quotes, lots of people played guitar or piano, and one guy did push-ups.... with his feet behind his head! It was pretty insane. On Friday, Jared gave Tanner and me a little intro to breakdancing class. We both still have a long way to go!

This weekend was definitely the best thing this week. Our church had General Conference: a world-wide meeting for members of our church. The leaders, male and female, will speak on whatever they feel inspired to talk about. Tons of preparation and prayer go into General Conference, and the results are amazing! You can feel the Holy Ghost giving you inspiration and telling you that what the speakers are telling you are true. I had the unique opportunity to be in the Conference Center for three of the five sessions. It was truly amazing!

One of the themes that stuck out to me was service. It is so important to serve others. I haven't done a lot yet to do service, but I am changing that! I am going to check what I can do in the Y-Serve office and get started as soon as possible! I'm also really excited to get to serve people with home teaching. At least once a month, I'll get to visit people in my ward and give them a short lesson. Every time, I'm going to ask, "Is there anything I can do to help you?" I am pumped to serve!

Another big chance I'll have to serve is to go on my mission! I love thinking about devoting two years of my life to serving Jesus Christ as his representative! There were some really good talks about missionary work. Another one of my favorite talks was given by Sister Dalton about being a good father. I loved thinking about showing my love for my future children and wife. I want to be the best dad in the world!

General Conference really helped me out. I feel so good about life right now! I know that Heavenly Father loves me, and I want to do all that I can to show my love for him! I know that this is the true church, the Book of Mormon is scripture, and there is a prophet acting as God's mouthpiece today! This church's doctrine is a doctrine of hope and love for everybody. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and he wants me to succeed. He has atoned for me, died, and rose again. This is my testimony, that I have gained for myself. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.