Whose Team Are You On?

"The future of this world has long been declared; the final outcome between good and evil is already known. There is absolutely no question as to who wins because the victory has already been posted on the scoreboard. The only really strange thing in all of this is that we are still down here on the field trying to decide which team's jersey we want to wear!"

(This quote is attributed to Elder Jeffrey R Holland but I'm really struggling to find the actual talk it was given in. If anyone can point me in the right direction, that would be great! Regardless of who said it, it's a fantastic quote.)

There's been a lot going on in the world lately. The fight for and against gay marriage. The LDS Church's policy change regarding children of homosexual parents. Terrorist attacks in Paris and Beirut. The war in Iraq. The war in Syria. The fight against ISIS. All of this has led me to reflect on the belief I share with others of the LDS faith as well as other Christians: that Christ will appear on the earth for the second time and that the world will become a pretty scary place to live leading up to that moment.

As far as war and natural disasters go, there's not a whole lot you can do except practice emergency protocols and first aid, create a food storage, keep 72 hour kits, etc. You can choose to fight only in defense of freedom and your loved ones. However, the fact remains that in those situations, you very well might die. And that's what scares me.

Not because I fear death. I believe in an after life that's more glorious than you can imagine. And if this life gets even half as scary as I can imagine, death might be preferable. But the future (and I'm going to replace this with that glorious after life I mentioned) is only, in the words of Pres.Thomas S. Monson, "as bright as your faith." (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/04/be-of-good-cheer?lang=eng). 

Am I spiritually prepared to die and meet God? Do I have a strong enough testimony to stand strong in a world of declining morals? Will I still stand strong when even the elect will be deceived (Matt. 24:24)? Sometimes being politically correct can keep you from answering these questions with a firm yes. Of course we need to be respectful of people and love our neighbors. But in standing up for eternal truth, you can not please everyone. Christ set the ultimate example in loving everyone around him, but he also stood firm in what he knew was right. 

We know who wins this battle between good and evil! As a Christian, I know that Christ will come again, and when he does, he will destroy the wicked. I don't know about you, but I want to be on his side. We need to put on the jerseys of good (the armor of God...Ephesians 6). We need to pray always, read the scriptures, go to church, listen to the Spirit, and defend truth. 

My goal is to be on the winning team. Will you join me?

Italian Stuffed Chicken

This was a definite pinterest success. I found the idea here: http://www.barbellsandbellinis.com/2013/05/roasted-red-pepper-mozzarella-and-basil.html  

I used this recipe as a base, but then I changed it up a bit.

Ingredients: 

3 Chicken breasts

1 Red bell pepper

Fresh spinach or baby spinach

1 medium tomato

Shredded mozzarella cheese (or fresh sliced)

Basil (preferably fresh, but I used dry and it was still great)

Italian seasoning

Grated Parmesan cheese (I used the dry powdered kind)

Salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Slice red pepper into strips and saute with black pepper. Set aside. Butterfly chicken breasts by slicing from the long side and cutting almost all the way through, stopping just before the other side. Grease a 9x13 glass baking dish. Open chicken and place in pan. Sprinkle with basil and Italian seasoning. On one half of the butterfly, place 3 strips of red pepper, 2 slices of tomato, a handful of spinach, and mozzarella cheese. 

 Close the top flap of the chicken and sprinkle with more Italian seasoning, salt and black pepper.

Bake chicken for 30-40 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Remove from oven, and turn oven to broil. Sprinkle top of chicken with mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese. Broil for 5 minutes or until cheese is golden and bubbly. Enjoy!

How Seventh Day Adventists Taught Me to be a Better Mormon

It's always been a goal of mine to visit churches of other faiths. I've been blessed to have always had a knowledge of the truthfulness of the LDS gospel. However, I also believe that understanding other faiths can help me become a better, more empathetic person. What I didn't expect, is that I would learn how to improve my own personal worship. 

So this morning a friend and I went to a Seventh Day Adventist worship service. It was neat to see that their beliefs are actually very similar to those of the LDS church. The first lesson I learned was at the beginning of the service. They began with everyone standing up, walking around greeting each other and welcoming everyone. The thing is, they didn't just approach their friends. Many people approached my friend and I, making us feel comfortable and welcome. It created a feeling of love throughout the room.

The second lesson I learned was in their specific greeting "Happy Sabbath." These two words said so much for me. It reminds you that it is the Sabbath and a special day. It also reminds you to have joy in worshipping.

My favorite part of the service was singing hymns. Because I had never sung these songs before, I was paying extra attention to the words and was really able to feel the Spirit. I was reminded of Doctrine and Covenants 25: 12 "For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads." I definitely felt that this was true today in that the people really seemed to be praying through song. It made me want to pay closer attention to my LDS hymns and sing them as though I'm praying.

They passed around a collection bag which I was expecting, but then they also blessed the money afterward. The wording of that prayer made me think about my tithing. Specifically they prayed that the donated money would bless the lives of others and that those who donated would have enough left for their needs. I want to be better at kind of consecrating my money to the Lord rather than just giving it up.

In another prayer, they mentioned that we had come together to "encounter the Spirit." Something about that wording made me think about how I prepare for my Sunday meetings. I need to start praying that I'll be open to the Spirit and any inspiration that may come my way. Really that's how I was able to gain these insights; I had prepared myself to learn something new. 

This was a really great experience and I'm excited to learn about others as well. Next week: Catholics!

What Kind of Parent Will I Be?

While working at the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum in Salt Lake City, I was amazed at the way many parents interacted with their kids. I'm going to preface this by saying that I'm not a parent and therefore don't have the experience/authority to say what is or isn't a good parenting style, and of course each family and kid is different. However, while working, I was able to observe many different parent-child relationships and was able to pick out ideas for what I do or don't want to do when I'm a parent (and again, that very well might change once I get there!). 

Two things really stood out to me. The first is how to establish who's the boss. The museum encourages guests to clean up after themselves so that the next people can have a good experience as well (and as an employee, it is EXHAUSTING to clean up the same mess over and over again). Sadly, most of the parents allowed their kids to run around like a hurricane and then moved them to a new area leaving destruction behind. Some parents allowed their kids to create a mess and then cleaned up for them while the kids moved on to something new. While I appreciated the parents' help, I felt that not asking their kids to help take responsibility for the mess, was really telling them that their parents would always be there to clean up; they should just have fun. Along the same lines, I once heard a conversation between two parents and their three year old that went something like this: 

Parents: Let's go get some lunch and then we can come back.Three year old: No! I want to play!Parents: But we're hungry, let's go get lunch.Three year old: I don't want lunch! I want to play!

They stayed and played for at least another hour...Now don't get me wrong, I believe in letting kids play, and I think parents should take into consideration children's wants, but in the end, you make the decision and need to be firm. Especially when it's a situation like this where lunch is a necessary thing (and it would have been a late lunch already at this point) and they were still able to come back and finish exploring afterward. It just makes me feel like this three year old is going to become a teenager who gets into trouble because her parents can't say no and lay down the rules.

The second thing I noticed was that kids are being neglected because their parents are too busy with their phones. SO many parents found somewhere to sit down and spent the whole time on their phone while their kids played. Some kids seemed to be okay with that, but others desperately wanted the attention. One example: a little girl who kept glancing at her mom, hoping she would notice the thing she'd proudly just built, and trying to get her attention until finally yelling "Mom! Stop texting and look at me!" I understand that sometimes parents are busy, but when your kid keeps coming up to you saying "come look at this", or tugging on your arm and you don't even look up, there's a problem. 

Lest you give up on society completely, there were a lot of great parents as well. They helped do crafts, put on ridiculous costumes, sat in too small chairs in the play house, taught them how to go shopping, etc. They complimented them on pictures that looked like a bunch of scribbles. They allowed their kid to do the same task over and over again because the kid found it exciting even though the parent was bored after the first time through. And they kept a smile the whole time. That is the kind of parent I hope to be. I want my kids to believe they can do anything they set their mind to, but also teach them responsibility for their actions. I want them to respect me as an authority figure, but also know that I love them. Hopefully I'll be able to find that balance when I eventually have kids.

Picture that one girl drew at the museum.
Note the project name: Death and World Domination...

Summer Lasts Forever...ish

I had the realization the other day, that I'm not going back to school in the fall. My summer reading list just became a life reading list! But since my current list is a pretty well rounded list, I'll continue with the updates until I'm done, then just give the occasional good review. 

Stardust, Neil Gaiman
One or two "scenes" that were too sexual (Really people? What's up with this?) but other than that, pretty good. It wasn't nearly as exciting as I thought it would be (based off the movie trailer :P), but the story was different enough to keep me interested.

A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle
SO weird! I finished and had no idea what to feel. At times it had a religious/Chronicles of Narnia sort of feel but the rest of it was just strange. Also there was a lot of action leading to a very abrupt "happy" ending. Overall, the book reminded me of Captain EO at Disneyland...but without the great (though ridiculous) music and dance number.

The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Different, but interesting. I really liked the ideas it had that make you look at the world in a different way. The illustrations reminded me a bit of the Harold and the Purple Crayon series. :)

The Judgment of Paris, Ross King
I cheated and didn't actually read this book. I got to the library, flipped through it and just wasn't feeling it. I noticed that Ross King had written similar books so instead I read

Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling, Ross King
This was a really interesting non-fiction book that combines history, politics, psychology, sociology and art history to create a narrative that feels more like fiction than a textbook. It looks at all the reasons behind the pope's decision to have the ceiling decorated, how Michelangelo felt about the commission (spoiler: he wasn't thrilled about it at first), what impeded the work, the relationship between Michelangelo and the pope, etc. Very interesting! At least if you're into art and/or history.

Reading List update

Here's an update on my reading list so far: 

*Just a note: the following comments are all my OPINION. I like or dislike books for reasons you may not agree with. I'm happy to have a discussion about our differences, but only if we can do it politely. Also, I'm not judging anyone who does like things that I don't.*

My Name Used to be Muhammad by Tito Momen and Jeff Benedict

This book was an interesting look into the life of someone who grew up in a radical Muslim environment. Normally we get books trying to show us that not all Muslims are evil and this book still did that, but also showed how scary it was to grow up surrounded by future supporters of Al Qaeda. I had hoped it would spend a bit more time on his conversion to the LDS church, but overall it was still a great book.

 I am Number Four, Pittacus Lore

Entertaining. In my opinion, not very original; kind of reminded me of the Pendragon series. I'll probably eventually read the rest of the series, but I'm not in a huge rush to do it.

Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen

Way too sexual in a voyeuristic way for my taste, so I didn't finish it. Maybe the rest of the book gets better, but I just didn't like the way things were handled in the first 6 or 7 chapters so I stopped.

Eat Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert

FANTASTIC book! If anyone is on a spiritual journey of sorts or trying to "find themselves", I highly recommend this book. While I don't agree with everything she says or does, she has a lot of good insights into life. Lots of great ideas about how to find balance in your life and become closer to God. I started keeping a list of ideas and you just might see a blog post completely devoted to this book! 

Death Comes to Pemberley, P.D. James

I was impressed  with how well the author stayed true to the characters and language of Pride and Prejudice (though I didn't like the portrayal of Colonel Fitzwilliam as much). I really liked this book and didn't want to put it down until I finished. Maybe other Jane Austen fans will hate me for this, but the author briefly mentions characters from Emma in the last chapter and I thought "Really?? You were doing so well! Creating a good spinoff of a classic book is an accomplishment, but combining an author's books should be left to fan fiction." That aside, I really did like this book a lot.

One of my favorite things to do in the summer is lay out in the sun and read.

The Ocean

I love the ocean. I love the way it looks, sounds, smells, and feels. Today I decided that no matter where I end up in life, I will make a point to regularly visit the ocean. Preferably in California. 

Today I went to Crystal Cove State Park for the first time and it was a great experience. There are tide pools to explore and since it's a state park (or maybe since it was a Sunday) it was fairly empty. It was different from other beaches where the point is to soak up the sun, surf, swim, play volleyball, etc. Instead you were there to enjoy nature. 

I had two thoughts while there. The first was how good the ocean is for my soul. There's just something about it that is so calm and lulling. It lets me slow down, sit back, and just take it all in. I'm able to think and reflect.

 The second though I had was of God's great power and how incredible His creations are. In looking out at the ocean I was amazed by the fact that I couldn't see an end, and that I was only seeing a small part of it. I can't even comprehend the vastness of the ocean let alone the whole world, the universe, and all other worlds. 

The ocean, in all it's majesty...

 and beauty...

reminds me of both God's power and His love for us in creating such beautiful things for our enjoyment. And that is why I need to regularly visit the ocean. Because it cleanses my soul and brings me closer to my Heavenly Father.