"The Rock"

Well, I never thought that I would do this, but when you can’t sleep and you feel like you could say more to a friend then you just did on the phone, you do things that you would never do. I never thought that I would get off the phone with someone, then go to my computer and write an entire blog about that person. I guess I should tell the story before I get off on some random tangent.

This person isn’t a rock, she doesn’t look like one, doesn’t act like one, and doesn’t have a heart of a rock either. She actually is the exact opposite. She is a tiny little girl... she is so small that when I would give her hugs, I would feel like I would break her if I squeezed to hard. This girl is brilliant, she has a wonderful mind and can learn and explain things so wonderfully. And, her heart is as big as the world. She is a kind, loving, and gentle person. She reaches out to others and pulls them to higher ground, no matter who they are. However, this girl is a rock in the sense that she stands for what she believes in, she is a rock in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and a person that one can always turn to for guidance, much like a lighthouse. She has a testimony as solid as a rock.

I meet her about a year ago and tonight I came up with her nickname, “the rock”, simply because she is as strong as one in the things that matter most in life.

The rock was a friend of a guy on my floor. She was often the center of conversation because many of the guys on our floor hung out with her because she was always nice to us and friends with one of our friends. While many guys knew her within a few weeks after school started, I wouldn’t get to meet her in person until January, a few months after school started. I met her in my Book of Mormon class where Stanley Johnson was our teacher... It was surprising, a bunch of guys on my floor signed up for that class with her, I believe. I had heard about the teacher from some other friends at work, and about six of us ended up in the same class. Little did I know that the cute girl sitting next to me would change my life forever.

Well, just meeting the rock for the first time was pretty cool, we talked as we walked to the devotional and then things just went from there. I found out that she was also in my American Heritage lecture. So, we saw each other a lot that semester. We spent most of our time studying for Book of Mormon, but we also had some time to talk and get to know each other. About March time we thought about getting serious, but seeing that I had a girlfriend and the semester was coming to a close we saw it best not to proceed. We never actually discussed that issue, but we both knew why we couldn’t become more then friends. I won’t lie, now looking back at the whole thing, I wish I would have dated her but that’s okay.

The rock became one of my closes friends, and we talked about some of my personal struggles. She always had the perfect advice and knew exactly what to say. She always made me want to be a better person, and wanted to lift me to a higher level. Like I said before, she reaches out and pulls people up.

The rock struggled with some things herself, mainly, physical things that she had no control over. Rather then blaming people for it, she thanked the Lord for her trials, saying that it had brought her closer to her Heavenly Father. What great faith she has. She never complained, or told anyone how bad things really hurt her, but would rather turn the conversation and ask, how are you doing? What kind of person asks that question? A few names that come to mind, the Savior, the prophet, and my dad, all people who I have a great love and respect for.

At the end of the semester, the rock moved home and I stayed in Provo to work, so we weren’t able to talk as often, but we still stayed in touch and every time I called her, the first things out of her mouth were “Hi, how are you?” The rock is not selfish, she is very kind and loving and concerned about others.

Over the past months the rock has helped me overcome my personal struggles, which has allowed me to serve a mission, something that will change my life forever. That cute little girl has changed my life forever and I will be forever grateful for what she has done for me.

While the rock and I may grow distant over the next few years, I will always remember her and what she has done for me. If we never do get to celebrate this great success together, remember this rock...

“And if it so be that you labor all your days crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father.” - D&C 18:15

You saved my soul, so you have already had great success in this life, your only getting started. Remember the Lord loves you and you are one of his choice daughters. Keep your head up, for this trial will be just a small moment(D&C 121:7-10). Your awesome! I can’t say enough about you. Thank you for all that you do and all that you continue to do.

God speed.

Valentine's Day

Well, here it is, a wonderful Valentine’s Day, full of snow, roses, chocolate, and love. For the past three years I have had a Valentines, if you will. I mean, I have had a girlfriend, or some one of that nature, but this year, nothing. Its not by choice, I like girls, but, this year has just been a little up and down. Too many what if’s but nothing that could really happen. I guess I should explain the whole thing, or as much as I can.

This girl that I like, I meet her my Junior year in seminary. I thought she was nice but she was a freshmen, I was a Junior and so things weren’t going to workout, so I moved on, like I do with most relationships. Its what I do, if I see that a relationship has little to no hope, I ditch, leave it, let it die, no, I help it die. So, I killed this relationship before it even got started. I dated another girl for my Junior year. Next year comes around, I’m a Senior and she’s a Sophomore. The age thing really killed me. I don’t know why, but it did.

So, Senior moves a long and comes to an end, I go to college, and come back home and here she still is. Now its to the point where age doesn’t matter, its just that the timing is all messed up and thus has lead to the reason why I have liked this girl for what, four years now and have yet to take her on a single date. Not even go to the movies with a group of friends.

But, as I sit here on Valentine’s Day, my thoughts are turned to her, just like they are every other night of the week. I figured I would write all these thoughts down so I can remember before I get old and forget, and heck what else could I be doing? Talking to some girl that is ten to twenty hours away that I will never see again in my life yet alone date her… Yeah, last time I checked, my dating life is in limbo right now, with the only hope that this whole situation can uncomplicated itself and I can finally take this girl on a date.

Well, here goes the list of memories, if you will:

Facebook, chocolate milk, Napoleon Dynamite, liger, seminary, crutches, knee brace, torn ACL, soccer, swimming, basketball, shaving my legs, milkshakes, cookies, early morning seminary at my house, the stars, night drives, snow, the snowman she made me, texting, my cellphone, texting song lyrics, Teddy Geiger, Hellogoodbyes, The All American Rejects, Brand New, Taking Back Sunday, Dashboard Confessionals, Phantom of the Opera, someone who hates vegetables, pizza, Dion’s pizza, watching movies, the movie theater, driving to the movie theaters, Diamond Shamrock, Wendy’s, my scriptures, Memory by Sugarcult, Dirty Little Secret, Air Dry, darling, college swim team, sledding, scripture mastery pro, Spanish teacher, hooded sweatshirt with a coat over it, Relient K, great sister, love of the gospel, prom my senior year, my best friend Jordan, milk, The Rasband Dairy, chalkboard, journal, am I fat?

I think that is a pretty good list for starters… Now, I know that there are some girls that have shared some of these things with me but, only one person has related to me in all the above ways. So, if you know who you are, let me know.

Such Great Heights

THE POSTAL SERVICE LYRICS
"Such Great Heights"

I am thinking it's a sign that the freckles
In our eyes are mirror images and when
We kiss they're perfectly aligned
And I have to speculate that God himself
Did make us into corresponding shapes like
Puzzle pieces from the clay
And true, it may seem like a stretch, butIts thoughts like this that catch my troubled
Head when you're away when I am missing you to death
When you are out there on the road for
Several weeks of shows and when you scan
The radio, I hope this song will guide you home

They will see us waving from such great
Heights, 'come down now,' they'll say
But everything looks perfect from far away,
'come down now,' but we'll stay...

I tried my best to leave this all on your
Machine but the persistent beat it sounded
Thin upon listening
And that frankly will not fly.
You will hear
The shrillest highs and lowest lows with
The windows down when this is guiding you home

They will see us waving from such great
Heights, 'come down now,' they'll say
But everything looks perfect from far away,
'come down now,' but we'll stay...

So, UPS has been running these commercials lately with the song above. Whenever I hear this song, it reminds me of my freshmen year in college.

I received a cd with this song on it about October. I listened to it a few times through and this song became my instant favorite. I am not quite sure why or just how it hit me, but it did. This song just seemed to speak to me. It just seemed to calm me down and help me to relax. I never really listened to the lyrics, I just got the understanding that the song was about a couple that is separated.

Every time I hear this song I go back to walking out of my room, R Hall 412, turning my cd player on, placing my head phones on over my head, taking the elevator down to the first floor, taking an immediate left to go to the doors, then another left to walk through the Morris Center. Then, out the Morris Center, down three steps, across the street, through Heritage Halls, pass the stream and Bell Tower, and then to the stop light.

Every time I walked through the Morris Center, something always seemed to be happening, early morning they were still cleaning and would be finishing vacuuming, and then there would be kids going for breakfast, or it would be late at night and people would be watching tv, usually basketball, or going into the Cougar Cove to buy something, or people would be playing games for family home evening or just playing to play. It always smelled so good, I don’t know what it was, but it always felt right when I walked in the Morris Center. It had truly became my home away from home. I know a lot of people would call me crazy but I loved Desert Towers, I loved living there, and I loved the people I meet and the things I did.

I really liked my job, as I would tell people, I cleaned peoples crap for a living. I was a janitor/custodian/facility services in the Wilkinson Student Center. I worked in the afternoons with some of the greatest and funniest people. Tamsen, Jim, Nate, Misty, Clayton, Amber, I could go on and on but I will start there. We cleaned offices and bathrooms, as well as set up rooms for events, like dinners and what not. It was great, just a lot of fun.

I know people would tell you that the Morris Center Cafeteria food was disgusting, but it wasn’t. It was good food. It is nothing like what I had at home, but it was food and I liked it. Breakfast was the best. I would always try to make breakfast because I could have eggs, bacon, sausage, fruit, cereal, biscuits and gravy, milk and juice. I loved getting my grapefruit with cantaloupe or oranges. It was in about March when I finally taught myself how to use the waffle maker, whish isn’t hard, but then I would always have a waffle every time I went to eat something.

I don’t know, I could go on and on about it, but man I loved my freshmen year and I wouldn’t change it for the world, except a relationship that I had that I wish I would have ended. But man did I love college. Being home I miss it so much and I wish I could go back.

God speed.

My problem with relationships.

I have never been able to figure this out about myself. I always do this with girls I like. When things start going bad and the relationship is close to ending, I begin to freak out. Things will be going great, the relationship looks like its on the up and up, like it is just going to really start taking off. Then, the next thing you know, a few things go bad, we have a few arguments and then I go for the kill, if you will.

What I try to do is make the other person completely hate me, make them distance themselves from me. I get in an argument just to get in an argument and I have to prove a few points and make the person see that this whole thing is stupid and that we are both stupid for being in it and that we are both stupid.

I guess what I try to do is not get myself hurt, and not hurt the other person, but that never works. Instead, I just make things worse and I end up making not only the person but myself upset about the whole thing, when it was neither of our faults in the beginning.

For example, my junior year. I started dating this really great girl. Things went well, but, the bad thing was that she was not a member of the Church and didn’t care to be one either. My parents have a simple rule when it comes to dating, three and out, or in other words, if your not a member, you have three dates and then you either come to church or you break up with them. Well, six months and three dates later I find myself in the situation that I never thought would happen and never wanted to happen, I have to break up with my girlfriend or convince her to come to church.

A simple situation that is neither of our faults, but I make it both our faults. I get in a fight with her and say it is over, we are done. That is not the bad part, I ignore her for the next three weeks. Then, slowly and surely try to start talking to her again. I had already pissed her off and now I barely could get her to talk to me, yet alone hang out and have some fun.

Then, last summer, the summer of 2006. Instead of just letting my girlfriend go I do everything I can to piss her off and make her mad at me. I mean, heck, we could have been good friends and been able to help each other through a lot of things, but instead, I want her to hate me so I can hate her. So I can just move on with my life and not look back at it and wish I could still be with her.

Then, lately, this girl I like. I like her, and she likes me. We just can’t date right now, its not my fault and its not her fault. Its just the way things are. Instead of being a nice, kind, understanding guy, I have to be a jerk. I sit here and do things to upset her and tell her things that will make her mad and hate me. I mean heck, when we can start dating each other, she still like me, but instead, I just want to make her mad and hate me just because we can’t be together now. Because things aren’t working out for us now.

On top of all that, I act totally bi-polar. First I get mad at them about the whole thing and try to make them mad at me, then I try to make things better, I try to being really nice to them, and then I go back to trying to make them mad at me and pissing them off.

I don’t know, it is weird and stupid of me but it is what I do and hopefully, just hopefully, I can get this whole thing fixed before I get home from the mission and really start to focus on dating and marriage. If not, I am going to have a very tough time with the whole thing and be known as a jerk to a lot of girls.

God speed.

BYU Football!

Well, I was suppose to have all this time and be able to look up stats and follow the BYU football team like no other man has before, but as you can tell, I have failed at that. So, it looks like this will be the recap of the season and a look at next year.

Bronco Mendenhall was in his second year, his make or break year. You see, the first year he has all the recruits from the former head coach. In his second year, he has had two recruiting classes come in and he has started to build his team the way that he would like them. So, how did Bronco do?

I would personally give him an A-. Yes, I know I might be a stickler or a jerk for doing so. BYU went to another bowl this year and won, were Mountian West Conference Champs, won 11 games, beat a ranked opponent, and went undefeated in conference, oh and beat Utah! But, the thing that really kills me and leaves me with some uncertainty are those two losses.

Both of them were on the road. One was against a ranked team in Boston College, the other under a second year head coach named Tom Stoops who was turning a very bad Arizona team around.

I haven't quite figured this out but BYU has yet to come out to play in their first game of the season. The chance to hit new people and show everyone what they are about and start the season off on the right foot, and BYU seems to stumble. You can see that they have all the keys and all the weapons, they just cannot put everything together and win the game. Arizona was a lose by a score of 16-13. A game in which BYU lead the entire game but seemed to fall apart slowly but surely until they lost it. We saw sparks of that dangerous BYU offense, but not enough to get into the endzone more then once. A strong BYU defense that wasn't getting much help from that offense. It was a good game and a game in which you could tell the future was looking bright, but a very sore losing seeing that BYU could have hammered that Arizona team.

Lose to Boston College. If Mendenhall was looking for a better time to show that BYU was a force to reckon with, this would have been the game. A lose in double overtime due to, what I believe to be two but may have been three, missed field goals. It was a good game and give it a little time and we will be winning those games.

Had we won both of those games, BYU might have broke into the BCS and John Beck may have been a little bit higher on that Hesiman list.

Some things that were impressive this year. Undefeated in conference and knocking off a ranked TCU team on the road on a short week (the game was played on a Thursday rather then on Saturday). Beating Utah on the road with a miraculous last minute drive to win the game. It is always good to beat your rival, even better to beat them on the road.

The most important thing that I noticed this year was the humility in which the team handled thing. They made sure that their focus was on the game that they played that week, not next weeks game or the game three weeks from now. The took it one game at a time and made sure that they took care of business.

I am glad to see that Mendenhall choose the Las Vegas Bowl. Not only to get home before Christmas but because it was a PAC-10 team that they played. Many people are talking about BYU and pretty soon they will be a good team in a good conference, as long as TCU can keep upsetting Oklahoma or at least sticking it to them.

Next season... Well, there is a lot of question marks there. Losing a lot of guys due to graduation, leaving on missions, and so on. But, Mendenhall has turned this program around and I am certain that they will be moving forward and making progress.

God speed.

Ice Cream

Its the middle of winter and I am enjoying myself a nice big bowl of chocolate ice cream. There is six inches of snow and I am having ice cream. Ice cream has to be one of my top things to eat. I use to eat a bowl of ice cream everynight before/while I was doing my homework. It made me happy, brightened up my day and helped me to relax. The bad part was I would get mad at my step mom for the kind of ice cream she would buy or somewhat frustrated when we would go a week or even two with out it.

I am really not on here to talk about ice cream but merely saw it as a means to get things going. I know I had my little "Back from a small break" blog but you know, that blog really didn't do it for me. I am still tense and not really opening up in my writing. I am having a hard time of thinking of what to write next and the things that I am getting ready to write about really need a strong argument, need a strong presentation, need someone who can write that is not named Eric Fraley.

Besides all that, what I really need to do is get my life together. You know, take some time and figure out what I am going to do. Usually I can come up with these conclusions with in an hour or two after the problem has presented itself, but for some reason, these problems aren't getting solved and I keep "hitting a wall" of you will. Its like writers block but more like problem solving block. Its gotten so bad that a friend of mine asked me why I was so serious all the time, I don't know, I can't get things straightened out or fixed up.

I guess that is the real problem. I am never all the way into something. Wrestling, I knew it all, every move that the coaches showed me, I knew, and then some. Why wasn't I a state champ? Real simple, I never wanted it. I would say and go through the motions, but I never did. Summer workouts, never went. Lifting, never did it. Practice, was always there, but never pushed myself to the limit.

Band is another good example. Great teacher, great love for music, but never really cared. I could have gotten scholarships to play at some good schools, but that requires practice, something that I never wanted to do, so, I never did it. I would screw around during rehearsals, never really listened, and never pushed myself to be the best musician I could be.

Life, I seem to have the same problem. I'm lazy, unfocused, not committed, and well, never want anything bad enough to go get it. I know the problem but I don't want to fix it. Yeah it bugs, but its easier to just ignore it and not do anything then to work at it and try to fix it. A lot of people have told me that I could be something or someone great... Well, I am here to tell you, that is a lie! If you are putting your hope and trust in Eric Fraley, you better rethink your go to guy. Great people have to act, they have to actually do and have a desire to do things with their life. I lack the desire, the will to act, and don't care if I do or don't do.

Anyways, enough about me, lets start talking about things that matter, like football.

God speed.

Back from a small break...

Well, I don't know if it was exactly a break, it was more like I didn't have time and then when I did, I was too lazy to actually get on here and write. Right now, I just got in from playing basketball, something that I am not very good at, but I figured that it is time, time for me to write. I have a lot of things to write about, I always do, I am a long winded guy, what can say?

Well, I am sure some of you regular Eric Fraley blog readers are wondering how things about the sacrament, the prophet, general conference, and repentance end up on my blog page. Real simple, I teach seminary, or did teach seminary and I assigned my students to write papers on those subjects. In return some of them wanted me to write them, so, one weekend, I wrote four papers on those subjects. Are they any good, hopefully they are, but I never really know what I am talking about so you might want to do your own research and come up with your own opinion of what I said.

Other then that, before I start this three hour blogging session, I would advise you to listen to a song that has become one of my favorites. I am going to paste the artist, title, and lyrics below and leave it up to you to look up the song. Well, sit back relax and start reading. Lets see how much crap I can come up with.

Brand New
Soco Amaretto Lime Lyrics

Passed out on the overpass
Sunday best and broken glass
Broken down from the bikes and bars
Suspended like spirits over speeding cars
You and me we're kings over the parkway tonight
And tonight will go on forever while we walk around this town like we own the streets
and stay awake through summer like we own the heat
Singing "everybody wake up (wake up)
it's time to get down" (everybody, everybody wake up it's time to get down)
And when I pass the bottle back to Pete on the overpass tonight, I bet we laugh

I'm gonna stay eighteen forever (cut me open)
So we can stay like this forever (sun poisoned)
And we'll never miss a party (this offer...)
cause we keep them going constantly (...stands forever)
And we'll never have to listen (new haircut)
to anyone about anything (new bracelet)
cause it's all been done and its all been said (eyeliner)
we're the coolest kids and we take what we can get

The hell out of this town
Find some conversation
The low fuel lights been on for days
It doesn't mean anything I
've got another 500, 'nother 500 miles
before we shut this engine down, (we shut it down)

I'm gonna stay eighteen forever (cut me open)
So we can stay like this forever (sun poisoned)
And we'll never miss a party (this offer...)
cause we keep them going constantly (...stands forever)
And we'll never have to listen (new haircut)
to anyone about anything (new bracelet)
cause its all been done and its all been said (eyeliner)
we're the coolest kids and we take what we can get (wait forever)
(you're just jealous cause I'm young and in love)

Eighteen forever (first kisses)
(your stomach's filled up but you're starved for conversation)
So we can stay like this forever (new stitches)
(you're spending all your nights growing old in your bed)
And we'll never miss a party (collar weekend)
(and your tearin up your photos cause you wanna forget... it's over)
cause we keep them going constantly (appearance ticket)
(you're just jealous cause we're young and in love)
And we'll never have to listen (November to...)
(your stomach's filled up but you're starved for conversation)
to anyone about anything cause it's all been done (...remember)
(you're spending all your nights growing old in your bed)
and it's all been said (nightswimmers)
(and your tearin up your photos cause you wanna forget... it's over)
we're the coolest kids and we take what we can get
Just jealous cause we're young and in love

You're just jealous cause we're young and in love
You're just jealous cause we're young and in love
You're just jealous cause we're young and in love
You're just jealous cause we're young and in love
You're just jealous [turntable scratch]

God speed.

The Sacrament

Many people get excited about someone getting baptized, for it is the opportunity to be cleansed of all our sins. Some people hand out invitations, it is announced in just about every meeting during the Sunday block. People are assigned to speak about what is taking place, while some are asked to sing. It is a very importance ordinance, baptism, but it is rather sad that it only happens once in your life. Or does it?

No, baptism, doesn’t just happen once in our life, but it happens every Sunday. Is it as big as your first baptism? No, but it still plays a very important role in your salvation. The baptism that happens every Sunday is also known as the sacrament.

The sacrament, what a wonderful thing it is. I have spent much time thinking about the sacrament, and what it means to me. It is a wonderful thing, if we understand what it is all about.

“O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of they Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it, that they may eat in remembrance of the body of they Son, and witness unto Thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him and keep his commandments which he has given them; that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.” (D&C 20:77)

The sacrament is a renewal of the covenants we made at baptism and also, a way for us to become clean again, much like we were directly after our baptism. So, what is this covenant?

Well, a covenant, for the purpose of this article, is a two way promise between you and the Lord. You will do your part, and the Lord will do his part. The three things we say we will do are as follows:

1. Take upon the name of Jesus Christ
2. Always remember Him
3. Keep His commandments.

In return the Lord has stated that He will allow us to always have the Spirit to be with us.

How much more could we ask for? The promise that we can always have the Spirit with us if we just live righteously, take Christ name upon us, and always remember the Lord in all that we do. Having the Spirit with us at all times can do so much for us. It can help us to understand the scriptures better, help us to shine with the light of Christ, and, most importantly, help keep Satan away.

While these are all wonderful things, we must make sure that we are not seeing the sacrament as just an easy way to repent of our sins. We must be doing everything we can to be a worthy member. For those of us who have made terrible mistakes in our lives, we must make sure that we are not drinking damnation onto our souls.

“ For whoso eateth and drinketh my flesh and blood unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to his soul…” 3 Nephi 18:29

If we make these mistakes, we should take time to repent and go through the proper steps of repentance and have honest sincere repentance. Then, we should make sure that we are striving in every way possible to live worthily and use the sacrament to cleanse us from our little mistakes.

As I said before, the sacrament is a great and wonderful thing and I am so very grateful for the chance it gives me to renew my baptismal covenants with my Heavenly Father. I leave these things with you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

God speed.

The Prophet

Every since I was little my parents always made me listen to the Prophet speak during conference. I could sleep through all of conference, except for when the Prophet spoke. I never really understood why, I mean, didn’t everyone who spoke have something good to share?

Only until this past summer did I learn why I had to always listen to the prophet. I was assigned to give an Elder’s quorum lesson about what the prophet talked about at conference, but not only that, explain the why behind it. The why is ever so important. If people can understand as to why they need to do something, they are more likely to do it. So, why do we listen to the prophet?

It is rather simple, he is God’s spokesmen. Nothing to hard to understand or over the head of anyone, right? Just being God’s spokesmen, doesn’t make the prophet so important. The Bishop is our ward is God’s spokesmen. So is the stake president, and what about the patriarch? How about when someone gives a priesthood blessing, aren’t they God’s spokesmen? Well, you see, that’s the thing, the prophet, he holds all the keys to do all of those things. Not only does he hold them, he can use them as the Lord directs. No one else in the church holds all the keys and can use them. That makes it real simple as to why we listen to the prophet, he really is God’s right hand man here on earth.

This past conference the prophet gave a rather wonderful talk during priesthood. He talked about “Rising up, O men of God.” And he quoted a hymn which he heard the BYU Men’s Chorus sing.

Rise up, O men of God!
Have done with lesser things.
Give heart and soul and mind and strength
To serve the King of Kings.

Rise up, O men of God,
In one united throng.
Bring in the day of brotherhood
And end the night of wrong.

Rise up, O men of God!
The church for you doth wait,
Her strength unequal to her task;
Rise up, and make her great!

Rise up, O men of God!
Tread where his feet have trod.
As brothers of the Son of Man,
Rise up, O men of God!
(Hymns, no. 324; third verse in The Oxford American Hymnal, ed. Carl F. Pfatteicher [1930], no. 256)

It is rather amazing how songs can make you feel and want to live better then you currently are living. Just within the first line the song sings, “Have done with lesser things.” Much like President Hinckley did while talking to the brethren of the priesthood . He called all of us to rise up and live a cleaner, better, righteous life.

“There is not a man or boy in this vast congregation tonight who cannot improve his life. And that needs to happen. After all, we hold the priesthood of God. If we are boys who have received the Aaronic Priesthood, we are entitled to the ministering of angels to guide and direct, to bless and protect us. What a remarkable and wonderful thing that is. If we have had conferred upon us the Melchizedek Priesthood, we have been given the keys of the kingdom that carry with them eternal powers.” (President Gordon B. Hinckley, Rise up, O men of God, Nov. 2006 Ensign)

President Hinckley helped me in realizing the power in which I am entitled to as well as have because I hold the priesthood. This is just not the priesthood, it is the priesthood of God, and by it being the priesthood of God, we must rise up and hold that priesthood with honor and in righteousness.

“With this priesthood comes a great obligation to be worthy of it. We cannot indulge in unclean thoughts. We must not partake of pornography. We must never be guilty of abuse of any kind. We must rise up above such things. "Rise up, O men of God!" and put these things behind you, and the Lord will be your guide and stay.” (President Gordon B. Hinckley, Rise up, O men of God, Nov. 2006 Ensign)

I found it remarkable as to how President Hinckley called us to fulfill our duty. Its amazing how he added unclean thoughts. Often times we feel that we are okay because we didn’t do the action, but here President Hinckley is making us see that our thoughts do count. I love how he finished with how we must put these things behind us, rise up, and walk in the ways of the Lord.
I love listening to the prophet speak. How amazing of a man he is. He truly is a man of God who loves and will serve the Lord in anyway he can. May we all listen and follow the words of the prophet. May we all rise up and live a better life. Follow the prophet, follow the prophet he knows the way. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

God speed.

Conference

As I look back over conference, I have a hard time thinking of what my favorite part was. I have grown to love General Conference and always enjoy sitting down to listen and be guided by leadership of the Church. I have always been amazed that almost every speaker has something to offer me, something to help me with the problems I am facing right now. However, there are some talks in which I stand back and ask myself, am I doing the things to become the person that they are talking about?

“Years ago, when my brothers and I were boys, our mother had radical cancer surgery. She came very close to death. Much of the tissue in her neck and shoulder had to be removed, and for a long time it was very painful for her to use her right arm.

One morning about a year after the surgery, my father took Mother to an appliance store and asked the manager to show her how to use a machine he had for ironing clothes. The machine was called an Ironrite. It was operated from a chair by pressing pedals with one's knees to lower a padded roller against a heated metal surface and turn the roller, feeding in shirts, pants, dresses, and other articles. You can see that this would make ironing (of which there was a great deal in our family of five boys) much easier, especially for a woman with limited use of her arm. Mother was shocked when Dad told the manager they would buy the machine and then paid cash for it. Despite my father's good income as a veterinarian, Mother's surgery and medications had left them in a difficult financial situation.

On the way home, my mother was upset: "How can we afford it? Where did the money come from? How will we get along now?" Finally Dad told her that he had gone without lunches for nearly a year to save enough money. "Now when you iron," he said, "you won't have to stop and go into the bedroom and cry until the pain in your arm stops." She didn't know he knew about that. I was not aware of my father's sacrifice and act of love for my mother at the time, but now that I know, I say to myself, "There is a man.’” (Let Us Be Men, Elder D. Todd Christofferson, Ensign, November 2006)

For some reason, this talk by Elder Christofferson stuck out to me the most. In a world where the definition of a man seems to be changing. No longer is a man the one who stands up and defends his family, his friends, or his beliefs. No longer is a man the one who goes out of his way to help another, lift others up, or be the one that goes out of his way to make some one smile. No longer is a man who admits he is wrong and does all he can to fix it.

The world sees a man as someone who has done the most, who has the most money, no matter what it takes. Has had the most sexy, drank the most beers, jumped off the highest cliff. A man to the world is a man who can put others down, and make others feel stupid, while they themselves look so great, even if they are wrong. Is that really a man? NO!

I enjoyed hearing this story by Elder Christofferson. It made me sit back and think, could I do that? Could I sacrifice something so my wife or family could have more? I enjoy food, and I actually get rather grumpy or don’t work as hard. I would hope and pray that I could make a sacrifice such as that so my family could have a little more.

This story also brought comfort to my soul in the sense that it made me realize that real men go out and lift others up. Real men still do exist in the world today, am I one of them? This talk seem to call me to higher ground and as Elder Christofferson said at the end of his talk, let us be men.

The above talk was not the only one I enjoyed, but just the one that I merely picked out and decided to discuss. All the talks at conference were wonderful, so I would highly advise everyone to take the time and reread or listen to the talks at conference. God speed.

Repentance

“In Nazareth, the narrow road,
That tires the feet and steals the breath,
Passes the place where once abode
The Carpenter of Nazareth.

And up and down the dusty way
The village folk would often wend;
And on the bench, beside Him, lay
Their broken things for Him to mend.

The maiden with the doll she broke,
The woman with the broken chair,
The man with broken plough, or yoke,Said,
"Can you mend it, Carpenter?"

And each received the thing he sought,
In yoke, or plough, or chair, or doll;
The broken thing which each had brought
Returned again a perfect whole.

So, up the hill the long years through,
With heavy step and wistful eye,
The burdened souls their way pursue,
Uttering each the plaintive cry:

"O Carpenter of Nazareth,
This heart, that's broken past repair,
This life, that's shattered nigh to death,
Oh, can You mend them, Carpenter?"

And by His kind and ready hand,
His own sweet life is woven through
Our broken lives, until they stand
A New Creation—"all things new."

"The shattered [substance] of [the] heart,
Desire, ambition, hope, and faith,
Mould Thou into the perfect part,
O, Carpenter of Nazareth!"

As I often think of repentance, I think of what lead to such a state where we need to repent. Why do we sin? All of us are sinners, and we will sin no matter what because we are not perfect, that is just the way it is. But, we often let our little sins lead to other, bigger sins. At first, we take a day off from saying our prayers, then we skip our scripture study. We then start to feel as if the Lord would never accept us back, that we have failed him, so we discontinue the things that we were doing right, and start to do things that we know are wrong. At first they are small sins, but over time, they become big uncontrollable monsters. I am not only speaking of the monsters such as drug addiction or pornography, but I am also speaking of the problems of not going to church, never reading our scriptures, or even saying our prayers. That is why, it is so important for us to understand, that Christ has already called us to Him, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls." (Matt. 11:28-29)

Nothing has ever meant so much to me as that one statement, “Come unto me.” The Lord calling me, calling all of us, to come unto Him. For many of us, we think or feel that we can not return to the Lord, that He doesn’t want to even see such a sinner as us at His feet, begging and pleading for forgiveness for what we have done. We must remember though, He has called us to His feet, He wants us to come unto Him, to plead and ask for that forgiveness, and to properly repent of the things which we have done so we may return unto Him.

As we begin our journey through repentance, we must keep in mind a few things.

First we must have faith, as Elder Jeffery R. Holland stated in his talk, Broken Things to Mend.

“I think also of that night when Christ rushed to the aid of His frightened disciples, walking as He did on the water to get to them, calling out, ‘It is I; be not afraid.’ Peter exclaimed, ‘Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.’ Christ's answer to him was as it always is every time: ‘Come,’ He said. Instantly, as was his nature, Peter sprang over the vessel's side and into the troubled waters. While his eyes were fixed upon the Lord, the wind could toss his hair and the spray could drench his robes, but all was well—he was coming to Christ. It was only when his faith wavered and fear took control, only when he removed his glance from the Master to look at the furious waves and the ominous black gulf beneath, only then did he begin to sink into the sea. In newer terror he cried out, ‘Lord, save me.’

Undoubtedly with some sadness, the Master over every problem and fear, He who is the solution to every discouragement and disappointment, stretched out His hand and grasped the drowning disciple with the gentle rebuke, ‘O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?’” (Broken Things to Mend , Jeffery R. Holland, Ensign, May 2005)

We must have the faith that the Lord can and will fix us. As we begin to go through repentance and throughout the rest of our life, because repentance is a change for life, we must keep our gaze set upon the Lord and never turn from Him. We must remember, that He is the only one who can fix us. Yes, we must do the work, but He is the only one who can take our sins upon Him.

Secondly, we must remember the Lord will never leave us.

“There can and will be plenty of difficulties in life. Nevertheless, the soul that comes unto Christ, who knows His voice and strives to do as He did, finds a strength, as the hymn says, ‘beyond [his] own.’ The Savior reminds us that He has ‘graven [us] upon the palms of [His] hands.’ Considering the incomprehensible cost of the Crucifixion and Atonement, I promise you He is not going to turn His back on us now.” (Broken Things to Mend , Jeffery R. Holland, Ensign, May 2005)

I can not think of anything more reassuring then that. That the Lord will never turn His back to us. That gives us even more reason to answere his call to come unto Him. He will never leave us alone, He will never give up on us.

Lastly, we must do the work.

“Third, in as many ways as possible we try to take upon us His identity, and we begin by taking upon us His name. That name is formally bestowed by covenant in the saving ordinances of the gospel. These start with baptism and conclude with temple covenants, with many others, such as partaking of the sacrament, laced throughout our lives as additional blessings and reminders. Teaching the people of his day the message we give this morning, Nephi said: ‘Follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, . . . with real intent, . . . take upon you the name of Christ. . . . Do the things which I have told you I have seen that your Lord and your Redeemer [will] do.’ ”(Broken Things to Mend , Jeffery R. Holland, Ensign, May 2005)

It is not enough for us to merely ask for forgiveness, we must truly turn away from all that we have done wrong. We must also, come closer to the Lord. That is why repentance is so important for us, it is not merely to be forgiven for our sins, but also for us to grow closer to the Lord.

Remember, as we repent we must follow the Lord. We must but our lives in the hands of “the carpenter,” for He is the only one that can mend our lives back together. He does not call us to Him so we can watch Him do the work, but so we can do the work with Him.

“He is saying to us, ‘Trust me, learn of me, do what I do. Then, when you walk where I am going,’ He says, ‘we can talk about where you are going, and the problems you face and the troubles you have. If you will follow me, I will lead you out of darkness,’ He promises. ‘I will give you answers to your prayers. I will give you rest to your souls.’” (Broken Things to Mend , Jeffery R. Holland, Ensign, May 2005)

Come unto the Lord, and He will give us rest. When we take His yoke upon us, we are double yoking ourselves with a God, meaning with Him, we can climb any mountain.

“When He says to the poor in spirit, 'Come unto me,' He means He knows the way out and He knows the way up. He knows it because He has walked it. He knows the way because He is the way.” (Broken Things to Mend , Jeffery R. Holland, Ensign, May 2005)

Always remember, “If you are lonely, please know you can find comfort. If you are discouraged, please know you can find hope. If you are poor in spirit, please know you can be strengthened. If you feel you are broken, please know you can be mended.” (Broken Things to Mend , Jeffery R. Holland, Ensign, May 2005)

Never give up, never let go of hope, never think that you have gone too far. The Lord has clearly stated, that we can be mended. Come unto Him because He knows the way, He is the way, He has been there, no matter what spiritual or physical state you are in. He suffered all in the garden, don’t let His suffering go in vain. I leave these things with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

God speed.

YAFL and Beauty Pageants, are they the same?

Sunday, I had a privilege, rather an honor, to go and watch a YAFL (Young Americans Football League) football game. For those of you who are unaware of what that is, its real simple, football, at its youngest level. A great place for fundamentals to be taught and kids to learn things as discipline, hard work, and the basics of a great game.

Now, don’t think that I woke up on Sunday morning and say “I think I am going to go to a YAFL football game.” A family friends son was playing in the game. He just turned twelve and plays safety and running back. This also wasn’t some regular game, it was the “Super Bowl“, and for these kids, the biggest game in their life.

Most people would think, that you would go to a game like this and everyone would be friends. Much like little league. You know, where everyone is cheering on all the kids, there isn’t a division of teams from the parent section. The crowd, as a whole, is like a crowd watching a magician, cheering when he does good and what not. Well, this sadly wasn’t the case.

We arrived at Milne Stadium, one of the bigger high school stadiums in the Albuquerque area. While everyone was entering through the same side, the weren’t sitting on the same side. We had a home side and a visitors side. It wasn’t just a matter of where you sat either. This wasn’t a football game for 11 and twelve year olds, this was a football game for high schoolers that haven’t quite hit their growth spurt yet, and without the band.

There are cheerleaders on both sides, and these girls must have missed that growth spurt as well. None of them were taller then four feet but yet all of them knew the cheers. Then we have the signs and big posters. Now, you think, signs like “Go John!”, “Play Hard”, or “Give it your all!” Instead, I saw signs that read “Thrash those Bears!” or “Pluck the Eagles!” And on top of that, we had the PA telling us how we could tune into to some AM station to pick up the game live. Not even half the high schools in this state, yet alone this nation have their game over the radio.

On top of that, we have the parents. Now these parents are decked out, mainly the moms. They have face paint, jerseys that match their sons, and the above mentioned signs. To top it off, the only time they were ever quite was during half time. The rest of the time they were standing up and shouting these chants they had over and over and over again. A couple of the moms had mega phones, and the ones that didn’t, didn’t need one. “We are proud of you, yeah we are proud of you!” will be one the chants that will forever burned into my memory.

The best part of all this was at the end of the game. About the last five minutes the Home team scored, putting them up 22-6, and the rest of the game out of reach for the visiting team. To remind the team and the parents of what was happening, we had one of these lovely moms running around with a teddy bear that was hung to a pole.

This got me really thinking of all the reasons why YAFL football could be so bad. Everyone knows these little beauty pageants that go on for five or six year old girls. Well, here it is for a guy, the YAFL “Super Bowl!” Parents who force their kids into doing something they slightly like. Then, they make sure that they are good at it, no matter what it takes. If that means no dinner, so be it! School, who needs school when your son is going to be the next Barry Sanders?

What’s the difference? Okay, the girls dress up in nice skirts with make up, walk up and down a stage, and say how they want world peace, when they don’t even know the street they live on. The guys, they run around hitting each other, the form of true manliness to some, and play in a fake “Super Bowl” when they could just watch the real thing come January.

These parents have really taken this whole thing to another level. All I could think about was the kid across the field who put his whole heart into that game, to only lose, and then have to watch some mom run around with a hung bear. What does that do the kid? Personally, that would make me want to never play the game again. Now, add the angry dad who thinks his son did the worse job in the world and should have won the whole thing for his team. This could lead to very serious problems later on in the kids life.

We see these things going on and then we wonder as to why kids show up to high school with guns and why we have so much violence in the world. I really do see that little boy who lost talking to some therapist about it twenty years from now, as he is dressed in orange with handcuffs for killing all the workers at the local Build-a-Bear.

The only answer I could come up with to fix this whole thing is maturity. Parents should act mature about things. Take a step back and realize that these kids have feelings about things and sure, while we may be excited for them, or even disappointed, they are feeling about twenty times more excited about it then we are, they won the game for crying out loud.

Anyways, its about time I end this thing. Remind me later to write about the importance of coaching kids in their young years. God speed.