Pleasant Surprises

I've come to like the term "pleasant surprises". Many surprises come to us, some welcome and others we wish had never reared their ugly head. I think we can probably name a few surprises we've all had in the last few weeks or months... as of late I have felt very fortunate, and have been pleasantly surprised numerous times since I have made my stay in Washington DC.

The Johansen's--The Johansen family encompasses my sister Talai, her husband Aaron, and their child Owen. I came out here a couple of weeks before I began my internship and was able to spend some time with the Johansens. While I was growing-up my sister and I were always pretty close, and would trade secrets from time to time, but with her marriage and move to the East Coast it has been harder to maintain the relationship we enjoyed (and maybe at times despised (since then I've grown-up a little bit)) while growing-up. Those two weeks, and the dinner outings with Talai, Aaron, and Owen has endeared a level of love and friendship I may have not have experienced otherwise. The time that I've been able to spend with them has given me a stronger love for Talai, a deeper respect for Aaron, and a heart that melts when Owen smiles at me (I'm still trying to get him to laugh for me).

My Roommate, Jim Bird--I didn't really think much about who I was going to room with, mostly because I feel like I'm so laid back and can get along with anyone, but when I learned that Jim is a journal writer, scripture reader, fashionable dresser, hip-hop lover, country lover, and ladies man I knew that I was in for a great semester.

The City--I've visited a lot of cities, but I have never lived in one, and in the past I always said that I couldn't live in a city--living in DC has proved me wrong. I love the city. I love the arts here. I love taking the public transportation, mostly because I get to meet new people almost every day or I can dig into a book or newspaper without worrying about driving off the road, for me it's one way to unwind. I have come to love the city life so much that I am now looking for jobs in New York City, Chicago, Washington DC, and San Francisco.

Honorable Mentions: Apple dumplings, Steak and cheese, Aunt Shauna and Uncle Dave, Uncle Chad and Aunt Tracy, running along the Potomac, finance, the humidity, watching couples walk hand in hand on the river trail, updates on the BYU game from Tanille, and sharing what means the most to me with others.

Is This Love or Infatuation?

I have been in Washington DC now for almost three weeks, and working in Washington DC for a week and I think I'm in love... at least I think this is what love feels like; but I think the greatest test of love or infatuation comes with time--so maybe I'll stamp this email as RESOLVED in a couple of months.

One example: Because Washington DC is a large city, there are a lot of opportunities to meet new people. The other day while busing to the metro station I began talking to a gentleman and I learned of his Arabic background. To save you the details of our conversation, in short we talked about everything from our religious beliefs to what we wanted to accomplish in our lives... awesome conversation. Luckily we work near each other so I'll have the opportunity to keep in contact with him. There are so many amazing people out here, and I look forward to meeting and becoming friends with as many as possible!

Repentance------->Meekness

Lincoln Haycock made some great comments to my post "Meekness...". If you have some time you should read them. I'm hoping that he'll begin his own blog. As I read his thoughts and re-read my post I began to think about Moroni 8:26 a little more.

Meekness is certainly a key to charity, but they key to becoming meek, at least from what I've begun to understand is being repentant or maybe preface to repentant the desire to be better--to change. I've found that when I am striving to become better my prayers and thoughts are focused in such a way, as my prayers become focused a certain wave of meekness envelops my life. Anyways, for me, this points to the importance of prayer... prayer helps open the windows of heaven.

Meekness is the key that unlocks the door to charity...

For the past couple of years I have studied faith, hope, and charity. As I've dug into them a little bit I've learned some important princples, I hope you don't mind that I share them with you.

Since I learned about charity a while ago I've always had the question, how do I gain charity. I understand the scripture, "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love" {the love being charity), but what urges one to pray and what should they pray for exactly as?

As I pondered these questions I began to study Moroni 7 and 8 a little bit more. Moroni 7 teaches us that faith is the first steps we need to take to develop charity. As we exercise true faith, meaning the only true person we can exercise faith in, because He is perfect--Jesus Christ--, we can begin to develop hope. Our hope grows as we adhere to gospel principles and commandments--thus exercising faith, and as we do so we begin to see the fruits of the spirit and other blessings in our lives. As we witness those blessings our hope will naturally grow, mainly our hope pertaining to the atonement, whether we realize it or not. As our faith and hope grows in the atonement we become cleansed and more perfect because of the Savior, this cleansing and perfecting helps us to be more like the Savior, as we become more like the Savior we begin to inherit some of His characteristics, such as love--or better said charity.

As I learned these truths, I began thinking about what moves us to exercise faith, there must be something more. I began to look for a key, a catalyst that can help us to exercise faith. Moroni 7:46 and Moroni 8:26 teaches that meekness is one of the keys that can open the door to faith-->hope--> and charity.

Moroni 7:44:

None is acceptable before God, save the meek and lownly in heart; and if a man be meek and lownly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity

Moroni 8:26:

And the remission of sins bringeth meekness, and lowliness of heart; and because of meekness and lownliness of heart cometh the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love, which love endureth by diligence unto prayer, until the end shall come, when all the saints shall dwell with God

I don't have the time right now to complete reference my thoughts, but I will later. I'm interested in anybody's thoughts in regards to this, I hope to hear from a few of you.

Top Ten Summer Events

This summer has been a wonderful summer, and for me it's basically over. I begin school (actually an internship) on Tuesday, so I feel like this is a good time for me to publish my top ten events/experiencs of my summer.


10. "Hitching a ride" to Santa Barbara, CA--and spending a week in Portland with Lincoln Haycock's family

9. Working at Gruvie with Ian and Levi

8. Riding a camel around the pyramids

7. Hiking Santa Ana, a volcano in El Salvador

6. Becoming friends with Dr. Sayed Saif, Ahmed Hathoot, and Dr. Yasser Saif in Egypt as well as becoming friends with Daniel Hernandez in El Salvador

5. Seeing Les Miserables in St. George at Tuacahn

4. Running a race with my dad and my brothers Colby and Dallan

3. Spending a week and a half with Talai, Aaron and Owen in Washington DC
My last two days with my family before moving away for four months

2. The last two days I spent with my family before moving

1. Partaking of the sacrament in El Salvador

Ogden

When I think of Ogden, Utah, I will always think of family. Last Monday I drove up there with a friend to visit my grandma and grandpa as well as the Christensen's. Visiting with my grandparents has become one of my favorite things, they always seem to be in a good mood. As of late I have found it fun to learn something new about them every time I visit with them. Since, I have learned details of their courship. I've learned that Nauvoo, Illinois is my grandma's favorite place to visit. I've learned of some missionary experiences that my grandpa had in the war. I've learned about some of his old friends on the ship that he spent a lot of time on during the war. I learned about my grandma's "boyfriend" before she met grandpa. I've learned about Portage, Utah, where my grandma grew up and I learned about Cache Valley where my grandpa grew up.

Probably my favorite memory came while I was talking to my grandma on the phone one day and I began telling her about a number of April Fools Day jokes that I had pulled--as I told them grandma began laughing and couldn't stop, she laughed so hard that she laughed all of the way from the airport until the point of the mountain, probably a 20 minute drive! Because she was laughing so hard I began laughing... we both probably laughed for about ten minutes straight. To this day I don't think I've ever laughed harder. Building a stronger relationship with my grandma and grandpa has brought me so much joy, I can't say enough good about them--my heart is full of gratitude every time I think of them.

I also visited the Christensen's, my grandma's daughter--Shauna's family. My uncle Dave, Shauna's husband, was just sustained and ordained to be the new Stake President. It was fun to visit with Shauna and Dave about their experience in receiving the calling. Dave will do a wonderful job, it would be so fun to be a fly on the wall and watch him lead. I also was able to visit with my cuz Amy (Amy, this is your shoutout), I am very impressed with her strength and sense of humor. I feel lucky to call her a friend.

The Mystery of Capital

The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else by Hernando de Soto

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I just read The Mystery of Capital and loved it. I think you would too. Hernando De Soto talks about why capitalism has worked for the Western world but not for the third-world. After closing the last page I agreed with him: The big difference is the legal system, specifically that the third-world lacks the systems of showing that a persons has property. De Soto argues that it's actual real estate that begins to push and grow an economy. Without property one cannot borrow wealth to grow wealth (property is used as collateral).



The developing world has many assets, but they are dead assets, because there is no legal system to back it up. De Soto also mentions that third-world countries are currently in much of the same situation the US was in 200 hundred years ago... the US was full of land squatters, with hundreds of regulations and laws, with Elites doing their best to keep the poor (which was the majority of the nation) from gaining wealth as well as power... it's quite interesting. I agree with De Soto at this point, but I would really like to read another professionals point of view... any suggestions?




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