Escape Clause

I went to the Mesa Temple this morning to go through a Spanish session.  It was a lovely experience and I was very happy to find that I understood pretty much everything.  My friend Shannon came with me and informed me that I was "so cool" because I didn't need an English headset.  Cool is totally what I was going for.  Mission accomplished.  After the session we went to have an organic breakfast at a place called The Farm.  Surprisingly enough, it is a farm where they grow all the food they serve.  Basically, it is amazing.  As we sat there discussing various topics I looked around at the peaceful atmosphere of the farm and thought that this is how life should be lived.  The morning was refreshing and peaceful.

On our way back I picked up my car from the shop and ended up having a conversation with a guy who is friends with the shop owner.  He explained that he is a Christian minister without any direct affiliation to a particular church and that he is very well versed in the Mormon religion.  I found this intriguing so I asked if he had read the Book of Mormon.  Parts of it.  He admires the dedication of the members and the good we do.  He actually attended seminary with friends.  So what was his reservation?  He told me that we do not believe in the same Jesus Christ.  I explained we believe in the Bible so I was confused how we couldn't believe in the same Christ.  He simply said that we believe in two different people.  I made it clear that there is only one Jesus, so if there are two different statements being made about him that contradict each other, only one of them can be true.  He agreed but failed to make his point.  He simply admitted to believing in the Trinity which I reminded him was created by the Nicene Creed.  He didn't feel like explaining that one.  I then stated that we believe Christ is the literal son of God and that he came to earth to atone for the sins of the world.  Apparently this is not what he believes.  According to this man, Christians believe that everyone but Christians will go to Hell when they die.  How depressing!  Mormons, however, are different because they have an "escape clause" to this.  We sure do! It is absolute madness to believe that God, the father of all mankind, would allow a majority of his children to come to earth without the opportunity to hear the gospel and then tell them too bad after they die and send them straight to Hell.  That is unjust and quite frankly, pointless.  God's main objective is for all of His children to return to Him and all will have the opportunity to do so in this life or the next.  So yes, in a manner of speaking we do have an "escape clause." 

He also told me that if the Mormons are right, then we have a very serious and solemn responsibility.  I agreed and said that I was sure happy to have it.  He mentioned something about the fact that I can take comfort from it right now, but I explained that I am pretty sure it will always make me happy.  He concluded that by either religion he should be okay because he is Christian so he won't go to Hell, and if the Mormons are right then he should end up in the third kingdom and I will go to the highest because I've been a member all my life and I served a mission.  I tried not to laugh and informed him that's not exactly how it works.  I ended the conversation by telling him it was interesting to see how the Church is viewed through the beliefs of someone else.  Overall, it was a good discussion, and I left thinking how lucky I am to have the peace and knowledge that I do.

Coping Mechanisms

We all have coping mechanisms (at least I think so; I haven't done any research on it). I came to a realization the other day that I have a very expensive coping mechanism. I haven't quite narrowed down the exact things I use it to cope with, and it would take me a lot more introspection and time than I am willing to spend before finishing this post to figure it out, so I am going to say that it is my coping mechanism for life in general. I travel. I have always loved to travel (but I do hate the packing part). My family would take trips every summer and I always looked forward to them. It's not just the being on the trip part that I enjoy, but I love the planning, the anticipation, and the prospect of getting away from the everyday. Before my most recent trip to San Diego with my mom, I was in danger of becoming like this poor bear we saw at the zoo (you can't tell from the picture, but he was swaying his head back an forth).

Fortunately, the trip was exactly what I needed. I am finding, however, that this coping mechanism costs a lot of money and I have a limited amount of vacation days at work. Don't worry, I found a way around the latter issue by scheduling things on the weekends. In May I will be gone every Saturday and will only use one day of vacation time. Apparently my coping mechanism is helping me become a better problem-solver which is a character-building trait so it is really helping me become a better person overall. Therefore, I will not be giving up my coping mechanism. Instead I will got to Disneyland with my cousin. It will be family bonding time. See, it really is making me a better person.

This is a picture of me throwing an axe into a hanging log. Yes, I got it to stick . . . after a couple tries.

Blogging

I don't know if this happens to anyone else with a blog, but now that I have one I find myself thinking during various events of the day, "could I blog about this?" I also wonder how often I should be writing. Then I wonder what exactly I should be putting on my blog. Should I keep it to random thoughts I have or should it be more like a journal? I have come to the ultimate conclusion that this is my blog so I can do whatever I want. I'm learning a lot.

Ambitions

I went with my best friend and her family to the Renaissance Festival held each year in Arizona. While there I had the chance to break out my rusty high school archery skills. I wasn't really aiming because my overall goal was to simply get the arrows to stick in the hay bales. It went surprisingly well. I suddenly became aware of a childhood fantasy I didn't know I had until that moment. I want a bow and arrow. I have even started looking at one online. I'm working on purchasing a new camera lens too, so I will have to pace myself, but the bow is definitely on my list. The timing of this realization is unfortunate, however, because everyone I tell about my new self discovery automatically thinks that I am simply wanting to emulate a fictional character from Hunger Games. Truth be told I have never read the books or seen the movies but I am unfortunately being miscategorized as an obsessive fan. At least I don't braid my hair (because that is apparently another big thing from the series). My new plan is to focus on the camera lens first so by the time I have the money for the bow, the craze should die down enough to allow me to carry out my genuine childhood fantasy with dignity.

Beginning

So here we go.  I have been hesitant to start a blog for a long time because I feel like I can hardly keep up with everything else there is to do in life, however, I got off work early today so I decided to take advantage of extra time to do something new.  So far I have created the space.  It's a start.