My Favorite Apostle(s)

I am not completely sure that you are allowed to have a favorite apostle. It seems somewhat off, like wearing white after labor day or calling the bishop by his first name when he is sitting on the stand. But I have to be honest with you dear reader, I have a favorite apostle or three actually Jefferey R. Holland, David A. Bednar, Henry B. Eyring. I think the reason I like these three so much is because when they speak it is in a style that is understandable to me. I was talking to my dad a couple of years ago and he said that his favorite apostle (see so if its wrong at least I'm in good company) was Elder Monson because of the way that he used analogies and stories in his talks. For my Dad this really brought home the point that Elder Monson was trying to make in a way that made sense to him. (I really hope my dad saw priesthood session on Saturday. Elder Monson wiggling his ears to cap off his story about the young boy is a perfect example of using a story and humor to make a very effective point.)

When I look at the three apostles that I enjoy listening to what strikes me is that all three have an academic background. All of them taught at university, Elder Eyring Associate Professor of Business at Stanford, Elder Bednar Associate Professor of Management at the University of Arkansas, Elder Holland Dean of Religious Education at BYU. Interestingly both Elder Ering and Elder Bednar were presidents of Ricks College (now BYU Idaho) and Elder Holland was the president of BYU (Utah version). As has been noted in the past I love school particularly university thre is something about learning and discussing ideas that is deeply satisfying to me. Therefore it would stand to reason that the three apostles that have spent their lives in front of a classroom would be particularly enjoyable to me.

I actually just finished watching the last session of conference and listening to Elder Holland and Elder Bednar was deeply satisfying. Eler Holland lovingly and effectively answered critics who attack us for our use of the Book of Mormon as scripture and our clear stand that the canon is open. What he said was incredibly bold but at the same time he was clear and wise in the way he stated our position. His use of outside sources, particularly the words of protestant intellectuals and scholars was a masterstroke. It was a passionate and intelligent defense of our position and I thought it was marvelous.

Elder Bednar spoke on how to make prayer more effective through uniting faith, prayer and action. It was one of those talks that I am glad that I have on the internet. I can listen to it over and over again, stopping to think about what he has said and read the scriptures that he sites. It would be impossible to take it all in at once. It was a humbling and moving experience to listen to his counsel. The way that he approached prayer reminded me of many of his other conference addresses. It is a topic that you and I have both heard numerous sermons on but when Elder Bednar approaches the topic I realize that there is a whole level of meaning that I am only scratching the surface of.

Too sum up, very good conference. All of my favorites spoke and they were all powerful and articulate and they all had that particular something that apostles have. That assurance and knowledge that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ and that they are his apostles.

About Me

1. What was I doing 10 years ago? Ten years ago I I was footloose and fancy free. A bachelor going to school at LCC attending institute and dating girls who had just graduated or in I think one case was just about to graduate from high school.

2. 5 things on my to do list.
Change the muffler on my car, figure out how the conference call feature on my phone at work works, finish, or at least start the articles of incorporation for Lorne's Blanket, teach the kids to roll over and play dead, clean out my storage room is is an absolute disaster in there.

3. What would you do if you were instantly a billionaire?
I would go back to university, someplace good with great scenery like Harvard or the University of Miami. I loved university the whole process of learning and discussing ideas is amazing, I would sell our crappy house here in Whitecourt and buy three or four really nice ones in places like the south of france, new zealand and malibu. I would help out my family get everyones debts paid off then set aside enough for my family to live off of for the rest of my life and for the kids to go to school and then the rest would go to the perpetual education fund. This fund is the most revolutionary idea and provides such amazing opportunities for people in difficult circumstances. I would love to know that because of me thousands of individuals and families would be able to become financially stable.

5. 3 bad Habits
Procrastination
Reading on the Toilet
tardiness

6. 6 places I have lived.

Bangalore, India
Grande Prairie, Alberta
Singapore
Las Vegas, Nevada
Whitecourt, Alberta
Magrath, Alberta

7. 5 Jobs I've had
Feed Lot Hand
menial labourer (cleaning out chicken barns)
Insurance Salesman
Lawyer
Gas Jockey

8. 5 things people don't know about me
-I need glasses, badly
-I love celebrity gossip
-As a teenager me and some friends developed plans (never used) for a hovercar
-I am a little OCD there are particular things that I need to do the same way every time (ie there is a desk I pass before I go in my office, I touch it every time I go by.)
-I am a compulsive reader of alernative history novels.

Have a great day

King Benjamin

I am just starting to read king Benjamin's address again and after reading through Chapter 2 of Mosiah a couple of things really struck me. The first is how King Benjamin seems to view his mortal body and mortality itself with, if not disdain then at least with a sense of remoteness. It is as if because of his age and infirmity he is more than ready to cast off this mortal life. Throughout the chapter he speaks of his life, work and ministry in the past tense as if he is already gone and done and finished.


This seems to be important because of the way that he approaches our mortality, as a gift given by a benevolent father to, at times recalcitrant, children. King Benjamins age and infirmity have given him a clearer understanding of who we are and the relative value that we should place on obedience and sacrifice. This perspective on mortality also reinforces the importance of subliminating our will to our Father in Heaven.

The second and somewhat related point is that I wish we had more from King Benjamin. More of his sermons. He is a wonderful teacher.

After All This Time

I went in to the city yesterday and did a discovery on Affidavit. It was about as boring as it sounds. Luckily the office where I did the discovery at was like right down the street from a Red Lobster SCORE!!! That was a good lunch nothing fancy just some lobster and shrimp pasta very good. Unfortunately you cannot get good (or really any) seafood in Whitecourt other than fish sticks which, I am sorry mom, but are not sea food.

When I got back to the office I found that the overhead fan in my office had not dripped water on my desk. You might think that is was a given that the overhead fan in my office would not drip on my desk, you would be mistaken. Over the past four or five days the overhead fan that sits over the left corner of my desk has occasionally dripped and occassionally gushed out water. This is not good, to give you an idea of why consider this, all that I do all day is look at paper. Some of it is stuff that I wrote some of it is stuff that somebody else wrote and wants me to read. Much of it is not copied anywhere. the stuff on my desk is the only copy of this paper in the whole world. So if it gets soaked through with water that is bad, very bad. So far nothing vital has been dripped on, cross your fingers. Interestingly this is not the only place in my office that leaks water I have a skylight? like thing behind my desk in an alcove and it will occasionally for no discerible reason begin to leak. This is not so serious because it is not over my desk and I can put a bucket under it to catch the dripping but if it drips and I do not notice it it can quickly become a big wet spot on my tile floor likely to cause me to trip and injure myself at which point I would be forced to sue my employer, the builder of the house and any safety inspectors who signed off on this weird travesty of a skylight? or whatever that thing is.

What's Going On

Hey that last post was almost completely painless so I thought I would do another one. As I think I mentioned to most of the people who wil read this post, I am now the elders quorum president here in whitecourt but that title is somewhat misleading. This is because there is no high priests quorum here and very few active men. I have one counselor who I called last week. Thanks John for saying yes! I feel really good about the counselor that I have he is a good man with a great testimony but honestly there are not a tonne of options for a second counselor or a secretary. There are some great faithful men but for one reason or another they just don't fit the bill. So I am struggling with what to do, leave it empty? Hard to say at this point. Unfortunately because of the new calling I will not be teaching my teenage class anymore. That is kind of a bummer I really enjoyed that. Fortunately? for me my teacher for this week called me this evening and told me that he would not be there this week so I get a chance to teach, just the elders quorum. Guess thats all for now.

The List

Here you go Krista I hope you are happy.

A- Attached or single: Attached
B- Best Friend: Jenie, Kris, Scott Young
C- Cake or Pie: Grandma Jones's apple pie
D- Day of choice: my birthday, its all about me
E- Essential Item: Books, lots of books
F- Favorite Color: Blue
G- Gummi Bears or Worms: Neither, that is like pure sugar I honestly cannot even touch them without cringing.
H- Hometown: I am a citizen of the world. Also my parents liked to move a lot.
I- Indulgence(s): Indian food
J- January or July: July (see answer for D)
K- Kids: Hanna (8), Olivia (7-tomorrow), Emma (5), Lincoln (4), Lily (1)
L- Life is Incomplete Without: laughter
M- Marriage Date: October 10, 1998
N- Number of Siblings: 2 sisters
O- Oranges or Apples: Madarin Oranges
P- Phobias or Fears:
Q- Quote(s): "look someone's gone and thrown away a perfeclty good white boy" (better off dead)
R- Reason To Smile: My kids
S- Season: Summer
T- Tag Three: Anyone who wants to fill it out
U- Unknown Fact About Me: I am much taller than I seem.
V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animals: If we weren't meant to eat animals they wouldn't be made out of meat.
W- Worst Habit: other than the crack pipe?
X- X-Rays or Ultrasounds: ultrasound I like the feeling of the Jelly and the woo, woo, woo sound the machine makes, very soothing.
Y- Your Favorite Food: Paneer butter masala, steak, lobster.
Z- Zodiac" Cancer (possbily the weirdest and most forbiding of the zodiac signs.)

Seriously, Whitecourt?

Well its been a while since I wrote on this thing and I suspect that noone is reading it. That is okay by me. As I am sure you are now aware we have decided to stay in Whitecourt. I know this decision must have surprised those of you who have heard my rants about snow, winter, and other closely related subjects. To be honest this was a very difficult decision, in the long run I think that it will benefit my family and be the best thing for us. In the short run all I am sure of is that this is where we are supposed to be.

To switch to a more interesting topic, I was reading Gary's new blog this morning, I really enjoyed what he wrote about light, and about resetting ourselves with the savior. The class that I teach is a little different. It is made up of all of the teenagers in the branch, class size ranges from 2-8 depending on which families are there that week. The theme that I seem to keep coming back to is personal choice. We are studying the New Testament and it is instructive to consider how many people heard the Saviors words, in person, and still chose not to follow. It is a rich mine for me in attempting to present to the class how while we may hear, we have to choose to recieve. From the class discussion it is difficult to tell if anything is actually penetrating the surface but from what I have found most classes are that way.