steamoe

Obsessed

2009-08-23T16:24:00.001-07:00

I think i would make a really good addict. If I did drugs, I think I would be really good at it. Now I am not encouraging drug use in any way but I am pretty sure I have one of those personalities who can become easily obsessed and consumed by certain things.

When something interests me I really get into it. For some reason in the 5th grade I was all about Bugle Boy and B.U.M clothing. I mean everything I wore was either one of those. In high school I got into wearing dickies and I tell you what, I had every color. Then is was all about geocaching and seeing how many I could get and the list goes on and on with, writing, drawing, cleaning, shoes, skateboards, guitars, youtube videos.

I mean i dont know if anyone else is like this but when something strikes me as interesting I really get into it. Right now it is wedding stuff and riddles. I am interested in wedding stuff cause I am getting married and riddle because someone gave me one and it took and 3 hours of thinking it over to solve. I think it's the challenge of them that gets me hooked. I dont really know why I thought I would share this but I did.

So any good riddles?

caught in the stages of life

2009-08-08T14:48:00.000-07:00

There are the stages of life that we all live through; the stage where girls are developing faster than boys so they are a whole foot taller. The stage of life where we start developing independency from mom and dad. The life stage where we graduate High School and start to develop a sense of self beyond high school friends and activities. College aged years where we start the continuing struggle of where to go, what to do, how do I do this think called being a real adult. Getting married and still trying to figure out life, having kids, and still trying to figure out the ropes, and well you get the picture.

Right now, I feel like I’m in the middle. I’m engaged and excited about everything in life; fiancé, job, family, friends, passions. What I am discovering is even when you are content I still ask the question, “God what is your will?”

For me this is a tricky question because I know the answer, but it’s the details I get hung up on, and it’s the details that I should really worry about. I already know God’s will, I already know what he wants me to do with my life… and that is to love God with all my heart, soul, strength, mind and to secondly love my neighbor as myself. That is the easy part, knowing what God’s will for you. The hard part is that you can do that anywhere, and for a person like me who has a few goals and dreams, sometimes God has something stuff for you. Stuff that doesn’t line up with what you are doing at the moment or even planning to do.

For example, 7 years ago my life that I had planned would look a lot different than it would now. I would have never thought I would be working at a church, teaching God’s word. I mean I don’t ever remember reading my Bible and now it is something from which I teach.

God is truly amazing, and the more I think about Jesus, the more emotional I become and I am not a very emotional guy at all! It just goes to show that Jesus transforms you from the inside.

It’s easy to love God, actually, a better word is easier (because sometimes it can be hard) but for me it is hard to find “something” to really love God and others. I don’t know if this makes any sense, I’m really just trying to get my thoughts out there, but maybe the next thing I say will make more sense.

I would love to just finish school, I would love taking photos, I would love being a teacher, I would love packing boxes, I would love to write, I would love to just talk to people(the list goes on and none of these are any specific order)! The problem is that all the things I would love to do, I can be doing what God wants me to do, what I’m called to do, so how do I know what to do?
Ugh… the frustration lol. Thoughts? Oh yea… and in thinking about what I would love to do, I am also thinking about what my fiancé. (I take your thoughts and feelings into consideration)

Final thought that has nothing to do with any of this, or maybe it does. Think about your love for Jesus and the love you have for the things in your life. If Jesus were to take all the things you love in life, would you still love Jesus the same?

JULY

2009-07-08T15:05:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone was safe....

On July 4th, light up the sky — not your friend

If my likeness for you...

2009-06-30T22:38:00.000-07:00

So last night was an awesome/weird/exciting/fun/great/tiring/cool/unique night. Unique would have summed it up pretty well but it was also everything else.

So at my church (CCF) we have a fireworks booth on Shaw and McCall (go buy fireworks!) and we are having people camp out and guard the loot, which is actually pretty heavily guarded so no ideas anyone! Well a high school student and I spent the night there and it was tons of fun. A night full of being paranoid of every car that passed by because we thought it was stopping to rob us, playing with guns, venturing off into the forest which seems to have no end, exploding sodas, poop stories, life stories, our own version of the Blair Witch Project, and great “lines” which is why I’m writing this blog.

Carson has some great ideas that seem to come from no were. He’s a great guy with one of the best attitudes ever. He never has a bad thing to say and is willing to do anything for anyone because he loves people.

He told me this “line” that he gave someone and I thought it was really awesome and said “whoa that’s funny, we could come up with so many of these lines.” So that’s what we did, we started to come up with all these lines and thought we would make a book, and we are!

I know you people are dying to hear what these “lines” actually are. Before I actually tell you what they are, you have to make a promise right here right now. If you read this, you have to come up with your own line and post it as a comment!

So the “lines” are things that make people feel good! They have a basic format.

If my likeness for you turned you into… *blank*would…

Here are some examples of what we mean:

If my likeness for you turned you into skittles, the world would be a rainbow!

If my likeness for you turned you into paper towels, there would never be another spill!

If my likeness for you turned you into toothpaste, there would be no cavities!

Give it your best shot…

Utah Update

2009-06-15T19:06:00.000-07:00

You can catch Utah updates at hightideym.blogspot.com!

GRRRRREEAT!

2009-03-13T15:09:00.000-07:00

So I woke up feeling super creative today. Actually I woke up twice. The first time I woke up got some cereal, watched the news, and while watching the news all these ideas started to pop into my head. It was cool, but that’s not what I want to talk about.

The second time I woke up is when I put all my thoughts into action, and while trying to complete some of my thoughts I was caught up in some scenes of “In the Heat of the Night” and “Matlock.” While watching I came to two conclusions. Well actually maybe three.

1. These shows are awesome!

2. In the Heat of the Night, the charismatic police officer, that is goofy and loving, is the twin of Scott Borman, you can argue with me but pictures don’t lie!

3. For some reason it seems unrealistic that a perfect pair of lips would end up on the collar of a shirt. (you know this is how the wife usually finds out the husband is cheating)

Conclusion #2:
I was watching In the Heat of the Night and I had to look twice because it WAS Scott Borman. I just wish I could find a good picture… David Hart is the actors name, but I would encourage you to watch him on In the Heat of the Night.

Conclusion # 3:
I know that it is a tv show and I guess there has to be some truth because where else would they get the idea. But it still boggles my mind, how does the lipstick get there? I try to recreate the scene of how lipstick could get on the collar but it just doesn’t fit!

And why can’t the people on set say, “hey lets not make this lip imprint so perfect. Let’s smudge it some.” I cant figure it out.

Well I’m done… back to the creative ideas!

2009-03-03T23:53:00.000-08:00

Something that has been a life goal of mine is to change a life. I have now come to peace to the conclusion that it will never happen.

The reason I have come to the conclusion that I will never change a life is because, it is not me who will do the changing, it is God. But I do take great honor in doing the humbling, tedious work of planting seeds for God to tend to. It's incredibly overwhelming to see God work in someone's life.

I just got done with Jr. high group tonight, and I am continue to be amazed at how God changes our plans once his Spirit starts to work and fills our lives.

I have two thoughts tonight. The first one is on identity, since I'm doing a series on it, and the second is how life play out funny.

So we are doing this series on identity and it's something that we all need to think about sometime in our life. Who am I? I asked this question tonight, "who are you?" It is kind of a loaded question, because there could be millions of answers with shaky foundations. A lot of us identify ourselves by what we have or what we do, but what do we then identify ourselves if those things were taken away. If we identify ourselves as a lawyer and we can no longer be a lawyer, where has our identity gone and what are we to identify ourselves as? We can't find our identities in things that are sure to fade. I dont want to get into that but finding who you really are can be a huge task, so why don't we start by finding out who we aren't!

This is one thing i think is huge for student to grasp and understand. You may not know who you are, but lets think about who you aren't and who you don't want to become. I believe once we can layout who you don't want to be, it saves a lot of kids and ourselves from experimenting with things that could have been avoided, simply by knowing what we don't want to find out identities. If you are struggling with trying to find out who you are, start with figuring out who you dont want to be.

Now, on to how life plays out funny. After group me and the leaders chit chat a bit and we got on the topic of how life plays out funny. I mean I never thought I would be working at a church or even be going to church, yet that's how life is playing out. It is awesome to see God move in someones life and be there to witness the progress of a life in change. I know people's lives change every day, but to know that lives are changing because they are coming into the realization that they are a child of God... is something else. You are truly witnessing a new creation coming to life.

Taking two steps back...

2009-02-09T13:57:00.000-08:00

So the last blog I wrote I talked about growing up, but I'm pretty sure this one will take me back two steps. :-)

So having and making new friends is always a joy, especially when they are super cool people. Last night we had our college night at CCF and our good buddy JRowe said that he would treat some of the group to Red Robin.

Now at first I have to admit that i didn't want to go because i felt i still had so much to do that night , but I am totally glad i did go(through some persuasion from the girlfriend).

So we were finishing up eating at Red Robin when for some reason, Josh, pictured down south, had a purple sharpie and had this idea...

Stephen, let me draw on your face, with this purple sharpie

My first thought, oddly enough wasn't no but rather only

If you let me draw on yours first.

After some negotiating, we came the agreement that i could draw in half a mustache and then he would be able to draw on half my face. And once we did our halves we could finish the other half. Sort of a give me a deposit and pay me the rest when the job is finished.

this is our end result

I'm pretty sure i took two steps back in the growing up process... but still an awesome time!

Growing up

2009-01-28T14:49:00.000-08:00

There are certain milestones in a persons life that let them know that they are on the road to becoming mature or "growing up." Sometimes I forget that I am growing, and I don't mind growing up I'm not scared of it or anything in fact it is sometimes exciting.

But like I was saying sometimes we forget that we are growing up and there are certain things that remind us that we are. For some it is meeting the kid you babysat as a kindergartner and now they are graduating high school, or how bout when your birthday comes around and it is brought to your attention that you are getting up there in the double digits.

For me having a new job has opened my eyes to me growing up and i get excited every time I am reminded. It is always the weirdest things too. Like a student saying, "I cant believe your 22, that is how old my sister is and she's lame." The other day i noticed another milestone in life...

So I am pretty sure when you get your name put on a plate that goes up on a door, you are growing up... i wonder if i lose points for having the pink butterflies though... eh, you be the judge.

Love We Can't Explain

2009-01-13T13:24:00.000-08:00

It has been awhile since I have written anything just because of life. Life has been so crazy with school and Job (starting two new ministry days, two more messages a week) but it has all been a blast. I cannot fill you in on everything that has been happening; in fact, I should not even be filling you in right now. I should be going over some notes, but this idea has just popped in my mind and I thought I would share it because it is mind blowing for me.

I have been pretty insightful and really thinking deep about random things that I believe God has put on my mind and heart. Here is one of those things.

So I am the youth guy at a church and I just had my first successful parents night. (Not that I have had several parent nights and they were not successful, but more so I had my first parents night and it was a success :-D) I was up there talking to all these parents and students, and I wanted to let them know that I really cared about their kids. I planned on telling them I cared, which I really do, but right when I told them that I truly cared and loved their kids, I could not tell them why.

I could not tell them why, not because I was nervous or just could not think but because I really did not know why, but I do. After everything was said and done the thought of why do I care about these kids still lingered. I have had a few days to think about it and these are some of my thoughts.

I should not care a love these kids as I do. I mean before I started I was warned about some kids, and too look out for some trouble makers, but when I jumped into the position I’m in now, I immediately fell in love with every one of the kids, even after I got to know them lol (little joke). I cannot tell you why I love them or why I would do almost anything for them, but I can tell you that I truly care and love these kids.

I started to think that this is how the love of Christ must be on some minuscule level. I mean when you think about it why should God love us, we are a class full of trouble makers who love to disobey, not listen, and do our own things, and yet he can’t help but go to the ends of the earth for us. We are not his biological kids but he loves us just the same. It is probably something God cannot explain to us (or maybe he can) but all he can say is that He loves us.

It is a weird relationship and the more I think about it the more it continues to blow my mind. The students I have, I want to grow close to them, I want to see them succeed, I want them to be loved, but the truth is that some students might not want to grow close to me, they might not want to be loved by me, they might not want anything to do with me. Even after knowing, they might not want any part of me mixed in their life I still love them and would do anything for them.

The more I think about it, the more I see the awesomeness of God's relationship toward His creation and am so grateful for the cross. God simply loves us. We do not understand why and maybe He cannot communicate why, but all we have to understand is that, HE JUST LOVES US.

Everyday Is A Winding Road

2008-12-09T00:10:00.000-08:00

So there are few things that I hate in life. I not really one to go on rants but sometimes you have to. I work next to Sierra Vista mall, and I have to say that they have the most confusing parking lot ever. When I worked on the other side of town we would go to Chipotle, which is in the Sierra Vista shopping area and every time I couldn't help but get lost and confused. Now I can be a little slow finding my way around, I mean I do get very lost in every clothing store (I can never find my way out the right door they all look the same) but even my girlfriend who is awesome at finding her way around was driving through Sierra Vistas parking lot and she said, "What the heck, how do I just get to Mervyns?" So I know it is not just me, here is my story...

I'm going to Verizon Wireless to find some screen covers for my new Samsung Glyde, but today i found out that it is almost impossible. I drew a picture of the route i took. But anyways, I started one way thinking this will get me right there, but no it you "do not enter" there. So i just keep going and what ends up happening is I go around the whole shopping complex and end up in the front and once I think I finally have bearings and know where I'm going, I'm wrong. You'll never guess, the road leads to the part of the parking lot where there is no way out except the way you came in, so i have to go out and try another way. It is like the people who designed the parking thought it would be funny to make the parking lot a torture device. It really was torture trying to find my way to the Verizon Wireless which i could see but could never get to.

If you go to Sierra Vista Mall I suggest parking across the street and walking because you will never find your way out or in.

this is an accurate depiction of my journey through the Sierra Vista parking lot (click on it to enlarge)...

ThE ITsy bItSy SpiDer

2008-11-25T14:42:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't kept up with any of the office stuff or life for that matter. But a friend of mine sent this to me and ran across it again so I thought I would share it with more of the world. Supposedly this is real lol....

Below is the complete email conversation that Adelaide man David Thorne claims he had with a utility company chasing payment of an overdue bill.
______________________________________________________
From: Jane Gilles
Date: Wednesday 8 Oct 2008 12.19pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Overdue account

Dear David,
Our records indicate that your account is overdue by the amount of $233.95. If you have already made this payment please contact us within the next 7 days to confirm payment has been applied to your account and is no longer outstanding.

Yours sincerely, Jane Gilles
______________________________________________________

From: David Thorne
Date: Wednesday 8 Oct 2008 12.37pm
To: Jane Gilles
Subject: Re: Overdue account

Dear Jane,
I do not have any money so am sending you this drawing I did of a spider instead. I value the drawing at $233.95 so trust that this settles the matter.

Regards, David.

______________________________________________________

From: Jane Gilles
Date: Thursday 9 Oct 2008 10.07am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Overdue account

Dear David,
Thank you for contacting us. Unfortunately we are unable to accept drawings as payment and your account remains in arrears of $233.95. Please contact us within the next 7 days to confirm payment has been applied to your account and is no longer outstanding.

Yours sincerely, Jane Gilles
______________________________________________________

From: David Thorne
Date: Thursday 9 Oct 2008 10.32am
To: Jane Gilles
Subject: Re: Overdue account

Dear Jane,
Can I have my drawing of a spider back then please.

Regards, David.
______________________________________________________

From: Jane Gilles
Date: Thursday 9 Oct 2008 11.42am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Overdue account

Dear David,
You emailed the drawing to me. Do you want me to email it back to you?

Yours sincerely, Jane Gilles
______________________________________________________

From: David Thorne
Date: Thursday 9 Oct 2008 11.56am
To: Jane Gilles
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Overdue account

Dear Jane,

Yes please.

Regards, David.
______________________________________________________

From: Jane Gilles
Date: Thursday 9 Oct 2008 12.14pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Overdue account

Attached

______________________________________________________

From: David Thorne
Date: Friday 10 Oct 2008 09.22am
To: Jane Gilles
Subject: Whose spider is that?

Dear Jane, Are you sure this drawing of a spider is the one I sent you? This spider only has seven legs and I do not feel I would have made such an elementary mistake when I drew it.

Regards, David.
______________________________________________________

From: Jane Gilles
Date: Friday 10 Oct 2008 11.03am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Whose spider is that?

Dear David, Yes it is the same drawing. I copied and pasted it from the email you sent me on the 8th. David your account is still overdue by the amount of $233.95. Please make this payment as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely, Jane Gilles
______________________________________________________

From: David Thorne
Date: Friday 10 Oct 2008 11.05am
To: Jane Gilles
Subject: Automated Out of Office Response

Thankyou for contacting me. I am currently away on leave, traveling through time and will be returning last week.

Regards, David.
______________________________________________________

From: David Thorne
Date: Friday 10 Oct 2008 11.08am
To: Jane Gilles
Subject: Re: Re: Whose spider is that?

Hello, I am back and have read through your emails and accept that despite missing a leg, that drawing of a spider may indeed be the one I sent you. I realise with hindsight that it is possible you rejected the drawing of a spider due to this obvious limb ommission but did not point it out in an effort to avoid hurting my feelings. As such, I am sending you a revised drawing with the correct number of legs as full payment for any amount outstanding. I trust this will bring the matter to a conclusion.

Regards, David.

______________________________________________________

From: Jane Gilles
Date: Monday 13 Oct 2008 2.51pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Whose spider is that?

Dear David, As I have stated, we do not accept drawings in lei of money for accounts outstanding. We accept cheque, bank cheque, money order or cash. Please make a payment this week to avoid incurring any additional fees.

Yours sincerely, Jane Gilles
______________________________________________________

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 13 Oct 2008 3.17pm
To: Jane Gilles
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Whose spider is that?

I understand and will definately make a payment this week if I remember. As you have not accepted my second drawing as payment, please return the drawing to me as soon as possible. It was silly of me to assume I could provide you with something of completely no value whatsoever, waste your time and then attach such a large amount to it.

Regards, David.
______________________________________________________

From: Jane Gilles
Date: Tuesday 14 Oct 2008 11.18am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Whose spider is that?

Attached

THE OFFICE

2008-10-03T19:29:00.000-07:00

So I guess there was no office last night and no office=no blog. The episode wasnt even online so hopefully next week we will see what happens with the proposal and everything. EEK

The Unexplained

2008-10-02T16:02:00.000-07:00

So you know how you go through life and things just happen? You don't know why they happen; could be good, could be bad, but they just happen. Well that's life, stuff happens and sometimes you can't know why. I'm going to share a pretty deep incident in my life where I experienced the "things happen" that I'm talking about here.

Last week, a Thursday, I come into my office and everything looks normal except for some new items on my desk. I find skittles and starbursts sitting on top of a dollar. I don't know where it came from, I was the last one to leave the office the night before and the first to get in the next morning. So I find it really weird and I start to think maybe someone bought candy from our candy store and left the money, but then I quickly realized, usually when people pay for candy they take their candy, they don't leave it on top of the money they paid.

For a whole week the candy and money just sat there, I never laid a finger on it and I questioned everyone who entered my office, "Do you know where this came from?" No one seemed to know anything around there. Well the week goes by and again Wednesday night I am the last one to leave, and the next morning I walk into my office and to my astonishment find that the starbursts are missing. I don't know what happened, they just left and everyone claims that they don't know and I'm kinda obsessing over this mystery. All that is left on my desk are skittles and a dollar bill, with no traces of starbursts.

Sometimes stuff just happens. You don't know why but stuff just happens.

THE END

The Office

2008-09-26T14:24:00.001-07:00

So I'm a big fan of the office and last night was the season premiere which I was pretty excited about. I had September 25(office season premiere) on Jessica's calender for so long, like 2 months I think. For those of you who don't know what the office is, two things: WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? And it's pretty awesome.

The Office is an Emmy-Award winning American television sitcom airing on National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and developed by Greg Daniels. It is an American adaptation of the BBC series with the same name. Unlike many American sitcoms, The Office is shot in a single-camera setup, without a studio audience or a laugh track, and is made in the form of a documentary, or "mockumentary". It depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. Although fictional and scripted, the show takes the form of a documentary, with the presence of the camera openly acknowledged. (thanks wikipedia)

So like I was saying I really like the office and this morning I got the idea to start writing a blog about it every Friday after it airs Thursday nights. This is a spot just to read my thoughts of the show and for me to hear what you thought. So lets begin.

I first have to say that Kevin has become my favorite character since the last season. there is something about him that makes you laugh, maybe not really something but more like EVERYTHING. Probably one of the funniest "Kevin parts" last night was when they did the initial weight in, but they asked Pam to get off because she was leaving in a week (I know Pam going off to school, CRAZY) and then did the weigh in again. you could see they all tried to do the math to see how much Pam weighed but then Kevin said "Pam you weigh 226 pounds", and Pam said no i don't weight anywhere near that and this is the best part holly looks back at Kevin and says "Math is hard." and Kevin nods back yes. If you remember from the season finally, holly thinks that Kevin is mentally handicapped. Ah that was pretty funny, if you aren't laughing, you obviously don't know Kevin, cause if you did, you would be laughing.

Oh, and poor Andy, he's not my favorite character just cause he is kinda annoying, yet funny, but poor Andy.

To be honest Michael's goatee was creeping me out. He looked really ridiculous and a little like the UK version of Micheal Scott (pointed out by Jess). See for yourself:
WEIRD
Jess was a little disappointed in Jim's proposal to Pam, but i actually think it was a really good one. I mean what a story. First of all, his first plan gets all messed up and then he has a plan to do it when she gets done with school but while she away he realizes he cant wait so he says meet me at the gas station where that soda exploded on me, blah, blah, blah. And when they meet he tells her I just cant wait. Sure it might not have been the most romantic place, but the heart behind it makes it 100 times better. I thought it was really cool.

For a final note. It was cool to see Toby, poor guy, too back about his neck.

Alright hope to hear someones thought on the office last night.

First week of Work

2008-09-19T14:06:00.000-07:00

So my first week was really, really, really, awesome. I do miss everyone, but what helps me keep busy is MY NEW JOB. I have my own office(which I'm pretty sure I'll have to do a post solely pertaining to the office, which I'm sure my buddies at new cov will appreciate) with 4 bookshelves too many, a laptop, my own mailbox and above that is a whiteboard where I can mark if I am in or out of the office at the moment. It's amazing.
Wednesday, when the ministries meet, was the first night that I was the up front guy and actually ran the flow of things and really learned a lot. I thought I was going to be eased into running EVERYTHING a more, but I wasn't which was overall a good thing. For next week I know that I need to have more games planned out and need to print out contact cards. This might all seem pretty boring and not that interesting but I have a little surprise for you guys.
So Wednesday, to give the kids a chance to get to know me a little, I told them a little of my story and how I got to the place I am now. Well in certain spot in my story I would would show them videos of MY SECRET HIDDEN TALENTS. They loved it. I'm only going to show one of the videos, because I don't know how many people actually look at this and I don't want to give all my secrets out.
To give you a little sagway, this video is awesome. Girls love it, well not so much love it but think it's more disgusting and the guys love it and wish they could do it.

Passing Time

2008-09-14T21:09:00.000-07:00

So it has been awhile since I have written a blog and somethings have happened since my last post, go figure. First Sasquach turned out to be a complete hoax. Seriously? Don't people have better things to do then cry wolf? Now, when someone really does find Big Foot no one will believe that person because they will all say, "Oh we've been through this before, it's all just a hoax." What a disappointment, I think the worse part about it is that is was just a monkey suite, a MONKEY SUITE, seriously? Well I'm still holding out for the chupicabra.

In other news... I'm leaving my position at New Cov for another at CCF. That's right a new job, a chance to step out of my comfort zone and take a leap of faith and really rely on God. I start tomorrow so pray for me and I'll let you know how it goes.

Sasquatch… you’ve been caught red-handed

2008-08-15T13:08:00.000-07:00

If you haven’t heard the news, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!?!? Bigfoot has been found and he’s been hiding out in a freezer in Georgia.
Here’s the story: two men, who have made it their job to find this legendary creature, have come across a corpse in the woods. BUT WAIT, it’s not just any corpse, they claim that it’s the corpse of a Bigfoot. They are so confident that “the Georgia men say DNA will prove once and for all that the frozen creature is Sasquatch.” DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT THIS MEANS? It means that I can no longer say my uncle will be the closes thing people will ever find to a hairy ape-man! I wonder what the next legendary creature will be uncovered, hopefully leprechauns…

THIS JUST IN… LEPRECHAUN FOUND IN PRIVATE COMMUNITY!!!
A community seems to be visited by a leprechaun that hides out in a tree. People have swarmed with camera phones and video cameras just to catch a glimpse… This video will better explain… NOW I REALLY WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE NEXT DISCOVERY WILL BE.

You lift me up when I'm down

2008-08-02T23:05:00.000-07:00

So a group of us peeps went to Spirit West Coast, which was awesome all around, and on our way back we had some very insightful and enlightening conversations about life. We had an awesome debate on the application of sour cream; if a fast food place could apply sour cream with a sour cream gun, with the same love you would get from home with a spoon? I would say that you couldn't get the same love from a sour cream gun, but others felt you could get the same love. Maybe we'll never know; actually i think we do, ill just never admit to it. The other conversation we had was on levitation. I know this trick, and I'm not too sure how it works but with a few hand movements, a gutsy volunteer and four other people, you can lift your volunteer with two fingers. i have done this trick many times and through some of Mari's Internet capability, we found that its called human diamagnetic human gravity antenna. Loren and Stephanie seem to think it's all a hokes and are going to try to prove me wrong. So they are going to do some research and get there own volunteers and I am going to walk them through how to do it. Here is a little diagram to give you a visual of how it works
I know a lot of you may be wondering what exactly all this means and how do you do it? So to answer the question of what all this means; it means you can LEVITATE! To answer the second question, I'm going to give you some directions that describe it best... I don't agree with some of the directions because i don't think they are necessary, but if done right it should work. Have fun, cant wait to hear responses.

To do Party Levitation you will need five people, one to be levitated—henceforth to be called the levitatee— and four to do the levitating — henceforth to be called the levitators.

The levitates sits in a chair and the four levitators stand around him so that they form a square. One levitator should stand to the levitatee’s left, and just behind his shoulder. Another levitator should stand in front of him and to his left, close to his left-knee. The other two should stand on the right side of the levitatee’s body and in similar positions.

Now the object of Party Levitation is to make the levitatee’s body so light in weight that the four levitators can lift him several feet into the air using a single finger each. If the experiment is performed properly none of the levitators will feel the slightest resistance to their efforts. It will be as if the levitatee’s body has lost its weight entirely.

While the levitates is sitting, the four levitators surround him in the manner indicated and place their hands, one atop the other, on his head, as if they were healing him by the laying on of hands.

The person who is going to float must sit relaxed in a straightbacked chair with his legs together, his feet on the floor, and his hands in his lap. The other four participants now stand two on each side of the seated party, one at each shoulder and one at the knee. Instruct all four to extend their arms and place their closed fists together, closed except for the forefingers which should be extended and touching each other along their lengths as shown. The person nearest the seated man’s left shoulder is now asked to place his two extended fingers, palms downwards, beneath his left armpit. Likewise, his opposite number inserts his forefingers beneath the right armpit, and again the other two respectively beneath the seated man’s knees.

Now invite the four assistants to lift the man in this position, using only these extended fingers. However hard they try, it is impossible. As soon as you have registered their inability to do so, ask them to stack their hands alternately, one on top of the other on the man’s head, in such a way that no person has his own two hands together, and then to exert a steady pressure downwards. As they keep this up you count to ten. On the count "nine", they must withdraw their hands quickly from his head and resume their earlier positions with their extended forefingers. On the count of "ten" they must try again to lift the man with those fingers alone. This time he will go soaring into the air with no difficulty whatsoever.

Vroom, Vroom...

2008-07-20T18:40:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, after the conversation on canon stuff, Cydney was telling us how she had bought a new car but isn't driving it because, well, she doesnt know how to. So we were pretty excited (Loren, Jesse, and myself) and Loren, being the person that he is who can teach anything, decided we should go out and teach her how to drive stick. Like any milestone in everyones life, it should be documented, so we did.

Do you mean CANNONS or CAnON???

2008-07-18T15:56:00.000-07:00

So last night after church we were hanging out talking and the canon of scripture came up; I think it came up because we were talking about subjects about the church that would be good to research, anyways; I said that there are two canons, and immediately I was ganged up upon with questions of confusion. The idea does sound a little weird at first; but two canons totally makes sense, and hopefully I can do the idea justice, but I’m not making any promises. This is how it’s going to go; I’m going to define what canon actually is and how it relates to scripture; then define the two TYPES of canon and then show the importance of how canon1 and canon2 relate to each other. So lets begin.

1) What is canon? The term canon originally referred to a stick by which a measurement was made. By extension it came to mean a rule or a standard that things would follow. Finally the canon was applied to an authoritative list of something, like all the books written by a certain author. The canon in relation to scripture is like the canon of an authors work. A table of contents but way more important and meaningful, I mean it is God’s words.

2) What are the two types of canon? To simply answer that canon1 is created by God’s own inspiration and canon2 is the canon passively recognized by God’s people.

a. Canon1: God creates canon one because he has inspired some writings but not others. Canon1 happens immediately, as soon as God has breathed his word there is a canon. Even if there is no written contents of Gods writing is still exists. Canon1 is known infallibly by God and only God, he knows what he has inspired and what he hasn’t. Let me try to make this a little clearer. You may have written papers for school and turned them in, they are your own writings and they are part of your canon. One day you decide to be dishonest and have someone write a paper for you and pass it off as your own. Even though your name is on the paper and no one may find out that paper is not a part of your canon because you did not write it, it belongs to the canon of the person who wrote it. You alone have infallible knowledge of your own work

b. Canon2: is the canon passively recognized by God’s people. The reason it’s passive is because man does not create can but rather recognizes canon. Canon2 is the human knowledge and understanding of canon1. This is where most of people’s objections to the Bible come from. How do we know that we have the right, full, unmistakable, correct books in the Bible?

3)Is a clear knowledge of God’s canon important to the function of Scripture in the church? Of course it is, so wouldn’t God providentially preserve the scriptures and lead his people to have a functional, sufficient knowledge of the canon? YES he would. God inspired the scriptures and his intent when he did that was to guide the church. The scriptures are for our edification and for his people not to have the fullness or have incorrect things in the Bible would make God out to be a pretty small god and not very powerful. The reason I say this is because if the scripture were made for our edification and to guide HIS church; why would he just give us the scriptures and say “here you go, hope you don’t lose them, hope you can hold onto them” and not divinely guard them for our benefit? He is a much more powerful god than that. To say that we have lost books and books that are incorrect to me seems silly and to say that God is not all that he says he is, but God is all He says he is . But there still is the question of are there other books out there that God has yet to reveal to us? Are there book on canon1 that canon2 has yet to recognize. Is the canon still open for more to be added? In the book Scripture Alone(where I heard the idea of two canons)has a good answer for this question. It’s in the context of whether modern revelation is a possibility and it says,

One would have to hold a view of the church that allows for a complete revision of its purpose beyond that envisioned by the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, the revelation of God in Christ, at best, would have to be considered either partial or liable to further future elaboration. This is not what the apostles themselves taught.

Some might suggest that the change in times require God to give new revelation, but the scriptures teach that God is eternal and had infallible knowledge of the future so I’m sure God was planning for future events when he was inspiring the scriptures. I don’t know if I did my argument any justice or if everyone is just more confused. Read Scripture Alone and I’m sure that will clear some things up if I just messed you up for life.

7-ELEVEN

2008-07-11T23:30:00.000-07:00

So as most you of you know the eleventh was some time ago, depending on when you read this, but the eleventh of July only comes once a year, and it's a very special day. Some of you might be asking, why is it special, is it a b-day, or an anniversary? And my answer to you my friend is; I don't know, but what i do know is that every July eleventh, again only comes once a year, is the best day to head on over to your nearest 7-eleven, or even better all the 7 elevens in your area. The reason being is because of FREE SLURPEE'S!!!
7-eleven's marketing committee decided to celebrate 7-11, which only comes once a year, by giving away free slurpees. This is how it works:
You go to your local 7-eleven and either ask the clerk for the 7.11 once cups they have to celebrate the 7-11 or find them laying around the slurpee machines and then you go over and chose which ever flavor slurpee they have to offer, then you drink it. How awesome is that? You don't have to buy anything, don't have to sign up for any magazine, all you have to do it find the cup; choose your flavor; then enjoy. The only catch is the size of the cup and that you only get one serving.
So today a couple of us guys found out about 7-eleven's awesome celebration and decided that we would go to all the 7-elevens to get the most out of the celebration and free slurpees. Loren, Jimmy, Myself, and Josh (camera in hand) planned out a route and hit all the 7-elevens we could.
I'm glad we documented our travels because I've seemed to have suppressed the thoughts of all that slurpage. Oh and none of us were hurt during the filming of the video, or so we think.

IT'G GETTING HOT HOT HOT

2008-07-10T22:29:00.000-07:00

WHAT IS WITH ALL THE HOTTNESS? It has been crazy hot this last week and I am not digging it. I've been helping out with VBS(vacation bible school) at New Cov the past week, which has been awesome, but the heat it brutal.

First of all; if you can't tell I'm not a fan of the heat or even summer, and I really don't understand people who love summer and it's best buddy HOTTNESS. When it is all hot outside I don't want to do anything!!! After being out in the sun and coming inside my body wants to shut down and i don't want it to. (I'm going to be mixing VBS and the heat together, which is weird because they are at opposite sides of the goodness spectrum)

VBS has been awesome, the kids are cool, the songs are cool, and it is really just a lot of fun hanging out with some 6th graders and being able to be excited and silly for God. We start the day of in the sanctuary where we do a song or two, and some friendly competitions, which i rocked at this mornings burping competition(i know im so humble), then head out to do some activities. This is where it gets ugly.

We head to the other side of campus around 9:45, and im sure its 112 degrees by now, to do some crafts on the patio. It's cool to see the kids doing all their crafts and having their snack, but just standing there, in the 112 degree weather, is sucky. I'm just hanging out STANDING and SWEATING, there is no reason for that. I could understand if there was some physical activity like a game, but standing, no that is just wrong. It should never be so hot that you sweat while just standing.

Maybe it's just me, maybe I'm just the kind of person that sweats when it's just a tad hot outside, that's what i was saying to myself, but it cant be true. The reason i know if cant be true is because these kids have a sweat ring around their neck. THE KIDS ARE SWEATING, but they could probably care less :-)

So after a awesome day at VBS i get to come home and chilax (chill/relax, literally chill) but this is another problem. Since the heat and i dont have the best relationship and its my kryptonite, I have to regenerate by sleeping. I know what you are thinking, Superman regenterates by soak up the sun's rays just kidding. You are porbably thinking, what is so bad with sleeping, and why is he talking about superman? Anyway the problem is that i have horrible sleep habits and if i take a nap during the day i wake up later in the evening and cant sleep until 5am the next morning when i have to wake up at 7am, I can never win.

Utah Day 5: Manti's Miracle Pageant

2008-06-15T13:40:00.000-07:00

Day 5 was probably the best day out of the week and the perfect ending to an awesome trip. We started the day at Ephraim Church with worship then transitioned into prayer then some words of encouragement and some tools to prepare ourselves for the task to come later that night. The testimonies shared from ex-LDS members were amazing and to see them now burning with the spirit of God was truly a breath of fresh air.

After leaving Ephraim Church, we stopped at the local thrift store because the girls needed some supplies for the pageant that night (you will see in the video). After getting all of the things we needed we headed back to the Junelle's stone house to do some work but we were side tracked in some worship with Junelle before we planted flowers and did some painting.

When we were all cleaned up Junelle, who is awesome, invited us to have dinner at her place where we ate and worship and got ready for the pageant.

Here are some videos, enjoy...
Pre-Pageant

The Pageant

Part 1: recap

Part 2: recap

Utah Day 4: eating with BYU students

2008-06-14T23:41:00.000-07:00

Today we actually tried to have lunch with some students on campus; for some of us it has a little success but for others conversations came a little harder. We even had a part of our group (LJ and Lacy) visit FARMS to see what they had there. Here's our story...

Utah Day 4: part 1

UtaH Day 4: part 2

UPDATE

2008-06-13T09:35:00.000-07:00

We have a video about our day at BYU but there isn't an abundant supply of WiFi here. But is was interesting and we all have a story. I don't have time to upload the video but I will let you know about some other stuff.

Some of you might be wondering how we are engaging in our conversations and the truth is there isn't one way that we do it. When we were at the Temple Square some of us went on some of the tours that are given by sisters around the grounds and ask simple question about the symbols on the temple and about the prophets and at the end asking some basic beliefs about the truth then really digging into after that. We also stood outside the gate and tried to stop people who were also visiting and see if they could answer some questions.

While at BYU going door to door was just the luck of the draw and when they answered just saying if they would like to talk we are missionaries from California.
When we went on campus if was all about trying to sit down with students and just talking. We sort of had the same tactic of going door to door.

To tell you the truth it is all about being bold with God's strength behind us. We are going out and trying to speak truth. So pray for us tonight as we go into the streets of Manti and engage in conversation with those attending the pageant.

Utah Day 3

2008-06-12T08:57:00.001-07:00

Day three was another awesome day. We started off by going to Sandra Tanners home at Utah Lighthouse Ministry(UTLM) and she just talked to us and answered all the questions we had which we were pretty excited about. She is always a hoot to be around because she is on fire for spreading the word and helping those who are being deceived.

After departing from UTLM we were off to the houses around BYU to go door to door. It was definitely a challenge to endure to the end because it was getting pretty discouraging after about the 15th house and hearing the excuses, but the last house that we stopped at was truly awesome and worth the wait.

Some things not mentioned in the video is that Gianni and I had an encounter with a Jehovah Witness while going door to door and it was pretty interesting. That really pushed us to continue to study. Lacy and LJ had a 4 hour conversation in one house and they said that there were seeds planted and they have some things to think about.

the video wont do any justice to all the event, and either with this blog, but know that God is doing amazing things here.

day 3 part 1

day 3 part 2

Utah Day: 2 Temple Square

2008-06-10T22:26:00.001-07:00

Day two is our first day of really getting out there and talking to members of the LDS faith and just any other folk who are willing to listen to us. We started off the morning going to Bill McKeeker's home, which he graciously opened up to us to give us some training on mormon doctrine and some protestant doctrine as well. For those of you who don't know Bill McKeever is the author of several critical books on Mormonism and is the founder and director of Mormonism Research Ministry (MRM.org). He really blessed us with his knowlegde of mormon doctrine and a really good visual of the gold plates.
After departing from there we went to Temple Square, the Meca of Utah. There we engaged in some really good conversations not only with Elders and Sisters of the LDS church but as well with anyone who would listen.

here's our little video...

Utah Day 1: The Travel

2008-06-10T00:08:00.000-07:00

For those who don't know and might possibly stumble across this blog, we are a group of college students heading to Utah to preach the Gospel. The reason we are choosing Utah is for because the majority of the population is Mormon, and they also have a gospel that may seem similar to the Protestant Gospel it is anything but that. Please ask question if you are unclear about what we are doing or why we are doing what we are doing. Thanks.

Today started off really early and is ending really late. We left around 7am Monday June 9th and we got into American Fork, Ut about 11pm. It's been a long day of driving and potty stops. On all of our stops and at random moments we video taped some of our thoughts and deep thoughts, but it is mostly obscure moments due to the fatigue of driving.

Please keep Christy, Cydney, Gianni, Jessica, Lacey, LJ, and myself in your prayer along with all those who are part of the LDS Church.

Baby Business

2008-06-06T17:33:00.001-07:00

So i have to come clean, I'm a total MSN video addict. I will watch tons of videos for hours. I will watch everything from the very interesting to the not interesting at all. Someday's i get really lucky though and find things that boggle my mind for a bit and this video is boggling my mind. I read the headline, it said “Baby Born Twice”, and I was like what the heck? So of course I check it out and the story is somewhat crazy... enjoy.

Baby born twice

I want to ride my bicycle! I want to ride my bike!

2008-05-31T19:59:00.000-07:00

I really love my bike. I got it last year for my birthday and I rode it everywhere for awhile, but then the weather would no longer permit me to ride it anymore. It started to rain and get really cold and really dark. So I pose this question, what do you do when you cant ride outside? Answer *drum roll* you ride inside. I bought this bike roller so i could ride inside and thats what i did, every once in awhile i would ride my bike inside. the rollers are a little weird and i have to get used to riding on them every time i get on them.

So about a month ago my step-dad bought a bike to ride around and yesterday we both went out for a ride. This was my first time going out on some trails in a very long time and it was awesome. We rode around for about two and a half hours and I have to say im a little rusty going down steep hills, cause i ate it going down one. My step-dad did not eat it going down the hill because after he saw me go down he thought it might be a good idea to walk his bike down. :-)

The ride was awesome and I'm sure we are both going to be a little sore within the next couple of days. I got a good tan and maybe people wont question me so much when they find out im mexican, because apparently i look more white or jewish maybe even greek, i've heard. So i hope for more Friday bike rides and less falling.

Growth Spurts

2008-05-27T19:41:00.000-07:00

So we all know that we grow out of jeans, shirts, shoes, sweaters and bedrooms, yes bedrooms. I never really believed that you could grow out of a room until it happened to me. People have been telling me for years that i have a room that is too small; and should move into the room that is twice as big as the one i was in because no one is using the room that is twice as big. This was mostly coming from my girlfriend who was probably tired of climbing over my bike, guitars, clothes, and other junk.

Here's a little background. Sure my room, or should i say ex-room, is small but i didn’t think i really noticed it or care enough to think it was a nuisance, until my great girlfriend and awesome mother were there to tell me different, it only took about a year for me to finally listen. My mom has been telling me for years but she's my mom, how could i take her word on it? So in this, super small, room I had all the essentials (bed, desk, entertainment set) with the exception of a closet, which is weird. So with all the essential stuff that goes in a room, I also had, a char, for people to sit in, a mountain bike, two guitars and a bike roller. As time went on in the room the chair became a place for clean clothes, the guitars began moving around the room consistently to make room to walk, and the mountain bike finally was mounted on the ceiling. I soon started to become more frustrated at the idea that i had to continually move things just to walk. I believe this is the beginning of my eyes being opened to the option of moving into the room that is twice as large as the one i was in at the time. So two weeks later here i am, and it's awesome.

This room, that is twice as large, is amazing. Oh i also forgot to add that the last room i was in was incredibly hot during summer, at least ten degrees hotter than the outside and 20 degrees hotter than the rest of the house. So not only is this room bigger but it is way cooler. I have room in my room that i don’t even know what to do with. Now i think back and don’t know how i survived in that little old room that was 120 degrees. This room, that is twice as big, makes it look like i own nothing, it's awesome.

Wake me up before you go go

2008-05-24T17:00:00.000-07:00

If you are like me, the morning isn't one of my best friends. We usually start the day off with a game of who can be more persistent. I play on the side of persisting to stay in bed; and my alarm, persisting to make noise. I think I have a slight advantage so to even it out a little I set four different alarm times. Two alarm times on my SmartSet Dual Alarm clock and two on my cell phone.
I have my the obnoxious ringers set on my cell phone and on my alarm clock I have the radio and the standard beep, beep, beep. I have the beep, beep, beep one set to go off first and lately my SmartSet Dual Alarm clock has been playing dirty, it's been entering my dreams.
It's like Freddy Kruger, it has found a way to get me where I am most vulnerable, in my sleep. It's most recent intrusion was this morning. For some reason I was dreaming about grilling on a George Foreman Grill for a large amount of people when in the middle of a perfect grilling experience, beep, beep, beep. I say to the devourers of my grilled foods, this has never happened before, I don't know what is wrong. So I attempt to find and fix the problem and after was seems like ages, I come to the enlightening conclusion, and tell my guests "don't worry it is just my alarm clock." Then BAM! I'm awake. My SmartSet Dual Alarm clock is getting crafty, a little too crafty.

Postal

2008-05-23T21:01:00.000-07:00

You would never think that going to the post office would really be much of an adventure, don't worry I thought the same thing, until I was introduced to BULK MAIL *dun, dun, dun* I've been to the Post Office on E street several times before and everytime is another adeventure so I thought I would document my travel. Here it is, by the way I'm a first time blogger so this is pretty exciting for me.

Peace Out.