Living

Green shoots grasp at the afternoon air.  Some have become full grown leaves, taking in sunlight and air for nighttime photosynthesis.  Elegantly gnarled, the trunk twists following the three lines of heaven, earth, and man.  One and a half feet curls the bonsai tree. 

In and out and around, he weaves a web of incomprehensible beauty.  Beauty that speaks to his origins.  A little seed, struggling to survive in the fabricated tropical atmosphere.  Finally, he breaks through the surface of the soil to experience the light and air.

Soon, a man comes over and begins to tie him down at painful angles.  Still he grew.  The bonds moved while he continued growing in that direction; then, the bonds appeared again at a different angle, turning him back from where he came from.  The pain.  The confusion.  All he wanted was to grow up and stand tall.

Only later does the bonsai realize that the forced turns and bonds gave him the grace and beauty he now enjoys.  In the same way, our Lord gives us commandments and callings that may seem to bind us down; yet, these very bonds will be the path to a bright and elegant future.

Follow Him

This past week taught me knew insights about teaching.  I am in the middle of teaching a seminary class at Timpview High and have learned about the importance of following the Master Teacher in preparing my lessons.  I know the subject matter is different but I feel the same principles of faith that I have been learning this week apply to teaching English as well as Seminary.

I spent a lot of time preparing the first lesson I taught the kids.  We are in Isaiah and so I wanted to help them understand how he switches time periods without warning so that they would better understand when they read him on their own.  I made up mnemonics, planned a jigsaw activity, and worked on my management.  Everything as good teacher should do, except one thing.  I did not take the time to think if this is what the students needed and how I could make it relevant to them.  Because I omitted these two items in my excitement to teach them something that I knew, I limited the help that the Lord could give me in my preparations and in consequence the lesson did not take root in my students.

I went about preparing for lessons two and three differently.  First, I sought the help of the Lord, and acknowledged to him that I was insufficient and needed his help.  Having this kind of attitude changed how I prepared my lessons.  There were still well thought out and well managed, but now I have the guidance of the Holy Ghost to know better how to reach the hearts and minds of the students.   The change really was night to day.  The students became excited, participated, and learned. 

I know that as we prepare to do our student teaching/internships, if we seek the guidance of the Lord, He will reach out and touch us so that we can in turn touch our students lives and help them prepare for their futures.  He wants them to succeed even more than we do and He will help.  With Him, we cannot fail!

An Informational Text On A Returns Expireince

To begin with, in order to return an item to Amazon you will need

1. To log into your Amazon account (not necessary but advisable).

2. Click on the help button in the top right-hand corner of the screen.

3. Click on the "How to Return" link.

4. Click on "Return Mailing Labels."

5. Click on the "Amazon Return Center."

6. Choose your return option from "New Returns" or "Gift Returns"

7. Fill in the information needed (your name and email)

8. Enter the item ID code that was shipped with the package.

9. What?   No ID code, contact us for help.

Dang, I was going to copy some of the dialogue I just had with Aamir about returning items from my wedding registry.  I found out some very valuable information that I would like to share.

1. Do not lose any packing information for an item because you will need the packing number to return an item.

2. Amazon does not keep a record of who buys from your registry.

3. There is a bug in the Amazon registry that deleted all records of any items bought from them for Brooke and myself.

4. The employees, though unable to help due to Amazon policy, are amiable over chat.

Anyways, I wanted to share this information in case any of you are looking to register with Amazon.  Contemplating my previous decision, I would also advise you to check the ratings of any item that you register for; I am not sure how these bamboo cutting boards are going to work out now that we cannot get rid of them!

Voice

Children bring a smile to the heart.  Tonight the Provo school district hosted an elementary choir concert with kids from all of the elementary schools in the district.  Brooke wanted to see the Westridge kids.  They performed wonderfully with a bongo accompaniment.  However, imagine her delight when she learned Provo Peaks came to sing as well.  She finished her student teaching there in a sixth grade class.

The Provo Peaks choir began to sing.  Their voices melded together; yet, there was something.  A dissonance in the voices.  I eventually located the child.  They had placed him in the front row.  I smiled.  He sang with his whole body, his head swinging back and forth showing both hearing aids at different angles.  Every now and again, he would become especially invigorated and his voice would blast into the nearby microphone. The pitch would go up sharply and then back down when he ran out of air. 

The music may not have been Mozart, but the heart involved communicated feeling that only an artist understands.  I smiled.

To Offend or Not Offend

Friends!  We love friends!  One of our friend couples, who will remain nameless, came over to our house for Family Night.  They offered to bring the treat and we accepted.  Who can give up good food from friends. 

They arrived with some wonderful rhubarb crisp and a half gallon of ice cream.  I eyed the ingredients of the ice cream, my hear sunk, dang, corn syrup; the bane of my existence!  My corn allergy haunts me wherever I go.  Natural corn I can eat; however, almost everything eatable contains some kind of processed corn and that is what kills me - not literally.  I get a really upset stomach and all the issues that come with it, sometimes, I wish that my allergy were deathly; then, I would be able to avoid it more thoroughly. 

Let me explain.  When my good friends who I admire and love came over to our apartment for the first time bearing lethal ice cream, what could I do except eat what I was offered.  Now many of you are thinking: okay, they are your friends and will understand your circumstance.  Yes, you are right, they would; I know that they would be okay if I told them I could not have the ice cream; yet, I have too much of South America in my blood to do it.  No, I am not Latino, even a little bit by blood, but I did serve the Latino people of Ecuador for two years.  In those two years I spent all of my time with people who would rather die than give offense.  Marinating in that mentality for two years has changed me.

Needless to say, both my wife and I want the recipe for the rhubarb crisp, a better desert I have not had.  And I, I, am suffering from an over does of corn syrup found in 98 percent of ice creams.  Tasted like a dream, punishes like a nightmare.  Such is life.

Of Length and Peace

Isaiah.  The first block I will be teaching reaches from Isaiah 24-29, a doable stretch.  The second block.  Isaiah 30-47.  Seventeen chapters of Isaiah to analyze, understand, apply, and then teach to high school age kids with a focus on relevance.  Don't get me wrong.  There is a lot there and that is part of the problem.  There is a lot there. Isaiah does not just come like some scripture.  One has to struggle, wrestle, and spend time to understand everything.  Sometimes, I just can't seem to grasp his words. 

Yesterday was one of these times.  I was focusing a little too much on getting the new TV up and running with my friend; not an activity conducive to the Sabbath Day.  After we finished, my mind still reeled with organization; was everything in the right place; and man, I could not stop thinking, that looks good. 

Then I sat down to read Isaiah.  The first paragraph left me stumped.  I did not understand what he was talking about at all.  My mind would not settle; I was still focused on the TV.  Finally I gave up and prayed.  I still could not focus. I prayed again.  Still no understanding came.  I asked my wife to pray with me.  Bingo!  I found the peace that allows the Spirit to teach and I could read, study, and understand.

Often, the world comes into your mind and keeps you from focusing on what is most important.  Satan loves it when we can't recognize up from down because that is when we are most vulnerable.  Yet, the Lord is always there and he will come to our aid as we diligently seek him.

Decisions, Decisions

Brooke and I work our in the morning using Just Dance on the Wii.  When we moved into our new apartment, we had no room for the TV.  My ex-roommates kept it for us until we has everything organized and a space to place it in.  Finally, in the second week of our marriage, everything was in place.  We even scavenged an entertainment center someone had put out by the dumpster. 

The TV fit perfectly, with one exception.  It wouldn’t turn on.  We checked to make sure it was plugged into an outlet with power and it still did not work.  We have friends living across the way form us and when I told him that I could not get the TV working, he said, “I’ll be right over.”  I guess I should have told him that I had run all the tests he was running because he did everything I had done to the same effect.  The TV still did not turn on.  Finally, he looked at me and said, “You need a new one.  I’ll go to Cosco with you, we can go man shopping!”  Pausing her added with a wink and a whisper, “Don’t tell Brooke, what she doesn’t know can’t hurt you.”  She heard that.

Anyways, my friend, his wife, Brooke and I all ended up at Cosco today to look at TVs.  I told Brooke that we would not necessarily be buying one today but lets face it, no one likes having to go out and shop again for something right in front of you.  I had a hard time picking something out.

The guys will appreciate my dilemma.  For 180 dollars I could get a 1080p 24 inch flat-screen.  It is small but the definition is excellent or we could get a 32 inch flat-screen 780p for 260 dollars.  The size makes a difference if you are watching with subtitles or if there is something small on the TV.  I ran and looked at one, then the other.   I put the 24 inch in the cart.  I kept looking around at the other TVs.  I compared the hook-up system in the back.  I debated with Brooke and my friend.  Finally Brooke and I made the decision: I put the 24 inch back on the shelf, wincing with pain, 1080p – I picked up the 32 inch and gently placed it in the cart, feeling better as I looked at the size. 

Now – for the rest of the groceries…