I read Mosiah 18 yesterday and found that due to the mindset I'm having now of an overall perspective, it was hard to get into all the details of what Alma was saying.  This is a great chapter for new members, or people who are trying to understand baptism. One question I have always had with this scripture is, "Where did Alma get the ...

On Friday, around 4:00pm, Bill Hoopes and I took our teachers quorum up to camp out up Hobble Creek canyon.  It was pretty fun.  (This is going to be rather dry because I'm so tired) Anyway...  We had a great time.  Kaiden, Jake, and Josh came with us to camp.  Bill brought his awesome dutch oven skills, and I brought, um...

Trying to read this section of Mosiah as a whole concept, rather than nitpick each individual nugget of doctrine has given me a new appreciation for how stupid people can be. Seriously...  How could a person or people be so dense as to burn someone at the stake who, 3 days previous, had the power of God upon him to the degree that nobody wan...

Ya know...  After reading this through, with the previous chapters I've read in mind, I think I'm understanding a bit more about what Abinadi is talking about. The wicked priests quote him the scripture in Isaiah which says that prophets are supposed to proclaim peace in order to basically tell Abinadi off, because he was definitely not proc...

This weekend is a powwow, everybody knows I'm gonna be there! I'll be dacning until my legs give out, then I'll dance some more! Fancy shawl isthe BEST kinda of dance, I 'm  so able to be me and to be free , the feeling of the wind  in my hair as I bounce of the ground.... It almost feels like heaven! This year knowing no was likely to ...

This weekend is a big immportant PowWow and none of my friends have ever come before.  This some is very important to me,  so on Sunday in Young Womens I talked about it and asked every body to come ( Doubting any'd come) so I looked at my "bff" and said Will you come please? Every body is going to this party that's invite only ...

One question comes to mind this time reading chapter 14 and the beginning of 15. Why in the world did Abinadi think these priests could understand what he was talking about? An interesting perspective can be had when the audience of each scripture is considered. The thing I don't get about these chapters (14 and 15), is that the doctrine A...

Ya know...  The first verses of this chapter brought back some well-known stories of Mormon culture.  The most potent one being the experience Joseph Smith had in a Missouri jail surrounded by a mob of people cursing and glorying in their raping, murdering, and wickedness against the Mormon people. Parley P. Pratt said the following in ...

I wonder if Abinadi's disguise was due to him not being welcome in the city anymore, as in, he couldn't get in at all without it.  Dunno... Just a thought. Also, I find it quite prophetic for Abiniadi to be using the analogy of a piece of cloth in a hot furnace, as far as the worth of King Noah's life.  He could have just as easily used...

Well today I woke up and got dressed and all ready for my date. Then my mom came in and told me that I was not going the date unless he called to ask me... So I pretty much gave up on that! Then my cell phone rings and he said that he called my house but my Pa was on the computer so it not ring, I talked to him about where he wanted to meet and whe...

It's good to be back.  I feel like I really got a lot out of this chapter.  It could be simply because this chapter has a couple of verses which always seem to prick my heart.  Maybe, maybe not.  Anyway... It seems this chapter is all about love.  One of the verses found here is so poignant, it pricks my heart every time...

I've just got to put this somewhere so I don't forget it.  I just finished installing postfix / dovecot using postgres on my home server by following this wonderful tutorial. I followed it almost to the tee, and ... it just works.  I have no other information other than that.  For all I know, as you read this, it may be interpret...

Ya know...  I sure would like to know what the politics of the time were back then.  Helaman's guard was able to single-handedly save the newly-appointed chief judge, by disguise, intellect, and ultimately a firm blade straight through the heart.  Yet, the account says nothing of telling anyone what was happening during the incident....

We've been recording a bunch of drum-takes to be added to otherwise "ready-to-go" songs lately here.  The latest of which happened to be a genre I particularly don't like much - country. But, the music sounded so good for this particular song, I decided to have at it anyway - and 4 hours later, we came up with the final result. I...

I've often wondered why Nephi included the portions of scripture containing the writings of Isaiah. I remember one time during my mission when I was reading the stuff in 2nd Nephi and it actually made sense, but I didn't write any of it down, so.... it still makes no sense to me. Only one verse out of this chapter gave me any inspiration at all...

Confrontation and contention has always been an interesting thing for me.  For one, I hate it and I don't know how to deal with it.  I'm a passionate person in every sense of the word.  The moment I feel like I'm being attacked, it's everything I have to do to keep my head level and my blood from boiling.  Unfortunately, this ke...

OK girls camp is coming up fast. I have had a hard time with my Young womens teachers, The two I have a rearlly hard time with are not going, well one is. We have this fund raiser to get the money for camp, I'm  going to auction off what I'm best at :-) LOL! I'm doing two reflexioalgy foot massages each is an hour. My hands are gonna die B-) B...

Interesting that, again, the pride of one man seemed to be the reason of much wickedness and death.  If Paanchi would have just accepted the rule of his own brother because he was voted in by the majority, I'll bet the whole war with Coriantumr wouldn't have happened. That being bad enough, doesn't hold a candle to what happened with Kishkum...

"Yielding Our Hearts to God"  or   "Change of Heart" - Man, I love this talk. I wish I could tell you all how much this talk means to me.  When I heard it the first time, I was with noisy kids, so I didn't get much out of it, but the next time I listened to it was during lunch, and I was alone.  I...

Well... I just spent the last 3 hours re-vamping around 300 lines of code for ilovemyjournal.com.  Hopefully, I've made it a lot more search-engine friendly for people who want to share their blogs, without compromising security any security. Being that this is also the 24th of July, I'm also very grateful for the pioneers, and everything the...

So, I just got off the phone with my wife, and she was at our new home-to-be this evening, and apparently, almost everything is done.  The carpet isn't in, nor are the toilets, nor are the cement stairs leading down to the basement, but everything else - yeah - it's done.  I'm just beside myself.  We could be moving in as early as la...

In this day of rampant immorality and addictive pornography, parents have a sacred responsibility to teach their children the importance of God in their lives. Those evils, so highly destructive of divine potential, are to be strictly shunned by children of God. When a child needs correction, you might ask yourself, “What can I say or do t...

I've been pretty much stuck 100% in the Linux world now for around 5 years.  I bought myself a Cowon iAudio X5 media player based on its compatibility with Linux (and its complete lack of anything DRM related) - and I've loved it for the 2.5 years I've had it. I also had a blackberry which I had used for 2 years, thanks to Nature's Way. ...

"What is a motorcycle doing in *this*?", I thought as I continued upward through the winding Spanish Fork canyon.   It wasn't so much that a motorcycle was in this particular canyon, but rather in the canyon during one of the 3 most torrential downpours I've seen during my lifetime. I was coming home from work today when about ...

Some of you may know that I've been working on a Christmas music project called "Herod the Fink" with someone who has been steadily becoming a great friend of mine - Jesse Crowley. This started September of 2009, when he called me up and asked me if I wanted to work on a few Christmas songs he had been cooking up, and I accepted.  We...

Man, I need to write more about spiritual stuff.  I've been slacking a bit. Anyway, the talk given about the Book of Mormon by Elder Christensen was really a good one. It brought back sweet memories of my life.  Early on, during my mission, I taught a family who had been been searching for the Book of Mormon for years.  Of course...

This time through Mosiah 3, I had a few interruptions, so I wasn't able to concentrate as much as I would have liked, but family really does come first, so, ya gotta do what ya gotta do... Anyway..  Mosiah 3, to me, this time rang loudly of what the Atonement of Jesus Christ is all about.  It speaks of who needs the Atonement, who is c...

Man...  I can only imagine what Ammon's joy truly felt like.  After reading D&C 18:15-16, I begin to see why Ammon fainted due to overwhelming joy so many times throughout his mission.  Dedicating a full chapter to nothing but the rejoicing of Ammon seems perfectly reasonable. I always thought his brothers were kind of rude to ...

Scramjet, a valued client of Advanced Budget Studios (and an amazing band, as well), has recently arrived in the top-ten list of a contest put on by X-96.  Please support them by clicking here and voting for them and their awesome song, "Tread Softly". Thanks, and thank you, Scramjet!  You guys are awesome!  ...

Among the discussions I've had of the scriptures, this one is always a fun one. "When God says that the earth is gonna burn, does he mean it literally?  Are the wicked really gonna burn at the second coming?" Honestly, for me, I have enough scriptural evidence to convince me to respond in the affirmative. Thoughts? Also - I'm...