Chemistry, an Excuse to Blow Stuff Up

The stuff that we pile up in this life isn't "portable", or in other words, you can't take it with you! Bah-dum-bump-kshh. Seriously, though, what becomes important on the other side, if all of the stuff we get here doesn't count for anything there?

I'll tell you! Family, friends, and learning. That's what we can take.

Personally, I like chemistry and math, especially when I can use them to predict how much explosive I can get to go off without blowing myself up!

Joseph Smith taught that “whatever principle of intelligence we attain in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection,” meaning the things we learn now will stay with us, and benefit us, even after our mortal lives end.   -Lifelong Learning on mormon.org

If it seems I quote mormon.org a lot, and I do, it's because just about anything I have to say (that isn't specific to me) was said there first. Good site.

 Anyway, I've been learning lots and lots about bugs here! Georgia is just full of bugs! I actually have some sort of spider bite on my leg right now. Maybe I'll post a picture of it tomorrow and gross everybody out.

 

That spider laid an egg sac in our back doorway. It still hasn't hatched.

That's all I can come up with for now. Visit that website if you liked what I had to say!

Music and International Affairs

I love music. I love to listen to it and I love to make it. There's a Trans-Siberian Orchestra album with a line in the written narration, something like "Music is a heavenly language, because it doesn't need to be translated."

Right now, my favorite song is probably "Nearer, My God, to Thee". There's a place to listen to it for free here. My favorite version of it is probably the one on the allbum "Reflections Of Christ", it's number 11 on this page. The version by Voice Male is good, too.

I see music as evidence that we are spiritual beings. The idea that something as simple as sound can affect a persons emotions is crazy to me! Think about it; why does music touch us? Now granted, music affects different people to different degrees, and some just don't enjoy music much anyway, but that goes to show individuality.

There is a passage in a book called the Doctrine & Covenants that says:

 For [Heavenly Father's] soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto [Him], and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads.  -Doc & Cov 25:12

In other news, this blog has had 10 pageviews from Austria, 3 from Germany, and 1 from Ukraine! Technology allows for some crazy stuff.

I Found A Bug!

A couple days back, I found a cicada shed. A cicada is a big bug that makes a lot of noise in certain seasons around here. They grow to almost adulthood underground, then come up to shed off one last layer of shell and fly away.

Well, I took that shed and hid it to use later! One evening my victim was busy doing something in town, and I got the shed out and stuck it to the side of his dresser with wall putty. I put it at just the right height so that when he laid his head down to sleep, he'd be looking straight at what looks like an inch-and-a-half long bug!

I didn't see his reaction, but I'm told it was pretty good. Muah hah.

 The shed is about halfway down the picture, right above the asterix.

*   <------the asterix            

Now, what does that have to do with Jesus? Well, here's the easy connection: Just like that cicada shed it's skin and became a totally different kind of bug, with wings and everything, we can become new people through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for us! I was silly earlier, but I'm serious about that. It's the truth, He is real!

On another note, I got my first comment a few days back! Whoooo hoooo!

Georgia, USA

When I opened the letter that told me where I would serve my mission, my whole family and a lot of my extended family was there. I read it out loud, and when I said "Georgia", people asked, "Oh, you mean the little country next to Russia?"

Some of them worried that I'd be disappointed I didn't get called to a foriegn country. But, I like it here. Southern hospitality is a reality! And I have learned things here that wouldn't have been taught to me anywhere else.

No matter what weird, crazy stuff happens in our lives, it's not coincidence. God will micro-manage our lives, if we don't fight Him!

That Was Close!

Hurricane Irene is going to miss me. We thought for a few days that we were going to have to evacuate!

"Should we buy only granola bars when we go shopping this week?"
"How are we going to figure out whether we should evacuate or not? We can't use the radio!"
"Is it true I can put stuff in the dishwasher and it won't get ruined if it floods?"

All these questions and more as we went about our everyday stuff while Irene kept getting bigger and bigger. By the way, since dishwashers can keep water in, they can also keep water out! They are a quick, easy, emergency water-proof safe, if you have to leave important documents or whatever behind. Just don't run the thing until you pull them out again!

But anyway, we thought we would be called on, after Irene hit here, to help pick up the pieces. Humanitarian aid is a big deal to Mormons, and if it's a big deal to you too, see "Humanitarian Aid" on Mormon.org for easy ways to start contributing to the cause!

In one small city in Georgia that I served in, men were called from the local congregation to help in Kansas after the tornado there. They dropped everything to go! And they came back with those yellow "Mormon Helping Hand" shirts! I wanted one of those shirts! Oh well.

Not Much Time

I don't have a lot of time to post today, because the other missionaries are ready to leave the library and are waiting on me. But there is another way in which none of us have very much time. In the words of a song that was playing on the radio a few months ago,

You only get just one time around/ You only get one shot at this/ One time, one life, to find out what you don't wanna miss.

After the end of the day, the end of summer break, the end of senior year, what's something that almost everyone says? "Wow, that was fast." If we're not careful, we'll move to the next part of existence without having done all the important stuff, because we wasted time on fluff.

One was to be sure you're not wasting any time is to live life the way Jesus asks us to. He knows that when we stick to the basics, family, friends, and things like that, the rest will take care of itself.

Mail From Home

 
Twenty-four months is a long time to go without seeing your family. A missionary like me might get to talk to his Mom on the phone twice a year, sometimes less. Now, that's something we choose to do, leaving family for a little while so we can go spread the good news we've heard.

And the letters help. The golf ball in those pictures was sent out in a care package that I got back in the winter time. It's because when the weather is cold, and a person knocks on one door after another, their knucles can split open. So, to fight that, you can carry a small, hard thing in your pocket to hit the door with, sparing your knuckle!

My Dad got a new golf ball, signed it, and then got my two siblings and Mom to sign it. (These are just three of the five signatures.) It was a great present. I used that golf ball untill the ink started to wear off, then I put it in a safe place. I think I'll pull it out again to look at when I get home today.

I'm so grateful for a God that wants every kind of righteous love - for a friend, a brother, a parent, a child- to continue after this life is over. He will never do anything to diminish the love and care we have in us for each other. Even after the brief separation of death, my family can be reunited, whole and complete, because Jesus is so powerful that he can preserve that bond through any external obstacle.

If you think that family comes first, you'd like the webpage Strengthening Families, on Mormon.org.