Ug...

Sigh, today I started choir at Hidden Valley again.

I went in and was greeted by the friends that I had made from last year: Mikaela, Jeremy, Ashley, and Sam. That was nice to see them again, but it was not so pleasant to see some of the other young men in the group...

The whole experience was probably the most unproductive thing I have done all school year. All I did was casually review for a unit test, listen to (lame 80's) music that Mr. Lawson was playing (he was expecting us to learn simply by listening to the recording of it), and listen to the foulest and most obscene language and jokes I have heard all year. It was a very sick and degrading experience. Not as much as how others acted, however, but more of how I acted in the situation. This time I decided to lay-low, you know. Just be the quiet good example who just sits in his chair and studies. I remember last year when I was a bit of a "policeman" concerning the language of the group. Now I feel more tolerant, and it makes me feel weak. Should I stand up and tell people to shush up? I don't know if it is my place to do that. Well, it is my job to "stand as a witness of God in all things and times and places", right? I think I just need to boost my courage.

But then again, I don't even want to go back. The music we are singing is STILL too easy (and no fun, btw), and it's not very nice to swim in a sess pool. I know, I know, I should learn how to deal with poopy people (and not let their abnoxia affect my mood), but shouldn't one surround himself with high-class people to become high-class? Ug, I'm confused.

To make matters even more complicated, Mikaela is excited to sing a duet with me. She's been thinking of doing one for awhile, but now I simply want to leave. How do I bail out of this situation without hurting her feelings? Ugg...

I feel trapped.

Home again. :)

Ah, finally back home. Today was a good day.

Uncle Nate is a real great man. When he was young, he wanted to grow up to be a cowboy. That's pretty much what he is, except right now he's the recreation department manager for Tilamook Forest. He hopes to own his own ranch someday... Anyways, today he and dad went on some trails on a quad and a motorcycle. I think they had a good time doing that. HA, Nate has a GPS who has Mr. T's voice. "Turn left, fool!"

All day we've been working on the house and yard for our special guests to arrive tomorrow. I'm so excited for the Baxter family to come and visit our home!

Gretel's baptism was very good. I sung If The Savior Stood Beside Me and Sabrina did a talk about the Holy Ghost. Aunt Sandra (Nate's totally GOREGOUS wife) gave a talk about baptism also. As we waited for my dad and Gretel to change after the sacred ordinance was performed, we watched a slideshow of the pictures in Reflections of Christ. It made me cry! I love my Savior so much.

Phew, big week coming up; Swing choir starts up again this week! Oh boy; I hope I'll be able to stick to me plans and get everything done. "(falsetto) I can go the distance..."

Thanksgiving info

Well, for the past few days I've been living at my grandparent's/cousin's house. As usual, we've enjoyed our leisure, feasting, and service so far. Right now everyone's stuck on a movie, so I thought I'd just blog while they were busy with that.

It was the typical family Thanksgiving gathering yesterday, including the sugarfree pies, board games, and random family that somebody always invites. This year it was the Philips; the young men president's family. They have two teenage daughters and two (I think) little dudes.

Of course, Calvin designed a fantastic Heroscape board for us to play on that night. This time we let some of the younger kids participate, and even after us older guys were done the youngsters continued to fight in the battle between vikings/army men/aliens/FBI agents/dragons/knights/robots... We tend to think up crazy little stories and names for all of the figures as we go along just to make it more interesting. When Anthony's cleverness ensues, the whole game turns not only into an interesting war game but a standup comedy show. All of my Jarvis cousins have that sort of aura about them more or less; it must've been a talent they were working on in the pre-mortal existence.

 Sigh, just hanging out. That's what my Thanksgiving is about.

Bwahaha, Thanksgiving Break Begins

Sigh.

I love life. I have been so happy lately. "I love the gospel." I randomly shouted this at grandma's house the other day. In her surprise, grandma replied, "I love the gospel too!"
Let me tell you what I was doing over there anyways.

Grandpa Seable had taken me to the YMCA yesterday morning to workout (my dad had some kind of time-consuming task that afternoon that would leave him no time to take me). Afterwards, he decided to kidnap me to get some work done over at the family gathering place. My grandparent's primary house is meshed with my Jarvis cousin family's house. It's basically just one really big house. We always celebrate Thanksgiving there as a family, and we always tend to have a simply splended time. Even that one time when all of the tables full of food collapsed at random, we still had a grand holiday.

Grandpa wanted my help in moving and organizing stuff up in his big workshop on the... hm, let me guess... 4 acres? Maybe 2. I dunno; I'll have to ask. Nice, big, thick-forest-y property. Before we got to work on that, however, we ate a good, hearty, healthy lunch. After doing that, grandpa took a nap and I got some schoolwork done on their computer. Didn't do to well though without my books and notes; I regret taking that one Biology test. Eventually, we got up to the shop and got some of the clutter cleared out. The interior of grandpa's shop is just fascinating to me. There's tools, clay, wood, and unfinished projects just piled all over the place. On the walls and shelves old masterpieces stood and hung on display. Muscular humanoid scuptures, beautiful salmon paintings, ballet partners frozen in the middle of an impressive throw, and even an intricate sculpture of a fetus are found within in the cold, massive shack. We didn't get as much done as grandpa hoped before I had to get back (to prepare for mom's return), but we sure had a good time. I talked (of course) about his career choice.

I chatted with him about a lot of people I had already talked to, and as I let my thoughts go from my mind to my mouth, I began to see a trend. Many of my overachieving, spiritually strong, and wealthy role models (Uncle Reg, Uncle Mark, Uncle Dion, and Brother Preston Baxter) all have one thing in common: They are all engineers of a sort. Reg is an irrigation engineer. At least from what I know, he designs waterways and such for the city of Windsor, CA. Uncle Mark is an electrical engineer. I haven't directly asked him exactly what he does yet though; I had better do that soon. Uncle Dion is an airplane engine engineer and has never really had financial problems at all. He and his family lived a part of their life in Singapore; a wonderous, amazing place from what I've heard about it. Brother Baxter is one of my best friend's dad, and told me that his day to day work is designing bridges. These men live lives of high prosperity, diligence, intelligence, and faith; they are helping me in my attempt to seek my vision through their examples.

Okay, I need to let this out: I LOVE MY MATH TEACHER! Today Mrs. Howard called me and we discussed my math work sample (after all of this time). She told me that I did well and only needed to talk to her about it; the score after the phone call changed from 0/6 to 7/6! Now my math grade is back to normal, and I feel goo-ood.

Oh, grandma let me borrow a book (hahaha, ANOTHER borrowed book. Let's see... this is borrowed book #8, I think? How am I ever going to get any of these read?? Ha, that's what vacation is for, I guess). The book she let me borrow is called Think Indepenently by Chauncey C. Riddle. I am very excited to get deep into this book. This amazing scholar has his MA and PhD degrees in philosophy AND is LDS. The gospel+philosophy=SWEETNESS. Once I learn how to start thinking right, I'll be UNSTOPPABLE. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!

Sigh, I love philosophy. I guess that's what I've really been studying lately; not psych. That sort of thing has to do with the technical parts of the brain and whatnot, which is another branch of science. Philosophy, as Riddle defines it in his book, is "...asking and answering fundamental questions which cannot be resolved by scientific or mathematical means."

I am feeling so good right now. This Thanksgiving is going to ROCK.

The past few days

Ha, the blog has been neglected all week! Well, all last week was the same ol' school-seminary-family duties soft of a week. Mom left us on Friday. That's right, she just got on a plane and left. She'd had enough! No, okay, I'm sorry, jk. She went to Arizona for the weekend with Faidra for our cousin's wedding reception! Uncle Dion (Mr. Awesome-Rich-Board Game-Plane Engineer-Dude) was very happy to see his little sister again I am sure. I feel really lame for not knowing the name of cousin Tara's newlywed husband, I'll ask mom for it when she gets back. She should be home sometime today, I think. I remember going to Quinn's wedding reception (he's Tara's older brother by a few years). It was awesome! His wife Clare is just the essence of bubby-ness. Know what I mean? Just a real sweet, friendly, and pretty young lady. They are such a cute couple!

Well, last Saturday dad had come up with a new random job for us to do from Craigslist: Fell a tree and chop it up for $100. And so that was just what we did. It was fun, but dad got a bit scared being way up in that tree with a chainsaw chopping off huge limbs. We couldn't just chop down the tree from the trunk; we had to chop it piece by piece so that the tree wouldn't fall on somebody's house or on powerlines or a car or something terribly unfortunate such as that. We ALMOST broke a power line, but thankfully that one branch just bounced off instead of snapping it...

Ah, Sunday was another spiritually rejuvenating experience. Our ward choir always practices right before sacrament meeting; right when I'm helping prepare the sacrament. Well, today the choir was to perform twice, and so I decided to just come up and help out the (small) choir after passing the sacrament without practicing the parts at all. Fa, Truly and Carmen were in the choir today as well, but they dissappeared after the choir's performance. I wondered why, but I was informed by Sis. Wright that Fa was ill but wanted to help with the bells in the choir. They left early so as to avoid getting others sick. Oh! I got to "interview" two guys about their jobs that day. I talked to my Sunday school teacher Bro. Stewart about his job.  It was some kind of commercial work involving finance, if I remember correctly.

Bro. Stewart: "Huh, well, do you like math?"

Keenan: "I'm learning how to like math..."

The other guy I talked to was my ride home: Bro. Davis. I knew that he did some kind of construction work, but I learned specifically that he pours concrete to pay the bills. But what I DIDN'T know was that he is an inventor. He was explaining the use of this new tool that he designed for pulling stakes out of the ground. That was a lot of fun, and I also got to ask him about the complications involved about getting a product like that on the market. He said that manufacturing was easy, but the trickier part was to get a patient. It was very interesting stuff to me.

Tonight was a Stake standard's night, which was AWESOME. I wonder how these sort of things are for other Stakes, because these firesides of ours always tend to be off-the-wall. The Johnsons sung a song before their talk about the word of wisdom. The tune was dulcent and dainty, but when Sis. Johnson started to sing I really felt like slapping my head. She didn't seem to know the song very well anyways. I had never heard it before, and, if I remember correctly, it started out something like, "this is a little (voice breaks awkwardly) song, to help you go along..." It was very very corny. I could tell everyone else in that congregation was suffering even as I, until the song started to REALLY get goofy. The song actually was a joke, and it used very cheesy rhyming while singing about the word of wisdom. "Just drink coco... hot drinks make you feel so-so..." Oh my word, I can't even remember the song completely, but the youth were just bawling with laughter by the time it was over. And of course, as always, we all felt the spirit while learning too. Let's see, what rocks have I allowed myself to carry along in this life...

I got to talk to all of my buddies from the Stake that night! Well, most of them. Jared looks like he got a haircut, but he says that he didn't get one. I dunno, his curly hair looked pretty cool that day, I dunno. Maybe it was the color he was wearing. I talked to Austin (Savannah's older brother) to ask how Savannah was doing, and he said that the operation went well. She'll be able to be home in 5 days or so. Austin is awesome; just like his sister! It must be something that runs in the family. Cousin Anthony and I chatted about Thanksgiving weekend and our movie ideas. Anth is pretty excited to meet Ceana and her family this coming Sunday. He thought up a pretty good start for our movie too. I've been thinking up characters to put into the movie this week. AH, we've got a good weekend full of brainstorming and interdependent thinking coming up, on top of the vast amounts of food, family, friends, and fun. I just got to get through a few more days of solid work before the end of the tunnel is here...

WARM FUZZYNESS

Oh man, yesterday I was attacked by a giant, mutant, warm fuzzy from behind: the biggest surprise that was ever pulled on me was executed yesterday by evil masterminds.

I awoke that morning real tired-feeling; last night I stayed up especially late. I wanted the house to be clean for when the Baxter family would come over. I had suggested to them a couple of times to stop by on their way to California for a huge Thanksgiving vacation. I was hoping that they would, but nobody ever replied a "yes" or a "no", and so I was starting to feel a bit ignored. Little did I know...

Mom was busy that night finding clothes that would go nicely together for our family photos that we would be taking tomorrow. She said that we were getting them in Medford; I assumed that we would be getting them from JC Penny as we usually get our pictures. I remember grumbling, "mom, we should just get Sis. Baxter to do the family photos..."

My gullible-ness was proven to be severe when I didn't even suspect anything when mom said, "Hey Keenan, why don't you bring your guitar?"

As we drove I just toyed around with the guitar, not really being in the real world. After awhile I realized that we were driving in the suburbs of Central Point. My lack of suspicion stroke again: "Hm, that's weird. Mom's taking a different route to the mall today..."

We stopped. I looked around, and noticed the name of a nearby mailbox: Holmbeck. I realized that we were at Allie's house! I said to mom, "Hey look! It's Allie's house!" She just stared at me for the longest time. After many seconds, I started to understand what was going on.

When we went inside, I fould Cassidy inside as well! And so we chatted lightly about school assigments and whatnot. I noticed parents saying things like, "they just said they'll be here in a few minutes." Then it all clicked. Finally.

When Sis. Baxter came through the doors, she quietly said, "Hush hush, Ceana doesn't know! Come out when I tell you."

Amazing. At this point after seeing Ceana exclaiming wildly in surprise, I was mentally spazzing out at the genius of Sis. Baxter. One of the coolest moms ever, I must say. And so, we got our family photos taken, had brunch, and then decided to go to the mall. Gretel still had to have her baptism pictures taken there, you see. We had a good time there just milling around. It was such a treat to be in the midst of such dear friends. I got to hear Kaeli's British accent that day which, I must say, was pretty darn good an' natural sounding. I think she would be able to decieve others into believing she was from Europe if she tried.

It was SO good to see everybody again. That little get together was such a good social refuel for me.

Grandma and grandpa visited us last night. They gave us the newest scoop about Uncle Tom's new movie. They now have enough money to get it published! We also talked more about careers. Grandpa's story is just fascinating. In his youth he got into an accident that sent a tremendous amount of electricity through his body and left huge scars on his legs that are still there today. He should've been dead, but God has given him 60+ years to live. Though it was predicted that he would not recover, he was still able to serve a full time mission (at age 25), have 8 children, and a ton of other things the doctors said he would not be able to do. I love grandpa; his life is very inspiring to me.
Tonight for mutual the young men played wallyball at Club Northwest. We had an awesome time! It was like volleyball, only in a big white room. I LOVED IT. I think everyone else enjoyed it too. Henry came along, and he really liked participating with the older boys. Good ol' Henry.

Wow, blessings galore.

Today was a fantastic start of the week! I started strong in getting more schoolwork done in one day than I have for a long time (still trying to catch up all of that Latin!), and I have also felt very lifted in other ways too.

Okay, to whoever will read this, I beg you to focus on this more than anything else: SPIRITUAL NOURISHMENT. This is essential, especially for the day and age in which we live in. Have a REAL personal study, go to seminary, read/listen to general conference. Never miss an opportunity to feel the spirit strongly. We, as mortals, forget easily. The more you are reminded by the Holy Ghost the better.

Tonight we had a good time at FHE. The lesson tonight was about Baptism; we're excited for Gretel to be baptized next week. Afterwards I played some music and the kids danced. Henry got rolling once I started playing "You'll Be In My Heart" by Phil Collins on guitar. He started singing this rediculous parody that was something like, "Oh, my mom was an ape... she'll be in my heart..." Eventually I was laughing too hard to hold the strings down hard enough and I stopped playing. But he kept going, and eventually the melody turned into the Diego Theme Song and a zombie Tarzan teamed up with Diego and he went on and on like he often does. It seemed funny to me that he used the Diego song; that song has been my background music all day long!

I have this wild fantasy in my head that the Baxter family will stop at our house for a rest stop tomorrow on their vacation, but they haven't gotten back to me about it. :/ Hm... It would've been the first full-family get together. I can only imagine what might've happened: Henry throwing toy grenades and hyping up Caiden and Colton with his seemingly ENDLESS arsenal of weapons (he keeps "borrowing" them from all his homies), the little girls running around all over the place, and the older kids and parents attempting to have a decent conversation over it all... It'd be an encounter worth writing about.

Marney's gone, but Jeffery's back!

Oh what a good week! I feel like the Lord has really been helping me throughout this week; I am so grateful for his mercy! The weekend was a blast, I must say.

Well, our movie planning meeting with Anthony and Calvin turned out pretty well. We originally planned to do a filmed version of Pilgrim's Progress modified in ways we wanted, but our final idea became even more exciting. The idea was that the three of us would each write our own script, our own life, in allegorical form, like unto Pilgrim's Progress. We would each write our own story up to the present time in the same style of writing as the famous inspiring tale. After we each would have completed our own versions of the script we would get together again, take the best chapters out of each of them and create a very unique teenage-version of Pilgrim's Progress. It's going to be so much fun.

After the planning meeting and dropping off the guys at their house, mother drove me over to the Wright's house. It's kind of funny that they ALWAYS seem to have delicious snacks lying around in their house. Savannah, Truli, and Carmen were watching a movie (which included scores from my #1 most favorite clay-movie, Chicken Run, for some reason), and Fa must've been upstairs when I got there. So I just sat there, partook of some of their chips and pumpkin-fudge bars, and read my book (He Did Deliver Me From Bondage), until Tyler Wright was ready to take me in his big truck to the house he was renting out. We were going there to take out a stove that was no longer wanted there. Once we were done with that job, we drove back to his house to stay for a few minutes, then we all got into Bro. Wrights BMW to drive to the dance in Medford.

As we drove, I asked Bro. Wright about his career choice: Dentistry. He explained that dental school is only 4 years long (which surprised me; I was under the impression that ANY kind of medical school was 8+ years), and that the most important things would be to be a good student overall, but to do well in Chemistry and Physics. I didn't understand why Physics would be important for a dentist though. I also found out that he played the trumpet in his high school band, which makes him a third fact to prove a trend that I have found: If you are in band at all, you'll get a high paying job.

The foreign exchange students are SO fun! It was the first time that either of them had ever gone to an American dance before, and they said it was okay afterwards. Fa got really hyper at some points; she is a typical Halloween character. In a funny, wholesome way, that is. I brought my wax earplugs to the dance, and when I got those out and opened up the little pack they were in I asked Fa, "Want one?" She took the earplug that I handed to her and ATE IT. Well, she almost ate it, she spit it out when she saw me laughing hysterically. It was so funny. Now we have an inside joke: "Hey Fa, want some candy?" "NO!"

At the dance I also saw good ol' Noah Smith and Hayley Peters from our stake. Noah is simply awesome: He did a cartwheel and the worm in one of the dance circles. He's just got the moves, to sum the rest of it up. Now HAYLEY was one who got really crazy. When her most favorite songs played, she swung her radiant red head around like a mad-woman, her hair flying around like a ball of fury. Today at church she said that her neck hurt, and I was not surprised. All of the typical mormon-dance songs were played that night: Cotton-eye Jo, Thriller, the Macaraena (spelled it wrong), and that one song that I don't know the name of that everyone knows the dance to. I had fun doing the dances to all of these. I even tried doing the dance for Cotton-eye Jo to other songs that were sung that night: Once for a faster, somewhat obnoxious pop song, and another for a slow-dance song.

I also was very happy to see a couple of my friends from youth conference at the dance: Kirsten and Riley! Both of them have seemed to be doing well; Kirsten with her socializing and Riley with her cheer-leading. Riley looks like her name; do you know what I mean? Short, glasses, colorful braces, blue eyes, smile-y. She was pretty talkative, but was fun to listen to. She thoroughly covered the topics of cheerleading, the guy that had a crush on her (who now hates her), and teenage philosophy in ONE slow dance. I know, I know. She's a good person; there should be more communicative, anti-norm people in the world. People that are honestly willing to just chat about life in a realistic way and see things in big-picture perspective. I know many, but the world could always use more.

We had a very good time at the dance; everyone was drowsy and Carmen was totally dead by the time Bro. Wright returned me to my house.

Today's sacrament meeting was VERY good. Bro. Neuenschwander (dang, spelled it wrong) gave a talk to us about not judging. I loved it, and it really boosted my testimony. I have made a commitment now to not judge or label people anymore and to have Charity for everyone. Charity=love in action. That just sounded really cool to me. It made me think of my most favorite scripture: Isaiah 40:29-31.

When I opened the door to the room that I go to Sunday School in I found a dim scene with many silhouettes slumped over on tables and chairs. Once my eyes adjusted I realized that I was in an unlit room full of teenagers; a large class of 12 or so! This week Marney Tripp and her family moved to Idaho. They were a good family, and inspired me a lot when they were here. But we found two new faces in our midst that day: Jeffery Fawson and Hayley Peters! Hayley had just moved into the Murphy Creek ward, and this was the first time I saw her there. Now let me tell you about Jeff...

Jeffery Fawson is a young man of 16 who lived in California before he came to live here in GP with his grandparents. He's one of those clever, likable characters who always knows just what to say in his natural, thick, raspy, Californian gangster accent. It was very good to have him back; he's been gone for a few months to his homeland. Today we played Jeopardy (Jeff-er-y, as Jeff called it), reviewing all of the stuff we had been learning for the past few months just for fun. The girl's team won.

In priesthood we learned about passing the sacrament.

Afterwards I talked to Fa briefly about a couple of gospel topics, but she still seemed confused about what I had tried to explain about the Godhead and about the Priesthood. I'm going to send her a link to mormon.org and lds.org; those sites will surely be able to explain better than I.

Today dad and I went to the Darby's house to administer the sacrament up in the tree-covered hills. Bro. Darby is a retired helicopter pilot. He had lived in many different places all over the U.S. and Asia with his dear wife, who he had known since high school, teaching aspiring pilots how to fly. He wanted to serve during WW2, but they needed him as a flying teacher more than a fighter. All of the stories he and his wife told about flying and living in Singapore were just fascinating to me. I love learning about the lives of those who have gone before me. I've been searching lately to find some kind of idea of what I would like to do in my life, and learning about what others have done successfully is very helpful. I would really like to serve my country for a time, but I'm still not certain about anything. But here's one thing I know: The more educated and skilled you are, the more useful you are to God and your fellow men. I'll find what God wants me to do eventually... I just need to keep looking!

Life just keeps getting better and better.

Hey, my week wasn't such a failure after all; TODAY I GOT MY DRIVER'S PERMIT! Yay! And hey, I guess the week wasn't really as bad as I thought it was. Though I got less schoolwork than expected, at least I had the opportunity to serve my family. Something was up with my body this week too (builtup of lack of sleep and weight training=exhausted body and mind). But really; I need to stop setting my self-esteem on my to-do list. If I don't learn to just get off of the rollar-coaster of happiness found on living on sand and stay on the Rock, I'm not going to get far.

Oh, there is so much opportunity in this world. I am humbled by the amount of choice my Father has given to me; there are just so many options and ways my life could go. It's so difficult to find what would be the BEST option for me. I've been feeling so uncertain; everytime I find something that I might be interested I hear something about it or learn more about it then lose interest. But this I KNOW: God will steer me into the right direction and will give me the amount of education necessary for whatever I do if I REMAIN FAITHFUL.

Ah, last night's play! It was Fiddler's opening night=all of the actors were visibly afraid. But I still enjoyed it. At the theater I got to see the Hamilton family, which was such a pleasant surprise! They are a family that goes to karate where I used to go. There's Jim Hamilton (the dad/black belt/SWAT guy/goofball) and Misty (The secretary/mom [to EVERYONE in the dojo, even Soke: the headmaster!]). They have two teenage children who did not do karate; therefore I did not know them. I didn't catch their oldest son's name, but their 16 year old daughter Christine was in the play. Then there was Amanda, who I think is 13 now. Or was it 14? I don't know. She's a friendly, good person. Lastly, I met their little 5 year old whose name was Shadow. Well, that's what he told me! I missed them, and they me. I miss going to karate. I can honestly say that doing it really boosted my growth mentally, physically, and spiritually. I hope to come back to it once my list of to do's shortens, mainly Scouting. That's one of the reasons we left karate: to have more time for scouting. Must get that Eagle~!

Which reminds me, I dropped my original Eagle Scout Project idea, which was not really mine anyway. I'm hoping that I'll come up with something else. I must learn more about my community to find something challenging and useful that I could do for it!

Oh, something kind of funny; I saw Misty and Christine at the DMV today; another coincidence. She was getting her liscense, which I think she did get.

Tomorrow I'm doing a planning meeting with the Jarvis brothers about our newest movie idea... we've got fun ideas yet to brainstorm about a parody called Pilgrim's Digress. It's going to be bigger than anything we've ever pulled of before...

Discourse of Chaos I

"The more intricately organized an event is, the more likely the event will result in chaos." -Calvin Jarvis' Chaos Theory.

Now, I'm not too sure if what cousin Calvin said is 100% correct, but I do feel that this week's attempts of rigid organization have ended in failure. Epic failure.

I need to develop balance on the Rock of my Redeemer or I'm not going to get anywhere. I've decided to start studying He Did Deliver Me From Bondage. That's the book that the church uses in its addiction recovery program. I think all human beings are addicted to something. For me, it's being lazy. I have been a sloth all of my life, and to get out of the bondage of this habit I must take it to the Lord. I would recommend the book to anyone.

On a happier note, I got to have a wonderful gospel discussion with Fa yesterday after mutual. It felt so great! She wanted to know more about the Holy Ghost after the fireside that we went to last Sunday. And so I told her Joseph Smith's story, and she seemed pretty interested in it. She had a lot of questions, and even more after we were done with our chat, so we decided that she list questions that she had about the church and that we would talk again next Sunday. I am so greatful that I have been given this missionary opportunity and that I am able to help Fa learn about her Father's plan for her.

Today it came upon me as I was reading a friend's blog why Math is my weakest school subject: For over 4 years, NO ONE HAS BEEN CHECKING MY WORK. Many a time I have decided to not even do the assignment or only do a few questions, assuming that I already understood the subject. I am almost certain that I will never go into a job that requires advanced math education, but still. I will not be able to function in this modern world the way I want to unless I beef up the part of my brain that does math. It's time I took it seriously.

I love veterans. I am so greatful for their service in serving my country and for all of those who protect the freedom that is given to me on a silver platter. I don't even understand the price that was paid for the liberty that I am blessed to have in this country, but for it, I thank all who have suffered, worked, and died for it. Thank you.

Tonight I plan on going to GPH's production of Fiddler On The Roof. I am really excited! My friend Jerod is in it, and has been reminding us a lot about it in seminary lately.

The voice in my head continues to remind me of one of Pres. Uchdorf's talks from last Gen. Conference. To add to his ideas about speed bumps and turbulence, I would like to add another analogy that goes with it. When walking in darkness, people shouldn't speed up their pace. They should slow down and feel around to make sure they don't run into anything. This is the state that I am symbolically in how. I want to run fast and do a lot, but I feel like I'm living in the dark. I'm still looking for the light switch, and I am certain that I will find it eventually. "Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me." -David.

Well, I guess a light switch isn't the right way to put it. I doubt that I will get over my character faults in an instant, like switching on a light switch. No, I suppose it's just something that will take time. "Line upon line, precept upon precept."

I don't need to go faster. I need to believe more, ask more, and receive more.

The Family: A Proclamation to the World

Me and my friend decided that it was very important that this would be posted on our blogs, and so, here it is:

We, the First Presidency and Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children.



All human beings-male and female-are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.



In this premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshiped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize his or her divine destiny as an heir of eternal life. The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.



The first commandment that God gave Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife. We declare that God's commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force. We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.



We declare the means by which mortal life is created to be divinely appointed. We affirm the sanctity of life and of its importance in God's eternal plan.



Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. "Children are an heritage of the Lord" (Psalms 127:3) . Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives-mothers and fathers-will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.



The family is ordained of God. Marriage between a man and a woman are essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity.Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed.



We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.



We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society.



This proclamation was read by President Gordon B. Hinckley as part of his message at the General Relief Society Meeting held September 23, 1995, in Salt lake City, Utah.

Monday, Monday, Monday (insert bright bright and peppy fanfare here)

Today I was awoken by the quiet voice of my father.

"Get up, son."

I stayed in for a minute or two, then I slided off of the bed like a lump of smoothe poured out of a pitcher. That usual voice kept yelling in my head things like, "Get to bed earlier! Stop wasting time! Come on, Keenan!" as I fumbled around in the dark, getting ready for the day.

My father drove me to seminary in his little white Metro we like to call "the tin can". The previous night, I had filled my mother's mp3 player with general conference talks and some tunes. I brought it with me, and listened to the words of the speakers on the way home and back. It felt so missionary-like, and I felt really spiritually pumped by the time I got home. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir's performance of We Thank Thee O God For A Prophet brought a tear to my eye as Sis. Brinkerhoff drove me to my starting point after learning about receiving revelation in seminary. It was quite a coincidence that the fireside from yesterday was on the same topic!

Anyways, I got home and got started on school. Today I had planned to tackle Health and English. Health was a breeze, and English wasn't so bad either. As I studied the final chapters of Huck Finn, I felt inspired to write a song. I said to myself, "You know what, Keenan, you oughta write one school song per year!" And so I will do. Today I wrote a song called Huck's Song. It is sung from Huck's perspective and each verse is his take on a certain character from the book. Will be presented at the Honors English LL tomorrow; so excited! :)

Have you ever had a day in which you were just singin' all day long? That was today for me. I had a lot of fun singing with Gretel this after noon, and when dad got home, we both had fun singin' some Josh Groban tunes together. While my day was fun, it is true that I could've gotten more work done. Stick to the program, ya moron! I think it'll take me awhile to adapt to an organized life. But I WILL adapt to it.

A wonderful Sabbath

Ahh. Man, I feel good. 

 

Today was Stake Conference, and I really enjoyed it. My most favorite talk was the one by President Dalton. She spoke about honoring the Lord by keeping His commandments. If you do that, the Lord will honor you. That really excited me, and it strengthened my spirit, and made me want to try harder to do His will. :) It was very inspiring. Today I also felt very moved by the Holy Ghost about my future; something I've been pondering over for awhile. Just to state it simply, my life's work will be high school English teaching and small business owning. But none of it is going to work out unless I develop an ever stronger relationship with my Savior and keep on learning new things. I'm excited for what the future has in store.

The youth fireside that went on tonight was fantastic too. The Bishop from Ashland spoke at it, and he's amazing! You could really feel the spirit through his preaching. He was talking about receiving the Holy Ghost, like receiving a football. The guy threw a football at Noah IN THE CHAPEL. He also included some paper airplane throwing and gift unwrapping. I have never seen such action in a chapel before! Abraham was such a good receiver and received all things. We can receive all things and become exalted, just like he was. It just takes practice. Just the small things. The simple primary answers: Pray, study, go to church, etc. I want to get to the level of having the gift of the Holy Ghost with me always. That is the main goal of my life. 

Scriptures suggested for read in the fireside: John 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17.

In between general conference and the youth fireside, the youth in our ward went over to the Wrights for lunch. It was fun! I got to see Carmen again, and she showed me this scrapbook/journal that she had been making while she was in the U.S. Almost all of the writing was in Spanish, but I enjoyed looking at all of the pictures and little reminding things that she had kept. Recording life is very important. It's useful for reflection too.

A GREAT WEEK IS DAWNING... (key change) DAAAWWNING!

SIGH...

Mom has been gone since yesterday to Timeout for Women. I am really glad that she had the opportunity to go; I can't wait to hear all that she learned! She should be home soon. It hasn't been the same without her, and even though she's only been gone for less than two days, I still miss her.

We went to the dump today to dump all of the trash that has been accumulating in cans on our property for months. That was good, and using the momentum of getting rid of all of that trash, I motivated myself to clean more.

Today I tried hard to purify the house so as to surprise mom when she gets home. That was pretty much the main focus of today. After all of the fun, the family zoned out on the TV while I went to my room and studied some more. I only did one school lesson today, but most of my studies were on management. I simply love the 7 Habits; I'm going to try a new organizing strategy this next week that I am excited to execute.

Spiritual thoughts and ramblings #1

Okay, I feel like I'm starting to understand the way life works.

We all lived in the pre-mortal existence before this life, right? During that time we all became professional spirits, fully trained by our father in heaven. Just to shake things up and to make this life an ever more challenging test, we were born into infant bodies with little knowledge. But we learn as we go, but the thing is, not everyone is educated the way they should.

Which is why it is the duty of the learned to share their knowledge. Anyways, the point I'm trying to get to is, that we aren't our bodies. I'm not 15 years old. This body is, but not me. Are you getting it?

We are not our bodies, nor are we the "natural man" than comes with these imperfect mortal frames. We are our spirits. Strong, clever, intelligent spirits that are assigned to the bodies we've been given. The thing we all have trouble with at least some time or another is controlling the body and mind.

I think one of the main missions of everyone's life is this: "To possess the body given to you."

Say, for example, Brad is working out at the Y. His body is achy and sore from running his behind off and lifting weight that overloads his muscles. His body (natural man) says, "Dude, please. Just stop. Come on, you don't really need to do this. Let's do something easier, please." But does Brad give in? No, and here's why: Because he is lead by his spirit and not by his body. His spirit, being immortal and millions of years older than his young body, knows better. He says, "No, body. We're not done yet; we've got a couple more sets to get in for today. We want to do this; a fit person is much more useful in the Lord's hands than a fat and lazy slob." "But it's HARD! We don't need to work this hard!" "Chill, you! You aren't in charge here. I am. And I say do it. I command you to LIFT!!"

This mentality, in some variation or another, is the way that all successful people act in all aspects of life. A sport, school, a relationship, a job, a duty... The list goes on and on. To be able to make your body and mind work hard is one of the skills that are essential to becoming useful. It is the sign of a strong spirit.

"The natural man is an enemy to God and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit..." Mosiah 3:19

Madness Journal Entry Number ???

Well, I guess I'll start with last night.
Gretel's 8th birthday was last night, and we had a good time eating cupcakes and watching Toy Story 3. I love that movie; it's the best animated film I've ever seen. Gretel will be baptized around Thanksgiving when all of the family gets together for it. Oh, I love Thanksgiving. I always look forward to it, because I know that the family party most always means 1. Tons of yummy food to snack on all night long, 2. Board games all night long, 3. Most likely a sleepover at grandmas and 4. Football in the morning! Julie Jarvis came over last night to join our family birthday party. She's a good girl; her parents raise her well. How old is she now, 10? She must be.

Everybody in the family is dying this week. Kids are sick and vomiting and irritated at everything. I'm glad I got it first so that I could help them get through it. Even mom had to shut down and take a couple of naps today. I hope tomorrow they'll be feeling better.

Today, I was priveleged with the opportunity to hang out with the ward missionaries, which I took. It was like job shadowing, and it was AWESOME! We didn't do any tracting, but we drove around to some of the less active members of the church and visited them. Elder Hill and Elder Mendel (dang it, I know I am getting his name wrong) are also the Spanish speaking Elders in our district, so we visited a couple of Spanish speaking people too. It was fun, even though I had a hard time understanding what was being said. Elder M (I'll just call him that) turned to me and said, "So, do you know anyone that we could meet?" at one point of our drive as we listened to Disney music, that's right. Disney music. Like, Hurcules, Mulan, Pochohantus soundtrack. The only family that I could come up with after a bit of thought was the Church family. They are a family of 6, and Henry just loves to come over to their house to play with guns and video games with his best bud Westley. A very very friendly family. I don't know them as well as Henry does, but I have met them a couple of times.

I directed the missionaries to their house, it being in the newer suburb area of town.

Mr. Church, with his friendly, metallic (he has braces) smile, met us at the door. I introduced the elders, and instead of saying some chiche variation of rejection, they had a funny conversation. Not about religion, about some salesmen that had just come by who were selling salad spinners! XD Mr. Church was expecting some guests to come soon, but he planned a time that the missionaries could come by again.

HE WANTED THE MISSIONARIES TO COME.

I am really excited for their large family. Mom later told me that they had been looking for a church to go to. I'll have to wait and see how things turn out...

After all of that, we returned to the Elder's apartment right on the top of this really big hill. It was, a cool looking spot to me, kind of symbolic to missionary work too, eh? Green grass, leafless trees scattered everywhere, and some cool archetecture right in the middle: their apartment.

The interior of the apartment was, I admit, cluttered. Though the room was filled with leftover snacks, books, planners, charts, and cutouts from church magazines, I could feel a unique, strong spirit in the musty room. I was kept well entertained just by studying the whole room. My two most favorite things that I noticed were a poem about refinement using a statue symbolcally and a quote by President Hinkley which went like so: "You are good. But being good is not enough. You need to be good for something. You need to contribute to the good of the church and society." I think I paraphrased it okay.

We just chatted about life while I was there. Elder Hill was a member of a student leadership group in his high school and had tried many different things in his life before his mission. He suggested that the best thing for me to do now is to just try everything out and see what I like to do. He sounded to me like one of those overachieving, organized, awesome kind of people. I love people like that; the more people like them I know, the closer I feel I get towards their levels of excellence. They are... inspiring. Elder M was still not too sure what he wanted to do in life, but that was exactly the reason he went on his mission. To figure things out, and to learn.

Even after just one day of working with the missionaries, I feel that my communication skills, thought patterns, and spirituality have improved. I love serving the Lord, and I love helping out the missionaries! They are so service oriented. They've got connections, and ya know what? I think that is one of the keys to success. To know people. The more friends you know, the more connections you have and the more work you can get done for the good of the world.

I am so so so excited for my mission. Now I can see why a mission turns a boy into a man.