For the beauty of the skies

That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else.
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.
Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the Lord have created it.

Isaiah 45: 6-8

I Hope They Call Me on a Mission--to Build-A-Bear

"That ye may be prepared in all things when I shall send you again to magnify the calling whereunto I have called you, and the mission with which I have commissioned you."

Doctrine and Covenants 88: 80

I was there!

My Favorite Apostle

And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

Matthew 21: 22

High on the Mountaintops

My first shot of the Y from the ground. Welcome to Brigham Young University.

Home

Therefore, go ye unto your ponder upon the things which I have said, and ask of the Father, in my name, that ye may understand, and prepare your minds for the morrow, and I come unto you again.

3 Nephi 17: 3

Unholy Wings

My apologies for the inactivity. I no longer have the dock for my camera, so it is essentially useless. But now that I have the proper pieces to my camera phone, it will now work as a fair substitute.

This was taken on my plane ride to Salt Lake City, a journey I still remember well because it was definitely traumatic enough that I will forever hate air travel. But there were positive things that certainly helped to get me through it. The view from the airplane was definitely one of them.

When faith endures

And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Mark 8: 34

Madonna on the Laundry

"For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him."

Leviticus 20: 9

Family

"And behold, all things have their likeness, and all things are created and made to bear record of me, both things which are temporal, and things which are spiritual; things which are in the heavens above, and things which are on the earth, and things which are in the earth, and things which are under the earth, both above and beneath: all things bear record of me."

Moses 6: 63

When those who wander ARE lost...

"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.

And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein."

Isaiah 35: 1, 8

Best LDS fiction book EVER

Sorry Orson, but it's true.

The Music Man

My "sister" in the orchestra pit for her high school's performance of The Music Man.

It was a great show, and naturally I found the following passage to be more than appropriate:

"I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts.

So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.

Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun."

Ecclesiastes 2: 8-9, 11

Do you see it yet?

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

John 14: 6

But integrals did not prepare me...

...for the hardest part of my AP Calculus test.

My cell phone went off.

My scores have been invalidated.

The 50 others in the room with me should have technically had the same fate.

In the blink of an eye, I became the most hated person in the testing room.

And as I watched an entire year worth of study cease to exist right in front of me, I can honestly say I hated me too.

18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.

25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.

John 15: 18, 24-25

When I am just a grayscale

"O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted! Behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires."

3 Nephi 22: 11

An Inconvenient Truth

I bought this before I converted because I thought it was perfect. All business, no games.

But once I converted, I was told that even though the sentiment holds some truth, it's much too irreverent and I should put it away. So I did.

But in all honesty, I believe in it too much to be told what to think about it anymore.

Especially in a country where the Texas Rangers can put their religious biases before the Constitutional rights of an entire community.

Remember the Children

I bought this from the Holocaust Museum last summer because I know what it's like to have every adult in your life ignore you entirely as they fight their own battles--especially the one where they pretend to know what's best for you.

And as I sit here thinking about the 400+ Fundamentalist Latter-day Saint children that were just "removed" from their parents with an affidavit based entirely upon second-hand information, I can't help but notice the relationship between the actions of the Texas state government and all the times the Nazis took children away from their parents.

My heart goes out to the children, because they're the only ones that always seem to stand blameless in situations like these.

If only being innocent was enough to protect them.

Forget not the courage of Nauvoo

A model of the Nauvoo temple in the Washington DC visitor's center--made entirely of Legos.

Walls

"Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise."

Isaiah 60: 18

A funny mental image

"So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city."

Joshua 6: 20

My AP Literature Test Simulation

"The eyes and faces all turned themselves toward me, and guided me, and guiding myself by them, as by a magical thread, I stepped into the room."

Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

"Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king’s house, over against the king’s house: and the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house, over against the gate of the house.

And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favour in his sight: and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the sceptre."

Esther 5: 1-2

I wrote my open-ended essay about The Bell Jar. An interesting parallel exists between Plath's Esther and the Biblical Esther in that both stories hinge upon a single moment of judgment. But in Plath's novel, she ends the story without finishing the judgment, allowing the reader to judge for herself whether Esther has truly cracked the bell jar.

A spectacular book. Definitely worth reading.

Seek UNTIL ye find

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal;

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

3 Nephi 13: 19-21

The Relief Society

This statue is in the visitor's center of the Washington DC temple. I asked one of the sister missionaries back when I was first baptized what this statue was supposed to represent. She explained that when the Relief Society was formed, Joseph Smith gave Emma all of the money he had on his person in order to establish it--showing how the Relief Society has been an organiztion for and run by women since the very beginning.

I saw that same sister missionary some time later, and we recognized each other right away. We talked, and she taught me something about service that I will always remember. She was from Brazil, if I remember correctly, and I really hope I will see her again some day.

Down the Drain

"Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.

There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.

(For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)

Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?

Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?

Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:

But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water

that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."

John 4: 6-14

When God makes a pinky swear...

"And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.

And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth."

Genesis 9: 15-16

Looking to the sky

"And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ."

Acts 5: 42

No greater love

"Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me."

Isaiah 49: 16

I took the road less travelled by...

"We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies."

Jeremiah 51: 9

Walls

"To see a world in a grain of sand,

And a heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,

And eternity in an hour."

William Blake, Auguries of Innocence

"Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise."

Alma 37: 6

Our rescued cat

"And that bringeth me forth from mine enemies: thou also hast lifted me up on high above them that rose up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man."

2 Samuel 22: 49

My tower of Babel

"And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth."

Genesis 11: 4

What beautiful imagery...

"The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet; they break forth into singing."

2 Nephi 24: 7

Meet Ammah...

...my partner in missionary work, photography, and my daily adventures.

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."

Psalm 23: 4

Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord

"Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs."

Psalm 150: 4

What I learned from the Fireside

What REALLY happened to Noah...

Jeremiah 20: 11

But the Lord is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.

And I almost bought it!

In a Wal Mart parking lot

10 Go and tell David, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things: choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.

11 So Gad came to David, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Choose thee

12 Either three years’ famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.

1 Chronicles 21: 10-12

Reach

Reading Stephenie Meyer

My Rx...

... for a Valentine's Day 3,000 miles away from your sweetheart.

"That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ." Colossians 2: 2

Ground Zero

Isaiah 11: 6...

...and a little child shall lead them.

"Can the child in my heart rise above?"

~Fleetwood Mac

Psalm 27

Psalm 27

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

2 When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.

3 Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

4 One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.

5 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

6 And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.

7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me.

8 When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.

9 Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.

10 When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.

11 Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.

12 Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.

13 I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

14 Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.

Doctrine & Covenants 27: 5

Behold, this is wisdom in me; wherefore, marvel not, for the hour cometh that I will drink of the fruit of the vine with you on the earth, and with Moroni, whom I have sent unto you to reveal the Book of Mormon, containing the fulness of my everlasting gospel, to whom I have committed the keys of the record of the stick of Ephraim.

True love is holding my camera case

1 Corinthians 16: 6

6 And it may be that I will abide, yea, and winter with you, that ye may bring me on my journey whithersoever I go.

Pearls of great price