Good Quote

"Forgiveness is giving up all hope of a better past"

Downtown

A pair of Sister Missionaries stopped me today. They both gave me a firm handshake and shared their testimonies with me. I am glad they did.

Wild Swans

I have been reading the book Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang.

The author writes about the life of her grandmother, her mother, and herself. The first few chapters have been brutal in their description of her dysfunctional family and society. For example...

As a young girl, the grandmother was given to a local military VIP as a concubine in hopes of raising the father's social status. After spending about a week together, the VIP left without telling her where he was going... and didn't return for six years. This whole time she was expected to faithfully wait for him in the house.

The VIP eventually dies, the grandmother remarries, and the dishonor of the remarriage causes her step-son to kill himself...

The Japanese take over her city and act like tyrants, killing anyone they suspect has bad intentions... A classmate of the mother is executed in front of her schoolmates for reading banned literature.

The death, corruption, and bitterness woven throughout the first few chapters remind me that this world has had a lot of problems... Humans (not just Nephites, Lamanites, or terrorists) are capable of doing horrible things to each other.

How desperately we all need the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

การทำความสะอาด

The past four or five years my desire to clean and organize has kept on increasing. Why does cleaning feel so good? Here is my list of suggested reasons:

• Cleaning is an attractive alternative to homework
• The cleaner the house, the better chance I have of avoiding the Swine Flu
• Cleaning a car makes it feel newer
  
• Missing things can be found in the process.
• The fewer loose pieces of paper flying around, the fewer I need to think about
• It feels like fighting against decay and entropy
• Frustrations can be channeled into something productive
  
• Few pleasures exceed that of clean towels
• The desire to could be genetic

So next time you are feeling down, try cleaning something...

พร

Six weeks has passed since my last entry...

I have fully adjusted to student life again, which feels to me like running everywhere with dozens of documents swirling around my body.

A couple weeks into the semester, I realized that I needed a weekly planning session to stay on top of all the things I want to accomplish. It feels so good to me to worry about my life one week at a time, knowing that the more important things have been taken into consideration.

After much encouragement from my Mother, I went to the county health department and got a flu vaccination. I think that it was the best $29 I've spent in a while.

General Conference was terrific - lots of love from the pulpit, from my family, and from my friends. Elder Oaks' talk was my favorite. Second place was a tie between E. Choi, President Uchdorf, E. Bednar, E. Scott, and E. Ballard.

A couple weeks ago, I was able to go to a mission reunion. It was a grand experience. I was able to hear the latest good news from Thailand and see some of my favorite people (some of whom I haven't seen for 2+ years).

Last night, I had a bad bicycle wreck that could have gone a whole lot worse...

Yep, so lots of blessings...

Upon my arrival home I was met by my wonderful family.

I think that all the uncertainty ahead of me made my return more difficult than expected.

I feel more stable each time another part of life falls into place.

• My school schedule is terrific.
  
• My new roommates are hard working, positive people.
  
• I love working with the people that I do at the MTC.
  
• Two of my sisters are at school with me.