The Attitude of Gratitude

Right now I just feel really grateful. Really grateful. I had a few challenges this past week, but they were really nothing. I had some pretty awesome spiritual experiences, the most memorable of which occurred in the temple on Saturday. I preformed sealings and witnessed as many of my own ancestors and distant relatives received the crowning ordinances of exhalation. It was a very tender moment and made me realize how much I have to be grateful for. I have a wonderful (and crazy) family that supports me in my crazy antics and has always given me a path to follow that results in personal growth and betterment. Today, being Easter Sunday, was especially nice because it was an opportunity to remember something that my elder brother did out of complete selflessness. I have been pondering a lot about where my life is headed, and what things await me in the future. While I don't have all the answers that I would like, I have enough to know that my future looks amazing, and that I can't wait to continue living a truly blessed life. I know that my Savior lives, and because He lives, everything matters. Life is wonderful :)

Change is Constant

Well, its that time of year again; school time. Normally I would balk at the idea of school or approach it in a somewhat begrudging attitude, but not anymore. Not that I haven't enjoyed my time here at home, and there are people that I am going to miss a lot, but I am ready to go back. I am not going to be living with any old buddies, or guys from my old apartment complex. I also won't be in my old ward. I decided that it was time for a fresh start. Something about this season gets me thinking about new beginnings, new life and new opportunities. I am pretty excited about this upcoming semester, actually. I feel like a lot of personal growth is on its way and a lot of challenging, yet rewarding, experiences. I was in Germany for the beginning of spring here (i know, I have a rough life) and I'm excited to be able to watch it start in Idaho. They are, after all, still experiencing snow and winter-like conditions. But that doesn't bother me! Im all for the challenge, experience, and joy that this semester has to offer. Bring it on!

Prisons and Temples

In institute this week we studied the prison chapters (sections 121-123) of the Doctrine and Covenants. To set the stage for this lesson President Meiners (teacher) had us sit on the ground for the entirety of the lesson while he sat on a bucket. It was to help us understand what Joseph and his brethren endured for several months. While this was a dark and terrible time for the Prophet, it was also one of the greatest seasons of growth and revelation. Elder Holland refers to Liberty Jail as being a prison temple, a place where sacred, heaven-sent messages were recorded and had profound effect on the life of the prophet and every individual who has read those passages with the Spirit.

I do not pretend to have suffered, in the least degree, anything that those early saints endured nearly every day, but those passages of scripture have been of tremendous relief and comfort in some of my moments of despair. I have had some thoughts on my mind about this subject since Tuesday, and I just felt like writing them down. I think this is more for myself than anyone else, but if it helps lift another, then all the better.

"Oh God, where are thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place?" Josephs prayer causes my heart to ache as I can hear the pain in his words. While the words we use today are slightly different, the plea is the same. The plea of someone that is in darkness and feels completely forsaken and forgotten. The Father's response is the same for everyone "My son,(daughter) peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment..."

I can almost picture the face of Him and he says in the most tender and loving voices that everything is going to be okay. Even though we can't see it right in the moment, everything will be okay. My mind is drawn to Elder Wirthlins remarks in October 2006. He spoke of the Friday of the crucification- how it was the darkest Friday in the history of the world but it was followed by the most glorious event on the Sunday, after. Of our own "Fridays," Elder Wirthlin had this to say:

Each of us will have our own Fridays—those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces. We all will experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again. We will all have our Fridays. But I testify to you in the name of the One who conquered death—Sunday will come. In the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come.

No matter our desperation, no matter our grief, Sunday will come. In this life or the next, Sunday will come.

I love that. I love how no matter how dark the night is, Sunday morning will come and everything will be worth it. One thing that has taken me my life and will take my lifetime to learn is that it is through suffering and trial that I come to know my Savior and become more like him. Im sure that this is a principle that I will have to learn time and time again but its true. At least its true for me. Some of my most sacred moments have come after enduring something that I did not have the strength or the capacity to endure, alone. This is what I have learned from Liberty Jail. It is that the trials and tribulations are what will allow us to become more like our Savior than if we had an "easy" life devoid of struggle and heartbreak. "...know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience and shall be for they good. The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?"

Sprechen Sie... uh..... American?

A tale of intrigue, suspense, betrayal, revenge, family, and chocolate. Okay, Maybe not so much about the other stuff--just family and chocolate. So for the first two weeks in March I was in Germany. It was all thanks to a sister who used her hubby's frequent flyer miles and some mula to get me there. This is just a little summary of my adventure.

I have decided that the best reason for living in Germany of Europe in general is the food. Yes, this is a chocolate bar, but what isn't shown is the fresh pastries and bread from the bakery, the CHEESE and a bunch of other stuff. I gained about 2 pounds in two weeks (or maybe I was this fat before I left for Germany, who knows) due to the food. Mostly the chocolate. And in particular, the Belgian chocolate. We drove to Belgium so I could see it and get chocolate. Not even kidding. Oh, and we did see the memorial rock, which made it SO worth it. Ask my sister or brother in law, I ate me some chocolate! It was worth the extra weight even if it means less dates up in Idaho. Worth it.The kids (my nephews and nieces) were in school while I was there so after the kids went off to school, Joy and I plus a 4 year old Noah jumped in the car and drove to awesome sights. Now I had this idea in my head of what the autobon would look like- Ferraris and Lamborghinis zooming past at incredible speed while everyone was going 150+ mph. Actually, the autobon is like America's interstate system, only with better paving and stretches of road that had no speed limit. The suggested speed for these areas is 130 kph (80mph) but you seriously can go as fast as you want. We usually cruised around 95 or so for the most part. Oh, this is Joy driving the minivan.

One one of our trips we went to St. Avold, France to see the Lorraine cemetery. Some 15,000 service men and women are laid to rest in this beautiful cemetery. It was a very solemn place, and it humbled me to think of the sacrifice that was made just to preserve freedom. Not many things are worth dying for, but freedom is one of them.I really liked the inscription on this monument, and reminded me of the obligation and responsibility that is mine to uphold the cause that was purchased with blood and tears.
On another day we went to Trier, Germany and walked around the town to check out the historic sites. The top of the city had a amphitheater that was used for a bunch of stuff including gladiator battles. Beneath the floor are rooms and passages where the animals and people were kept.

This is the downtown area of Trier, very quaint and picturesque. Of course the most exciting part to Noah would be the pigeons that he would occasionally get to pursue. It was here that I learned an important lesson: happy children make for a happy parent. Yes, I know all my siblings are saying "DUH" right now but I never claimed that I wasn't a slow learner :POn Saturday we went to a nature park that was up the hill from where Joy and Ben lived. We probably spent most of the time in the playground and goat pen but the kids enjoyed it and it was fun to watch them run around in the human hamster wheel. No way something this fun and dangerous would EVER be in a park in the U.S.
Whoever devised the system of having the park guests purchase food and feed the animals was a business genius. The kids loved it even if some of them got a little worried when the bigger goats came for their share of the snacks.
And this horse nearly ran into us through the fence. He was a little overly-eager and did a spectacular skid-stop in the muddy ground before careening into us. Oh, and in case you were wondering, every horse in the world is a Noah-horse.After we made the rounds at the park and fed most of the animals we hit up the playground again (naturally) and the kids got pretty good at the hamster
And of course they have a trampoline at a nature park...? Oh well, the kids loved it!

So Germany has a million castles. Seriously. This one is near Joy's house and we decided to go there one afternoon to look around. It was pretty cool to see some of the original structures and I was in awe of their engineering capabilities.Some of the rooms and structures were someone odd so far as I could tell, but I'm sure they served a purpose back in the day. I think these were canon-ports.
On our second weekend we went to Rhottenburg, Germany. What did I go to see in Rhottenburg, you ask? Why an Aston Martin Vanquish. Okay, okay, I didn't really go for the cars, but this beauty was just parked by the side of the road. Maybe it was James Bond...

We spent the night in Rhottenburg, and it was awesome. I went for a night stroll by myself to see the town while the kids were in bed. The next day we walked around the city and saw the city.
This is a view from the perimeter wall that encompassed the city. The houses are very German with the steep roofs with tiles covering them.
This is the walkway along the inside of the perimeter wall. It was an artsy picture mostly for myself, but there you go. I found that Pictures take a backseat when you are trying to herd children or prevent little ones from getting too close to edges and whatnot.
I loved the narrow alleyways that connected everything.
At the torture museum in Rhottenburg the kids showed me the child-catcher. Seriously. Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang wasn't even lying!
One of the 15 some-odd cathedrals and churches in the small city of Rhottenburg. It was pretty sweet. And so ended our weekend trip.
On Monday we headed back to Luxembourg to go to the WWII cemetery there. While walking on the path I came across this marker and was touched.
General Patton had requested that he be buried with his men, and his wish was granted. While the man was not without his faults, just like the rest of us, I earned even more respect for him when he forewent a monument or a tomb so he could be buried in the same manner as the men that he lead.

And so ended my adventure. It was a very wonderful experience and turned into a more introspective experience than I had anticipated. The church services there were held with the airmen and their families that were stationed in Germany as well. I kept kicking myself for not packing my own scriptures because I had many wonderful and sweet insights that have had and will have a tremendous effect on my life. I love life :)

Pictures of Randomness

Adam has a pretty cool blog of some of his pictures and I thought that I would copy him by putting up some of my pictures that I like. Some of these are ancient and some are not so ancient. These don't include any people, just landscapes and such.

What 24 looks like

I'm 24. Like the popular tv show, but with less terrorists. This weekend the parents and I went camping at pinnacles to celebrate. After some time we realized that we hadn't been camping in SIX years. While sitting around the campfire we got to reminisce a little about past trips. Sky camp with sheldon and jason coming up and then playing mission in the tall grass, lost coast with adam blazing the trail to prove his manliness, I thought of coast camp with our offpath adventure that resulted in poison oak fun, Camping with the Baley's and I carried my own backpack (with just my coat, mind you) until someone carried me on their shoulders the rest of the way, buetano with the slugs, manresa beach with bikes, chain lakes with mosquitoes and so on and so on. I guess being very old makes you reminisce about the good ol' days and such.

On Friday night it was perfectly quiet in our campground

and we were in an open field. It was perfectly still, and it seemed as though the world had stopped. A nice feeling when my week consists of work and then nearly immediately to an activity or choir practice every night except friday. It felt GOOD. We also used the campfire to respectfully dispose of an American flag, as well as garments. I remember two times before where I was one of the color-guards retiring the colors, back in scouts, and it moved me to think about what that flag stood for, and how much has been sacrificed for it. Pretty cool experience, and it was one of the opportunities to realize how much has been given and sacrificed just so I can live a life of my choosing. It crazy to see the unrest in the middle east and currently in Egypt but usually when I hear a report about the unrest or the violence, I don't really allow myself to grasp the import of the situation and think about all the individual lives that are being affected by that crisis. Sorry, I'm not trying to make this a political blog, but sometimes I get carried away in my rambling, as I'm sure all of you know very well. haha

The weather was very warm when we got there but that quickly changed as the sun went down. The fire proved invaluable even for a springtime in California. Now this next part is somewhatshameful for me, but here you have it: it was a COLD night. Due to the frost and

ice on the tents and the campsite, we estimate it was around 28 or so to give it that good of a frosting. I, going to school in Idaho, thought that I was impervious to cold and that anything above 15 is nothing. Well, its only nothing when you're wearing the right clothes and your sleeping bag is decent. All of us woke up several times due to the cold and the less than ideal sleeping conditions, but it was still a lot of fun and proved to be yet another experience that helped me be more grateful for what I have.

Change is Good

I've had an opportunity to reflect on some things recently, and one of those things that I have been thinking about lately is change. Change is usually a scary word that invites feelings of fear of the unknown, uncertainty about the future, and so forth. This last week and these past weeks have been a lesson to me that change is not bad, and is often a very good thing. While this list of recent changes seems to be very simple and almost unimportant, I view this events in a different perspective that goes much deeper.

Weather

This picture is not a mistake. This is what the sky looks like this morning, and my purpose in sharing this is not to rub it in. For about the past three weeks or so, nearly every morning the valley has been covered in fog. Not the nice little fog that burns off by 10 but the kind that sticks around all day and never lets the sun out. It was kinda depressing but maybe thats just because I'm a spoiled california boy that likes his sun in the winter. Recently the fog has been gone and we have been having some sunshine around here, which makes a world of difference. So thats a good change.

Apple Tree

This is sadly what is left of the Granny Smith apple tree in the backyard. Dad, Eric McCray, and myself spent saturday morning and part of the afternoon cutting it down, and then removing the stump. While it is very sad to not have this delicious tree anymore, it was very clear that the entire tree was diseased and would not be the productive tree that it has been in the past.

Another thought came from the roots, themselves. While the actual task of digging a trench and cutting the roots was no easy task, I was rather surprised that it wasn't harder to rip the tree out of the ground. We left the trunk and a limb on the tree so we had some leverage, and the tree came out much easier than I thought it would or should. There was no taproot. No singular, strong root that was at the core of the supporting root system. Again, this observation goes deeper than taking down a tree.

Temple

I guess I'll end my unnecessarily long post on this item. Yesterday the three YSA branches went to the Sacramento temple. The Oakland temple is undergoing renovations and cleanings and such so our normal temple wasn't available for our monthly temple trip. Thankfully the Turlock branch arranged for us to go to Sacramento to do baptisms. This was my first time doing baptisms there, and it was a very enjoyable experience. It was a new temple, and a different experience than what I was used to. Afterwards I was able to snap a couple of pictures, including this one. Not a great shot, but still helps me remember the feelings of that evening.

So change isn't a bad thing, and is often a necessary and a great thing. Its a wonderful thing to know that our lives are being led by a benevolent Father that wants us to become like Him, and has provided a mortal existence for us to start that journey. I've had some recent insights on being led, and they are a continuing reminder that I am just a mere child and have yet to understand a great many things. I'm not worried, and I look forward to the future and the wonderful ( and not so wonderful) changes that await me.