Home at last!

After 5 months of being separated as a family because of military school, we are finally back together again. I had to go to military school to become certified in my new career field and after doing the research, we found that it would not work to bring the family down. Unfortunately that made it 2.5 years that we have been apart in our marriage of 6 years. I was so glad to get home to Holley, Brooklyn, and Zachary. It was good to see their faces again.

I spent 2 months in Biloxi Mississippi. I was glad to spend time their since I had always dreamed of being in Mississippi since it was one of my favorite words to spell growing up. I know that does not sound like a very good reason, but it was reason enough for me, and when it worked out, that was kind of cool. Isn’t that every child’s dream to go to Mississippi after going through a spelling bee? OK so maybe not. It was good to spend some time down there. I was able to see some of the ruins from Hurricane Katrina since Biloxi was one of the worst hit areas. That was one of the sadder parts of the trip. Biloxi is a good community and overall I was very impressed with it. I was able to get trained in Electronic Principles which is kind of a crash course in Electronics, a very exciting class. I was able to live about a mile from the Gulf of Mexico since my hotel I was staying in was right off of the beach. Too bad the water was not really clean enough to go swimming in. I was able to go fishing for a day which was really fun. We had a really cool couple missionary down there that really made the stay a lot of fun. They were Elder and Sister Thompson. They made sure we were well taken care of on Sunday and we had a cool Home Evening each Tuesday since most of us were away from our families. I was so glad they served their mission since it had a large impact on a lot of people. I was actually kind of sad to leave their after my two month stay was over and I graduated from EP.

My next trip was to Augusta Georgia where they are huge into golfing. Unfortunately I was not able to golf while I was down their, but I was able to have a lot of fun. Holley and the kids were able to come down twice and they stayed for a week and a half both time. That worked out very well since I was able to concentrate on my class work and do quite well, and still see the family a couple of times. Fortunately it worked out really well because the times they came down were the times that I had the most time off of school. I was very lucky because the air force works on a compressed work schedule which means that I had every other Friday off while I was at school. They kept us plenty busy thought so I never got bored.

While in Augusta, I was attending the SWATS (Satellite Wideband and Telemetry Systems) course for the Air Force which is actually on Fort Gordon which is an Army base. I can honestly say I was not all that excited to go back to an Army base, but it all worked out very well. I lived in off base housing and stayed in a hotel about 3 miles from the base. It was a little crowded for me and the family, but when it was just me, it was not all that bad. I was so glad to have good AC since the temperatures down there were almost constantly in the high 90’s or low 100’s with very high humidity. Air Conditioning made my stay pleasant.

I was able to attend the South Carolina Temple on several occasions which was definitely an added bonus. I actually had a very unique experience of meeting my cousin in the Temple who consequently had moved down into the same Stake I was living in and I had lost contact with him. I wrote about it in one of my other blogs. It was a very unique miracle how it happened. I was very impressed with the faith of the members of the church in that area. They definitely lived overall as you would expect Latter Day Saints to live.

While in Augusta, I was in charge of 12 other non prior service students which means they were just joining the military. I was prior service since I was doing this for my second go round. They were a good bunch of kids and overall we did very well as a class graduating with no failures and a very high class average.

On August 12, I graduated and I started my trek home; a long trip covering over half of the country. I decided to make the best of it since I was going to be driving for so long and see some of the sights along the way. I was able to stop in Nashville, Tennessee and see that city. Unfortunately that was not my favorite stop. It was nothing like I had expected since I was expecting this small town with a large number of places to go visit to hear your favorite country singers. To show how naive I was, I was hoping to be able to stop in and see some friends from Kooskia near where I was raised who sing there. Well, when I actually got their, I realized that was kind of naive considering the actual size of the town.

My next stop was at the St. Louis Missouri arch. Now that was an awesome spectacle. It had a much larger base than I had expected. It also has a large museum that is free to the public in the middle of the arch. It is definitely a place well worth visiting. I regretted not being able to go up in the arch since I discovered it is actually hollow in the middle and you can take a ride to the top. I would have ridden to the top, but I was parked on the street and it said to secure all your belongings. Since my trunk was completely full and the rest of my belongings were in plain sight, I figured I had better get back on the road before my transportation became a part of St. Louis. I was glad I stopped though.

I saved the best stop for last. This was the bread of butter of the trip and the part I was so excited to go and see. I have always wanted to go back to Zion in Independence Missouri just to reminisce about the past in that area and the future that area will hold in both church history and world history. What an exciting place. I was willing to go out of my way to go see it and when I map quested my route, it just so happened that it was right along my route. I was able to go and see Liberty Jail, Far West, Adam-Ondi-Ahman, and all the sights in Independence Missouri including the Community of Christ Temple, Conference Center, Church of Christ building, (The place where the Temple was originally to be built) and last but not least the LDS visitors center. That was well worth the stop and one of my favorite experiences ever to be on such hollowed ground. I could definitely tell how that was once the Garden of Eden since it is one of the greenest places I have ever seen. It is a very beautiful place. I can’t wait to hopefully move there with the Saints someday to settle that area. What an awesome time that will be.

This is a list of all the states I went through on the trip:

Colorado Kansas Oklahoma Texas
Louisiana Mississippi Alabama Georgia
South Carolina Tennessee Kentucky Illinois
Missouri Iowa Nebraska Back to Colorado

Total Miles for the Honda: 3,600 miles + driving around town
Total days spent in a hotel: 146 Days
Days without a maid: 0
Total days Holley took care of kids: 122
Fingers lost during time away: 1 (Zachary's Right Index finger)
Getting your hotel taken out by a military truck! (Priceless)

The Political Game

Now to begin this blog, I would like to pose a question. Which is more evil, the Devil or his Angels? If you were to ask me that question, I would tell you that it does not matter. They are both evil, and if a person were to allow either in to their hearts completely, it would lead to their ultimate destruction.

Now what does this have to do with the Political Game and what is the Political Game I am referring to? What is a common phrase we are used to hearing at the time of the National election? I know the one I hear all too often is something like this, “This vote is kind of like choosing the lesser of two evils, I don’t like either candidate but I have to vote for one of them.” So the game continues, as it has for many years in the past. We are given a choice of one bad candidate or an alternative of another bad candidate to vote for; neither candidate at all being worthy of the office when you take their morals and lives into consideration.
For a good laugh or to be humbly offended, see the following link:

http://www.republicmagazine.com/magazines/Republic-Magazine8.pdf

Why do we play this game? Most people tell you they vote for either the candidate from the Democratic Party or the candidate from the Republican Party because they feel they are the only ones who have a chance to win the vote. That is not a vote when you have to choose between the lesser of two evils. One of the unfortunate realizations of having only a two party system is that it is possible for an entity to gain control of both parties through a number of compromises etc. Once this has been done, they can gain control of the American political system. We as Americans allow this to happen when we decide that we will choose only from these two parties even when the candidates from those two parties are not worth the paper the vote is cast on (That is if you are lucky enough to be voting by paper which thus leaves a paper trail rather than digitally which means you put your entire trust of your vote in the machine you are voting on. Anyone interested should do some research on the validity of the new digital voting machines. Information can be found at: http://www.awakeandarise.org/article/Diabold.htm.) All that has to be done in this type of environment by those who would try to manipulate the system is get a candidate on both the Republican and Democratic ticket who will continue to push the same agenda as the previous administration. If they are successful in doing this, then they are guaranteed that either candidate #1 or candidate #2 will get elected and they can continue down the same path as before with few changes other than the lies that come out of the candidates mouths at a particular time.

I must admit that I have been guilty of doing this very thing at times. I have voted for what I thought was the better of two evils not really knowing what else to do. Unfortunately I was led into playing the same game I am talking about because of so many people telling me that if I voted for anyone else other than the mainstream candidates, my vote would not count.

I had to ask myself awhile back, why would my vote not count? Those who were telling me this line believed that my vote would not count because not enough votes would be given to someone outside of the two main parties and because of this, that candidate would not get elected. Now if I had to paraphrase that argument, it would basically be this, I will not vote for that candidate because others will not vote for that candidate. If you really break that down, does that really go along with what we have been taught by both our church leaders and by the founding fathers of this nation? I have tried to find the quote attributed to Joseph Smith when he stated that it is our obligation as citizens of this nation to vote for the candidate that we feel will best serve the interests of the people regardless of whether we think they will be elected or not. I wish I could find that quote, but even if I do not, I still believe wholeheartedly that that is a true statement.

Imagine yourself at the Day of Judgment and imagine being asked why you voted for a certain candidate even though his record clearly stated he had little or no integrity in him. Are we going to say, “I voted for this candidate because I thought he was a little bit better than his opponent who was completely evil?” Hopefully that will not be our response and yet it seems that year after year we as Americans continue to do the same thing over and over. Why does it matter that other people will not vote for a certain candidate even if his credentials are good? It makes no difference. It is our obligation to vote for the best person we feel can run our country regardless of which party he is affiliated with and regardless of the way the mainstream media portrays that person. If we are to stand clean at the Day of Judgment, It is our obligation to vote for the best candidate (after doing research and praying for guidance) even if we are the only ones voting for that person. Only after doing this can we really expect our Heavenly Father to make up for any weakness we may have in the voting process.

Global Hypocrisy, I mean warming! Ha Ha

Many people seem to be getting into the “Green” thing these days. It seems to be the new fad for our generation brought upon by the media and certain people in government, not to mention any names although some might come to mind. I wonder if people have ever thought about what we are being told by the media and government leaders. Here are some insights into the issue. Take it for what it is worth, but I sincerely believe they are true.

A good friend from college wrote this to me which I think summarizes the new Environmentalism and “Green” Movement. Thank you Allie for these comments, I thought they were very appropriate. She said:

Chew on this for a little bit: Environmentalism is the new religion. Look, it has a basic end of the world scenario (acid rain, oil tankers spilling crude, ozone depletion, Earth burning, Earth freezing, etc). Environmentalists are dooms-day false prophets. Man is the sinner causing the global warming and has a moral obligation to "Go Green." Instead of finding salvation through Jesus Christ, we are told that our governments will redeem us. This new man's religion even has an origin of life and creation story (carbon). Heck, Environmentalism even has a religious holiday: Earth Day-The day to worship Mother Earth (the new god).

For more, go to: http: //www.lewrockwell.com/orig8/ostrowski-john1.html

I have been wanting to write a blog on global warming to let people know my feelings on the lie. I will be very blunt on my feelings of Global Warming according to the way the media portrays it because it is critical for us to understand. It is not of God because it does not follow his teachings. It is not about climate at all, it is about worship. Tell me how a loving, all knowing Father in Heaven and son would make a planet and put resources on it such as oil etc. to be used for the benefit of man and then be so naive as to let that earth be so fragile as to go into self destruction supposedly from us using cars and trucks and other commodities put on the earth for the use of man. (Long sentence I know) For us to believe this, we would have to believe that our Father in Heaven and his son Jesus Christ are only partial Gods and very naive because they made a mistake in the way the planet was built and it is now mans responsibility to correct it. It is my testimony that Our Heavenly Father and his Son knew exactly what they were doing when they built this planet and that other than in extreme instances where these resources are abused, the earth is more than capable of keeping itself in balance. It is my belief that if we used the resources of this planet the way they were designed to be used, we could easily maintain a balance between industry and a healthy climate.

I do not doubt the existence of global warming and I don’t even doubt that it is man caused, but the problem is in how it is man caused. It is caused because of murderers and secret combinations and other iniquitous sectors of our society taking advantage of the people and trying to steal their money with stupid lies such as the war on terrorism and global warming. If people repented of the things they were doing contrary to God's teachings, then global warming would cease for the most part in destroying so much that man has built. On the contrary, if we continue in our evil ways, it will continue and get worse. In that sense it is man caused.

I will admit that man can have negative consequences on the earth by having things such as oil spills and contaminating the water and other such tragedies, but overall this is a very smart planet made to support the population and maintain a steady balance if the people will just do what is right.

It is our duty and responsibility to use the resources of the earth in a respectable manner and to use them in a way to maximize their effectiveness. We do this out of a sense of love and compassion for ourselves and for those around us. We do not do it by force, because if it is done by force, you can always rest assured that there are other motivations behind that force.

The stories we are told about global warming have little backing at all if you do the research outside the mainstream media. Most experts who are not being paid by the evil "news establishment" will tell you that humans have a very small impact on global warming. Those promoting these lies, many in our government, are surely aware of this, but they continue to promote global warming to steal from us by creating things such as the carbon credit, carbon tax, and by making us pay other taxes towards global warming research and development, aka buying Al Gore and his goons another jet so they can study how they are destroying the environment with their personal jets and how you should continue to pay them to do so out of your own pocket. It is all such a lie and their is a reason why it is being pushed so much. It is all about power, control, greed, money, etc. (sounds like a secret combination to me). If these people have their way, in the next several years we will be paying more and more taxes until we are destroyed as a Nation. They think we should pay it because they are the new gods and can save us from these perils, but only if we submit to their demands.

How sad of a state we are in as a Nation when the leaders will even try to profit from the judgments of God being poured out upon the land in an attempt to humble the people of the land. I once heard that the Native Americans believe that Mother Earth is an entity and that she has a soul of her own. We are told as members of the LDS church that this earth is a Celestial body. With this being said, many of these great Native American people believe that what we are seeing is an attempt of Mother Earth to cleanse itself from the iniquity on its face because it is a Celestial body.

After hearing the propaganda so long, all I can say is no thanks, I worship the Father and his son, not this planet or the government. That is what the whole argument boils down to is worship and who it is you are going to give your allegiance to.

Hope I did not offend anyone with this. I do have some very strong feelings about global warming and some other issues because we the people are being lied to. We are paying taxes up to our necks and losing our livelihood chasing lies that are told to us by those who should be protecting us.

For a great informational video on the subject, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzSzItt6h-s

Note: Please do your own research because I know their is more to the issue than I have mentioned, but I think this should be enough to at least counter some of the lies we have been fed by the news media and possibly peek some curiosity.

Chance Encounter

I must tell of my experience as I went to the temple today. Now to preface this, I must admit that many times I read the articles at the end of the Ensign where people tell their personal stories of conversion etc. under Latter Day Saint Voices and sometimes I get jealous. Now it is not that I haven’t seen and experienced some miraculous events through the power of the spirit in my lifetime, but many times I wonder what experience I would talk about that would even compare with some of the stories in the Ensign. I have never been prompted by the spirit to change seats or change lanes because of impending disaster or things as dramatic as this, but I have been prompted in many small things.

Well today, I went to the Columbia, South Carolina Temple to attend a few sessions since I had the day off and there is not much else to do without your family. I was trying to decide a couple of days ago whether to go to the Atlanta Temple which is about 2 hours away and larger with more accommodations, or the Columbia, South Carolina Temple which is one of the smaller temples. I was going to go to the Atlanta Temple, but last night when I realized they had their last session in the late afternoon, I decided instead to go to the Columbia Temple which was a little closer. I was hoping to be able to go through a couple of sessions since I don’t usually have the chance to do that very often. I left for the Temple at 10:00 in the morning hoping to get there at the right time so I could go through the 12:00 session and then go to the 2:00 session as well. Well as it was, I did get lost getting to the temple once, but I was able to fairly quickly make the right turn to get back on track. I made it to the temple with plenty of time to get ready etc. That being a miracle in itself!

When I got to the Temple, the front desk man told me that the session was probably going to be full at 12:00 and that I may need to do some other things in the temple, which I was fine with. I got dressed and went to the meeting room and the people in charge were taking number and wondering if they were going to have enough room. Fortunately they did and I was able to go to the 12:00 session which was almost maximum capacity. I enjoyed the session, although towards the end, it was starting to look like I would not be able to make the 2:00 session, which was the last session for the day, because we were still busy. The first session ended at 5 minutes to 2:00, just barely allowing me enough time to change and barely make it to the 2:00 session.

I got seated, and very soon after the next session began. This session had fewer people than the session before it, probably only 10 guys or so. I was deep in thought and enjoying the spirit which is so abundant in the Temple when towards the middle of the session, one of the guys in front of me waved as though he knew me. I didn’t get it, because I was in a place where the chance of someone knowing me was extremely slim. I saw the guys face for a second before he turned back around and I didn’t recognize him from the military base where I only knew a few members. I didn’t know what to think, but I just kind of crossed it out of my mind and just thought how odd it was wondering if the guy had waved to someone else although it looked like he had waved at me.

I heard the guy talking to someone else in front of me, and I still did not know who it was, but I did start to put his face with people I knew. I thought he kind of looked like my cousin from back home in Idaho. I listened to him talk, and he kind of had the same type of voice as well. As I got to the Celestial room I was hoping the guy would be there so I could find out who he was. I went up to him and asked, Paul, and I got a huge smile on my face. This is actually a second cousin, but a cousin who I had known very well up to college and had a great deal of respect for. He was one of those people that after getting to know him, I had little doubt that we had known each other in the pre-existence as odd as that may sound.

I was taken back with emotion although we had a good talk and got reacquainted as we spoke is whispers about each others families. Of all the people to meet in an obscure place in South Carolina and of all the places to meet in the Celestial room. I had lost contact with him when I was activated for military duty, and he had moved to South Carolina a couple of years earlier. I was amazed at how many mini-miracles had taken place for us to see each other again and to get reacquainted both as family and as friends. He told me that he had barely made the session himself which was also quite amazing. As I look at all the events that had to take place just right for us to get reacquainted, I couldn’t help but gain a stronger testimony that our Heavenly Father knows us very well and is in control of the events that shape our lives if we will let him guide us. There is no way a person could tell me that was just coincidence. What an awesome experience!