Doubt Not, Fear Not

So I listened to the news a lot today. I turned it on at work, which I don't usually do, to catch the results of the House vote on the "Bail Out Plan" and to get all the analysis from my favorite talk radio station. I'm glad I did. I understand a little better what's going on and was involved in my own way in this historic time. However, I couldn't help but feel a little nervous, even scared, at times. I mean, what if the worst did happen? I continued listening on my way home from work, filling my car with more news and analysis.

An hour after I got home I left in my car again to go to an appointment. I had not let go of the uneasy feeling I had all day--until I decided to plug in my ipod. I chose a genre I don't usually listen to on a weekday and it made all the difference. An hour before my car was filled with doom and gloom, concern and uncertainty. Now there resounded a great fanfare and uplifting orchestration, followed by these words:

Alleluia, Alleluia!

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty the King of creation!

O my soul praise him, for he is thy health and salvation!

Join the great throng, Psaltery, organ, and song,

Sounding in glad adoration!

Praise to the Lord! Over all things he gloriously reigneth.

Borne as on eagle wings, safely his Saints he sustaineth.

Hast thou not seen How all thou needest hath been

Granted in what he ordaineth?

Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy way and defend thee.

Surely his goodness and mercy shall ever attend thee.

Ponder anew What the Almighty can do,

Who with his love doth befriend thee.

Praise to the Lord! Oh, let all that is in me adore him!

All that hath breath, join with Abraham's seed to adore him!

Let the "amen" Sum all our praises again,

Now as we worship before him.

Hymns #72

I felt instantly better. I continued to listen to hymns--How Firm a Foundation, The Spirit of God, My Shepherd Will Supply My Need--all with the message to trust in the Lord and he will protect, his is all powerful and loving. Life in the world may change and get worse, but it is still a glorious time to be on earth!

"Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not."

Doctrine & Covenants 6:36

He Shall Bring All Things to Your Remembrance

Journals are a good thing. Not long ago I was a little down and not feeling as close to the Lord as I'd like to. "When have I felt close to the Lord?" I thought. Well, almost two years ago I lost my job and was applying to grad school. I really needed to go outside myself, to do things that were hard for me and I really depended on the Lord more than I probably ever had before. That made what most people might think would be an awful time in my life into one of the best times. I will never forget, after all the heartache and stress I went through to apply to school, getting that rejection letter. It was very thin, so I had a feeling what it would say before I opened it. I read the "We regret to inform you . . ." or whatever it said and felt complete peace. It really was absolutely ok. I was actually more concerned that I wasn't upset than that I didn't get into the school. Why was I ok? Because I had absolutely put my trust in the Lord.

So how could I develop that feeling again? I remembered reading some scriptures and the Ensign at the time, but I didn't remember what exactly. A couple days later I pulled out my scripture journal to study the scriptures for real, not just read and try and stay awake. I was looking at previous entries and almost immediately found an entry from that time in my life that was exactly what I needed to hear now. There were two quotes from the RS/Priesthood manual Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Spencer W. Kimball, a Hymn, and a scripture. I want to share them here so I will remember them more and maybe they'll help someone else:

"Why will only a few reach exaltation in the celestial kingdom? Not because it was not available to them, not because they did not know of its availability, not because the testimony was not given to them, but because they would not put forth the effort to pattern their lives and make them like the Savior's life and establish them so well that there would be no deviation until the end." Spencer W. Kimball, Teachings p. 8

"By strict obedience Jesus won

The prize with glory rife:

'Thy will, O God, not mine be done,'

Adorned his mortal life."

"How Great the Wisdom and the Love"

Hymns #195

There are . . . many members of the Church who are lax and careless and who continually procrastinate. They live the gospel casually but not devoutly. They have complied with some requirements but are not valiant. They do no major crime but merely fail to do the things required--things like paying tithing, living the Word of Wisdom, having family prayers, fasting, attending meetings, serving. . . . The Lord will not translate one's good hopes and desires and intentions into works. Each of us must do that for himself." Spencer W. Kimball, Teachings p. 8

"Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed."

Doctrine & Covenants 123:17

It really is amazing how much better I feel when I do even the small things the Lord has asked me to do. I feel even better when I do what is more difficult. "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Philippians 4:13

BYU vs UW--The Away Game Experience

Last week I got to go to my first away game, even though it was right here in my home town. Usually when I walk the streets of Seattle I feel right at home, and those walking around my are my neighbors--fellow Seattle-ites and Northwesterners who understand the rain, the Mountain, and the traffic in the I-5 corridor (or at least we try to understand it). However, on that September day I was the enemy.

The away game experience started with the team fireside at the Kent Stake Center on Friday night. That was a homecoming of sorts since that was where I went to my first Youth Conference and Youth dance. The building was packed and the fireside was great. I really like Coach Mendenhall's vision of what BYU football is about--a way to do their part to share the gospel and help the players on the team to grow more than just athletically. The team sang "We'll Bring the World His Truth" for a musical number and as they sang "We are as the army of Helaman" I thought of the real Army of Helaman and wondered if they looked much different. Now I'm not saying that's why they win football games or anything, but I do think it's neat that before a game they do a fireside. I doubt that the UW football team was doing the same thing that night.

Game Day started with a lot of traffic. If anyone ever goes to a Husky game, be prepared for traffic. There just aren't a lot of ways to get to the UW campus due to its position on Lake Washington. I finally got to campus, running later than I wanted to be, and found that the parking lot where I had planned to park--for probably $25--was full. Great! Now what was I going to do? I followed a sign that said there was additional parking on the main campus, but wasn't sure I was going the right way on the rabbit warren-like roads of Seattle and I was running late and in hostile territory and--I was a little anxious when I saw a cardboard sign to my right--parking $10. I quickly changed lanes and parked right next to some BYU fans who also had just arrived. Seeing those BYU fans I felt much better. I had identified some allies.

It was during the trek to the stadium where I experienced the bulk of that hostile environment. I caught up to a group of Husky fans and overheard one offering the other a beer. Then someone noticed me in my blue "Fully Invested" BYU shirt and cautioned the other not to swear because "there's a Mormon behind you." I should have said "Thank you," but I just smiled and continued walking. I encountered more BYU fans along the way and tried to unobtrusively stay near them, but then I took my life into my hands. I entered the main parking lot (where I had originally planned to park) and encountered the Husky tailgaters. As I quickly walked through that sea of purple I had one fan ask me, "Are you fully invested?" "Yes," I replied. "Fully invested to lose?" "No," and I continued walking. There was a little booing, and one guy started going off about mites or something. I think we was trying to make a biblical reference, but I didn't understand what he meant at all, so I just ignored him. Finally I spied my objective: the big blue and white banner identifying the Cougar tailgate party: "Cougar Town."

Being in that little haven of Cougardom felt a little like being back in Provo. Everyone was in blue and white and even the food reminded me of BYU events. On the other side of the chain link fence Husky fans were booing and yelling some, but not too bad. I quickly ate some food and then it was off again to the stadium.

Husky Stadium is somewhat confusing at first, and definitely different than Lavell Edwards Stadium. The whole lower portion is concrete with wooden benches--no foot stomping on those to create that awesomely loud thunder, which in this case was good for our team. There's a track that runs around the stadium, so though I was only a few rows from the front in the end zone it was still probably 30-40 yards to the actual field (it felt really far away). Their video screen is lower and maybe bigger, which is good because we wouldn't have known what was going on without it because of our angle and distance. I sat with the Cougar section and even though I didn't know anyone personally it didn't matter--we were all Cougar fans. We were as loud as we could be when it counted, yelled BYU, and sang the fight song at the appropriate times. I don't know how other visiting team fans rate at Husky stadium, but I thought there were a lot of us and that we did a good job cheering on our team. I really had a good time, and it was a good game. That last defensive stand was in our end zone and we absolutely couldn't believe it when they blocked the extra point. (We were so loud I couldn't hear anything about the penalties at the end of the game, though I did see the football fly way high in the air after the Husky touchdown).

One bad thing that happened during the game was when the Husky player went down and had to be taken off the field by ambulance. As we were watching and hoping he was ok and trying to confirm that it wasn't a BYU player I noticed some commotion on the field down to my left. There was a woman there talking to a security guard on the field, then trying to pass him and run on the field. She was dragging him across the track and he was valiantly trying to hang onto her. We figured out she was the hurt player's mom and some people started yelling "let her in." Finally someone on the sidelines noticed and a trainer near the hurt player broke away from the group and motioned for her to come on the field. She ran as fast as she could all the way across to almost the other end zone. It was kind of hard to get back into the "get him! get him!" mentality after that, but we didn't have to for long since that's when we turned the ball over on like the one yard line.

After the game we were just basking in our win, yelling and singing the fight song. Both teams come out and leave the field at the same place (which was just down to our left), so the Cougs were waiting for the Dawgs to leave the field when they kind of gathered together. I don't know if it was planned or spontaneous, but instead of just leaving the field they started running back down to the opposite end zone. I then noticed that there was a bank of Cougar fans down there and the team started from that point and ran along the edge of the field from there to the tunnel. We went down as far as we could get to the field and cheered and waved. The players gave "high fives" to anyone they could reach as they came along--like they were saying "thank you for coming." After they all left the field a lot of us just stayed and hung out--avoiding traffic, standing in the shade, and/or avoiding UW fans and revelling in our win. I called Andrea and Shannon to talk about the game and get their impressions of what the tv announcers said. When I finally left the stadium there was still a bunch of Cougar fans outside watching for the players as they came out of the locker room to the buses. I stayed there for a bit and then decided it was time to walk back to the car since I had somewhere else I needed to be in Seattle that night. There were no incidents on the way back to the car and I barely made it to my next event (after still waiting in traffic. I swear I sat in the same spot for 20 minutes). The next day I was back in Seattle and it felt normal again.

I had a GREAT time. Even though I was "by myself" I really wasn't with all the other BYU fans. I love BYU, I really do--for more reasons than just BYU football. I will always be thankful to Heavenly Father for that childhood dream coming true. GO COUGARS!

Eeek! It's a Mouse!

I have discovered that I really am afraid of mice. I always knew this to a degree, but this incident confirmed it. It was during the individual apparatus final for uneven bars. I was sitting on my couch watching Nastia Liukin do her routine when I heard a strange squeeky cry outside. A few moments later Micetro came inside with a mouse in his mouth (he has a cat door--I might board it up). He dropped it right in front of the tv and it started to run away. I screamed quite loud and long. It was very good that I was sitting on the couch that night--I usually sit on my bean bag chair just a few feet in front of the tv. At least on the couch I was several feet away. Kevin and Anda came running downstairs to see what the commotion was all about (they also heard the strange noise outside). I was pretty panicked. Now there was a live mouse in my house somewhere. Anda and Kevin started looking for the mouse down the hall and in my room--a million places to hide. I was making plans to sleep upstairs. I calmed down a bit and tried to get a grip on myself--I mean really. So I walked carefully around also trying to figure out where it went. My eyes stopped on my shoe shelf--it would be the first thing a mouse would see and a great place to hide. So Anda started to move it away from the wall. Sure enough there it was--Anda announced the finding by her jumping and running to the couch. As soon as she started to move I screamed, ran across the room, and jumped on the other couch. Anda recovered from the start and she and Kevin started planning how to get it out of the house. I went upstairs as they used cookie sheets and other obstacles to herd it out the back door. I never saw the Chinese girl's routine, so I couldn't fully appreciate the controversy regarding the scoring.

A couple days later I was sitting on my bean bag chair, again watching the olympics, when Micetro came inside again with something in his mouth and dropped it on the floor. This time it didn't run away, and I didn't scream. I just yelled for Kevin to come downstairs and keep the Boys upstairs. I went upstairs and my brave brother Kevin took care of the poor dead mouse.

The last incident occurred just last week. Micetro came downstairs again with something poking out of his mouth. I was talking to Andrea on the phone, just barely glanced at him, and ran to hide in my bedroom. Kevin and Anda weren't home, but Dad was here babysitting the Boys. Andrea suggested I call him on the phone, so I did.
Me: "Dad, Micetro is downstairs with something in his mouth."
Dad: "Oh, I think it's a moth. I saw him playing with one earlier."
Me: "Oh."
I came carefully out of my room, and sure enough, that's what it was. Micetro had let it go and was trying to catch it again as it flew around.

So, I really don't like mice. I really really don't like them. It's probably good that between mice and spiders it's the mice I don't like, since there are many more spiders in my house than mice (of which there had better be none right now). Spiders don't bother me at all (except if they jump on me and surprise me as one did not long ago). Keep the mice away. Now, what's good about this? I guess it's good that I have a cat that hunts so mice will never take over the house--as long as he keeps them outside!