Joy to Everyone!

If someone were to have created a line graph of my stress level over the past week or so, they would have seen a turning point sometime yesterday afternoon. It was positive turn; my stress level decreased. Several things happened, including I was just able to get some things done. Another thing that helped was music.

Sometimes I need things to be really quiet while I study, but other times a little background music helps me stay focused. I tuned into my George Harrison station on Pandora for a little bit in the morning, and then in the afternoon switched to some Wolfgang Amadeus. Exactly what I needed.

Beyond good background noise, music has the power to lift (and conversely, depress). I found a site that has a really uplifting, fast-paced Christmas tune that I found I like. I don't know how many times I listened to it yesterday, but I credit it with helping me to keep my spirits up, focus my thoughts in the right place, and maintain a positive attitude. I had the positive tune and lyrics of that song playing through my head even while I wasn't listening to it, and I then found my thoughts focused in other uplifting directions.

Doctrine & Covenants 25:12 gives us some insight into the Lord's view on music: "My soul delighteth in the song of the heart," He says. "Yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads." I'm really grateful for good music of all genres that help me keep my spirits up and also stay closer to my Heavenly Father.

After Much Tribulation Come the Blessings

The Lord loves us and I believe that He wants to bless us. That can be a bit difficult to remember while feeling swamped by incessant incoming tides: a capstone paper, classes, finals, grad schools applications, letters of recommendation, Church callings, and/or a social life.

The words in D&C 58:4 can be a bit comforting in times such as these. We can have hope that we'll finish our paper, the semester is almost over, finals do pass, we can get into grad school with some helpful letters of recommendation, and we can help others as well as have fun with them--all because the Lord blesses us with these things.

It's clear that giving a child everything they want merely because they want it is a poor parenting technique. Thus, Heavenly Father, who, again, loves us and wants to bless us, doesn't give us everything we think we want or need. We work, often hard and for a long time, before we obtain blessings the Lord is so anxious to give us.

I experienced this once more just today. I seriously didn't know if I could handle all the stresses for much longer. But I know the Lord blessed me to be able to calm down and work efficiently and feel like things can work out! They always do.

ZzZzzz

I am reminded of another "health" scripture from the Doctrine and Covenants: This one is D&C 88:124. Last week I was talking to my older sister about how we might survive the coming week of school, two Reading Days, and five days of finals. She told me her plan, and I paraphrase: "I'm just going to fall asleep for the next week and a half." I concurred; I thought it might work. I was wrong.

This past weekend (after an intense GRE experience), I decided I would try to sleep as much as possible to see if it would help any. It was nice to wake up Sunday morning after 10 hours of sleep and it was nice to wake up Sunday evening-ish after another hour of sleep. But by Monday morning my body was ready for the "arise early" part of the scripture.

Starting at the beginning of this week, BYU's library is open until 2 a.m. until finals are over. I think the students here (myself included!) would be wise to follow the counsel the Lord has given us!

"Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one with another; cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated. "

W of W

Yesterday I was reading an Ensign article about caffeine and energy drinks. I thought it was pretty interesting that an article about this would be in a Church magazine. The article was written by an LDS doctor, and I liked his handling of this sometimes touchy subject. I remember in high school that the only thing some people knew about my religion was "Mormons don't drink caffeine." While this is true for many Mormons, it is by no means some sort of tenant of our religion. I like how Dr. Boud put it:

"While we are counseled against taking addictive substances or harmful drugs, the Word of Wisdom does not specifically prohibit caffeine. However, I believe that if we follow the spirit of the Word of Wisdom, we will be very careful about what we consume, particularly any substance that can have a negative impact on our bodies. This is true regarding any drug, substance, or even food that may be damaging to one’s health. This includes caffeine."

The Word of Wisdom Dr. Boud mentions is found in Doctrine and Covenants 89. It is the Lord's code of health as He revealed it to His prophet Joseph Smith in February of 1833. I'm grateful for this revelation that has helped me to better take care of my body and avoid lots of pain. Seriously, I've had the strength to get this far without abusing any drugs or alcohol, which would in turn abuse my body, and, judging from experiences others have had, could have plenty of other negative side effects. You can go here to check out the text of the Word of Wisdom.

Several weeks ago I heard someone mention a tradition she wanted to start with her future family. My friend noted that it is fairly common for families to read Luke chapter 2 on Christmas Eve or Christmas, but what she wanted to do was read one chapter out of Luke each day starting December 1st so that by Christmas Eve they would be on the 24th (and final) chapter of Luke. This way her family would have read through one of the whole Gospels and would be thinking about the whole mortal ministry of the Savior in preparation for celebrating His miraculous birth.Thinking this could be a neat idea for my future family, but also realizing that I can still do neat things while single, I decided to give it a go. Yesterday I was reading Luke 2, which always makes me think of Christmas at home. In my mind's eye, we're packed into our living room with the Lees and whoever else has joined us that year. Maybe Dad reads the whole chapter, or we take turns going around the room, each reading a verse or two.

The discussion in my religion class yesterday led to the topic of the all-powerfulness of Jesus.

Doctrine & Covenants 76:23-24 is in the words of Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon:

"For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father--
"That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God."

I'm so excited to celebrate this month the birth of our Savior. It is really neat to read in the scriptures His transition from an infant in a manger to One who could--and did!--willingly choose to give His life for each of us, and who had so much power before He was even born to create numberless worlds. I'm really grateful for my Savior.

Andy and I are taking the computer-based GRE on Friday. Luckily, the cd I received for signing up for the test arrived today in the mail--just in time for some last-minute cramming. With at least one more "midterm" before a week of finals coming up, I'm a bit overwhelmed, and it's possible that this will be me in two-and-a-half weeks:

At 5:31 am last Saturday morning I got a text from Andy: "Hi. I am up-see you in twentyish minutes?" Within about a half-hour, he had showered, filled up on gas ($1.89/gal!), and was at my front door. We were on our way to Arizona!

We had both slept okay. Somehow Andy's definition of sleeping "okay" means waking up every half hour and at times lying awake only half-way covered by a blanket. We chatted for awhile, and pretty soon I was asleep again.

Our first rest stop was a potty break around 8 in Historic Covefort/Chevron. I wasn't sure what the historical significance of the place was, but I could confidently report that their facilities are adequate. Here's a picture of us there:

Here are a few more random pics from the way down.

A couple of pictures of Glen Canyonwood Dam (much more impressive in real life):

Profiles of either (a) Egyptian cats, or (b) Great Danes--take your pick.

And, a "landform!":

One of my favorite scriptures in the Doctrine and Covenants is D&C 6:36. The Lord is speaking to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery:

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

I really believe that Satan loves when we are afraid, because our fears paralyze us and then we don't progress--and then he doesn't have to even do anything to make us "bad." We're just damning ourselves, stopping our own progression. I've been conscious of this the past several months. I've been making an active effort to overcome my fears and trust in what the Lord wants me to do and what He has in store for me.

Eenie-Meenie-Minie-MOA

Never in my college career have I been able to go to a museum for class. Never, that is, until this week. Tuesday morning I went with my Humanities class to BYU's Museum of Art. A girl in my class works at the museum, so she gave us a sweet tour of the new Turning Point exhibit. We learned about some modern art, conceptual art, and contemporary art. Today in my Humanities class our professor told us that one of the pieces we looked at (four huge open-ended boxes lined up in a row) was worth $11 million. Whoa.

Then today my Doctrine and Covenants class met at the MOA for a tour from the Curator of Religious Art. She and my D&C professor have co-authored a book, "Beholding Salvation: The Life of Christ in Word and Image." She told us about some of the pieces of religious art BYU has. We discussed some symbolism and its importance. We also learned some of the background of the pieces. Two of my favorites were The Crucifixion triptych by Bernard Sleigh, and Carl Bloch's "Christ Healing the Sick at Bethesda.

The Crucifixion - A Triptych, Bernard Sleigh (1906)

This one was originally an altarpiece commissioned for London's Holloway Prison. One of the inscriptions above the Savior's head reads: "The Lord Hath Laid On Him the Iniquity of Us All." How pertinent for those who would be seeing it. For all of us, really.

I'd seen this painting before, but I hadn't noticed a couple of things:

-the vines running along the sides of the cross, looking forward to both Christ's Resurrection as well as the resurrection and redemption from sin that he makes possible for all of us.

-the cross of the Savior bridges the gap between heaven and earth. Christ is our Advocate with the Father.

Christ Healing the Sick at Bethesda, Carl Bloch, 1883

I was shocked when I first saw this painting in our museum. I had seen plenty of prints of it before, but the original is huge. Our professor pointed out a good introspective question that this painting offers as you look at it basically life-size. As you stand in front of it, the edges of the pool can be extended out into the museum room, and you find yourself a character in the scene. That brings up the question of how we would react--how we do react to the miracles we see around us every single day. Are we oblivious, ignorant, in awe, grateful?

Props to BYU's MOA for the booklet they put online for their "Beholding Salvation: Images of Christ" exhibit last year, from with these images are taken.

Props to Andy for this post's title.

Yesterday afternoon a fellow classmate and I did a pretty cool service project. We made an audio recording of a chapter from a book of compiled articles for the recent Sperry Symposium. Our article was titled: "Zion's Camp: A Study in Obedience, Then and Now," by David F. Boone.

What we got to do was pretty fun slash cool (shout-out to Elisabeth)--McKay simply clipped onto his shirt a small microphone that was connected to an mp3 recording device, and we were set.

My job was to follow along and make sure we got everything right. The article was over 20 pages long, and it took us about 1 1/2 hours to record. Someone's going to go through later and edit out our mistakes. I guess BYU does this sort of thing regularly. The recordings are intended for blind or visually impaired individuals.

Here are some things I learned from the article:

Zion's Camp was "a force of Saints organized militarily but for the most part without formal experience," which became necessary in 1833 after mob violence erupted against early members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who had settled in Jackson County, Missouri.

The plan was for Church leaders and members to come from Kirtland, Ohio to Missouri to help defend the Saints once Missouri Governor Daniel Dunklin had used the states' militia to restore Jackson County Saints to their homes.

"Governor Dunklin, who in November 1833 had suggested such a military organization on the part of the Church, waffled because of public outcry. Dunklin ultimately withdrew his support for involving any state military force.

"Meanwhile, the Saints’ preparations continued, and Mormon recruits departed from Kirtland in the main body of Zion’s Camp on May 5, 1834. The leaders of Zion’s Camp did not learn that Governor Dunklin had reversed his position until the expedition was underway" (Boone).

After an extremely difficult march of 800 to 1,000 miles between Kirtland and Clay County, in which members of the camp suffered from hunger, disease, and extremely difficult circumstances, the camp was disbanded on June 25, 1834.

"Because Zion’s Camp was dissolved before achieving its expressed objectives, the whole mission has been labeled a failure by many authors from 1834 to the present. Nonetheless, the expedition made numerous lasting contributions to the Church" (Boone).

The main body of the article was spent discussing those contributions, which include a great deal of doctrines and teachings; lessons on obedience, sacrifice, and the sanctity of life; and missionary opportunities. By studying the experiences of Zion's Camp, we also gain greater insight into Joseph Smith's prophetic role; we see miracles, warnings, prophecies, healings, visions, prophetic insights, and the example the Prophet Joseph set with his actions.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell has said:

"God is more concerned with growth than with geography. Thus, those who marched in Zion's Camp were not exploring the Missori countryside but their own possibilities."

Boone pointed out that:

"The participants in Zion’s Camp were being tried, stretched, refined, tutored, and tested like Abraham of old to determine their obedience to the Lord in all things."

This very much reminds of something Andy shared with me last night. He and his roommate came up with this, meant to be said with the intonations of the Transformers slogan:

Afflictions: Blessings in disguise

("A-fflic-tions--Ble-ssings in dis-guise!")

Boone, David F., “Zion’s Camp: A Study in Obedience, Then and Now ” in Sperry Symposium Classics: The Doctrine and Covenants, ed. Craig K. Manscill (Provo and Salt Lake City: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, and Deseret Book 2004), 248-274.

JST

Today in my Doctrine and Covenants class we learned about the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible. In going through the Old and New Testament, Joseph Smith made some inspired revisions, including:

-modern applications
-harmonization of accounts
-addition of material that someone may have said but did not include in original manuscripts
-restoration of original material that was lost through Bible translation history
-modernizations to make it more readable to someone living in the 1800's

In 1 Nephi 13:23-29 we learn that many "plain and most precious truths" have been removed from the Bible. These may have occured due to simple mistakes in translation or because of people with ill intent. Regardless of the causes, Joseph Smith the prophet helped restore these things.

Crandall Historical Printing Museum

Like I said school keep me busy. Last Wednesday for a school assignment I visited the Crandall Historical Printing Museum in downtown Provo. I highly recommend it.

http://crandallmuseum.org/

We learned about the history of printing from Johannes Guttenberg to modernity. Our presenters were quite engaging and involved us in their demonstrations. The Crandall Museum has a printing press that is an exact replica of the one Guttenberg used to print the first Bible. I got to help print a page of the Bible in Latin! We also saw an working exact replica of the Benjamin Franklin Press that printed the first print of the U.S. Constitution. That definitely brought out some of my Philly pride. Who can't love the hometown of someone who brings us such quotable wisdom as: "Dost thou love life? Then do not squandor time; for that's the stuff life is made of"?

We then saw a Linotype machine, which apparently Thomas Edison called the Eighth World Wonder, and I can see why. The thing is huge, and it puts on quite a show as it molds print leading on the spot and sorts pieces back into their original positions.

Last was a working exact replica of the E. B. Grandin printing press. This is the press that printed the Books of Mormon (Book of Mormons? copies of The Book of Mormon?) in 1829-30. The replica was set up to print the first 16 pages of The Book of Mormon. We learned about some of the miracles involved in the printing of these first 5,000 copies. Specifically, I recall the statistic quoted that during the seven months of printing, while working 11-hour shifts, they would have needed to produce a manuscript page every 30 seconds. We went through a re-enactment of all that would have taken, and again, I got to help work the press! It was exhausting work. The hand of God surely was aiding their endeavor.

FHE

This past weekend I entered the testing room of BYU's HGB for the first time this semester with the intent of taking a test--twice. And I totally followed through--both times! The first test was for a physics class that I should have taken two semesters ago and that is a prerequisite for a class I took last semester and one that I'm taking this semester. Thusly, most of the first month's material was review, and I aced it! The second test was for my Doctrine and Covenants class. It was comprised wholly of two essay questions so I'm not sure how I did, although I feel pretty good about it. I came up to campus at 7:30 this morning and haven't been back home since. I did take a short hiatus for Family Home Evening tonight, though. We watched the Restoration video, and I loved it!

This video tells about the first modern-day prophet of our church, the prophet Joseph Smith. It portrays the events that led Joseph to turn to God in prayer and ask Him about his own personal salvation and about which church he should affiliate himself with. I love Joseph's own account of what happened after he prayed:

"I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. [...]

"When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other--This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!" (Joseph Smith--History 1:16,17--http://scriptures.lds.org/en/js_h/1)

God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith! This happened in 1820 and ushered in the long-promised dispensation of the fulness of times. (See Ephesians 1:10--
http://scriptures.lds.org/en/eph/1) Joseph received many other revelations and visions in the following years as he built up God's kingdom on the earth, but the video I watched this evening just shows the beginnings of all that. http://mormon.org/mormonorg/eng/#d
I love it!

Q

I like the letter Q. The velar plosive just rolls off the tongue. Wouldn't it be a great middle initital? I think it would work with just about any first and last name:

Harry Q. Potter
Jane Q. Austin
Catherine Q. Zeta-Jones

Rolls off like candy.