Halloween!

I know it's only October 1, but my house is decorated, and I'm already designing my costume for this year. I'm excited. I'm going to be Medussa. Yes, the woman with snakes in her hair that turns people to stone if she looks them in the eye! It'll be really fun. :)
Right now I'm watching the movie Ruby Bridges. I'm showing it to one of my classes tomorrow, so I thought I should watch it first. It's pretty good. The little girl playing the part of Ruby is doing a good job. She's a cute little kid. It's an intense movie. I guess we'll see how it goes tomorrow! I think the kids'll like it.

YSA Conference Notes

So at the beginning of August, I had the opportunity to attend the statewide YSA Conference. It was awesome! It was a great occasion to meet new people, reconnect with old friends, and listen to counsel from the leaders of the church. I thought I'd put up some of the notes I took from a couple of the talks. Tell me what you think, or if I missed something you thought was really good. :)

"An Invitation and a Charge to All California Young Single Adults" by Elder L. Whitney Clayton

*Be faithful and patient.

Luke 2:52

As you are faithful and patient, you will increase in wisdom and stature.

*True wisdom means doing out best to follow God and learn from the examples and mistakes of others.

*Increase in stature - being modest and appropriate, taking care of ourselves to make ourselves attractive, remember our body is a temple, Word of Wisdom, taking care of our bodies and our lives sot hat we may live the Gospel to the fullest.

*Beware of pride - be willing to do things according to the Lord's will rather than our own.

*Paraphrased - Our own will is the only thing we can give as a gift to God that is our own, everything else we have, we have been given "on loan" from God.

*We don't need to Be The Best, but we do need to Be Our Best. (I like that one!)

*Matt 5 ..."Let your light so shine before man..."

*Josh 24:15 "...choose you this day whom you will serve..."

*If you continue to follow God's commands and keep your covenants, it will enable you to do immense good while you are patiently waiting until God's time for you to receive of the rest of the blessings (ie. marriage, etc.) Choose to make the most of yourselves, and it will mean more to you because of your efforts.

That was an awesome talk! It was very uplifting with some good reminders for us all. :)

The first workshop I attended was "Promises of the Atonement to Me" presented by: President and Sister Borquist (The Newport Temple President and Matron)

These are some of the thoughts/notes I jotted down during their presentation and discussion.

*If you could truly realize who you are, there would be no lack of confidence, fear, doubt, etc.

*They're going to start opening the baptistry for YSA's Tuesday through Friday from 8- 9pm

Each of us will one day be resurrected - our bodies and spirits reunited again never to be separated - and they will be glorified.

*We can be forgiven for our sins. The power of the Atonement is real and here to help us in all our trials and challenges. Alma 7;11-12

*Answers to our prayers are not always immediate.

*Sometimes there are things we need to experience and learn before our burdens are completely lifted.

*Remember that we are never truly alone

*Even though we sometimes have problems, focus on the 99% that's good while you work on the little 1% that's the problem with the grace of the Savior.

*We cannot make it on our own. The Savior bridges the gap and makes it possible.

The Second Workshop I attended was called "The Watchman on the Tower" presented by C. Michael and Jill Zundell.

Here are a few notes from that presentation.

*The watchmen are critical because they stand on the tower and warn the people of enemies who may come.

*The prophets are likened unto the watchmen on the tower.

*Every time the Lord's church has been established on the earth, there has been a prophet.

*8 Common Characteristics of Prophets

1. Prophets are always witnesses of Jesus Christ.

2. Prophets are the mouthpiece of the Lord and they reveal His messages.

3. Prophets conform their lives to the teachings of the Gospel.

4. Prophets are teachers and always teach righteous and true principles.

5. A prophet's message is not designed to gain popular favor. They speak the truth.

6. All prophets are called by God.

7. The Lord will not permit His prophets to lead the people astray.

8. Each prophet's words and teachings are timeless, but are directed at the people living at his time.

*Because of the witness from the Spirit we've had, we know the words of the prophet are true.

*The prophet of the Lord is the mouthpiece of the Lord, and he speaks the words of the Lord. We need to be obedient to the prophet of the Lord.

These were just a few of the talks/workshops we attended. The conference overall was a ton of fun. I'm really grateful for all of the hard work that went into it.

Teaching High School

So, I've been teaching high school now going on eight years.  Wow!  Time has flown by.  Over the years, I've had the opportunity to meet all sorts of kids with all kinds of backgrounds, experiences, and personalities.  The kids are great!  They keep me entertained all of the time.  The things they say sometimes, and the things they do remind me why I love my job so much.  Let me tell you a little story involving a bee and a boy.  An eleventh grader, to be exact, not really so much a boy as a young man.  Anyway, there are often a lot of bees and wasps near our school.  In fact, at one point, there was a wasp nest right outside my classroom; that made for interesting class time, especially when it was hot.  Oh well, the maintenance people came and took care of that right away.  So one sunny day, this bee decides to fly into the room.  The students immediately inform me of the bee, and of course, I saw it, too.  I quickly ask if anyone is allergic to bee stings, just in case, and I go to see if I can somehow usher the bee out the door.  This boy has turned around in his desk to look at me, and it just so happens that the bee has flown just behind his head.  He turned around, saw the bee, screamed like a girl, and did a backflip out of the desk and landed it.  That was by far one of the funniest things that has happened while teaching!  The entire class erupted in laughter, the boy and myself included.  Of course, I asked him if he was okay before I let my full laughter escape, but he was, and we all had a good laugh for about five minutes before we went back to learning again.  It was quite a day!  Another time, more recently, I gave out a survey to my students to get to know them a little bit better.  The final question asked if there was anything they wanted me to know.  One student I had put, "I am NOT a gangbanger."  I just thought how sad that people must assume that he is.  I wrote back that I was glad he wasn't, and that I never thought that he was.  It is amazing what these kids go through, just to get through high school.  I'm glad I can be a part of their high school experience, and hopefully make it just a little bit better.  

Hi Everyone!

So, I finally succumbed to the world of blogs.  I figured this is probably the best way to be able to keep up with everyone, so here it goes.