Decisions

     One of the apostles, (I don't remember which one, maybe Elder Oaks), said that most of life's biggest decisions are made in hte 10 year period from age 20 to age 30.  I, like most of you who are reading this post, am realizing that he was right! 
     Lindsay  graduates in August, after which she would like to do an intensive year-long internship in order to become a registered dietitian.  I am trying to finish up and graduate by August also, but the problem is that I decided that I want to minor in statistics, and i would need ot have that done by August also!  I am planning on going to graduate school to get a PhD in clinical psychology, with an emphasis in neuroscience.  I recently heard that clinical psych PhD programs are some of the most competitive programs around, including more competitive than most medical schools. This scares the pants off of me!  Maybe I should have chosen to be something that pays better and won't include another 4-6 years of schooling.  I am trying to figure out how to give myself a leg up on other applicants now, and I am getting nervous about applying!

The gospel

I was born into the church.  I have been taught from the time I was young the things that I need to do in order to be happy and to be close to God.  Something that i have learned is that the concepts thjat seem the simplist are the ones that take the most effort to learn.  My parents taught me from the time that I was little to read my scriptures and say my prayers during the day.  I started out when I was 8 reading 3 verses a day.   As I got older there were times when I would read longer passages and learn a lot from it.  I also went through times whe I didn't read as diligently.  I was taught to pray since I was a very young tyke.  There have been times that my prayers have been really sincere and times when they have been less sincere.  As a teenager I was really good about it sometimes and not so good about it at others.  That is not to say that there are times that I am not reading or praying at all; I have always read and always prayed every day.  There are just times when it is more sincere than other times.  I spent two years teaching people that in order to come unto Christ they need to read the Book of Mormon and pray.  I currently teach missionaries at the MTC every day that in  order to help their investigators they need to help them read the Book of Mormon and pray about it.  I know these things are super important, but sometimes I am not the best at praying as sincere as I should.  The last few weeks, however, I have been studying with purpose and praying with real intent, and it has made all the difference.

Thanksgiving break!

School has started again after the best Thanksgiving break of my life!  I worked over Thanksgiving break, so I was still busy...sort of.  I have never felt so relaxed in my entire life.  There were multiple hours everyday to relax and just be with Lindsay, which is something that we have not had much time to do since the beginning of the semester.  Now I am ready to hit the books hard again for 2.5 weeks until the end of the semester.  I learned a great lesson during break;  take time to relax.  Even though Linds and I both had homework to do, we were able to take time everyday to sit and talk, to go on a walk, to take a nap, or any other relaxing activity we wanted to do.  This was extemely rejuvinating.  We were also able to take time to talk about marriage.  We only have 22 days left as un-married, and neither of us can hardly wait.  Even though life has been so busy this last semester, it just keeps getting better and better!

Pray

Tonight as my fiance and I did homework she suddenly exclaimed "Oh no!" 
I asked her what was wrong and she said that she had accidentally deleted 5 hours worth of work on a project she was working on for one of her classes.  Her heart dropped to her stomach and so did mine.  She looked as if she was going to cry, and I started to feel terrible for her.  She works so hard, and sometimes feels like she is barely keeping up with her schoolwork, so I knew how much this hurt.  I had no idea what to say to comfort her.  So I bowed my head and said a prayer that she would be able to redo the work that she had already done very quickly.  She worked away, and continued to look as if she could cry any minute, for about an hour.  Then, all of a sudden, she said, "I am already past where I was before I deleted it!"  It was a small miracle!  She was able to do the work she did in 5 hours before in one hour.  It could be because she had already done it once.  Or it could be that she got better at it from practice.  I, however, attribute it to the fact that the Lord was helping her.  Once again, I have been taught that when there is  a problem, pray.

Personal narrative- A change of heart

There she sat, a large woman, wearing a brown fur coat that made her look almost like a grizzly bear.  She was in her mid-forties, but could pass for a woman much older.  Her hair was unwashed and matted.   I looked at her through the window of the mission office as she sat in the foyer on the couch that had been placed there for people waiting to have an interview with the mission president.  She caught me looking and got a huge grin on her face as she motioned frantically for me to come out and talk to her. I had heard about her before from my companion.  Her name was Batsaikhan, she always came into the mission office when we were too busy to blink, saying that she had just walked 5 miles to meet with the president.  She never set up an appointment; she just came and expected us to drop everything so that she could have time to talk to President.  The problem was that President did not speak Mongolian, so each interview with a Mongolian required either me or my companion to sit in and act as translator.

            I threw a frown at my companion and slowly opened the door and stepped into the foyer.

            “Hello, Elder.  I need to speak with President,” she said as I walked up to her.  It had been long day of interviews and constantly answering our cell phone to find out about some new problem that missionaries thought they needed our help with.

            “What do you need?” I asked curtly.

            “I need some help from president” she exclaimed.  I knew what she meant by ‘help’.  What she wanted was money.  That is the only reason she EVER came in to talk to the president.  She hardly had enough money to ride the bus into the center of the city usually. 

            “President is really busy right now.  We have 4 other people who set up appointments to meet with him still waiting to get in.  You will have to come back some other time” I said, in an annoyed tone.

            “Oh, just tell him I will take 5 minutes” she said with grin that revealed only 15 teeth or so.  I nodded at her and turned to walk into the office.  I knocked on the door of the separate room that was the mission president’s office.  He opened the door a foot and poked his head out.  I had obviously interrupted something.  He looked at me expectantly.

            “President, Batsaikhan is here, she said she needs to meet with you really quick.  She said she would only take 5 minutes of your time.  I can just tell her that we are busy and she needs to set up an appointment for some other time” I said, trying to show that I didn’t think we had time to meet with her. 

            “Send her into my office in 10 minutes” came his reply after a 10 second pause. 

            I turned and walked towards the foyer.  I had no idea how in the world President ever expected to get all of his work done if he met with her.  I opened the door to the foyer and poked my head out to tell Batsaikhan that President would see her in 10 minutes. 

After close to 30 minutes of Batsaikhan going on and on about her financial troubles, I escorted her out of the office.  She had an extra 50,000 Tugriks (approximately 35 dollars) of President’s personal money in her pocket, and she was happy as could be.  President went back to work; he didn’t seem bugged by her begging at all.  I walked into my office, baffled, and feeling like I had a bit of soul searching to do.

One month later I walked out into the foyer in front of the mission office to get a drink.  On the couch sat Batsaikhan, wearing the exact same outfit that she had been wearing a month before.  “Hey Elder Stephenson, How are you?” she slurred through her toothless grin.

“I am doing great, how are you?”  I said as I sat down across from her on a chair. 

“I have been, okay.  My daughter has been really sick though” she said as her mood dampened. 

“Oh no!  What can we do to help?” I said.

“I need to meet with President, and ask him for help.”

“I will get right on that!” I said as I stood and walked quickly back into the mission office to ask President when he could meet with her.  I returned shortly thereafter to inform her that president could talk with her in 5 minutes.

After about 30 minutes of the same, sad story filled with financial trouble, I was once again escorting Batsaikhan out of the mission office.  President returned to his work, unfazed.  Batsaikhan was smiling big, this time with 20,000 tugriks, (approximately 15 dollars), in her pocket.  I walked back into my office, thinking about what had just happened.  I sat down behind my desk, and sighed loudly. I was feeling pensive.  My companion walked in and asked me how the interview went.

“She sure needs a lot of help.  It is great that we have a chance to help her, isn’t it?”

My companion grinned at me.  “Now you’re getting it” he said.

Christmas shopping.

I have never been Christmas shopping for a significant other.  And the 'Other' that I have now is VERY significant to me, so I want to make her Christmas her best one yet.  Today Linds and I went Christmas shopping for each other.  We went and looked in Khols and Lindsay helped me get a good idea of a few things that she would like.  We then split up to find gifts for each other.  I walked up to the womens clothing section, not thinking about it.  Right as I was about to step into section selling all kinds of women's clothing, it hit me... "this is what every man fears; the women's clothing section."  I had been in similar sections before, but all previous times I had been accompanied by Lindsay, so it was obvious why i was there.  My heart started throbbing faster and my hands got cold and clammy.  I looked around, hoping no one would be there.  I gulped, and stepped into racks of clothing that I had never seen before.    I darted from rack to rack, hoping this would all end soon.  I briskly wlaked by two women, imagining what they might be thinking about a man in the women's section!  I finally found what I was looking for and found Lindsay as quickly as I could, in order to validate my venture into the unknown!

Finally a break!

Can I get a shout out to the pilgrims and their amazing idea to have  a great feast with the Indians?  What a great idea!  I am sure they foresaw us, 250 years before we were born, getting out of class to pig out and wake up ridiculously early to find great deals.  Thank you Pilgrims!
I am sitting here on hte couch doing homework with my fiance.  It is the first day of a  long awaited Thanksgiving break.  Simply knowing that We dodn't have school for the next four days is enough to put a smile on my face and sunshine in my heart. It doesn't matter that I have homework to do.  It doesn't matter that I am working all break.  My schedule is not jam-packed with places I have to be or things I need to do every hour of the day.  I don't remember the last time I was this relaxed.  The best part is that after break, there will be a 3 week long sprint to the end of the semester, then I am flying off to Colorado with Lindsay to get married!

Changes

My whole life I have been an independent person.  I have had routines that I go through each day for a long time.  School-work-gym.  That was what most days looked like for me.  When I got tired of my day-to-day routine I would take off and go mountian biking alone or go hiking up a mountain by myself so that I could recharge my battery. 
This has all changed though.  Ever since I have started dating Lindsay I have done everything with her.  I can't get enough of her!  When I feel worn out or when I can't do any more homework, the only thing th  at can recharge my battery is being with Lindsay.  She makes it so exciting to wake up because I know that I will get to see her that day.  She makes it so exciting to do homework because i know that I will be able to do a lot of it with her.  She makes it so that the weekends are like much-awaited holidays, because I know that I will be able to spend even more time with her.  She makes me never want to be alone.  She makes any trouble or stress ok. 
I guess this is why marriage is so great, you have a best friend that is much prettier than your brothers growing up were.

Take the time

If you have read any of my previous blogs, you probably know that both my fiance and I are incredibly busy this semester.  We are constantly on the go or trying to gert homework done.  We spend romantic evenings doing homework on the couch, until the weekend comes, when we have time to just be together, with no other worries or responsiblities. 
Brigham Young said, Every day should be divided up into three chunks:  8 hours of sleep, 8 hours of work, and 8 hours of relaxation/recreation/family time.  It seems like this is not really possible anymore though.
Anyway, this last Thursday night, after going to my fiance's work Christmas party, We got in the car to go home.  I didn't have too much homework, but I wasn't going to say anything in case Lindsay really needed to work hard on homework that night.  As I backed up the car, my fiance asked me how much I had to do that night.  I replied that I had nothing pressing to do.  She smiled and said, "Neither do I.  Can we finish our homework super fast and just be together?"
"Hot-diggity-dog!"  It was so good to take some time just to be with her in the middle of the week. Just taking time is so important!

Library use

I am currently sitting in the behavioral sciences section of the Library, where every single computer is being used.  There is actually a line of 2-3 students who want to use computers, but none are available.  The Harold B. Lee library is a pretty busy place... all of these students working hard at their computers.  But then I took a second to glance around and notice what different people are doing on their computers as other students stand by waiting to get an assignment done.  There are tons of students reading everything that has happened to their 1000 friends on Facebook, there are students watching sports on ESPN.com, the kid sitting right next to me is watching a very violent episode of The Simpsons.  It is surprising to me to see all of these kids taking up computers while others wait.   It still surprises me what people do with their time.

Time just keeps ticking!

     I wish that there were 30 hours in every day.  If we all had 6 extra hours each day how much we could accomplish.  With six extra hours every day, I would work an extra hour every day.  An extra 6 work hours every week means extra money to put in the bank.  We could all use that!  I would also spend an extra hour doing homework every day.  I feel like I am just getting things done in my classes, but I always feel rushed.  One more hour to do homework would be great.  I would take 1 hour and 30 minutes to work out every day.  I used to be able to do this, but I hardly have time anymore, and weightlifting was the first thing to drop off of my docket when I got busy.  I would take an hour every day to get some extra sleep.  Anyone who has been through college knows why.  With the last extra 1.5 hours I would spend more time with Lindsay.  We already do homework together every day, but this 1.5 hours would be time just to spend together, when we could talk, go for walks, read books together, make nice meals together, or anything that we wanted to do!
     Adding 6 hours to the 24 hour day would help us accomplish greater things!  What would you do with an extra 6 hours every day?

Slow down and rejoice!

I just read my little brother's weekly email.  He is a missionary in Zimbabwe and is having a lot of cool experiences.  Every week he tells us about the lives of his investigators, how they are able to overcome problems because of the gospel.  These people really don't have anything, but they do have the gospel, and they are happy.  He also likes to send pictures in his emails.  One of the pictures in his last email was a picture of him and an investigator, both dressed in white baptismal jumpsuits.  As I looked at this picture, I couldn't help but feel a deep sense of gratitude for the gospel.  I am so thankful that we have the blessings that come from it;  we know exactly who we are and why we are here.  I am also thankful for young men and women who are willing to go out and teach the gospel.  These young people are learnign to rely on God at a very young age.  What a blessing this will be to them through their lives.