My Brother--An Answer to Prayer

This week was good and stressful. I was more productive than I had expected. I took a history test and did pretty well. Wendy and I watched the Muppets Movie, that Wendy gave me and we went to the Cacao Bean this Saturday to relax. I should also mention that it's my sister Megan's 20th birthday! I'm glad that she's a member of my family and that she's my sister.


This is my brother and I. He's the one with brown hair.

So I've had this idea for a post for at least two weeks. Clearly, I've gotten distracted a lot since then. Well one of the highlights of this week (besides wedding planning) was getting to talk to my brother Aaron. He is really cool. When I was young, I always wanted to have a brother. I remember that when my mom was pregnant with my sister Megan, that I prayed that she would be a boy so that I could have a cool little brother. Then a few years later, my mom had Aaron. I was happy to FINALLY have a little brother. Eventually my excitement wore off after I realized that we had a large age gap.

Like many siblings, I've always loved him but I've not always liked him. When we were younger, we didn't always get along. First I should explain that my brother is really smart. Originally this was really cool because I could talk to him about intellectually about the stuff I talked to my peers about. Well eventually like any good little brother, he decided to use his intelligence to get on my nerves. Luckily that phase didn't last long.


After that phase we've gotten along pretty well. We talked about lots of random stuff, as memory serves, most of it was imaginary things. Then I went on my mission and everything changed. My family members had changed a lot and I'd hardly heard anything from my siblings. I had to restart my relationship with all of my siblings and my brother was no exception.


It was hard because we didn't have any common ground. So I took some advice from my mom and decided to just hang out with him. We started hanging out at a creek near our home in North Carolina. Since that time we've done a lot of hanging out at that creek. Now we talk discuss temples, politics, fashion (we have strong and sometimes differing opinions about what looks good) and both the Avatar series.


Aaron is my brother and he is a dork just like me. Being his older brother, I've had the opportunity to watch him grow up and to be a part of his life. I've tried my best to set a good example to him and I think that he's done a great job at living the Gospel despite how hard it can be. He is cool, lovable, geeky, and all around a lot of fun. I love my brother and I'm glad to be his brother.

I hope that y'all have a good week! Remember to love your family. Try to find ways to show you that you do!

Such Mercy, Such Love and Devotion Can I Forget?

So this last week has been good for both me and my family. My sister Megan got engaged to her boyfriend. I approve of him for two reasons. One he has good taste, he's going to marry my sister and two, I can trust his literary opinion so I'll be able to get good book recommendations from him. Okay, I'm kidding. I like the guy and he's nice to my sister, even when she clings to him like Agnes to Gru's leg.

In other news, I got my taxes done. My parents gave me the happy news that they're negotiating a contract with a couple to sell our house in North Carolina which is good. I also got registered for all the classes that I wanted to take next semester.

This week, I've also been able to talk to two of my former companions from my mission in France. I got to talk to Mark Stoker, the handsome blonde devil below and Yann Tanoé, the other handsome guy with the luscious lips.

I'm not going to lie, it was really good to talk to these guys. It was good to have some time to talk to and be able to focus on someone else for a bit.

I used most of this week to prepare my gospel doctrine lesson and it turned out well. It helped that I read a talk in the Ensign that talked about the goal of teaching in the Church. This really helped me to have a focus in my lesson and also to help me be guided by the Spirit. Also on another spiritual note, I got a bit of a surprised today when the Bishop announced that the ward choir would be singing next week at ward conference. This came as a surprise because I had planned on it being in two weeks; not to mention, we didn't have choir practice last week, and I didn't get a song that I wanted us to sing. SO, this is going to be interesting.

This week, I've really felt the love of the Lord. I feel like He's communicated his love through my family, and friends. I can't say what a blessing and a strength this has been to me this week. While this week has been a good week, I can't say that it hasn't been an emotionally hard week. I would like to tell you about one such incident from this week that made it really clear to me that the Lord loves me. On Saturday, I was on my way home from running an errand in town. It was a nice balmy 45 or so degrees outside, so I decided to take a longer way home pass a new shopping center. As I walking towards the shopping center, my Bishop got out of his car and said hi. He stopped and talked to me and asked me how I was doing. He was genuinely concerned and gave me advice and counsel. I want to say that just before meeting my Bishop I was listening to the song "Lead Kindly Light" and I had just listened to the line "I loved to choose my path, but now, lead thou me on!" I cannot in words explain how much I felt loved and humbled by my Father in Heaven. As some of my readers may know, the title of this post is a line from one of my favorite hymns "I Stand All Amazed"; this line is refers to the love and devotion of the Savior. I want to testify that I have felt the love of Lord this week and I hope that I never forget it. I hope that y'all have a good week! I hope that you are able to see how the Lord loves you!

Stand Ye in Holy Places

The last couple of weeks have been interesting. I finished listening the first book of the Hunger Games. It is a very interesting series and I'm hoping to get the second book soon, so that I can finish it. For the past several weeks, I would listen to part of the story on my I-pod while I was doing my laundry. I liked this so much that when I finally finished the Hunger Games, I went looking for another audio book to listen too. I found a nice website LibriVox that has free audio books that are in the public domain. Almost all of their books are classics, but very good. Lately I have been listening to Peter Pan. One day recently I realized that Pan is the Greek god of the wild; I learned this from the Percy Jackson series. So I thought that Peter Pan's name was rather clever hint at his slightly "wild" nature. it's a well written book with beautiful prose that are almost musical in nature. The next book that I am looking at listening to is Jane Eyre. If anyone knows other places that I can find free audio books please let me know. I will also say that I am over half way through "To The Rescue" which has been good but heavily detailed.

These last couple of weeks have been rough on Barbara and I. She's a ton of homework, sickness and long days of work. I've done my best to help cheer her up and keep her motivated to do her homework. I've been struggling with somethings of my own. I have two callings now that I love but both are a lot harder than I had thought they'd be. Both have been fun but hard. I'm hoping and praying that I can get a hang of them here soon. Luckily for the last two weekends, Barbara and I have been able to go to the Idaho Falls temple because the Rexburg temple is closed for cleaning. Before going with Barbara, I hadn't been to the temple for two weeks and I was sorely missing it. As many of my readers may know, I love going to the temple. It is a special place where we can feel the Spirit of the Lord more strongly than in other locations. During the last few weeks, it struck me that I don't know when or if I'll ever be able to see my home in North Carolina every again; having grown up in that house, it was a very sad thought. Something that I have come to realize is that for me, going to the temple is like going home. It is a place where I can feel comfortable and secure from the storms and tempests of life. At the temple, I can also receive guidance, comfort, and counsel from my Father in Heaven. I love going to the temple on a regular basis. It wasn't until I was on my mission that I realized the blessing of being able to go the temple regularly. I met many people in France who had to plan for months to be able to the temple just once during the year! After seeing such devotion by the latter-day saints of France, I decided that if I lived close to a temple, that I would go to it as often as I could just like those French saints would. Having been home for a while, I have learned that I need to go the temple to help keep me on the path that the Lord would have me on. I hope for my readers that you do your best to go to the nearest temple. I promise you that you will be guided by the Lord there to understand the things that you need to.

So I included this picture because I see this ring on my hand everyday. It is a CLB ring which means "Choisir le bien" or "Choose the right". I really like this silly ring because I have had it for over two years now. It reminds me of my love for the French and France, and to do my best to choose the right.

I hope that y'all have a good week. Que Dieu vous benissiez!

And Upon These I Write the Things of My Soul

So these last two week have been pretty crazy with clean checks, finals, going down to Utah, and the holidays. I love spending time with my family and even being able to help my friend Crystal stay sane. On the other hand, I have really missed my girlfriend and I missed being able to always be there for her. Luckily, I was able to go to the Salt Lake City temple with my friend Crystal.

These holidays have been interesting because my sister Catherine is nearing the end of her pregnancy and her little boy tends to move around quiet a bit. Being the oldest of four kids I remember being little and feeling my mom's stomach when she was pregnant with my two youngest siblings. It now strikes me as odd to realize that my sister that I grew up with, that I was little with, will be having a little person of her own soon.

For me, this is one of those things that is mile marker. It is also reminder that we all are in different phases of life and that we will always move from one phase to another, often silently and slowly. I think some of the greatest changes in this world are often silent and slow, and if we are not careful we may over look them.

These last few weeks have been enjoyable but hectic. I will admit that in the last few weeks I have not been as diligent in my journal writing as I ought to have been; hence why this post has been less events and more thoughts. For about the last month or so, I have been going through the Book of Mormon again because I haven't done so since I was on my mission in 2009. Since then my life has taken many turns and I have had many scriptural classes both of which have greatly improved my understanding.

A few weeks ago, I ran across a scripture that stuck out to me. It's found in 2 Nephi chapter 4, in this chapter Nephi talks about the plates and what they mean to him; he writes about them in these terms "And upon these (the plates) I write the things of my soul... Behold, my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord..." (verse 15, 16) I like these verses because I to me, that is what I should writing about in my journal "the things of my soul". In a small extent, I feel that I understand it's importance. My grandpa Sebright wrote a journal while he was in school. Years later after he had passed away, my dad read it and it helped him to come closer to his father. Think about it this way, if someone only knew you from what you wrote in your journal, would they recognize your personality? Would they understand your motives? My challenge to you and myself my dear readers is to try and do better at your journal writing and try to write more of "the things of [your] soul" upon them. May the Lord bless and keep you is my prayer. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

And the Lord Was With Us

This week was good. It was not much of what I expected but it was good. I finally finished the Percy Jackson series which was a bit sad. It's one of those series that when you reach the end, you feel like you're going to leave some good friends behind without knowing when in the future you're going to see them. I also found the photo of one of the books that I thought I had deleted.

Tuesday I went and volunteered at community event called Celebrate Youth. It was neat to help out and meet lots of new people. I got food and a free t-shirt which looks like this (food not pictured below).

You may not be able to tell but the shirt is lime green. I'm going to keep it, not because it fits (which it really doesn't) but because it reminds me of the Camp Half-Blood t-shirts which are bright orange.

Wednesday morning I went to the temple which was really nice. It was a great way to start out my day. Then I came home and got ready for the day. I went shopping at Desert Industries and dropped off some clothes that are a bit out of date but still in decent condition. I bought a couple shirts, a belt, and a tie. I also bought three books in the Chronicles of Narina which I finished earlier this year. While I was there I also ran into some friends that I haven't seen for five years. It was neat to talk and get a bit caught up.

Saturday I taught French to a few people in the afternoon which was a nice refresher. Later Megan and I went to visit an old friend of mine who just returned home from his mission. It was cool getting to talk to him and seeing how he's grown and matured. It also reminded me that I've now been home from my mission for over two years.

This week I have been richly blessed and had many topics come to my mind upon which I should write my blog. I will split up my ideas and post again tomorrow and hopefully have some more pictures to put in; nevertheless, I digress. Recently I've been rereading through The Book of Mormon. I was reading the chapter in which Nephi breaks his bow and his brothers' bows lose their spring so their whole family goes hungry for a period of time and everyone starts complaining. Eventually they get food and continue on in their journey. A few verses later Ishmael dies and Nephi records that "the daughters of Ishmael" complained against Lehi and Nephi. Laman and Lemuel exacerbated the problem and most of the group seem ready to threaten the lives of Nephi and Lehi. At this low point, Nephi records "And it came to pass that the Lord was with us..." What I got out of this phrase was that at our low points in life, we must recognize how the Lord is guiding us and how He is with us especially in our low points. I know that sometimes when I'm in those low points, sometimes the adversary tries to convince me that I have been forsaken by the Lord. I have learned that this statement is not true. The Lord does not abandon us, no matter how many times we may abandon Him. So when you are in a low place in your life, look up. Heavenly Father is there for you, and He will help you if you just but take his hand.

Another topic that I wanted to talk about is patience. These last few weeks, I have been learning patience due to a certain situation. When I was a teenager, I believed that I was extremely patient. Many people told me that I was patient. One of my bosses even said that I was "as patient as a saint". Before my mission I thought that patience was a virtue that I was have to work very little on. Then I entered the MTC, there I was put with a companion who was one of the most unusual people that I have ever met and had the strangest habits. I found out quickly how impatient, I really was. Ever since that time, I have found that I am not as patient as I thought. I have found that patience requires self-control and remembering how insignificant the thing that irritates you is in the realm of eternity.

I hope that these little lessons that I have drawn from my week will be able to help you in your week. May our Father in Heaven guide you to make the right decisions in your life is my prayer. Have a good day!

A Covenant People

This week was really pretty good. I was able to go to the temple twice which is always a good experience. I also got to catch up with a good friend of mine and talk about some fun plans. This week I finished one or two books of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. I took a picture of one of them as my picture for the week but then I deleted it on accident. But I have pictures of the covers of the last two that I've read. The author Rick Riordan is now on my list of great authors of our day. I don't have a lot of authors on this list but Orson Scott Card is number one on that list. If you haven't read the series, I would invite you too.

Anyway I'll get to my thought for this week. My idea today started because I had an itch. So I had an itch and for some reason that caused me to look at what I was wearing. That reminded me of the school dress code which reminded me of covenants that I've made in the temple. When I think about those covenants, I'm always reminded of how grateful I am that I have the blessings that come from them. Elder D. Todd Christofferson gave a talk entitled "The Power of Covenants"; which I have a link to here. I remember loving this talk. At the time I was a freshly returned missionary from France. In the talk he tells us that keeping our covenants gives us an added measure of strength.

On my mission I heard the opening to song called Sleep on the CD "Trek: A Nashville Tribute to the Pioneers"; it has a quote by a pioneer woman. She talks about how without the power and influence that the saints felt in the temple that "it would have been like one taking a leap into the darkness". By the end of my mission, I felt the same way about my mission. I knew that there was no way, someone with the fragile testimony that I had should have been able to endure the trials and hardships that I had on my mission.

I also remember another experience from my mission. I remember a day when I wanted to give up and go home. I was in one of my favorite areas with one of my least favorite companions. The day before had been long and I had a few hours of sleep due to circumstances that were out of my control. In about a twelve hour time frame, I had three different people complain to me about things that I couldn't change. Under normal conditions that would not have bothered me but that day, I was stressed, tired, hungry, and generally in a bad mood.

My companion and I were in a train station waiting on our train to go to district meeting; I was talking to my companion trying to plan out our day because we didn't have time the night before. I was the senior companion and I told my companion that I thought it would be a good idea for us to take a nap in afternoon before doing more proselyting. My companion said "What did you just say?"; that was his usual response of disagreement. That was the straw that broke the camels back. I closed my planner and got up with saying a word. I went stamped our train tickets. I contemplated going home for a few minutes because as I selfishly thought "I didn't pay for this." As I was thinking this, I remember almost hearing almost an audible voice say to me "But you promised me that you'd stay here." I hung my head for second. I remembered the covenants that I'd made with the Lord and how I'd promised Him that I'd be where He wanted me to be. I apologized to the Lord. "I'm sticking in this one for you, Lord" I told Him "Just.... help me to endure some of this stuff." That day, my covenants saved me from making a very bad decision.

So my hope is that you will appreciate the covenants that you have made with the Lord. If, like me, you still have some covenants to look forward to making, then keep yourself worthy. I know that the covenants and promises that I have made to the Lord have given me extra strength and comfort in my hard times. So when you're going through hard times, I admonish to stay worthy or become worthy of your covenants with the Lord and I promise you that He will bless you with the added strength and comfort that you need so much. I hope you have a great week!

Faith in Sacrifice

So this last week I got back to Rexburg and got readjusted to being back with roommates. This week overall has been a good week. I've went to a couple of dances and made quite a few new friends. I also got to watch a funny movie with my sister and a good friend of ours.

This week I had a rather difficult but good experience. It reminded me a little of my mission; hence the picture below. One of my readers knows a bit about this experience because we had a couple of conversations about it. If any of my readers are curious as to the details they can ask me directly.

Due to this experience I've thought a lot about faith, hope, and sacrifice. I thought about how the Lord called upon Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. I thought about how hard this had to be for Abraham; he and Sarah had prayed many days and nights for Isaac. The Lord had promised Abraham that his seed would be as numerous as the sands upon the sea shore and that they would have the gospel. Through Isaac this promise would be realized along with many others. Most importantly Isaac was his son; while I’m not a father, I know that a good and righteous father deeply loves his son. I can only imagine how heartbreaking it must have been when the Lord asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. Then Abraham had a few days with Isaac and two of the servants to travel to the land of Moriah. I can’t imagine how agonizing it must have been for Abraham.

I have learned that sometimes the Lord asks us to make a sacrifice, and sometimes, like Abraham, He accounts our desire and sincerity to us as righteousness. When we are called upon by the Lord to make a sacrifice, we must have faith. There are also times when like Abraham, we must hope against hope, and have faith that the Lord could fulfill the promises that He had made. This is a principle that is easy to understand but is harder to live. I have learned that we must grow our faith on a daily basis so that when we are called on to sacrifice that we may find that we have faith stronger than sight and a hope grounded in the promises of the Savior. One of my favorite talks is “But If Not” by Elder Simmons, you can read it here.

The point of the talk is that our faith should not depend on people or the consequences of our choices. One of my favorite characters Alvin Maker was described as a man who always does the right thing no matter what the consequences; I personally hope that one day that some can describe me that way.

After this difficult situation, I know that the Lord has promised me great blessings. I don’t think that I’ve seen most of them yet but I know they’re coming. If you are going through a rough time know that the Lord is aware of your situation and that He cares and to quote Elder Holland “He is your Heavenly Father, and surely He matches with His own the tears His children shed.” I believe that. Exercise faith and do the right thing. I promise you that you will be blessed. Have a good week!