Going Home

So I have a confession. I've lied. I didn't know the meaning of busy until I got married... Oh yeah, for those of you who missed it. I got married to my best friend Wendy. She is crazy like me so we have some pretty awesome times. I was planning on writing this post several times in the course of the last three months but things kept coming up. I will say that being married is a lot of fun though.

I'll do a brief summary of what's been going on in my life. I got married. We got an apartment. Wendy started another semester and I started a new job. Wendy and I went our friends Sean and Liz to a Valetine's day stake party. Wendy and I hang out with friends and sometimes family. We had my brother-in-law Gregory here which was fun. We had to go down to Utah to pick him up so we stopped by to see my family. Also I got my sister Catherine hooked to Percy Jackson & the Heroes of Olympus series. I'm working on getting an internship down in Utah for the summer. Now for some pictures.



And here is a picture from the Valentine's day dance.



My thought this week comes from a quiet moment today. Today I sat outside the Rexburg temple. I haven't been there this entire semester which is the longest that I've been without it since I was on my mission. I'm not gonna lie, I miss going there. Sitting there on a cool quiet day reminded me that it was really here that I felt like I was home for the first time in this small town. I was reminded that the temple is in part a reminder that one day we'll all go home one day or another. Our time here is time to get prepared to go back home to our Heavenly Father. This life is a temporarily sojourn in which we must learn, grow, and "write home" as frequently as we can. If you haven't talked to your Heavenly Father recently, I recommend it. I know that He always wants to hear from you and sometimes if you listen He has something to say. I hope y'all have a great week!

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!

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!

Trust in the Lord and Be Not Afraid

Since the last post I have been united with my wonderful girlfriend and spent time with my family. After my girlfriend finally made it to my parents house we exchanged our Christmas gifts. Sadly, I got Barbara ANOTHER journal while she got me an awesome CD and the second season of Avatar: the Last Airbender which is my favorite TV series. I feel bad that my gift for her was not as good. The day after Barbara got in we went to Temple Square in Salt Lake City. We talked to two different sets of sister missionaries. The first set of sisters talked to us about the gospel and the need to share it. The second set we talked to because I really wanted to speak French with someone and Barbara was kind enough to let me do so.

The next day Barbara and I went on a triple date with my sister Catherine and my brother-in-law Jesse, and Megan and Garret (Megan's boyfriend). It was a lot of fun even if I did a lot of ice cream, Garret was close to falling asleep (due to a super long delay), and we ended up talking more than playing games. On the first of January, my family, Barbara and Garret, and myself all went to church together. The next day, my parents left with my sister Megan, Garret, and a friend from North Carolina. Barbara was really kind and we traveled up to Rexburg later that same day.

I have now returned to apartment in Rexburg. Barabara celebrated her 23rd birthday on the first day of school which seems to me to be just a bit cruel. Luckily, I was able to take her out to dinner for birthday. We went to a local Thai restaurant which was really good. We also got to watch the second part of the seventh Harry Potter because Barbara hadn't seen it and she liked it. Well I've gone back to work and got myself settled and caught a cold. So I've been trying to fight it and get everything else done.

My spiritual thought this time comes from second Nephi chapter 22; here Nephi is quoting the 12th chapter of Isaiah, it reads "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid..." I like this part because, I know that sometimes fears can seem to overwhelm us. Fear of failing, fear of not knowing the future, fear of losing someone, can seem to block out all the hope that we have for our lives. But we have to remember to trust in the Lord and His promises, and we must do as Ether directs those who believe in God that they "might with surety hope for a better world." Once we have learned to trust the Lord and hope for a better world then we must move forward and do what we can. I know that the Lord's promises to us are true and that He will fulfill them in His own time. I hope that y'all have started your new year right. I hope y'all have a good week!

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!

Having a Perfect Brightness of Hope

So this week has been rather rough. But I'll get to that in a minute. The highlights of my week were going to the temple with a couple of my friends. One was my friend Crystal; the other is a new friend named Mia. It was fun to go with those two crazy girls. The other was having a "short" lunch with my sister Megan. By short, I mean it only lasted an hour. For those of my readers who are unaware, my family tends to be very talkative. I imagine some of you will understand a bit better now, why I tend to be rather talkative.

This week, I also got to break out my winter gear which was disappointing. This week I'm slowly closing in on the end of The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan. It is a continuation of the Percy Jackson series.

My roommate Risto pictured in my last post is letting me read it. I also bought the next book in the series called The Son of Neptune. I may like this series a lot considering that when I met one of the new sisters in my home evening group that I thought she looked like Annabeth.

Okay, so my week started and I was slowly coming to a decision. The decision I came to, around Monday evening, was that I was finished with the dating scene for the semester. I won't provide details just know that this was not quickly made decision; I'll just say that my dating history is best summed up by the French phrase "C'est toute une histoire." The next day I was going to do my scripture study and I asked the Lord that if He had anything in particular that He wanted me to read that he would direct me to it. I was prompted to read "Continue in Patience" by President Ucthdorf. As I read I felt the Spirit elbowing me and letting me know that this talk was meant for me to APPLY right now, so I changed my attitude and continued to read. Eventually I got to the part when he talks about how patience requires that we work towards our worthwhile goals and don't get discouraged because results don't instantly appear. I then read this line that was a sharp divine call (for me) to repentance "patience is not passive resignation". I knew right then, that I needed to repent. That afternoon, the devotional was on the Atonement and the temple which reinforced the Lord's message to me. That afternoon I went home and repented.

Well the rest of the week was characterized by lots of homework stress and no progress on the dating front. At first I was annoyed when the Lord reminded me that there must be opposition in all things; this includes dating. On related note, I will say that one of my roommates got engaged this weekend and right now, I am happy to be single because I know I couldn't handle all of the stress of an engagement on top of everything else I have to deal with.

I feel a bit uncomfortable writing this... mainly because I don't talk like talking my love life outside of a small group of people. They know who they are.

So I hope that you will try to listen to the Holy Ghost, especially when it tells you to repent. But more importantly, I hope you don't lose hope in the Lord's promises. I know that they are real, no matter how distance they may seem to you. God loves you. He knows the details of your life and understands your feelings perfectly. Never lose hope; the Atonement can heal you and help you regain the hope that you need. Remember the blessings and many answered prayers that you've had, if those are not great reasons to hope; I don't know what is!

I pray that you all have a good week!

The Tender Mercies of the Lord Are Over All Those

So this week has been interesting. It's been fun but hard at the same time. I've had a lot of homework, work, and other issues. The good news is that I have a date later this week. I'm happy about that I think it'll be really good.

On Saturday I was able to go back to the temple. I haven't been in over three weeks which was waaaay to long. The good news is that even though I had to wait for an hour in the temple, I was able to feel the Spirit and I even felt a pang of grief at having to leave the temple and go home.

Saturday afternoon, I got to see my sister because we both worked the same shift at work and then we decided to have lunch together. I also got to walk home with her on Sunday. It was good to be around family and get to talk again. We've both have been busy and so we haven't see each other a lot.

On Sunday, church was really good. Every single speaker touched on something that I needed to here. Also we had a special music number and a sister performed the most beautiful rendition of "Come Thou Fount" that I have every heard. I will be honest, I cried because the Spirit was that strong.

This week, I was in the middle of writing a missionary when I realized a tender mercy of the Lord. Before my mission, my sister Megan (pictured above) were really close. When I came after my mission, I was more mature and my sister was a young women and no longer the little girl I remember. So needless to say we found that our relation would need to change and we tried making it work with some success. Then my sister applied to and got into BYU-Idaho. Eventually she decided to live in the apartment complex next to mine. Because she lives "next door" we've been blessed to be able to rebuild our relationship to as good, if not better, than it was before. I realized that this was a tender mercy of the Lord. After that I started to see many others in my life.

I ask you, my readers, to look for the tender mercies of the Lord. As I learned in church on Sunday, "the Lord doesn't have a cell phone" but that doesn't mean that He isn't trying to sending us the equivalent of little love texts or tender mercies just as often as we receive texts. I hope that you stop and review you days and look for the tender mercies that our Father in Heaven has given you.

A Nugget

First, I'm glad to be alive. I've had a hard week but I've managed to get everything do that I needed to. I was pretty stressed about finals and some other things.

I've been reminded that discouragement is a tool that Satan uses against us. I've felt a little bit of that and other negative emotions. I'm looking forward to seeing my lovely family next week. Well most of them minus two of them but I guess it's okay since my sister, Catherine is going to hatch my future niece or nephew.

I'm grateful that I've been able to feel strongly the Spirit this last week even if I wasn't able to make it to the temple this week. On Saturday, July 16th, I was able to do an ordinance for one my families ancestors. It was neat experience and I love feeling the Spirit of the temple. I felt like it was a tender mercy from the Lord to feel the Spirit in His house and at other times during the week. To me it is a testament of how much the Lord loves and cares for us. I know that He is aware of our situation and that He loves us. He wants things to work out for you, even if that plan is different from how you imagined it. I hope that you continue to learn and grow in your understanding and testimony of His gospel. The Lord has amazing things in store for you. May the Lord bless you to see His hand and how much He loves you is my prayer in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ amen.