Music and Lyrics

Dear Reader, Today marks a very important celebration for everyone on earth. Twenty years ago today, President Gordon B. Hinckley of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stood in a General Relief Society meeting and read aloud " The Family: A Proclamation to the World. " This document has so much substance and inspiration. In honor of this anniversary and also of the family, I wanted to share with you what I know about "The Family: A Proclamation to the World." Firstly, the title itself is very direct and has several underlying messages. Since the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there have been 4 official declarations or proclamations made by apostles and prophets. While normally declarations such these are directed at the members of the church for their improvement. However, "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" is exactly that; it is a proclamation to the world . The truth contained in this document i...

Dear Reader, I went hiking again. Hence the repeat of song title. You might get jealous by the pictures here, but they are much better in person. So you can be even more jealous. The best part is you get to hear me philosophize this time. You missed it so much in the last post, I know. This hike was done by Megan, Hannah, Jeremy and myself. It was a great time and I want to do it again...just with a little more preparation. First off, let me tell you how scared I was for my life this time. We went up Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon again, but this time we went as far up as we could. This meant that at few points were literally scaling rock faces and it was almost a sheer drop down the mountain side. I'm glad there were four of us together, two of which have experience mountaineering/exploring. It has been a long time since my adrenaline has pumped so much. I have pictures of the boulders we climbed up, but the pictures do not portray the correct sense of terror I felt g...

Dear Reader, I will try not to be all philosophical today and just tell you about an amazing hike I went on with some friends this morning. We saw some pretty good views and I had a good time just getting out of the house. So, without further procrastination from yours truly, here are the pictures of the day.

Dear Reader, I ran into Cosmo on the first day of classes. Yes, it's Saturday. Sue me. It just seems like a good idea today to give a quick little update on my life, especially since we are concluding the first week of classes at Brigham Young University. It has been a fun-filled week and it may be on the list of most productive weeks in my life. Whether or not it is actually on that list, I feel fulfilled this week. The Lord has definitely helped get everything done and keep up with my schedule. So, without further delay, here is a summary of the week in no particular order. Classes started! Yay for being back on campus all the time! One of the biggest changes is going from seeing only people in my ward to seeing basically everyone I know on BYU campus. I kid you not: I ran into dozens of people I had not seen for 5 months or more this week. Some had come back from missions, others had transferred to BYU from other schools and still others popped out of the woodwork to ha...

Dear Reader, Today I'm feeling patriotic, but not because of any huge holiday or celebration. Today I experienced a little thing that made me proud to be a citizen of the United States of America: listening to the National Anthem on the Campus of Brigham Young University. This twice daily occurrence is something that I believe should be done at every appropriate opportunity. You see, at BYU there is an American flag outside the administration building that is put up every morning and taken down every evening whilst the "Star-Spangled Banner" is played over loud-speakers across the entire campus. I have walked across campus several times during the evening when they take down the flag, giving me the chance to stop and think about the meaning of our flag. It is rare that I am ever on campus early enough to hear the National Anthem while it is put up, but this morning was different. Whilst running around campus making food deliveries (I started work at 5:45), the regu...

Dear Reader, For those of you who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, participating in music is probably at least a weekly occurrence, if not more often. For those of you who are not members of the Church, you probably already know that every week during church meetings, there are always hymns and music being produced by the members. We sing hymns in sacrament meeting, sometimes in other Sunday meetings and put together special musical numbers for special events like ward parties. With all this live/untouched music, a question came to mind: why does the church not switch to using recordings of all the hymns in sacrament meeting or other common church events? One of my favorite songs when I was growing up Considering the secular side of music, why is it that we long to hear our favorite bands in person? Why do we jam stadiums, crowd clubs and book live wedding music? The answer, my friend, is divine. Music is a source of creativity. Music re...

Dear Reader, Temples are amazing. They are the only place where a man and a woman can be sealed together forever by the power of the priesthood. I was able to witness this firsthand on Saturday when my roommate and his wife knelt across the alter in the Timpanogos Temple as they were sealed for eternity. There was so much happiness in that sealing room during the ceremony. As the couple walked in, there was a huge smile on both their faces. Jacob (My roommate) and I have known each other for a long time. I was actually on his first date with McKay (his wife). Don't worry; it was a double date. That night as we were talking about dating and what we liked about the date that day I told him, "I like you two. There is a good feeling about her." Sure enough, just over 5 months later they are now sealed for all eternity through and by the power of the priesthood. Of course we also enjoyed their reception later that night, but I was enjoying the fact that they are perf...