Homework and Cheeseries

So this semester I've actually done my homework around living, breathing human beings a lot more than I did last semester... because last semester living, breathing human beings were not something I hung out with much. So I realized that having strange conversations while doing homework isn't an exclusive finals week thing. This is a regular occurrence!!! So I bring to you snippets from a quaint Wednesday afternoon in which Alex was working on some French vocabulary assignment, Michaela was doing an elementary ed poster, and I was doing... whatever I was doing. Huh. I actually don't remember what I was working on at the moment. Not that that's relevant... Sorry that was a ramble. Commence conversation snippets:

Alex (while doing French); It's like they give me the example of the problem and it's like "a fruit that's round and orange" WELL THAT'S AN ORANGE. And then the real problem is "a vegetable that's long until you cut it and then it's short". WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?

(After maybe five minutes)

Alex: Oh it's a green bean. I don't know how to say green bean in french.

Michaela: Beano greeno?

Alex: ....That's spanish!!!!

Alex: I'm wrong that doesn't say fish. It's a drink. It isn't a fish. It's wine!!

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Alex: We're learning about food vocabulary in French right now and now all I want is some brie on bread! That's all I want!! So we need to find a bakery and a cheesery!

(A bit later)

Alex: No... Seriously we need to find a cheesery.

Alex: Where do you get milk? A grocery store?

Me: No no...  a milkery! And you get pasta from a pasta-ry!

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Alex: In France they love bread! They eat it with almost every meal so I'm going to fit in so well! It's fitting on the plane back home that's going to be a problem.

Michaela: Yeah by the time you get back you're going to weigh two tons!

Alex: 4000 pounds?!

Me: I've got the name for your biography. 4000 Pounds of Bread: The Story of the Two-Ton Woman!

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Alex needed to measure her computer for some reason related to French (I guess the French really care about computer width or something).

Michaela: Why do you need my ruler?

Alex: I need to measure my computer!!... Dang it! Nobody speaks in centimeters here!

Michaela (after wacking Alex with her ruler): I'M LIKE A CATHOLIC NUN

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Michaela: And usually I'm right... like 10 times out of 9... wait...

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Alex (after finishing her assignment):Can we do insanity?

Me: Yeah...After I'm done talking about steak and mashed potatoes

So. Moral of the story. We're all a little nuts and maybe a little easily distracted. I learn more and more every day that college is a very unique experience... and also.... I get a heck of a lot more done when I do homework alone!

How to Get Locked Out of Your Building in the Rain with Soap in Your Hair: An Autobiography

A Tale of Fall Semester:

I started off and ended my first semester of college in roughly the same way: getting locked out of my building. How exciting right? The first time was about three days after everyone had moved in, and I gave my room-key to Chandler while I talked to a friend and ended up locked out, banging on the windows, but nobody woke up. I ended up spending the night in a friend's car. The best part about this whole thing is that the next morning when I came back, nobody believed that I'd banged on their windows. They swore up and down that they would've woken up and come to the door. Let me tell you, they didn't.

So, fast forward four months. It's finals week. We just got finished studying at the library until 2 in the morning, and we walk outside to find that it's raining. We only had about three days left all together until some of our roommates left for missions, and there's this thing I've always wanted to do where you wash your hair in the rain. Yeah I sound like a psycho. Whate'er! I thought it was awesome! So on our way home I turned to Kelsi and told her we should wash our hair in the rain. After a little bit of convincing, I got Alex and Kelsi on board with Michaela as designated photo taker! She didn't stay designated photo taker for long though.. it turned into. "Wait.. is everyone washing their hair in the rain? Well... now I want to!"

Next thing you know, we're draped in towels with shampoo bottles in our hands traipsing out into the freezing cold rain. Anyone who saw us probably thought we'd taken a little too much NyQuil (if you know what I mean). Washing your hair in the rain is actually a lot harder than it may sound. Basically, the top part of your hair becomes a little damp and then the rest of your hair is still super dry so once you're done trying to lather, you end up with a very nice shampoo mullet. It's a good look. I tried to find solutions to the lack of moisture like sticking my head in the snow. Not only was this a stupid idea, it was a very cold idea as well.

Action shots!! 

Yeah.. not effective. Don't try this at home.

 This is the very exotic Egyptian shampooing triangle. Me washing Alex's hair who's washing mine and Kelsi's who's washing Alex's and mine while I wash Kelsi's and Alex's. Cool right?

....It was like three a.m. leave us alone.

Michaela looks pretty overjoyed, but Alex's face.... I'm beginning to wonder if she just realized that nobody brought a key out of the building...

Yeah.. that's right. We all got over the initial joy of doing something totally strange and stupid at three a.m. pretty quick. We were cold and wet and there was no way that all that shampoo was being washed out in the rain, and despite how awesome shampoo mullets look, we were all a little done. So, we decided it was time to go back inside and wash it all out in the comfort of a warm shower. We all turn to Michaela for her key because we'd had our own Council of Elrond and decided Michaela would be the key-bearer for our little excursion. But Michaela had no recollection of this, and had assumed that someone else had brought a key. Panic set in. If you need a reference as to how this looked see the picture of Alex above. 

We had two roommates asleep inside so everybody set out to bang on their windows.. except for me. I just sat back and laughed, knowing that I'd done this all before and we weren't going to be receiving any help from sleeping roommates that night. After banging on their windows and calling them half a dozen times each, everybody finally resigned to the fact that we were stuck outside. That's when I noticed the room above us (our wonderful FHE sisters) was glowing from a tv... and I could see somebody's head!!

Kelsi whipped out her phone and asked if they could come open the doors for us. When we explained what had happened we expected something along the lines of  "okay then....." or just the smile and nod while quickly backing away. However, she thought that it was so cool and explained that it was on her bucketlist. I guess we aren't that crazy after all.

So we'd made it into the building, but our apartment was still locked. Kelsi texted the RA but it was nearing 4 a.m. so our hopes of her being awake were close to none. Just as we'd resigned to washing our hair in the lobby bathroom's sink and sleeping in the activity room on the couches, our RA texted us back!! She let us in our room and gave us that "Well okay then..." reaction we'd been waiting for all night. We finally got to wash all of the shampoo out and go to bed. 

Now you'd think that after the first time I'd gotten locked out, I would've learned my lesson, but after this I knew!! Moral of the story? Maybe go to bed at a reasonable time? Rain is not a suitable substitute for a shower? How about take a lesson from Frodo ... the key is always your burden to bear!

Your Time is Not Now

It's the start of a wonderful new semester! And this semester I'm taking a class about the second half of the New Testament, starting in Acts of the Apostles. So, about once a week (I'll probably do every Sunday) I'm going to take a more serious approach and talk about the things that I've been learning that I've thought were really cool or touching.

This week I want to talk about Acts Chapter 3. In this chapter Peter and John are headed up to the temple when they come across a man who's been lame his entire life (over 40 years) who is begging outside of the temple gates. According to Jewish tradition, this man would've been considered  unclean and would've been told his entire life that his infirmity was the price for the sins of his parents. Now, when the number 40 is mentioned in the scriptures, it is often describing a period of judgement or preparation. For him, it could've been judgement in that the Jews judged his infirmity, or it could've been preparation for the miracle he would someday receive. When Peter and John got to the gates of the temple the man asked an alms of them as he would have any other person. But instead of giving him money, they had something much more valuable to give him. In Acts 3 verses 6-8 it says,
 "Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.
And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God."

His entire life he was told that he wasn't whole or clean because of his physical infirmity. He was told that he couldn't enter the temple or receive the same blessings that other people could. However, even though he'd been told his entire life that the wrath of God fell on him, he harbored no bitterness at all towards God. He had enough faith to be healed. All this man was asking for was a piece or two of gold or silver, but instead he received one of the greatest gifts he could've ever been given. That day, legs that had never been used before, legs that would've been shriveled and weak, supported his weight as he stood and leaped and entered the temple for possibly the first time in his life. He knew of God's love for him, and praised Him. Can you imagine the piece and the joy he must have felt? I bet that it was a beautiful moment. This event alone helped convert 5,000 people to the church that day.

As I sat in class, I thought that this was a beautiful story, but then my professor brought up an interesting point that really touched me. This man was laid daily outside of the temple for most of his life. This healing event occurred only around 50 days after Christ was crucified, and how often had Christ come to the temple during the previous three years of His ministry? It's not only possible, but extremely likely that this man had watched the Savior walk past those temple gates many times before. It's even possible that when Jesus called many of the sick and lame and blind into the temple to heal them, that this man was there, watching, waiting for his time. I can see him watching the Savior pass, knowing the miracles he's performed, sitting and wondering... "When will be my time? When will I be healed?". How hard it must've been to sit back, watch, and wait with the faith that maybe, just maybe, one day it would be him.

The Savior is aware of all of us.He was aware of that lame man outside of the temple gates and his struggles. How hard it must've been for Christ to watch that man struggle and know how badly he wished to be healed. To know that this man had done no wrong to make him lame. It wasn't a curse, but simply a trial. He probably saw this man time and time again and thought to Himself... "I'm not going to heal you yet. Your time is not now. I need you to strengthen my apostle Peter, and to bring 5,000 people to My church." That statement right there brought tears to my eyes.

The past four to five months have been the hardest months I have experienced in my life. One thing after the other was thrown at me, and just as I felt like maybe I could carry the load on my shoulders, something else would be added on. I watched the people around me who were so happy and were thriving. And I just wondered why me? Why now? I can't take anymore of this! I can't keep carrying this load. I can't keep moving on like this when I'm so broken. I just can't take one more step. When will be my time?  When will this weight be lifted? When will I be healed? But now isn't my time for healing. Now is my time of preparation. When the weight is lifted, it will be amazing, and it will be in the right time for me to bless others in the process. Maybe at this moment I have to stop asking for alms, for the little things like to get through my class or to travel safely, maybe I need to stop and ask what Heavenly Father would have me do. Instead of asking for pieces of silver, ask what great healing he has in store for me. He has so much in store for all of us. Maybe all we have to do is ask.