A Preacher for a Teacher

Yesterday at church, we had a very special event. We had Reverend Dr. France A. Davis from the Calvary Baptist Church come to our church, and he was the speaker at our combined Elder's Quorum/Relief Society today. He is a friend of the 1st counselor and his wife, and also good friends with President Thomas S. Monson.

Our Bishop told us the Sunday before about him coming, and said "I hope I don't get in trouble for this, but we're having a Baptist preacher come and speak to us next Sunday..."

It was cool to listen to a preacher in church fro the last hour, he's so different than what we are used-to. He's very energetic, outspoken, and such a good public speaker. We rarely ever get that level of enthusiasm is a speaker, which sad to say, is what I feel we need once in a while.

He spoke about Blacks and their Goodly Heritage. He quoted psalms 16:6 which says: "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage." He based his entire talk off of that, and it was really interesting. He spoke about the Blacks, and their history, their stuggles, and what's going on now to get rid of any racism, and become completely equal. He said that there's still a ways to go for Blacks, before there's no more racism left.

I really enjoyed the speech. He is a very smart man, and has a million different credentials, and phd's, doctorates, and other masters degrees and more. I would love to be as smart as that man.

After his speech, he let us ask questions. some of the comments and questions people had were pretty good, but then there were those that were not good at all. Some people need to learn when it is not appropriate to say certain things. Here is this preacher who was nice enough to come and speak to us, and they have-to ask some weird questions. It's okay though, the preacher handled them pretty well.

The reverend invited us to go to his concert his church was having today, and after church, some of us went over there to check it out. Josh and his girlfriend, me, Wendy, and a few others went. It was definitely interesting. I really liked it. There was lots of singing, praising, and just loud worship. It was cool. It reminded me of Galveston, my home town down in Texas.

Overall, it was an experience I will never forget.

Cooking Practice

For the last few weeks, I have been practicing cooking meals with my camping stove that I have inside my house. I've been trying different combinations of foods to see what's easiest and fastest to make.

I have made Thai food (which is actually really easy), spaghetti, rice dishes, oatmeal, and the pasta dish I have showing in the pictures.

It's fun to try different combinations of foods to come up with good mixtures. The pasta dish here is simply 2 cut-up hot dogs, pasta, a can of peas, and a can of tomato sauce. Really easy, most things just get thrown in. It actually tasted pretty good too. It will be really fun to see what other combinations I can come up with before I leave on my trip. I'm trying to come up with healthy dishes too so I'm not killing my body from the inside out on this trip, as is the habit of most touring cyclists.


People who go on these trips say that you will probably eat between 3-4 times what you normally eat. I hope I don't eat that much, I actually want to lose some weight on this trip.

I Bought a Harmonica

I'm pretty excited about my new harmonica. I bought it to take with me on my trip this summer. I figured it would be fun to learn a musical instrument while I'm traveling, plus it would be nice to have something to keep me busy in case I get bored at night. So far, it's a lot of fun to play with. I've learned the Birthday Song, and Come, Come Ye Saints.

The Symphony is Awesome

Last Friday, Wendy and I went to Abravanel Hall, which is where the Utah Symphony plays. They were playing Edvard Grieg's fantasy music, and it was amazing. After I got past the slow parts where I was dozing off, I really enjoyed it. Their performances are just awesome, I am committing myself to going more often.

Wendy and I enjoyed the symphony, and then I convinced her to go with me to watch the new movie that came out in theaters yesterday, "Jumper". It was a good move. It was interesting to see the difference between sitting down to watch the Symphony, and then sitting down to watch an action movie in the theaters. It was a really good day, I enjoyed watching both shows.

P.S. If you like the Sumphony, on March 28th and 29th, the symphony will be taking music from video games and putting them into symphonic score. They will have synchonized video and lighting as well. I'm excited about it, and if you're interested, buy your tickets now, they will sell out fast.

Valentines Day

Valentines Day was good this year, lots of fun stuff happened. First-of-All, our apartment got Heart-Attacked by tons of hearts and valentines cards for all 7 roommates. Some loving female friends of ours, Bethanie Johnson and Laura Cutler decided to surprise us, and i'm shocked they did it without even one of our roommates catching them in the act. They were very good at their covert-ops mission. --I did catch Bethanie in a lie, trying to cover-up that she did it though. I called her and said that the tape on the door took the paint off the door, and said: "I didn't do it Nick..." I said, "did what? I never said that you did anything yet." I knew I had caught her in a lie, and she confessed. Ha! Psychologically kicked her butt.

The second part of the day was fun. I spent it with Lorie Franklin. She flew into town around Noon on Valentines Day, because she was aplying for her master's degree at the University of Utah. I spent the entire day with her, cooking lunch, visiting my school, going to temple square, and then eating dinner at the Lion House Pantry. (The food wasn't that good, especialy for the price.)

We then drove around for a little bit, then watched a movie. It was fun to visit with one of my friends I haven't seen in a while. It would be fun if she moved up to Utah, I think she would like it.

My New Main Flyer

This is my new and improved flyer to advertize and recruit people for my biking trip. I realized that I want some company on my trip, so I'll see what I can come up with.

Temple Tour 2008

Here is my bike route. This is close to the exact route I will be taking, even though it changes every so often. 6,000 Miles.

Ambush!

Man, my roommate Jacob and I felt so retarded when we tried to ambush Josh outside. We set-up video cameras on our dining room table, and were going to run outside with snow and ambush Josh as he was making a snow igloo. Unfortunately Jacob ruined it by slipping and falling on the ice as soon as the door opens. (You might be able to see his head at the very bottom left of the screen.) Wes crewed it up BIG TIME, and Josh ambushed us instead.

Loaded Touring

This is my bike. It is fully loaded with all my gear, and ready for some test driving. It is so heavy now that I have all the gear on it, it's a little intimidating I'll have-to admit. I am getting closer to the start date of my trip, and I am getting very excited. More and more things are fitting into place, and it's starting to become a lot more realistic that I will actually be riding my bike all the way accross the United States.

Wish me luck in the rest of my preparations.

Remembering President Hinckley

Our beloved prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley died a week and a half ago on January 17th, 2008 at the age of 97. I loved him so much, and I'm sad to see him go, but glad that he is resting a little, and back with his wife.

Since his passing, I have had time to relfect on him, and the calling of a prophet. What I discovered is that I am not sad about the passing of a prophet, I am sad at the passing of the man. I know that revelation will continue, that God will call another prophet, that I am not concerned about. The Lord will always lead this Church through revelation, and that will never cease. I am just sad to see such a great man leave us, he truly did make a difference in many lives.

I had the opportunity to see the viewing of President Hinckley last week, and then that saturday, to attend his funeral in the conference center. It was an aamzing experience, both days. Over 15,000 people an hour went to go see Gordon B. Hinckley last Thursday and Friday. There were people waiting out in the cold for over 4 hours just to see him for 15 seconds, my roommate was one of them that waited until almost midnight on Friday to see him.

May we all remember that even though President Hinckley is gone, we have all of his words recorded, all the guidance he has given us, and we can study them, ponder on them, and have the reassurance that the words he would-have spoken, will now be spoken by our new Mouthpiece for the Lord, President Thomas S. Monson.