Merry Christmas!

Time to make this post mere hours before Christmas ends where I am. (West s-I-de!) Awesome Christmas, except for hte usually inevitable Christmas afternoon venting of pent up frustration. Anyways, my most unexpected gift is the one, the only (as far as I know anyway):



General Robert E. Lee bobblehead! I shall reenact my reaction. "Awesome Possum!!..!!" Surely teh shizle mah frizzle.

So I'm home

Ah. First full day at home. No class. No finals. No responsibilities. But it heralds things I do need to do, like find a job. Oh, and somehow develop a regular sleep schedual to cope with all day classes on mondays and tuesdays next semester. And blow the rest of my loan money on Christmas presents. I enjoy giving well beyond my means. :)

Oh, the shame

I've forgotten that when home teaching in December, banana bread and chocolate covered macadamia nuts are necessary elements. I realized this to my chagrin when on our third stop tonight our home teachee provided each of us with a tupperware full of the best Christmas snack assortment ever. Cherry filled Hershey kisses, peanut butter eclairs, no-bake cookies, little fruit/graham cracker pastry like things, and these nifty little chocolate coated mini kisses. In addition, she gave us these DVDs with a bunch of temple pictures she's taken (she's a photographer). Ah well.

Other than that reminder of my negligence, home teaching went spledidly. Visited another sister who has rarely come to church in the time I've known her. It was due to my companions efforts that we ever got the first appointment, despite hte fact I see her far more frequently. Maybe that's why it's hard, because the fear things might go badly and the threat of future embarassment every time you see them gets stacked up against your genuine concern and sense of duty - and all to often the latter are found lacking. My companion indicated the same kind of feelings towards another teachee that he sees sometimes but I've never met.

And we dropped in and suprised yet another who we havent' been able to reach by phone for sometime. She and her mother were very gracious in allowing us in unexpectedly.

Here was the core of my lesson, something which only recently occurred to me, and more elaborate because it's not on the fly. In the first chapter of Third Nephi the Book of Mormon describes the events on the American continent at the time of the Savior's birth.

15 And it came to pass that the words which came unto Nephi were fulfilled, according as they had been spoken; for behold, at the going down of the sun there was no darkness; and the people began to be astonished because there was no darkness when the night came.
...
17 And they began to know that the Son of God must shortly appear; yea, in fine, all the people upon the face of the whole earth from the west to the east, both in the land north and in the land south, were so exceedingly astonished that they fell to the earth.
18 For they knew that the prophets had testified of these things for many years, and that the sign which had been given was already at hand; and they began to fear because of their iniquity and their unbelief.
19 And it came to pass that there was no darkness in all that night, but it was as light as though it was mid-day. And it came to pass that the sun did rise in the morning again, according to its proper order; and they knew that it was the day that the Lord should be born, because of the sign which had been given.
20 And it had come to pass, yea, all things, every whit, according to the words of the prophets.
21 And it came to pass also that a new star did appear, according to the word.

I think this is at the core of the message of the Book of Mormon. The official subtitle of "Another Testament of Jesus Christ" is not a simple platitude. Thruought the book there is a constant struggle between those who believed in the savior and his mission, and those who did not. Sherem claimed to believe the scriptures and the LAw of Moses, but contended with Jacob that there would be no Christ. Jacob responded saying "Behold, I say unto you that none of the prophets have written, nor prophesied, save they have spoken concerning this Christ." The priests of Noah claimed to follow the LAw of Moses, but Abinadi stated that "I would that ye should understand that God himself shall come down among the children of men, and shall redeem his people." Zeezrom asked Amulek "Who is he that shall come? Is it the Son of God?" And Amulek boldly declared it so. Zeezrom and the people of Ammonihah were of the order of Nehor, who taught that all men had already been redeemed, so there was no need for a Christ. Alma also contended with Korihor, who also taught there would be no Christ, and with the Zoramites who dissented from the Nephites over the doctrine of Christ (most of their worship ceremony centered on not believing in Christ). Again and again it happens, even up to the point above when the sign of his birth was given, as hte non-believers were about to put the believers to death for the failure of the signs to be fulfilled.

So you can see the central theme: Christ Lives. He made himself known to the prophets throughout history. He was born into a body of flesh and blood. He took upon him out sins in Gethsemane. He died upon the cross. He lay for three days in the tomb. He was resurrected. He is our Lord and Saviour.

Side note: Have you ever really thought about the word Lord? Think about its full ancient and mediaeval implications. We owe Him our fealty, our loyalty, our praises, our obedience, our lives. He has Dominion. He is the Master. That's at a minimum what it means to be Lord.

Back to the main point. He Lives. He is God's Son. He is real. That's what we need to remember as we enter this Christmas season.

Moving

Tuesday I was presented with a tempting offer for new housing. Smaller place, but correspondingly cheaper. So now we'll see if I can find someone to take over my lease by this coming Tuesday...

Diplomacy news

I got visciously stabbed in the back by Russia (again) who conspired with the German to convoy an army to Edinburgh. France also leapt at hte opportunity presented by my distraction. I'll be down to one fleet come Monday, just in time to submit my final orders and go home. Yay! I'll be absolved of all commitments over break!

Melissa Branin

Up till pretty much today, the best musical experience in Rockbridge County was Melissa Branin. She's going back to Zi-on to get on with life. Awesome stuff though. You should keep track.

Finals kick-off

So I started Finals week a bit early with oral arguments in Trademarks. It suffered from a severe lack of preparation - much like the papers I submitted earlier in the semester. I don't have much hope for a great grade there. But now studying will start in earnest for my actual finals. And it will be enforced this time, since I'm gonna pack up my books and go somewhere so that's all I will so. Have one tomorrow, Friday, Saturday, and Monday, so I can fly out Tuesday.

Comedy in the Muslim World

Just rented and saw Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World. Kinda funny. Probably the best part is the self-criticism ("You gotta understand your audience," "Maybe some comedians work that way") and the part where he sneaks across the border and a bunch of Muslims stoned on hashish respond like an American audience to an act he bombed in front of the Hindu audience, and the part where it started a little war between Pakistan and India. Most of the time though, it was too subtle. When you figure it out it's like a "oh, how witty of him" and then you feel clever and sophisticated for understanding it. Leaves little room for real laughter.

And a new template

I've picked a different default template. Why? Because it looks more like a mixed up keyboard reflecting hte name (thus deflating my grand scheme to design my own title background), and I stink at self-selecting a color scheme so I had that grey and orange thing going.

Converting the lost souls

Mwuahaha! I managed to drag a friend to Blogger Beta by pointing out the awesomeness of the new template editing and blogrolls. Anyone who sees this go to her site!

Can't wait.

Losing my Diplomacy Game

I sometimes do a play-by-email Diplomacy game through Redscape. Here's the status of my current game:

I'm England.

Well that sucks.

I thought I had my doctors appointment scheduled over this nice little break before finals, but I jsut opened a more recent letter at its happening the same day as my last final. Bah. We'll have to figure that out....