General Conference!

So I know everybody and their dog has been posting about General Conference, but there is nothing wrong with that! I absolutely LOVE General Conference and I look forward to it every time. There were so many good talks! Here are my favorite ones:
Elder Holland-The Cost and Blessings of Discipleship
Elder Andersen- Spiritual Whirlwinds
Elder Zwick- What are You Thinking?
Pres. Uchtdorf- Grateful in Any Circumstances
Elder Bednar- Bear Up Their Burdens with Ease

If you didn't get a chance to watch, listen, or read them yet- I totally recommend it.       Soooooooooo good!!

Come Unto Christ

So, I get the unique opportunity to live in a home ward right now and I get to serve with the Young Women. I love it! It reminds me of the good old days. But anyway...this year's theme is "Come Unto Christ" which is based on Moroni 10:32. We are learning a song titled "Come Unto Christ" for Girls Camp and I love it! Oh the power of music. It has been stuck in my head all week. But I can't complain because it is so uplifting and makes me feel so good. Ya'll should totally look up the video on youtube about this years mutual theme. Sooo gooood! Below is the link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubIP8R5-6Tw

Miss Representation

I really liked the documentary "Miss Representation" that we watched in class this week. I always hated how the media tends to objectify women in commercials and on movies, but I never realized that part of the reason why is because mostly men are behind it all! There are not very many women involved in the high ups that are able to stand up for the individual worth of women. Because of that, women are usually portrayed on TV as ditsy, unintelligent, needy, emotional, and unstable. It is so sad to see that because it makes real women feel bad about themselves. Women have so much more to them. They can and should be intelligent, influential, and respected. There are not enough shows, movies, or commercials that portray the real worth and potential of strong, positive, powerful women. I am glad that this documentary was made to open our eyes and educate us!

Ken Garff

As a passenger in a car instead of the driver, I am able to notice a lot more billboards and signs along the freeway. Just today as I rode from north Salt Lake all the way down to Payson, I came across quite a few Ken Garff billboards. I noticed a theme throughout them. The three that I noticed all seemed to focus on being truthful and honest. A lot of times buyers really get taken advantage of when they go to a car dealership. It appeared to me that Ken Garff wants their customers to feel like they can trust their dealership. Here are the 3 ads I saw today:

Letters?

I'm not sure if letters can be considered media, but after thinking about the definition, I have realized that they definitely fit the definition! Media can be any type of communication between a sender and a receiver through the use of a medium. I had never thought about letters being a type of media, but interestingly enough, they ARE! Pretty cool. I just came to this realization this week as I reflected on a letter I received from my sister. Then that led me to the realization that anything we get in the mail is also media. Think of all the advertisements and junk mail that get sent to us by companies that want us to buy from them or use their products. Sometimes it is overwhelming! Anyway, I thought it was a pretty cool "a ha!" moment that I wanted to share with you. Just food for thought. :)

Jews and Mormons

I am taking a class this semester called 'Family Life in World Religions' and it is so fascinating! Right now we are just finishing up the unit on Judaism and this week my professor emailed me a link to a really neat article that talks about how much Jews can learn from Mormons.  Here is the link.  Enjoy!


http://www.jewishpress.com/blogs/fink-or-swim/lessons-orthodox-judaism-can-learn-from-mormons/2014/02/11/0/

5 Scriptures to Motivate you to Action

Just this week my husband and I were at Seagull Book and ended up buying a CD with a talk by John Bytheway titled "5 Scriptures to Motivate you to Action". I absolutely LOVED it! He is such a good speaker and his talk totally tied into our class on Monday about the power books have to influence our lives (especially the Scriptures). Here are the 5 scriptures that John Bytheway explains in detail how they motivate us to act:

Moroni 10:31  "Awake and arise from the dust"
Proverbs 4:26  "Ponder the path of thy feet"
D&C 60:13   "Thou shalt not idle away thy time, neither shalt thou bury thy talent that it may not be known"
                                                                Moses 1:39   "This is my work"
                                                                1 Nephi 3:7  "I will go and do"

If you haven't heard this talk, you should probably watch/ listen to it some time. It will change your life. ;)

Master

Recently I have been reading a book titled "Master" by the LDS author Toni Sorenson. The book is about a young orphan boy that Joseph and Mary take in when Jesus is about four years old. It is very interesting. I love books that keep your attention but at the same time are uplifting and make you want to be a better person. I love what the author first said in the very beginning of the book, "If you interpret my words as fiction and fiction only, you will miss out on truths that are both historical and spiritual". To echo the authors words, although this book is fiction, it is based on eternal truths and has made and can make a powerful impact on those who read this book. I highly recommend it!

Stealing from the Elderly

Yesterday on my way home from class, I heard on the radio that there have been numerous accounts of people stealing from the Elderly. What's even more sad, is that many times the perpetrators are family members of the victims. How sad is that? Seriously, what is the world coming to when you can't even trust your own family members not to take advantage of you? I just hope that my children or grandchildren will have the decency to help me in my old age instead of take advantage of me!

NEWS

I am not one that has ever been super involved with watching the news. This is partly due to my busy schedule, partly because I don't have TV, so it's kind of an out of sight out of mind type thing for  me. I realize I probably should be more proactive about keeping up with the current events, but sometimes it is hard to have a desire. It often seems like all there is on the news is danger and violence and depressing issues. It really gives you a wake-up call when some event hits close to home and that event is spread all over breaking news. That actually happened this week for me. A relative that is a police officer was involved in the shooting that took place yesterday. Luckily he was not injured, but he was there when one of the officers got shot in the head. What a traumatic experience!

The NEWS can definitely be an excellent source of media, but as I mentioned above, it can often be depressing! I have realized that I should probably be better about keeping up with the current events so that I can be a better and more active citizen of this country rather than just a bystander. It does not solve anything to ignore what is going on, but we must educate ourselves so that we can be positive influences to those around us, including our future children.

LDS.ORG

I am amazed with the technology of the world today. Its growth is continually increasing at an extremely rapid rate. We are all aware that there is a lot of filth out there in the media so readily available to us by way of the new technological advances, but I am also very impressed and happy to say that there are also a lot of good media uses. I am happy to see that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has also been able to take advantage of these advances. So many online resources are available for us that have not been available in the past! Family History can be done at an accelerated rate, past and present conference issues are available to read, listen to, or watch, and programs for the youth and missionaries are available online to help spread the gospel. It is just a testimony to me that as the evil in the world increases, so does the amount of good!

Arrow

So I decided that it is NOT a good idea to get hooked on a new TV show while I am in school! I should have learned my lesson by now...lol. Recently (and by recently I mean the last week) my husband and I have started watching a new series on Netflix. The show is called "Arrow" and it is based on one of the comic books. It reminds me a little bit of batman but with a Robin Hood twist. It is the classic story- rich kid goes through traumatic experience that changes his life and makes him seek justice for his city. I enjoy watching shows/movies like this, but I haven't stopped to reflect until now as to whether or not working outside the law to fight crimes is moral or not. We are encouraged to be law-abiding citizens, but what if those working within the law need a little extra help? Is it ok to be a little bad to take down a greater bad? What is morally correct?

"The Middle"

When I woke up yesterday morning, I had a feeling it was going to be a very stressful day. Thursdays are especially long and I was feeling the weight of all of my school work building up along with my other responsibilities outside of school. As I was leaving my house, I realized that I needed to stop at the grocery store on my way to school and so I made a speedy stop in hopes of still making it on time to class. As I walked through the automatic doors at the entrance of the store, I heard in the background the song, "The Middle" by Jimmy Eat World. A smile immediately came across my face and a calmness swept over. I don't think any song would have this effect on me, but there is meaning attached to this song for me. First of all, my cousin is in the band. Secondly, since I am familiar with the song, I already knew the lyrics and the chorus rang true to me. Hearing the song reminded me that sometimes life is hard, but it just takes some time, and everything will be alright. This experience just reminded me of how powerful music can be!

In case you aren't familiar with the song, here are the lyrics:

 

"The Middle"

Hey, don't write yourself off yet
It's only in your head you feel left out or looked down on.
Just try your best, try everything you can.
And don't you worry what they tell themselves when you're away.

It just takes some time, little girl you're in the middle of the ride.
Everything (everything) will be just fine, everything (everything) will be alright (alright).

Hey, you know they're all the same.
You know you're doing better on your own, so don't buy in.
Live right now.
Yeah, just be yourself.
It doesn't matter if it's good enough for someone else.

It just takes some time, little girl you're in the middle of the ride.
Everything (everything) will be just fine, everything (everything) will be alright (alright).
It just takes some time, little girl you're in the middle of the ride.
Everything (everything) will be just fine, everything (everything) will be alright (alright).

Hey, don't write yourself off yet.
It's only in your head you feel left out or looked down on.
Just do your best, do everything you can.
And don't you worry what the bitter hearts are gonna say.

It just takes some time, little girl you're in the middle of the ride.
Everything (everything) will be just fine, everything (everything) will be alright (alright).
It just takes some time, little girl you're in the middle of the ride.
Everything (everything) will be just fine, everything (everything) will be alright (alright).

"For Better Air, Carpool Tomorrow"

Every morning I have about a 25-30 minute commute to work and school. Only this morning did I realize JUST how many ways I can be influenced by some kind of media in that amount of time! There are billboards and other types of advertisement signs alongside the roads, the radio, CD’s I could possibly listen to, among many others. The first sign I noticed made me laugh. It was one of those digital marquee boards on the freeway that says “For Better Air, Carpool Tomorrow”. Hilarious right?? Haha, ok I know it normally wouldn’t be. But seeing that sign reminded me of the time that I was playing Telestrations with my husband’s family. If you don’t know what Telestrations is, let me inform you. :)

 

Telestrations is a game where everyone starts out with a piece of paper and they have to draw an item that they have chosen, but nobody else knows what it is. Once they draw that item, they pass it on to the next person and that person has to write out in words what they think it is a picture of. Then that person passes just the words onto the next person. That receiver then draws what the previous person wrote down. And then you continue that cycle of drawing and writing until it makes a full circle back to you. At that point everyone takes turns showing everyone else how the very first topic evolved into the very last picture. Every once in a while it would be dead on, but USUALLY it would take a very funny twist and end up being something completely different. In a way this game is a little bit like the Telephone game. Wait, I think that might be why it’s called Telestrations!! Wow…I am a genius. 

What does this have to do with anything you might ask? Well, the reason I laughed when I saw that sign is because when we were playing that game, one of the topics was Freeway. My father-in-law was the one that had to draw it, and he chose to put on his picture the sign that said, “For Better Air, Carpool Tomorrow”. We all got a kick out of that and it has been a family joke ever since. I thought it was a very clever clue to help the next person guess what he had drawn (although I think he cheated a little bit because we weren’t supposed to use words in our drawings...lol).

 Long story short, the media is so prevalent in our lives, that in this case it was used as a symbol to help others understand what the big picture was. And what’s interesting is that we ALL understood his reference to that sign. Cool right?

Rather than risking my life by taking a picture while driving, below is a similar sign to get the "picture" ;)