Sick for a Week

The overarching story for this week was that I was sick for most of it.  I wasn’t terribly sick, but it was enough to throw me off of my normal routing.  I am feeling fully better as of today, so I hope that next week I will be able to return to my old routine.

 

Sunday was pretty awesome.  We had branch conference which meant that we were able to listen to our district presidency teach which is always a pleasure.  I also got to talk to the students that stay in Changzhou.  I have seen them at church, but up until now I have never had a chance to get to know them.  I guess that is the blessing of having most of the ward gone, it makes you talk to new people.

Most of the church meetings I spent translating for one our members.  He is actually a Chinese national, but his step-father is an American so he attends meetings with us.  Translating was a lot of fun, something that I really have not had a chance to do since my mission.  I am not nearly as good at it as I would like, but that is true of all of Chinese.  I also got to help him bless the sacrament for his first time, he was just made a priest last week.  My favorite part was helping him translate as he bore his testimony.  His testimony is simple but also very sweet.

I also enjoyed attending branch council.  I don’t really know why President Yu wants the ward bulletin specialist to attend, but oh well.  This time we had instruction by the district presidency on how to have better branch councils.  It helped me better understand the purpose of this particular meeting and I loved it.

 

Monday was the day that I fell sick.  When I woke up I had stomach cramps.  Luckily my 8 AM class had been canceled so I was able to sleep in a little.  I decided that even though my stomach hurt I would still go to class, as I was hoping they would just go away.  Bad decision #1.  Bad decision #2 was wearing shorts and a short sleeve shirt outside.  I didn’t realize it until I started walking but the temperature outside had dropped about 20 degrees from last week.  Bad decision #3, I felt I didn’t have time to run back upstairs and get a jacket so I just roughed it on the way to class.

My first class wasn’t really all that bad and I was able to make it to lunch without much problem.  The pain was pretty bad, but I also have a pretty good pain threshold.  Lunch was fun because I got to talk to some people from the US which is always good.  Unfortunately the second class was not as nice to me.  The pain just kept getting work.

After class I returned immediately to home, but by this time I was already running a fever.  It didn’t take very long before it was a pretty nasty fever too.  About all I could do was lay down in bed, as even sitting up maybe me feel in a lot of pain.  I was like this for about five or so hours, and then luckily my fever broke at 9 PM. I really feel that this was a blessing from the Lord.  I was by no means fully better, but it made it so that I could get through the rest of the day.

The next day I woke up feeling a lot better, but I realized that eating gave me more stomach cramps so really not that fun.  Much much better.  Because I was sick I had to reschedule all of my tutoring to happen at home.  Most of Tuesday and Wednesday were spent at home resting up.  I was still able to go to my classes, but that is all I did.  It wasn’t that I was feeling too terrible, but rather I knew that without the rest I wouldn’t be able to get any better.

Because I was sick I took the time to watch stuff both for my media class and also for my personal pleasure.  For media I watched some Chinese sitcoms.  They are actually a lot of fun.  I think I will try to buy some before I am done in China and watch them.  I also got to watch the “Blind Side” for the first time.  I must say that this is just an amazing movie.  I was most impressed by the actions of the mother, I wondered if I would do as she did and accept someone that needed help into my house.  She really was practicing pure religion at that point, and I love the example that she left for me.

 

Thursday was also a pretty mellow, but there was a really cool music performance night by the flagship students.  We had Trevor who sang a Chinese song for us, Cooper and his roommate with a sweet violin number, Abraham and Wenbo who got everyone to sing some Chinese songs, and then the main performance by LCD.  LCD is a band that is composed of three flagship students from BYU.  It was a lot of fun to listen to them play.  They had an interesting mix of Chinese and English songs, and even through in a Spanish song.  It was a lot of fun and really spiced up my day.

 

Friday I went to go pick up my package from the post office.  Because I had an iPod shipped to me I had to pay a 200 yuan tax.  I was a little surprised that I would be taxed for a packaged marked gift, but there isn’t much I could do about it either.  Finding the post office was an experience, and once inside their finding the customs office was another experience.  The post office looked like a war zone, inside the building was empty, and I just had to wander around until I saw a door marked for customs.  A little eerie if you ask me.

The package had deodorant and gel, which is perfect since I had just ran out of both of them.  It also had hand sanitizer which I foolishly didn’t bring with me.  Hopefully the improved cleanliness at meal time can help me not get sick again.  I also got the cable that allowed me to hook my computer up to my TV.  It is so nice having this cable!  Now I can watch stuff from my computer in glorious HD and I just love it.  I was also happy to also get a nice set of headphones to replace the pair I left on the plane.  I guess Jason finally won me over, I have to have nice sound when I listen to things now :)

The most important thing in the package was my new iPod Touch.  I am planning to sell my old one to another one of my classmates, so I thought it was about time to upgrade to this one.  Probably the biggest reason I am upgrading is for the camera.  I have hated not having a solution to take quick photos when I have not brought my camera.  Hopefully now I can take more interesting pictures for all of you to see.  It is also really nice.  Other then the camera there is no one thing that just makes it a must have, but everything is just a little nicer which is really great.  I know that I will not regret buying it.

On Friday I also got to go karaoking again.  This time I went with Trevor, our roommates, and some of my roommates lab mates.  It was quite the experience to go with a bunch of Chinese people.  They get a lot more into it then we do, and I also enjoyed the opportunity to learn some new Chinese songs.

 

Saturday was spent with Homework and playing with my new iTouch.  Like I put on my Facebook status, we boys get new toys and turn right back into a four year old.  It is true and funny.  At night I also went over to the Miller’s for a Halloween party.  Only the Kings where dressed up, but there costume was of Aaron as a zombie chained to his wife who was dressed up as a chain ball.  It was really funny.  I also got to eat worms in mud which made my day.  The brownies were also surprisingly good.  I didn’t dare eat too many sweet things so as not to upset my stomach which was finally returning to normal.

 

So that was my week.  A little bit empty because I spent so much of it resting to make sure I didn’t get sick again.  Below are some pictures from the week that I enjoyed:

This is a picture of by washing machine brimming with soap suds.  I was washing some hand towels and put in a load and a half's worth of detergent.  I walked in and thought that it was hilarious.

 

 

This is a picture of a Menu.  At first glimpse you can tell that it says menu, but look a little clearer.  What are those last two letters, especially that very last one.  Oh Chinese people

 

 

 

 

Those of you that speak Chinese will realize why this is so funny :)  It doesn’t translate well or I would translate it.

 

 

 

 

 

Fun pictures, hopefully I will have more of this type as I take more pictures with the new touch.

 

As for scripture study I spent the first half of the week studying about faith, especially the longer lasting type of faith.  As I was studying I remembered that my friend Cami had said she really enjoyed Elder Scott’s talk in conference and remembering it was about faith I went and reread it.

I love how this talk address how faith, character, and obedience are all tied together.  We have long term faith because day by day we have short term faith.  We don’t dwell on the future, but rather everyday we trust that the Lord will give us what we want and as such are obedient to the commandments to stay worthy to receive the blessing that the Lord has promised us.  Also as time goes on the Lord continues to confirm to us that our blessings will be given to us.  In this way not only are we able to endure and gain the promised blessing, but our faith is strengthened, and not only our faith but our character as well.

I really loved this aspect of faith that Elder Scott talked about.  I can now see how I will build the character of faith that I want to build while in China.  It is built as every day I have faith that the Lord will fulfill the blessings he has promised me.  Because any given day I know that the Lord will give me the blessings I seek some other day, so that day I am obedient to the commandments of the Lord.  Because I am obedient I will get confirmation that I will receive the blessing in the future, and as such my faith is increased.  Thus day by day I have faith, and day by day I am also able to increase my faith.  Ultimately I receive the blessing I have struggled for, and what's more I have also become a person of greater faith an obedience as I have struggled for the blessing.

I love looking at it this way as it reduces the future into something that I can act on now.  Now is something that I can handle and evaluate.

 

The second half of the week was spent with me studying how to eventually be the husband that I should be.  This came up as I just happened to read a bunch of articles and talks on the subject.  It also hit home as I saw that another friend’s marriage seems to be headed for divorce.  It hits me really hard every time one of my friend’s marriages hit this stage, it hasn’t happened much, but the few times have all come as a slap in my face.  These are people I know, who essentially are good people, and it makes me wonder how I can prepare myself now so I won’t run into these problems.

Of course the answers are as simple as they should be.  They involve losing ones self, to remove selfishness, and putting the interests of another as your primary concern.  It involves never speaking an unkind word.  It involves always praising and showing love daily to who ever your spouse is.  It involves service.  It is putting the Lord as the center of your marriage.

It is all the things that have been taught to us since we are small, yet it is these small and simple things that become a stumbling block.  I can only imagine that they get lost in the press of every day.  Instead of taking everyday as a chance to love and uplift your spouse, it becomes just another day in the overall scheme of life.  How then do we do as the prophets have instructed and make sure that showing forth love is something that we clearly do every day?

Once again the answer goes back to Elder Scott’s talk.  It depends on forming habits by doing what we want our habit to be now.  If I want to be a husband that will daily find a way to tell my wife I love her, I must now be a friend that daily tells my friends and family how much I love them.  If I want to be the husband that doesn’t allow himself to become angry with his wife, I must now daily choose not to be angry.  I most now choose not to bicker.  All the things that I want I must choose to start doing now.  It won’t be easy now, but as I choose to do these things everyday I will become a person who does these things.  Thus when it would be easy to forget and not live up to my full potential I will already have the habits and character that will drive me to still be the husband that I should be.

 

Well, those are my thoughts this week.  I hope that all of you had a wonderful Halloween party.  If any of you had great costumes you should tell me about them in the comments, or send me some pictures.  I wish that I had been able to have Halloween with all of you and with you the best.

 

Love,
Scott

P.S.  I just realized that once again I wrote a veritable book for my blog post.  Sorry =/  Anyone that wants a shorter blog entry can give me suggestions on what to cut.

Awesome weekend in Zaozhuang （枣庄）

Sorry that this blog post came so late, I was really busy on Sunday and then I got pretty sick on Monday.  I almost just waited until next week to write, but then I would have too much to write about :)

Sunday was a pretty normal Sunday.  I took a nap, which as those that know me understand is quite strange.  I have actually been really tired recently, I wonder if it means my body has been fighting off some kind of disease.

 

Monday was a very interesting day.  For the first class we had only 4 of the 16 students there when I arrived.  This was made especially bad since this is the day that the Flagship administrators from America came to listen in on one of our classes.  When class started there was still only 7 of us there.  It was one of the worst days that anyone could have missed and it just so happened that that day was they day with most students missing.

My next class was also interesting.  When I get into the class I realize that only about 20 of the 100+ students are there.  I am wondering if I somehow didn’t get notified that the class wouldn’t be held.  Right as I was about to leave the teacher runs in and tells us all he thinks we should go to a lecture the department is holding instead of going to class.  Apparently that is where the other students where anyways.

The lecture was rather interesting, it was given by a winner of the Turing Award, the highest award given to people in the field of computer science.  The lecture was in English and discussed current challenges of multi-core computing.  It was amazing to me just how easy everything was to understand :)  Sometimes I just forget how much easier English is to understand then Chinese, but it really is.

 

Tuesday saw me getting my first really good swimming workout in the country.  It really is good to swim laps, I just love it.  I did have one of the worst cramps in my life while I was in the pool.  I wasn’t able to get out of the pool for about 5 minutes, it really wasn’t fun =/

Tuesday and Wednesday also saw me watching some strange Chinese movies.  I am actually really happy that my teachers have recommended so many movies to us.  There are so many shows and movies in China that I fear without there recommendations I would be lost in the see of choices.

 

Thursday turned into a boys night since the wives of the program were all at Enrichment night.  Two other students and I went to a nice little restaurant.  We were able to get six dishes and still only spent 51 yuan, or about 7 dollars, 7 dollars for three people, not bad I would say.

After dinner we headed out to get some drinks (kind of like Slurpees but more liquidy).  While there we looked at a local movie store.  It is fun to see how much effort they put into making things look real, but none the less it is still pretty clear that it is all illegal copies of the original movies.  I guess it does mean I get cheap movies in this county.  After that we headed back and played some Street Fighter together.

 

On Friday the real adventure started.  The entire flagship program had a trip scheduled to Zaozhuang which is a city in the southern portion of Shandong province.  I would say about half way between Nanjing and Beijing.  I had to get about at 6:00 AM because before I got to head out I first had to take my OPI test.  That actually went really smoothly.  As I was headed to the train I picked up something for lunch, I was actually really happy with how smoothly everything went in the morning.

I should have taken that as a sign that something bad would have to happen to balance out how good the morning was going.  Right as we are about to board the train I realize that I had forgotten to bring my passport which is absolutely required to travel within China.  I spent about a half an hour worrying about what to do, but luckily Zhang Laoshi the head of the China Flagship offices was able to fix the problem for me.  I am very grateful to have them there.

While I was on the train I was able to see some really cool buildings.  Being in Nanjing I sometimes forget just how rural other parts of China are.  It was awesome.  All in all I was on the train for about 4 hours which was some good time just to talk to friends and rest.

When we got to Zaozhuang I realized I was in for a real treat.  Zaozhuang is a city that is in the middle of transferring from being a coal mining town to a modern day town, as such is just so Chinese.  For those that haven’t been to China I don’t really know how to explain what that fully means, but for those that have you can just imagine.

After we unpacked at the hotel we went to go see a war museum from WW2.  Because Zaozhuang was a coal mining city the Japanese took it over very early in the war and the museum recounts both the taking and the eventual recovering of the city.  It was cool to see a lot of WW2 era objects, we really don’t have very much of that in the US.

After that we went to the “original” Zaozhuang.  The original city was actually completely destroyed by the Japanese during the war but they are now rebuilding the original buildings in an effort to promote tourism in the area.  The buildings look the same on the outside, but on the inside they are all places that would interest tourists.

To end the day we had a really amazing dinner.  The local newspaper and city government, who are sponsoring this activity, provided the dinner so they picked some of the best dishes.  I really loved it all, my favorite dish was probably a dish that was called fish dumplings.  They are like dumplings instead of a grain based outer shell they use fish as the outer shell.  The inside meat was lamb.  It was really amazing.  They also had a really good fish dish where the meat was easy to get off the bone.  In fact pretty much every dish was amazing.  This was some of the best food I have had in China ever.  I really enjoyed it.

Saturday morning breakfast at the hotel was actually surprisingly good. I had some really good spicy scrambled eggs and real cows milk. It was even more real then most of the cows milk we drink in America. It tasted fresh and pre-treated, on top of that it was also warm, a little bit of heaven.

After breakfast we split up into smaller groups to do research on different areas of the city, I was with the group doing research on the businesses in the city. The first place we visited was a museum dedicated to the history of the coal company. It was actually really interesting. It was the first company in China to have stocks. It was also interesting to see the international contributions to the original coal mining process.

After that we went to see a site where they used to mine coal. We were able too see some of the buildings and machines used to dig coal. They no longer dig coal as it is all gone. You can actually see two different mountains that were created from the refuse created by the mining process. While there we asked what they do now. They told us that they now produce materials for mining in other parts of the country and that the wives of the workers are working to make clothes.

One of the teachers asked if we could see that part so we headed over to where they were doing clothes. I have to admit it looks a little like what an American would call a sweatshop, but it really wasn't bad. It was cool to see them all working there. It was hard to get them really talking about what they though of working there but it was still fun.

After that we went to a giant second hand car lot. It was really cool, everything needed to buy a car and get it registered and insured was all at the place. It really was a one stop shop for buying a car. I also enjoyed how happy the owners were with just how big it was. They were all really cute.

After that we went to lunch with the owners of the car lot and the reporters that were taking us around. Once again the food was amazing. I think lunch was actually better then dinner of the previous night. All the food was more authentic and it fit my tastes. It is probably one of the best meals I have had in my entire life, it really was that good. I also ate some stuff Americans could never accept, but I will let everyone guess what that was :)

After that Drew and I headed to the train station where we took a train back to Nanjing so that we could be back to Nanjing for Sunday. On the train ride home I was able to take some pictures as I was next to a window. I couldn't take to many because it started getting to dark really quick. At home I just rested and did some stuff that I wasn't able to finish during the weekend because of the trip.

 

Overall this week really was amazing.  As for my spiritual study this week I focused on two parts gratitude and long lasting faith.

The first came as I was leaving a party for Cassi Barber’s birthday on Sunday, as I was leaving I looked up and saw a building and realized just how beautiful it was.  At the same time I realized how blessed I was that I could see it clearly, I was blessed that someone had invented contacts.  I am blessed that people are able to build beautiful buildings.  I am blessed that Nanjing has clean air so that I could see clearly.  I am blessed that the Chinese love nature so the building was surrounded by beautiful trees and foliage. 

Finding so many things that I could be grateful in a single moment made me realize just how beautiful the world I live in is.  I also realized just how ungrateful I normally am.  I think that when we are unhappy it is largely because we have started to focus on ourselves and forgotten just how much there is around us that is trying to make us happy.  I think President Monson nailed it on the head when he stressed the importance of being grateful in our lives.  I think the very nature of grateful people is to be turned outside of themselves, and in such a situation it is hard not to become the kind of person the Lord would have us become.

As for long term faith, I was thinking how easy it is to have short term faith.  I find that it is much easier for me to believe that I will receive something I have prayed for that needs to be fulfilled in the near future.  Things such as help on a test, getting better from an illness, receiving necessary revelation are all things that I feel it is relatively easy to have faith in.  The results are seen quite quickly and everything is good.

When it becomes harder to have faith is when the things that we are asking for are not to be fulfilled immediately.  This can be for blessings that we have wanted, that we know the Lord is willing to give us, but know that it may take years yet before we fully receive them.  I am sure most of you know what blessing I am referring to in my situation, but I think that it also as easily applies to other situations, finding work when needed, a child returning to the gospel, or any other number of situations where we have to wait.  It is during this time of waiting that Satan has time to erode at out faith in God.  He will use every trick to convince us that we will not receive, and because he has so long to tempt us it is easier to stop doubting.

I personally am not sure how to have greater faith that blessings will occur in the long term.  I guess that it comes from first having faith in God in the little things.  After that we must come to know that God is a God of truth and cannot lie, therefor if he has promised us that we will receive a blessing that we will.  Much easier said than done.  In fact that is true of everything related to faith.  I am amazed at how much time some people, myself included, spend trying to understand the “mysteries” of God, when even the simplest principles like faith we are still struggling with.  If we had faith like unto the Brother of Jared we could see the Lord.  If we haven’t reached this level wouldn’t it all be well for us to strive ever to have more faith.  At the least it is something that I need to work on.

 

I have to thank all of you for hearing my spiritual rants.  One of the things I miss most about being home and around all of you is the chance to have spiritual conversations.  I have been blessed that I have been able to have several here with Drew, but I still miss discussing these things with all of you.  I have found that as we share what we have learned about the gospel, in that same moment we are taught even more.  Even just sharing on my blog I have come to more fully understand principles I have been learning.  I guess it is just another paradox of the gospel, you can’t truly learn something until you teach it.  Thanks again to all of you for listening.  I love you all and hope that you are going wonderful days.

Back from vacation

And none too soon, I can’t believe just how happy I was for my week off of school to be over.  I guess in America when I had breaks I had more to do with friends, and I always had the option of doing some work if I wanted to.  Here if the few friends I have were busy and I had finished all my homework I really had nothing that I could do.  Sad I know.

 

Sunday was wonderful because I was able to listen to conference.  It was so good to hear the words that the prophets had.  I certainly had many things reaffirmed to me.  It is amazing how many simple things I forget and need the prophets to reminds me of.

Monday itself was a really tiring day.  I got up at to go to class and fell directly back to sleep.  I don’t know what it is, but I just can’t seem to get enough sleep.  This whole week I have readjusted my sleep schedule, maybe this next Monday my body will finally be okay with waking up at 6:30.

At night I went to the gym again.  I haven’t been able to a while and so it was really nice to be able to really exhaust myself physically.  On Tuesday I also went to the gym, that also left me exhausted, but it also left me slightly embarrassed.  I was tiring out way faster then I should have been.  Towards the end of the workout I was feeling my old stamina start to return to me, so I don’t think that it will be too much longer until I am able to get a good work in again.

The pool here is also nice.  I have to admit that I was worried it was going to be kind of of icky, and initially walking into the building with the pool didn’t do anything to help.  When I got in the pool I could see that it was a five lane pool with pillars in the middle lane, so really only four swimmable lanes.  There were no lane lines, so some people were swimming the short sides too, really strange.  The pool was freezing cold, but it wasn’t too bad once I just jumped in.

The best part of the pool though is the great facilities available after swimming.  When we went to shower I found that they were nice hot showers where they provide soap and shampoo.  On top of that not only is there a hot tub, but there is also a really nice sauna.  Maybe if I get really hammered while I am here I will go and have a good “workout” in the “pool”, some high-tenacity swimming as some people would say

 

Tuesday itself was also a really nice day because I got to sit and talk with my tutor during our first tutoring session.  I am always amazed at just how closely the two of us view the world.  That day we talked about the importance of mothers in the home and how the world tries to destroy this by telling women that only being a mother is below them.  It was amazing to hear him agree with me, and to hear how he feels the need for mothers in the home.  We talked about other subjects as well, and I must say that he believes parts of the gospel more than many members in our own church.  If I only I could teach him the gospel, sigh…

 

Wednesday saw me teaching English again.  Overall I think that I am slowly becoming a more effective teacher, at the least I could hold there attention better.  This time I taught with Aaron, someone who substituted for Lars and Spring who couldn’t make it.  It was his first time so in the middle he lost the kids attention for a couple minutes.  I have to admit that this was really annoying to me, but just like last time the kids did nice things for me that made me appreciate teaching them Chinese.  One of my favorites was that one of the kids made me some silly stuff our of paper.  It might have been silly, but I still loved it.

 

Thursday was just another normal day of class.  I spent most of the day at school either writing papers or attending classes.  I really feel that I am now in the rhythm of Chinese class, so hopefully everything will work out.  Friday and Saturday turned into my rest days.  I had tutoring with Shen Dayu in the morning, but other than that I just read stuff online and watched TV.  I have to admit I feel bad about being so lazy, but Chuck is just that fun =p

 

While this week might not have been the most exciting for doing new things it was a veritable feast of the word of the Lord.  I feel so blessed that I could watch conference this week.  While most of what I gained didn’t come directly from the speakers it definitely came because they had prepared themselves to teach and I had prepared myself to learn.

Probably the most important thing that was burned into my soul was the importance of perfect obedience.  I love when President Monson said that it is easier to be 100 percent obedient then 97% obedient.  Lately there have been so many things that I could just slightly give into, they wouldn’t be evil, but nonetheless they wouldn’t be perfectly obedient.  I cannot always see how these little acts of obedience affect my life, but I can honestly see how it is easier to always choose righteousness.

When we are perfectly obedient we are in full control of all our choice, but for every little mistake we make we lose a little bit of our freedom to act.  While it is true that we can repent and return, it becomes harder and harder to do.  An example would be the observance of the Sabbath, in fact this is probably a great example.  At first it is really easy to justify little exceptions to our Sunday observance, and little by little these little things stop being exceptions and become norms.  It gets harder and harder to return to correct Sabbath observance because we love these other things so much.

In fact I am very grateful that my mom taught me this principle when I was young.  I remember when I was young and I went away for 10 days to a technology conference.  One of those days was Sunday, I had no way to go to church and there was no food in the hotel so I decided to follow everyone to the activity.  While there I started off just eating, but then I justified that I could keep a reverent attitude and still enter the various stores, besides I would spend more time reading scriptures at the hotel that night, so I felt that I was still holding the spirit of the Sabbath in my heart.  I was essentially trying to keep one foot in the Sabbath and one foot in the world.

Of course I justified all this since it was an exception, “and I had no other choice”.  When I told my mom about this she didn’t yell at me, but just asked me if I really needed to do all those other things.  It was then I realized what I had done, I had let myself take the exception I needed to make, namely eating outside that day, and of my own expanded it to allow myself to do activities that were not appropriate for the Sabbath.  Thankfully my mothers reminder helped teach me that I needed to be perfectly obedient to the law of the Sabbath, and not let those little “exceptions” creep in.

This teaching has blessed the entirety off my life.  Because I decided at that time what my stance would be about the Sunday I have never had to work on the Sabbath, or do anything else that was not worthy of that day.  By being perfectly obedient I have found it easy to continue following the Sabbath in China, and place where it would be very easy and convenient to explain away parts of Sabbath day observance.  I grateful for both my moms teaching and the power that comes through obedience.

 

I also thought a lot about gratitude.  It is just amazing how much we have to grateful for in this world that we take completely for granted.  I also was reminded about the importance of walking on the road the Lord has prepared for us.  It can be dark and therefor all we can do is following the promptings the Lord has given us.  We must do as Adam of old, we most obey not knowing why we do it, just knowing that the Lord has commanded us.  This is the meaning of taking the Lords hand and walking the path he has prepared for us.

 

Lastly I was thinking about why no one thing can truly bring us joy.  This came from me thinking why I am not happier then I am.  I thought about how I have nearly everything the world deems as important, the only things I am missing are things that the world says can wait longer to obtain.  I realized then that it was because joy is the commutation of things that give us happiness.  Having success at work or school does bring us happiness, but by itself it can never bring us joy.  Joy is brought about by filling our lives with all the little things that bring joy.  Sin can never bring joy, because while sin can bring us temporary happiness it lacks the ability to combine with other things, thus sin gives us happiness, but then leaves us empty of joy.  On the other hand righteous actions take happiness and build it line upon line until we truly have joy.

Wow, I said that kind of weird, I hope you can understand what I was trying to get across.  Well, I guess it is time for me to go.  It looks like I am finally writing shorter blog posts, so now maybe I can get people like Jason to read my blog   I love you all and hope that you things are going well in all of your lives.

国庆节–National Day

Well this week has been interesting because it has been a holiday nearly all week.  At the end of this I must say that I really don’t like long holidays.  There is just too much time for me to know what to do with.  Maybe if I had planned a really big trip it would have been better, but instead I just wasted a lot of time during the week.

 

Last Sunday while everyone was having conference we were having a normal fast Sunday.  It really was good to fast.  I also figured out how to get my iTouch working so that I could purchase stuff in this country.  Anything that involves an online transaction can become quite the process in China.

 

On Monday I started what in many ways was the first day of “staycation” in this country.  In the morning several of us from flagship and got together to play volleyball.  It was actually a lot of fun.  The nets at the school are a little taller then women’s nets and a little shorter than men’s nets, which means that I was actually able to spike the ball.  My team one the first two games, but then we switched up teams and after that we didn’t win again   Luckily winning wasn’t what made it fun.

For lunch we all went over to the Miller’s house and had fried rice made by Chris Miller.  It was actually really good, every bit as good as the fried rice that you can buy on the street.  He is certainly going to save a pretty penny by being able to cook food.

After lunch all of us from volleyball headed out to see one of the parks that was about a 20 minutes walk from where we lived.  While there I saw a couple interesting things.  We saw two different photo shoots.  The really interesting one was this girl taking photos in very traditional clothing.  Apparently this is something they do as an equivalent to our senior pictures.  It was really cool looking, though I think she looked a little funny because she would never smile.

I also got to see another Daoist/Buddhist temple.  While this was normal to see in Taiwan I have only seen two my entire time in Nanjing.  We also got to see a little street market.  It was fun talking to the dealers.  They are all so cute when they try to convince you that you want to buy there stuff.  It was a lot of fun.

 

 

On Tuesday I found someone that would probably buy my iTouch so I ordered a new one online.  I also bought some other stuff and am having it shipped to my uncle so that they can package it all together and send it to me.  It will be good to have hand sanitizer with me.  When I was in Taiwan restaurants would have soap in their bathrooms, but this is rarely the case over here.  Clean hands when I eat will be a real plus.

The rest of the day was mainly a day to rest up and run errands.  I ate lunch at the cafeteria.  It is really crazy how packed that place is.  The food is all really cheap, not great, but good for the price.

The one things I thought of most as I was walking through campus that day was really how beautiful where I live is.  Sometimes I focus on the filth, the crazy traffic, or sometimes I am just too busy to notice, but when I stop and look around for a second I find that I really am amazed at how beautiful this place is.  I think that is true for most places in our lives.  If we stop and take a second to see what is really there we will be amazed at all the beautiful things the Lord has provided for us in this wonderful earth.

 

Wednesday became the second real day of “staycation” with me heading out to campus to take some pictures.  Nanjing University was originally Jinling University a Christian university for women students.  Because of this there is actually quite a bit of traditional architecture.  I also really like how modern and traditional are smashed together in China.  Buildings that look like they could be several hundred years old will have air conditioners on the windows, crazy modern art in front of very traditional buildings, and other things like that really spark my interest.

Another thing I really enjoy about campus is just how many little gardens are spread throughout it.  There are so many places to sit surrounded by the trees and just enjoy nature.  This is one thing that I really respect about the Chinese, they still understand the importance of nature and make sure that it is there even in there cities.  There is a special closeness we can achieve with the Lord in nature and I think the Chinese understand this concept far better than we do.

For dinner I went with Trevor to a muslim/indian resturant.  It was really good.  I had a dish that was grilled nan with lamb and Trevor had another lamb dish.  Like good Chinese people we shared with each other.  It was a little pricey, but it was really good.

 

The last set of pictures (except the very last one) are pictures of the building where I have most of my classes.  It is actually a pretty modern building inside, but the outside is a little untamed

 

Thursday’s big event was that I got a bunch of the BYU students together to sing Karaoke.  It was a really fun time together.  The wives of the flagship students actually sang with us which made it a lot more fun then it is when they just sit there.  I really enjoyed myself.  It was a lot of fun, I did feel like some people there played a fast one on me having me pay more than I should have, but that is just life.

On Friday I went with Trevor to an RT Mart.  RT Mart is kind of like Wal-Mart, but they had them in Taiwan so I am a little more used to their style.  I actually really liked it there.  They have a huge selection of items and they have really cheap breads.  Fun story: When I was first looking at the breads I only paid attention to the price which was 3.9 Yuan.  I thought this was ridiculous and way out of my range.  Eventually Trevor decided to buy a donut that was 4.9 Yuan, but when he went to pay they told him he had to pick three to buy any.  At that point I went back and read the signs a little closer and realize that they said it was four pieces of bread for 3.9 Yuan, a really good price.  I felt a little silly that I hadn’t read the sign better, but I was also really happy to find such a cheap place to buy bread.  I have a hunch I will spend a lot more time at RT Mart before I leave China.

Friday also saw me get a haircut.  May I say getting haircuts in this country is great.  For 10 Yuan, or about 1.30 USD you get your hair washed and cut with scissors and not just an electric razor.  Totally blows BYU’s barber shop out of the water.  I might actually start getting my hair cut more often with it being so cheap.

 

Saturday was a really weird day because we had to make up Thursdays classes that day.  Sometimes in China you have to make up classes missed during break on the weekends.  I really don’t like the system, but that is just something I have to endure.  It just did not feel like Saturday.  Classes all went well and it was a good normal school day, but it just felt weird when I went to bed to know that the next day would be Sunday.

 

And that was the week.  It was a really good week, though there was a little too much break for me.  My spiritual thoughts this week really do focus on things I heard while listening to conference.  The first comes from what I was thinking about during the week and then heard emphasized by President Monson, that is the theme of gratitude.  I don’t think that it is possible to be too grateful in this life.  Just walking around in China the last few days and paying attention to the blessings that God gives us had me thinking that he gives us so many blessing, large and small, but often because of our problems we can’t see them.  If we stop for a second and look around us we will come to realize that we really have countless things to be thankful to the Lord for.  Even in our hardest times it is clear that we have plenty to be extremely thankful for.

The second thought was the thought about turning our backs on sin, in the sense that once we repent we turn our back on the past and don’t dwell on it or return to look at it.  It is such a powerful lesson.  Even to this day I find myself being disappointed at myself for mistakes I made years ago.  I realize now that this is everything but counter productive.  When we dwell in the past we refuse to accept the enabling side of the atonement.  The enabling power of the atonement can only be operative as we move forward and act.  As we move forward we are filled with power, we lack regrets, and we can truly be happy.  I pray that all of us can continue going forward and enjoy the blessings that the Lord wants to give us today.