So . . . It's been awhile huh! my bad

So you know that awkward feeling when you haven't blogged in like 6 months, and people are like hey you should blog but then you don't because your almost ashamed of how long its been?  Well i do mainly because i am feeling right about now.  Well world, and i use that term loosely to mean my one and only reader Josh Sponbeck, i'm back so here is a quick update on my life.

• EFY been there done that got the t-shirt.  But in all reality it was pretty freakin awesome.  Was it hard? did i hate the dances? did the kids with sass get on my nerves sometimes?  The answer YES.  But was it worth every single second?  YES! 

• School has started up againg and i am a third of the way through with my most time intensive semester yet.  Homework due pretty much everyday, thats the life right, and all this of course is happening the semester that i go through with the biggest decision of my life.
• UM kind of some big news . . .  i'm engaged! Yep thats right peoples on October 21st 2011 i will marry the love of my life in the Salt Lake Temple!  She is pretty much the best thing to ever happen to me and i am really the luckiest person in the whole world!  I want to thank her for putting up with me, i know i can be a handful, and quite often i ask myself how i got to be this lucky.  I love her with everything that i am, and i only want to make her happy.  I am so thankful that we will be able to be together for time and all eternity because we are getting married in one of the temples of the Lord.  Things have been stressful lately, what with wedding plans, me looking for a job, school, car issues, and whatever else has been thrown our way.  I know it has been hard on both of us, and katie has been the one to pull me through.  She is strong, smart, determined, caring, loving, selfless, service minded, and the most beautiful girl in the world!  Katie I love you!

That is pretty much it, at least for now that i can think of.  I'm gonna really try to be a lot better but with how busy things are i can't make any promises.  I will say this, i am trying to work on better time managment.  If i do that who knows how much time i may free up.

This Just In..

alright here it is folks, hot off the presses.  Yours truly is officially being an EFY counselor this summer.  Thats right, as of like 10 minutes ago i accepted the contracts they offered me and it is going down like china town!  This process has been somewhat annoying since i had to fill out my I-9 form 3 different times and send it down to them.  Granted the first time was totally my bad, the second time was just the fact that the goverment is super anal, and as they say the third times the charm.  So what up youth from the ages 14-18 you will be looking to me as your counselor!  Are the youth ready for this...who knows really, i guess we'll just have to wait and see.



Also on a completely unrelated note, i wore a Superman cape yesterday and it was legit!  I'm convinced that the world would be a better place if everyone wore some form of super hero garb every once in awhile.

Something Worth Checking Out

So as a side note to what i actually want to say, did anyone notice that the last three titles to my last three posts had exclamation marks on them.  Strange, i mean I'm all for showing enthusiasm, but it surprised me three titles in a row with an exclamation mark... maybe a little over used.  It reminds me of that episode of Seinfeld, you really don't want to overuse the exclamation mark that's a dangerous game, because pretty soon the actually meaning of an exclamations mark is gone and all it ends up being is just another period with a line above it.  And i for one do not want to see that happen, because then to actually show that your a little  bit excited about things you've got to start throwing on 2 3 or dare i say 4 exclamation marks to make your point.  I for one don't have the time or money (have you seen the price on ink cartridges lately, freak those things are expensive, i find i just don't refill.  I think I'm going on 3 months now on EXTREMELY LOW black ink cartridge.  My printer may not be to happy but my wallet is.) for that to happen. Now I'm not saying that we shouldn't use the exclamation mark, i just feel it might be something we should think twice about before we just throw it out there.  We walk a razor thin line my friends and i for one don't want to fall off.

Now for something we should be using exclamation marks for...General Conference is this weekend!  Now that is exciting stuff.  I just love General Conference always have.  Granted the reasons for loving it have evolved over the years.  As a child it meant that on Sunday i didn't have to get dressed in church clothes and i would do the whole church thing in my pajamas sitting on my couch in the comfort of my own home.  That was the life as a kid, at any point you could stand up go grab a snack and no one gave you weird looks.  The next stage of my love for General Conference was going to Priesthood session with my Dad and my Brothers.  It was just great to go, and then of course right after go to Hires to fulfill a long lived tradition.  At this point i think i may have been more excited about Hires then Priesthood session, but none the less i was still excited about priesthood session. 

The next stage came right before my mission and the intensity of my love just grew while i was on my mission.  I had received my call March 26th 2008 and just a week or so later was able to watch General Conference, and i even took notes cause i was just so stoked to go tell everyone i could that we have a living prophet today, that the priesthood has been restored, and that God has a plan for us.  While i was on my mission i gained a new appreciation for Conference because i no longer had the luxury of  sitting at home in my PJ's.  Conference meant 2 full days of serious travel trains, buses, a nice walk and finally you were able to hear from the Prophet and Apostles of God!  Seeing the sacrifice that some people made in order to attend Conference really opened my eyes to the importance of this great meeting.  And here i am today filled with that fire just waiting to hear what the Lord wants for me for the next 6 months.  So to whoever out there reads this, i invite you to hear for yourself what the Lord has to tell us through his living Prophets, it's gonna be sweet!

Things that Chap my Hide!

Well to the 6 of you who read this (and by saying 6 i am being pretty generous) buckle up cause i feel a good rant coming on.  It is just one of those weeks, so sit back and prepare yourselves to be blown away by the things that chap my hide March 22 edition.

• People who stop in groups on the 3 foot wide sidewalks, and refuse to step aside to let people pass.  Seriously people the world does not revolve around you, and unlike you the rest of us have a class to get to, and i don't know about the next guy but i really don't want to step in the mud on either side of you.
• Laziness.  Now hear me out here, cause i know some of you will say "Hey have you never been lazy in your life!?" and of course the answer to that question is yes i have, and every once in awhile it is nice to take a little break and just relax.  But when the extent of your day is sitting on the couch idling away your time and occasionally getting up to maybe go to class, i'm done with you.  Get up, go live life, experience the joys all around you but please get up off your lazy butt and do something!
• A sense of entitlement.  I was taught by my father the value of hard work, if you want something you work for it.  So i am so done with people who expect to be given everything in life.  Now don't get me wrong every once in awhile you need help, and i know my parents have done so much for me, i know i will continually be indebted to my parents for the rest of my life.  But they did not just hand everything over to me, i was expected to behave and pull my weight.  So you people out there that just expect everything to be handed to you on a silver platter...get over yourselves and work for something for a change.  I am seriously done with you people!
• Disorganization/Dirtiness.  I walked into my apartment today, and as a bit of a preface, this week is the week my professors decided to have papers due and give tests.  So i'm already a bit irritated, and done with this week.  Friday cannot come soon enough!  So as i said i walked into my apartment during my break in classes to make up a little lunch.  And our apartment was just a solid mess!  Now i've lived with this for a semester and a half, and normally i just grin and bare it.  I just figure whatever i'll clean it up.  But today i was just done with it!  Summer cannot come soon enough...at least for this aspect.

So those are some of the main things that are chapping my hide at the moment.  And to end on a somewhat happy note here a few of the things that have made me smile lately.

• Free Aggie ice cream at the TSC for filling out a survey! 
• Kid booking it down the hill while i was on my way to class, i'm not sure where he was headed but i am sure he got there super fast!
• My polysci professor moving our test back to Friday instead of Wednesday.
• Music, listening to/playing
• My Dwight Schrute stress ball
• Spring Rain

World Record!

So yesterday up here at good old Utah State as a part of geek week, we set a new world record!  What we did was drop 20,000 bouncy balls 100 feet out of a flying helicopter.  That is pretty cool in and of itself, but for some reason i think my favorite part is i got out of my German class early to go and see it.  I have to admit i was expecting something a lot cooler, but for anyone that has seen this Sony Bravia ad, who wouldn't when it comes to bouncy balls. 

So this commercial is super legit, and probably one of the best ads I've seen, mostly cause they have a legit song by Jose Gonzalez playing. ("Heartbeats" i highly recommend checking Jose out)  And they actually did this in San Francisco, this is not CGI.  Also if you have the sudden urge to purchase a Sony Bravia TV that is totally understandable, my family owns one, and it may or may not be because of this add...okay it probably isn't but who really knows.

But here are some pictures and a video of the world recording breaking experience.

The helicopter that dropped the bouncy balls.

So i realize now that i should have taken a picture of the crowd, because there were quite a few people, and tons of kids, but with the prospect of a bunch of free bouncy balls, what parent wouldn't take there kids to see this?!

And here is a video that i took.  I hope you can see, i apologize in advance for the quality of the video and the fact that you have to turn your heads, sorry!  But you can kind of see when the balls are first dropped.



Ya i was hoping for a bucket drop.  Like the forest fire fighting helicopters, when they dump the fire retardent out of the buckets.  That is what i was hoping for, alas it was not so, but now they know for next time.  And yes world if you were wondering i did score some swag from this event, mainly a piece of a world record and here it is!

Spring!

So I am an avid fan of the 4 seasons.  I like the change that it brings.  Its like we get a new begining with every new season. If winter wasn't your friend then you get to start over again when spring comes and the same goes with each passing change.  But for some reason the change from winter to spring always seems to take the longest.  Now don't get me wrong I love winter, there are few things in this life that can compare to the look of fresh fallen snow, or gliding down the slopes with that crisp mountian air blowing past you.  Also i have so many great memories tied with the winter months, but man i love spring.  And here are a few reasons why:

• Watching everything come to life!
• Its like 7:30 right now and still light outside!
• Frisbee (for those of you who know me, know that the weather doesn't dictate when i play frisbee, but there is just something about those spring games.  Probably the fact that when i stop playing i don't freeze to death or feel like dieing due to the heat.)
• Flying Kites!
• Rain, and the smell of Rain!
• It just so happens my birthday falls during the spring months

Here are some pictures to prove it!

After some sweet Frisbee!

Park City May 2007

Spring in Germany, ok its 10x cooler there.

FACT

After seeing this how can you not be stoked for spring!  I only wish I was in Germany!

Don't let life pass you by.

You know when something happens in your life, an event or just something that has been on your mind a lot, and your never quite sure if it is the right thing.  You spend a lot of time thinking about it trying to figure out if it's a good thing or not.  It always happens where you finally think you have it figured out, and then something happens that makes you second guess yourself.  As I like to say, life throws you a curveball.  Just that kink in things that makes it that much more difficult.  But... you can still hit a curveball, it may take a bit more patience and it may be scary to stay in there and swing, but I promise you, you can still hit a curveball.  So after you keep thinking about it you decide that you'll act on that thought and you swing.  Be it any situation in your life, but you have made the move from theory to pratice, and it works.  How great is that feeling? 

Sure life is full of a lot of doubt and difficulty, but as a great friend once told me "one of the biggest problems we face in this life is indecision".  There is no standing still people, you are either progressing or degressing.  If we stand there not acting then it just gets harder and harder to act, that is when the second guessing really comes into play and we are stuck.  Sure sometimes we act and it was the wrong decision.  But did we learn somthing?  I sure hope we have.  And next time you know from your own experience.  Sometimes it may not pay off, but that one time when it does, the pay off is usually big.

I love the scene in "The Little Giants" where they are sitting in the locker room at half time.  And they all go through stories of that "one time" where it did pay off, and that is what it is all about.  Believe me all that doubt and second guessing is worth it in the end.  As long as you can say "I had a good time!" or "I learned a great lesson!"  So don't waste away your life not acting on those things, make sure it is in line with what you feel, know, and believe.  And then go out and do, don't let life pass you by!

The Heist

So this last semester in my psych class a question was posed to us as students.  The question was, "If you could do anything humanly possible with no consequences, and you'd never get caught, what would you do?"  Just think about it for a second... what would you do? I thought about it, and my first thought was I would pull off a heist.  None of this plane jane bank robbery stuff, i'm talking something huge with tons of planning where everyone is just blown away so they make a movie out of it.  Ya that big it would be legit.  Now I justified it by saying I would be like Robin Hood, you know steal from the rich give to the poor.  The poor at this point being me, and i'm sure I would help out reletives and close friends, but really as I am poor I figured it would be alright.  So that was my thought steal from the rich give to the poor (me).  And I decided to post this mostly because I just finished watching Oceans 11 and 12.  And I know there are those out there who will say Oceans 12 sucked.  But I still liked it, granted the original Oceans 11 was better as is almost always the case when they make sequels to movies.  But I also love the Original Oceans 11, you know the one with the rat pack.  The end of that one is great, if you haven't seen it i highly recommend it.  So as I have been thinking about it, I love all shows like that, in which somthing epic is stolen and its alright (kinda) cause they always steal from the bad guy (generally).  All the planning that goes into it and then you have no clue how it all will work out until the end.  I still remember the first time I saw Oceans 11.  I just laughed when they pulled away in the swat car and you see the air freshener hanging there from the rear view mirror.  Just love it!  And then seeing all of them in front of the fountains at the Bellagio while Clare de lune is playing.  Classic!  So that is what I would do world, given the chance to pull off an awesome heist like in Oceans 11 or any of the other movies like that, I would do it for sure.  Well as long as there were no consequences involved and I'd never get caught.  Come on I'm not crazy.

A word from the writer:  In no way to I condone stealing, everything written in this blog is just speculative.  Just in case you were wondering.

Let the Music Set you Free!

I love music!  I can definitely say I have always loved music.  Growing up it was always just a huge part of my life, even when i didn't want it to be.  But I am a firm believer that there is a power in music that just can't be accessed anywhere else.  I would even say there is something godly about it.  Just think about it, how often in the scriptures do you hear an account of a marvelous event and almost always it is mentioned that there was singing or music.  I think that so much more can be expressed through music.  If you really think about it you can express anything on the spectrum of Love to Hate using the exact same word but just said or sung in a different way.  The lyrics might not have anything to do with it in fact they often don't have anything to do with it.  But the music affects you in such a way that it can change your mood.  For example I can't be upset or sad when I listen to Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole.  It just makes me laugh at the beginning because of the close memories that i associate with this song.  And the happy upbeat sound of his Ukulele just makes me smile.  Whenever I am down about anything I have a bunch of different songs that I can play or listen to and just like that the day is so much better. 

It goes in every which direction though, there is music that evokes every emotion imaginable.  And I just love it.  One of my favorite things to do is to have my iPod on shuffle as I walk to class.  Sometimes my mood dictates the music that I listen to so I find myself skipping past loads of songs till I get to one that just fits.  Other times the music dictates what mood I'm in, when I put my headphones on and hit play that first song can set me down a path for the rest of the day.  Funny how that works.  And if you look around you can see it in those around you.  Well at least I'm sure you can see it in me, cause I'm that guy walking around with his headphones on with a stupid grin on his face and almost skipping to the beat (depending on the music I'm listening to at the moment).  Its great isn't it!  I really do just love it so much!

I have already sort of mentioned this but music is so intimately tied to memory.  In fact the moment I type this my iTunes switched to a song by The Starting Line and almost immediately I was reminded of Junior High, getting together with a bunch of my buddies and playing the original Halo.  I just give a slight grin and chuckle and enjoy the music.  Other times it reminds me of times with my family, especially during the Holiday season.  For me Christmas music doesn't just remind me of the birth of my Lord and Savior, but it reminds me of great times spent with my family and friends.  One specific example for me is the Forgotten Carols by Michael Mclean.  Christmas doesn't start for me until I listen to that music, and then remember the great times spent with my family seeing the musical each Christmas Season at Cottonwood High.  And on top of that the time spent driving to work during Christmas with Josh listening to Homeless or out in the Mission field with companions.  There are so many great memories tied to that music. 

This life is about making memories with those you love, and is there anything greater then getting a small reminder every once in awhile when you listen to some music?  So I guess what I'm trying to say is enjoy the music, and let that music tie you to those you love and care about.

Faith vs. Fear

So last night as i was thinking before drifting off to sleep, and i had a very interesting point brought to my mind.  Some preface is necessary.  For quite sometime now i have been trying to make some decisions in my life.  Pretty important stuff i suppose, and as such i have gone before the Lord to ask some help.  I had been praying about some of these things for quite sometime and really hadn't received an answer.  Luckily during church on Sunday we talked about President Uchtdorfs talk entitled "Continue in Patience."  I recommend reading it because it is an excellent talk for anybody, patience is something we all need.  So after realizing that maybe i needed to be a bit more patient, and acting upon that patience.   I received an answer.  Its not something that is spelled out for me in black and white, it is something that i need to act upon.  A principle that i have learned, and now the Lord lets me choose for myself.  That is probably one of may favorite things about our relationship with our Heavenly Father.  He doesn't just solve all our problems for us, i mean what would we really learn.  In life we learn things best by doing, not by having someone else do it for us.  Is it harder this way?  Sure, but is it much more worthwhile in the end?  You bet!  So i felt impressed to pass on what the Lord taught me.  And oddly enough it goes along perfectly with some of the stuff i have been learning in Institute.  Coincidence...I think not!

What is fear?  Well according to m-w.com fear is "an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger."  We often speak of fear of the unknown.  And last night i realized that fear IS the unknown, or the fact that we focus to much on the unknown, and not on the known.  To help illustrate this well I'll illustrate it. 

So everything on the right side of what you know is the unknown (duh), and generally speaking we are afraid of that.  We as a people like to know things, when we don't know something we generally are afraid of it or at least don't trust it.  So what happens when we experience fear is we focus to much on what we don't know instead of focusing on what we do know, the faith portion of the drawing.  When we focus on what we do know, the basics, the simple truths, then it makes it so much easier to increase that total knowledge and continue on with the progression.   It doesn't matter if you know next to nothing, if you focus on that which you do know, then you can increase your knowledge.  But if you keep all you focus on the unknown, out of fear we will not progress in other words we experience damnation.   

Lets take an example something really easy.  Say you are hungry and you want to go try a new place to eat.  Now here if we focus so much on the unknown, like will i like this new place or is it gonna make me sick, or who knows what.  Any fear when it comes to a decision, in the end 9 times out of 10 it will stop you from going and trying out your new restaurant.  But if you focus on what you do know, like your hungry and your friend told you the place was good.  Well then you'll probably end up going.  I know a really trivial thing, but you can do it with anything.  I catch myself doing it all the time.  I stop myself from doing something because i dwell upon the unknown instead of acting upon what i know.  I may not know the outcome, but i do know what i know now.  And if i don't act then fear wins, and there is no progression. 

This is something I've probably known for quite sometime, but for some reason it never really registered, so last night the Lord answered my prayers, and now it is my job to act upon the knowledge that i gained.  So don't let fear overcome you faith.  Act upon the knowledge you have now and that knowledge will grow.  This applies to so many aspects of life whether the question is of great importance (normally the harder ones to overcome) or as trivial as lunch time.  Act upon what you know and life will be so much better!

Fantasy Football

Right now I could be using my time more wisely and be studying, but having just suffered a crushing loss in Fantasy Football, I have decided to get some of my thoughts out.
I've always been a fan of sports, in fact i would go as far as saying i love sports. There is just something about it. Almost indescribable, unexplainable, but sports of any kind there is just a magic behind it. I do have to say that growing up i was biased towards a few sports. Mostly baseball. I understand that a lot of people don't like baseball but i love it. I am one of those people who can sit down and watch a game on TV, something that a lot of people just can't stomach. That's just who I am. And as i have grown older i have come to love most sports. Doesn't matter what it is, well besides nascar. But i don't really consider nascar a sport. But that is a topic for another day. What I'm trying to say is as I've grown i have learned to love those sports that as a kid i just didn't get.

My love for the NFL started the summer before my senior year. I was invited to participate in Fantasy Football with 9 of my best friends. At the time i jumped at the opportunity mostly because that meant kicking it for a Saturday with good friends having a good time, and also cause fantasy kinda intrigued me. Well since then I've developed my LOVE for the NFL.  Have my fantasy teams ever been really good? No not really, I'm not to the point yet where i spend days and weeks before the draft planning my team. This year i didn't have that luxury anyways, i was out of the country. So when draft time came i mostly just put my trust in technology and took the highest player on the list.

Well this year it hasn't really worked out for me. After a tough 1 point loss tonight followed by a call from my opponent Brock to rub in the win, i was a little broken.  Gloating is just part of the game you love it when your the one dishing it out and you just kind of suck it up and take it when you lose.  I know what your thinking its just a game and your not even doing anything for it. But still being a sports lover and a very competitive person any loss is a tough loss, especially those when you are so close to the win that you can taste it.  I mean come on Packers you had three interceptions that were given back because of dumb penalties.  And man you should have just let them score and then had time to go for it, it at least would have given me enough points to win my game.  But alas that wasn't the case and i lost. 1-2 record not looking so hot right now. 

But i still love the game, it makes watching football so much fun, and since I've never really had a NFL team it helps me to invest something into the game, which always makes the game better.  So even though fantasy football just gives that added measure of stress that a starving college student doesn't really need, I'll take it.

New Look Same Great Taste!

Well i figured it was time that i updated the look of my blog. And today after being pretty productive, i felt like i might as well do something i like. So i did.
And while i'm on the thought of New look same great taste, how many of you really think thats true, i mean i have been dissapointed plenty of times by a deceptively cool new look, but the product was not as good. So watch out cause next time you go to pick up your newly designed favorite food item, it might not be as good.

Best and Worst

Alright, after my last post being a somewhat serious matter, today i have decided to delve into my thoughts on reentering the real world after having spent 2 years in another nation not worrying about any of the latest and greatest.

I found things to be a lot different upon my return. I mean for some reason as a missionary you just assume that everything back at home is on pause. You leave and enter into a world where you could care less who just came out with the greatest new technological advancement or who has hit the music scene. All of that just isn't important to you. You have a whole other take on life, and it is awesome! But alas it doesn't last forever, sooner then you think you are thrust back into the world, and hey turns out that in 2 years a lot actually does happen even thought you don't really hear about it. So this post is dedicated to the things that i find ridiculous, and amazing that has happened in the two years i was gone.

Lets start off with the ridiculous, i get back and everybody speaks of "tweets" and Twitter. I don't think it is important for people to be able to know what i am doing all the time, really its just another waste of time, plus it just sounds weird to read somebodies tweet.
It turns our that phones are smart. Whatever happened to my classic candy bar phone or the good old flip phone of yesteryear. They're almost extinct, no your phone needs to be smart. I mean if your phones not smart then your dumb...so i hear. Luckily i am not one to prescribe to such logic, to me world i think that this is the first step to machines taking over the world. I just saw Terminator Salvation, and let me tell you the future looks bleak. So next time you go to answer that smart phone watch out it just might try and melt you brain. You could be the first fatality in what will be an all out war. And even though Christian Bale may be hard core, by the time he realizes his phone is out to get him it will be to late.

They may advertise it will protect you, but come one readers we all saw iRobot as well. That is how they get you.
And if your smart phone doesn't get you i'm sure you could be killed by this kid, I'm not sure that you've heard of him, cause i sure hadn't but he goes by the name of Justin Bieber. Just another one of those pop musician kids who in a couple of years will fall off the map because he entered puberty. Another interesting fact as a guy your voice generally drops when you hit puberty, bet you he didn't plan that into his youtube debut. However during the Renaissance they figured out an answer to this problem so Justin if it means that much to you just go talk to a music history professor find out what i'm talking about and then consult your pediatrician. And if that ends up working out for him don't worry world cause the drugs alcohol and domestic violence suits will for sure get him. He'll end up like all of our childhood favorites. Lindsay Lohan, Brittney Spears, or both Spears sisters for that matter, really the list could go on forever. But hey who am i to judge, i don't even know who the kid is.


Alright i guess i should leave political things away from this happy place...but i'm not to sure about this Obama guy, speaking purely from a political standpoint i'm not to sure america chose correctly, just a thought. My excuse is i was out of the country. Whats yours America? But before i go any further i probably should work on being a bit more informed. So we'll leave it at that.

And on an ending note of things i find not quite as ridiculous but lost a lot of its luster in my eyes...facebook. Still a good thing but not what it used to be, will it go the way of myspace? This writer says yes, why you may ask? Well something bigger and better always comes along. And just as we have shown in pretty much everything, we go for that stuff. What will the new facebook be called? I don't know but if we get to send in suggestions or vote in anyway, i would vote for "Spaces for Faces in My book: A stalkers best friend" your votes would be much appreciated.

Alright enough of that lets move onto more positive things. What changed from the July 2008-July 2010 that is a great improvement. Well this one requires a bit more thinking on my part, mostly because it seems the crappy stuff always takes the forfront in the news.

So the good stuff well number one would have to be youtube. Thank you Preston for helping me enter back into the real world. Youtube was cool before my mission but man it just goes to show how far you can go by being an idiot and having your friend work the camera. Thank you youtube. And thank you idiots alike.



Next on the list is America as far as i can tell, has so far successfully avoided the manpri. For those of you who don't know what the manpri is, let me inform you. The capri is what happend when shorts and long pants were breed with one another creating a hybrid crossbreed child known as the capri. An acceptible fashion statement for women, however in mans strange pursuit of wearing womens clothing and passing it off as his own and "in style," the manpri was born. All the rage in europe right now along with mullets and fannypacks(mostly among teenagers and those in there twenties, not all of eupropes population is tastless.) The manpri is one fashion from europe we Americans need not adopt. So please America stay strong and avoid the almost inevitable onslaught of manpris that will come in the coming years. As for Mullets well that never really left, mostly just went into hiding among Americans who find there homesweet home in trailerparks. And fannypacks, well we'll let the europeans keep that one as well.

And for my final thought on the great things that have happened in the last two years is...well i don't know that i really have one that would be worthy of such a big unveiling. So i'll just say i find Hulu a great idea, i mean who needs to pay for cable anymore, i just tune in through the miricle that is the internet.

And that was the best and worst according to yours truly!

Who Am I? Who Are You?

Alright world, or maybe a better phrase would be Alright small group of people who actually read this, since i haven't posted regularly in quite some time. But I'm trying to work on that. So here it goes the idea for this blog came to me as i have been reading some books on the topic for example i just recently finished "The Last Lecture"
and "Tuesdays with Morrie"
both terrific books by the way i would recommend them to anyone. And Currently I am reading "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" So if you have read these books you may understand where i am coming from, if not like i said read them, and hopefully my post can add some insight into things.

So all to often in life we hear the question "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Or people will tell you "I'm still trying to figure out what i want to be?" etc... Well I have been thinking a lot about this recently since I'm at the point in my life where if i don't have it figured out i probably ought to get it figured out. So as i have thought about it and read these books, another question was posed to me, which i feel is a lot more important then the first question. Who do you want to be when you grow up? I mean think about it... its not what you do that really matters. It is who you are and how you live you life. When all is said and done, what will others say about you? Or better yet what will you say about yourself?

Peoples portrayals of themselves are often very interesting to hear. I once sat in a room with a few other people, and we were asked to share with the group a talent that we felt we possessed. The things that people said were very interesting. Some of them i agreed with completely, from my point of view i could see exactly what they said is a talent or a trait they embodied. Some of them i was somewhat confused by. Who was correct, did i have a false perception of the person or did they have a false perception of themselves. In all comes down to perspective. We all have an interesting perspective, the way we see ourselves, and the way others see us is often very different.

Isn't this a part of our lives here, figuring out who we are and how we can best use our time here. Once again it isn't about what you do or how much money you made, but did you make a difference, who were you? How did you live your life? I believe that we are all children of a loving Heavenly Father, and as such we have limitless potential. We truly can accomplish anything we put our minds to. He understands us perfectly, some of you may disagree with this statement, but i know it to be a truth. Some of you may argue that i can't know that. Well that is a discussion for another time. For the time being just trust me. There is someone out there who knows us perfectly. And the cool thing is he is there to help us figure that out. He is there to help us figure out who we are. And can show us how we can live our lives to the fullest. We only see a small portion, whereas he can see the whole thing. That is why older people are often wiser. They have experienced so much in there lives. There perspective has been widened. That is also why the input of a loved one can help us grow so much. We see what we choose to see, and at times that means we are blind to the obvious, and a pointed comment from someone we love or someone we trust can help to open our eyes and point us in the right direction. With the help of others we can discover who we are, and better lead our lives. What will they say when your time has come? What will you say when all is said and done? Remember it isn't about what you do, its about who you are, and how you live you life.

I'm Back

Alright world, after a long stint away from the world of blogging, I am back. For those of you who actually tried to follow my blog while i was on my mission, sorry that i kind of crapped out like 10 months into my mission. But it is a very busy time and every second counts. Those of you who have served missions understand this point, and for those of you who haven't take my word for it. But alas that time in my life has passed and real life has hit like a ton of bricks.

Since being home I have taken the time to get into the normal flow of life. And it is still weird somedays, but i'm home. I am pretty well ready for school i've got a place to live and a car, the only thing that is lacking for me to fully embrace real life is a job. But that will have to wait till i am actually up at school. So that is whats up with me right now.

Sorry this was such a lame post, i promise a lot more in the future, but hey i am just trying to break into the things.

Sorry Its been a while!

Okay well i don't know what the last post was or anything like that but i just wanted to let everyone know that yes i am alive and doing well, but i am not in Frankfurt anymore, i am now way up north in a city called Wesel (remember it is german so it is pronounced vesel) But ya it is a really small city but it is super sweet we are working hard and seeing a lot of success, I love it, my companion is Elder Kutterer he is from Seattle washington and has been out for only 6 weeks. But he is a stud and his german is great so not a problem at all and he works hard and we are both striving to be 100% obediant. But things are going pretty good. I would love to hear from you all at some point you can either send a letter or email either way, and i'll try to be better at responding, especially for letters. But you can keep sending them to the address in frankfurt cause that will assure that i get them every Zone conference or you can send them to my new address, but i don't know how long i will be here and if i don't get them who knows when or if i ever will get them, but either way i don't really care. my new address is
Viehtor 12
46483 Wesel
Germany

The address to frankfurt is
Corneliusstrasse 18
60325 Frankfurt am Main.

Thanks for all your love prayers and support.Love Elder Rogers

What a Week!

Hey world sorry for not writing last week but i hope this can help make up for it, thanks for those of you who sent emails and for those of you who didn't i would love to hear from you elder_srogers@myldsmail.net


This week was super awesome but also super hard. It started out when we found Leo, we were out contacting at 8:50 at night we have to be home at 9:00 but the Lord always blesses you in the last 10 minutes of a long hard day. We saw Leo walking down the street and he was wearing shorts, which is pretty crazy i mean it is January in Germany not the warmest time, so i say to Elder Stimpson "hey check out this guy in the shorts we have got to talk to him." So we do, we stop him and tell him we want to talk with him about God and Jesus Christ, well this is all in German and he tells us i don't know german can you speak english, well of course we can. So he tells us we can come with him he had a few things he had to put in the fridge so we go with him up into his apartment and we sit down and we share with him about quickest 1st lesson ever and we give him and english book of mormon which was a miricle i had it.(normally i just carry an extra german but on that day i felt that i should bring an english one with and i knew that somehow i would use it) and we taught an awesome lesson he was asking great questions about how we really know, so we told him about Moroni's Promise. What an amazing man Moroni was, when i get to heaven i am gonna give that Man a Huge Hug!! But anyway we told him he could know as well. Then we taught him about prayer and to close the meeting we asked if he would offer the prayer and if we could do it kneeling. He said sure and he said about the sweetest prayer i have ever heard, it was short and simple but perfect. He addressed our heavenly father, thanked him for the day and his last weekend that asked if he would bless that his mother would get better and also to know that the Book of Mormon was true and he closed in the name of Jesus Christ Amen. It was so sweet he is from Brazil so we are gonna bring him a Portugese BoM what a blessing the Lord is prepareing people for us everywhere and we just need to work hard and be obediant.

Well after that we had some awesome appointments and great contacting experiences but there are to many to talk about and not enough time. But the hard part about this week was the Long days of working hard and basically getting nothing, but tell you what i will take a million days like those for the one day when we meet people like Leo it is 100% worth it.


Also this week we tchüssed our investigator Annie, she is so awesome and our meetings were so spiritual but she just wasn't willing to accept that there was only one true perfect way to return to live with God, i just feel sorry for her, that may sound bad, but i can just see her sitting under the Tree of Life and we are right there lifting her up to grab the fruit but then she tells us to put her down and that she is good just sitting by the tree and not partaking of its wonderful fruit that brings our souls exceedingly great joy. Preach my gospel tells us that we will have experiences like this but not to let it get us down, but it is so hard, luckily i can always turn to my loving Savior and Redeemer for help.


Thanks everyone for your love and support and prayers they mean more then i can try to express through mail in any way so remind me to give you all a big hug next time we see each other.


Love Elder
Rogers

Frankfurt!!!!!

Well everybody i am off to Frankfurt after a short stay of 6 weeks in Aachen. I am kind of sad to leave because we have a baptismal date for the 31st of January. But this is what the Lord wants and i am so excited to go. My new companion is Elder Kimball he is one of the AP's, I will be one of the AP buddies. Basically I have two comps Elder Kimball and Elder Stimpson. I will be with Elder Kimball unless he and the other AP are off doing stuff for President Ninow, then i will work with Elder Stimpson. I am way excited and i know that the Lord answers prayers and know each of us individually because, I have been praying for a hard working companion, and the Lord knows that i needed one cause i have been at wits end with elders who are more here to vacation then to do the Lords work. But now I know for sure that i have companions who will work. We'll see how things play out.And just incase anybody has sent stuff to me in Aachen and i haven't got it yet, no worries, another plus of an AP comp is that he will be up here for ZoKo so anything i missed will still get to me. But just so you all know you can now send stuff to:Elder Spencer RogersCorneliusstrasse 1860325 Frankfurt am MainGermanyCan't wait to here from you all. I hope your all enjoying your time back in school. Have fun!!

Elder Rogers

P.S. Thanks everyone for you emails and Letters they really do mean so much!!

God answers prayers!

Hey i just wanted to share a quick story with all of you it is kind of funny but it illustrates that God answers our prayers even for little things.

Yesterday we went by on a member to help him out with something, well as we were leaving he came out with us to say goodbye and closed the Door behind him. He locked himself out. We were running late for another appointment, but we decided we needed to help him out. So i said a prayer asking the Lord the his door would be opened. Well Elder Reichard happened to have on him a Leatherman pocket knife. The ones with the plyers screw drivers, saw basically an all in one thing. Well he trys to Jimmy the door open kind of the Credit Card thing but with a knife, it doesn't work. Well i look down and notice that the door handle has screws on it, so i say unscrew it, he does but at first it doesn't look like it helped at all, Then i noticed that there was like a Nut type thing and i figured it was the back off the Door handle, i had a feeling that if we turned that hard enough and pushed the door would open. Well Elder Reichard tried, no luck. So he gave it to me and said "Here you try!" So I took the plyers got a hold of the tiny little nut, and twisted and pushed, and sure enough the Door popped right open no problems. It was so sweet. The Lord answers prayers, even if it is to break into a house (granted the owner was right there with us.) I know that if i wouldn't have humbled myself and prayed that door wouldn't have opened, or we would have had to blow it off its hinges. The Lord loves each of us and will help us no matter what, we just need to have the faith, then humble our selves and he will lift us up and give us the Love and help we need. This church is true and God loves all of us no matter what.

Love
Elder Rogers

New Years!

Hello everyone!! I hope that all of you had an amazing Christmas. I definitely did. Talking to my family was absolutely awesome!! That was probably the best gift. It is strange how much somthing like that can really help. It puts a smile on you face and then it is so much easier to stop people and talk with them, or ask if you can help someone out on the street. I just loved it. I hope that all of you were able to spend some killer time with all you family and friends.

I'm sure that all of you are enjoying your time off of school, i loved Christmas break, but soon enough it was over, so don't waste your time doing dumb stuff like working (just kidding that is really important) or sleeping (that is what class is for) But go out and have some fun.

The new year is almost here i hope you all have fun with that, i love the new year. What a time it is to be able to reflect on the last year and then make some changes to make this year a better one. I challenge everyone who reads this to find something in your life that you can make better and do it. I promise you that you will feel great! And it will make a difference. And if you can't find anything to make better in your life, do something to make someone else's life better. That is what life is all about, making people happy it is so great that i get the chance to do that everyday.

I am loving being out serving my Lord and Savior as a missionary what a blessing it is, that everyday i wear his name right next to mine. This Church is true folks, I know it is. I know that it brings peace and comfort into your life, because i have felt it myself, and i have been told this from the people we teach even when they don't fully embrace or except this gospel, they know and recognize it brings peace and comfort. Have a Happy New Year!!

Love
Elder Rogers