3 Dance Classes

My schedule this semester is quite different than I expected it would be. I had anticipated that this would be my last semester here at BYU, but through a series of unforeseen circumstances and a strange twist of events, I'm going to be here until next April instead of finishing this semester. It's going to be a lot less stressful, which is nice. But by making that decision, I realized that I don't have to take the classes I was previously planning on taking. It works out much better this way, trust me. :-D Well, one of the changes was that I am doing at least one more semester of Folk Dance where as I assumed last semester was my last one. I'm VERY excited about this. I am also in beginning tap dance and the beginning world dance class.

First of all, the beginning world dance is a class that I could probably sleep through and still get an A in. That isn't a bad thing, and I most definitely will NOT be sleeping in that class! Easy as it is, it is still lots of fun. Most of the dances we are going to do in there are dances that I have done before at Rec. Nights (a Rec. Night is when the whole folk dance club gets together and they play songs that we do folk dances to). There may be a few others I have never done before, and there are also some that I haven't ever really learned, I just sort of picked them up as best as I could over the past two semesters. So it'll be fun to actually learn them properly. But I'll most likely pick up on the dances and have them down pat before half the rest of the class really knows what's going on :-D. Oh, and my teacher for that class is really cool. His name is Rustin, and he was my beginning clog teacher. It's going to be a fun class.

Beginning tap. I'm SO excited for this class! Nancyann decided to add it with me, so that will make it even more fun. But I have always loved watching tap and wished I could actually do it myself. Clogging was fun, but I think tap suits me much better. That class might require a little more out of class work than my other dance classes, but I will actually enjoy practicing for that class, so that makes ALL the difference. The short and long of it, I'm stoked for tap!

And last, but most definitely not least, my Folk Dance team. Ahhh... So much fun! I'm on one of the Wilk teams, which means nothing to probably 99% of you. Basically, the Wilk teams are much easier than the RB teams (we meet in the Wilkinson Center instead of the Richards Building). There is somewhat of a hierarchy of teams. The Wilk teams are usually the people who just made it onto a team, the RB teams are people who have been dancing for a while (my team last semester, 9RB, being the best of the RB teams), and then you have SPAC and PAC (Spring Performing Arts Company and Performing Arts Company). Because I wasn't even planning on dancing this semester, I didn't even try out for SPAC. I'm on 10WSC and my teacher is the same one I had my first semester doing Folk Dance. She thinks very highly of me and was rather surprised to see me in her class the first day. In fact, she actually told me that I should have been on SPAC. It's a nice change going from the intensity of 9RB and barely keeping up to already know half of the things we are doing and catching on to the rest really quickly. I will kind of miss being pushed and stretched to see how much I can do, but it's also lots of fun to actually know what's going on and to be able to help others. Plus, when you do partner dances and you actually know what you're doing, the girls have more fun dancing with you! :-D

So anyway, I have at least one dance class every day, which is really nice. My schedule isn't quite as conducive to naps as it was last semester, so I'm going to be really tired all the time this semester, but I'm still very much excited for it. Anyway, I just thought I would let you all know how much fun I'm having and how much I'm enjoying being so involved in dance. Aren't you jealous? :-P

A Much Needed Update

Wow, well, there has most definitely been an eventful month or so... Well first of all, for those of you who don't already know, I am once again single. When I made the decision to end it with Paula, over a month's worth of frustration, anxiety and a whole mess of other less-than-fun feelings all seemed to dissipate. I could go into a whole explanation of why I decided to break up with her, but I won't. Basically, we weren't nearly as right for each other as we thought. Most of the pain was dealing with crap before I decided to end it, but there was still frustration and annoyances after it was over. I wish I could say I was completely over everything, but I'm not completely over everything. The relationship, yes, I'm over that. It's just the residual junk that is inevitable when a relationship that close/intense ends. Whatever. Even with all of that staring in my face over Christmas break, I still enjoyed myself while I was at home. I got to see friends and family that I haven't seen for quite a while. I did come to the conclusion, though, that I don't want to go back to Missouri this summer. I love my family and my friends there, but there isn't enough there to warrant living at home all summer. And I'm probably not going to take any classes either, so I'm just going to be working early morning custodial, probably sleeping all afternoon and hanging out/partying all night! I'm really excited about it, but I still have a whole semester to enjoy before I get to the summer! And I really do think I'm going to enjoy this semester. I have 3 dance classes :-D all of which I'm really enjoying. Nancyann decided to add beginning tap at the same time as me too, so we now have two classes together. I'm excited. It's already been a lot of fun having her out here, even though we haven't really done much of anything yet. We are planning on doing a double date this week or next and I'll probably just set her up with one of my friends. As I was thinking about who I could set her up with, I realized that almost all of my really close friends are either dating someone or are girls... I do have a few people I could set her up with, but really, almost all of my really close friends are girls. Anyway.

So I went on my first date in a long time on Saturday. I took one of my really good friends from work. She's in a beginning clogging class and we both had to go to a percussive dance performance. Well, there was one not too far away on Saturday, so I went over to her place and we walked to the theater. It was a really fun performance, we both really enjoyed it. After the show, we walked back to her place, had some hot chocolate to warm up and talked for about an hour. Then I headed home. It was just really simple, but it was a lot of fun. Like I said though, now I just need to figure out who I'm going to set Nanc up with and who I'm going to go with for our double date we are planning... Hum.... I'll attempt to be better about updating my blog this semester... No promises though, I know myself too well :-D. Anyway, I'm hungry. I'm going to go get myself some lunch or something. Later!

Where Can I Turn for Peace Hymn # 129

Where can I turn for peace
Where is my solace
When other sources cease to make me whole?
When with a wounded heart, anger, or malice,
I draw myself apart,
Searching my soul?

Where, when my anching grows,
Where, when I languish,
Where, in my need to know, where can I run?
Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish?
Who, who can understand?
He, only One.

He answers privately,
Reaches my reaching
In my Gethsemane, Savior and Friend.
Gentle the peace he finds for my beseeching.
Constant he is and kind,
Love without end.

Christmas Around the World

Well, As a few of you know, I've been involved with BYU's Folk Dance program all year. It's really been a lot of fun. Well, every December BYU has a program called Christmas Around the World. It's a big dance concert centered around Christmas and how it's celebrated around the world. This year is the 50th anniversary of the program so they are making a big deal out of all of it. So that means I have been rather busy with all of that. The performances are the first week in December, which is right after I get back from Thanksgiving break. So if anyone happens to be in Provo that weekend, you aught to see if you can get tickets to the show! Grant it, the cheapest tickets are like $12 and they go up from there. Also, they've been on sale for a while so I'm not sure exactly what all is left. At any rate, we had a performance last night at some 5 stake youth activity not too far from here. As part of the activity, we performed almost all of our dances that we have learned this year. So we got to perform the dance we are doing for Christmas Around the World. We are doing a Scottish dance, which means that we got all dressed up in traditional Scottish garb. So I got a picture of me in my kilt. It's great! I just thought I would share the picture and without a little bit of background the picture doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Enjoy!

想爷爷奶奶的家

I know that most of you who read my blog can't read Chinese, but whatever. We had an assignment in my Chinese class to write a short essay about a place that we love. No surprise for those who know me, I wrote about Grandma and Grandpa Adams' house. Perhaps I'll get around to posting an English translation of this within the next few days, perhaps not. Well, without further adieu...

想爷爷奶奶的家

假设你问我世界上最美的地方在何处，我只有一个地方可以提出：我爷爷奶奶的家。父母亲的家离爷爷奶奶不远，开车几分钟就到。小时候我们经常去看他们。无论是谁，大人好，小朋友也好，大家都特别喜爱拜访爷爷奶奶。

他们的农场有田，树林，山丘，一个水池，独木舟，和一个瀑布。夏天我们小孩玩得超开心。一整天躲在树林中跑来跑去。偶尔爬一棵树，偶尔建一个小堡垒。天气特别热时，我们去水池玩水或划独木舟。天黑了以后大家一起去瀑布旁边的壁炉烤肉。 没有云的话什么星座都可以看得很清楚，连银河都很明亮。

随着季节的变化，爷爷奶奶家的美也有所变。秋天来的时候整个树林的叶子便彩色，就像树林起了火似的。冬天带来雪。树林变成一个冬天奇景。春天让雪溶化，整个树林重生。夏天之绿战胜冬天之百。我期待回到那个叫做‘爷爷奶奶家’的天堂。

Building a Firm Foundation

This week has been rather crazy. With everything I had to do for school, I was also asked to speak in Sacrament meeting for today. I went camping Friday night so between getting back home, swimming with friends here, chatting online with friends (and Nanc) from high school, talking more with friends here and texting all day, it was after 1:00 when I finished my talk. Then I had to be at a meeting at 7:00. But even with all of that, I still think it went fairly well. Then this afternoon, I was thinking and realized that even though I'm not afraid of speaking in public, I'm much more comfortable with the written word. So I decided to type my notes up and turn it into my talk (with minor variations). I'm not really sure why, but I just felt like posting it on my blog as well. I won't be offended if no one reads it, but here it is!


In one of my areas on my mission in Taiwan, we had an investigator who had been around for a while. Because he had known the missionaries for so long, he already knew quite a bit about the church. He already had his own set of scriptures, English and Chinese. He even had his own hymn book. He loved the hymns, especially hymn number 85, “How Firm a Foundation”. Every time we would go to visit him, we would have to sing at least one verse of “How Firm a Foundation”. Sometimes we would only sing one verse, others we would sing all 7. Sometimes we would sing in Chinese, others in English. He just loved this hymn. I don’t know about you, but there are a lot of hymns that I know that I don’t really know. I sing them in Church every week, but I rarely think about what they are actually saying. Well, previously, this hymn was one of those. I sang it, often times without even having to look at the words, but I couldn’t really tell you what it said, much less what it means. Since then, that has changed. I’ve thought about what it was that made this man love this hymn so much. After reading it, I think I can see why. I’d like to read the first three verses for you:

1. How firm a foundation, ye Saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in his excellent word!
What more can he say than to you he hath said,
Who unto the Savior for refuge have fled?

2. In ev’ry condition—in sickness, in health,
In poverty’s vale or abounding in wealth,
At home or abroad, on the land or the sea—
As thy days may demand, so thy succor shall be.

3. Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.

As we build our foundation upon the rock of Christ our Lord, this is what we receive. This is the same thing that Helaman was teaching his sons as they devoted themselves to preaching the Gospel. Helaman 5:12 reads:

12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

Throughout the scriptures, we are promised that if we have Christ as our foundation, we will not fall. I think that is a blessing and promise that all of us would like to have. So now the question is how? How do we gain that sure foundation? If this sure foundation is centered on Christ then the obvious answer is that we must get to know Him if we are to have Him be our foundation. As we look into the Introduction of the Book of Mormon, we find:

Concerning this record the Prophet Joseph Smith said: “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.”

As we look at the Book of Mormon, we find that many of the prophets in the Book of Mormon saw Christ face to face. Joseph Smith did as well. When Joseph Smith states that by abiding by the precepts taught in that great book will bring us closer to God than any other book, I put a little bit of weight in his opinion.
I remember a promise that President Hinckley made while I was on my mission in 2005. As I read in Preach My Gospel, I found the exact same promise made nearly 20 years previous. He said:

“Those who have read [the Book of Mormon] prayerfully, be they rich or poor, learned or unlearned, have grown under its power. . . . Without reservation I promise you that if you will prayerfully read the Book of Mormon, regardless of how many times you previously have read it, there will come into your hearts . . . the Spirit of the Lord. There will come a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to his commandments, and there will come a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God”

When the challenge to read the entire Book of Mormon before Christmas 2005 was issued, I didn’t think too seriously about it until I found this quote and realized that it wasn’t a one time promise, but an eternal truth. Studying the Book of Mormon brings us closer to God.
Looking closer at Joseph Smith’s statement in the introduction of the Book of Mormon, we see that he doesn’t want us to merely study the book, but he wants us to abide by its precepts. Obedience is another way we build our foundation on Christ.
One of the greatest examples in the Book of Mormon of obedience is Helaman’s 2000 stripling warriors. We read that they were “they were men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted.” (Alma 52:20) and that “they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness.” They had built their foundations upon the rock of Christ since they were young. It is evident that the Lord held up His end of the promise made throughout the scriptures that if we make Him our foundation He will not let us fall. Not a single one of the 2000 warriors were lost in the fight.
One last way that we are able to build upon the rock of Christ is through prayer. How can we have Christ be our foundation if we don’t know him? And what better way to get to know someone than by communicating with them? Prayer should not be us talking to a wall. When we start to think of prayer as a way of communicating with our God, we will find a power in our prayers previously unattainable. As we come to know Him better, we will have a stronger desire to rely on Him. We will find our will coming to align with His. We will find that Christ truly is our foundation.
As you sing the hymn “How Firm a Foundation”, the words you are singing are actually the words of God to those who have Him as their foundation. I truly love the other verses that we rarely sing. Christ promises us:

4. When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of sorrow shall not thee o’erflow,
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

5. When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply.
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

7. The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose
I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake!

I know that as we build upon Christ as our foundation, he will lift and support us. He will never let us fall. He is the one sure foundation we have to build on. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Why Death Isn't Bad

My Grandpa Willis died this past week. Enough can’t be said about what a great man he was. His funeral is this coming Thursday and I’m lucky enough to be able to hitch a ride with some of my favorite cousins back home to Missouri to attend it. Since his death on Wednesday, many of my family members have written notes on facebook or posted on their blogs about Grandpa. They have become some of my favorite things to read. My favorite is hearing or reading stories about Grandpa and things he said or did. I don’t really have a very good memory, as any of my siblings could confirm, so it is especially great to hear everyone else’s stories and memories of him. I think almost everyone has mentioned how much of Grandpa is in each of his kids and grandkids. If it isn’t his odd sense of humor, it’s his uncanny ability to fix things or to create them. Yes, Grandpa will live on in his posterity.

One of the deepest, clearest memories I have of Grandpa is him playing his harmonica while singing Alouette to us grandkids. And now after saying that, Alouette is stuck in my head. What ever memories we each have of that great man, they will always bring smiles to our faces. With such a man as Grandpa Willis was, you would be hard pressed to find anything negative about him. All who knew him loved him. He was a great example to everyone around him.

This was supposed to be about death in general, but I couldn’t resist going on about Grandpa. This just attests to my view of death. Though it is hard and sad, it is also joyous. Though talking about Grandpa before would always bring positive thoughts and feelings, after his death, those memories and feelings are more poignant than ever. Memories that haven’t been recalled in years come flooding to the forefront of my mind. Funerals should not be depressing, but a celebration of the life of those who have passed.

As I prepare to attend my Grandpa’s funeral, I think of all the people that I get to see: Cousins I grew up with, siblings, nieces and nephews, my own parents and grandparents who are still here. With the exception of my little brother who is on a mission, my whole family will be there. Such an occasion is hard to come by. I will be driving home with one of my favorite cousins who I haven’t had much of an opportunity to spend time with in over five years. I will get to see another cousin who I grew up with and went to high school with. These reunions will be happy. Though we miss our grandpa, we know that they he is now with his other loved ones who have been waiting and anxious to see him.

Much has been said about the reunions Grandpa must be having with his family, including children and grandchildren who made it home before him. How wonderful those reunions must be! Greeting a grandfather, father, brother, cousin, son who has lived a wonderful life as he passes to the next world. They must be celebrating his arrival as much or more than we are celebrating his life. One who worked so hard in this life will surly not stop to work once he has passed through the veil. Let him be an example to us, in life and death, to put forth all of the effort we can spare. Let us live as he did so that we may be able to enjoy similar reunions when our time is come and we are called home. Let Grandpa live on through us.