Christmas Tidbits

It's quite a change going from warmth and beaches for Christmas to the cold and mossy streets of England. Though there's less light in the sky here, the Christmas Season Light still shines brightly. One thing I have enjoyed here is getting the scoop on some Christmas happenings. Here's a few things I've come across you might enjoy: -Silent Night was composed in 1818 in Austria. The organ broke down Christmas Eve and, unable to find an organ mechanic, the local band was invited to play the music and compased the song "Silent Night." Because it was a band, the original score was a lot more lively. I heard it played the other day. So much more happening in the base line that would have been played by the guitar. More like a dance of glee actually. -Mistletoe only grows during this time of year on certain trees. That's why it's magical.

-Some Christmas carols are sung here with different tunes. Carols actually used to be banned from Church and only sung in the pubs. "While Shepherds Watched their flocks by Night" was the first one sung in Church because it referenced the Bible. -The idea of Holy and Ivy being brought into the house was to show a place of refuge there until Spring. -The Yule Log was a large log that was supposed to burn for 12 days, through Christmas. -Figgy Pudding was stirred on "stir-up Sunday" and was always stirred from East to West, as a reminder of the Three wise men traveling from the East. It had 13 ingredients to represent Jesus and the 12 Apostles. -Christmas Cards came from the idea of Valentines Day cards and were originally sent only to family members and close friends that were not seen on a regular basis and not going to be seen during the holidays. Originally they were not decorated Christmas scenes. -The Christmas Tree originated in Germany. Lights on the tree did too. The idea came from a German man looking up into the night sky in the fir tree forest and seeing the stars through the boughs. The candles were attempt at recreating this stunning effect. Those flaming candles were actually quite safe as the wood was too wet to burn.They originally had a star on top. An angel was added to show that it was the star of Bethlehem. -Before the Victorian period there was no emphasis on the Children like today (which is a very fun part) but instead the general practice still important of "Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men."

Glass Art and a Mormon Temple

Thomas Holdman is an incredibly talented man. His glass art, a beautiful advanced form of stain glass windows, can be found in several of the Temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Any of these magnificent edifices would be an honor to have a work of art placed therein, but to add to the specialness, his work is found in historically rich Temples such as Nauvoo, Winter Quarters, and one close to my heart: Manhattan. Every time I walk into the doors of the Manhattan Temple I am in awe of the beautiful art glass piece of the Savior that greets me there. I met Brother Holdman once. It was at the Annual Brigham Young University Banquet for the University Accessibility Center. The Center, which runs to assist those with disabilities in their studies, holds the banquet to honor those who have achieved great things despite great odds. I worked there for four years as an interpreter for the Deaf. Our speaker this particular year was none other than Thomas Holdman. In addition to his incomparable talent and gift for glass art, he has been graced with a significantly stuttering voice. Through his halting but captivating words he shard his story of preparing the glass art for the Temples. For some reason it was on my mind today. He had many volunteers working under him to create the masterpieces on the limited time schedule. One day, he had become really frustrated with the lack of quality and skill of the volunteers. As he stormed about in his fury of their imperfect work unworthy of a Temple, God spoke to him: "My people are more important than glass art." The true grandeur of the Temple wasn't in the building of the greatest quality edifice but in building the greatest quality and most beautiful people. God was molding them as they worked on His house. It was a powerful message in a powerful setting that has had a large influence on me. Never let the task at hand be of greater importance than the people it is meant to bless.

Thanksgiving in the UK

It's just like any other day, almost. I went to the grocery store this morning to find some pumpkin to find that it's officially out of season here and isn't sold anywhere in either fresh or canned form. Big dinners will happen this weekend amongst other celebratory Americans. Today I do my homework and go to class as normal, except for the electrifying energy which may just be part of my own little inner world. The true essence of Thanksgiving is gratitude and that is something today is not lacking. The sun is shining and its so warm outside that a coat is almost too much. (This is a BIG deal for someone who moved from Hawaii with fear of the winter.) I eat well everyday, including hot chocolate with the yummiest of cream and regular chocolate that is so easy to get here. I love the lack of high fructose corn syrup in my food. I love my room and my window. I love the jolly people of England. I am super thankful for Skype, Facebook, and Google+ hangouts to keep in touch with family and friends who are life's greatest treasures. I love the flowers that grow outside my house. I am learning new things at school. It's great having so many international people from so many places in my classes. I love my bus and rail pass that takes me anywhere in West Yorkshire. Above all, I am grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the hope and peace it offers the World. Through it, God reaches out to all His children to lift, bless, heal, and bring joy to their lives. Along this note, I am also grateful for Family History work and all the records left behind by those who went before who now hope that someone like me will come along and find them. It's the best. I love the "you found me!" feeling. I love the Temple where their work can be done to reunite them with their loved ones. There is much to be grateful for today in England.

Summertime 2011 The Condensed Travel Log

May: Went on a two week Mediterranean Cruise filled with Elderly people from England. Us four single kids in the family enjoyed taking over the positive youth activities of the ship all to ourselves. Mom and Dad brought us along for a very nice ride. We then spent a week in England and a week and a half touring the continent. All together we visited ten countries. I know, I'm spoiled. June: In Utah with the family. The entire immediate family. Quite a feat when at least two of us rarely make an appearance in the state of Utah due to travel costs and distant living locations. We went to Aspen Grove Family Camp which was an every summer favorite growing up. This time, we enjoyed some old favorite activities such as the ropes course and arts and crafts center in addition to witnessing the new growing up generation participate for the first time. My mission President and his wife were there the same week celebrating their 50th. I learned things about them I'd never known before. Love 'em. July: In Uganda with two of my closest childhood friends: the twins Madelene and Serena and their family. From the days of playing house under their raised deck came a threesome of friends who know each other so well there couldn't be any pretense there if we tried. We had all matured but we were all distinctly us. After twenty years apart it was neat to realize that. We safaried on the Nile and wildlife reserve, were guests of honor at a celebratory banquet in a rural village (National Geographic would have had a hard time capturing that moment), rode mopeds called boda bodas fearlessly through some mean traffic, and had incredible discussions amongst ourselves and with others on issues third world countries face. I went up North to the war affected area of Gulu with a local guide. There I was able to meet some of the former child soldiers and other war affected children. They filled out workbooks and wrote letters to children in America. They were really delightful people. The last bit, I went white water rafting in the Nile. August: Straight from Africa, I flew in to Hawaii into the loving arms of my Hawaiian Ohana. They greeted me with leis and a welcome home tea party. But that was just the beginning. We then spent the next month on beaches, at the water park, at a spiritual feast of a YSA conference, at ono restaurants, in thrift stores, at game nights, at Luaus, and just on Oahu enjoying the beauties of dear people, nature, and fun. I did a two week course at BYUH training to be an Arbinger facilitator. Except for that enjoyable and self-reflective work, life was so at ease. I loved it. I loved walking down the street and knowing the people I passed. I loved being back in my most recent place of 'home".  I could stay there forever. But such for now is not to be. I will be back. September: After a fond farewell and much Aloha, I left Hawaii and flew to Utah for three days. There I visited family, a mission companion, and many of my old clothes while I packed. Then it was off to Manchester England! I was picked up by some friends who I met in Uganda. I stayed with them for almost a week until I secured a place to live. The world has some truly awesome people in it. That brings me to where I am now. I will be studying at Bradford University getting and MA in Conflict Resolution starting September 26th. Although every time I tell people I moved here from Hawaii technically and they give me the stunned amazement 'how could you do such a thing" response, everyday I find something exciting I like about it. So here goes. Another big adventure ahead but this one will keep me occupied for awhile. Of course, if you know me, a trip to England means genealogy. I'm looking forward to spending the time outside of school and play doing what I love to do, I'll be found in the cemeteries and records office hunting down my roots. In a way, I feel very much like I am home.

A few thoughts on forgiveness

This is yet another topic that we have been discussing as part of my Conflict and Culture class. It is a fascinating one. In the scriptures, forgiveness seems like such a simple concept. We are told we are required to forgive all of our brothers and sisters and God will forgive whom he will. (D&C 64:10). So what exactly is forgiveness? It is defined by lds.org as letting go of the blame for an offense or misdeed done by another. Children are exceptional at forgiving. But we as adults tend to hold on to grudges that ruin our peace and keep our mind occupied. One way to tell that you have forgiven someone, in my opinion, is that it no longer spins around in your head mercilessly and the weight of the trouble is gone. I loved the comment given in class that some people view Hell not as a place but as a state of your soul. You cannot be at peace if there is a lack of forgiveness in your heart.

A distinction was also made in class between forgiveness and reconciliation. You can forgive someone and be done with that person, put them aside and not have any other dealings with them. Reconciliation is the renewal of a full relationship with that person. Interesting to note is that the Greek word that the word "Atonement" was coined to capture in the translation of the Bible into English was the word for "Reconciliation". Through Christ's sufferings, we aren't only forgiven of our sins, but our relationship with God becomes restored. Through much work of our own, covenants made with God powered by Christ's atonement, we can eventually be restored back to God's presence, reconciled fully. As we repent along the way, we are reconciled bit by bit with an increase in the Holy Ghost and peace in our hearts. Reconciliation is the most difficult thing to accomplish in this world. The cost for us to be reconciled to God is so great that it cost God His only begotten Son.

On a side note. I was contemplating the phrase "Prince of Peace" a few days ago, wondering why it says "Prince" and not "King". Surely this wasn't just a nice gesture of alliteration. Perhaps it is to draw attention by Christ, who always gave glory to His Father, that there is a "King" of peace. It is a Father and His Son. When you take time to think about that and all it implies it is very touching. I read, for class, of people in Mozambique who sought peace with their neighbors whom they had killed. As a peace offering, they would give up a child to the family of whom they had murdered a child.

It seems that the more we are able to feel the effects of the atonement in our own life, the more we are able to extend love towards others. This may be arguably untrue if you look at the parable of the rich man being forgiven his debt and then shortly thereafter not forgiving his servant of his debt. But, I think it is true that when you feel God's love through being forgiven, it is natural to want to extend that love to other people. The important ingredient that must be present, that obviously wasn't in the story of the man with the debts and the debtor, is the feeling of empathy we need to have. When we feel God's love for us, we can choose to allow that to feel empathy towards others.

We may not all go out and commit serious offenses against others, but lets face it. We all have weaknesses and do things that hurt others. Also, I have found it unjust to hold a person accountable and to blame for an offense in my heart if I did not approach that person and explain to them the truth of what happened from my own perspective. Half of the time I think others aren't aware of what we feel so strongly they did to wrong us.If we don't ever approach them or discover the truth, we may be stuck in holding in those awful feelings. The added inner animosity we have towards them in our hearts is perhaps the reason that we, the un-forgiver, hold the greater sin. We have the lesser portion of peace.

Learning how to forgive is a quest of a lifetime. It is perhaps one of the greatest things a person can master. Only through forgiving and loving and by the power of Christ that is involved in such, can we find a true peace on earth.

Stereotypes

This was a moment of thought I had last semester where I went into a typing frenzy. I thought I'd post it anyway:

One of the most dehumanizing things we do to each other in this world is stereotyping. We are almost taught to do this. In literature, a teacher may ask us to make assumptions about a certain character based on only a few facts. When we see someone is of a different race, culture, locality, or group we have an automatic tendency to assume that they have certain characteristics of that group. There are general characteristics, but to assume that everyone fully exhibits them is an error. When we do so, we take away the unique richness of that individual. Stereotyping can be more subtle than ‘the Asians are this way and the Germans are that way.” We all do it. It is in more common comments such as “girls are complicated and boys are dumb.” Dating rules and assumptions that go along with them are some nasty culprits. Or we can make a judgment on a person based off of someone else’s opinion. We should stop and think, is that person really an expert on this particular individual? Do they really know what makes them click, their worldviews, culture, needs, experiences, and values? No, they don’t. No two people have exactly the same make up. We are aware of this and see it in the known fact that siblings raised in the same family can be totally different. So why do we assume that people raised in the same religion, same profession, same gender group, or same anything are truly the same? Comments like “your just like this or just like that person” are red flags. We encourage stereotypes by communicating with less and less words using text, and facebook ‘like’ buttons that are convenient but lack depth. We do not know why a person likes something, only that they do. I’m not saying that these tools are all bad. I use them and am glad to have them, but it is important to be able to share in more detail what we are thinking.

I played a little game a few weeks ago where I decided to pay attention very carefully to what I said and catch any stereotypes, or general assumptions of a group of people, popping out of my mouth. Within five minutes I had caught myself at least twenty times in a conversation with a friend. We both laughed about it but it was a sad discovery. You may even find a few stereotypes in this post.

The flip side to judging other people is encouraging stereotypes upon ourselves by assuming that other people know who we are and what we are thinking. I am reminded of an experience I had with a girl I babysat. It had been about a year into living with this delightful Jewish family when I was tucking her in bed one night and as I did she said, “can I talk to you for a minute?” in a very serious tone. My response was a simple, “Sure.” She started, “You know, there’s a little I don’t know about my mom, but there is a whole lot I don’t know about you. Tell me some things about you and pick the best ones because you have a whole lot of options.” I then rattled off a few surface things such as “I like horses, singing and books.” and then said, “the two most important things to me are family and God.” She responded with, “ I never knew that!” This strangely surprised me. I didn’t talk with these children about religion except what was in the Old Testament out of respect for their parent’s wishes to avoid confusion. But I had assumed that she would just know from my actions what I believed or valued. This shows me that not only do we need to avoid stereotyping others, but we need to not assume that people know everything about us.

I was reading recently in the Book of Ether about the Brother of Jared praying that his family and friends language could be spared confounding so they could understand each other. What an important need that is! Of course, language is limited, but it is a great gift from God to allow us to have mutual understanding and learn from each other. Its learning how to express ourselves and understand others that is the tricky part. I remember a fireside in the MTC that I went to where Elder Scott spoke on the Gift of Tongues. “The spirit given gift of tongues is not just the increased ability to learn language, he said, it is the ability to have heart to heart communication” This doesn’t always happen. It takes practice to develop this gift, language ability, and slow deliberate judgment so we can truly know what is going on with another person. We have to express who we are, which can be tricky, but if we don’t we are allowing erroneous judgments towards us to be spread. Next time we are ready to make a hasty judgment towards someone, stop and ask the deepening whys, whats, and hows about them to uncover new insights we may have missed at first blush.

A few thoughts on making the world a better place...

We were given the assignment in class to write five things that will help our spouse earn more money in their job. Here is my response:

First of all, I feel that this assignment, to describe how to help my future spouse get more money in his future career, is not congruent with the ideas we have been discussing in class. If money were the only focus of things, this may be a good assignment. However, I feel that we have been discussing finding social needs and using entrepreneur skills to satisfy those needs to improve and change the world. I do not feel that I improve the world by making my family rich. To have our needs satisfied is sufficient for me. I feel that riches come to those who are willing to us them to serve others. I don’t think that one way is better than another to serve so I’m not going to pick his career for him. When I say serve, I mean to benefit the life of another person, which doesn't mean it has to be a volunteer activity. I think service can include pay. In that vein, here are the five things that I would want for my husband in his future career that would make my family and the world a better place:

1. A flexible schedule. I feel that being able to choose and manipulate a schedule is a key ingredient to being able to serve the needs of those around you. If someone needs your help or you need a break yourself for rejuvenation, this allows the opportunity that presents itself to be taken.

2. A passion for what he does. If my husband doesn’t enjoy what he does and feel like he is making a difference in the world that suits his unique talents and capabilities, he or I will not be happy and he won’t want to go to work.

3. Maintain balance: Life requires many roles to be played: Father, Church member, employed person, soccer coach, etc. If you get burned out by doing too much of one thing then you are less effective and not good to the world.

4. Collaborate with others. I feel that no one person can do the work they need to get done on their own. There are many people with skills and expertise that need brought in on a project or situation sometimes to benefit another and sometimes for their own benefit. Serve others and improve the world by allowing them to use their skills to their maximum potential.

5. Don’t allow hurdles to stop your progress and don’t leave people behind. Build relationships with people and don’t take the phrase “it has always been done this way” to keep you from trying something new. If others aren’t initially on the band wagon, keep working it until the dream becomes a reality.