1 Corinthians 13:8-13

It appears as though I have to break away from my silliness for a moment and pose the question as to what the heck these verses mean. This was my facebook status as well. One of the biggest reasons I’m intrigued is because I prayed before I started reading, which is something I rarely do (I’m a terrible person), and asked God to help me find something I could apply to my life, since I seem to be failing on finding application in the scriptures lately.

Why is it so interesting? Paul mentions that when “that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.” As it is, I don’t know what “perfect” thing he’s referring to. These verses follow the famous section regarding charity, as Paul describes the vainness in having spiritual gifts if we don’t have charity. Is he still talking about charity? Is he talking about Christ returning at his second coming? Is he talking about actual perfection coming to us when we’re celestialized exalted beings? Or is he simply speaking of “perfect knowledge?” The line that really gets me wondering is in verse 12, as he compares “now” and “then”. “For now, we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” (italics added.)

That line which I italicized is pretty weird, but it’s strange that when I read it, another scripture popped into my head, from Doctrine and Covenants 76, verse 94, in which the blessed state of exalted beings is described: “They who dwell in his presence are the church of the Firstborn; and they see as they are seen, and know as they are known, having received of his fulness and of his grace.”

What does it mean to be “known as we are known?”

What is “that which is perfect?”

And what does it all have to do with faith, hope, and charity, so abundantly mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13?

Thoughts, anyone?

Medical Malpractices, Revisited

Had the opportunity this past week to fly out to Tennessee. For those of you who have never heard of it, Tennessee is one of the 50 United States, and is home to such prestigious landmarks as the Grand Ol Opry, the Great Smoky Mountains, Gary Allan, and Pulaski, birthplace of the KKK AND Sundrop. Mmm. What an excellent beverage. To celebrate one year since my return (it was actually on Thursday), let’s take a step back in time to Holden’s mission and revisit some of those things, people, and places that make it all so special.

Motto: “Destroying your teeth has never tasted so good!”

Gary Allan: I met him once, he was a member in my greeny area. Seemed kinda depressed.

 

The Grand Ol Opry: I bashed my knee on a fire hydrant in front of this historical landmark once.

These guys with little funny pointy white hats had their beginnings in my last area. And if you’re wondering, yes, I was invited by several rednecks to join.

 

Tennessee is also home to Shelbyville, world-famous for being my third area. It includes various people, buildings, and plants.

 

 

The Tennessee Titans, celebrating a triumphant first down in the most famous game in Titans history, a 59-0 loss to the Patriots.

 

  From left: Ryleigh, Leslie, Melissa, and Richard Crouch. Then there’s some doofus, and then Elder Alvarez and Elder uhh…geez I forget. We’re all in front of the temple after the sealing.

 

                                                              Me with Elder Alvarez. Favorite companion ever. Our loads of adventures in Lawrenceburg and Pulaski were the highlight of my mission.

 

With this all in mind, I had an incredible experience in being able to witness the Crouches (favorite family from my mission) get endowed in the Nashville Temple, and then, the next day, to be sealed as a family. I have decided that a missionary’s mission is not complete until he sees his recent converts go through the temple. And with THAT in mind, I realize that I still have a lot of work left with my recent converts, several of whom went inactive, one who is pretty active but still struggles with smoking, and one more in Lawrenceburg who is active but I haven’t heard of possible temple-goings yet. And apparently, the Gonzales’, my favorite family in Bowling Green Kentucky who brought even more people into the church after their own baptisms, went through the temple this past April, unbeknownst to me. How cool is THAT?!?!

I would be writing this all in my journal, but I have kind of failed in that regard over the past several months.

Remember to not eat too much gluten!

Sharing the Gospel Online

This month's edition of the Ensign was fantastic! It was all about blogging, and how to be a better missionary online! Which is why I'm going to tell you about a dream I had last night where I went to Joe Hafen's house, and Joe, Isaac, and David were all there with Joe's family playing Craps in the middle of the living room, and they totally ignored me and wouldn't even let me play, and I left really angry. THE END.


My missionary adventures today involved me writing an angry email to the CSN 88.1 Christian Radio Network. Ha ha! Oh, it wasn't really angry, just calling them out on hypocrisy because they were advertising some anti book about Mormonism. Seems silly to preach all day about the love of Jesus, and then tear down the beliefs of others, doesn't it?


My miscellaneous adventures today involved going to school, getting to my geography class at 9 am sharp, trying to open the door to the classroom that was actually LOCKED, knocking on it several times and getting no response, and finally realizing at 9:45 AM (MDT) that we were actually supposed to go to the testing center today and take a test, HENCE, THERE WAS NO ONE IN THE CLASSROOM. WAHAHAHA!

Senior Day

1) I decided Senior Day would be a good name for a band. A band of really old people. The inspiration for this comes from Dixie Nutrition’s monthly celebration of geezers and their constant need for supplements because…gasp…their bodies don’t make the stuff THEMSELVES?!?! Gah! What a terrible life! Poor chaps. I plan to be the coolest old person on the block when I’m 90.

2) Remember to not eat gluten. It’s evil.

3) So I decided we should all be more tolerant of other religions. Usually at least once a day when I’m driving around, I flip the radio to 88.1 and listen in on some preaching. Those guys speak a lot of truth. Give it a whirl sometime.

4) I think Lady Gaga blasphemes everything sacred in the world when she calls herself an artist. Yes, times have changed my friends, even dirty rotten whores can be artists! Yay!

5) I think rap and hip-hop should stop stealing music from classic rock bands. Is this an ethics issue here?

6) The Office was really weird tonight.

7) Heh heh, remember that time Emily, that I got pulled over by Officer Carter of the SGPD, and he asked me for my driver’s license, and I tried to hand him my debit card. and he was like, “Whoa, wrong card buddy.” And I was like, “Oops! Heh heh!” and we all had a good laugh, well, probably just me and Officer Carter. You were probably still really mad at me for almost running that lady over. And Officer Carter probably thought I was drunk? Good times!

8) KRAVE WAS OUT OF CAPTAIN CRUNCH TODAY. THAT IS A NO-NO.

9) We STILL cannot figure out at my work which onions are the regular yellow onions, and which onions are the SWEET yellow onions. And every time a customer brings onions up, we always talk among ourselves, and ask the same question every time, “So uhhh, are these regular yellow onions or sweet yellow onions?” And of course the customer never knows the answer, but we’re just SAYING that to pull some chuckles out of the customer, but it never works, and then you know what? I realize it really isn’t that funny at all. GOSH, LIFE IS SO HARD

10) So this month’s edition of the Ensign was ALL ABOUT BLOGGING. And how great a tool it can be in sharing the gospel. And it featured all sorts of bloggers who get like, 300 visitors to their blog daily, and who actually have blog comments sent to their email so they can REVIEW THEM FOR INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT! I mean…come on! How on earth do you get a blog so popular that you get SO MANY COMMENTS that you have to review them all? I get an average of maybe 2 comments per entry. And there isn’t usually anything inappropriate, unless Emily writes some dirty things on there.

11) I learned in this particular Ensign that you need to be careful on your blogs with the PICTURES that you choose to put on it. Because it’s a well known fact that a rapist is looking at my “Dixie Nutrition Gluten-Free” sign below, and making plans as we speak to come rape me tomorrow at work. SO THIS ENTRY WILL HAVE NO PICTURES. NONE. TEXT ONLY. I’m just trying to protect my family, that’s all.

12) The number of Apostles in the church.

13) Emily’s favorite number.

14) Robert Frost is SO COOL. He’s just like me! Except he’s good at writing poetry! Sup Bob!

15) Married life is great. I approve of Emily’s meals that she conjures up out of nowhere. And for going and getting me a burger and a strawberry malt at Dairy Queen the other night. Who can dispute the mighty sweetiness of Emily? Let him be smitten by my karate chop!

16) I could probably go on forever, but umm…no. SENIORS ROCK!

Ok fine, here’s a picture.

NO MORE GLUTEN DUMPING!

DOWN WITH GLUTEN!