Sunday Will Come

Pretty much, this is awesome. Watch it.

Sunday

In primary (the class I attended as child in church) we used to sing a song that started off with the words "Saturday is a special day, it's the day we get ready for Sunday." It's kind of interesting, because the song is really saying that Saturday is only a special day because it precedes Sunday, a more special day. And that's true. Sunday is the day that we strive to focus the most on God, to worship him and to refocus our lives on him and his son Jesus Christ. We strive to make it a day of rest, a day of worship, a day of renewal, a day of family.

Every Sunday I want to start sharing with you something that brings hope to my life. Whether it's a quote from a prophet or apostle, talking to you about a favorite talk from general conference, or sharing one of these amazing videos with you, it'll be something that brings joy to my life and hopefully to yours, too.

Today I want to share this video with you. It's a story told by President Gordon B. Hinckley, who was a living prophet on the earth today and the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints until he passed away in 2008. President Hinckley is one of my favorite people of all time. I feel like he is my old friend.

This story he tells makes me happy. The joy of service is incredible; when I serve others, I am filled with love, happiness, and satisfaction, and even hearing stories of service can bring happiness to people generations after they happen. When we learn to love and serve others, our lives are so much fuller, richer, and happier.

Books I love - The Giver

It's book time again! The book I want to talk to you about today is The Giver by Lois Lowry.

So, this book is awesome. (And a quick read, too, if you're not sure if you have time to read it.) The main character, Jonas, lives in a perfect society. Everything is well ordered, everyone is taught how to be a good, kind citizen, everyone is taught how to deal with their feelings productively, everyone is taught how to serve others. At the end of each year growing up, all the children go through a ceremony in which they symbolically grow up a little (they cut their hair, they recieve different clothes, they get their first bicycles, etc.) At the end of their twelfth year, all the children recieve the assignment of the career they will follow for the rest of their lives. These careers have been carefully selected by a council from the community whose job is to study the lives of each child and watch their temperament, interests, and talents. Everyone is perfectly suited to the job chosen for them.

When it comes time for Jonas and his friends to recieve their careers, something happens - the announcer skips over Jonas. This never happens. All of the children have a number, everything goes in the order of those numbers - except this time. The speaker saves Jonas til last, announcing to the community that Jonas has been chosen for the most important position in the community - the Receiver of Memory.

As Jonas is taught by the old Receiver of Memory, the Giver, who gives Jonas the memories of the past, he learns the history of what has been and the possibilities of what could be.

I love this book. It's so good. Reeeeaad it.

Books I love - James Herriot

James Herriot…where do I begin? I love James Herriot. You may have never heard of him. I consider myself incredibly lucky that I have. I first learned about him when I was really young and someone gave me a big book with lots of illustrations entitled "James Herriot's Treasury for Children." I loved it for the delightful tales it told of all sorts of farm animals. Later I read "James Herriot's Dog Stories" and "James Herriot's Cat Stories," which were both wonderful. At the time I liked them for the animals. Later I came to appreciate them for the best part of the story - the warm, honest, humorous narrator telling his life story - James Herriot. Little did I know that these books were merely extracts from James Herriot's main works - the five books he wrote that chronicle his life as a country vet in the early/mid 1900s in the rural Yorkshire Dales.

James Herriot is one of the most masterful storytellers I have ever come across. He feels like your old friend. His veterinary career starts in the 1930s, at a time when modern medicines still largely did not exist. His veterinary work is probably not what you first think of when thinking of veterinarians - the bulk of his work focused not on pets like cats and dogs (although he does deal a lot with them), but on farm animals like horses, ships, pigs, and especially cows. He tells you not only of his work, but also his personal life and the hilarity that comes with it. And that might sound boring to you, but trust me - it's not. It's funny, heartwarming, exasperating, interesting, and simply just captivating. Reading James Herriot is like drinking hot chocolate while warmly wrapped in a blanket in your favorite armchair while the rain falls outside.

His five books that tell everything in sequence are "All Creatures Great and Small," "All Things Bright and Beautiful," "All Things Wise and Wonderful," "Every Living Thing," and "The Lord God Made Them All." Reeeeaad him...you know you want to. :)

Books I love

I love reading. I don't know how it started, but ever since I was little books have called to me. Reading is almost as necessary to me as breathing. When sitting at the kitchen table eating cereal, I'll read the label of every food product within reach. When waiting for the conditioner to sink into my hair, I'll read all the shampoo labels in the shower. In middle school when I was bored in class, I read all the books in the desks that were required for other classes. When I finished my own books on vacation at Lake Powell, I read everyone else's. Every summer, every lazy afternoon, every chill winter evening is an opportunity I seize to read. Every time I go to the library, stacks of books build up in my arms and I can't wait to get home and consume them. I'm always searching for the really good ones. I've read several really lame books, hundreds of mediocre books, thousands of pretty good books, and many, many excellent books. And when I read a good one, I want to share it with everyone else, for two reasons: 1. I want them to get as much enjoyment out of the book as I did, and 2. I want to talk to them about it.

So, with that in mind, I want to start sharing all my favorite books with you. This may take a very, very long time, as I currently have a Word file several pages long with the books I've particularly enjoyed. But I really want to, because I want you to be able to enjoy all these books as much as I have.

I'll start this by talking about an awesome series that I just finished this week - The Hunger Games. You may have heard of The Hunger Games several times already, like I had before I decided to read them. They are sooo good.

The books are set in the future, in a country named Panem that lies in the ruins of what was once known as North America. Twelve districts surround "The Capitol," the central district that controls all the others and forces the citizens, who live in poverty, to send them almost everything they produce. Because of a rebellion against the Capitol nearly 75 years ago, every year the Capitol forces every district to send two of their children, one boy and one girl, to the "Hunger Games," a televised fight to the death that every district is made to watch to remind them that the Capitol holds all power and can do anything they want.

As "The Hunger Games" begins, the Capitol representatives are coming to each district to randomly pick the boy and girl who will be in the games that year. Katniss Everdeen, 16, lives in District 12 with her mother and sister. Against her every hope, Katniss hears her sister's name called to go to the Hunger Games. Katniss knows that her sister, who is only 12, will not survive the games, and volunteers to go in her sister's place. And the story begins.

These books are intense. They're the kind of books you can't put down. Katniss is an awesome main character who takes you through a amazing story of courage, love, determination, defiance, and rebellion. The pace is gripping; this is the kind of book you just can't put down. I don't want to give anything away, so all I can say is that you have even the slightest inclincation to read these books - do it. Find time, find a friend you can borrow a copy from - just read them.