So, some of you may have seen these already (meaning family and those who might have to travel to Utah), but I want to share with everyone our pretty nifty Save the Date postcards!

We went back and forth on how we wanted to do these, and then Hayley came across some really great postcards online that sparked this idea.  We found that you can get a do-it-yourself stamp at most any office supply store, and we thought that would be a really fun look for these.

After picking everything up, we painstakingly put all the minuscule letters onto the stamp and got to work!  Here’s the final result:

In reality, there was another batch that were prepared first…  For those who aren’t aware, the wedding was originally going to happen in Houston, but in order to accomodate family (especially those who have difficulty traveling) we decided it would be best to move our plans to Salt Lake City.

To the point, we initially stamped some Save the Dates for Houston, and I have to share them because they’re so stinking cool!

Isn’t that a super great postcard?! We probably should have tried to find more of them (since we’re still in Texas and sending love from here to y’all), but we found the Utah ones right after the location change and figured we wanted to emphasize the Utah-ness of the wedding for those who we had already talked with about it.  And I should probably mention that these Love from Texas cards are from a random gift shop at a hotel in Dallas – it may have been difficult to acquire more of them without a giant/special order.

All of that aside, we’re super happy with how fun our Save the Date postcards turned out.  We really had a fun time putting them all together, so hopefully you all really enjoy them as well!

And remember… SAVE THE DATE!

I previously posted my testimony on this blog a couple years ago.  Go here to read it.

Here is another testimony (on YouTube) that I think is really touching.  If you’re at all curious about the Book of Mormon and what I believe to be true, go check out this video.  It’s only 5 minutes, and maybe you’ll understand me a bit more!

No, I’m not making an LDS version of I am Legend (though I’m curious what that would even be… Any thoughts?), but I want to do a better at being a bit more vocal about who I am and what I believe. No worries, I’m not going to be doing any preaching to try and convert everyone I see, but there are plenty of people out there that have misconceptions about what I believe and so I guess I’m responding to that more than anything else.

What surprises me is that there is such animosity toward members of the LDS Church and that it is OK in the public sector to say whatever you want about us. I thought this article was particularly interesting (and yes, it’s written by someone who is LDS). I was shocked at the attacks people made on Mitt Romney throughout the Republican primaries, and I’m really sad to see him out of the race – he is by far the best republican candidate on paper. Honestly, he’s one of only a couple people I would feel comfortable voting for (McCain and Obama are NOT on that short list by the way).

I’m not trying to talk about politics, but rather my feeling that the United States is full of hypocrites. We love to pontificate about the importance of being open minded to homosexuality, different races, foreign religions, etc…; but the nation refuses to respect a group of over 6 million American people who live by their faith in what many scholars proclaim to be a truly American Religion. This doesn’t even seem like a stretch, to be perfectly honest – we’re talking about American people who live clean cut lives, that are general good members of the community, and that are some of the first to respond with humanitarian aid in an emergency. What’s the problem?

Well, people don’t like to be bugged by LDS missionaries, and some member of the LDS Church are pretty obnoxious when it comes to sharing their faith – but aren’t a lot of other religions like that as well? I’m OK with LDS missionary jokes on occasion, because I can see how that is obnoxious to some people, but what’s with the straight hatred?

OK, so you don’t agree with our beliefs, but who cares? Just because Mormons believe that God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three distinct and separate beings that are one in purpose rather than one in physical form does not mean that we are less Christian than the next person. In fact, the LDS Church is only one of many Christian groups that believe in that same doctrine!

Again, I’m not trying to argue specific points of doctrine, rather I hope to point out how ridiculous the prejudice is when you consider that we are pretty much your prototypical Americans. Yeah, we do some things differently (e.g. we don’t drink alcohol or smoke), and we certainly are cheesy when it comes to family time, but does that make us ripe for ridicule in the public square? Does that make us un-American?

If we are so concerned about being an open and accepting society, why are most Americans playing the role of hypocrite when it comes to LDS folks? Going back to the election (and I’m totally stealing this from the article I referenced above), we have a black man, a woman, a baptist, and a Mormon that were all running in the primaries… Do we hear much criticism of the black man? Goodness no! Have I been called sexist for suggesting Hillary would be a bad chose because I disagree with her politics? Oh yeah! Do we make fun of the former baptist minister who says his religion defines him? No, no, no!

What about the Mormon? Well, he’s weird…

On this past Fourth of July I stood up and proclaimed myself to be proud to be an American – but that doesn’t mean I don’t think we have a lot of room for improvement.

So, I completely abandoned Pyxlin recently… I abandoned it because I was pointed towards LDSJournal.com, which I consider a better solution to my needs. Not only is it free, but I like how easy it is to use, without the obnoxious wait times and such that I experienced with Pyxlin’s site. Pyxlin was great, and I don’t regret the money I spent to get a year subscription (it was cheap, and I wrote daily), but that’s all a sunk cost now that I see something that meets my needs in a better way.

Few examples:

LDSJournal.com runs much faster because it doesn’t run on the silly platform that Pyxlin uses!

Pyxlin:

LDSJournal:

As you can see, posting on LDSJournal is very similar to posting on your blog. I don’t have to worry about the silly typesetting thing that gets really annoying.

You can also use Firefox spell checking (see above picture for red squigglies), which you could not do in Pyxlin… You were instead forced to use their retarded spell checker.

LDSJournal also allows for footnotes (images and such) as well as journal addendums that can be time stamped differently to show that you went back to old journal entries and had thoughts that you wanted to share. This could be really neat for reviewing your journal at the end of the month or end of the year. You could go in and explain how certain thoughts became really important to you as the month went on and how different experiences may have shaped what you decided your next steps in life to be.

I also don’t have to have silly chapters and things in my LDSJournal. Everything is associated with a date (see the calendar on both the image above and the one below that lets you know when you’ve made an entry), and when I decide to print something (the functionality for that is forthcoming, but I’m faithful since I’ve already seen development since I moved to their service) it will be set chronologically without hassle. Apparently they are also working on the “tag” feature I would really like, which would allow me to print a different journal just based on entries with spiritual experiences or confessions of love (cheesy!).

I also like that it tells me right at the bottom what my most recent journal entries are and the dates associated with them. This just makes it a little easier for me to keep track of my progress with an actual idea of what I wrote about based on the entry title.

Anyway, this is my new recommendation! Certainly check it out (it’s FREE). I encourage everyone to keep a journal for a bunch of reasons:

1. It helps you process what you did during the day
2. It is great for thinking through whatever you are experiencing in life
3. I often have my “A HA!” moments as I’m writing in my journal, and those really help shape my life
4. It’s sort of recommended by the Prophets and Apostles…

A friend of mine, Chris Haleua,  put up a website/blog at http://www.bookofmormontruth.com/, and I thought I would contribute by sharing my feelings on the Book of Mormon…  I’ve copied below what I sent to him to post on his new page.  As a side note, I think it’s important to put good information out there when you see a lot of falsehoods taking up the bandwidth – this goes for anything religious, social, whatever!  Use the internet for sharing good rather than for spewing hate…  That’s my goal!

I guess I should start by saying that I didn’t always believe the Book of Mormon to be true…  My Father is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) and my Mother is a Presbyterian.  I grew up going to church with my Dad, but I spent a fair amount of time once I really began thinking about my faith wondering whether or not any of the stuff I was being told was true.  It’s a little fantastic to think, isn’t it?  A boy named Joseph Smith seeing God the Father and Jesus Christ, then being instructed some years later to translate a story of people here in the Americas and their religious experiences…  You have to admit, it’s kind of hard at first glance to believe that a story like that could be true.

My testimony is that it IS true.  When I was in high school I decided that it was time for me to figure out whether or not this book really was what everyone told me it was.  I grew up in the Chicago-land area, so I had my church friends telling me it was true and my school friends telling me it was written by Satan.  The only way I could think of to prove it one way or another was to read it and to pray about it-trusting that God would never lead me astray if I were to pray in full faith, asking for enlightenment.  (Remember John 11:22 – “But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.”)

When I read the Book of Mormon, I felt a great peace and sense of faith come over me.  Knowing my Bible pretty decently, I thought of the scripture Galatians 5:22-23 – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”  At that point I knew something was right.

After reading I would pray and ask if the book and its words are true, and I would always feel at peace, filled with love, and with a desire to continue reading more.  After consistently feeling that way for an extended period of time, I knew I was doing something right.  I continued in the Book of Mormon until I had completed it.  In the final chapter, the prophet Moroni promises the following (Moroni 10:3-5):

3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

I had been praying all along, but at this point I knelt down and asked one more time if the Book of Mormon is true, and I can testify that it is!

The Book of Mormon has been a strength to me throughout my life.  At times I struggle with the complexities of life, and I realized a long time ago that the teachings in Ecclesiastes are true, and that a life filled with good things is still empty and futile if it is without God.  When I read in the Book of Mormon (and the Bible for that matter), I feel the Spirit of God in my life and I can make it through the hardest trials and feel the greatest joys when things seem to be going my way.  One of my favorite Book of Mormon scriptures is found in Helaman chapter 5, when the prophet Helaman spoke to his sons, saying in verse 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.”

As an LDS Missionary I saw the Book of Mormon change people’s lives.  These weren’t simply non-believers that finally found Christ, but devout Catholics, Baptists and Jehovah’s Witnesses that began reading the Book of Mormon and discovering the truth of it for themselves.  The teachings in the Book of Mormon drive us to become better disciples of Jesus Christ, and that was the challenge that each of these converts took upon themselves.

I know that the Book of Mormon is true, and it has changed my life and made me a better man.  Alongside the Bible, the Book of Mormon helps us understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ more clearly.  If you’re curious for yourself, take the time to validate the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon for yourself! 

As always, communication on anything I write about it appreciated and welcome.  Just post a comment, and if you ask a question I will respond.

So, I’ve been putting this off all week… I suppose I’ve been putting it off because I’m not entirely sure what to say or how to say it, but the honest to goodness truth is that I need to say something.

We’ve all had teachers in our lives that have made a profound impact for one reason or another… I have had several, I suppose, but the one that has had the greatest impact would be Gordon B. Hinckley. Gordon B. Hinckley was the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a Prophet of the Savior Jesus Christ. This past Sunday evening he died at the age of 97, ending a long life of compassion and service.

President Hinckley led the LDS Church through the majority of my life, and I have had countless opportunities to hear his counsel on how to live a more Christ-like life. There was always a challenge to be more charitable, loving, accepting, and faithful. His testimony of Jesus Christ was witness to the Savior’s divine nature and mission.

“Believe in Jesus Christ, our Savior and our Redeemer, the Son of God, who came to earth and walked the dusty roads of Palestine-the Son of God-to teach us the way of truth and light and salvation, and who, in one great and glorious act offered an atonement for each of us. He opened the way of salvation and exaltation for each of us, under which we may go forward in the Church and kingdom of God. Be not faithless, but believe in the great and wonderful and marvelous blessings of the Atonement.”

( “Selections from Addresses of President Gordon B. Hinckley,” Ensign, Mar. 2001, 64.)

He testified not only of Jesus Christ, but of the restoration of Christ’s Church through Joseph Smith (to clarify: Joseph Smith is not considered a Mormon God, nor is he more important to us than Jesus Christ – we simply honor and respect him much like the Jews honor and respect Moses). President Hinckley’s testimony was simply that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Church of God, restored on the earth with the proper Priesthood authority that was held by the Apostles of old. He testified of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, scripture written by “other sheep” on the American continent who also saw and testified of Jesus Christ.

To me, President Hinckley was a role model and teacher. He has taught me to be a better son, brother, and future husband and father. On numerous occasions he has taught me the importance of treating everyone as a Child of God, because that’s who we truly are. He challenged me to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it – and because of that I gained a personal testimony of Jesus Christ, served a two year LDS Mission and changed my life. He gave me a greater perspective of my potential, and I can only hope to live up to it.

I’m not going to lie, I feel terribly inadequate writing something about someone who has been a strength to so many people. I am not terribly articulate, but I can certainly confess that I love President Hinckley and I know he is a Prophet of God. People will argue and dispute that, but I am personally satisfied that it is the Truth.

I place my thoughts alongside those of millions of others who have been touched by the life of a great man. I thank thee, O God, for the Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley…

The great thing about the CP80 initiative is that it is about choice. It isn’t an argument that pornography should be made illegal in all forms or that laws should define that only adults may access it, but it is about giving a family or organization (I don’t want to leave business situations out of this) the choice of whether or not they want to allow pornographic content to come across their wires.

For those who are unaware, I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and during the Priesthood session of the October 2006 General Conference, President Hinckley asked all the men of the Church (I’m assuming much of what he said applies to women as well) to “Rise Up, O Men of God”. During that talk he read a letter that was written to him by a brother who was (or at least I’m hoping I can use the past tense) heavily addicted to pornography. In the letter, the brother pleads, “…please plead with the brethren of the Church not only to avoid but eliminate the sources of pornographic material in their lives.” President Hinckley later tells us “…there must be self-discipline enough to turn it off.” Yes, I believe he was using the pronoun it to refer to the computer itself, but if it were possible, I think he would prefer we turn the pornographic material itself off.

The Family Movie Act is a great example of a way in which the US Government has given the family a say on what they can do to control media entering their home. The Family Movie Act is not about forcing rated R movies out of the house, or about forcing the movie industry to censor their products, but it gives families a choice about the kinds of media they watch. The CP80 solution to internet pornography is basically to require website to “rate” themselves just like movies are forced to be rated from G to PG to PG-13 to R, etc… Once a website is “rated” by switching to a different port, families can now decide whether or not they want that kind of media entering their homes.

There is no limit to freedom of speech, since those who want to access pornography will be able to, and it will not make it any harder for people to get to their website (the URL isn’t going to change, they’ll probably just be forced to have a landing page – something many digital certificate companies require for certification anyway [my roommate works at DigiCert]). Oh, and as for enforcement? I’m sure the government is OK with fining people like crazy if they violate; when do they not like collecting a lot of cash, they just need to make the fine hefty enough.

Just because it’s hard or seems like a large task doesn’t mean we should just give up. I don’t look to take away the right that others have to indulge in whatever they would like to indulge in, but I would very much like the ability to keep destructive materials out of my home. I have seen too many families, marriages, and lives destroyed over pornography to the point that I barely trust myself enough to say that I will never give in to it. Think about how much time you spend on your computer everyday! Think of how many idle hours some of you have spent just floating from one site to another online! What’s to say that Satan won’t hit you someday with a temptation strong enough to steer you or a loved one to something you would never partake of under normal circumstances. We will all face temptation, but I think it is wise counsel to eliminate as many situations and opportunities as possible when it comes to serious transgression.

Those of our generation can make a difference because we actually understand the technology behind the magic that is the internet.If we can’t stand as disciples of Jesus Christ on something like this, when will we stand on his side? I don’t know what legislation will pass, I don’t know what will happen in the future, but I think true discipleship asks us to stand up in situations like this. We wanted the ability to choose before we came to earth, shouldn’t we continue to fight for it now that we’re here?

Well, my buddy Brian Corrales tagged me… I guess some folks have been playing the Blog Tag Game, or whatever they’re calling it, and I’m next in line.

1. I’ve been in two movies. Ok, so I don’t know the name of the second movie, but it has that Kirby kid from all the Mormony movies… It’s some family Christmas gone wrong picture, and my buddy Ben Meek and I are extras, floating around a Christmas party. The movie I’m slightly famous for (and only in my mind, I’m sure) is Charly. I wish I could capture a screen shot or something of the part (who am I kidding, there were at least 5) when the camera zoomed in and focused on my gorgeous melon… When I was on my mission, I returned to my greenie area after about a year where all of the members had seen me in the movie and had apparently been so excited that they showed the clip in both Relief Society and Elder’s Quorum (only in a Latin ward). Anyway, it’s usually something I only bring up after the third date, unless Travis (who is also in the scene with me) ruins it and brings it up right away.
2. I sing. So, some people know this, but generally only because I was given the calling of death to be the ward choir director this year… Generally only those that went to high school with me, or that witnessed the brief period in time when I had an a cappella group at BYU (ahh, good ol’ Resonance), know about this. I performed in several of the musicals back in the day, and was a leader in our school’s madrigals group. During my senior year I was ranked as a top 5 bass in the state of Illinois at the high school level. I don’t really know if that is something I should consider super impressive, but it felt good at the time. I don’t think I sing nearly as well as I did back in the day, but I still have a little skill left; actually, this is one of the things I think I’m looking to re-establish in my life… It gives me some character, right? :)
3. I still read Comic Books. OK, this is the ULTIMATE blow to my aura of cool. About a year ago I picked up a hardcover copy of The Ultimates, which is a modern retelling of the Avengers (Iron Man, Captain America, Hawkeye, Thor, etc…), and I absolutely LOVED it! I was pretty surprised at how much I enjoyed the book, and then I went out and started buying some other hardcover copies of different titles. I must admit, I’ve always been a sucker for super hero stories, and some of the comics in this generation are definitely geared to a much older audience than they were when I was a kid (or maybe they were always geared towards an older crowd?). Anyway, I pretty much only keep up on the Marvel books, though I never hit up the Dragon’s Keep (the only comic shop in the Provo area). Anyway, this is probably the biggest and nerdiest confession I have ever made in a forum as public as this.
4. I absolutely despise Hollywood. I wrote a little bit about this in a post on my old blog a couple years ago, but my full emotions were probably not expressed in their entirety… Honestly, in that post I mentioned the idea of writing a book, and it’s probably a pretty decent idea. How Hollywood Blindsided America or something like that. Well, alright, I stink at the creativity stuff, but I think I could seriously go on a rant for 200+ pages about how I think Hollywood is corrupting American values and trying to push its agenda onto the easily influenced American viewing audience. Seriously, the average American has a much stricter moral composition than Hollywood portrays, and anytime someone stands up for their morals it seems like Hollywood comes blazing in accusing everyone of bigotry and lack of compassion. This type of thing is mostly seen during big elections (does anyone else remember Whoopi “Freak-Face-Hairy-Scary” Goldberg and Ben “I suck at acting, so I’m gunna convince America that they should subscribe to my values” Affleck trying to convince us that we should agree with them simply because they are famous? I know those weren’t the words coming out of their mouths, but what else could they be using as a foundation for their arguments? Higher intelligence? I understand that people who believe in things will use whatever platform they have to get their point across, but I don’t have to like it when Rosie “when did I become the most unlikeable woman on television” O’Donnell gets on her soup box and attacks everyone and everything in sight… I guess it may not be a problem with Hollywood using their means of communication to get out the message they want to spread, but rather it is a problem that the American people have given those in Hollywood an exalted status. Does it make anyone else sick to see a bunch of girls (and guys for that matter) in their 20′s and beyond reading some of the trashy “star chasing” magazines? Do we not have lives of our own to where we now have to live our lives through people who would place themselves (heck, many of us agree) as our superiors? Can you tell I have an opinion on this? :)
5. I’m a lover, not a fighter. Those who know me well already know this, but I really am a bit of a hopeless romantic type of guy… Sick, I know! It really is pretty much the downfall of my life, I’ve had my heart broken a few times (once really badly) because I put myself out there and I’m always looking to fall in love. I guess it’s something I believe in when there isn’t a whole lot to believe in during our generation. The love of God and the love we have for each other (especially between a man, his wife, and his children) is all that will save us in this world. I didn’t know what else to put as my number 5, so here ya go!

Anyway, I guess I’m done playing tag but I’m supposed to pass it on. Jason Malwitz and Aaron Hardy get the official invitations, so keep the game going!