Family Home Evening at the Park

If you have been following any of our favorite blogs you already know Amanda has been celebrating her 30th birthday everyday for the last 30 days.  Today - the final day - she is doing it up big with a trip to New York City with her sister Kristi.  You'll have to follow her blog to find out all the fun things she is doing (or shall I say has done) in NYC.  

Arizona Museum of Natural History

The Holy Secret

I am reading the book "The Holy Secret" by James Ferrell.  In Chapter 7, his characters Albert and Michael are doing a thorough reading (examining the meaning of individual words like "goodly") in the first chapter of the first book of Nephi in The Book of Mormon.  I have to say - for all the times I have read the chapter (too many times to remember), I have never seen it the way they did.  In the process they made a list of six things they learned:
1.  A man was pricked by the words of a prophet.
2.  He went out apart to pray.
3.  He saw a vision of the Father and the Son.
4.  He received a book.
5.  He began to preach to the people what he read in the book.
6.  The people mocked and sought to kill him.

For those of you who know the story of the Restoration,  I am sure you can see the point of the list.  As the author says "The restored scriptural work of the Restoration begins with a story that is itself in similitude of the Restoration."

A discussion continues on how we gain understanding only to the degree we come to see connections and recognize patterns.  I will leave you with that thought.

One other item that might be of interest is an article written by Jeffery R. Holland in the September 1976 Ensign page 7 - the author uses this article as the introduction to the discussion between Albert and Michael.

Camel Races

I have been trying to teach myself how to use iMovie and today I was able to spend an hour with a trainer at the Apple store.  In that hour I learned just the basics and really did not have anything near a finished product.  I came home and spent another 1.5 hours adding pictures removing clips, adding text and even added music.  I don't claim to have produced any great product but it was fun learning and so I am sharing it.  I published it to YouTube so this is probably overkill.  

Montezuma Castle National Monument

The Ten Virgins

Fun Time in Utah

The End of Our Fantastic Trip to the Middle East