Life is busy as ever but this term is going well. I very much enjoy all of my classes at Sac City, and my professors are awesome! Work is going well too, just crazy. Without fail, Fridays tend to be the most interesting day for that is when we see more behavioral referrals, more strange things, crazy events and other random stuff occur. It keeps us on our toes though!
Take today as an example. I was on my way to work this morning and my car started acting really really funny about 4 blocks away from home. It was idling rough and was sluggish to accelerate. So naturally I took time to investigate and see what is going on. Why you ask? Because I have to be able to drive my car to Utah next Thursday for the Italy Mission reunion and then to see friends/family in Utah, Idaho and down in Southern California. To make a long story short I was nearly 3 hours late to work, but my car seems to be running alright.
Other than those few things, life is fairly normal. We’re coming up on my 1 year annaversary of returning home from my mission (April 9th was my release date, and I got home on April 16th or so). It doesn’t feel like it has been a year already, but when I stop to think about it, I realize exactly where time has gone.
Until next update…
CS
Mission, Personal, Reflections
Alright, so in light of the fact that yesterday was Valentines Day.. I figured I would post something. I begin with an excerpt from my journal exactly one year ago. At that time I was serving in the city of Pescara, Italy; which is located over on the eastern coast of the country that I love dearly.
Happy Valentines Day? Those words mean next to nothing to me since I’ve still got a tag on! Next year, however, there will be a valentine… 
Happy Singles Awareness Day!
Those were my words, verbatim. However, I do not have a valentine this year and so my words, penned by a hopeful heart, go unanswered.
As I was explaining to my Elders Quorum today, the closest thing I did to being romantic was that I spent an hour and half or more pruning roses in the garden. The roses “kissed” me with their thorns, and left their red lipstick (read my blood), on my hand. Read more…
Mission, Personal, Reflections Chieti, Hawaii, Mission, Pescara, Ukulele, Valentines Day
Alright…. if defacing our buildings wasn’t enough…. look at what some of the extremists are doing now! Obviously not all people who were opposed to Prop 8 would go this far, and for those that are level headed… thank you. But resulting to attacks akin to bioterrorism isn’t in any way shape or form acceptable and shows once again the level of intolerance that the opposition has. Wow….
LOS ANGELES AP — Authorities are investigating after letters containing white powder were sent to Mormon temples in Utah and California.
A temple that was the site of a recent gay rights protest in Los Angeles was closed Thursday after receiving the envelope. The package was being inspected.
Powder spilled from an envelope onto a clerk’s hand Thursday at the temple in downtown Salt Lake City. The room was decontaminated and the envelope taken by the FBI for testing.
The clerk showed no signs of illness, but the scare shut down a building at Temple Square for more than an hour.
Protests in recent days have targeted the Mormon church, which encouraged its members to fight the recently passed amendment banning gay marriage in California.
The Associated Press
Text taken from the following article, courtesy of the Associated Press and KXTV News 10:
White Powder Sent to Mormon Temples in Utah, LA | News10.net | Sacramento, California | Local News.
News, Personal, Politics, Reflections
Anti-Mormonism is part of the reason why Proposition 8 protesters are targeting the LDS Church, according to media and culture experts. They say the use of anti-Mormonism as a way to hurt Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign legitimized its use as a political tool by protesters in California.
Supporters of “same sex marriage” in California are targeting Mormons for protests because the LDS Church supported the state constitutional amendment that defined marriage as being between a man and a woman.
“It was clear that the LDS Church was a key spearhead in terms of organizing and supporting the Prop. 8 effort,” said Richard Alan Nelson, a professor of mass communication and public affairs at Louisiana State University and an expert on propaganda in the United States.
But the church’s high profile role may not be the only reason why protesters are singling out the Mormons. Read more…
Personal, Politics
So the battle is still running hot here in California and Prop 8 has become a huge issue in recent weeks. The fight isn’t over and we need all the support we can get to help this item to pass.
The other day I went around Elk Grove and put up five or so “Yes on 8″ signs. By the next evening three of them were gone and one of those three had been replaced with a “No on 8″ sign. I understand that this is a big issue, but that doesn’t give someone the right to take down a sign because they disagree with the issue. I don’t see people taking down signs for mayorial canidates or school board canidates. I had the urge to return and remove the one sign that had replaced my own, but I realized then, that I would be guilty of the same act that I was condemning someone else of. In the end, I let it be, allowing whomever stole my sign, access to their freedom of speech. I’ll just continue to exercise mine and place more signs.
If you face similar issues please read the following: Read more…
News, Politics, World Events