Protect your right to ROCK!

Erin, Darby, Tara and I protected our right to ROCK last night by attending the Journey & Def Leppard concert in Salt Lake...and can I just say, ROCK ON! It was so fun and packed to the brim! We missed about half of Journey because traffic was HORRIBLE, but when we got there, we soon found out that Journey still has it. We did hear some of their really good stuff (Any Way You Want It, Faithfully, Don't Stop Believin', etc.) and then Def Leppard graced the stage and it was Awesome with a capital A.

It took us a while to recognize all the songs (except Photograph (my favorite DL song) and Pour Some Sugar on Me), but nonetheless still loved them all. And just in case this question ever comes up while you're playing Trivial Pursuit, Def Leppard's drummer only has one arm, his RIGHT arm. (This question actually came up once when we were playing the best game ever invented!) His feet were on over-drive to keep the beat, it's pretty awesome. We heard some great music and I'm really tempted to buy the Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection album. I think it would be a rockin' good time.

The concert certainly brings out the butt-rock crowd. I think it would be safe to say that about 85% of the concert-goers were completely wasted from head-to-toe, either from alcohol, marijuana or the combination of the two. We got a few whiffs of the nasty weed and I think it is one of the sickest smells in the world. Wasted people everywhere, especially the lady in front of us, she was quite the dancer and drinker. I think she may have had a little too much to drink, but she did have some killer moves...literally. She almost took out Tara with her flailing arms. It was pretty entertaining to watch her.

Anyway, it was a cool concert and well worth it. I would definitely go again and we've decided that if Heart comes to Utah, we are there. Remember to Protect your right to ROCK!

Patience is a Virtue

"Patience is the best remedy for every trouble." ~Titus Maccius Plautus (254 BC - 184 BC), Rudens

Okay, so my mission papers are done...sort of. I turned them into my bishop on 10 July. Two weeks later, I had an interview with him when he informed me that he couldn't find my dental paperwork that I turned in at the beginning of March. So, now I have to resubmit those papers, have the bishop turn them in to the Stake President, have an interview with him, and have the papers sent to Salt Lake. Hopefully it will only be a week to a week and a half for my call to arrive once they have been submitted to Salt Lake.

Wow, if this isn't a patience builder I don't know what is? I guess I would consider myself a patient person. The thing is, the call will be here soon enough and then I will be gone before I know it. This too shall pass...

"To Thine Own Self Be True..."

Wow, I was reading an article today and I was amazed at how much people don't like themselves. The article was about the suicide rates of people who suffer from BDD (Body Dysmorphic Disorder). When did we become so vain and self-involved that we don't like ourselves enough to take our own lives? I loved Sister Susan W. Tanner's words in the October 2005 General Conference:

"[Satan's]... punishment is that he does not have [a body]. Therefore he tries to do everything he can to get us to abuse or misuse this precious gift. He has filled the world with lies and deceptions about the body. He tempts many to defile this great gift of the body through unchastity, immodesty, self-indulgence, and addictions. He seduces some to despise their bodies; others he tempts to worship their bodies. In either case, he entices the world to regard the body merely as an object. In the face of so many satanic falsehoods about the body, I want to raise my voice today in support of the sanctity of the body. I testify that the body is a gift to be treated with gratitude and respect."

What a beautiful statement! How do we get over ourselves and our problems? Service! I truly believe this. I also utterly believe that no matter how bad it may seem for you, there is always someone who is worse off. Forget yourself and look at others. I loved Sister Tanner's advice on service:

"I remember well the insecurities I felt as a teenager with a bad case of acne. I tried to care for my skin properly. My parents helped me get medical attention. For years I even went without eating chocolate and all the greasy fast foods around which teens often socialize, but with no obvious healing consequences. It was difficult for me at that time to fully appreciate this body
which was giving me so much grief. But my good mother taught me a higher law. Over and over she said to me, 'You must do everything you can to make your appearance pleasing, but the minute you walk out the door, forget yourself and start concentrating on others.'
There it was. She was teaching me the Christlike principle of selflessness. Charity, or the pure love of Christ, 'envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own' (Moroni 7:45). When we become other-oriented, or selfless, we develop an inner beauty of spirit that glows in our outward appearance. This is how we make ourselves in the Lord's image rather than the world's and receive His image in our countenances."

I personally like who I am and I hope that we can all accept who were are. Forget yourself. I think it is worth repeating: no matter how bad it may seem for you, there is always someone who has it worse than you. Think about it.