Being in School does not = Getting an Education

So, you're in school?

Cool.

Unfortunately, being in school is not the same thing as getting an education. There are many people who've gone through a plethora of years of so called "schooling" all to get a little, flimsy piece of paper. They missed the boat.

Don't get me wrong.

A diploma is really important. It gets you stuff like a lifetime career. Yeah, we want one of those.

But, really. We are in school to learn. It's all about gaining knowledge so we can do well in the career that we are trying to reach. Not to mention how it can help us better understand the world, life, others, our family, ourselves.


That's what I've been thinking about recently.

Sometimes, in the past, it was all about a letter of the alphabet for me. Like, isn't that  'A'  so much more triangular than a 'B'? So much more appealing.

 I had to have it. 

So, I worked really hard studying for hours before I took a test or quiz, only to forget all the information in the next few days.

Think about it.

I was spending thousands of dollars just to forget things.

What about those who cheat their way through school? Aren't they really just cheating themselves?

But, a mission changed things for me. All of a sudden I was learning because I loved people, I loved myself, and I loved God. I wanted to make the world a better place.

And that concept stuck.

Now, when I study, there's more about understanding how information can help make me better, and you better, and us better.


I still want to get good grades, but I want so much more than that.

I want an education. A real one.

Does RM actually stand for "Real Meaning" ?

I'm back. That's right. 

Back.

Back to my blog and back to the world where my life consists of wearing pants, listening to modern music, and being a regular young adult human being. Which is why I can actually be writing this right now.

Except for one thing. 

I have now joined the small (in world terms) ranks of returned missionaries, people who have had stepped into the shoes of being set apart, consecrated, and thrown into the relatively bloodless but ultimately spirit wrenching battlefield of earth's missionary realm, and have come back to reality.

It tends to change things up a bit.

But here's where it gets really interesting.

Because life is really interesting. It is a 70 or 80 or 90 year experience that we have during a an experience that lasts for trillions and trillions and trillions of years.

An eternity actually. 

Whoa, earth life is something pretty brief and extraordinary. 

 It seems there are RM's who go around thinking that they have hit their spiritual peak, that it is all downhill from here, that their MISSION... Oh their beautiful mission, if only they could return....

Really, people?

Do you not think this is exactly where God wants you to be right this second? 

Yes. A mission is a beautiful grand experience. You breathe.  You live. You love. You laugh. You cry. Yes. You feel like you have never felt before.

So, does the removal of a little plastic black square from your shirt remove the capacity for all that? 

No. It doesn't. Only YOU can do that. Only I can do that. And that's the way I see it. Some doors have been closed. 

But many have been opened. I can still talk to the stranger sitting by me on the bus IF I have the gall to do so. AND NOW, My family has become such a great priority to my life, my personal "purpose". I can play basketball with Hyrum! And I can study my scriptures with Kristen. I can actually talk to my piece of forever anytime I want. That's a big deal to me.

 I can improve my talents by practicing the piano. I can redeem people who have passed on. 

And yes, some days I miss my mission.

 But, life is a great mission. 

And life is not over yet. Nor is it ever. So, I don't really want to pine over what is not, but I 'd rather recognize what can be. With the help of God. 

RM really can stand for "Real Meaning". 

The Best Super Bowl Commercial Ever. And I mean Ever.

Beautiful. Just Beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMpZ0TGjbWE

A Stance on Freedom

If America was to decide tomorrow that kings should reign and dictators should rule, we would object. If America was to decide tomorrow that people should be silent and freedom should be obsolete, we would oppose. If America was to say ‘line up your children so we can shoot them, the population is growing too large’, we would rebel.

But if America only ruled a little badly, we would sit. If America only got a little more stupid, we would sit. If America was to say ‘stop having children; it is bad for the economy; feel free to kill your child as long as it is not yet born’, we would sit.

We would sit until the little changes in rules became big changes, and the slight stupidities became major idiocies.  We would sit until our economy wore down, and our taxes overcame the income of the people. We would sit until our youth grew corrupt, until the citizens became destitute, until the constitution became obsolete.

We would sit because the changes would not be enough to make us move. After all, what is one more injustice? What is one more dollar of taxes? What is one more person without virtue?

For, the world does not work in major leaps. A country does not wake up one day and decide that it will shatter into a million pieces, crushing the hopes of all the citizens. People do not suddenly go from being free to being imprisoned.

Sitting is all it takes for a country to fall. For our country to fall.  Sitting is the easiest way for diminish, slowly and without acknowledgement.

And so, we have few choices. We will sit until there is nothing left to sit on, or we will stand.

And if we stand, it will take effort. If we stand, it will cause challenges. If we stand, it will be difficult.

If we stand, we must work.

But if we stand, we  conquer.

Why I am Going on A Mission.

Two years ago, a mission wasn’t on my agenda. It wasn’t part of my plans. It wasn’t in the scope of my desires. I didn’t think a mission would be in the cards for me. Missionaries leave for a year and a half (or two if male), and I wanted to do other things with my life. I was an eighteen year old girl with a mild fear of missionaries, and I thought I wanted to do other things instead. God thought otherwise. 

God knows me. He knows my challenges and difficulties, and he knows me strengths. During fall of 2011, I did a project on missionary work. It increased my love for missionaries, and it gave me a passion for missions. But, I still didn’t know I would be going on one.

 I didn’t know until January 30, 2012, a year ago exactly. On that day, I said a simple prayer to a loving father in heaven. I wasn’t praying about being a missionary. I was seeking help to get through a problem that I could hardly grapple alone.  He inspired me to make a promise through the power of the Holy Ghost, a power that can only be recognized through experience, to say that I would go on a mission. I would like to share from my journal the commitment that I made:

“The first thing that popped into my head when I was praying was that ‘I would serve a mission’[to say]. I didn’t really like that because it wasn’t what I want to do.  I don’t have much of  a desire to set down a year and a half of school, and life, but I promised him that if I was worthy and untaken I would go serve him. I intend to keep this promise so I’m writing it down.”

Quite simply, this is the reason that I chose to go on a mission. Because I made a promise to God. I am not willing to break my word. Since then though, my desire has become so much more.

At the time of my prayer, I thought I was preparing for something about two and a half years in the future, but I followed through with my commitment. I began to prepare myself for a mission, publicly announcing that I was going, which seemed silly at the time(not to me, but probs to others). I went to mission prep class during Sunday school, and I volunteered at the MTC. Most importantly, I came to terms with the idea of a mission and came to desire it for myself.

Less than nine months after I made a promise to go, our latter-day prophet announced to the whole church that girls could go at nineteen. I was nineteen. I had been taking the semester off, trying to earn money with the goal to go to BYU Jerusalem, which costs about the same as a mission. It was the first semester I had ever taken off, and I had no excuse of waiting to sell a contract.

God had prepared me without me even realizing it. New things utterly terrify me. If I had not known that I was going on a mission, I do not know if I would have made the choice to go. I know that he wants me to go, and I trust him.

I want to go on a mission today, partly because of the commitment that I made, but it has become something much more. I have a joy that fills my heart and soul with such sweet peace. I believe that out there somewhere could be a person who needs to hear the gospel from me. This church is true. It’s the coolest and truest thing ever. Just as Joseph Smith said, “I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it...” (JS History 1:25, Monson’s Talk on obedience).  I know it, and I cannot deny the truth. I don’t want to deny the truth!

You may not understand how I feel, but I know that you can come to know how I feel. This gospel has been an immense blessing in my life. I invite you to pray, read the Book of Mormon, and come to taste a fruit that is beyond anything you have ever partaken of. I promise you that if you do so it will be awesome, truly and wholeheartedly awesome. 

Waiting for a mission Call. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.

It is easy to desire something that isn't part of God's plan for us. It is even easier to desire something that is part of God's plan for us IMMEDIATELY.

I have fasted that my call would be here, yet it has not come. Is it challenging? I would say yes, but the truth is it stopped being such a big deal to me about a few weeks ago. They say patience is a virtue, and through this is experience I have learned that I don't have the patience that God needs me to have. He has his own time table. There is a right  time, place, and process for most things in life. The expected arrival for my mission call was supposed to be the 19th of December, but that wasn't the time that God expected it to arrive. I put my trust in him and hope that I will get a call eventually.

.....And so I wait.

It's not much different than what  I will be facing when I do go on a mission. People won't be leaping to get baptized in a day or two or even a week or two. Most likely. And so I will wait. And I will pray that the day will come that a decision will arrive. And I will lack patience and be frustrated and wish that the people I am teaching would discover the truth already. If I am even teaching anyone that is.

My call will come someday, and in the meantime, I trust that there is a reason for me to be patient. God knows all things, and I know very little.

What I do know is that he has a plan for me. He loves me. He wants what's best for me. He holds the truth. And the truth can be discovered through this gospel.

The Man Who Liked to Eat (Stories for my Advanced English Class)

The Man Who Ate and Ate

There once was a man who liked to eat. He ate and ate and ate and ate. Until finally, his stomach swelled like a whale, and his face looked like a watermelon. He would have kept eating, but the town ran out of food. No one in the town could eat anymore because the man had eaten up all their food, so they kicked him out of town.

They sent him away, and as he left they could hear him walking, and it sounded like, "Glup! Glup!"

He was so very fat that he couldn't walk too far, so he stopped at the next town over, which was about 400 yards away. In the next town, people were preparing a massive feast. The aroma was wafting through the air. The man who ate too much could not resist coming over and asking for a bit to eat.

The people in the town were friendly, so they offered food willingly. The man ate and ate and ate and ate. First, he ate the hundred potatoes they had laid at. Then, he ate the giant turkey. He ate and ate and ate, until he had gobbled down the town's feast, the town's food,and the town dog.
Then, the man laid down. All the people in the town cried out in frustration that their food was gone, but the man did not hear, for he was dead.

                                                                          The End

Missionaries: It's Not About the WHERE; it's about the WHO.

People often ask me questions like,

"Where are you going for your mission?"

"Where do you want to go?"

"Where do you think you are going?"

"What if you get sent to Boise, Idaho?"

That's not what it's about for me. It's not about seeing some great tourist attractions. It's not about dealing with fair weather. It's not about the place.

....It's about the WHO.

Somewhere in this amazing world is someone that needs me; my personal strengths, weaknesses, outlook on things--I have something to offer specifically to that individual. 

I will deal with it whether that person is in Boise, Idaho or Paris, France. I want to go WHERE the WHO(s) are for me. The people that I can most bless.

Cause, really. Going on a mission isn't about the WHERE. It's about the WHO. 

Missionaries. Going forth and Serving.

I am so stoked to receive my mission call. I think about it all the time, and I feel the Savior's love in my heart.
How can this church not be true? I know that the women going forth to preach will bring joy to people' lives.

http://youtu.be/Bg74zh6GhY8

I keep watching this video over and over again. What great young adult men and women we have here in the church. What great missionaries.

yeah.

I Created This Video For My Advertising Application...But I Didn't get My Application in On Time.

Let me know what you think though! Luckily, I did get my journalism application in on time.

And also, my life plans have changed. So not such a big deal at all.


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I Hope They Call Me On A Mission.

Heavenly Father is so aware of us.

Really, he is.

Little  eighteen-year-old Amy Michelle Staker prayed around eight months ago or so for help and felt the prompting to make a promise to serve a mission based off of certain circumstances. 

And so, even though she had years to go, she started to prepare and get completely stoked about the idea of serving a mission(sometimes a lot ...sometimes not as much). 

She was lucky to have good friends. A friend who brought her to volunteer at the MTC. Which she loved with extreme love, seriously. Also, she went to a mission prep Sunday school class. 

She also happened to decide to take a semester off...and ended up working and earning money. The ONLY semester that she has not come to school (Yes, I went straight Summer-Fall-Winter-Spring-Summer) Which made her totally free for the semester...no school needed to finish up. And the beginning of money for the mish in the pocket.

And then came the news that missions could be served at nineteen and NOT twenty-one. 

All of these things miracles? Oh my, yes! 

So, I just want to say I'm grateful to have a Heavenly Father who answers my prayers and who prepares me for the things I don't even know are coming. 

Wow. Heavenly Father is so aware of us. 

He wants us to be happy, and he has a plan for us. 

Which is basically awesome. 

Red Light. Green Light. Red Light.

IF you've ever been a small child, and I'm quite certain you probably have been, there is a good probability that you, at some point in your life,  were able to play the game of red light/green light.

I, for one, have played this game on many occasions.

When I played, I understood the rudimentary rules. If someone yelled,"Green light," I knew it meant I had the right to run as quickly as I could. I also knew that when someone yelled "Red light!", I I had to freeze in place for the time being.

I wasn't aware however that in real life these rules applied to other things.

(I would like to point out that driving is NOT one of the things that these rules apply to. Though I do believe stopping at the red light is good, you probably don't have to completely freeze, and also I believe that driving off as quickly as possible is not the smartest idea.)

In life, things seem to stop us from getting to our destination when we want to.

"Things" can include problems that are self-induced. If we stand waiting for someone to yell "Green light!", we might miss out on the opportunity standing in front of us.

Other times, the red light may be what we want to reach if we just could. BUT, something or someone is standing back telling us, "It's not time yet. You just have to wait a while. Stop for a second. I can't let you go any further."

Yeepp.

Because sometimes worthwhile things take time. And don't come when we want it. Actually, that can happen a lot more than sometimes.

We can't get a college education over a day. We can't fall in love in a minute. We can't find true happiness in a second. We can't achieve a forever family in less than forever . (My forever family....cute, right?)

And lots, and lots, and lots of trials will slow us down, preventing us from achieving what WE want when WE want it.

Luckily,  after red lights come green lights. We may be told, "Stop! Wait awhile. The time isn't right yet," but God knows when the time really will be right.

And when that time comes, He won't just ask us to run. He'll help us to fly.

:)

Looking Towards the Future, in Life, in Journalism.

This will be my last blog for my principles of journalism class, and there are things that I think I've learned along the way.

Who knew that journalists were supposed to be such honorable people?

I don't know what will happen for sure for journalists in America, but there is a comparison that is often used for directions in life.

A train does not suddenly switch to a whole new direction as it goes along the tracks. It is in increments--as said by a prophet of the LDS church, 2 inches were all it took for a train to end up in a totally different state.

That's the way it goes in life. A small decision, taking a class in a certain major, who to go on a date with, whether to read your scriptures that night, those things create the person you become.

The world is made up of people's decisions. While I have grim expectations for this country in the future, I feel journalism is being taken down a more corrupted track inch by inch, I do know that there will be people who will stand up for things that are worthwhile.

The journalists that come from Brigham Young University, perhaps they will have the integrity to fight for freedom of the press.

When things come down to it, good will stand together.

Marketing Yourself as a Journalist.

There are a variety of celebrities in this world. Some are songwriters, musicians, actors. Others are athletes, models, bodybuilders.

Some celebrities are journalists.

There are obviously advantages to getting your face out there in the journalist realm. For one thing, YOU will   make more moola and have more options in working. Plus, come on...you could get fame...which is something many people want, right?

On the other hand, will you be doing your job? Some people like people just because they know them.
I'll be honest. If Matt Smith(The Doctor, Doctor Who) were to market something, I'd be more likely to get it. Just because...I idolize the television show. Likewise, people may believe what you have to say just because you are a famous journalist. Marketing yourself may make what you have to say become more about you and less about the information you are giving, to some at least.

So, just be careful.

Using Freedom of Press in a A Free Country

It's a free country.

I'm sure you've heard that before, and it's true. This is a free country.

For Journalists living in a democracy, our roles are of importance. We are keepers of the freedom. We use our speech to get the truth out there. The government can't get away with scandals and corruption, if we choose to use our gift correctly.

We may not stick to the role. But we should, and life would be better.

Up Against Hollywood.

Bright colors! Loud music! Intense effects! Well-known actors! Exploding things! Gorgeous people unlike regular human beings! AND EVERYTHING ENDS SO GREAT. WAHHHHHOOOOOOOOOO!!

Yeah, it's no wonder people don't care much about the news these days.

The news is somewhat dull. Boring even. And a bit like real life.

The news isn't filled with the sensationalism of Hollywood. People are homely. They don't all get to live happily and perfectly. The news is more real, yet it doesn't always feel real. 

I guess that's the challenge that faces news people in the world right now. How can you stand up against make-believe? How can reality possibly be as cool? 

News isn't created to entertain. It's created to tell, to inform, to give freedom. But people want things to be entertaining. They like a good story.

How do we deal with this as journalists? Do we write stories about Justin Bieber's GF and their dates last night so we can grab people's attentions?

No. No. No. No. No. NO.

Please don't. 

This is what I think journalists should do: BE PASSIONATE. 

Care about what you are writing, and it'll hit home. I personally believe that it's okay to be witty or funny. That's reality. Reality isn't boring! Sound like a normal human being instead of a robot. Some journalists do that, and people will listen. 

You'd Think Being a Mormon would Conflict with Being A Journalist...Or Not.

The expectations of journalists have been fairly enduring throughout the years. Journalists are meant to be fair, straightforward, and skeptical. They look at things from an angle of facts--not allegorical truths  or whatever else is not provable (at least according to The Elements of Journalism, that is ).

The expectations of Mormons have also been enduring throughout the years. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are meant to be fair, straightforward(yes),....and faithful. They are meant to look at things from an angle of hope--a belief in things not seen but real(by gospel definition). 

So, is it possible to be skeptical and have faith? Can someone be a journalist and a Baptist, Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, Jew....? Will that person be able to refrain from having the window panes of their writing fogged by their own conceptions if they believe in their heart that something is true?

Yes actually. 

As discussed in class, faith is NOT blind. I know a plethora of educated people that have faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. They know the history of Mormons. They have a testimony. Likewise, many people who have great careers and immense amounts of education...also believe in whatever religion that they happen to believe in.

IF ANYTHING.....

Religion only helps you to be a better journalist. Because believing in the concepts of religion--love, God, the worth of a soul--only makes you want serve your fellow men with stronger desire .

And serving  your fellow men is ultimately the goal of a journalist. 

Doctor Who is Awesomeness.

I like Doctor Who. Anyone that knows me well is aware of that extreme tidbit related to my life. 

I have a pet fish named Rory and a build-a-bear that looks like a tragically failed version of the Doctor. Also, I've put my young brother in the less than good predicament of enjoying a show a bit too old for his age group.

But the truth is....Doctor Who is awesomeness. 

There are many reasons for this awesomeness recipe.

1) Sky's the limit. Really though, no other show on the planet has the freedom to go about willy-nilly creating episodes related to any genre. Do you want monsters? Okay, done.  Do you want ancient history? You got it. How bout pirates? Yep. Spaceships? Always. Werewolves? Check. Witchcraft? U-huh. Vincent Van Gogh? President Nixon? Complicated plots? Love? Marriage? How bout all of the above? Doctor Who is an infinite playground of possibilities. And I'm not kidding.

2) Doctor Who is cool. Or at least he thinks he is. Which makes his witty humor all the more desirable and funny. He makes smart comments that are mildly amusing. And he makes silly comments that are mildly witty. He knows that bow ties are cool. And fedoras. And other accessories. Plus, he likes fish fingers and custard. Which is entertaining and cool enough for me.

3) Rory. I think that one word is enough to describe the awesomeness that is the British broadcasting TV  show. Rory knows what's up and such. He saves the day. And waits 1,000 years. And loves Amy. And he's a great character. And actor. And my fish is named after him.

Well, there are a plethora of reasons to enjoy Doctor Who, but  basically Doctor Who is awesomeness.
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