Issues Paper Topic

I am considering writing my issues paper on one of two topics: Majoring in Marine Biology or majoring in Pre Veterinary Medicine. Both are of great interest to me and right now I am working on the Pre Veterinary Major.

Would it be best to stick with Pre Veterinary as my issues paper topic since I am already headed in that direction and become more informed on the major or would this be a great opportunity to find out more about Marine Biology? I'm very torn on the matter. Do you guys have any ideas of what specifics I could get into besides application process, colleges to apply to, or different medicine/marine bio studies?

Learning to Love Everyone

I was at a Stake Leadership Meeting a few weeks back and we later broke off into groups, so I went to the area where the Relief Society leadership were located and one of the topics that was spoken on was Visiting Teaching.  They were talking about how important it is to get that done and get to know the girls, and the speaker said, "find out what the Lord loves about her so [you] can love her too." That didn't really settle in until earlier today when I had to hand out visiting teaching assignments.  We were asked to give them to the girls individually and treat it as if we were giving a calling. One of the things we were asked to share with the girls was that quote. As I was explaining this to each of the different girls I talked to, I realized that this shouldn't just apply to those you visit teach or home teach. We need to do this and keep this thought in mind when we meet ANYONE.  We need to recognize the potential that that person has and help them be able to magnify that. We need to help them realize that they are loved and that we are there for them.  No one is perfect, including ourselves and picking out the flaws in a person is not going to make anyone happier or help anyone progress in anyway.  We need to realize what it is that makes that person so special, and let them know we appreciate them for that.  I just felt very strongly about this. It's such a simple phrase, yet has such a powerful meaning behind it and I thought that it needed to be shared with more people and applied to so many other parts of our lives.

What Have You Done With Your Name?

One of the talks I really enjoyed that was given at General Conference was when Elder Mervyn B. Arnold spoke about respecting your name and holding to the faith, giving an example of Helaman explaining to his sons Lehi and Nephi where their names came from and why they were given to them.  He then went on to say that we can bring respect to our names by coming unto Christ and following his commandments. He developed ethos by talking about a life experience of his to explain why commandments are there for us. The one that really touched me was the story he gave about his childhood and working on the ranch. There was a cow that would continually stick it's head through the fence to eat the wheat and one day broke through the fence, became bloated, and suffocated to death.  He went on to say, "I was saddened by the loss of that cow.  We had provided her a beautiful mountain pasture to graze and a fence to keep her away from the dangerous wheat, yet she foolishly broke through the fence and caused her own death...The commandments and rules are for our own good."  With this, he shows how truly important it is for us to follow the commandments and stay on the straight and narrow path.  He shows the commandments as the fence, the disobedient cow as ourselves, and the wheat as the temptation to break those commandments. He is able to more fully get his point across to the audience this way, by first of all catching their attention with his story and secondly, helping them realize how stupid it seems for someone not to not keep the commandments.  This comparison also helps explain and prove to the audience that the commandments are not there to keep us from having fun or restrict us from having a good life: they are there to keep us safe and out of harms way.  There are good intentions behind the commandments.  Elder Arnold was able to successfully explain to the audience with the use of his own personal life experience the importance of keeping the commandments. They may seem like guidelines, but they should be taken seriously.

Tutt Tutt, Looks Like Rain!

These past couple days of rain have been absolutely lovely! The temperature outside has been a good solid 75 or below which is my kind of weather. It's not too hot, and not too cold. I love seeing the dark clouds floating in the sky and watching them wrap themselves around the mountain tops. I want to go hike Squaw Peak one of these days when there are clouds up there. I think it would be awesome to be surrounded by clouds like that. I also loved the way the wind made the rain look as it blew the water droplets in all different directions. It seriously looked like the rain was falling horizontal rather than vertical as usual.  I'm hoping we get a couple more days of this weather before it goes away.  Fall is here and I'm enjoying every minute of it.  

Notes from Class

speech, rubric, cover page, rough draft, rough draft from first day in class, ALL IN MANILLA FOLDER

blog due Tuesday/thursday

Uchtdorf - relates, emotion

Holland - tone, word choice, provided evidence, examples, angels, example of loving parents. Pathos

See complexity of GC in play:
*all of them have their own ethos
*use broad terms that can apply to many different things rather than being specific

Packer's talk - now protest in gay community because said you can overcome it

kairos - why is it causing problems now? "prophet is not going to be popular in the world" then packer's talk comes up.  Now it is causing conflict where back then it wasn't such a huge ordeal

there's an awful lot that happens that we don't know

Monson - talk on gratitude, has a loving tone, great orator, knows when to pause and wait for reaction, knows when to get quiet, can feel the love he has for everyone, great stories.

Announced 5 new temples, encouraged missions, felt need to put huge emphasis on encouraging men to go on missions (probably because numbers are falling) remember first thing u say so thats why he said it first. where speeches are placed makes a difference.

have a plan with the thesis statement.