Wow! Wow! Wow!

I have Sooooooo much to be grateful for right now. Holy cow, so much is going on, so much to write about, where to begin?

Ok, so I finished my last final last week Monday. About 12:00 noon, I walked up the stairs of the JFSB, put my hands in the air, looked up and yelled, "I'm done...whew!" I've seen a couple people do that after their last tests and so I decided to do it too. Gosh it felt good. It was my final for National Security Affairs. All my finals were scheduled: Civil wars was on Friday at 3, American Government was Saturday all day, Political Islam was Monday morning, followed by National Security Affairs. I studied Saturday night in the library and as I was walking home I realized that was my last time studying in the library, my last time listening to the creepy music that is played 15 minutes before it closes. It was really sad actually. I walked home, the moon was full, it was nice weather with a little wind, everything was set right to create a mood of nostalgia and remembrance. It was weird having one chapter of my life close like that. Sunday came and then midnight I pulled an all-nighter and studied for Political Islam and Nat'l Security. I'm guessing that'll be my last all-nighter. So yeah, school is over...done...for...ev...er! Well, maybe forever, right now I'm thinking forever, but I do want to get a masters in something or a law degree.

We all had to move out of Park Place #8 by Wednesday at 5 ish. It was kind of a fun end, we all had been cleaning and packing all day and then we just sat around, drank Big K's, talked about the memories in Moon Apts. and Park Place, and waited for our check outs. So now, me, Cannon, and Jared are in #7. It's alright, I dunno, it's just not the same, but give it time probably.

Graduation came and went. The fam came out, it was cool. It was weird being in the ceremony, getting my fake diploma, and wearing the robes of a false priesthood. Elder Bednar gave an awesome talk. It was really cool walking into the Marriott Center. The professors and administration were there at the entrances, kind of like we were being presented and accepted by them. You had to have been there. Lots of pictures and funny moments.

On graduation day, I heard back from Dept. of Veteran's Affair in Salt Lake, and I got the job! That was a relief. It felt really good knowing that that was now secure. But I didn't want that job as much as another that I had applied for. So the company is called Lane Links. It was formed out of D&H about a year ago. D&H is a fortune 500 company, or something like that. Let me tell you about Lane Links...there are companies like Walmart that have private fleets to ship goods from distribution centers to local stores. But on the way back, these fleets are wasting gas and money because they're bringing nothing back. Lane Links coordinates it so they bring back goods for other companies. It is a really interesting, innovative, creative idea where everyone saves money. As far as I know there is no competition and lots of market for this company. They have doubled a couple times and the CEO is projecting them to have 200 employees and $300 million in revenue in 5 years. Right now they have like 12 employees, but they are expanding rapidly. Anyway, they are located in Orem, but moving to a bigger office in Provo and are looking for Logistics Account Executive trainees. I love logistics! I've always been pretty good at remember small details and have just loved planning things and remembering all the things that have been involved. On my mission, on transfer night, the zone leaders would be calling each other and pulling out train routes, trying to figure out how to get the missionaries transferred everywhere so they weren't traveling or waiting alone. It was always really fun and funny seeing missionaries plan stuff, only to get it ruined the next day due to delays, postponed rides, etc. Anyway, so I thought it sounded cool, and then the HR lady emailed me and told me she was really impressed with my resume. She called me, told me more about the job, and how they are looking for people with an entrepreneurship spirit/leadership in them. I fell in love with the company from that first phone interview and she scheduled a second interview. It turns out that she was the old HR lady for HELP Int'l, who I went to Uganda with last year. So we knew the same people and such. Anyway, went in for the second interview last week Thursday and job shadowed, and met the CEO---awesome, humble, great guy. He's just a really nice family man. Yesterday I went in for an hour and a half third interview and I fell in love with the company. Seriously, I told my mom and Emily how I almost even felt the Spirit in there. Everything just felt right, it sounds like that would be an exciting place to work, LOTS of growth opportunity, excellent pay and benefits, and everything. And it would work out cause I really don't want to drive up to Salt Lake everyday and I could stay here in P-town and get a scooter to drive to work everyday. Anyway, so I REALLY wanted the job. I was nervous all day yesterday and this morning, cause she was going to call today to let me know. I even dreamed about it. Anyway, she emailed me that they wanted me! So I have my dream job! It all worked out so perfect, so fast, I am just so grateful for everything. Of course it doesn't have anything to do with my BA in political science degree, but I've always been a business guy deep inside and this job is perfect because it wants creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship/leadership type people. So yeah, I am super excited! It means that I will most likely be here for at least 10 years, so I'll be here when Dallas, Colby, Jamie, Kayla, and all the cousins come out here. I'll try to save up for a couple of years and then get a house with several rooms for all the family and friend visitors that are guaranteed will be coming. But yeah, it feels Sooooooo good.

Ok, there is so much more to write, but I'm really hungry right now, so I'll write tomorrow or Monday or something. I don't start work until May 19th, so I have two weeks to play. Me and Em are going to do some fun stuff before I become a boring businessman. But here are some things I need to write about still in my next entry:

-my last class period, my professor said we should ask for our money back because everything we've learned in political science classes isn't real...um, gee, thanks.

-My capstone project. My professor wants to co-author it and get it published in journals and thinks NGO's and IGO's like the UN would love the data I've come up with.

-NGO is officially started in Uganda. Empower Lives- Uganda. Lots of goals including teacher training and starting some schools. But right now we're working on a water sanitation project.

-Disneyland trip

-It's about time to buy a jet ski and a scooter.

-Those Dems, Obama is having HUGE problems.

Unedited thoughts, No proof reading or spell check

Actually I think that's how most blogs are.

Yesterday after the Rwanda video I chatted with Carrie a little about the video and I asked her how she liked Hotel Rwanda. They said they really liked it and what not and then I asked her what she was going to do about it? Or what's she going to do about the Congo, where 5.4 million have died in the last 10 years? What's she going to do about Sudan, or Uganda? But really, what can we actually do?

I think one big thing we can do is give our time and money to causes we believe in. There are some really good organizations out there like HELP International. That's why I went with to Uganda last year and it changed my life. Ya know, I really think trying to feel the pains of others really helps you. We live in a very competitive self-serving world. It really is hard to feel the plight of others when there's so many external forces convincing you to focus on yourself. It's kind of funny, I've been really trying to reconcile my desire to help others and conservatism. Here's the thing, there are sterotypical conservatives out there (such as my hero, Rush Limbaugh) who are portrayed in the media as selfish, rich individuals who don't care about the poor. I think this is a media thing, jealous of Rush's power to convince and argue conservatism. I really can't stand the media, I think I almost hate the media. It's not just the liberal media news sources, but I'm talking about this Hollywood culture of distorting good, moral, American values. It's kind of hard for me to put my finger on it, but in the media's eyes, America is the worst country in the world. They try to distort our history and do stories on everything bad we do. I agree that there are flaws and things we've done and do that are embarrassing, but what about all the good we do? Why is it that these stories are always on the last page of the newspaper? Well, sex, violence, and dispute sell, that's unfortunate. What was one of the main reasons al-Qaeda attacked us? They don't want our culture to infect their culture. What do they think our culture is? They think Western values are what Hollywood and the media portrays. There's so much truth to this, ask girls that have been to the Middle East if they were ever frisked. A lot of times they are, ya know why? Because they think all American girls are like the Hollywood girls. Gosh, it really bothers me. Before my mission Glenn Beck did something on how much he can't stand Hollywood and then told a story of a woman in Russia who was trying to get a hold of al-Qaeda and convince them to not do attacks on DC, but on Hollywood. Beck was being funny about this so he polled his listeners and asked them, "What should we do about this? Give her the chair, stone her, lock her away for 15 years, or pat her on the back and say, hey, I think you're on to something?" He then went off and said that we should sell Hollywood and San Francisco to China and that we would even build gold walls around the cities to please everyone there. That was funny. Let's see, where was I going with this? Well, the point is, is that America is the greatest, most selfless nation in the world's history. Proof? Did we ask for any land when we liberated Europe? Only enough land to bury our dead. Did we take over Japan's resources and impose our way of life on them? No, we wrote them a constitution, yes, but we gave them democracy and helped them build up their economy. America is the most giving country in the world, as far as dollars, time, and blood.

Ok, so back to that reconciliation thing I was talking about. The media and liberals tell us conservatives that we don't care about the poor. Completely false, in fact the opposite can be made. What's the best example of taking liberalism to the extreme? Communist Russia. Not the best example of the goodness of socialism when the end result is the death of millions citizens, mostly the poor. My point is not to rag on liberalism, but to defend conservatism, helping people help themselves is the best way to go. That is conservatism.

I'm taking a poli sci capstone class which requires us to do a big research project on a topic. Here's what I'm researching: The socialization of violence, and specifically corporal punishment in the classroom, contributes to political violence. In Uganda we did the teacher training thing where we talked to teachers about why they shouldn't beat students and such. I've been wanting to start a NGO and focus on this teacher training aspect of it because teachers really believe that beating students is the only way to disciplnie them. What I'm trying to do with my project is link this socialization of violence with political violence. Hopefully it'll be really convincing and then I can use it in my NGO.

Anyway, I'm really just thinking and writing right now. Kind of disconnected thoughts, but that's the way I think sometimes. I just really want to help people, I want to go back to Uganda. I want to see the world, and see how other people live. One person can change the world, one person at a time, one idea at a time. Baby steps. The motivations have to be in the right place, and sometimes I struggle with that, I think everyone does. It's just part of who we are, but I think that's part of the coming to Christ process and submitting your will to His. It's just tough figuring out what His will for you actually is...I hope to find it soon hopefully and then do it 110%.

Life

We watched more of the documentary about the Rwandan genocide in class today. It told the story of Monique (I think that's her name). She hid in a church with 5,000 other Tutsis. The governor of her province came into the church and said that everybody must be killed. The Hutu extremists started killing with machetes and guns. There was so much blood on her that when she hid under the bodies of the dead, one extremist kicked her and said, "this one's dead." She stayed in the church for the next 43 days, keeping the dogs off her dead friends and family, watching the bodies rot in front of her, because that was the safest place for her to be.

Yesterday night I was stressed about life such as my future, my career, school, etc. I wonder what Monique thought about when she was in there.

I am scum.

Rwanda

In my dream last night I was in Israel with lots of my friends up here. We were kidnapped by Palestinian extremists. Mitt Romney was the president. We overheard conversations they were having about where they were going to kill us, the place was called Badj. So we wikipedia'd it and then I emailed the info to my Romney contacts as my friends distracted our kidnappers. It was kind of a stressful dream. Why did I dream that?! There are much better things to dream about right now.

Today we started watching a documentary in my civil wars class about the Genocide in Rwanda. Gosh, it's so hard to watch that, especially after being there. Some of my thoughts about it were written in my blog already, so I decided to repost some of those thoughts and experiences I had.

Ok, so Wednesday I decided that I wanted to take one of my vacation days and go to Rwanda. So I came home and told everyone I was going, 3 other girls wanted to go as well. I think the country directors were a little upset with my spontaneous plans, but they ok’d it. So after Parliament we emailed, went to the market, and then to the bus park. Our bus didn’t leave until 3 AM, so we waited on some stairs. I couldn’t sleep, so I just read. I slept til 8:00 on the bus. I had a weird dream about privatization…because of all the government talk I heard that week. We didn’t get to Rwanda until 11:00, but wow, it was an amazing drive. Rwanda is gorilla country and called the “land of a thousand hills.” Uganda is called the “pearl of Africa.” I took several pictures, but the pictures really don’t do justice to the beauty of that country. South Uganda and especially Rwanda is amazingly beautiful. There are lush green mountains, lots of different types of trees and vegetation. There were really low clouds that day. I guess it was mist, but it was so thick and very white. There are all types of green on the mountains in the trees with terraces up the mountains. The valleys are where everything is grown, so the people live up the mountains. Gosh, it’s just such a beautiful country. It’s sad that such a beautiful country has such a bad history.

So we arrived in the capital-Kigali. It was fun switching from driving on the left side of the road (in Uganda) to the right (in Rwanda). We didn’t have plans, so we decided to just go see the things we wanted to see. 2 of the girls spoke French fluently, so I didn’t have to use my little French that much. We went to the Hotel des Milles Collines which was the hotel in the movie “Hotel Rwanda.” I’m going to watch that again when I get back. But during the genocide in 1994, this hotel saved many Tutsis from being killed. We went to the American Embassy to get some adoption information (one of the girls is looking to adopt a Rwandan kid). Then we went to a restaurant called La Sierra that advertised Chinese and Indian Cuisine. There was a supermarket in the back that had some amazingly good pizzas! We talked with the owner, who is of Indian descent, and is Canadian. We had a great chat with him and then he asked if we wanted to stay at his house that night. So we ran to the Genocide Memorial Centre. They had so much info on the history behind the conflicts between the Hutus and Tutsis, the problems the European powers caused, details behind the genocide, and how the country is recovering. They had a room of thousands of pictures and names of people that were killed, a room of just clothes from the people, and a room of skulls, femurs, and other bones. It was weird to see that the clothes had Spiderman, Nike, and other modern things that reminded me how recent the genocide was. Outside they had graves of 250,000 people (I think). The thing is, is that they were mass gravesites cemented over. There was a room with all the genocides that have happened in the past 100 plus years. There are several that are really recent: Darfur, Yugoslavia, Cambodia, and Rwanda. On our way back to the restaurant we talked with Willy. Willy is 26 now. He left Rwanda after the genocide. He is a Tutsi and all of his brothers and sisters (6 I think) and father were killed. He and his mom moved to Uganda until things were safe for them to return.

So Elnoor, our Canadian friend took us to his house. Wow! It was a really nice place. He brought back lots of food, including Indian food, lots of fruit, and European cheese! He went back to his restaurant so us 4 just chilled for several hours. We watched tv (BBC news), skimmed through some books, took showers (hot showers), and slept. I got to sleep in a huge double bed, it was great. Elnoor is such a nice guy, we were a little nervous at first, but everything was perfect. So while we were there, he gave us a tour of his house, there is a lot of important history that happened there. Ok, so in 1994, the Hutu government had been planning this genocide of the Tutsi. President Haryama (sp?) was killed, (we’re not sure who killed him, but some say Hutus planned it to blame the Tutsis). They then stormed the prime minister’s (a Tutsi) house (Elnoor’s house), killed 10 UN guards and killed the prime minister and her husband. The kids were able to escape in the back by climbing the walling into the UN compound. After that they proceeded killing Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The government used much propaganda, especially the radio, to encourage Hutus all over the country to kill their neighbors, friends, and family. Within a week all foreigners were escorted out of the country by soldiers who were flown in to escort them out. I read that if all the soldiers who were brought in would have stayed in the country they could have prevented the genocide. The UN would not allow its peacekeepers to fight and countries refused to do anything about this because there was confusion about what genocide actually is and they considered it to just be internal conflicts and not of their concern. So from April to July 1994 one million people were killed. One Rwandan refugee escaped to the US and tried convincing Congress and the Clinton Administration to do something, one Congressman replied, “The US does not have friends, just interests, Rwanda is not among our interests.” So yeah, we stayed in the same house as the prime minister when she was killed that was a significant event in the conflict.

The next morning we went to Saint Famille Church (the bad church) and Saint Paul’s Pastoral Centre (the good church). It was hard for me to visit the bad church because for me, the absolute worst part of the whole thing was that Tutsis thought they would be safe in the Churches, but many pastors were in agreement with the government, sold out their congregations, and let them be killed. This church was one of the more famous ones because it is right in the center of Kigali, but it happened with many churches all over the country. In the good church the pastor saved his congregation. So after visiting those churches we caught our bus back to Kampala. That was the bumpiest ride ever. Our seats were in the very back which made every bump huge. I was able to read the whole time, so that was nice.
I’ll never forget being in Rwanda, seeing the faces of people who experienced so much. Many had wounds, many had family members and friends who were killed, and many were killers themselves. It was just so terrible, lifelong neighbors, lifelong friends, and even family members killed one another. It is a miracle that the country is still together and is doing as well as it is (the economy is doing better than Uganda’s), Kigali is such a nice big city, scattered over several hills, well ordered, flowers everywhere, very clean…all in such a big contrast to Kampala. I just wish I clearly say all that I was thinking and feeling while I was in Rwanda. I just can’t imagine everything happening like it did, but all the happened was not a movie, it was real life. This was government-sponsored and the rest of the world just let it happened. Shouldn’t that be government’s number one purpose- to protect its people? Genocide should not be allowed to happen. Things like this really make me want to just go out and change the world.
I won’t ever forget Rwanda.

The grass is greener, the air is fresher, the flowers are prettier

That's right! Finals are over. Of course they always kick my trash, this year I had three study guides to memorize: they were 56 pages, 33 pages, and 30 pages. So yeah, that killed me, but it's all good now. The last week of last semester I was walking and I heard a guy yell real loud. I asked if he got an A, he said that he didn't care cause he was done forever. When I'm done forever I think I'll do that too. Finals is definitely one of the "three F frustrations of college!"

I got 5 shots today: polio, tetanus, menigitis, typhoid, and yellow fever. I still need to get pills for malaria. The downside is that I could still get those diseases and still have to watch what I eat. My arms are really sore right now and I'm starting to feel a little sick...just like the nurse said. I was supposed to get the yellow fever shot 10 days before I go. The nurse said they might not let me into Uganda for 2 days. That would be kind of cool actually, if they wouldn't let me into their country...I'm like a rebel or something. Maybe I'll get lucky they'll put me in some podunk prison. I wouldn't mind torture either. As long as they give me a cool souvenir so I can prove that I'm a rebel, cause I am.

We're leaving for Council Bluffs tonight. I'm really excited. It's going to be carefree, lots of eating, having fun, burning our school stuff, good relaxing time. Dyads will definitely be strengthened with everyone there (see the Jo for definition of a dyad).

I saw two businessmen on segways today. Wow, that was funny!

I have hardly eaten this week. Pretty crazy. Usually I can't do anything without food, but I haven't had an appetite at all.

I studied Humanities for like 4 hours today and actually I really enjoyed it. It was a good class that made me realize literature, art, and music are just as important to the world as politics. Well, almost as important as politics. One thing that hit me was what Emerson said about art. He said that art is not the creation but the process. And that it is a form of expression. Of course I've heard that art is expression several times but it also said how we all what to be understood- art helps. I don't think anyone can fully understand someone else, and that makes life exciting, but understanding one another helps out so much. Last semester in my political philosophy class my professor said something that disturbed me and has made me think a lot about. He said that if words can't describe what we're thinking, then we're not really thinking. I should look over his argument again but that can't be right. There is so much that I think and feel that cannot be described by words. Of course I try and sometimes make an idiot out of myself in attempting to describe my thoughts and feelings but that doesn't mean that my thoughts aren't thoughts. I've written lots of poetry, some is funny, most was written to export a certain feeling I had. I think that other people's art can explain our thoughts and feelings as well. And sometimes it doesn't, but you just enjoy it.

"You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man." - Frederick Douglass
"It is not chaos or death- it is form, union, plan – it is eternal life –it is Happiness"
-Walt Whitman
"You can appreciate a single blade of grass for its beauty but it all comes from the same soil."
-Walt Whitman
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." - Thomas Jefferson
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." -Founding Fathers

Thomas Cole and Frederic Edwin Church have become two of my favorite artists. My last uploaded pictures didn't really turn out that great, but here are some of my favorites:

Church:
Church:
This paintings are Cole's empire series. They go through the development, pinnacle, and fall of an empire. The unique thing is that nature remains. The mountain is in every single picture:
Savage State:
Pastoral State:
Consummation state:
Destruction state:

Desolotation state:

Cole, two Indians paying respect to the Niagara Falls:
Neither one of these images came out that great
Church:

Church:


Cole, again, notice the little person in the center:
Church:
Church:

I might find some time to write in here before I go to Uganda. I'm not really sure what my email/letter situation will be like in Uganda or Holland. Hopefully I'll be able to get on here once awhile and give an update of my travels and experiences.

I'm going to go play Mario Kart 64...or Risk on Cannon's computer.

Boy have I got some funny stories. So me, Dallas, Skyler, and Travis successfully made it so that we are the last one's standing in this squirt gun game. This game started with 300 some people. Yesterday we took some pictures of us four and posted it on the facebook group. So last night we all got our targets. I had Dallas, Dallas had Skyler, Skyler had Travis, Travis had me. I actually ran into Sky last night and we talked strategy a little. We decided to form an alliance cause Travis and Dallas had an alliance. It told him a couple ways he could get Travis. I was planning on getting Dallas this morning as he was going from geography to Mission Prep club. Well around 10:00 I head up to campus and then I see Dallas outside the complex by the tree. He squirt his gun but I was too far away. I pulled out my guns and started squirting back. Both of got outside of each other's range and then Dallas starts throwing water balloons at me. Luckily he kept on throwing wide left. As soon as he was out I pulled out both my guns and just started chasing him. We ran into a parking lot and had a shoot off. It ended when he said that he was hit. So he tells me that him and Travis had been waiting since 7:30 and that they invited Sky to get me too. Luckily their little plot backfired.
So I called up Sky and asked if he got Travis. He didn't, so I told him that our alliance was off. At 11:05 I went to his work. There's a side door right by his desk. I waited for these guys to come out and then I flew in there and shot him while he was helping a customer. Haha, I think that's been my funnest kill so far. His co-workers were cheering and let him have it the rest of the day. It was a hero's welcome.
So now it's down to me and Travis. He won two games ago, I won the last game. The winner can claim the ultimate squirt gun champion of this school year. We both know how the other works and are both paranoid because we know how good the other is. It's really a toss-up. I ran by his apartment tonight, just to scope things out. His roomies, of course, wouldn't let me in. I walked around the place a couple times and squirt the windows...haha. I'll keep him paranoid of coming out at least. The pressure is on him, if he doesn't get me tomorrow then I win. Honestly though, I don't want to win that way. I want to get him as much as he wants to get me, so we'll see what happens. Tonight and tomorrow will be fun...even if I get shot.
Man, Uganda is coming up really fast. I'm getting a little nervous. I have so much to do still and it's hard cause there's so much going on with school too.
Ninja Turtles comes out tomorrow. It'll be pretty tight. There are lots of good movies coming out this summer. Unfortunetely I'll miss some of them cause of Uganda, but it'll be fun catching up. I feel kinda like I'm going on another mission. There will be huge culture shock, lots of hard work, etc.
A lot is going on in the world. Where to start? I reccommend going to web sites like drudgereport.com or google news. Pres. Mugabe in Zibwabwe keeps on bullying the opposition. He's not a good guy. There should be an uprising, but lots of people could get killed. North Korea is coming along. Basically history is being made. North Korea and the U.S. are coming really close to normalizing relations, end the Korean War (there's been a ceasefire for like 40 years now), and North Korea would get rid of their nukes. Here's something I found interesting, these are the goals of the talks:

1) Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula - Chaired by China

2) Normalizing Diplomatic Relations between the U.S. and North Korea - Chaired by the U.S. and North Korea

3) Normalizing Diplomatic Relations between North Korea and Japan - Chaired by North Korea and Japan

4) Economic and Energy Cooperation - Chaired by South Korea

5) Northeast Asia Peace and Security Mechanism - Chaired by Russia

So yeah, hopefully everything works out. It would be nice if they did, but don't hold your breath.

Blue I's (rough draft)

So Russia is finally stepping up to the plate and refusing vital equipment, necessary for uranium enrichment to the Iranians. For years now it's really been the West (Europe and N. America) arguing with China and Russia about how to handle Iran. The probably is that Russia and China are dependent on Iranian oil and so if they ticked off Iran, Iran would retaliate and refuse oil. Although in the long run Iran would be hurting themselves the most by refusing to trade. In my Int'l Pol. Economy class my professor has really pounded it into us how important free trade is and how protection barriers are detrimental to creating prosperity. Let's hear it for free trade everybody!

I had my last training for Uganda last Saturday. It was actually two trainings (orphanage work, and cultural differences). Did you know that 98% of people living in orphanages around the world aren't even orphans?! 2% are, but the rest are usually people (adults and children) with disabilities who are burdens on their families. It's a really sticky situation because in the 3rd world families have it hard enough trying to make it, additional health care costs and other things could make it almost impossible for 3rd world families to support themselves. They told us lots of stories and gave us lots of ideas of what to do with orphanages. I mainly want to focus on business training in Uganda (teaching classes of self-reliance and teaching businesses how to manage their finances), but I'm sure I'll have lots of time to work in orphanages as well. I'm still trying to work out an internship of job-shadowing a member of Uganda's Parliament to see how African politics work. It really is a good opportunity for me to go to Uganda. It's a good investment for my career.

I love this weather!!

I'm going to write more later, so be sure to come back.

So we lost last night...by one point!! It was such a good game, though. We've lost to this team by 40 points, 30, 15, and 1. Their coach came up to me after the game and told me that in his five years as coach this was the best Meridian team he's seen. It was a nice thing for him to say. It was sad saying goodbye to everyone.

The weather is so amazing! I went running a couple days ago, and it was a spiritual experience soaking in the great weather and all.

HELP training over the weekend was good. We have a lot of good things planned, like business training, helping out at the orphanage, community health, teaching square-foot gardening, etc. The two things I'm going to try to focus on are business training and square-foot gardening cause those are the things I believe can help people get out of poverty the most, and improve their standard of living. It sounds like that as long as we have a buddy they'll let us travel wherever. Uganda is close to Kenya, Sudan, Congo, Rwanda, and Tanzania. There are so many places to go, so I'm going to try to see as much as I can.

85-62...BABY!

That was the final score in the Utah game. This has been a good year for BYU sports. We won the MWC Championship and beat Utah in football and men and women's basketball. I'm sure we've beat them in other sports also, but I consider those wins the most important because they give us bragging rights. I like the little video that showed a boy with a Utah shirt on sitting on the sidewalk holding a basketball with his head down, and then another boy with a BYU shirt sits next to him, puts his arm around him and says, "there's always rugby." Haha.

Church was awesome yesterday. Lots of great testimonies and good lessons. Our ward is just amazing. Friday night we made a fort in our front room and watched "the boy who could fly" and "ocean's 12." Too bad we didn't get any pictures of the fort, it was amazing. Saturday morning my team lost to the best team in the league (they're 9-0). We've played them 3 times, first time lost by 40 something, second by 30 something, and third time by 15. We were neck and neck with them the whole first half. If we see them again, it'll be in the championship. We had a team party afterwards. That was fun, I was able to get to know them a little better. All of them are good at soccer and smashbrothers. We had the ultimate showdown...between SpyGlas guys and Park Place guys. They won 10-8, but it was close the whole game. We're going to challenge them in soccer. Afterwards I went to the DT Conference Center and shot David Luker. It was funny, me and Russ just went in there so casual, found him, did our business, and left. While we were going to the game, P-dub dropped me, Bret, and Carrie off. I asked Bret which hall was May Hall, he said it was the one across the street from the Marriott Center. So I went up to 2120, knocked on the door, Daniel Barrick came out, and I shot him. Last night after ward prayer I went to Glenwood Apartments to shoot Ian Morris. Well, I shot him, but it was the wrong Ian Morris. I guess there are two at BYU, so I'm trying to track down the other one.
It was hilarious last Thursday at Institute. I was eating dinner with other people in the ward and I saw Chelsea's target. So I called her up and told her that her target was in the room. Chelsea came in, I described her target for her, and then Chelsea shot her in front of all of us. Chelsea said, "You're dead!" The girl looked at her friends, and then said, "Ok, I'm dead." Chelsea asked if she was Amy...nope! My bad! So then I told Chelsea to shoot this other girl too. Haha. It was really funny.

I went to a business HELP training last Friday. It was really good. I was able to meet up with other people going to Uganda. We're all really excited. I'm really glad I'll be teaching business. I really believe that is a way to really improve the situation in the Political South.

Mitt Romney won the most votes at a Conservative Political Activist Conference the other day. Ya know it seems like he's doing really well with high up Republicans but not the mainstream. Hopefully that'll change. Hillary spoke the other day and talked in a southern drawl. LAME! She is so fake. She's from Illinois and is a senator in New York. It really bothers me how political some people are, especially the Clintons. More and more friends of the Clintons and former advisors and other political allies are turning on her saying how bad it would be if she was elected President.

Playing Four-Square at Gavin's place.Ha, more pictures from Hogi Yogi with Mom

So Gavin was interviewed after the first Utah game. It was fun.



Halloween

Carrie is the only one in R22-F6 that doesn't have a blog

Alan got a blog- www.alanbroadbent.blogspot.com. It's really a photo blog but he'll eventually probably write some things on there. If Chelsea could put Alan's and Becca's blogs on her blog, that would be awesome.
So we beat Air Force!! It's just sweet to think that we were tied with them for longest home game winning streak, and we broke it for them. And then to think that we beat a ranked team for the third time this year...and we win at least a share of the MWC Title and will be in the Big Dance! It's great.
I bought my ticket the other day to Uganda. I'll be leaving for Uganda April 30th. We have a 10-hour layover in Newark. Tamara, one of the girls I'm traveling with, has family in NYC, so they might pick us up and we'll go do something in NYC. And then we have a 4-hour layover in Holland. I really want to have a member pick us up and drive us around the tulip fields, but it'll be cutting it close, so we'll see. I'll leave Uganda June 13th and stay in Europe until the 25th. It's amazing that it was only like $100 to extend my layover a week and a half. I'm really debating what I want to do in Europe. Right now I'm thinking spend at least a day in all of my areas, maybe two, and also go to Germany for a day or two, and spend 3 days in Spain or Norway. I'm still trying to figure it all out.
Last night we had Kyle's birthday party. Happy Birthday Kyle!!!! Then me, Kyle, Alan, and Cannon had just the funniest time looking at the world map and coming up with this goofy story using just names of places off the map. For example) I was HUNGARY, so IRAN to eat some TURKEY, but it there was a lot of GREECE. YE(ah) Men, O-MAN!! It was a lot funnier than that.
I have been getting lucky with midterms. They were originally all clumped together but one by one they have postponed one. I got an A- on my IPE midterm!! I was so stoked! My Political Culture midterm was supposed to be last week, along with the IPE midterm that I had, but he postponed it til this week. My IR midterm postponed was supposed to be this week, but he postponed it til next week, and my humanities midterm was supposed to be next week, but he postponed it til the week after. Whew!
My humanities professor is just hilarious. We somehow got onto the topic of chick flicks and how they distort everything and give girls false impressions of what love is. And my professor said how he could write a chick flick in his sleep- girl is engaged to boring bob, and then along comes a scruffy, exciting guy who is in love with her from the beginning and sweeps her off her feet. I'd say that's a good summary of chick flicks.
The next squirt gun game started today. It's going to be a fun one. There are like 20 of us in the ward that are doing it. We're all helping each other and what not. I keep on telling myself that I shouldn't get involved and not be intense about it cause I already have my win. But it's hard with everyone else around me in it. So we'll see how it goes.


Frosted animal crackers are the best when they're melted together. It reminds me of Arizona and how everything melts in the car there.

The Ok Go song came on while we were driving...so we danced.This week we play Utah in Basketball. Just remember 33-31.



Date with Brittni

It was such a fun weekend! Friday Night Live was amazing with all the entertaining groups such as Noteworthy, Swing Kids, Jared-Alan-Devin, Salsa Dancers, Club Style, Black Student Union, Breakdancers, and that guy dancing in the corner. It was so much fun going to the hot springs. I enjoy being with friends in the ward. It was also exciting because it really was crazy to leave at 11:00 ish, drive 100 miles and not get home til like 3:30. Saturday morning my team won 43-17!! It was amazing! It was the first game of the tournament and I was just so proud of my team, we've made so much improvement. Tim is a big reason we're doing better, but everyone is improving, especially Jack. He had 6 points! It's nice beating a team pretty bad that we lost to earlier in the season. Later me and Whit went to Carrabas, good Italian food. Chelsea is really thinking about going to Uganda. It would be amazing! If she comes then I'll have somebody to hang out with in Europe. I'll probably be buying my ticket this week to Uganda, spend like a week in Holland and Germany, and maybe go somewhere like Spain or Prague. Saturday night we went to Invisible Children. It was amazing. I've seen it three times now, what made it so much more special to me this time was that people close to me got to see what I care about and want to do with my life-- Skyler, Carrie, R22 and F6.

So and Adam play this game where we take turns in adding someone or something to our army. This one is from yesterday . Adam has Jedi Jared, Hyrum, OK Go, Captain Planet,a Giant Ninja Snake with 2 oozies, Bret, Captain Crunch, Jon Bay, the BLOB, and somebody else, but I can't tell who they are. My army consists of the fruit rollup, Katherine, The Nothing, Gavin, Br. Spencer, Emergency Preparedness's worst nightmare (that's Adam's calling), the ward choir, the squirt gun champion, and Bennet doing DDR on Adam's face.


This one is hard to read. Adam has Maverick, Zeus, Yao Ming and China, Joseph Stalin?, Jack Bauer, Zorro, Pussy-cat Dolls, P-dub, Usher, 2,000 Stripling Warriors, a t-rex, Chuck Norris, and Nemo? My side has Adam Channer, Kim Jung II and his nukes, Wolverine, Superman, Kasey Beck, a tank with a Pirate, Bronco Mendenhall, John Beck, Cameron Jensen, Johnny Harline, Curtis Brown, Ian Johnson, Harry Potter, Spiderman, Batman, Luke Skywalker, the Millenium Falcon, Br. of Jared and Mt. Zerin, 200,000 Temple Square Sister Missionaries.
Haha, my mom took this picture. I'm the tallest!!
Four-square at Gavin's house

Brett on Gavin's shoulders. Bravin. This picture cracks me up.

Suffering Sucatash

Elder Uchtdorf gave an amazing conference this weekend. I especially enjoyed Saturday night's session, it seemed really personal and specific. I like how Elder Uchtdorf is a fan of Back to the Future. Kyle made a funny connection how Sunday he told us not to be chickens, which is pretty much Marty McFly's motto. I liked how he talked about making 5-year plans. It seems like my 5-year plans are changing everyday.
So Christy isn't dead...but we're still working on it.
I'm getting a lot of responses from sending out letters asking for donations. I hope I can get it all paid for. HELP said that if you send self-addressed and stamped envelopes the return rate is like 80%. I believe it. It looks like I won't be able to go to Holland on my way, though. They asked me to go a week early to Uganda and help find housing. It'll be fun being one of the first one's there. You know what will also be macaroni (cool in colonial terms) is that I'm the only guy scheduled to go with the group.
So Hamas and Fatah finally reached an agreement about who is in control of the government. It took them about a year after Hamas won the elections. Saudi Arabia had to intervene and conduct the talks, but there might be hope afterall. Hopefully Israel and the U.S. accept the government. I'm really interested in international politics, especially in Israel. I'm doing a paper about the state of the economy of the Palestinian territories. I'll let you know what I find out.
Iran's president, Ahmejad...or something like that, dodged questions in an interview with Good Morning America about whether Iran is sending in weapons and suicide bombers into Iraq. Iran is one of the big reasons why the war has gotten as nasty as it is. I'm beginning to think again that maybe this war is necessary to fight against terrorism. The problem is that it is such a big problem in the Mid East, that it makes me wonder whether we should accept the fact that there will be radical Islamists. And maybe we should do a better job in trying to live in a world peacefully with them.
So I noticed that I usually can't be doing only one thing at a time. Saturday I watched "The Greatest Game Ever Played." Great movie, by the way, about golf, of all sports. But I had to be doing something else, so I made a big dinner that'll last me the week. Then yesterday I was eating lunch and felt I should be doing something in addition to that, so I turned on "Finding Faith in Christ." Weird, huh?

Certain is the lake,
Calm, rough, satisfying, difficult,
Best time ever; hardest time ever,
But still, certainty.
End of lake,
Now the much talked about river,
How long, how difficult will the river be?
Surely a lake at other, but how long until then?
Uncertainty.
Rusing waters, rocks, sandbars, trees in way,
Obstacles are around.
This was not to be expected.
A lonely, rough ride,
Which just gets rougher.
Still uncertainty, but adjusted.
Still...promised lake at the end.
That is certain.

1st part of blog:

Dear 2007,

Hello, I am going to own you! You are my year. I have to admit, you have a lot to live up to. 2006 was amazing! I had high expectations for that year and 2006 exceeded them. I have a lot in store for you, so be ready for a crazy time. Ya know, you will be my favorite if you help me with keeping my resolutions the whole year not just the first couple months. I have some other goals that I'm hoping you help me reach. Thanks for not letting me be that lazy so far, but it's only been 3 days so you can't brag too much. Thanks for the snow back home and for helping us get back to Utah so speedily. I'm liking you so far.

So here are a couple things you're going to do for me: run a marathon; write everyday in my journal; better and longer Gospel study sessions; going to Holland, Germany, Africa; lots of camping trips and going jet skiing; learn basics of Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic; straight A's; good GRE score; better of idea and plans of the future; I have a honeymoon package lined up, so any help in that area would be appreciated; stay in contact with people from mission and back home friends; a little help in the money area would be tight; a couple other personal things; and anything else that you want to throw at me.

Don't go by too fast, lately all the other years have and it's been driving me crazy. What do you have in store for the world? Is the Israel-Paletine situation going to improve? Is Mitt Romney going to be the leading presidential candidate? What's the situation going to be like in Iraq? I know you don't have complete control over this, but if you could stop world hunger, global poverty, international disputes and a number of other things, you'd make a lot of people happy.

Be good to my friends and family. So far nobody really close to me has died or been severely injured. I'm not always sure what my friends or family want from you, but can you give it to them? They've all been there for me all those other years, so do what you can to help them be happy. Do you take bribes?

Good start with the Boise St. game. Here's a list of things that I'd like you to do:
-Jazz with the NBA finals
-White Sox with the World Series
-49ers make the playoffs
-BYU basketball goes far in the NCAA tournament
-BYU goes undefeated in football and plays for the National Championship.

Wow, if you allow all these things to happen while you're around, you'll be all-time favorite.

Sincerely,
Kasey Beck

PS- If you see your buddy, 2006, tell him thanks again for a great year.


2nd part:

I really don't have that much to say. We got in yesterday around 2. We drove all night after the Boise State game. Holy cow! That was amazing; I became a Boise St. fan! I can't believe they won it on 3 trick plays...all of them when the game was on the line. Well, I'm not sure if I'm going to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. The company that I was going to go through up'd the price by $200 more than what's on the web site. But some people I'm going with are looking into climbing Mt. Kenya, so we'll see. So I've gotten a couple syllabi for my classes, I'm already stressed about next semester, I'll have several 12-14 pg. research papers.

It was good being home- being with family, seeing old friends. We played lots of basketball and dodgeball and then we got snow on new year's eve...it was awesome, even though it kept some people from coming to our party. Mallori and Laci came over, we talked for hours with them. Me, Sky, Trevor, and Travis played basketball. It was like old times, Dragons vs. Eagles. The Dragons (me and Travis) once again reinforced our superiority by beating them 2 out of 3 games.

I'm auditing Spanish this semester so I gotta start practicing Spanish again. Me gusto jugar al futbol americano. Mi llamo es Kasey, mi familia es loco.

"Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving" -W.T. Purkiser

I feel like I should write in here although I don't really know what to say. Maybe I'll just say what I'm thinking right now. I was invited to participate in a program/conference on diplomacy in China this summer. It's really expensive but it would be an incredible experience. It would be good for my resume and I think it would help me jumpstart a career in diplomacy, government, international development, or whatever it is I want to do with my life. Lately things have been happening with my major, classes, and other things that are kind indicating the direction of my career. I think it would be incredible to actually be involved with something where I could help improve the world cause that's what I want to do with my life. But things could happen where I'd have to live in a big city and possible 50-60 hour work weeks. There's kind of two sides battling in my head: do I want to have an intense political career? or do I want the simple life? I wish I could have both where I do world-changing work from 8-5 and then go to my simple home in the suburbs, and play with my family the rest of the night. I really just want to be an awesome dad, always coming home with a flower for my wife and candy for the kids, wrestling with them all, etc. I think my marriage prep class is getting me to think of all this now more than anything. But I still feel like Heavenly Father has given me certain talents that He expects me to use to help others.

A recent survey was released that only 30% of people our age in the U.S. are happy, while nearly 80% or so of the people are happy living in Africa and other third world countries. Here are some other stats:

800 million people go to bed hungry every day.

Over 1 billion people live on less than $1 a day with nearly half the world's population (2.8 billion) living on less than $2 a day.

20% of the population in the developed nations, consume 86% of the world’s goods.

There are so many people with so little. My problems are nothing compared to theirs, and yet I complain everyday about little things. I've been blessed with so much. I personally need to do better at being grateful for what I do have. I need to do better at showing God and others my love for them. I have lots of good examples in my life of people who give selflessly. All God wants is for us to love Him and His children. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Uganda, Holland, here we come!

So I found out that there's a good chance that my flight to Uganda in the Spring will go through Amsterdam. So I'm thinking about making it a weeklong layover- the Spring is the best time to visit Holland because the flowers are all in full bloom. I'm hoping that'll work out, that would be awesome!
In Uganda I'll be doing projects like building houses, teaching English, working with Micro-credit, teaching Square Foot Gardening, etc. I'll be in Uganda from May 7th-June 17th (roughly) and then I want to do a week safari or climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. How cool would that be?!!! Skyler, Cecilia, and Sara are interested, along with a mission buddy and his girlfriend. Everybody should come!

Dallas is cool.

I've been thinking about this quote for like 3 hours:

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

-Gandhi