Summer Jambo #5: Terrorizing the Southwest

The past three weeks have been filled with all sorts of excitement and grand adventures for me. I feel really blessed to know and be consistently seeing the hand of the Lord in my life, and how he has protected me from serious situations on several occasions recently. My list of adventures are far too long for me to list in one post, so I'll try to get them posted in portions. So here goes:

The second week of August, I essentially began a Peter Pan lifestyle. I quit my job, moved out of my apartment in Provo (with all the pomp and majesty involved thereby), and began a four day road trip across the desert southwest with my little brother on our way to Houston. One of our first stops was at Arches National Park in eastern Utah, which I am ashamed to admit I had never visited before, despite my living in Utah for the majority of my life. We did the lame tourist thing by just stopping at the scenic viewpoints, but we did make a point to take the short, 10-minute hike up to the Delicate Arch viewpoint. There's nothing that builds confidence and pride in one's physique quite like passing up lazy, foreign tourists panting in the desert heat!


We also stopped by the Monticello Temple (which was the first small temple of the church to open) before crossing the Colorado boarder. Again, it's embarrassing to admit that I'd never been to Colorado before, even though I'd been to Europe and over half of the states in the union. We stayed that night in Cortez, CO, which coincidentally was a town that Elder Roman Matthew served in.

The next morning, Friday, we found ourselves crossing into New Mexico and driving through the endless wastes of the Ute Mountain and Navajo reservations. This was by far the worst terrain we saw the entire trip...the sand was soo terrible, not even sagebrush or grass could grow in it. It was a terrible reminder of the atrocities the Untied States Government had committed by confining these people to this desolate land.

Once we left the Navajo territory, we entered Albuquerque, NM. Daniel and I had been quite excited to come here since we'd heard the "Albuquerque" song by Weird Al Yankovic and even got to see the world famous Albuquerque Holiday Inn! Daniel and I both agreed that Albuquerque is in fact a magical place, and can confirm that it really does smell like "warm Root Beer."


Leaving Albuquerque, we kept heading east until we hit the junction with the road that went to Roswell. Again, it had been a life-long dream to visit the infamous town of Roswell ever since our old roommate, Chris Porter, had told me about his adventures there. The story he told me was about how his tour guide had shown him a picture of a nuclear blast that had occurred after an Alien spacecraft crashed at the Pittsburgh airport, and some foolish firemen had put "Earth water" on the alien fire, "which as we all know," will cause a nuclear reaction that destroyed Pittsburgh.

Daniel and I were quite excited to meet some "true believers" there in Roswell...probably a little too excited. We'd planned out our day so that we'd be able to arrive in town in time for us to visit the International UFO Museum and Research Center about an hour before it closed, and we rushed throughout the rest of the day to ensure we would stick to our schedule. As part of this rush though, Daniel insisted we pass the first gas station we'd seen in about 100 miles. According to his calcuations, we should be able to reach Roswell with 40 miles to spare before runing out of gas. Dispite the bad feeling I had in my gut, and about a quarter tank of gas left, we passed this station, only to later realize it was the last gas station for another 100 miles.

About 35 miles outside of Roswell, the low fuel light came on. To say the least, Daniel and I became quite concerned about this. The endless hills and fields stretched on for miles in every direction, with no end in sight. I began pulling out every trick I'd ever learned to save gasoline to save as much as possible. Daniel later told me that as the minutes passed, he kept telling himself "30 miles! I don't want to walk 30 miles!....20 miles! I don't want to walk 20 miles!...10 miles! I don't want to walk 10 miles!...5 miles! I don't want to walk 5 miles!...3 miles! Ok...I can walk 3 miles!" Of course, we were praying the entire time that God would help us to get to the next gas station.

Somehow, we miraculously rolled into a gas station on the outskirts of Roswell. I made Daniel get me an ice cream for the emotional trauma he'd caused me, and I also claimed dictatorial powers when it came to matters of safety for our trip.

Brian - "You owe me an ice cream!"

While in Roswell, we lived our dream of attending the UFO Museum, which was a joke. The science was crazy, and they would take comments out of context to try to prove points. I was left unconvinced of the existense of alien life on the earth. We also watched the Star Wars: Clone Wars movie on it's opening day there at the town mall.

Daniel outside the International UFO Museum and Research Center

The next day, Saturday, we entered Texas, where it really began to pour down on us. It began to flood very badly just outside of Odessa, TX, and we even hydroplaned a few times on the freeway, so we decided to pull off the road and take shelter at the local Dairy Queen until the storm passed. We eventually were able to arrive at Lampasas, TX, an area where Daniel had served his mission, and have dinner with Dean Howard. The next morning we were able to attend church there and then drive the rest of the way to Houston. We had more rain on the way, but the flooding wasn't as bad as it had been in Odessa. We safely arrived at our cousin's home that night and had a fun time staying with them.

There are a lot of ruins in Texas. Sometimes all of the buildings on one side of the road would be fine while all of the ones on the other side were destroyed. Daniel hypothesized it was a parable about tithing.

My cousin, Jennifer Thomas, had moved to Houston with her husband, Orren, who works for NASA. Considering Daniel was doing an internship with NASA, it was the perfect situation, and they're also really fun to talk to. Jennifer had grown up in Sacramento, so I didn't know her very well, but in spending time with her, I was amazed at how much she reminded me of my grandmother in everything that she did. I had fun baking bread with her on that Monday, and later going to the NASA Houston Space Center with her. When our tour of NASA ran later than we had planned, she even drove like a maniac to get me to the airport on time for my flight home.

I suppose this is a good place to end before my adventures moving up to Spokane. Stay tuned for another update shortly!

Coming Unto Christ and Being Healed

I want to apologize for not updating this as regularly as I had originally planned. Just lazy I guess. I do plan to do some quick summary notes about the other Summer Jambo's and whatnot, but that will probably be when I'm bored on my Jambo to Texas this weekend. Anyway, to get things rolling again, here's the text from my talk in church this past week. I'd written this specifically with some people in mind, but I think it's universal enough that just about any young adult can find some solace from it:

I want to testify to all of you today that our Savior, Jesus Christ, lives! I know that He and our Heavenly Father know each of us and all of the problems and struggles we face. Because they have all wisdom, they know what our needs are and will give us the help we need to overcome any trial we may face.

I saw this first-hand one morning a little over a year ago when I was late leaving for class. Just as I was about to run out the door, my telephone rang. Upon answering it, I heard the girl on the line begin shrieking and crying very loudly, “Ahh!”

Perplexed, I asked “Umm...how are you?” The girl began shrieking, “Ahh! My eye! Oww! My eye! Ahh!” and so on. Discerning that something was probably wrong with her eye, I asked, “Is something wrong with your eye?” “Ahh! I don’t know! Oww!” “Where are you?!” She replied, “I don’t know! In a parking lot somewhere!” followed by more screaming. I told her, “Ok hold on! I’ll come find you!”

Because I was late for class, I was in the unique position to readily get in my car and begin driving around, not knowing where I was supposed to look. While driving, I prayed for Heavenly Father to lead me to my friend so I could get her the medical help she needed. My prayer was answered, and without knowing how, I was able to find her in the very first place I looked.

Once she was in my car, I was able to then take her to the hospital so she could be examined. Her eye had been badly scratched, but it was able to be healed from some medicine and some surgery. A doctor later remarked that if she hadn’t come when she had, she might have permanently lost her eyesight. Her needs and prayers were answered by my being in an unusual position to help, and by the Spirit guiding me to find her.

The Lord knows where you are and how you can be found. He also knows how you can be healed from our physical and spiritual infirmities.

The New Testament tells the story of a woman with an “issue of blood” or “bleeding condition” who was healed when she touched Christ’s clothing. Many of us are familiar with this story, but I want to point out a particular principle about this story which has profound implications for all of us.

Under the Law of Moses, which the people in the time of Christ were still required to live by, women with “issues of blood” were considered unclean, and any who came in contact with them were also made unclean by extension. She had been living as an “unclean woman” for twelve years, which is a terrible amount of time to carry such a burden. By touching the hem of Christ’s garment, it would have made Christ unclean as well. But this did not happen, instead Christ healed her from her infirmity according to her faith.

The lesson this principle teaches is that no matter how unclean you may be, whether it be from grievous sin or otherwise, the Lord can heal you if you will come unto him. The Lord taught, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”

Elder Holland taught, “In this promise, that introductory phrase, “come unto me,” is crucial. It is the key to the peace and rest we seek. Indeed, when the resurrected Savior gave His sermon at the temple to the Nephites in the New World, He began, “Blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”...

“Whatever other steps you may need to take to resolve these concerns, come first to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Trust in heaven’s promises. In that regard Alma’s testimony is my testimony: “I do know,” he says, “that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions.”

Last year I watched the change that occurred in a friend of mine who came unto Christ. When I first met her, she was in a state of despair. She had recently broken up with a boyfriend whom she loved very much and had put a lot of hopes into their relationship. By his breaking up with her, she saw it as a sign that no one would ever love her. Because her boyfriend no longer loved her, she didn’t think that God or Christ also loved her either.

Do you ever feel like this? Do you put conditions upon whether or not your Heavenly Father cares about you or not? If so, I want to point out that the real problem my friend was facing her wasn’t one of self esteem, but that she was rejecting the peace that comes from the Atonement to heal her and give her the courage to press forward. If you will truly believe in Christ’s power to help you, you can receive the peace that is missing from your life, just as my friend did.

Little by little, as she began to put her faith in the Lord, began reading her scriptures again, actively fulfilling her church calling and counseling with her Bishop, she was able to have the Atonement begin to work in her life. By giving her burdens to the Lord, happiness entered her life, her testimony became powerful, she had goals for the future again, and ultimately doors were opened for even greater happiness to enter her life. My friend today is now able to stand as a witness that not only does God love her, but that Christ’s Atonement can overcome all obstacles in her life.

Elder Holland said, “Considering the incomprehensible cost of the Crucifixion and Atonement, I promise you He is not going to turn His back on us now. When He says to the poor in spirit, “Come unto me,” He means He knows the way out and He knows the way up. He knows it because He has walked it. He knows the way because He is the way. Brothers and sisters, whatever your distress, please don’t give up and please don’t yield to fear.”

If you feel fear or despair, please recognize that these feelings do not come from our Heavenly Father, but instead from the Devil. Paul wrote, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

My testimony is similar to that of Elder Holland’s, that “If you are lonely, please know you can find comfort. If you are discouraged, please know you can find hope. If you are poor in spirit, please know you can be strengthened. If you feel you are broken, please know you can be mended."

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.