Where We’ve Been

Sorry I haven’t written for a few months. Things have been pretty crazy around here for us. Here’s what we’ve been up to:

• Over the summer, I started interning at the Disability Law Center in downtown Salt Lake City. This job has been a blast where I’ve been working on the abuse and neglect team to help protect persons with disabilities.
• Also over the summer, I took a class on Equality, Liberty, and Civil Rights which required me to write a huge research paper. I wrote on a plan that a few GOP lawmakers have to introduce bills that would keep children born to undocumented aliens from receiving birth certificates. After wading through thousands of pages of legal work, I ultimately concluded that neither the US Congress or individual state could do such a thing without violating the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. When I wasn’t working that summer, I was writing that beast.
• Jen and I were called as missionaries to help teach English at our local Spanish Branch. Ever since we got engaged two years ago, Jen and I have been missionary companions now in three different areas (Spokane, Provo and now SLC). At one point I was pretty good at Spanish thanks to Riverview Jr. High and Murray High School, but now my Spanish comes out jumbled with Tongan. Even though I don’t have time to study Spanish full time, I’m slowly getting better.
• Jen is pregnant with a baby boy. That is awesome! 

  

  When we discovered we had a "little spot" inside of Jen.
  
  

  We are soo excited for this little guy to come fill our home with love and wildness. Louie and Rudy are pretty excited too. “Little Boy” is due sometime around April 6th.

  

  Little Boy

• Jen and I had a fun trip to California in June. We crashed my cousin Katie’s wedding reception, then went to Angelica and John’s in Madera. Jen gave me the tour of Stockton and Fresno where she grew up, and we had fun celebrating our first anniversary at Lake Tahoe.

  

  We saw some cheesy touristy brochure that advertised holding a pine cone on Lake Tahoe. We couldn't stop laughing at it, and though we would recreate it ourselves.

• Jen walked in the BYU graduation in August. She looked really hott, and I am so proud of my wife for graduating.
• Rudy got fat. He gained 20 lbs. this year, and has been put on a diet. My dad also has started coming by to run with the dogs every Saturday. He’s since lost 10 lbs. in two months, which is like losing 30 lbs. for a human.

  

  Rudy before his diet.
  
  

  

  Rudy after his diet started, and minus 10 lbs.

• Fall semester was pretty crazy for us. I was taking 17 credits of classes (Business Organizations, Bankruptcy, Trusts and Estates, Evidence, and Judicial Process) and working, in addition to church and other responsibilities. Basically, I spent every waking minute studying. Jen was also student teaching at Riverview Jr. High while pregnant. Everyday our calendars would be completely scheduled and accounted for.
• The week before Thanksgiving, we all went to Las Vegas and California on vacation. This was a much needed break to allow us to rest for a few days. We went to a friend’s wedding in the Las Vegas Temple, before heading to California. 

  

  Louie and Rudy cuddling while on a roadtrip to Vegas.

  We then spent the rest of the week preparing a 90th Birthday present for Jen’s grandpa. His favorite magazine is Time, so we made a huge book for him with all of the cover stories from each birthday that he’s had. Grandpa Perlmutter later pulled me aside and secretly told me, “Don’t tell anyone, but this is the best present I’ve ever gotten.”

  

  Izzy Perlmutter: Man of the Year

  Louie also enjoyed the sunshine while in California, and got into a lot of mischief when he somehow snuck outside and jumped into the swimming pool. His tail, which normally whirls around like a helicopter, actually went limp for a day from the shock of the cold water. Thankfully, we got our happy lab tail back the next day once he was able to spend enough time basking in sunlight.



Louie loves sunshine almost as much as mischief.

• Once I survived my four tests and two papers, I’m not enjoying my winter break. We spent Christmas in SLC with my parents and at the Marshallese peet party. A few days later, we went back to California for another week to celebrate our anniversary and spend time with Jen’s family. We went to the San Diego Temple and Olive Garden on New Year's Eve before celebrating the new year and our engagement anniversary on Sunset Beach with fireworks.

Simulation Fallout

The Mayor of Baltimore responding to a terrorist attack.

So last Friday while minding my own business as the mayor of Baltimore, some crazy terrorist blew up a dirty bomb in the Port area, which rendered 3 miles of the city uninhabitable for 1,000 years. Oy…that made for a long day. I survived the counterterrorism simulation, but unfortunately, several thousand people in Baltimore didn’t.

The Deseret News and ABC News  both covered the story. Please note, ABC reported it incorrectly by saying that it was an aircraft that crashed into the port, and not a dirty bomb, which I learned makes for a big difference when you start having all of your first responders die from radiation poisoning. Oiaue!

All in all, it was a fun, stressful and crazy day fighting terrorists!

The Fixer

As previously reported, I am a big Pearl Jam fan. On their most recent album, Backspacer, one of my favorite new songs is called The Fixer:

When somethings dark
Lemme shed a little light on it

When somethings cold
Lemme put a little fire on it

If somethings old
I wanna put a little shine on it

When somethings gone
I wanna fight to get it back again.

When somethings broke
I wanna put a little fixing on it

If somethings bored
I wanna put a little exciting on it

When somethings low
I wanna put a little high on it

When somethings lost
I wanna fight to get it back again

When signals cross
I wanna put a little straight on it

If there’s no love
I’m gonna try to love again

I’ll say your prayers
I’ll take your side
I’ll find us a way to make light
I’ll dig your grave
We’ll dance & sing.
Who knows, could be our last lifetime!

I really like this song because I want to be a Fixer. When things are wrong, I want to help make them right again. I think this is one reason why I love being in law school because I'm learning skills about how to really be able to help people with serious problems.

In the past few days, I've been amazed at the frequency at how often I'm asked for legal advice from those I come in contact with. Their problems are varied, and some are more serious than others, but through them all is a pattern in which someone has been taken advantage of by another. I love being able to give them advice to protect these people from others seeking power over them. I feel satisfaction with my studies when I'm automatically able to turn around and apply them to fixing problems around me.

On another note, the new Backspacer album is awesome. There are a number of really great songs with wonderful lyrics. Songs like "Just Breathe" make me cry tears of joy and want to hold Jen. During the SLC Pearl Jam concert a few weeks ago, a man proposed to his wife on stage, and then the lead singer, Eddie Vedder, performed this for them. "By the power invested in me...I'm gonna play you a song." Jen and I held each other and it was a beautiful, romantic moment. Here's a fan video of the event:

Rocket Island

For my International Law class, I'm required to write a 20 page paper on an international law topic of my choosing. I've been interested in doing something about the United States of America's relationship with the Marshall Islands. Here's an interesting video on the topic that I found on YouTube about this very topic.

Transfer Student

Jen and I experienced a miracle this past month. As you may be aware, I was enrolled at Gonzaga University's law school in Spokane, WA last year while Jen was living in Provo, UT and attending BYU. After we became engaged, it became clear that in order to stay together this fall after school began again, one of us needed to transfer to another school. With Jen being in her last year of schooling, it would have been unreasonable for her to leave BYU at this point. This put the burden of transferring on me in order for us to stay together.

So Spring Semester I worked twice as hard to study and do well in my classes. Final grades came out and I got pretty good grades that I hoped would have me look as attractive as possible to the University of Utah or BYU. After school and our wedding were over, I worked hard on the transfer applications, especially the one for the U of U. After sending them in, I crossed my fingers while waiting for favorable responses.

Nearly a month went by without any word from either school. Nearly a month went by without any word from either school. As August came and the new school year grew closer, our anxiety continued to grow. We began making plans for me to move back to Washington at the end of August.

Near the beginning of August, Jen and I fasted that we could have a miracle happen so we could stay together this year. The next morning, I got a phone call at 8:00 AM from the U of U notifying me that I had been accepted to their school. During the phone call, I was quite calm about everything and saying, "Oh, that's wonderful news. Thank you for calling." The whole time I was on the phone, Jen was looking at me wondering what was going on. Once I got off the phone, I told her I had been accepted to the U, and she began screaming and jumping up and down in joy. It was the greatest news in the world! We were going to be staying together. It was a miracle!

Later that same day, I got another phone call from BYU saying that I hadn't been accepted there. We didn't really care because we had already gotten wonderful news earlier that day, so it was not a big disappointment for us. To be honest, I still feel that my BYU days are meant to be over, and I don't think I am needed to stay here in Utah county.

So now I'm a student at the U, my fourth school of higher learning in the state of Utah, and my second law school. The law school building is not as pretty as Gonzaga, and the teachers are more academic-y (i.e. they wrote the textbook), but I'm still having a great time in law school. My classes this semester are International Law, Constitutional Law II, Entertainment Law (for B-Money), Environmental Law and Intellectual Property. I really enjoy International Law (my professor was in the Israeli army for several years and negotiated many treaties with the Palestinians and Russians on their behalf. Some Canadians want him to be arrested for war crimes, if that makes him any more interesting) and Entertainment Law (the professor was a Hip-hop artist agent for many years and has awesome stories).

ConLaw II is a major disappointment. This is where we learn about all of the Supreme Court's controversial rulings on subjects like segregation, abortion, free speech, porn, etc., so you would imagine it would be really inflammatory and exciting. Instead the professor just lectures in a boring tone without any pep or controversy. Big let down.

Overall, I'm really enjoying the U. Sure I spend about 4 hours commuting on the bus everyday, but it's all worth it to come home to my wife and puppy every day. I wouldn't change it for anything.

Torture

In my Constitutional Law II class this week at the U of U, we were discussing the torture tactics used by the Bush Administration. Our professor sent us a video link to a pretty funny video on the serious subject that uses arguments from both sides.


Is Using A Minotaur To Gore Detainees A Form Of Torture?

Weirdest Church Calling

I arguably have one of the weirdest church callings ever. For the past five months or so, I've been serving for my church as the "Marshallese Program Director" for Spokane and Eastern Washington. My responsibilities are working with the local Stake Presidency, bishoprics, missionaries, etc. to create a sustainable church program to fellowship the Marshallese people in eastern Washington. I'm sort of like a pseudo-Bishop/High Councilman/Ward Mission Leader/Sunday School President.

There are several thousand Marshallese people here in Spokane and they are the second largest minority group in town. Being a very faithful and humble people, many of them are joining the church. The Spokane Stake Presidency views the large number of baptisms from one ethnic group as grounds for starting a new branch or separate church congregation. Having spoken Marshallese for several years, and having a lot of insights from working with them as a missionary, my job to set up a program to eventually establish a branch.

Basically, this has set up my life to be a lot of crazy fun working with the Marshallese people while balancing law school. It has been wonderful being in their homes and enjoying life with them. But most of all, it has been wonderful to help so many of them come unto Christ through the principals and ordinances of the gospel.

Another perk is working with two Elders who are specifically called to work with the Marshallese. I've been working to help teach them Marshallese and give cultural insights to help them with a foreign mission in America. At times it really does feel like I'm a missionary again, and it's hard to not want to give up my study time to go out visiting investigators with them.

The true highlight though has been being able to work so closely with Jen on this program. She was living here in Spokane for a few months and was also called to work with the Marshallese in the region, which made it feel like we were missionary companions together. It was great. Not everyone gets to go on a couple's mission before they actually get married. She has had so many good ideas and plans that, if this program does prove to be sustainable, will be in a large part because of her.

One quick story happened back in February when Necinta, a recent convert, gave birth to a baby. The daughter, Lindsay Skyla Anton, was named after the ward mission leader's wife and the missionary who baptized her mother. Jen and I visited her in the hospital a few hours after the baby was born with flowers and diapers. I helped fill out the birth certificate form while Jen took pictures of the mother and newborn. 

Seeing Jen hold a newborn was a wonderful sight. I love her. That was a sacred moment for me that I would not trade for all the world.

What is the weirdest thing you have ever been asked to do for a church calling?

Snowbound in Spokane

Well...it's a really crazy story, but in short, I'm trapped in Spokane. My last law school final was canceled this morning...the law school has never canceled finals before, so they have no idea when they're going to have our final. All of the law students had gotten a threatening e-mail the other day saying that there were going to be tests, no matter what, and that we had to risk life and limb to get there. Well...I had quite the adventure just getting to the school, only to discover it was closed, and then getting to the airport in my friend Joseph's trusty little Ford Taurus that could. It was amazing we got around town as it was, considering I saw a city bus that was stuck in the snow.

Basically, we've gotten a whole ton of snow in the past two days, somewhere above two feet. It's wild. The city streets have all been closed, no stores are open, public transit non-existent, the missionaries are told to stay in, and yet I was running around in the snow drifts to get back to my girl. You see, we've been looking forward Christmas break for some time because we would be able to get about three and a half weeks together. I stood in line for about five hours at the airport, getting bumped from one flight to the next, before the call was made to cancel all flights for the rest of the day. With more snow for the forecast, I'm scheduled for the next available flight to Salt Lake on Sunday.

I have been very blessed throughout the day. One of the blessings was another LDS law student had his flight canceled today too, so I'm just staying at his home until Sunday. It's great.

So get ready for a whole lot of cabin fever ramblings and the good times are going to roll!

Anyway, here are some pictures to let you picture things...

This was my backyard last night around 8:00 pm.

This was my backyard this morning around 7:00 am.

This is the view from my window around 7:00 am.

The front yard of the home I'm staying at around midnight.

October Conference

The October General Conference was quite successful and I was even able to avoid going crazy during the weekend helping translate into Marshallese. This was mostly because I tried to avoid being the "fireman" this time and putting out all of the fires that sprang up. Instead, I was able to spend more time watching conference with Jennifer instead, which was wonderful! It was really neat to realize that our first experience going to church together as a couple was to the Saturday Morning session of Conference in the Conference Center!


Anyway, you can access the Marshallese audio archive for this session here. I did Elder Causse's talk from Saturday afternoon, which begins about 50 minutes into the program. Enjoy!

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.