A straight-A high-school student is caught stealing something at school by a teacher.

While she thought no one would ever notice the small portions of chemicals she was taking from her Chem 2 class, the chemistry teacher started to wonder why he was having to reorder more chemicals 3/4 of the way through the school year, and the chemicals that only his Chem 2 students had been using. He knew that he had used a little more then planned for a couple of demonstrations, he surely did not use an excess amount which would be causing him to request more money from the principal to have enough to finish off the year. This wasn't the first time he had students using chemicals for things other than the experiments that he had them do to learn the various principals discussed in class, but he never did enjoy having to argue with the principal for more money for his class to function at a level in which students were engaged and learning. Despite the principals reluctance to approve the additional expenditure, the chemistry teacher promised to find what had caused him to run out of the chemicals used for his Chemistry 2 class. What was tough was to find which student was causing the problem. All the students in his Chemistry 2 class were smart and well-behaved students. Most were Juniors and Seniors and very high achievers both academical and in their extra-curricular activities. Had it been one of his Chem 1 students he could easily pinpoint the kid that was failing and observe his behavior for a day or two to see what kind of stupid things he was doing. Trying to find the culprit out of his Chemistry 2 class would mean having to observe all 32 students at the same time doing something stupid.
The next lab started out like any other, all the students filing to the back to wash beakers, set up bunsen burners, and start weighing out the necessary chemicals to complete each experiment. The teacher, did what he normally did during this time, with such responsible students, this was a great time to catch up on email and grading, but that would have to wait as he would need to watch each of the students and how they acted while weighing the chemicals. To try and not raise suspicion, Mr. Glassglow, walked to the back of the chemical room, and stepped behind the door to observe which students might be over weighing their chemicals. Luke and his group came up and didn't do anything abnormal, despite taking way to long to weigh out each chemical needed. Molly cam up for her group and quickly measured everything out, nothing weird their, and Mr. Glassglow didn't expect anything to be out of sorts seeing that Molly was the top of her class and a very bright young lady. Chrissy came up for her group and seemed to get too much of the sulfuric acid, but quickly returned it once the group noticed the mistake. And Brian, Bonny, Alicia, Dallin, and Bobby seemed to measure everything out as laid out in the lesson plan. Mr. Glassglow returned to his seat at his computer some what stumped. Maybe the student would come back later to collect more of something. He didn't seem to know how anyone would have plenty of time to slip away to measure more chemicals as he would put them away half way through class in preparation for his Chemistry 1 class. He sat there watching and observing, waiting for someone, anyone to go back and take more, acting as if he was busy typing away on his computer. All the students here busy measuring and moving chemicals, heating and cooling as the outlined had called for, yes. There was a little joking and an occasionally a group would get lost and seek help from the other groups around. That is the type of collaboration and effort any teacher would want to see. Many groups would often seek out Molly's group as they were usually on task and had the answers before anyone else. It became the norm for Molly to walk around and check in with everyone to see what their results were. She seemed so interested in seeing how everyone's results would turn out. While Molly was talking with Dallin, Bonny headed back for more chemicals, finally a clue. Bonny went and remeasured all of her chemicals again, adding a little more to each. Trying to not cause to many problems I wandered back to ask Bonny how everything was going. Bonny, seemed a bit frazzled, confused and embarrassed that she had to measure the chemicals three times, just to get them right, but yet Ricky, seemed to be confused as well, as he stated that he had watched Bonny measure everything the second time and it all measure out. Then next Dallin went to measure more chemicals, and then Chrissy. It seemed odd that I never noticed how many times my students had to go back to remeasure their chemicals. And then I saw it out of the corner of my eye, Molly, slipping an envelope into her Chemistry book. What would she have an envelope for during an experiment. I quickly asked her if I could use her book to show her group the formula that we had been discussing. Her face turned white, her body froze, she knew she had been caught. But why, why would she be taking small portions of chemicals from each of the groups,what purpose did it serve her.

You are a pirate. Describe your perfect day.

Despite the long months of being on sea with no land in site, we finally found reprieve from the burning hot sun and the hardtack and gruel by the spotting of an island at dawn. After anchoring the ship and coming to shore we discovered that it was an island full of coconut, banana, and mango trees. The fresh fruit was delicious but didn't compare to the pig that we cooked. With fresh coconut water to drink and roasted pig to eat, we ate until our bellies couldn't hold anymore. For months we have been searching for a new island to call our own. A place to bury our treasure and to hide from the navies that sought to kill us. This seemed like the ideal island, so we set out to explore the island to see what treasures it might hold. While we knew climbing the large mountain before us may take the remainder of the day, doing so would give us the vantage point to see if this island truly held everything that we needed. We began to cut our way into the thick forest being carefully not to stumble upon any snakes or other undesirable creatures. We discovered a small stream that ran to the base of the mountain, the taste of fresh water is something of pure bliss after being stuck to drink nothing but salt water. We filled our canteens in preparation of making the ascent up the mountain. Despite the mountains size, it was very easy to traverse and we quickly ascended to the top. As we stood at the top of the mountain we realized that we had indeed discovered the ideal island to call our home away from the sea. With it's thick lush forest, stream, abundant fruit, and wild hogs, we had a place to which no one would come to disturb us. We could see across the sea for miles and behold all of the goodness that the earth had to offer. We quickly identified a small cove in which we could bring the ship in that would allow us to retreat from the brutal storms that the sea has to offer. It appeared that to the east of the cove that there were a few caves, if nothing else a few rock structures that may protect from any attacks. Off to the west appeared a small area that was flat, while covered in forest, one might think it would be the ideal spot to plant a crop, but we are pirates, and so there will be no planting of fields for us. We began to descend the mountain to bring the ship into the cove. We had cut our way up the mountain and so the path back seemed to be easy to follow, until we were half way down and seemed to need to cut more than when we came up the mountain. Suddenly, we found ourselves cutting into a cave. Odd that none of us had noticed it on our way up. We quickly made some torches and entered the cave and discovered, a chest - a locked chest, that was to heavy for any man to move. The captain quickly pulled out his pistol and blasted the lock. The chest popped open with gold coins spilling out, jewels of every sort seemed to be inside the chest. We had discovered an island full of treasure, a pirates dream come true. 

Top Five

Last night I was sitting at a friend's house eating dinner and I had this idea to make a top five talk list for each Apostle. The more I thought about it, it seemed rather difficult to make a top five list for each Apostle because it would be rather subjective for each person. My wife loved to hear Elder Richard G. Scott speak because she felt he was so personal, and how he talked about his wife. I lean more towards Elder David A. Bednar for the heavy doctrine and straight forward approach, and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland because of his passion and love for the gospel. Just in saying that one might think that I am implying that Elder Holland loves the gospel more than any one else, and that is not what I am saying. What I am saying is that his delivery comes across as very passionate. And so you see the problem with coming up with a top 5 list for each speaker. One might find what one apostle said this past General Conference had very little impact on them, but a talk that he gave ten years ago, reached far deep into their soul and changed their life for ever.

Nonetheless, I would like to start sharing with you some highlights of various talks that have helped me in certain moments, or just talks that I have really enjoyed. To start off I would like to share a little gem from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland,  (yes, he is my favorite and I threaten my children with their lives if they make any noise when he speaks at General Conference).  "The Only True God and Jesus Christ Whom He Hath Sent" was a talk given back in October of 2007, which was when a man named Mitt Romney was debating about throwing his hat into the ring for the 2008 presidential election and also the start of what some would call the "Mormon Moment." Where was I? I was sitting in a chapel in Huntington Beach as a very young missionary approaching the 6 month mark and I left this session ready to preach the gospel from roof tops and call every person I saw to repentance. Up to this point I had heard all my life that we weren't Christian because we didn't believe in the same Jesus as everyone else. I heard it several times on my mission how the Trinity perfectly explained how God was Jesus Christ and was the Holy Ghost. However, Elder Holland pointed out the issues with this, stating " Indeed no less a source than the stalwart Harper’s Bible Dictionary records that 'the formal doctrine of the Trinity as it was defined by the great church councils of the fourth and fifth centuries is not to be found in the [New Testament].'"

He goes on to explain, "So any criticism that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not hold the contemporary Christian view of God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost is not a comment about our commitment to Christ but rather a recognition (accurate, I might add) that our view of the Godhead breaks with post–New Testament Christian history and returns to the doctrine taught by Jesus Himself." Imagine me, 20 year old missionary ready to light up the world. Did you hear that? We, the "Mormons", are more Christian  than Christians. Who would have thought? But why is it so important to be able to understand the Godhead and the belief that God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, are three separate divine beings? Why is this such an important belief? Elder Holland asks it in a different way, "How are we to trust, love, worship, to say nothing of strive to be like, One who is incomprehensible and unknowable? What of Jesus’s prayer to His Father in Heaven that “this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent”?"

Elder Holland bore such a powerful witness that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of the world. I encourage you to take a moment and listen or read his talk. Click the link!

Getting it Out!

I haven't wrote something in a very long time it feels like. It is kind of weird, I write some what regularly for things at work, school, with my kids, and so on, but I don't ever seem to write anything productive that I want to write. I am not sure why every couple of years I get this itch to write and start writing something good. Not sure if I am hoping to one day write a book. I don't feel like I am the expert of anything and I also don't feel like I have any cool stories from work or home to share, and I am awful at retelling stories or telling jokes. Some of the things I see on a day to day basis I don't feel like I can or should write and post on the internet. And now as I have gotten to this point I feel like I am out of things to say, but yet still feel like there is so much still inside of me to say. What is it? What is it that I want to share and let out? Or is it nothing at all? Or is it just me needing some sort of stimulation that I normally don't get in any other way. I don't know. I wish I know. Maybe I will try to find the book I bought a couple years ago "642 things to write about" and just see what comes out. See what it says and what I find.

Do you think every one has a story inside of them waiting to come out? How long have people had this problem? And how did they deal with before we had Facebook and blogging and all the different platforms to spill our guts? To share our story or even build and create our talents. Or did people even worry about this type of thing? Has it just been something that has come along due to the advances in technology and the abundance of food, shelter, and increased health care that we have? I don't know. Maybe as time goes by, I will find some answers to these questions. Or maybe, I will get better at writing. 

Stressed

I am not surprised that so many people have high blood pressure and other complications due to stress. Being stressed out sucks. It is a life sucking miserable monster. I use to think that I was pretty good at managing my stress and being able to keep my cool, but I started a new job a couple months back and things went backwards and people got laid off, and a whole mess. I still have my job but constantly wondering if today is the day that I no longer have a job is stressful.

Fortunately I have started doing things or trying to do things that takes some of that stress off of me. Running/exercising has been good. It helps clear the mind and take the mind off of the whole situation. Trying to help and serve people has been helpful as well. When you see the struggles that people are going through, your problems and stresses don't seem as big of a deal. Playing with my kids. Getting up and going outside or running in circles around the house has been a great way to laugh. Kids rarely realize the dangers and problems that their parents might be facing. Hearing them laugh and giggle helps life seem a lot more simple.

The hardest thing to do is to leave the stress where the stress belongs. That sounds crazy I know, but if you have stress at work, leave it at work. Or stress at school, or even at home, try and leave it there. I try to do that and its not so easy. Sadly, because I can't leave it behind, it comes out directed towards people that shouldn't have to deal with that. Stress is part of life, managing it, should be as well.