June 15, 2010

Tuesday

Daniel and I haven’t been out to see much of anything the last week. After we were both done with work on Friday, we went to hang out with Bowman and Stephanie. Bowman got really expensive tickets from someone at his work for a cool show at an outside theater. The show was an acrobatic, circus type show called Cirque Dreams, Illumination. It was really cool and fun! It was sickening, some of the ways that those people moved. But they did some really impressive tricks! We made some food (delicious food … ribs, barbeque chicken, chicken salad, juice … Mmmmm!) and took it down to Wolf Trap Theater. We had a good time.

Saturday, Daniel and I slept in late, did laundry and other random things, and then we went yard-sale-ing. None of them were that good, like by the time we got there they were all picked over. Bowman and Stephanie swear by yard sales … so far, we haven’t had any luck with them.

Later that evening, we went to dinner with Bowman and Stephanie to a brother in their ward’s house, Brother Zirkle. He apparently usually makes really delicious, gourmet food and has people over to eat it, and he invited us. It was really good and fun! The missionaries were over and another guy who used to serve in the area. We had some good chicken sandwiches, pasta salad, and juice. I ate a ton … and then they brought out a HUGE dessert. Two huge brownies and two big scoops of vanilla ice cream, covered in strawberries and drizzled with chocolate syrup. TOO MUCH! And I ate all of it. Probably shouldn’t have…but I did. It was delicious!

Sunday afternoon, after church, Daniel and I went over to his cousin’s house, Heather, for lunch. Dan’s Aunt Tamara was there, and Michelle and Michael and their kids were there too. We spent the afternoon with them, getting to know them and hanging out.

Work yesterday was fine. I went in at six in the morning, took a zumba class and helped out around the fitness center. I got home at 2pm, and Dan was still at work, so I watched movies, worked on my bag-bag (the bag I’m crocheting with plastic bags … Dan calls it my bag-bag), did dishes and other things. After picking Daniel up, we talked, at some leftovers for dinner, and then had family home evening. I prepared a lesson based on one of the general conference talks, and then we made milkshakes and played a really hard mind game.

Today, Dan’s working and I’m home just doing random stuff.

FHE notes June 14, 2010 :

·       Scriptures enlarge our memories – we know of the stories in the scriptures, even though we weren’t there to witness them;

o   We also are able to remember lessons of the past through scriptures, not letting us forget what we and earlier generations have learned:  “Those who either don’t have or ignore the recorded word of God eventually cease to believe in Him and forget the purpose of their existence. You will remember how important it was for Lehi’s people to take the brass plates with them when they left Jerusalem. These scriptures were key to their knowledge of God and the coming Redemption of Christ. The other group that “came out from Jerusalem” shortly after Lehi had no scriptures, and when Lehi’s descendants encountered them some 300 or 400 years later, it is recorded that “their language had become corrupted; . . . and they denied the being of their Creator”. In Tyndale’s day, scriptural ignorance abounded because people lacked access to the Bible, especially in a language they could understand. Today the Bible and other scripture are readily at hand, yet there is a growing scriptural illiteracy because people will not open the books. Consequently they have forgotten things their grandparents knew.”

·       Standard for distinguishing Truth and Error:

o   “His commandments are the voice of reality and our protection against self-inflicted pain. The scriptures are the touchstone for measuring correctness and truth, and they are clear that real happiness lies not in denying the justice of God or trying to circumvent the consequences of sin but in repentance and forgiveness through the atoning grace of the Son of God. Scripture tutors us in principles and moral values essential to maintaining civil society, including integrity, responsibility, selflessness, fidelity, and charity. In scripture, we find vivid portrayals of the blessings that come from honoring true principles, as well as the tragedies that befall when individuals and civilizations discard them. Where scriptural truths are ignored or abandoned, the essential moral core of society disintegrates and decay is close behind. In time, nothing is left to sustain the institutions that sustain society.”

·       Bring us to the Savior:

o   “Faith will not come from the study of ancient texts as a purely academic pursuit. It will not come from archaeological digs and discoveries. It will not come from scientific experiments. It will not even come from witnessing miracles. These things may serve to confirm faith, or at times to challenge it, but they do not create faith. Faith comes by the witness of the Holy Spirit to our souls, Spirit to spirit, as we hear or read the word of God. And faith matures as we continue to feast upon the word.”

o   “Surely with this blessing the Lord is telling us that our need for constant recourse to the scriptures is greater than in any previous time.”

 June 10, 2010

Thursday

I know it’s been a while since I’ve written in my journal; but a lot of the things that Daniel and I have been up to I have been putting up on our blog. We are finally in DC, and we have both started our internships. We stopped in Nauvoo on the way here, and spent a few days there. It was a lot of fun! We didn’t get to see everything, but we did get to see a lot of it. And we saw three shows while we were there, that were a lot of fun. We were there on a Saturday and a Sunday, and so we were able to go to church with all the missionaries serving in Nauvoo. And we spent both days looking around and getting tours of the buildings. Towards the end of our visit, we stopped by the old Nauvoo cemetery, and I loved it! It was so peaceful and hidden from the world in this little forest. And it wasn’t so well kept up as other cemeteries are, which I actually kind of liked.

Well, anyway, the drive here was long and arduous. We got caught in traffic and lost before we arrived really early in the morning on Tuesday. The first week was spent setting up our apartment and visiting our family in the area (Michael and Michelle’s family, and Bowman and Stephanie’s family). I started my internship a week ago, on Thursday. Basically the time was spent talking to the people I work with and getting to know them, training and learning how things are run in the fitness center at Freddie Mac, and just learning the ropes. The last few days of my work, I’ve been learning more and more. I take classes everyday that I go in; I took a spinning class, a weight training class, and an intervals class. I have also observed some of the trainers do their training for clients. Also, Jennifer Hawkins, who is basically in charge of me, the intern, has discussed a lot of useful things with me: the certification test, how to train, anatomy and exercise physiology, etc. Everyone I work with is really nice; I like them all a lot. And I think they like me too. The director/boss over the fitness center, Becky, is really impressed that I’m doing the internship simply because I want to learn; I’m not getting college credit or filling a requirement or getting paid. I think it’s been different for me, socially; I haven’t hung out with non-members for a long time. They swear … a lot. But they are really nice. I have been working really hard for months not to let myself get the better of me; I don’t care what other people think. So I’m more confident than I have been in a while, and I think that helps. That, even though I’m new, and only an intern, they respect me, because I don’t take crap from anyone and I let them tease me, but it doesn’t get to me at all. It’s been really good! I’m having a lot of fun! I’ve even been getting to know some of the security guards, which is fun. They’re cool! It was definitely a hassle the first couple of days, before I got my own badge. I had to call in to security every time I came in, give them the reason I was there, my license and plate number, and have someone from the center come get me. It was frustrating the second day I had to do it, because I’d already been there before. But it was okay. It’s kind of interesting that Freddie Mac is stringent on security. I have to carry my security ID with me at all times and whenever I leave and enter the building. Anyway…

Plus, I told Becky that I’ve been looking for a part-time job in addition to my internship, so that I can make some money this summer. She offered to hire me as an On-Call worker there, so that I can fill in for people when they are taking work off this summer. There are a lot of opportunities for me to fill in for others, especially this upcoming month; I thought it was great that she offered me that position, so that I can actually get paid a little bit while I’m working there. That’s pretty exciting for me! Especially since I don’t have to go out and look for another job! Plus, I’d be getting paid $15 an hour, which is more than I’ve ever been paid … sure, it’s not great, but better than I’ve ever experienced.

Today I have a day off. My current schedule is Monday 6am-2pm, Wednesday 10am-6pm, and Friday 10am-2pm. When I start filling in for people, I’ll be working more hours, which is good. Right now it’s just my basic part-time internship. But that means I have a lot of time to take care of the apartment and read and scrapbook and do whatever else. Study…if I feel like it. J Daniel started his internship yesterday, training and doing all of that kind of thing. He got his own laptop for work, which is nice, because I get this one during the days when I’m off. It’ll be interesting to see how his internship turns out. He’s the only one interning with Transaction Services. Ha! Good job, Daniel! He looks so handsome when he goes off to work, all dressed up in nice clothes. MMMM!

During our days off, we have gone down to DC to explore the city a bit. We went to the Freer Art Museum, the Holocaust Museum, and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. They were all really fun and interesting. Well, the Holocaust Museum was really sad and disturbing. But still very interesting. It’s fascinating and sad how people can mistreat other human beings like that! I wonder how it even gets to that point? It kind of makes me want to read books about the Third Reich and the Holocaust. It’d be interesting to learn more about it. I think.

There are some interesting and different things about this place. But I think that’ll have to wait for another day and entry. I have to get doing some other things right now.