Dating

Today for Priesthood/RS lesson we had our Stake President do the lesson. He took questions that anyone had. I knew at least one would involve dating. The last one he talked about was in fact about dating. Someone asked if he had any suggestions on dating members of the church because it seems at times it is easier to date out of the church. He had all the guys stand up and ask if they remembered the covenants they made in the temple. They all nodded. He said that it was all the guys responsibilities to date and to be the ones asking girls out on dates. He said that he thought that Christ would hold the guys responsible for what they did and did not do in regards to dating. (We'll be held accountable for a lot more than that but that's what he focused on.)
He also talked about having a long term perspective on life and more importantly dating. He asked us how long we existed before we came to the earth. It was a long time and in that time we were single. In this life, in the context of eternity, we are single for a short while- no matter when we get married, next week, next year, in 10 years or even in 50 years. This life is short. We have all of eternity to look forward to. Eternity is a long time as well. That is a time that we won't spend as singles.
So I guess what I took out of his message was to live in the moment. I know that I have all of eternity to look forward to. So whenever that happy occasion does happen for me, and I know it will happen, I know that it will be when it is supposed to happen and with the person it's supposed to happen with. I love this gospel and the peace it brings me on days such as today.

Spiritual Thought

So one thing that I really liked that we did in my old BYU ward was to read a Conference talk every week and then have a talk on it during Sacrament Meeting the following week. I miss that.
Well tonight I was in charge of the spiritual thought for FHE. I was asked to use one of the talks from this past General Conference. It got me wanting to start doing the reading a talk per week thing again.

For my spiritual thought I used the talk from the Sunday Morning Conference session- Trust in God, Then Go and Do by President Eyring. Here are some snippits that I liked.
"Each of you is a unique child of God. God knows you individually. He sends messages of encouragement, correction, and direction fitted to you and to your needs."
"The Savior invited Peter to leave the safety of a boat to walk to Him across water. We ache for him and see our own need for greater trust in God as we hear the account:
"And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.
"And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, it is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.
"But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.
"And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bud me come unto thee on the water.
"And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.
"But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sing, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.
"And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?"
"We can take courage from the fact that Peter came to trust the Lord enough to stay faithful in His service all the way to his martyrdom."
"Be still, and know that I am God."
"For me it began in 1820 with a young boy in a grove of trees on a farm in the state of New York. The boy, Joseph Smith Jr., walked among the trees to a secluded spot. He knelt to pray with complete trust that God would answer his pleading to know what he should do to be cleansed and saved through the Atonement of Jesus Christ."
"The Father revealed to us that He lives, that Jesus Christ is His Beloved Son, and that He loved us enough to send that Son to save us, who are His children."
Joseph Smith trusted that his prayer would be answered. He didn't know the gospel but he knew that one scripture that got him to the grove- he knew that if he asked with sincere faith that his prayer would be answered.
"He can and does place people in positions of influence who want what is best for the people and who trust in the Lord."
He also puts people in our lives at certain times to remind us that He is mindful of us as well.
"You show your trust in Him when you listen with the intent to learn and repent and then you go and do whatever He asks. If you trust God enough to listen for His message in every sermon, song, and prayer in this conference, you will find it. And if you then go and do what He would have you do, your power to trust Him will grow, and in time you will be overwhelmed with gratitude to find that He has come to trust you."
Elder Scott, 2003, "Trust in God... no matter how challenging the circumstances... your peace of mind, your assurance of answers to vexing problems, your ultimate joy depend upon your trust in Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ."

One Tree Hill

So for those who know me, my lovely roommates Charlie and Sam introduced me to the show One Tree Hill. I know, I am so behind. It's been on for like 8 years and I have just started watching it. I actually watched the last 2 or 3 shows of the 7th season and really liked it. So I made Sam and Charlie start back at the beginning of season 1 with me. I knew a little of the story lines because I caught a little here and there in the 2 years of living with Sam and Charlie. Plus if they wanted to tell me something that had happened in the current episode some times they would have to go back and fill in story lines that I had no clue about. So I knew some of the big events like... *spoiler ahead* Keith dying. (Like you didn't already know that! :) )
Well this past weekend was Fall Break here in North Carolina. So to celebrate not having school Jennifer and I headed to Wilmington. Partly because we wanted to go the beach and partly because I wanted to see the sights of OTH. I was hoping to see cast members, I'm not going to lie, however, I did not. I think they were in Atlanta filming for an upcoming episode. Not that that matters. But there is a studio tour that they do on the weekends when they don't film so Jennifer and I did that. It was so much fun and I found out some things that I didn't know. This is the studios.



Well we went in and saw only OTH sets. The sets that they let us see were Nathan and Haley's downstairs of their house, Brooke's house and Red Bedroom Records. I just have to say that I have stood in the same areas as James Lafferty. (It doesn't matter if everyone and their brother has as well because of the tours.) The whole downstairs of Naley's house is all one set. It was set up for Thanksgiving. So there were gourds all around, pumpkins on tables, 2 tables set up for the big Thanksgiving dinner, pots on the stove that had been used to cook the food for the episode. We found out that there really isn't working electricity or water on set so when they use the sink- it's a hose hooked up to the faucet under the counter. When they need light in the frig when they open it- it's little battery powered lights on the top inside of the frig. The food that is in the frig has been there since Dawson's Creek and it's expired. There's someone that goes in to rearrange the food in the frig so that it looks like they actually use it. There are tons of pictures of the cast together all over the place to make them look like family pictures. And... there is actually a pool on set. To look like the real one at the real house. So you can see it out of the back french doors of their house. It's actually a pool with water in it and with pool toys on the side and everything. I thought that it was so cool that they actually had it on set. It must be awesome to be the Scott's!!
Brooke's house is on set too. So the back drop that you can see out her windows is just that, a back drop. They have 2- 1 for daylight and another for night. They have amazing houses, even if they are just sets.
Red Bedroom Records- not much to say besides that the brick wall isn't actually a brick wall. It's concrete and it's hand painted to look like brick.
One last thing that I learned... is that Chad Michael Murray, Lucas Scott, didn't play basketball but instead knew how to play football so in any scenes with basketball it's not him. He had a stand in that apparently looked exactly like him that did all that for him. Including the opening titles. In one episode Charlie, Sam and I actually saw his stand in and found it pretty funny.

So needless to say, I had fun. Not sure if Jennifer did. And all I got to say is that the 2 people that got me into this show need to come out here and I'll do this all over again with them. I wouldn't want them to miss out.

Oh, and the interns that did the tour for us said that they were hopeful that they would be picked up for another season because the ratings are up. Not that I'm holding my breath but it would be kinda fun to see where another season would take these characters.