Two days ago I gave a blessing to Konnor and he was very thankful for the blessing. It is just amazing how the Lord cares for each of us so individually and is so mindful of us. I am so grateful for the power of the priesthood in my life, it was changed so many lives and brought many to greater knowledge of our dear Savior.

Had a great day

I was able to get three installs today and that was a great day. The coolest part of it is that I was able to tell Tim (another sales rep) how I was able to get so many. I told him about my had day last week and how Kiera and I had prayed and felt that there was a reason why I was going through such a rough time. That morning I was Kiera and I were taught the formula to success in not just this job but in life. I was supposed to do three things:

1. Have greater faith that the Lord will provide
2. Work hard and give 100% everyday
3. Pray harder for help

Because of that I turned my last week into a good week and now this week is turning out to be a great week. I told Tim that what I had told him was not what he probably wanted to hear. He said that it had hit a soft spot for him and was exactly what he needed to hear.

I am so thankful to the Lord for all he does for me.

Letting off Fireworks for the first time

After work Kiera had a surprise for us and so she had the girls stay up. She had bought some fireworks for us to let off. We went out in the parking lot of our apartment building which is on a large hill. The first one we let off just blew up on the ground. So we tried another one of the same kind. I lite it and ran back as Kiera yelled, a car is coming up the hill. It blew up all over the windshield of the car. Then we realized that its lights were flashing and we realized that it was an undercover cop car. Come to find out that fireworks are illegal in the county that we were in, but that the next county over they are legal. He was nice and we got in the car and drove to the next county. We found a secluded street and let off the two big ones and they were so cool. They were like regular big fireworks. It was a little nerve racking because in Arizona they are illegal and so I still in that mindset. I will enjoy them a lot more next July 4th if we are somewhere that they are legal.

Wonderful 4th of July

I hit my goal for the day for installs which I was very thankful to the Lord for helping me to hit my goal. We got to get off early and we had a barbecue as an office. It was a blast but the food took forever to be ready and so we were starving by the time we ate. They had a slip and slide set up that my girls had a blast on. After the barbecue we went as a family to the Riverfront fireworks. These fireworks are rated as the third best in the country. I have to admit that they were absolutely awesome. The best I have ever seen. I got some pictures and videos I will post once I get them downloaded. The finale literally lite up the sky for about 30 seconds to a full minute.

Talking to a blind man

At one of the doors I knocked there was a blind person that answered the door. I found it interesting and funny that as I talked to him I used my hands and facial expressions just like I normally do. I kept laughing to myself about it as I talked to him. I was amazed at how well he got about. He even had a voice recorded that I left my name and number with him on.

My install today

The install that I had today was an elderly lady whose daughter died from a heart attack about a month ago. She showed me all the gifts that her friends gave her. At the end when I was about to leave she opened up a little to me. We started talking about religion and dealing with death. I told her that I was LDS. She said, I am not sure if you believe in this, and then shared a spiritual experience that she had with her daughter at the moment that she had died. I told her that I did believe in that and told her to record her experience in her journal so that she can always have it with her. I just wanted to testify to her about the Gospel which brings such great joy in time of death. I still may write her a letter and mail it or deliver it to her with my testimony in it.

Missed fireworks with my family

Today was a sad day, because my family went to watch fireworks at Nashville Shores while I was still at work. I was very sad and kept imaging funny things that my girls did last time we watched fireworks together. I guess that is what happens when I work so many hours during the summer, but my girls and I are looking forward to me spending lots of time with them after the summer is over.

Staying in the game mentally

This job has got to me the most mentally demanding job that I have ever had not even mentioning physically demanding. I have realized that I rely the most on the Lord in this job than any other I have had as well. It is good though, because the Lord is teaching me a lot as well. I have to also say that Kiera has helped me so much everyday. She keeps me on track and always has advice that helps me get through the day.

Challenge for the youth

In my class I challenged the youth to read at least one page in the scriptures each day, write in their journals each day and lastly to clean their room or to do one act of service. To those that do this, they will receive treats next Sunday. So I have to make sure that I do these things as well. I have no problems with reading but the writing part is difficult.

Wonderful Day Off

I work 6 days a week and do not get home till usually 11 at night. So it has been tough to find time to update my blog or do anything except try to spend every free minute with my wife and family. Yesterday I took a day off to celebrate Kiera's and my birthday. I only get two flex days a summer so we wanted to make the best of my day off. We woke up and picked up the house before the babysitter came over. We ended up leaving late which made us not make it to the Temple session (which we found out later we were the only married couple and were supposed to be the witness couple). They made room for us in initiatories. This is a small Temple and it is amazing how small it really is. There is only one initiatory room where only 3 people can be doing initiatories at one time. I have to say that I felt the Spirit so strong as I stood waiting to start initiatories. I felt so happy to be there in the Lords house and I was impressed with the whole operation of the Temple and felt a great love and admiration for Temple Presidents. I can't express all the things that I felt but I can say that it was a most glorious time and my love for Temple work was increased. After initiatories Kiera and I met in the Celestial Room. This is always the highlight my Temple experience to see my beautiful bride all dressed in white and to me her countenance glows in Temple and I love to look at her. She told me that apparently I am not the only one. She told me that one of the Temple workers told Kiera that she is so young and beautiful that she just loves to sit there and look at her. She also said that women are the most beautiful when they are pregnant. I would have to agree, I love it when Kiera is pregnant. If I could go to the Temple everyday with my wife I would be the happiest man alive.

Next we went to eat at Red Robin because we had several coupons, a birthday coupon for Kiera and Alexa and a $3 off coupon. Our entire bill was only $6 with tax. We love Red Robin, they have the best hamburgers and we love their bottomless fries.

We then went to Nashville Shores (water park) because we have season passes. They were having Elephant rides and we have never been on an elephant before. We did not have enough cash at the time for us all to ride and so I was just going to go and then the girls were going to come on Saturday since this would be my only opportunity. But Lacie cried and cried. So we decided to wait and see if we can get more cash and ride it together. After we finished swimming Kiera got enough money for us all to ride the elephant. Kiera could not ride because she is pregnant but she was able to sit on it quickly so I could take her picture. Elephants are big and there backs are very bony. Lacie yelled while we were riding it that its wings were hitting her and Alexa said that "his wings are flapping my feet". I told them that those are not wings but ears. It was fun.

Lastly we went to Hard Rock Cafe to eat since Kiera has never been there. I sold a security system to a guy that works there and he said that he would give us a good discount. He said that he is off all Tuesdays and so Kiera and I switched our day to Wednesday so that he would be there. We got there and he was off, we were frustrated. We ended up not eating there because nothing looked good and it was expensive. We had a hard time trying to decide where to eat and we finally decided to eat at D&D restaurant that was at the mall across the hall from the movie theater. My hamburger was good and big but Kiera did not like her Chicken Alfredo that much.

After we were done we went and watched Oceans 13. It was a pretty good movie but Kiera sleep through the entire movie. She is so funny, every time we sit down and watch a movie at home Kiera falls asleep. She is crazy.

At least we had lots of fun on my day off, even though everything went wrong and Kiera was stressed the whole day.

Knowledge is not by chance

I reflected on my earlier experience where the Lord brought to my remembrance the name of Vaughn J Featherstone. Micha had told me about his scripture memorizing program and I had wanted to learn more about it. When I was home I could not remember his name. The Lord brought his name to my remembrance (John J. Featherstone, which when googled it came up as Vaughn).

I was in the shower thinking about this experience when the Spirit began to teach me. I was taught that all knowledge and experiences are given by either of two sources, either the Lord (righteousness) or the devil (evil). This is applied to agency as well, because either we are enticed by evil and choose evil, or by good and choose good. Our obedience to either, gives greater power to whichever side we yield to, therefore allowing increased enticement. Therefore, all knowledge is given to us and it will be to our benefit or condemnation. Others may assist us as well, like Micha, he was guided to impart that information to me, whether he realizes it or not. We are all instruments of the Lord or the devil at all times.

Jesus is the son of God

I was washing the dishes as Lacie was watching The Testaments (a movie about Christs visit to the Old and New world) when suddenly my understanding was opened and I was taught by the Spirit. I was given an absolute knowledge that Christ lived and that all that has been testified by ancient and modern prophets is verily true. It was though physical matter was added to my mind that contained knowledge of Christ and His ministry, I can hardly explain it. I have known by the Spirit that Christ lived and now lives but it seemed that it was by faith and now I just know because of the pure light given to me.

I have been studying the Joseph Smith, Parley P. Pratt and Lorenzo Snow and have been literally amazed at there absolute knowledge of Christ and have been striving to understand even a portion of what they understand. Now the Lord has answered the prayer of my heart.

I also felt impressed to write this in this blog. I have a Private Blog that I do more of my personal journaling and this is something that normally would go there. I was told that someone needed this testimony of the knowledge of Christ.

New Callings

We got a call this morning to meet with the President of our branch, Pres. Leadbetter. Kiera got called to be the Primary Chorister and I got called to teach the youth for Sunday School. We are very excited for our callings.

Infinite Bubbles thanks to Janet

For work I was in the home of a very nice lady. I helped her get a security system and she gave me some bubbles that she had bought for her dogs but they just scared them. The cool thing about these bubbles is the design of the bubble wand. It is designed with 4 loops and just tons of bubbles come out and continue to come out. My girls love these bubbles.

Escape from dog attack

Sorry, for not posting recently, but with my new job and trying to finish school I have been tied up. Next week I will be playing catch up. I wanted to write about a quick experience that happened to me two days ago.

I knock door to door and sell home security systems and we were knocking in this lower income area. It seems that every house has a dog of some sort. I was on this street with several houses that had several Pit Bulls. I knocked this house and the nice lady was not interested but right before I left there was a stray Pit Bull that came from around the corner. I felt impressed to stay in that yard. She had a fence and locked us in. She told me how that dog was evil and not a nice dog. I stayed in her yard for a good 5 to 10 mins waiting till he left the street. He went into this yard and stayed there for a while and so I sneaked out and took off the other way. I did not come back to that street until the next day. I ran into the same neighbor that had allowed me to stay in her yard and she told me that that dog had attacked a guy that same night and on that same street. The guy had to get 61 stitches. I felt that the Lord had protected me. I also decided to start to memorize a scripture a day since I had some time between doors. Anyway, I will be sure to remember the Lord more and he will be sure to remember me.