We sometimes forget the power of prayer. We sometimes think that our prayers can only protect us or bring us those things we need, like in the case of Hannah wanting a child.

1 Samuel 1:1-20 (Old Testament-Bible)
1 Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim, of mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite:
2 And he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.
3 And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, were there.
4 ¶ And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions:
5 But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but the Lord had shut up her womb.
6 And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the Lord had shut up her womb.
7 And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, so she provoked her; therefore she wept, and did not eat.
8 Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to thee than ten sons?
9 ¶ So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the Lord.
10 And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore.
11 And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.
12 And it came to pass, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli marked her mouth.
13 Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken.
14 And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken? put away thy wine from thee.
15 And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord.
16 Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial: for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto.
17 Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him.
18 And she said, Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad.
19 ¶ And they rose up in the morning early, and worshipped before the Lord, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah: and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the Lord remembered her.
20 Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the Lord.

We sometimes think that prayer can help only those that are righteous enough to merit the help of The Almighty. For example: when prayer helped Peter escape prison by a miraculous visitation of an angel.

Acts 12:6-12 (New Testament-Bible)
6 And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison.
7 And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands.
8 And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me.
9 And he went out, and followed him; and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision.
10 When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed from him.
11 And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.
12 And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying.

We even sometimes forget that the power of prayer can also help those that do not understand the truth or outright oppose it.

Mosiah 27:8-17 (Book Of Mormon)
…And he was a man of many words, and did speak much flattery to the people; therefore he led many of the people to do after the manner of his iniquities.
9 And he became a great hinderment to the prosperity of the church of God; stealing away the hearts of the people; causing much dissension among the people; giving a chance for the enemy of God to exercise his power over them.
10 And now it came to pass that while he was going about to destroy the church of God, for he did go about secretly with the sons of Mosiah seeking to destroy the church, and to lead astray the people of the Lord, contrary to the commandments of God, or even the king—
11 And as I said unto you, as they were going about rebelling against God, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto them; and he descended as it were in a cloud; and he spake as it were with a voice of thunder, which caused the earth to shake upon which they stood;
12 And so great was their astonishment, that they fell to the earth, and understood not the words which he spake unto them.
13 Nevertheless he cried again, saying: Alma, arise and stand forth, for why persecutest thou the church of God? For the Lord hath said: This is my church, and I will establish it; and nothing shall overthrow it, save it is the transgression of my people.
14 And again, the angel said: Behold, the Lord hath heard the prayers of his people, and also the prayers of his servant, Alma, who is thy father; for he has prayed with much faith concerning thee that thou mightest be brought to the knowledge of the truth; therefore, for this purpose have I come to convince thee of the power and authority of God, that the prayers of his servants might be answered according to their faith.
15 And now behold, can ye dispute the power of God? For behold, doth not my voice shake the earth? And can ye not also behold me before you? And I am sent from God.
16 Now I say unto thee: Go, and remember the captivity of thy fathers in the land of Helam, and in the land of Nephi; and remember how great things he has done for them; for they were in bondage, and he has delivered them. And now I say unto thee, Alma, go thy way, and seek to destroy the church no more, that their prayers may be answered, and this even if thou wilt of thyself be cast off.
17 And now it came to pass that these were the last words which the angel spake unto Alma, and he departed.

We sometimes forget these things, but I wish to bring to your attention our duty as those who believe in God. We may believe in different doctrines or interpretations of scripture. We may live in different parts of the world, be it in peace or at war. There is one thing that I hope we all believe, that there is a God who does love us and wants the best for us. He does hear our prayers and He will answer them.

Now there is a great need in this world for righteous leaders. This could be the ruler of a nation down to the father of a home. Like the story of Alma that was recited earlier, our prayers can have amazing impact on those we pray for. I ask you to think of your leaders. Add them to your next prayer. I would hope that you not only pray once, but daily for these leaders to be guided by God in their pursuit to do what is best. I write this in mind of the recent election in the United States of America. I am not saying that Barack Obama is unrighteous or going against truth, instead, I am saying that he is a leader of my nation. That he, like George Bush, needs our prayers and guidance from on high.

Please forward this on to anyone you know that will benefit from the things written here. You may not like the examples given, but the point is the same nonetheless. Let us really look forward to change and a new hope. Let us do our part with prayer.

-Anonymous

I am doing my...

I am doing my blog right now by my phone using dial2do. Really neat little program. I recommend it to everybody to check it out. It's really fun little ol' thing to do. Can't say much more than that. Real nice. Just talking to my cellphone and have it done for me. Check it out.
Powered by . Mp3

Welcome everyone to the first time of coming to this site. I know most of you are here because I got you all fired up for a fight. I welcome your thoughts and insights. It was brought to my attention today of Prop 8. Many people are fired up over this and are on three sides of this so-called battle. Yes, No, Don't care. For me I actually care a lot. My reasoning for this is that I go to a church run university. I also get money from the government for school due to a lay off. If this is to be hit with too many "No's" then this could butterfly affect my grants. As in take them away.

I posted this on one of the "No on Prop 8" facebook pages.

So my question on this is, does this mean that after this passes, that those who want to marry their cars or dogs can? Who is to say where love should stop? I'm not saying that this is ridiculous, but when does it get ridiculous? And when does it hit the point where marriage shouldn't happen? The statutes have been following age old laws based on laws of the Bible and other holy books. Those laws have done pretty well in my opinion. I think everyone needs to read a bit more C. S. Lewis on the matter of LOVE. I'm sorry that there wasn't the love needed by both parents. It's just sad. It really makes me want to cry for you.

If there is to be blame to go around I blame parents two generations back. the ones too strict to keep things in the nuclear family, shunning those that didn't fit in. the kids of those families saw their parents and said, "I'm not going to be so mean, I'm going to be a good friend to my kids and let them do anything they feel like." This trickles down to present day. The grandchildren are now "friends" to their parents and yet have no guidelines, no idea of morals and accountability. They feel like are entitled to anything. So sad.

I think it funny by most of the posts by the gay a lesbian community, that they are offended by the fact that those that oppose them are always bringing up religion. I'm sorry to say but this is a religious matter. Ask the Catholic church how allowing Gay priests affected their way of life.

I don't think that the world has gone down hill solely because of acceptance of homosexuality. I think men have a lot to blame for not taking responsibility for children they father.

But overall, it is getting late for me and I pose this new topic. If you believe in a higher power/force or if you don't, I think this is an experiment that is worth trying out. Let's say, hypothetically, this world was created by a "god-type" character, and that He is as they say, "all-knowing". Logically speaking He would be the only thing that would know the truth about anything. If there is an argument about say what the meaning of "Separation between church and state", wouldn't it be logical to say that "God" knows what it means? Would it be possible to ask about it? For those Liberals reading this, I think this might be ironic to say but, "If any of you lack wisdom (not calling you stupid by any means) just ask God, who will give answers to you liberally and won't leave you empty." Try it out. I ask you to find a quiet place and just ask if God exists, ask about anything. Do you think that you could do this with just a bit of faith or hope that something might just happen? Don't just dismiss this as the ramblings of a weird guy. I dare you to try it. What is it going to hurt? Only ten minutes max is needed. Please post your experience.

Thank you for your time and I hope to meet you someday.

Before Ye Seek For Riches:

So I had a conversation with a dear old friend yesterday and posed a question. She gave me a lot to think about and I was wondering what people have to think about how one can fulfill the commandment to Seek Ye The Kingdom Of God before seeking for riches. Here are the questions I would like to ask:

What is Wealth to you?
How does one seek the Kingdom of God before riches?
What was your pivot point of seeking the Kingdom of God vs. Riches, if any?
What advice would you give to people on how to better seek the Kingdom of God vs. Riches?
May I publish your thoughts?
May I accredit you for those thoughts?


I may want to publish this information. I think it would help many people, including myself. Thanks again and I will hopefully hear from you soon.

Pointless Brainwashing vs. A Good Work:

I was recently watching a show that got me thinking about my own religious beliefs. Some people think of my religion as a cult. Many have attacked on that basis for almost two centuries. I have two things I would like to explain and pose a question to anyone who may read this. Please explain to me how and why the service that takes place in the temple is a bad thing for the members of the LDS faith. The second is about money.

Temple "Work":

So a faithful member of the LDS church is requested to perform certain tasks in the temple. One of which is baptisms for the dead. Let me explain the process as far as I know it. Members take time out of their, ever increasingly, little time and search out the members of their families that have past on and compile pages of family trees. Countless names are then submitted to the church to have these certain tasks in the temple. Again a member has to, through paying for their own way to the temple and this can be quite a trip for most, to take time to do the tasks. Now I am taking baptisms for the dead as my example as one of the the things done there. A person then with a list of family members, gets full immersed for each name. (You may argue the fully under the water baptism another time.) The person, with gratitude in his heart, returns home.

My questions for the public are as follows: What does the church expect to gain by this? The money for the trip is not going to the church. The church doesn't have a voting system where the more names you have, the more power you have. I suppose to the masses it appears that this is just brain washing. The problem with that thinking is that most, if not all, brain washings are done for a reason. If it's mindless drones, or to gain more power over the other, this doesn't seem to be working in that way. I have never heard of a brain washing that told the recipient to start stamp collecting and make trips to annual conventions. Why would there be? In other words, the church has nothing to gain by this.

MONEY:

Now each temple costs money. If you have seen any of them you will have noticed how fancy they are. This is no JW Kingdom Hall or convention center for holding mass born again rallies. These building are made with top notch materials and craftsmanship. How is it funded. By the member's money of course. The church is one of the richest organizations out there, when comparing religions. Why are they so wealthy? Let's look at some of the things the money is used for... Missions, buildings, education, travel, housing, and service (such as help to Katrina victims). Now I am not going to claim the church never had financial problems, that would be foolish. I know the history as anyone. But ever since the "Law of Tithing" was instituted again, the church has not had problems with money. You have never seen a Mormon Telethon have you? Don't get me wrong, the Law of Tithing has been talked about at least once a year by church leaders, but we have never had a drive to reach a certain amount. The church has yet to go into debt when building anything. Now that's some feet in the economy we live in today. By that standard, the church probably has really bad credit if any.

My personal thought on the matter is that the church's financial standards are overseen by God. Why is it that other churches, especially the catholic church, has had problems with money for years? I am not knocking any other church, just stating what seems to be apparent in classic literature and even movies such as, "The Bells of Saint Mary". This and the LDS Church has fewer members than the Catholic church.

I hope you enjoyed this blog. Please do comment. I want to see what people think. Thank you.

PART VIII

That's right, if you haven't read the other parts, you are missing out. As I have been reporting, windows, doors, gateways, and even mountain passes have been opening up for me, if I but report it. ( I think that's how it's working) I got an email from the College of Business and Communication Chair, Craig Bell. Here it is in its full:

Dear Students,

Beginning this fall 2008 the required CIT 350 course for business majors will no longer be offered. If you have not taken CIT 350 the following courses will substitute.

1. Any 3 credit CIT 200 - 400 level course

2. B 250 Web Business I -- a new 3 credit course beginning this fall. (This course will be an hands on experience in which students will learn how to build and optimize a web-based business.) This class may also work as part of your cluster. The course will require a laptop.

3. B 399 Special Topics (Fall Semester Only) -- the topic will be Entrepreneurial Management. The course is currently being taught at the Harvard Business School. The course has been rated as the top course for first year MBA students. Brother Clark Gilbert a former Harvard professor --who helped develop the course will be involved in teaching the course along with other BYU-Idaho faculty. The course will consist of several case studies related to managing an entrepreneurial venture. Several of the cases deal with technological issues.

If you have lived in a foreign country for at least one year B 399 will also sub for Econ 358 ( fall semester 2008 only) This course could also be part of a cluster.

Students will need to fill out a substitution form which are available in Smith 227 (the advising office has moved to the other end of the hall)

Hope all is going well.

Regards,

Brother Bell

All right, so the important part is #2. I was going to be taking CIT 350 for my major, and now it's not available. Here is what CIT 350 was:

CIT 350 Managing Information Technology (3:3:0)
Prerequisite: CIT 240 ***I wasn't planning on taking ***
This class is not for information systems majors.
Introduction to the management of information technology with
a focus on current and emerging technologies and their
relation¬ship to business organizations.

Sounds okay I guess, but I am going to love B 250 instead. This is exactly what I was hoping to accomplish in my studies. I was even looking to find companies that would help me do this on and internship. This is supposed to happen.

Try this out sometime:

If a person comes up to you and asks, "Can I ask you a stupid question?" (as if that wasn't a stupid question in itself.) Reply with, "Well I have a stupid answer." To which they will ask their question which usually isn't stupid at all. to which you reply, "[insert stupid answer]." After a good laugh, you can answer it truthfully, but it sure makes life more fun. ex.

Lady:
"Can I ask you a stupid question?"
Me:
"Well I have a stupid answer."
Lady:
"Why is Forbidden Kingdom rated PG-13?"
Me:
"Green Beans!"

Introducing the MexiSushi™:

MexiSushi™ is a vegetarian burrito formed into a sushi roll. Follow my pattern or mix it up that way you want. It's easy to do and great tasting. Here are the things I used:

Spinach Wraps:Cut into RectanglesRefried Beans:
Brown Rice with "spanish" flavoring:Green Onion:Cut the white parts:And the green:Jalapeno and green pepper (I would have gone with red or orange for color's sake):
Let's cut 'em up:Here comes the putting together part. I forgot to get a shot of the cilantro, but it's in there. Also I'm piping Schwan's guacamole onto it.
Just follow these steps:
Thin layer of rice on wrapNice and ThinFold Wax Paper OverCarefully NowFlip it OverSushi PalletPlace vegies down in a rowPipe guacamoleAdd beans, Cilantro, Black Olives, etc.Roll the wrapNice First SideRoll other sideHold and form into RollThat's the RollCut it into even piecesOur finished plate of six pieces and Salsa and GuacamoleAnd there you have it folks. the first ever MexiSushi. It was really good to eat. Especially dipped in the salsa and the guacamole on the side.

Matthew D. Baugh © 2008.

PART I

A while back I had written a scathing email to my Mother-in-law about me going back to school. The reason for my email was in response to the attitude we were given by my Mother-in-law about hearing from someone else that we were moving for sure and she wasn’t told by us. In my defense, we didn’t know for sure, we were still in planning stages. Back to my email. I had told my Mother-in-law to either get behind this and stop kicking against the pricks, or miss out on the miracles that were about to manifest themselves. Overall, my reason for this blog is to open your eyes to the “Miracle” that is the move from Tucson, Arizona, to Rexburg, Idaho.

First things first. When we left Rexburg abruptly in August of 2006, we felt this was a good thing to do. Maybe it was. A lot happened in one year, and to give you an idea, here’s the recap.

September 2006: Got a job selling frozen foods with Schwan Foods. (Yes the cool yellow “Inca Gold” trucks.)

Pros: Great pay. Great people. Ok perks. Great chance to reflect on self while driving. Introduced to Glenn Beck and the political mind I never knew I had. Started to get cable and found “The Big Idea” TV show and decided it was time to really go for making Digital Elegance a real thing. Sundays off. On the long drives to work I would listen to books on tape and have done that ever since.

Cons: No family time. To do my job right I had to be away from the house from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm or even later. I also had to sacrifice many a Saturday. Plus, if anything was happening at home I had to be there for (i.e. An emergency) I would have to take the truck into work and then drive another 45-60 minutes back home. I was subject to all types of weather, (handling frozen goods in freezing weather or driving a truck with no AC in 110 degree weather) snow, rain and thunderstorms.

April 2007: After finding out we were having a boy, I wanted to be closer to home and have an inside job. Got hired by First Magnus Financial Corporation. I was selling, or at least trying to sell, mortgages to people who contacted Lending Tree. I did sell one, but it only paid for the draw I was taking monthly so I could support the family until I sold more mortgages. This was phone sales, and I never felt I knew enough to come off competent enough for people to believe in me. There were a few things I didn’t agree with there. I was given a script of how to lead the conversation. Now I thought the way we were to use it was more like a guide, not a word for word script. I was told otherwise after I was told that we should put it in our own words so it didn’t sound canned. I never liked the way they had us not answer questions right out. It feels so dishonest. Also they wanted to have a specific number of calls a day. Well after I had made my calls for the day I still needed a bit more, so I would call Kinko’s in Las Vegas to make my call record look good. The funny thing about the Kinko’s answering machine is that it would ask me this one question every minute, “Are you still there?” Now I know it was meant to say, “Hey idiot get off the phone or I’m just going to repeat the same options to you again.” But, in my discontent with my situation at First Magnus, it sounded to me like this: “Hey idiot! What are you still doing in that place if you know you don’t like it at all?”

Pro’s: Inside job. 9-5 hours. Holidays off. Great lunch room.

Con’s: I was unprepared for the type of selling. That script thing.

PART II

August 2007: The day before I was going to quit First Magnus, I took the day for the family. I took a few of my personal things that day as well. That day was exactly one year from the day we left Carmike Cinemas. Ironic, huh? The next day was where I know God had intervened. I got to work and found a guy, who was usually dressed in a suit and tie, dressed in sweat pants and a t-shirt. He said to me, “We’re closed, go home.” I asked, “What was that?” and he said the same thing. I finally got the word from another co-worker who dumbed it down for me. “First Magnus went bankrupt, we’re unemployed.” Some of you might wonder how a loving God could allow a company to fold and destitute so many people. I have two reasons for this in my case: to humble His children to trust in Him, and to point me in the right direction. Seriously, God never instructed His people to live beyond their means and I do feel bad for people like Rich, who had it really rough from the get-go. On the other side of the spectrum was a guy named John. He had been putting a lot of his money into investments. He was working because he wanted to, not because he had to or he’d be living in a cardboard box. If you really want God’s instruction on how to use money, look in the parable of the talents found in Matthew chapter 25:14-30.

Pro’s: Laid off rather than being fired or quitting. Unemployment checks and benefits. (i.e. State paying for education.) Also Tristan was born and I had nothing better to do than be by Arienne’s side the whole time.

Con’s: No job. Unemployment doesn’t pay that much. Nothing to do. Trying to find a job again.

August 18^th 2007: Every week in Priesthood opening exercises in church, we would recite the “Purposes of the Aaronic Priesthood.” Every week I would feel guilty about leaving school and being down in Tucson, when I should be “getting as much education as possible.” So that morning, in the shower, I had the unmistakable feeling of clarity. I thought to myself, Maybe I should go back to BYU-Idaho and finish my degree. At that moment I felt so peaceful. My soul felt like it had finally aligned with what I was supposed to be doing, much like that way you feel when you put the right puzzle piece into place or after being lost in a crowded place and you finally find something that looks familiar enough to let you know you are on the right path. Just multiply that feeling to your whole soul and you’ll know how it feels. Ask anyone who finally realized what they wanted to study in college, or the woman that accepts the calling of motherhood. I knew I needed to get back to Rexburg. The big question was how was I going to get there?

PART III

Planning: At first, I had thought that the best way to get back there was to go it alone. Get a job in Rexburg and pay for myself and let financial aid cover the rest while Arienne got a job and worked in Tucson. Some of you might be asking yourself, “Why Rexburg? Why Idaho? Why not transfer to University of Arizona?” Those are great questions that I knew I would have to answer because they were the questions I had myself. I soon realized that I would still have to find a job that I could do both study and support. Tucson’s economy was not going to allow both. Second, if I’m going back to school for my degree, why move to a new place? Rexburg was something familiar and I had all those pesky religion credits. So after realizing that going alone was a stupid idea, financially speaking, the plan had then changed to me going with the family to Rexburg. But how could I pay for such a move?

September 2007: I got a job through a temp agency at a company called Misys. I was put in as a database coordinator. I scheduled hospitals’ database projects to be created by Misys programmers. I was fascinated. I was in my element. I sat behind a computer all day and had to reorganize their system.

Pro’s: 9 to 5 job, great pay, computer work, room for advancement, if I got hired on full time I would have great benefits and access to the on campus gym.

Con’s: The computer thing actually drained me from wanting to be behind the computer when I got home. Training sucked. I was trained by a lady who was leaving in two weeks from the point I came on. I had to fix their broken system. Communication sucked as well and I was never clear of what I was supposed to do.

October 2007: Right before Halloween as I was getting my signature for my weekly paycheck, my boss told me I should grab all my stuff and turn in my badge. He wasn’t sure if they needed my position anymore. This coming after they told me they were working to get me hired on full time with a base pay of $35,000 a year plus all those benefits. I realized that I guess I should have just told them I wasn’t going to take it. Here’s where I know God had His hand in my life again. I was supposed to be going to school and I told them that I would accept a full time position and postpone going to school. Wrong answer! So I found myself forced by God to go back to school. I still needed to get a job to pay for the move. That’s what I get for going against the will of God.

PART IV

November 2007: Two weeks before Thanksgiving I found myself looking again for a job. I knew seasonal positions were ideal. I could easily find a job and be done before the move. UPS had already got all their people. So the mall was where I went looking. I applied at very few places. The theatre, KB Toys, a game store, some place selling flip-flops, and The Sunglass Hut. The next day I went out again to see if the Temp Agency had anything. Nothing! Not even anything for seasonal. I felt discouraged. I didn’t know if I was going to find a job in time to pay for anything at all. Arienne shook me out of it and told me she was worried that I didn’t care to find a job. So I went back to the Mall. I went to Sears and applied on their computer. At the end of the application it asked if I wanted to have an interview right then. I agreed to do it. In 60 minutes of entering the place I had done the long application, interviewed and was hired on selling three S’s and one N. Sewing, Sucking, Sleeping and Nuking. I was strictly commission for selling sewing machines, vacuums, mattresses, and microwaves. During my orientation, I got a call from my wife explaining that I got a callback to KB Toys. So I went and talked to the manager there and got my second job for the season.

Sears Pro’s: Great potential to do very well in sales, chance to work with people face to face, new knowledge in 4 new areas, indoors.

Sear’s Con’s: Too many people scheduled in one department on certain days, commission only, mall hours.

KB Pro’s: Fun atmosphere, no pressure to sell, work around Sears’ schedule, decent pay for seasonal work.

KB Con’s: I just wish I could have timed it right to make more money in both places.

PART V

Generosity and Inspiration: While working at Sears, I decided (or I was inspired) to listen to audio books/lectures on sales to up my skills. Strangely enough, those days I listened to the sales training, I did better than those days I listened to other audio books. I did learn a lot about selling and how to treat a customer. I wish I had done the same while at First Magnus, but I wasn’t given much time to try it out anyway.

One day my mom called and I had explained how I felt about moving back and she was excited. So much that she offered to give us a portion of her Christmas Bonus to pay for the move. She told me it was not a loan, but I’m pretty sure somewhere down the line I will be able to pay her back for that and for some of the other stuff she has done for me and my family.

Ever since my time at First Magnus, while I was waiting for my commissions to kick in and during all my time with unemployment, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stepped in to help with our physical and financial needs. The church welfare system is truly inspired. We were helped with food and even some of our larger bills.

PART VI

More doors open up: After figuring I was on the move back to the frozen wasteland of America, I started looking for a place to live and for a job to help with those things that financial aid was not going to cover. At first, I was looking for the smallest place. When the plan changed to get the whole family to move, we started looking for a bigger place. Everything was going to be way too expensive for a college student’s “salary” or all full up. I gave a call to the Rexburg Housing office and they had mentioned that a place had just switched over to married housing from men’s housing and that they had three bedroom apartments open for pretty cheap. We called and secured one of the very few places.

I also started looking for a job and called up people that I may have had connections with. I called up Lance Wickham, who was running the new theatre in Rexburg to see if he knew of any openings. He told me to call back later and he would know better soon. I also called Vanessa, who was a manager of the theatre right next door to the Holiday. She said they were looking into buying the new theatre in town and hoping to put me over there to manage it. Well weeks went by and I didn’t hear from either of them and I even tried calling Ken from Wells Fargo to see about a job at the bank. I didn’t get too far into that. More time passed and I called Lance back and he hadn’t figured out anything yet. Two days before the move I get a call from Vanessa. She asked if I had heard the good news. I told her I hadn’t. She explained that they had bought the Holiday and that they were interested in having me manage that one at night. Crazy! I would be back in Rexburg, managing the same theatre I left but with better upper management. Needless to say I accepted that offer.

Even the moving truck was a miracle. I tried fairly hard to get rid of some extra furniture to help make room in the truck. I had ordered a 12 foot truck with no extras (hand trucks or pads) except for a few extra days. My receipt, which I have a copy of, shows exactly that. When I went to the place to pick it up, the lady gave us the keys and marked a few places on the truck to show some existing dents and scratches. I get out to the truck and it’s in pristine shape and much larger than I had expected. 10 feet to be exact. We got a 22 foot diesel truck with hand cart and pads. We needed it! 12’ would not have been enough room. It appeared to be the only size they had there. We got a free upgrade. Even though it did eat a bit more gas than I had expected, it was a Godsend.

PART VII

Conclusion: For those wondering if Miracles still happen or if God exists at all. In my life there is no way it is possible for them not to be so. You might think it just freak circumstance that all these things played out. Or you may think that I am reading more into this than there is at first glance. If you are one that feels that way, I ask you to look into your heart right now. What do you feel? How do you feel? Is it a feeling of, “man this guy is so lying?” or “yeah right, there is no way!” Or do you feel a sense of truth is what I have been declaring here? What I suggest is this: try this experiment on for size and see what happens. All I ask is 30 more minutes of your time and a quiet place. Go and close your eyes, ask this simple question, “Is it true? Did God really do all that for Matt?”

For those that may have concerns about doing that, let’s think about this logically. What do I really have to gain from your personal experience? I’m not in a Pyramid scheme asking for your money and I get a huge commission off of you. I’m not interested in your house or first born child. I am certain that if you try the experiment, you will find a feeling of peace. And if a world such as the one we live in, who doesn’t want a little peace?

As the Johnson family would say, “Coincidence? … I think not!”

Welcome to LAN's End, a Page devoted to my ramblings. I babble, and go on and on about nothing, even now I'm typing about nothing at all and you can't do a thing about it. 1, 2, 3, CRY!