Received a tender mercy of the Lord today. Minutes after we got home from a movie, and being gone for four hours, we heard a loud gushing sound. I thought water was boiling over, but it was coming from downstairs. We knew that a pipe had busted downstairs and that we needed to quickly turn the water off. We found the water main outside and turned the water off. Nothing was permanently damaged. Nothing that 20 towels couldn’t clean up. I called a plumber and he came to fix it in 1/2 hour after my neighbor had also offered to fix it. The stress level in our house rose during this whole fiasco, and I couldn’t help but think that it was a great blessing that we were here in the house and in a room where we could hear what was happening. When the plumber was here he reiterated 5 times how lucky we were that we were here, and awake and most people aren’t around and their basement floods and ruins all their stuff and they have to replace everything and file an insurance claim and so on and so forth and more pain and anguish. He said we were definitely being watched over.

Yes- we could have been gone longer, not been home, been asleep, been in a room where we couldn’t here, been away, not been together to act quickly enough to find where to turn off the water, etc. all would have and could have resulted in a completely flooded basement and possibly an even rougher week than spending so much time with extended family and slaughtering our son’s sacred sleep schedule.

I went back and read elder Bednar’s talk about tender mercies, he says and I have experienced and know “the tender mercies of the Lord are real and that they do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence.” i recommend reading it again- it only takes a few minutes, but it will help you see the tender mercies even during difficult times. Here is the link here

- Intensity and focus will make reality out of dreams
- The more wealthy you are the more service oriented you need to be
- A healthy and happy person will enjoy wealth longer
- Happiness is found for the rich the same way it is for the poor (family and non family relationships, service, hard work)
- You can get more done by having a routine
- I think frugality is an ingredient for happiness (the richer man then in some respects must fight harder for happiness than the poorer man)
- To diffuse an argument- ask a lot of questions, listen, then repair.
- Make a habit of writing down and digesting life’s lessons. You will progress faster that way
- Stop and ponder
- Money will change you unless you work at it not changing you
- Keep promises (as an employer) to your employees
- The turning points in Larry H Millers life were when he married Gail
and when he started paying tithing
- It takes big risks to achieve big things.
- As people approach death they dwell on relationships not their
possessions
- After difficulty or contention with someone it is important to go to great lengths to reach out and make things right.
- Write letters to your friends and family
- Learn how to delegate
- If possible don’t go into personal debt. Stay out of it, when you get out.
- “Don’t change your standard of living as your income increases”
- If you love possessions, you will be made captive by them.
- It is important to sit back a few times a year and wonder what it all is for?
- Learn how to keep the passion
- Go to work everyday and do what needs to be done
- “Life is way too short to spend it all at work” – Gail Miller
- It is usually the challenges that help us grow the most

Larry H Miller’s Business Suggestions
- “Don’t expand too fast, protect the base”
- In negotiations- go early, inspect value, curb excess desire, learn what other wants and don’t assume, do whole deals, think on your feet, negotiate for self.
- Ask lots of questions
- “Even more important than the will to win is the will to prepare to win.”
- “You don’t have to blow out another’s candle to let your own shine”
- “Don’t make a bad deal just to make a deal”
- “Keep money in perspective”
- Be patient
- “Play to your own strengths”
- “Trust your instincts”
- “Manage business at the level of business you are actually doing; not at the level you wish you were doing”
- “Learn not to confuse the elements of motion and progress. Progress always requires motion, but motion isn’t always progress.
- “Accomplish more by not caring who gets the credit”
- “If you want extraordinary results, you must put in extraordinary effort.”
- “Don’t assume people see problems as clearly as you do.”
- “Let the fires burn all around you and fix one problem at a time.”
- “You can’t do it if you aren’t there”
- Create a reputation of doing what you say you’ll do
- “In negotiations try to give the other person what he wants”

I am just deeply grateful that in all the important lessons of life my parents have taught me the right way in word and example.

Here is the video that has improved my life.

Deuteronomy 6: 6-7

6) And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine ^bheart:

7) And thou shalt ^ateach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt ^btalk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

I think that the adversary doesn’t bother being bashful about his beliefs, bearing down on us from all sides. Therefore we have to combat his forces with simple but consistent spiritual things for as Paul wrote in Romans, “be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21) In order to do that, I think this scripture tells us that we need to first listen and embrace the word of God, and then we need to teach and discuss it diligently, in every situation and place possible. To me it means we talk of Christ not only at Christmas or on Sundays but every day in our houses sitting around the dinner table, when we are running errands, in our cars, when we go to bed and when we get up. Jacob did ask, “for why not speak of the atonement of Christ, and attain to a perfect knowledge of him…”(Jacob 4:12) And we know that coming to know God and Jesus Christ is what will lead us to eternal life (John 17:3).

It has many insights into why we should change now instead of waiting. Here is one quote from it- “There are reasons for your commitment to be made now, for as the rush of hours, days, and months grows stronger, the will to commit grows weaker.”

It is definitely a great talk that we can apply to ourselves and to those we are inviting back. I have copied it below for your convenience.

Why Not Now?

Neal A. Maxwell, “Why Not Now?,” Ensign, Nov 1974, 12

My brothers and sisters, I should like to speak of and to a particular group of important individuals. These are they who fully intend, someday, to begin to believe and/or to be active in the Church. But not yet! These are not bad individuals, but good individuals who simply do not know how much better they could be. Such individuals often stay proximate to—but do not participate fully in—the Church. They will not come inside the chapel, but neither do they leave its porch. These are they who need and are needed by the Church, but who, in part, “live without God in the world.”

To such individuals, in the brief, imploring invitation which follows, be assured there is a real craving for your companionship and a genuine need for your unique strengths.

There are reasons for your commitment to be made now, for as the rush of hours, days, and months grows stronger, the will to commit grows weaker. Events to transpire soon on this planet will dry up the options for the lukewarm, for the issues raised by Jesus are irrepressible issues!

If, however, you really do not wish to commit now, then let me warn of the following:

Do not look too deeply into the eyes of the pleasure-seekers about you, for if you do, you will see a certain sadness in sensuality, and you will hear artificiality in the laughter of licentiousness.

Do not look too deeply, either, into the motives of those who deny God, for you may notice their doubts of doubt.

Do not risk thinking the unthinkable, lest you find yourself drawn with a deep and powerful pull toward the reality that God does exist, that he loves you, and that finally there is no escaping him or his love!

Do not think too much about what you are teaching your family, for what in you is merely casualness about Christianity may, in your children, become hostility; for what you have not defended, your children may reject angrily.

Do not reflect on the practicality of gospel standards such as abstaining from alcohol; for if you do, a surf of statistics will wash over you, confirming that abstinence is ultimately the only cure for alcoholism that is both preventive and redemptive. You will also see that the living of one protective principle of the gospel is better than a thousand compensatory governmental programs—which programs are, so often, like “straightening deck chairs on the Titanic.”

Do not think too much, either, about other doctrines, such as the importance of love at home; because if you think about them very long—in a world full of orphans with parents—you will be grasped by a reality that will make your teeth chatter.

Do not think, either, about the doctrine that you are a child of God, for if you do, it will be the beginning of belonging.

Do not dare to read the Book of Mormon seriously, or you may suddenly realize that it is inlaid with incredibly important insights from a millennium of sacred history.

Do not overpack the luggage you plan to take with you when you leave this world, for we simply cannot get most mortal things by celestial customs; only the eternal things are portable.

Do not pray, for you will get answers from a listening and loving Father.

Do not think too much, either, about the possibility that there are living prophets in the world today. Think instead about how those who are so sustained seem quite ordinary in many ways. Forget that other prophets were fishermen and tentmakers—ordinary enough to scarcely be noticed—except for what they said and what they did! For the winds of tribulation, which blow out some men’s candles of commitment, only fan the fires of faith of these special men.

Do not let yourself reflect too much on the social, political, and economic indicators that suggest the gathering storm, lest you realize that there is an inseparable connection between the keeping of the commandments and the well-being of society.

Do not read what the holiest inhabitant ever to live on this planet said about the necessity of certain ordinances, or you will see that he allowed for no exceptions, including himself.

Do not search the scriptures to see if good people still need the Church, for the best being who ever lived organized the Church—because random, individual goodness is not enough in the fight against evil.

Do not, if you have been offended, recall that while you may have been bumped by an ecclesiastical elbow, the chip was on your shoulder long before the elbow appeared.

Do not be fully honest about the hypocrisy of those in the Church who may pretend to be better than they are, or you will soon realize that there is also another form of hypocrisy—appearing to be less committed than one really is!

Yes, brothers and sisters, it is best to avoid all such things as these if you wish to continue to delay deciding about Christ and his church.
However, Joshua didn’t say choose you next year whom you will serve; he spoke of “this day,” while there is still daylight and before the darkness becomes more and more normal. (See Josh. 24:15.)

When Jesus called his first disciples, the scriptures record that they left their ships and nets “straightway.” They didn’t ask to join Jesus after the fishing season; they didn’t even delay their response in order to make just one more catch. They left “straightway”! (See Matt. 4:20.)
Act, my brothers and sisters, for once the soul is tilted toward belief, and once there is even a desire to believe, then marvelous things begin to happen! Once one leaves the porch and comes inside the Church, then one not only hears the music more clearly—he becomes a part of it.
Act now, so that a thousand years from now, when you look back at this moment, you can say this was a moment that mattered—this was a day of determination.

Never mind, therefore, that you have made an investment of self and time in inactivity. Never mind that there is an accumulation of pride that will make it difficult to acknowledge that you have been wrong, for it will never be easier to do than it is now.

All must know that feeling which is associated with a broken heart and a contrite spirit—by which we are cleansed by the hot, holy fire of a special shame, so that we might, thereafter, have a more pure love and a greater capacity to serve both God and man. Hearts “set so much upon the things of this world” are hearts so set they must first be broken.

Indeed, one of the most cruel games anyone can play with self is the “not yet” game—hoping to sin just a bit more before ceasing; to enjoy the praise of the world a little longer before turning away from the applause; to win just once more in the wearying sweepstakes of materialism; to be chaste, but not yet; to be good neighbors, but not now. One can play upon the harpstrings of hesitations and reservations just so long, and then one faces that special moment—a moment when what has been sensed, mutely, suddenly finds voice and cries out with tears, “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” (Mark 9:24.)

The truth is that “not yet” usually means “never.” Trying to run away from the responsibility to decide about Christ is childish. Pilate sought to refuse responsibility for deciding about Christ, but Pilate’s hands were never dirtier than just after he had washed them.
The past of each of us is now inflexible. We need to concentrate on what has been called “the holy present,” for now is sacred; we never really live in the future. The holy gift of life always takes the form of now. Besides, God asks us now to give up only those things which, if clung to, will destroy us!

And when we tear ourselves free from the entanglements of the world, are we promised a religion of repose or an Eden of ease? No! We are promised tears and trials and toil! But we are also promised final triumph, the mere contemplation of which tingles one’s soul.
My friends, there are footprints to follow where we must go—made not by a leader who said, safely from the sidelines, “Go thither,” but by a leader who said, “Come, follow me.” And our mortal leader is a prophet who is showing us how to lengthen our stride.
Yes, for those in the Church’s courtyard or on its porch, ask not “for whom the [Church] bell tolls; It tolls for thee.” (John Donne, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, Meditation XVII.)

And, if you sense that one day every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord, why not do so now? For in the coming of that collective confession, it will mean much less to kneel down when it is no longer possible to stand up!
Meanwhile, may we be different in order to make a difference in the world. And may God hasten that time for all our sakes, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Also, I think a lot of people wonder why Mormon’s build and attend temples. I just saw this video and I think it is worth the three minutes to watch and I personally agree with what is shared in this video. So here it is.

Well it is that time of the month again. I go through my calendar and expenses and ask myself what I did or didn’t accomplish in the last month and then I try to figure out how to make the next month better. This usually consists of a commitment to spend less, train for the upcoming race (this time the ragnar relay), work smarter at my job, be kinder to my best friends, go to bed earlier and get up earlier, home teach every single person (even those that don’t return my phone calls), read more, and eat healthier.

So where did March go? I’ll sum it up in a few words. Choir Practice, Volunteering at Draper Temple, skiing, new business ideas, church basketball, U of U gymnastics tournament, National Dancesport Championship, blogging, starting to study for the GMAT , painting, planting peas, and of course a lot of Valcom work both day and night.

I have learned that I feel a lot more productive in the car when I listen to a book on CD. This month I listened to “Presidential Courage” which went through all the presidents of the United States from the beginning and described situations where they had to go against the popular opinion to do what was right for the nation. I recommend it but just know that although the content was interesting, the reader was a little dry and hard to listen to.

Some random things I learned; people react very differently to abstract art, when I am stressed I clean my room and car, it is possible to study for one month and get over a 700 on the GMAT, I like V8 fusion, Kyoto’s is still the best Japanese restaurant in town, www.condron.us is an interesting way to blog surf (but beware lest ye waste time), how to prune a pear tree, how to sell your art, that I can throw the cup, that you use to pour laundry detergent, into the washer with the clothes and it comes out perfectly leaving no residue around to worry about, I have a lot to be thankful for, memorizing gets easier the more you do it.

That’s all for March

I just had the experience of a lifetime. For the last three months I have been practicing with a choir to sing in the 5th dedicatory session for the Draper temple. Today we sang, and the experience was amazing. We sang right behind President Monson, President Utchdorf, and Elder Oaks. The spirit was strong and the opportunity to be in the celestial room during the hosannah shout and anthem was unforgettable. After everybody sang "The Spirit of God," tear filled eyes filled the room. I can't really describe it all, but just wanted to share some of my thoughts.