Number 61!

As of new December 31st, 2013 I have officially completed item number 61 on my bucket list.  Ride a mechanical bull.  To be honest I'm not really sure why this was on my list.  I guess I had just never done it before and thought it sounded like fun.  And... it was!!!  I got to go to a new years eve party with Ericka Griffin at Weber State.  It was a blast!

As far as the bull itself goes...  I don't know if the guy controlling it was going easy on me, or if maybe I am just naturally gifted when it comes to riding motorized cows... But it actually wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  I mean don't get me wrong... It got pretty tough to hang on there towards the end.  But most of the time I spent on it, it actually wasn't too difficult.  If you haven't done it yet, try it!  You never know, maybe you'll continue on to the real deal.  As for me, I think I'll just stick to my fake one.

Numbers 1, 2, 11, and 86!

     Well the first item from my bucket list is now complete.  "Serve an LDS mission."  I guess I can also count this as number 2: "Introduce somebody to the gospel," number 11:  "Change someone's life for the better,"  and number 86:  "Smile at 100 people."  These are all things that come with serving a mission.  As far as the smiling goes.  I met so many nice people in Texas!  Granted, I met a lot of people who weren't that nice to us as well.  But in general, people were very kind, and I appreciated that.  So be kind to everyone!  I recently returned from my mission to Dallas, Texas on October 30th.  I spent two years there teaching people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It was an amazing experience!  It is going to be really hard to sum up two years worth of life changing experiences in a single post, but I will do my best to give you some brief highlights.

     I went into the MTC (Missionary Training Center) on November 2nd, 2011.  It was definitely a rude awakening to the missionary lifestyle.  It seemed like we were moving all the time.  It was a little overwhelming, and the first few days were definitely the worst.  My companion at the time Elder Smith was great and with rest of our MTC group we managed to survive the three weeks of training where we learned the basics of teaching, scheduling, studying, and learning to spend 24/7 with a companion!  To those preparing to serve a mission... The first two days feel like two years.  You've been warned!  But don't worry.  It gets better!

On November 21st we hopped on a plane and flew to Texas.  My Dad was even sneaky enough to make it to the airport to say goodbye.  It was the last time I'd see any family for two whole years.  My trainer was Elder Treasure.  He was a great trainer!  It was so different than the MTC, just being thrown into teaching situations that I didn't feel nearly prepared enough for.  I caught on eventually, I have a lot of good friends to thank for that.

At this point, I could go into details of some miracles that I saw happen, some people that I met, and all kinds of different stories I could tell.  But in an effort to keep this relatively brief and readable, I'm just going to make a list of some different things that happened and lessons that I learned.  I'm just going with the shotgun principle on this.  (That is, it's going to cover a lot, but not be very specific.)

-The first person I saw baptized happened on January 7th, 2012.  It was awesome!  He is a great missionary.

-I had 5 different areas. (Irving, Lufkin, Plano, McKinney, and Carrollton)

-I was in the surrounding suburbs for all but 3 months, and generally in fairly wealthy areas.

-I had 15 companions (counting my MTC companion, as well as two Elders I was in a tripanionship with for two weeks.)

-I learned to not take myself so seriously.

-I learned to love reading the scriptures!  I learned so many useful things from them that not only helped me, but the people I taught as well!

-I also learned a lot of other things from the scriptures that aren't necessarily useful, but interesting nonetheless.

-I learned that I can survive off of cereal and PB&J indefinitely, and do it by choice not because I had to.

-I learned that people who take care of the missionaries receive blessings.

-I learned the value of studying.

-I gained a greater appreciation for my family and friends.

-I learned just how lucky I have been to grow up where I did.

-I learned to be a leader.

-I learned that people can change.

I learned a lot of things on my mission, about the church and about myself.  Most importantly my testimony was strengthened.  I know that Jesus Christ lives.  He has called a prophet, just like in biblical times.  He loves us.  And his arms are open to anyone who will come.

Number 73!

     The week after the marathon my family took a trip up to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  Along the way I read Outliers by Malcom Gladwell.  I'd heard it was good, but never read it until now.  For anyone who hasn't read it, I highly recommend it.  It is a book about successful people and how they became that way.  Opportunities, birthdays, time period, etc.  It was a really interesting book and I had a hard time putting it down.

Number 9!

     On June 11th my Dad and I ran the Utah Valley Marathon.  I wanted to do this one for my first marathon because time wise it worked out being right between school and my leaving on a mission.  I also chose this one because it is a fast course.  Basically the course goes all the way down Provo Canyon and turns onto University Avenue for 6 miles to finish at Center Street in Provo.  My Dad and I registered for the race as a cross country team.  Which means we were on a team with two other people, and after the race was over they would combine our times and that combined time would be ranked against the other teams and the fastest time would win.  Along with my Dad and I was a friend of my Dads, Troy Anderson.  As well as a buddy of mine from the UVU Cross Country Team, Stan Bown.  This was Stan and I's first marathon, my Dad's sixth or seventh, and Troy's 40th or some such number.  My original goal was 2:45 or faster, but as I was training for it, I was feeling really good about the kind of shape I was in and I started to hope for a 2:40 or even a 2:35.  My problem was that I only had two weeks to train for the marathon after track season got over, so I wasn't able to get any really good long runs in.  So when race day came Stan and I decided to just run together for as long as possible and hopefully we'd end up with a good time.  The goal was to stay on 6 minute mile pace (2:37) for as long as possible, and then if we died off we'd still get a solid time.  Well the race started and we took off pretty slow, we took our spot slightly off the lead pack and ran the first mile very conservatively.  We came through the mile split at 6:30, which was too slow for our race plan.  So we picked it up just a little bit, and started running 5:50-6:00 pace.  We were both excited about it because even though we had a long way to go, we were hitting 5:50s consistently and it felt really easy.  About 7 or 8 miles in Stan fell off pace a bit, but managed to catch up later.  I had to take a bathroom stop about 100 meters before the halfway mark.  So my half marathon split ended up being 1:20ish (6:06 pace) but it would have been a 1:17 (5:52 pace) without the bathroom stop.  So I knew I was on track for a great time and I was still feeling really good.  Stan and I would keep trading places along the way and I finally had to stop at the bathroom again at mile 19.  Between mile 13 and mile 19 I had been slowing down a bit (dropping from 6:00 pace to 6:30 pace).  I still wasn't concerned because I had given myself a good time cushion earlier and could still run a good time.... Until mile 20.  At mile 20 all of a sudden I wished I had had a couple more weeks to train and get some longer runs in.  I went from running 6:30 pace to 7:30 pace to 8:30 pace.  My legs seized up and every step sent a shock wave of pain up my body.  The 3 hour mark which I previously hadn't even worried about seemed to be creeping up on me and I was worried I wouldn't be able to get a sub 3.  I started to worry that my Dad (who's goal was 3:15) would catch up to me.  And I would never hear the end of that.  I started to get excited for the aid stations, not for water, bathrooms, or the fact that it meant I was getting closer.  I was excited for them because it gave me an excuse to walk.  The finish line was visible at least four miles away but it never got any closer visually until I was right on top of it.  I finally finished with a 2:55, ten minutes slower than my original goal.  I wasn't upset about it, I still considered 2:55 a decent time for my first one.  Although I was a little disappointed that I missed a chance to shock everybody with an amazing debut marathon.  At any rate, it was lots of fun (until mile 20).  My dad ended up running 3:31 (16 minutes slower than his goal as well, and Stan ended up with a 2:48 winning our age division while I took 4th.  But luckily we still all qualified for the Boston Marathon even though our times were still a little slower than we had hoped.  We were also surprised to find out that our team and taken 3rd place overall!  It was a fun race to run, and I can't wait to do another one.  Although I plan to prepare a little better for the next one.

Last mile 

First blister from running!

Number 92!

This past February I had the opportunity to go to New York for the Great West Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships.  Although UVU came home with only a second place title on both sides, it was still a lot of fun.  The meet was held at the "The Armory", an indoor track complex located in the Bronx, NY.  It is the best indoor track facility in the world.  The Armory is also home to the Track and Field Hall of Fame.  It was an incredible experience to go and compete on a world class track. Not to mention getting the chance to visit the Hall of Fame on the lower level.  I hope to go back again someday!  While we were there we stopped in Manhattan for a little sight seeing and dinner. We didn't get much sight seeing in, but it was still fun!

Number 77!

On October 12th, I went to a B.O.B./Jason Derulo/Auburn/Iyaz Concert with some friends.  It was at the UVU McKay Events Center.  The opening act was somebody named Playboy Tre.  And he sucked.  Really bad.  We thought it was Iyaz at first and I was really disappointed.  Finally the other acts came out and it was a lot of fun!  They played a lot of good songs.  Jason Derulo was the final act, and he was a little risky.  But other than that it was a lot of fun!

Number 26!

This last weekend (September 25th) I was in Minneapolis for a cross country meet.  It was about a five mile race on a very hilly and muddy golf course.  With maybe a quarter of a mile left I noticed this guy ahead of me (I'm not acutally sure if he is Kenyan or not...)  but he sure looked like it.  I remembered that it was one of the things on my list to beat a Kenyan and I knew that was a good chance to do it.  So I managed to pass him coming down the home stretch.