#29: Cruising aboard the Celebrity Solstice.

Have you ever gone on a cruise? If not, then you really should go on one. And if you already have, well, then you should go again. Why? Because cruises are awesome!!! This week, Diane and I enjoyed a week-long Caribbean cruise aboard the Celebrity Solstice (average temperature of 77 degrees). A few minutes ago, we just got home to Utah (average temperature of 27).

77 degrees > 27 degrees.

We went on the cruise with some of my fantastic coworkers (I love my job!), and it was one of the best experiences of my life. I thought it would be fun to share some of the highlights.

We first got on the ship on Sunday, December 11th (never call a cruise ship a "boat" because, as one of my friends discovered, you will offend the crew). The Celebrity Solstice had just been to Europe where 118 people came down with a nasty virus on the ship. As a result, the crew spent a few extra hours deep-cleaning the ship before we could board. Since I'm a bit of a germaphobe, I didn't really mind. Although, as a precaution, hand sanitizer was still required before entering any dining areas.

Diane and Summer keeping the ship free from both
disease and generic-brand hand sanitizer.

Once we got on the ship, it was absolutely beautiful. We had a room with our very own balcony. We loved to just sit back on the balcony and watch the waves.

Yup, that's a fly on my leg. I named him Juan Carlos.

One thing that I absolutely loved about the cruise was the food. And the food. And the food. Oh, and the food. You could eat whatever you want, whenever you want, wherever you want (and probably however you want, although I never really tested that). I loved to order room service straight from the TV (I gotta figure out a way to get something similar installed at
home).

Diane, enjoying a healthy salad.

Steve, enjoying chocolate ice cream, pizza, and sour patch kids.

Every night we ate dinner in the "Grand Epernay" dining room. I always made sure to get two desserts. On the first night, I ordered some milk with my dessert. From then on, every night our waiter, Buyung Andres, would bring me a glass of milk without me even needing to ask him. I am pretty sure I gained 15 pounds straight to my chin(s).

Formal night (Suit? White shirt and tie? Piece of cake for a Mormon boy!)

Another shot of my chubby chin.

Me and Buyung with some tasty whole milk.

One thing Diane and I vowed to do on the cruise was to take advantage of the ship's port "excursions". We went on excursions at Grand Cayman Island, at Cozumel, Mexico, and at Roatan, Honduras. The excursions were a little expensive, but absolutely worth it. At Grand Cayman, we went to a place called "Dolphin Cove" to hang out with some dolphins (coincidental, I know). We danced with them, kissed them (even though mine was a male), and just hung out with them in the water. After the fun time we had, I decided that I now want a dolphin as a 2nd pet (although I'll need to convince Diesel to share his crate).

Gettin' jiggy wid it.

Tasted like tuna.

In Cozumel, Mexico, we went parasailing with our friends Marc and Pepper (I agree, Pepper is a fun name). The fact that I went parasailing should be impressive to those of you who know me. Usually I am a wimp when it comes to doing things like strapping myself to a boat and flying 400 feet in the air. But we nailed it!

At one point, I looked down in the water, and said," Whoa! Check out the size of that jellyfish!"
Then I realized it was just the shadow of our parachute.

Our final excursion adventure was riding the zip line in Honduras. This was my favorite excursion. We literally soared above the jungle. We could see the entire island of Roatan, as well as the ocean. The view was breathtaking (and not just because I have bad lungs). In total, we rode ten ziplines over 2,500 feet. I think I am going to get a zipline in the backyard and train my new pet dolphin to use it.

A very small taste of what Batman must feel like every single day.

Rosie the Riveter.

Oh yeah, and Diane also got to hold a monkey while we were on Roatan. Let's just say it freaked her out a little bit.

Out last port was in Costa Maya, Mexico. We didn't do any excursions here (since nothing can top holding a monkey), but we did have a funny Star Wars experience. When we walked off of the ship onto the port, I was wearing one of my many Star Wars t-shirts. A Mexican crew members saw my shirt and started to wave her arms around like a lightsaber while humming the Imperial March. Then she actually roared at me like Chewbacca! Of course I responded with a wookiee roar of my own. We went back and forth a few times, and everyone around us was laughing. It felt good to meet a fellow wookiee so far away from home.

While on the ship, we participated in a number of fun activities, such as basketball (my team ALWAYS lost for some reason), dancing, event shows, napping, posing for fake magazine covers, and of course, karaoke. Ah, karaoke. What can I say? I love to make a fool of myself by pretending to be Elvis. "Jailhouse Rock" will never be the same again.

We played some B-ball in the rain.  No, that is not me going up for the dunk
(although I could TOTALLY do it).

Posing for a fake magazine cover with Summer and Monroe.
You should never go on a cruise without having a little cheese.

Apparently when I dance, my eyes roll into the back of my head.  Creepy.

"Jailhouse Rock" with full-on choreography.
Elvis is rolling over in his grave.

As much fun as we had doing everything I have mentioned above, there was one thing we did that was even more satisfying. During our week on the ship, we became good friends with our room housekeeper, a Filipino woman named Lenie. Lenie was one of the most gentle and humble people I have ever met. I really enjoyed learning about her life on the cruise ship (this is her tenth year with Celebrity) and about her family at home (two young daughters). She was a wonderful example to me of simple Christlike living. We talked briefly with Lenie about religion, and we learned that she had heard of Mormons but was not a member of the Church. Diane suggested that we should give Lenie the copy of the Book of Mormon that Diane had brought on the cruise. We wrote a note and gave her the book as we were leaving this morning. She was visibly touched and thanked us for thinking of her. It was a sweet experience. 

Our wonderful housekeeper Lenie.

Well, there you have it!  Like I said at the beginning, cruises really are awesome. It was a ton of fun to spend time with Diane and my friends from work. We definitely built some wonderful memories. Bon voyage!

#28: "Vader, Did You Know?" Christmas parody.

My friend Jeff Burton just sent me a link that is perfect fit for Mormon Wookiee. See below for Vic Micnogna's hilarious "Vader, Did You Know?" (parody of Christmas favorite "Mary, Did You Know?"). Enjoy!

Actual youtube video can be found at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFrcwcBVVjU

#27: Man models as Jesus for Liz Lemon Swindle paintings.

I saw a great article in the Deseret News' "Mormon Times" this morning by Trent Toone. In the article, Toone tells the fascinating story of a man named Phillip Miner.  Miner, who was raised as a Mormon, left the Church as a teenager. In 2005, while at Borders Bookstore (Rest In Peace, Borders), Miner was approached by an assistant of LDS artist Liz Lemon Swindle. Miner soon met Mrs. Swindle and began to do some modeling work for her paintings of Jesus. The article tells of Miner's conversion back to the gospel, as well as the background behind the following painting of Mrs. Swindle's titled "The Worth of a Soul":

"Worth of a Soul", by Liz Lemon Swindle,
as found at http://www.lizlemonswindle.com/

You can read the full article by Trent Toone at http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705395464/Modeling-as-Savior-helps-man-find-his-faith.html?pg=1. I really enjoyed the article.

As a side note, I also wanted to show you one of my favorite Liz Lemon Swindle paintings that my parents hung up in our house when I was growing up. It is called "Superman's Dad". It always made me feel important as a kid. Love ya, dad!

"Superman's Dad" by Liz Lemon Swindle,
as found at http://www.lizlemonswindle.com/

#26: 2011 First Presidency Christmas Devotional.

For me, nothing signals the start of the Christmas season quite like the annual First Presidency Christmas Devotional on the first Sunday of December (breaking out the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special is a close second place). Each member of the First Presidency speaks, and music is performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Temple Square Orchestra. Both the music and the talks at the devotional are always fantastic. As a kid, I remember enjoying the talks given by President James E. Faust. He always had touching stories about his Christmases as a young boy.

Tonight, President Dieter f. Uchtdorf, President Henry B. Eyring, and President Thomas S. Monson all spoke. The full transcripts of their 2011 talks are not yet available (right now, the link shows the 2010 devotional talks), but when they are, you will be able to find them at http://lds.org/broadcasts/archive/christmas-devotional/2011/12?lang=eng. In the meantime, I would like to give a brief summary of their talks and my own impressions.

President Uchtdorf, Eyring, and Monson (from left to right).

#1 President Dieter F. Uchtdorf:

With his typical wit, President Uchtdorf told the story of Christmas when he was a four-year-old boy in Czechoslovakia. One evening, he was in the room where his family kept their Christmas tree. The tree was decorated with ornaments, tinsel, and wax candles. President Uchtdorf took down and held one of the candles because he liked the way the light reflected in the window. He decided to stand next to the curtains in the window, and he soon learned two things: (1) the light looked beautiful behind the shadow of the curtains, and (2) the curtains were flammable. Fortunately, only the drapes were burned and no permanent damage occurred to the house. But as a small boy, he felt like he had ruined Christmas. His fear that he had ruined Christmas came from an understanding that, at that time, he didn't really know what the true meaning of Christmas was. He then acknowledged that in our day it is not only the children who do not always remember what the meaning of Christmas is, but adults as well. Today we become so focused on trying to make Christmas perfect, that the pressure becomes too much, and the perfect Christmas we have built up in our mind shatters around us whenever something goes wrong. As a result, the Christmas season becomes a time of stress and frustration instead of peace and joy. If we can learn to refocus on Christ, then Christmas will become much more meaningful to us. It does not require big changes in our lives--if we read a scripture or look for ways to serve, we will be able to keep the spirit of Christmas in our lives. We cannot give Christ the gift of perfection right now. But He does require that we give our best efforts to walk in the ways he has prepared and taught. On the other hand, the Savior's gifts to us are perfect, immeasurable, and incomparable. He has given us the gift of immortality and the possibility of eternal life with Him again, if we obey his commandments. He promises to be with us, to carry us when we stumble, to mourn and rejoice with us. Every day he offers to lead us by the hand. Because of Him, we can keep the spirit of Christmas with us always in our hearts.

#2 President Henry B. Eyring:

President Eyring spoke about the signs of Christ's birth as foretold by Samuel the Lamanite in the Book of Mormon. He also spoke about the Savior's birth (and the birth of his cousin John the Baptist) as found in the Book of Luke.

For me, the highlight of President Eyring's talk was his overview of the Church's AWESOME new bible videos website. The videos were filmed on the Church's new film set in Goshen, Utah, which is a massive replica of areas of ancient Jerusalem and Bethlehem. President Eyring stopped in the middle of his talk to show a few short clips from these videos, focusing on Mary and the birth of Christ. There are still many of the videos in the editing stages, but you can see the available videos at http://lds.org/bible-videos?lang=eng. You need to check these out (like right now, people)!!!

Mary is visited by the angel Gabriel, foretelling her role as the mother of the Son of God. 

This video can be found at http://lds.org/bible-videos/videos/an-angel-foretells-christs-birth-to-mary?lang=eng

Mary greets the shepherds at the birth of Christ. 

This video can be found at http://lds.org/bible-videos/videos/shepherds-learn-of-the-birth-of-christ?lang=eng

I was extremely touched by the videos shown by President Eyring. I can't wait to see more of them as they come out.

#3 President Thomas S. Monson:

I am so grateful for President Monson! The Spirit of the Lord radiates as he speaks. You can tell of the love that he has for not just members of the Church, but for all of humankind. He started his talk by saying "Thank you". He thanked those who came to the Conference Center, he thanked those who was watching at home, he thanked the employees of the church who work so hard to keep the operations of the Church running, and he thanked his two counselors, President Eyring and President Uchtdorf for their faithful service and friendship.

President Monson then said that it makes him sad to see the ever increasing commercialization of Christmas. It is becoming less and less about Christ, and more and more about shopping, marketing, and toys. We need to recapture and keep the spirit of Christmas by implementing Christ-centered traditions in our homes. He shared one such tradition in his own life: Every year, President Monson takes a few hours to read Luke 2, "The Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens, and "The Mansion" by Henry Van Dyke.

President Monson gave a summary of "The Christmas Carol" and "The Mansion". Since I assume that most of you are already familiar with "The Christmas Carol", I will focus instead on "The Mansion" (a book that I had never heard of before tonight). "The Mansion" tells the story of a wealthy, politically powerful man named John Weightman. John was a generous man--he had donated to the wing of a hospital, to schools, to churches, and to other notable charitable causes. BUT John only liked to give if he got the credit for it. John said, "Of course you have to be careful how you give, in order to secure the best results--no indiscriminate giving--no pennies in beggars' hats!" One Christmas Eve, as John was reading a verse from the Bible, he fell asleep. In his dreams, he was taken to heaven, as men and women were each shown their respective mansions. Finally, after waiting and watching so many others being given large and spacious mansions, John was taken to a small hut. "This is your mansion", he was told, because, "that is all the material you sent us". After he awakens, John's heart his changed, and he realizes that true service must be unselfish. President Monson said, "He had a life yet to live, love to share, and gifts to give."

President Monson further explained that the spirit of Christmas illuminates us as we become more interested in "people than in things". Rather than "spend" Christmas, let us "keep it in our hearts", for when we keep the spirit of Christmas, we keep the Spirit of Christ. There is no better time for us than now to rededicate ourselves to the cause of Jesus Christ. As we strive to serve others and become more like Christ, we will have joy and happiness in our lives and peace each day of the year.

As I have mentioned in a previous post, I know firsthand of President Monson's own example of Christlike service when he came to visit me at my sister Amy's wedding reception after I had had lung surgery. President Monson spends so much of his time serving, visiting, and caring about others. He truly is a man of God. I love him and want to be more like him. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas season!

Definitely somebody to look up to.

#25: My five favorite Mormon bloggers (by category).

Since starting my blog a couple of months ago, I have spent a fair amount of time looking at other Mormon blogs. I like to see what topics these bloggers write about, I like to see the comments that their visitors post, and of course, I like to see if anybody else loves Star Wars as much as I do (so far, I appear to be the biggest Mormon nerd out there). In my opinion, Mormon blogs can be broken down into five categories:  (1) Deep Researchers, (2) Defenders of the Faith, (3) Different Perspectives, (4) Dividers and Conquerors, and (5) Daily Life (I like alliteration). Here is my list of my favorite blog in each category.

#1 Deep Researchers: LDS FAIR Apologetics (http://www.fairlds.org/)

I guess you could say that LDS FAIR (Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research) is more of a wiki (sounds like wookiee!), rather than a blog, but either way, it's amazing. I could spend all day on LDS FAIR.  If you are looking for information about any topic related to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, you will probably be able to find it on FAIR.  The site started way back in 1998 (I was almost old enough to drive in 1998) by a group of Mormons who posted online in order to defend the Church from anti-Mormon comments and misleading statements. The group decided to take their responsibility seriously and incorporated as a non-profit organization.  Many of FAIR's authors have publicized their work.  

#2 Defenders of the Faith: Mormanity (http://mormanity.blogspot.com/)

Mormanity is the one-man blog of Jeff Lindsay, a member of the Church currently living in China.  Jeff is my Mormon blogging hero.  He is truly "not ashamed of the gospel of Christ" (Romans 1:16).  Jeff tackles anti-Mormon issues, responds to current political events, shares his testimony, and also provides insight into his life as an American business man in China.


#3: Different Perspectives: Gay Mormon Guy (http://gaymormonguy.blogspot.com/)

When I first saw the title of this blog, my initial reaction was that the site was probably just another attack on the Church for its position on gay marriage (and specifically Prop 8).  However, my reaction couldn't have been farther from the truth.  Gay Mormon Guy is an anonymous blogger who shares his experiences about the challenges of being a faithful member of the Church while having (but not giving into) feeling of attractions to other men.  His posts are deeply touching, and have given me greater compassion for men and women who struggle with feelings of same sex attraction. One of my favorite of his posts came just a couple of weeks ago:

"I think that's the miracle that I should always be praying for - not to be freed from trials or tribulations, but the miracle of being able to live and keep the commandments in any situation. Being willing to date, and learning to enjoy it, even though I'm not attracted to women. Coping with attraction to guys and finding ways to ensure the positive side of interactions with them. And being willing to live life and keep moving forward no matter what happens - even if I spend the rest of life alone - and learning to be happy in those circumstances" ("The Tenth Leper", Gay Mormon Guy, 11/20/2011).

I admire his courage to live the gospel with faith and hope for the future no matter what.  I think his insight provides a remarkable example for each of us to never give up, to never lose faith, and to never stop trying to live the gospel, no matter what our particular challenges may be.

#4: Dividers and Conquerors: Modern Mormon Men (http://www.modernmormonmen.com/)

There is something to say about strength in numbers. Modern Mormon Men (MMM) was launched earlier this year by two guys, Jon and Scott, out of Seattle as a response to all the "Mormon Mommy Blogs".  In the short space of only six months, MMM has grown from two bloggers to 20+.  The articles cover a broad range of topics (from scriptural commentary to current events and everything in between). Plus, MMMs logo is rad.

Notice the bottle in his hand.  Great touch.

#5: Daily Life: NieNie Dialogues (http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/)

I have been following Stephanie Nielson's (NieNie) for the last year-and-a-half, ever since I saw the "Mormon Message" about her life on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHDvxPjsm8E).  NieNie's blog is among the variety known as "Mormon Mommy blogs". There are hundreds of Mormon Mommy blogs out there, but I think NieNie's shines above the pack due to the remarkable trials she has had to overcome. NieNie was in a tragic plane crash a few years ago.  80% of her body was burned, and she was in a coma for a fair amount of time after the accident.  Before the accident, NieNie was a beautiful wife and mother of four children.  Since the accident, her physical beauty may not be the same, but she has written many times about how beauty is NOT only skin deep.  I admire her faith, humility, humor in the face of trials, and optimism for the future.  In fact, she is now pregnant with her fifth child, which is a wonderful miracle for her and her family. NieNie is a real inspiration to me.  

Stephanie Nielson (NieNie)