A Young Recovering Alcoholic Just Out of Law School ...

... resisted temptation and passed the Bar.

Way to go Dad! I edited it slightly, but I love it!

Quick note for Isaac: I just heard that Kori Anne Dryer just received a call to serve in the Italy Milan Mission.

Testimony meeting was really good today, and maybe the best part was that Miriam not only stayed for the entire meeting but also bore testimony. In fact, she was sitting with the Haruch family, and stood up at exactly the same time Andrew did to bear testimony. Way to go, Mirkat!

Andrew embarrassed me as he talked about how I was someone to look up to -- not because I was perfect, but because I was always trying to be better. I was very touched. Rachel bore her testimony as well, and it was very sweet.

Ward Conference last week was great. I thought the lesson for the YM taught by the Stake YM presidency was fantastic. Referring to our ward's Seth Allen and his family winning $5,000 at a recent Jazz game by hitting all the shots given in under a minute--including a half-court shot--he showed us an exciting clip of an amazing Utah Jazz game where the Jazz came back from a deficit to tie the game. The YM were enthralled.

As the video clip played, he continued talking in his regular voice about a neat experience he had with a college friend he called Big Dave, a football player at Weber State. Everyone liked the gregarious Big Dave. He was kind. He was a great teacher. He was a caring friend. Work caused Big Dave to miss Sunday meetings sometimes, and coming in the chapel before sacrament meeting our YM teacher said that he was excited to see Big Dave so he sat next to him and started chatting with him. After a bit, Big Dave, as kindly as possible, explained that he relished the opportunity to worship the Savior on the sabbath, which was much to rare for him, and asked that our teacher chat with him later.

Of course, no one heard it. The video was turned off, and he repeated the story. We had a nice discussion about how to use our voices and electronic devices properly in church. A good lesson for anyone, I think.

For whatever reason, my thoughts compared our electronic devices to nuclear power: when used properly, it is a powerful source of good, but when used wrong it unleashes deadly power.

The final note of the lesson was to 1) be reverent, 2) be engaged and share, and 3) be true.

In Sunday School, the bishop taught about reverence and had Rob Crown and I share some information. Rob said that in his home he tried to emphasize there were three things that couldn't be tolerated: laziness, dishonesty and disrespect.

Penny Damitz had her moment in Primary. Answering a question about the blessings of keeping the commandments, she told President Meacham that if we are good we get to go to heaven, but if not, then, lowering her voice dramatically, said that we would "go to that other place".

Here are a few more dollops of wisdom and advice from the door of a co-worker:

Love ya all!