Musical Number from Church Today

By the way...

I know I haven't posted in a while... but a week ago I arrived in India for a three week session of volunteering with Rising Star Outreach.  If you'd like to hear about my adventures here, check out my blog for that... joelrso.blogspot.com

What A Spring!

This past month of school has been intense.  Many a day I have spent at least 6 hours working on math homework.  It has been the most intense of my experience thus far at BYU.  But I still feel like this past month has been the best.  And that is because I am dating the most wonderful girl.  If some of you hadn't figured out, I'm a nerd...and she's okay with that!  She's beautiful and talented (she plays the piano and flute, and speaks Italian).  But most of all, Jenny inspires me to be better.  Who could ask for anything more?

A Crazy Spring at School

Today I just realized how crazy these next 7 weeks are going to be in school.  Crazy me decided to take two high-level math courses (Linear Algebra and Multivariable Calculus).  Much of my life will consist of the math lab, pouring over homework.  It's times like these that remembering to put Christ first can be a little more difficult, but I know that if I keep my testimony of Him burning bright, I'll be alright.  It's amazing, that if we let Him, he can impact every aspect of our lives.  I hope that you and I can always remember Him, be it a time of prosperity or trial.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

It just came to me the other day, that this statement we all learned when we were young, can also have a spiritual side.  We all have trials (showers), but as the scriptures and modern prophets tell us, if we rely on Christ, and put our trust in him, they can really lead us to bigger and better things (flowers).  It's something to remember as we approach Easter...if we get over trying to do things ourselves, and realize He died and was resurrected for us, our lives will be so much better.

Returned at Long Last

I realized it's been about 4 months since I last wrote here...kind of depressing.  It's now the end of winter semester here at BYU.  I've got a couple of days to look around for jobs and such before spring term starts.  If there's one thing that I can definitely say after these four months, it's that God answers prayers.  I don't have any huge experiences to share, but the repetitive answers to seemingly small prayers are evidence that He cares for me more than I know.  It's been a wonderful past couple months.  I'm going to be going to India this summer to volunteer with the organization "Rising Star Outreach".  Their aim is to eliminate leprosy in India.  If you want to know more, try www.risingstaroutreach.org.  I've set up a separate blog for my experience there, which will become active once I'm over there (about July 21st).  I'll try to be better about keeping up on this blog until then.  Have a wonderful week!

Scripture Study

There is definitely something to studying the scriptures (The Bible as well as the Book of Mormon).  These past few days/weeks I've been struggling with maintaining a positive and loving attitude.  It seemed no matter how hard I tried, I could not be myself.  I went to church this past Sunday, and heard exactly what I needed.  I was reminded of the importance and blessing of reading the scriptures.  It's not that I'd stopped reading; I'd mostly just lessened the extent and thought put into my reading.  I recommitted myself yesterday, and already I'm seeing and feeling the results.  It has helped my day so much today.  I would recommend the same to any and all of you.