Bonus Round

So, here's five more, and a response to a request from Amberly:

1. Running with K this afternoon. K is trying out for the wrestling team in a couple of weeks. The tryout is simply running five miles, and he (and we) weren't sure if he could do it. So R and I decided to help him out and run with him. We went out to Mission Trails Park, and K ran 4.5 miles and I ran 4. We'll keep at it, but I'm sure that he'll do just fine. His jiujitsu experience is going to help him pick up wrestling.
2. My awesome hairstylist, Morgan. She wasn't upset at all that I was 20 minutes late, and my hair is cute again. She also cracked me up reciting lines from Zoolander, since we were talking about Malaysia.
3. My sweet husband who was forgiving of me being upset with him for a communication error.
4. A great presidency meeting. I think that we got a lot done.
5. Everyone else's "Daily Five". It seems to be spreading!

So, what wisdom do I have to impart on teaching the Articles of Faith? Hmmm...I always feel like I am about ten steps behind everyone else, so this will probably be obvious to everyone else, but here goes:

For one thing, I love songs to help me remember things--names of the latter-day prophets, the preamble to the constitution, the books of the bible, etc. That didn't work with K, since he really isn't into music, but it does work for some.

But, just memorizing the words doesn't add to really understanding the principles taught in the Articles of Faith. Our bishop uses the third Sunday of every month to teach the Primary kids what the articles really mean. If they're too young to have it memorized, or just have a hard time reciting from memory, he tries to get the kids to at least understand the concepts presented.

Everything kind of flows in a logical pattern. The most important things first: "we believe in God the Eternal Father, and in His son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost."

Okay, now let's go to the beginning of things: "We believe that man will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's trangression."

So, if we're going to be punished for our own sins, how can we ever be saved? "We believe that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel."

Now what do we need to know? Well, "we believe that the first principles and ordinances of the gospel are: first, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost." If you didn't have faith in Christ, would you repent? Once you have repented, you need to be baptized (of course, repentance is an ongoing process). And when you have been baptized with water, you need baptism by fire, or the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Who performs those ordinances? "We believe that a man must be called of God by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer the ordinances thereof."

And so on. Get the pattern? Being able to rattle off the words is fine, but there needs to be understanding of the concepts in order to be an effective missionary and to strengthen our own testimony of the gospel.

5! 5! 5! 5! Let's sing a song of five!!

The day is just over halfway over, but I think I'll still put in five now, reserving the right to put in five more later in the day.

1. I am so grateful that I have an appointment with my hairdresser later today. My hair is looking ratty.
2. I am thankful that I still have clothes that fit, though I am being pretty tubby lately. Thank goodness I can re-join Weight Watchers online, have a good gym to go to and the weather here is nice enough to exercise outside, too. (That's sneaking in three more things to be grateful for!)
3. Keiler and I talked about the Articles of Faith last night. I'm grateful that I recently taught a Relief Society lesson about them and also had Bishop Smith's example of teaching the principles included in the A of F, not just memorizing them.
4. I'm grateful for paydays (and, I suppose, Paydays).
5. I stopped by Deseret Book yesterday to look at some things for Primary, and ended up buying a book entitiled, "Weakness is Not Sin: The Liberating Distinction That Awakens Our Strengths", by Wendy Ulrich. I got it for someone else, but I have gleaned some good information from it. That information really is something to be grateful for.

5 for the 4th

1. I'm thankful to be able to go to the temple today. I miss being there every week.
2. Smoked salmon from our own smoker! Keiler made the smoked salmon fettuccine while I talked him through it. It was delicious, but my mom's is still the best.
3. Fiji yogurt. Delicious flavors and toppings and sitting with the boys, playing Yahtzee.
4. My friend Mimi! I'm glad she stopped by for a visit today.
5. A day that was slightly cool, just enough to be able to wear one of my new sweaters.

The Daily Five

1. Not having to work until Friday!
2. A neighborhood where we have good friends and can play in the street.
3. All of Jo's hard work paying off--she's Sterling Scholar in English for her school!
4. K's pleasant and cheerful nature, which make living with him a joy.
5. The absolute adorableness of B-rad and B-rock, who undoubtedly got it from their mama.

Today's Five

Today, I'm grateful for:

1. Naps
2. Tylenol
3. A significantly decreased power bill
4. Brazilian fruit bowls
5. Yoga

Malaysia

Here are some pictures from the Malaysia part of our adventure.

We left home on Wednesday night around 6 and drove up to LAX. Our plane left at 11:30 pm. We had a layover in Taipei for two hours. Fortunately, we had passes to the VIP lounge. It makes a huge difference to have someplace quiet with free food and internet in which to pass the time.

We arrived in Kuala Lumpur airport at 3:00 pm on FRIDAY. Good old international dateline! Needless to say, we were tired, but were able to pull it together to go to the Pole Position tour group dinner that night.

We met lots of Aussies and Brits (and a Scot or two). They were really nice, fun people. Jeremy Burgess, Valentino Rossi's crew chief, was the guest of honor and talked and answered questions for a long time. This group really knows their GP, so the questions were all relevant and interesting.

On the way back to the hotel, one of our group passed out (still not completely sure why) and hit his head, sustaining a nasty laceration on his scalp. Rowdy volunteered his EMT skills in the bus, then we both checked him out as best we could and bandaged him up when we got back to the hotel. He made a good recovery.

Our hotel was actually in Putrajaya, the seat of the national government in Malaysia. All around us were beautiful parks, federal buildings and housing for government workers. Malaysia has the goal of becoming a first world country by 2020, so they are spending a lot of money on infrastructure. Things are clean and well-ordered, but they need to hire better city planners. Our tour guide told us that there is just one shopping center for 20,000 people in Putrajaya. People have to travel into KL to do their grocery shopping.

The weather was hot and steamy, very much like Austin or Charleston. The rain held off until just before the MotoGP final. Fortunately, it was a short storm, and the race started pretty-much on time.

Vale was on pole, but he took it slow into the first corner and Casey Stoner took off. It was Stoner-Pedrosa-Rossi, thanks to Andrea Dovizioso's crash and a poor grid position by Jorge Lorenzo. Rossi easy won the Championship, so there was much celebration. We weren't in a good position to see the podium, other than on the minijumbotron, but we were close enough to see and smell the champagne as Vale rained it down onto his supporters.

As we waited for our departure to the airport on Monday, we took a walk through the garden next to the hotel. There was nobody there, but there are so many "don'ts" that maybe people just can't be bothered. Or maybe it isn't located near enough to a residential area to make it worthwhile for the average Malaysian to visit.

Accepting the Challenge

Amberly has challenged one and all to record five things they're grateful for every day in November.

1. My mother-in-law, who spent the last 12 days here in San Diego, away from her loving husband, home and routine to look after K while we were gone. She was a good sport about it, even though she broke her wrist last week.

2. The funds, time and freedom to go to new places and see new things.

3. General good health.

4. Home cooking.

5. Home. Home, home, home.