You know how we're supposed to be writing in a journal? Hasn't the prophet told us to do that or something? Well, I was thinking, I suppose this is mine... I mean, I write in my paper one every once in a while, but it's almost easier for me to say things here. I hope, nay, plan for this thing to be around in 50 years. We'll see how that works out.

So, anyways... Saturday was a good day. I spent the first half of the day finishing up an essay so I could have fun the second half. But I got it done. So afternoon comes, and we all dress up all nice and we go pick up Raechel and Evan to go to the temple. But, turns out, the Oquirrh Mountain Temple was closed for cleaning.

Blessing Number One- We all laugh and say "Oh well. Let's go to the Jordan River Temple!" Where else can you do that? I love living in this valley. If only it snowed less...

Blessing Number Two- The Lord definitely knows what he's doing. The timing, the Oquirrh being closed, everything had to happen exactly the way it did for what happened next to happen.

So we get to the Jordan River, and we go and get changed, and we sit down in the chapel. I'm talking with Raechel, and I look up as a girl comes out of the locker room. I sorta did a double take and then looked away, and thought "That girl looks awfully like Sam..." And so I kept quickly glancing at her, because I didn't want to stare in case it wasn't her, but it sure looked like her, and she seemed to be giving me the same glances. (I didn't realize until later that she normally where's glasses, and she wasn't...) But one of the ushers comes and moves our group along, and she was just sitting there by herself cause she didn't have a group, so he puts her in our group, and I end up sitting right next to her. Turns out, it was my friend Sam, who I barely ever get to see!

So I got to talk with Sam. She's usually a really hyper person, but she was actually really calm. She talked about how the temple helped her to calm down and focus, and how she loved the temple because that's where she could organize her thoughts. She helped me to feel the spirit while I was there. She also showed me her scriptures, which have markings all over them. She showed me her favorite scriptures and we talked about what they meant to us. I showed her a cool thing that Brother Michaelis showed me- If you look in 2 Nephi 12:2, which some people call the Utah Scripture because it says that the Lord's house will be established in the "Top of the Mountains" an Utah is a Ute Indian word for "Top of the Mountains". Anyways, if you look in that, you can look at the second line, at the U in the word mountain... directly beneath that is the T in established, and below that the A in mountains, and below that the H in hills. UTAH.


Pretty cool huh? Well, I showed her that, and topped it off by saying "The church is true!" She laughed, and marked it in her scriptures, then wrote at the top "Jarom: The Church is True!" So I was like "Now I can say that my name is in your scriptures." She laughed again, and then I thought, and was like "Wait... my name was already in your scriptures" "Yeah, you have your own book." The Book of Jarom. Ha. =D

So that was my awesome temple experiance. Later that night, I went to a Region Dance with Daniel, Evan, Jeremiah, Ryan, and Garrett. I got to meet Jeremiah's friends Cailey and Lia. Lia was really nice, and I hope I can hang out with her and Jeremiah sometime. We could have a party. =D

I've never had so much fun dancing YMCA... oh, wait, that was totally random. I danced that with Daniel and Evan, and it was pretty fun. Don't really know why.

Well, that's basically my Saturday.

I haven't posted in 7 days, so I need to.

Let's see... what's happened this week? Not much, really... and yet so much, really.

Last night we had a dodgeball tournament against the fifth ward. Before it even started, when Brielle heard about it, she said "Oh, you guys are getting creamed." Thanks for the support... I think she jinxed us. We only won one game... And Tori and Brielle were shocked when we told them that. :P But it was SO much fun.

Today we had the Power in You assembly. As ambassador, I got to run across the stage with a chalkboard that we had taped the Power in You banner to. :P But we'll actually get to plan and conduct the next few assemblies. We had Chris (Crap, what was his last name?) From Real Salt Lake come and be our MC. We had this guy from Ghana come and play and sing a song with his bongos (I think it was traditional from Africa... the language sounded African, but I don't know for sure so I don't want to say that I do... but I'm pretty sure.) Then talk about how he overcame trials. The Power in You is all about having confidence in yourself, and all you need to succeed is the Power in You.

For Solo and Ensemble, which is in 3 weeks, I'm doing a duet with Paige. Some of you have already heard about this. But we decided what song we wanted to do- Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. It's really a beautiful song, one I've always liked. We went over it for the first time today. Paige is really a beautiful singer. And of all things, while we were singing, she said I had a great voice! I laughed. Anyways, I'm thinking this is going to be really beautiful in the end.

The highlight of my day today was Seminary. We decided to have a testimony meeting today, just randomly, and it was really spiritual. People were crying everywhere, the people who didn't like doing things like this were getting up and bearing their hearts, it was all very deep. Afterwards I was so full of love, and telling everyone how much I loved them. I was standing outside the building talking to Roscoe, and Paige just walks up and gives me a hug. Paige is really sweet. It just makes me think of how great my friends are.

There's one particular person I need to raise my hat to, today. So here's to Roscoe!

You are awesome! Thanks for being such a great friend, an awesome person, and a great spirit. I think you really have a gift- you have a strong spirit, and you can use that spirit to make people happy, make people smile, and make people laugh. Thank you for your awesome testimony. I am so glad to have you as a friend.

I love you all!

Time for a big GRAND GRATEFULNESS!

I'm thankful for the gospel. I love the church. It brings so much happiness and understanding to my life. I love the feeling of the spirit. I love knowing that I am a child of God. I love knowing that he loves me. I love how everything just fits together.

I wrote a poem the other night. You could call it my standared, my title. It's posted on my poems blog. Some of you already heard it in Seminary class.

Love you all! I gotta go get ready for the dance tonight, now...

Sorry about lack of postage. I'm looking back on what I have posted, and thinking "Wow... Jarom posts some weird stuff." Who reads my blog and thinks that? Who reads my blog at all? Maybe this is for my posterity or something... "Guess what!" "What?" "I just found Grandpa's blog from when he was a kid!" "Really??" "Yeah! He was a weirdo!" (Hopefully I still am a weirdo by the time I have grandchildren. It will make their lives funner!)

So last night, I had the opportunity to go and receive my Patriarchal Blessing from Patriarch Hofhiens (Dang... is that how his name is spelled???) It was a really cool experience, and really spiritual. I've been praying about this for months, but I kept feeling like the time wasn't quite right yet... Then I started feeling better about it, and a couple of weeks ago I got the final impression like I should do it. (It was actually when I was told something else... which I cannot divulge now but will probably on a later date.) So now I've heard what the Lord wants to tell me. I could barely even speak for 10 minutes afterwards because I was just overwhelmed... In modern terms, IT WAS FREAKIN' AWESOME. (He he... I'm so laughing I write that...)

~~~
Love ya'll!
Atra Esterni Ono Thelduin

Auuggghhhh!!!! I'm a horrible poster! I hope you all don't hate me, but if you do, I see it your way. I did a ton of things the past few weeks... We went to the Annual Hall Family Reunion Campout (You did what without me??- Summer Derieg), then we went to Hope of Isreal camp, (Team Teancum! Over the Wall! Into the Tent! Mission Accomplished!) Then we went to Education Week (It's a Magical Night, Anything can Happen! - John Bytheway) And I got to be a mentor and help all the seventh graders on Orientation day! (I'm going to eat you, you little Sevvies! -Evan Perez) And then we went back to school. (I wish I could steal peoples' souls by looking them in the eyes... -Mr. Stucki). He he. I love quotes.

~~~
Atra Esterni Ono Thelduin!

Okay, so I have done a horrid job of blogging Because of the California pictures. But I'm going to try to pull it back up. This post was actually written a week or so ago, but It's just being posted now.

Saturday, the 11th of June, I had the privilege of seeing my good friend Aerin's Baptism. (And her sister, Steph, who I kinda know.) I was really excited for it ever since I learned she was getting baptised. (I keep wanting to spell Baptised with a z...) It was kinda funny when so many of her friends from Midvale showed up they had to move us into the Chapel. Besides me, Trevin, Luke, and Riley, showed up, along with a bunch of ninth graders that I only know as faces and names. We took up a whole pew.

It was really spiritual, even (and especially) when Steph couldn't think of what to say as she bore her testimony. Afterwards a line formed as Aerin gave out hugs and received gifts. I held back to wait until there were less people, and by the time I got up to her, she had so many gifts she could barely hug me and take mine. But she did, and then kept receiving people. I followed the other Trojans to the other room, thinking she'd be behind us. Five minutes later, she had barely moved five feet! Later she said that was because "Everybody wanted pictures!"

So I'll do another tribute here. Here's to Aerin!


Thanks for being such a fun friend! Thanks for your testimony, and your excitement, and the spirit you bring, especially when you sing!
And Thanks for the new motto. This is something I think I knew all along, but you helped me realize it.
Purity is

BEAUTIFUL

Obviously, my goal is failing. But it doesn't seem like many people are reading the blog anyway. If your reading this, comment or e-mail me saying you are. Just a "I'm reading your blog" is fine.

So anyway, the past Thursday-Sunday was Youth Conferance. It was really fun. Thrusday we went up to the U of U and hiked up the mountain behind it. I hiked with Jericha and Katie most of the way, and we had a lot of fun. I think the highlight was near the top, when we turned back because it started thundering. Then it started hailing. It was funny to see all the youth run down the mountain screaming and going "Ow, Ow, Ow!" Trying to escape the attack of marble sized hailstones.After that we went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House as a group, which was fun. Then we had a Dinner and played Volleyball at the church. It was fun, but I didn't enjoy it as much because my leg felt like it was on fire.

The next day my leg felt better, and good thing because we went on another hike. We drove down to Goblin Valley and did the Little Wildhorse Canyon, which is a slot canyon. It's also my favorite hike because it's so fun and because I can do it without feeling really tired like I do on a hike like Jordan Parkway. After that, we went to Goblin Valley and had free time. Me, Tori, Brielle, and Riley all went straight to the huge rocks and started climbing them. Spencer did too, but he ran ahead of us so I didn't count him. I learned that Riley and Brielle have a mild fear of hights, and that Spencer doesn't care about falling from fifty feet up. Brother Michealis had to challenge him to a race to get him to come down. It was cool though, after me and Tori helped Brielle and Riley up to the top, to look over the valey that was on the other side of the rock wall. (And to look down the fifty foot drop that led down into the valley, but I don't think the others even tried to do that.) I also met Brother Linton's brother, Andy. (By the way, for those of you who don't know, Brother Linton is my Young Men's President, and he's also Alena's Uncle. So now I know her other uncle.) On the car ride there and back, I swapped stories with Sister Tuituvuki, Sister Thacker, Sister Briggs, and Brother Griffen. I think I learned more about Carl in the 6 hours talking to his mom than in the 2 years I've known him.

On Saturday it was more relaxed. We went to defferant peoples houses to learn about their personal history, and our group got the Brintons. Then we had some seminars about the temple, and Brother Michaelis played the song he wrote for us. Then we went to the Jordan River Temple to do baptisms for the dead. For some people, it was there first time. It was really cool.

Sunday was our ending. Jaden, Zac, Brielle, Spencer, Justine, Sister Soper, and I gave talks in sacrement meeting. Then we had combined third hour and we had a testimony meeting. It was pretty cool and really spiritual.

So my first Youth Conferance was really great. I can't wait for the next time we do something like that!