To be Charitable is to be Christ like.

To be Christlike, what an interesting concept. For one to become more like Christ, is to help one to become more perfect. Perfect through Christ. Within the LDS Guide to the Scriptures under the Pauline Epistles there is a section that discusses Paul’s epistle to the Colossians. “As a result of a report that the Colossian Saints were falling into serious error. They believed that perfection came by the careful observance of outward ordinances alone rather than the development of Christlike character.” 

Taking a closer look into what Paul says within his epistle to the Colossians, in Colossians 3:1-4 It states;

“1. If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ stitch on the right hand of God. 

2. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the Earth. 

3. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 

4. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” 

To become more like Christ, first of all we need to give up ourselves. Meaning, to not worry about ourselves with things here on Earth. To worry about things of God and His Gospel, and not of the World. One of my favorite saying is to be in the world, but not of it. We need to always be thinking of Christ and His Gospel to become better.

Now the fact that Paul originally wrote this epistle to rebuke the Colossians to righteousness, versus 5-9 talk about how we need to put off the things of the world which are among Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, covetousness, (idolatry) and much much more.These things bring the Wrath of God. Instead, we should become a “New man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him” (or in other words, be Baptized in the manner of Christ was Baptized. Under Proper authority, in immersion of Water).

In which we then need to follow what versus 12-14 heed us to do. “12. Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering; 13. Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. 14. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.”

What I really what to focus on here, is the Christlike Attribute of Charity. If we look at what verse 14 is saying, in Paul’s words Charity is the bond of perfectness. Meaning, through Charity we can become the most like Christ. One of my absolute favorite scriptures from one of the books of scripture in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Book of Mormon, is Moroni 7:42-47;

“42. Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope.

43. And again, behold I say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek, and lowly of heart.

44. If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart; and if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is noting; wherefore he must needs have charity.

45. And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, skeet not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in inquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

46. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—

47. But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.”

Charity is amazing, it is something that we all need to have, it is one of the greatest qualities that I personally believe that Christ carried himself. What are some forms of Charity you ask? Think along the lines of service. That is the greatest form of all, but when you think of service, don’t just think about helping the old lady cross the street, but think of mowing the lawn for the neighbor, singing for the patients at the cancer institute at Christmas time, doing what your mother asks with a kind attitude when she asks, helping your younger siblings out instead of joking with them, being kind to the bullied kid at school, be a friend to the man with a disability you find in the park. There are honestly so many different things that service, and that Charity cover. 

I want to give two personal examples of Charity that I have seen in my own life within the past year. First of all, my Mother. Wow, what she has done is amazing. Around memorial day of last year, my Grandpa Whitney Hale came to live with us at our home, because he was just getting too old and unstable to be living on his own. We did not want him passing away in a rest home, so we took him in our home. I will say, it was very hard, we had to change a lot of things that went on in our home. Things like the food we ate, the times we woke up (sometimes), when we could leave the home, when we had to return home, being prepared for different types of emergencies, and getting to know a lot of new medical personal that came along with having grandpa live with us. The biggest changes were not for us, but for my dear Mother, she had to literally change her entire life, just to situate having Grandpa live with us. Mom is a Saint, she did anything and everything to help Grandpa! Grandpa really needed a lot of attention, he was beginning weaken starting from day one. He really needed help to get around the house. He had fallen several times previously to moving in to our house, because as a 96 year old man, his legs were beginning to fail him. As it was, he was already walking with a walker, and needed a rail to get up out of his seat. Although, I am so proud of him, being able to walk until he was 96 on his own with a walker. When he moved in to our house, he almost immediately stopped walking. He walked for a couple of weeks, from his seat to the bathroom to his seat once again, but in reality he would stand up and sit immediately down on his walker, and we would pull him there. In fact, whenever he would leave his big black comfy chair, she would pull him everywhere. I don’t want to make it sound like we didn’t help at all, we did too, but my Mother just did so much more for her Sweet Father. God bless my dear Mother, who was almost with him all day, every day. She honestly sacrificed so much, not only was it time, but sleep, food, leisure activities, friends, and other things she loved to do. She brought a baby monitor into her room, and his. All throughout the night, my grandpa would call for help, and she would go down and comfort him and help him. She did everything that she could to help my Grandfather be comfortable here living with us. There were times, where he was so sad, because he felt like a burden upon the shoulders of our family esp. my Mother, but she would just comfort him, and let him know he never was. It was hard, and there may have been a few times I heard her think out loud “When will his time come to return and be with his sweet wife?” But never did I hear her complain with all this hard work and Charity she provided while taking care of my Grandpa. How wonderful it is to have such a sweet example in my life.

My second example is even more recent. A Week ago I was in Atlanta, Georgia to be with the Hale Family while my cousin was married for all Eternity. My Sweet innocent aunt was diagnosed with Alzheimers quite a few years back. I have been very surprised to see how fast it actually has attacked her. She still has memory and recognizes people, but it is getting pretty bad. What a humbling experience it was to be there with her family. Her only daughter came two  out of the 3 days we spent there to help get her ready for the day, the wedding and the temple. One of her sons was downstairs with us all, when she came down and felt her ear, and thought something was missing, and so without saying a word, he ran upstairs and retrieved a pair of earrings and brought them down to his loving mother. Now the most humbling of all, is her husband. He does the most service. Wow, he has to literally change his life, so that he can accommodate her needs. He is there helping her make food, and doing anything he can. He helps her into the truck, he holds her hand as they go places, and it is just wonderful! His love for her has grown even more throughout the years, and I am sure as the Alzheimers progresses, his Love will grow even more greater for all the Charity and Service he provides her.

Christ said “Charity Suffereth Long” and “Charity never Faileth” 1Corinthians 13:4;8

Through simple acts or through greater acts, Charity can bring the Spirit upon us in our lives. It helps us to live more like Jesus Christ, and will help us personally to be happier. It may be so hard on us at the time, but think of the Blessings our trials have passed, and I promise that if you look back on this hard event, you will not regret it, or despise it, but you will be so grateful for the experience and want to grow more by showing more Charity to all.

Some day, I hope that I can become more charitable like the wonderful examples I have in my life.

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen. -Moroni 7:48

The Most Wonder(ful) Woman of my Life! :)

Here we are again. Like I said in my last post, I have some great news to bring up! I am Engaged!!! Although, before I can even get close to that story, I better introduce my darling fiancé to you! 

Along time ago, in a galaxy far far away… (DUH! duh duh dun, duh duh dun etc etc.) Just kidding, right here in your very own, the Milky Way! Back in February, when I was getting ready to campaign for Executive Vice President at Salt Lake Community College. Brandon (My “annoying” older brother) and at the time his girlfriend (now fiancé) Sydney were over at the house, and wanted me to go on dates with girls… Ewww girls! Couddies Gross!! (Just kidding, I totally had been going on dates with lots of girls before, but at that time I was just EXTREMELY Busy!! That is the only reason I did not go on many dates in the 4 weeks before the elections! Anyways, Syd came up, and left me with an ultimatum. I am going to set you up with one of these two girls. Showed me two pictures on Facebook, and said a little about them. This one girl, or a girl named Lexi. She told me that Lexi was a recently returned missionary, and better yet, she served a mission in Peru, so she speaks Spanish! (That is a plus, since I do too. Also because I was looking to date a returned missionary.) [I wanted a missionary for two reasons, one she would probably know the Gospel of Jesus Christ better than me, because Sister Missionaries rock! Two because being a returned missionary, I wouldn’t have to lose her to leaving on a mission! ;)] Anyways, going back to the story, I saw her profile picture on Facebook and was honestly stunned. She had Gorgeous Long Blonde hair, Bright Blue eyes, dark lipstick on, and was modeling! Wow, you have no idea how stunned I was! She was GORGEOUS! My thought to myself “Well, maybe this could work out, because I could take pictures of her, she could be my model!” “Okay okay I said, we can do ONE date, but only ONE. Since I have to worry about elections right now.”

So a week or so later, we were set up on a date! We had a double date (Blind for us obviously). I got in the truck with Brandon and we set off on our adventure up to Syd’s apartment in Bountiful. On the ride up I was feeling a little nervous (Strange for me to feel so in a situation like this). Since this was only my second blind date ever. My first one last year, didn’t go so hot, at least we didn’t match well anyways. When we arrived there at the apartments there was this girl with short blond hair walking to the door, and Brandon said “Look, I think that is your date!” I thought to myself “Where did her long hair go?!” I was very surprised that it had disappeared. As we walked up to the door, I was hoping she had already gone in, but of course, she was still waiting there for Syd to come open the door, so we had that awkward first confrontation… I had to play it off cool, I couldn’t show the awkwardness that was flowing in the air. “Ohhh hey!! What’s up?” I said, and we instantly started our conversations! The rest of the night went wonderful! We started it out by making Pizza! We had a competition with Brandon and Syd! We made our own, it was a Cheesy Smiley face! The eyes and the mouth were extra dough with string cheese on the inside! Then Brandon and Syd made a combo pizza. We decided who would win the competition would be the pizza that was voted the most through Snap Chat. So we all took a picture of the two pizzas, once finished, and then we all sent it to all of our friends. Well, we lost. Everyone wanted the combo rather than the extra cheesy and cheese sticks on the pizza! HA! They don’t know what they are missing out on! Oh well. They next part of the date was really fun! We played a game, by thinking of two characters, actions, and locations, and writing them all down on a separate piece of paper. Once finished, we had to pick one of each, and then draw it on a t-shirt! I picked Mario, Picking his nose, and on an island. So then we were allowed to pick on more. so I picked Phil (Hercules) and photo shoot. So that is exactly what I did! Once we were finished, I had to give my shirt to her to keep! Well, the sad thing is, I thought my shirt was pretty good, until I saw hers that she was going to give to me. How embarrassing mine looked! Syd’s shirt also destroyed Brandon’s! We were shut down by both girls! I forgot the most important part! Lexi and I had never watched the Labyrinth with David Bowie, so we put that on while we were making shirts… Yeah, it was a pretty crazy first date, but we had a blast! When we were leaving I almost forgot to ask her for her number, but I got it as we were leaving, then as we got to the car I had to put the great song of “Good to be alive (Hallelujah)” by Andy Grammer! We both were belting it as we were driving away, so I guess you could say it was not only a wonderful night, but it was a FANTASTIC first night! As I got home that night, we had already started texting and joking, so we knew something fun had to become of us! I mean, we already started planning for the next time that we were going to hang out! :)

The very next day I was at my house with my mom in the family room watching TV, when I received a text from Lexi saying “There is something I want you to know.  wrote a song!” My response: “You wrote a song??” Lexi: “Hahaha this is my way of trying to share it without coming right out and telling you to listen to it. Fail.” So obviously she is trying to get me to hear her song, so I flirt back with her and say “hahaha hey I can listen! Are you going to sing it to me?? :)” She responds with “How about I send you a link? :)” (Well, it was worth a shot, right? ;)) So she ended up sending me the link, I don’t remember if it was a facebook, or a youtube link. Anyways, as it was loading to the page, I was not expecting anything to crazy, and as the song started I noticed she was playing the piano. Then, she began to sing. My mouth dropped… Hearing this girl sing, was Amazing with a capital A. Wow, that is all I could say as the song ended. Then I looked up at my mother and said. “Mom, she can sing.” I am sure my mom thought something along the lines of “I know dear, I have ears too.” or something snarky like that, but what came out was something along the lines of “Oh goodie! You two can sing together.” It was just lining up perfectly! My physical list of a girl, was really falling in line. Blonde hair, blue eyes, and could sing. 

A week or two later, we had Stake Conference in my Singles ward stake. I think I had completely spaced that, because I had set up a date for that Saturday night with Lexi to have a follow up date. When I realized it, it was the day before or worse, could have been the day of. I sent her a message and told her I was very sorry, but I would have to reschedule, and then gave her the details of what happened, because I didn’t want her to just think I was bailing on her. Then to my surprise I received a message “Can I come? :)” So not only was this girl, attractive, but now she wanted to come to Stake Conference with me. So I agreed to her idea, and we chose to go out to dinner first. I took her out to Tio’s a Mexican restaurant close to my house, and then we went up to the stake center. When we sat down, I pulled out the Gospel Library on my phone to take notes, and she pulled out a small notebook to take notes. That was cool to see that we both get the best out of our learning by taking notes. Her notes are so cool! She draws pictures and writes key words to the things that. Where as I just write key phrases down that stick out to me, and mark the scriptures in my Gospel Library app. After the conference we went back to my house to watch a movie. I wanted to watch Inception, because I hadn’t seen that since before my mission, and I had wanted to watch it the entire time I was in Chile! Why I hadn’t yet? Great question! So we decided we would watch it. I think she fell asleep, but we cuddled on the couch. There was one point where we looked at each other, a perfect kissing moment, but I think I got nervous and backed out. That or I was thinking she would get mad at me because it was “to soon” in the relationship that we were creating. Anyways, the next day at family dinner (she was invited) I told Syd that I had a “Perfect opportunity” to kiss her, but I backed out. Syd flipped, and apparently went later on to go learn about this “perfect opportunity” from her. Then later on that evening we had gone out to the front room, and just laid on the grown together, and at some point we came close face to face, and so  I decided that i would just go in for it. So that is exactly what I did. While we were lying there on the floor, we had our first kiss.

Back in March, I had the opportunity to go up to see her Mom’s side of the family, or I guess I should say the Wilson family for a dinner. On the way up, we had to pick up her youngest brother, Andrew from her Dad’s house in Syracuse. I was getting nervous, yet again. I mean, I am very much a people person, but it is so much easier to get to know one person at a time, than it is to have to learn names of like 40 people and get to know them all. Anyways, I went along with it, and it was lots of fun! I’ll tell you this, their puppy Oscar is a riot! He likes to run around more than my dog Chip does! That or he is just younger, and so he has more energy than Chip does. To this day, I still don’t have everyone’s name down in the Wilson family, because there are lots of them, but that is another story. Lexi and I from the beginning would joke around be like “What would you do if this happened and we were married?” Although I don’t know if it was really a joke, I mean, I really would ask dumb questions I am sure to her they seemed dumb, but they were questions I really had for her, because I know with me, things dumb and crazy are going to happen. Anyways, so coming back down to Salt Lake City from Logan, as we were passing the Logan Temple, I decided to ask “If we got married, what temple would you want to be married in?” She thought about it for about 3 seconds and then said “San Diego.” I kind of jumped a little bit, because that had always been my dream, to find someone who was either from San Diego, or who wanted to get married in San Diego, so that I could get married in that temple with them! So that was kind of a cool fact! As we were getting back to dropping Andrew off, we stopped there so that I could meet her Dad and Step Mom too! Her whole family is a lot of fun! 

A fun thing that we did near the end of March for Spring Break, was we did a double date trip. Brandon, Syd, Lexi, and I all decided to go on an overnighter down to Goblin Valley! That was a whole lot of fun, we went and played around on the rocks for a couple of hours, and then ate Tin foil dinners, and a gluten free peach cobbler for Syd, by Syd. It was lots of fun to be down there! I did realize that it may be a little tough for me to be around Syd and Brandon at the same time for more than 24 hours since they are both a little crazy and a little power hungry, so these two forces put together longer than 24 hours can be a little crazy. Anyways, if you would like to know more about that trip and the fun that we all had together, you will have to go look at Lexi’s blog or bug her for pictures, because we took some really great pictures! :) (Well, she did).

A couple of weeks after that, I heard Brandon had bought a ring, and was going to ask for the hand of Syd in marriage. How exciting! The two love birds were going to get married! Then it came out, and they had, had the whole situation happen of getting engaged and it was all over facebook! A couple of weeks later, I think is when Lexi and I decided that we should get married as well. So I got to called both of my sisters. I called Jen first, she didn’t pick up. So then I called Ally, and she picked up. Her conversation was fun. “Hey Ally…” “Hi Connor…” “So uh, remember how you are coming to Utah in September..?” “Yeah..? Oh great… When else do I need to come??” “Well, actually… California, San Diego. In October.” “You guys don’t want us to come home for Christmas, do you?? Well, congrats, we will start looking for flights.” Allyson and Jed live in Dallas, Texas with their son Logan. Later on Jen called me back and then I told her as well, and her response was a little more giddy. I honestly don’t remember much about how I talked to Brandon about it (See, this is a reason right here why I need to post more…). 

Here is a fun fact about Lexi. She is an artist! She likes to paint, draw, and lots of fun stuff like that (hence the reason she likes to do her notes like that). Anyways, she actually designed her ring! The cool thing about her ring, is all of the stones and gyms are from other rings. The diamonds are from her mom and dad’s marriage, and then the ruby’s and sapphires are from a ring form her great grandma. She always says “There are perks for being the only girl.” I guess she was right. Well, with this design she had for a ring, we were going to start asking jewelers on prices, when her mom texted me with a wonderful price! After hearing what Brandon paid for her, I was expecting to have to take out a loan, and then pay who knows how much for this little rock on her finger. Although what her mom told me was just perfect. S. E. Needham up in Logan is a jeweler that she works with a lot apparently. This story is kind of funny as well. :) She told me it went a little like this… She went in to the jeweler and started looking around, when one of the Needham brother’s themselves came and started to discuss with her. They know each other pretty well, from what I understand. She pulled out the design and showed him the rocks. He started to think, while rubbing his chin. Then looked out the window to the car lot across the street and said “My oh my, Chris (Lexi’s Step Dad) had got some new car’s out there!” Meaning, he still is successful and has some money. *Hint hint, wink wink* So they made out some kind of deal, where they could melt down the gold from the great grandmother’s ring, and that we would use our jewels, and then we could have Lexi’s ring for super Cheap WOW! Just look at the picture down below, it is GORGEOUS! Also, I love it as well, because (Well, don’t tell her I said this, but I think it looks like the Triforce from Zelda!) I think I may just love it more than she does! :) It is just kind of fun though, since it is so different than your average ring, and she gets that every time someone asks to see her ring.

So Lexi’s birthday is on Cinco de Mayo, and she had bought tickets to go to New York City with her Mom, like 2-3 days before she met me, and so for the first week of May she was there in the Big Apple. While she was there, I was waiting on the ring to be done. I had no idea when it was going to be done, or when/how I was going to ask her to be my wife. I got a few ideas throughout the week, mostly from my dear Mother. I figured on Monday, I had all week to figure out, because she didn’t come home until Friday anyways! On Tuesday I sent out a text to Kelly, (her dad) and asked him if I could meet up with him at Texas Roadhouse for lunch! He said sure, and so on Wednesday as I was going there, I had to make sure I was on time. I arrived and it wasn’t open. WHY DOES A BIG YUMMY PLACE NOT OPEN UNTIL 4PM?! Man, they would get a lot of business for Lunch, but oh well! Good thing I am not a big Steak guy anyway, so I looked around real fast, and then noticed that across the street, there was a Wing nuts! So I called Kelly and told him a change of plan. We met up there, had lunch and then I got his permission to marry Lexi! Whew! One Dad down, and one more to go! So Thursday night was the preshowing of Captain America: Civil War. We had a Student Government thing where we got tickets for cheap, and I definitely went! Although being caught up on all of the main movies since I had been home from my mission, I still hadn’t seen Ant Man. Before I went to the movie, I needed to watch it. So I did. During Ant Man, closer to the end I received a call from an unknown number in Logan, and I got an electric jolt go through my body. So I slowly picked up the phone, and my fears were confirmed. It was the jeweler… (Duh Duh DUHHHHH!) He told me that the ring would be done later that night, and ready for pick up when the store opens the next day at 10am. The day that Lexi got home!! So after hanging up the phone, I pushed play on the video to finish it, but my mind was racing, and I couldn’t sit still the rest of the movie. How I finished it? I do not know. Do I remember it? I also do not know. So I decided to do something that Mom told me to do, and ask Lexi to marry me at the Airport! I called Chris (Lexi’s Step Dad) and asked him that when I come up to Logan tomorrow to get the ring, if I could take him out to lunch! He said sure! As it was time to go to Captain America, I texted Kiersten (Lexi’s mom) who was in New York with Lexi, and said (Get away from Lex, and call me ASAP). I told her my plan for asking Lexi to marry me the next day, and she LOVED it! Her part was to make sure the Lexi was dressed up, and to think that I was going to come pick her up from the airport! After watching Captain America (Which was Amazing by the way) I started recruiting a couple people from Student Life at SLCC to come and help me the next night to get engaged! When I got home, and called Jayden, one of my best buddies, he couldn’t do it because he worked, so he sat there and talked to me for an hour, but I was exhausted I had to drive up to Logan the next day, so finally I hung up. The next day as I woke up, it was time to go up to Logan! I stopped at the bank and pulled out $440 which left me with $5 to my name, all of the guys there at the teller position told me Good Luck with a thumbs up and big Smile! So I drove up in the Ford Explorer that my mom owns, which sucked. I didn’t realized until I was about at Ogden, that the Air Conditioner wasn’t working. It was just blowing out hot air. So I was kind of thankful that I missed the turn for Logan, and that I had to drive back through Brigham City, so that I could have the windows down and cool off a bit! I drove next to the temple and thought to myself, “I will be going there in 6 months with my honey!” :) Right about here when I hit Brigham City I called Lexi, because she had texted me and said that she was on her way to the Airport. I told her all week that it was iffy if I would be able to come and pick her up or not, because maybe I had to work. I told her “Sorry hun, it looks like I am going to have to work tonight, so I will have to see you tomorrow after work.” Although I really didn’t have to work! Hehehe :P Once I got up the canyon, I had to remember that it was the Utah State University graduation that day, so it was busy that day! I finally got through the traffic there and found the store and got out and walked a little bit! It felt good! I stopped in and started talking to the same brother that had called me on the phone. He handed me the ring, and my eyes grew wider and wider I was amazed! It was gorgeous! It looked so much better than the model that they showed us. After seeing that, I got real nervous. (Just wait till you see the picture). It is GORGEOUS! Anyways, I ran across the street to meet up with Chris and we went to eat at Angie’s the place were you can “Clean the Sink”. We had a great discussion, and he also approved me. Whew! Then I embarked on my way back down to Salt Lake! On my way down I started to call people and ask them to help me. I asked all my main boys, Adam, Matt, Ryan, Grant, Matt, and then I called my family and also her family to come help out, and then I had up to like 50 people to help! As I got home, I showed my mother the ring, and she also was Amazed! Then I hurried and went to change my clothes, so that I too could look all good like her. We all got there, and were arriving, were were all getting excited, especially me. I couldn’t figure out where we were going to go. My original plan was, I had some signs there that I would have people raise saying “Welcome home Lexi” and other similar things, then obviously the “Will you Marry Me?” signs, which were on the back. Then I would have the crowd separate, kinda like how Moses parted the red sea, and I would just be there. Although, there were two families waiting for missionaries, and a family waiting for a sailor. So I had the missionaries on the side of us, and the sailor in front of us. So that plan wouldn’t have worked. So my Uncle Bruce came over and said I should go upstairs and then follow down behind her, and then be out in the middle of everyone. So I decided that last minute! I had three people filming from different Angles. My cousin Steven was up at the top with me, so he could come down behind us. I was up there and just getting super anxious, when I saw Steve was talking with someone who had just come off a plane. Then I looked down the hall and THERE SHE WAS! Her and her Mom!! Shoot, no time to think, here I went. As I was going, I had to hurry and tell Steve! Let’s go!! I hopped on the escalator on the other side of her, and then started coming down, and Steve started to film. She looked up right past me, and didn’t even notice me. She started to walk. Lori (another VP from Student Life) started to yell “Hey Lexi!!” and everyone else did too! She had walked right past all of the signs as I was getting down on my knee. I panicked, and so I kinda yelled her name! She didn’t hear me… So I called a little bit louder! She then turned around and noticed it was for her. She got kinda read, and put her hands up to her face! She came over and told me “You are in Trouble.” As I was on my knee I asked. “Would you like to marry me?” I got nervous, so somehow the “like” got put in there too. She nodded and said yes, and so I got to put the ring on her finger. :) Afterwards, Kaylie (my oldest niece) came running up holding flowers for Lexi! Then ran back to Jennifer. It was super cute! We went back to my house, and posted on Facebook that we were engaged on Facebook and we got over 500 likes in two hours! Over all I think that we ended up with somewhere over 700 likes. That is my all-time record, and I think that we had the most likes over any of friends! It was a proud moment of us both! One of the few things that us “Youngins” today look for to make us “happy” ;) Anyways, that same night, Jayden came over and hugged us both! That was lots of fun too! 

(Wow that was a long paragraph)

Hmmm I guess I could end with we just got Lexi moved into the apartment where we will be staying for the next 6 months! I will be living there for the two months after we get married. She only got a 6 month contract on the apartment. It is in a wonderful little place up in Sugar House, Utah. It is a good thing she just became the manager of the Wedding Dress shop where she works, so that she can be making... Well, let's just say she is rolling in the dough, and can pay the salary for our expensive hotel sized apartment for like the next 100 years. It is more like a hotel room. That is what I like to call it. I guess I will have to get to know Lexi a whole lot better after we get married, living in such a small place… ;) It will be super fun! 

I lied, there is one last thing. I just need to express how happy my fiancé is so Amazing. We have been in DC/Virginia for the past two days, and we won’t be going home until the 4th of July. She is loving, caring, and just amazing, this morning when I was going to change my clothes so I could get out and help the men here take down a tree, I noticed I had a missed call from my mother, I listened to it, and it was her informing me that my dear Grandfather had passed away this morning. He passed away in his sleep peacefully, but as I was posting a picture of me and him on Facebook, she came over and saw that, and then hugged me and made me cry more than just a tear, but as I was leaving to go and help. She stopped me, and made me give her a real hug. As I have been quiet here all weekend, she has been checking up on me. I introduce to you Andrea Alexis (Almost Holt) Hewitt, and I Connor Gordon Holt Love her with all my heart, and I can honestly not wait at all to marry her in just over 3 months.

Here is the Pizza from our Blind date. As you can see, it is a screen shot from our Snap Chat contest! Obviously #1 should win, I mean look at that cheesy goodness, and how happy it was! 

Here is where we went to Goblin Valley! The picture on the left, is where we took our fist picture together, so that we could show people we were together. Since we still hadn't done that. Oddly enough, we still to this day (as you can see by the pictures) have not taken very many pictures. We have plans to take lots more!

This was a fun activity where we went to be in the music video of a local artist, we went out by the Great Salt Lake, and had a fun activity with these two lovely people. (They were either engaged at this moment, or obviously at least had their date).

Lexi and I went to the Sunday Afternoon session of General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

After stopping at Best Buy in Murray, we saw this awesome sign, so I got a bright idea! (The picture on the left) Then as you can see, she was laughing super hard! (On the right)

Lexi did this huge painting her senior year of High School! I Love it, and I would like it hung in our house some day! As you can see, it is bigger than the window next to it. This isn't even some of her best work, but I love it! 

Ignore the mustache (It was Mustache March) so yeah, I will probably never do it again, but it was proof so that I could know that I could do it. With that smile? She definitely thought that she was beginning to like it, and after I shaved it, she realized that was a dumb thought, and she never ever wants me to have one again. ;)

Lexi cut my hair here in this picture. This photo was taken because my mother had said that we had not taken any pictures together at all. Mainly for that purpose, but after the 4 hour haircut that she gave me, she wanted to make sure we had a good picture together too. We took like 40 pictures that were timed (I would have done the same thing if it were my camera).

Here is the ring! Look, does it not look gorgeous?? More than that. Can you see the Triforce in the engagement ring with the big diamond? ;) Doesn't it look huge in the second one?!

 Engagement day! 05/06/16 in the Salt Lake International Airport

Jayden just loves us so much! What a cutie pie!

 Proof we are starting to take more photos. This was taken two days ago, at the Washington Monument in Washington DC. We are just gonna keep those photos a rollin. 

The Leaders of Students at SLCC

Well, where to even start? I know it has been awhile since I have posted. (Once Again). I think my goal is that I want to slowly make this blog into a journal! I mean, I am terrible at writing in my journal since I have come home from serving in Chile... I feel like, I just have had no time at all! Why is that you ask? Well, that is exactly what this post is about!

Let me start by going back three years ago, before I left to Chile, ending my senior year of High school.

While I was ending my senior year at Murray high school, I was just done with school. My wonderful Mother just kept telling me that I needed to get some scholarships for College before I left to Chile, so that I could have something waiting for me two years later when I returned to come home to go to school. I honestly was just not that excited on doing that, because I was just done with school. I had "Senioritis" to the max. So I finally just tried to get a couple just to make my Mother happy. I applied for some stuff at Utah State University and I ended up receiving $1,000 Scholarship. Then I found a scholarship at Salt Lake Community College that was called "The Presidential Scholarship" I had no idea what it was about, but it was full ride for two years, and I fit the requirements!! So of course I applied for it. A week or so later I received a call, saying that I was picked to come in and interview for the scholarship! For the next week I had to create a presentation, I really didn't do to much, I had a slide show of 5 slides full of pictures. I don't remember what exactly I had on there for the topics, but they were things that I had accomplished, and when I had my interview, I just went in with confidence and talked. It wasn't something that I prepared for to much, but I ended up getting called saying that I received it, which was awesome!! So then I went and told them I was going on a mission for my church, and they let me hold it for two years.

I came home last year in April, and I started up at SLCC in June, coming to the office and starting to figure out what my scholarship entitled. Then I figured out after a month or so, that the office was that I got to be involved in Student Government at SLCC. Better yet? They paid my tuition for having a scholarship at SLCC, and I got to have fun, just like in High School! Boo yeah! Although the student government at SLCC, is a lot more fun than at MHS. It is also a lot more structured. For example, there were 8 boards. Presidents Board, Student Senate, Publicity and Advertising, Clubs and Organizations, Fine Arts and Lectures, North Region, Central Region, and South Region. I happened to be involved on the Central Region board. The three region boards all do the same thing, they are all activity boards in the region where they are at. So really, I feel it is the most like high school stud. gov. You just plan fun activities for the students to enjoy SLCC. I had a blast last year! I met great friends, like Summer and Matt. Not to mention all the other friends from the other boards. I had the opportunity to plan a cool Winter Event which is the Holiday Extravaganza! We had this event which was really cool, where we planned for 4 winter holidays, Christmas, Kwanza, Hanukkah, and Diwali. Then it was huge! Lots of fun, and I really enjoyed it. It was kind of stressful, I will tell you that, planning an event for like 400 people to come.

Before the school year started, we had Summer trainings, and that is where I started to meet everyone! Something that was really cool, was within this amount, I got to know some of the LDS students, and one of them was the correct SLCCSA (Salt Lake Community College Student Association) President. Carlos M. Within the first couple of weeks, he told me that he saw leadership in me, and that he thought that I should run for SLCCSA President. I was really surprised! I mean, he didn't even know me, but he didn't stop. All throughout the year, he told me that I should do it, and so when January came around, I did it. I applied and got into the elections. I decided I would run with someone who had knowledge about the Senate. Arturo S. Who had been in the Senate for three years, I thought that he would be great at being the Executive Vice President because then he could run that part, while I learned how to figure out how the Presidents Board worked out! Arturo eventually agreed to run with me, but apparently he wanted to run for President and didn't decide to tell me until  about ten minutes before we decided our positions, he told me that he wanted to run for President and that I should run for Executive Vice President, and if I didn't do that, he would be running against me. So pretty much, he gave me an ultimatum. I ended up decided I would just run as the Executive Vice then, because I knew it would be better to run as a pair. Since we ran as a pair, 4 of the 6 other candidates ended up quitting, because they knew we were a strong pair. That was cool. Then the following Monday, I found out that I was the only one running for the Executive Vice President, and the other three candidates were all running for President. The biggest thing then, was that I needed to get 51% of the Student votes, so that I could get in. About a week and a half before the elections, Brandon and Syd wanted to set me up with a girl. So we went on a blind double date (That will be for another post though).

Elections came, and I had a few pointers from Carlos throughout the year, and one of the big ones was, you have to have a lot of people come and help you! So I had some family and then a couple of friends, and Arturo did the same! We had so many posters made, and also t-shirts, and then we went hard for the two days of elections! The day after the elections ended, we had a dance at the South City Campus, and then we found out the results! Drum Roll please... ARTURO and CONNOR!!! Arturo received 450 more or less, and I received 800 more or less. It was awesome!!

So we have been doing a lot of stuff in the past couple of months!! I can tell you that, I mean in the past year I had 400 office hours, and I have already had 140 in the past two months. More than a 4th of the past year!

If it wasn't so late, I would get more into the details, but I will get a lot more into things later on! We are just at an Executive Council retreat right now, and we need to wake up in the morning to go do some more stuff! So I will write more later.

Here are a few fun photos from the past year!

So during the Summer, I had to go to the basement and understand the basement where we would be using lots of stuff to use during the year! 

Here we had an event at the Jordan campus to welcome Students back with a crazy country rock band. They were kinda crazy. 

Carlos M. The SLCCSA President. This was another welcome back event, but at the Taylorsville campus, with the same band! 

We had a cool event called the Fall Concert. Joe Nickles was the main band, but Ellie Duke was the opening act. She sang really good! If you want to hear them, both of them are on Spotify! I was just lucky to get a selfie with her, then a friend had to one up me and go get her number... Ha! Of course.

On the Left: It was lots of fun on my birthday! We had a fun event, where in the Student Center all the offices had activities, and there in the SL&L office we had a ball pit that we had met! It was awesome! I was so happy! So I of course had to test it! ;) 

On the Right: This was at the Holiday Extravaganza! I was with Summer, and Mr. & Mrs. Clause! The coolest part? It is the REAL Santa Clause. No joke.

 This is what we wanted to use for our poster for elections, but they didn't accept it, because of copyright issues. Fun though, right??

This is what we actually ended up using! It obviously helped us to win! 

For our elections, we had a theme of "Beard" We started off at the Inter Club Council by telling jokes about Arturo's beard, and that maybe we should shave it if he won, and so we used it all! 

This was what we did the week before elections at the three main campuses, this being at the South City Campus.

 Same thing, but we happened to be at the Taylorsville Campus!

This is the Executive Council for 2015-2016 These guys are awesome! 

After Elections, we had the opportunity to go up to the capitol of Utah and listen to the President of SLCC talk about the SLCC Promise. A new thing that will be in action of Fall of 2016, to help people pay for school. If they are eligible for a Pel Grant, SLCC will pay for the rest of the school. Awesome!! 

 Honestly, exactly how this year will be going! This EC Rocks! 

Sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Many of you may already know this, but if you didn't, I had the wonderful chance to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I had the opportunity to serve in the south of Chile for 21 months, and I absolutely loved it so much!

On this mission I served, I had to study personally for an hour, and then with my companion for an hour, the Gospel of Jesus Christ from the Book of Mormon which contains the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's quite Amazing to be able to study from this great book and to really know that it is true. It is My Testimony to tell you that I know it contains the true word of God. As a young boy I didn't quite enjoy it as much. We read from this Holy Scripture as a family early in the morning before I would we would get ready for and leave for school. At this time in my life I would have much rather been sleeping! Then when I was in 9th grade I joined the High School Swim team, and I was honestly kind of excited to wake up before school. Why? Well, I wouldn't of been falling asleep to hearing my Father's voice of reading before it would be my Mother's turn, and then hearing them both wake me up and say it was my turn day after day (or in other words to read this book). Instead I would get to follow the steps of my older brother by, waking up early with a bunch of my friends, and go jump into a cold pool to swim for 2 hours during the fall, and then play Water Polo in the Spring.

Now at this time of my life, I did not really understand The Book of Mormon, and the importantance there of. This is one reason, st the beginning of that same school year of 2009, my Mother had me sign up of Seminary at my Jr. High school. I wasn't to thrilled when she told me about it during 8th grade, thinking it was going to be just another class like sunday school or something along the lines. Although during my 8th grade year, all of my best friends from my neighborhood had told me about Brother Pond, and how awesome his class was, and just how awesome Seminary really was!

So during my first year of seminary, we studied The Book of Mormon. We had to read it on our own, and honestly it was the guest time on my own, that I had read it all on my own. Also when I really started to understand it. I mean, obviously they teach us in church as kids about the big heroes in the book, but that doesn't mean you are going to understand the book. 

This is also when my Brother Brandon was on his mission on the land of Thailand. Near the end of my 9th grade year in 2010 I received a hand written letter from my brother. It was Awesome, because I never received letters. I was super excited and ripped open the letter that day! One of the most important questions he has asked me in my entirw life was in that letter, and what was it? "Connor, do you know if The Book of Mormon is true?" Well, I sat there and thought about it, and what did I think of?? Well, my parents have told me my entire life it was true, my brother and sisters have all said it was true, even my closest friends had told me the same! Although when I thought to myself, "Do I really know that the Book of Mormon is true?" I could only think of one answer. "I don't know." So I kept on reading this letter that my brother had sent to me, and he then went on to say, "Well, I am going to give you a challenge, this is the same challenge that I give to all of my investigators here in Thailand. I want you to read the Book of Mormon today, and I want you to first off start with a prayer I want you to pray and first give thanks for the opportunity that you have to read the Book of Mormon, than to ask for the Spirit to be present while you are reading. Then I want you to read. It does not matter how much you want to read. It could be as large as 100 chapters, or it could be as small and simple as 1 verse. After you have finished reading I want you to finish with another prayer once again giving thanks for this opportunity that you had to read, since not everyone in the world has this opportunity, and then to finish off to ask your Heavenly Father if this Holy Book, The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Christ is really True." Well, what did I do? I  thought about it, and I thought to myself "What could a little prayer hurt? Why not, I will try it." So that night I did my reading for my seminary class, because I was trying to finish it so I could get my fruities. I first started by kneeling next to my bed, and I offered a simple prayer, following the steps that my brother had asked me to do. I don't remember how much I read, but I can state that I read some, and then finishing off with another prayer. When I asked the last question, "Heavenly Father, now that I have done these steps, I truly want to know for myself if this book is True, is the Book of Mormon true Father? I then at that very moment, after asking those words, felt the most incredible feeling that I have ever felt in my entire life. It was amazing. So I wanted to keep feeling, it and so I asked again, and you know what? I felt it again, but even stronger! So I asked yet a third time, can you guess what happened? Yeah, I felt it EVEN stronger still. What is kind of crazy is even just thinking about this experience, I am feeling this same feeling, and I Love it! :)

Some of you may ask, what is this feeling? How do you know that what you only felt is an answer that the Book of Mormon is actually true, and that some crazy kid didn't just go off and write it, and make a church so he could make lots of money and what not?

Well, the answer is a simple one fore me to answer. That feeling is the Spirit of God. I know that, because of one famous scripture in the Book of Mormon, that all missionaries LOVE to use. I know that from my own personal experience as a missionary. The reference to this scripture can be found in The Book of Mormon in Moroni 10:3-5 which states;

 3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

 4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

 5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

So not only am I, one man, who lives in this world give testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. Now you have a Prophet from the Book of Mormon, before ending the book says that everything which is in it, is true, and is for the beneficiary of mankind to know. We also aren't the only ones, there is a prophet of God who is on the Earth today, that holds the keys to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and all of the keys to God's Holy Priesthood. He also has 12 Apostles, who hold the keys to the Priesthood. They all bare testimony of the truthfulness to the Holy book which is The Book of Mormon. You can hear their testimonies in person, here in just 2 weeks. When they will be sharing messages with the whole world in an event called General Conference, which is held in Salt Lake City Utah, but it is broadcasted through television, internet, radio, and you can find it just about anywhere, if you just search it. 

In closing, I just want to share, that I too know, and bare a humble testimony that this Book has changed my life, and you will be able to see that in many ways. I want to share that I know that without it, I would not be where I am today, and that I would not be as happy as I am today. It brings the Spirit of God into my life, every time that I open the cover and flip through the pages and study it's words. I bare testimony that if you take ANY question you have to this Book. Wether it simply be asking if the book is true, or if you have some really crazy question. As long as you follow those steps from above or Praying, Reading, then Asking I promise that you will receive this answer through the Spirit of God. In the name of Jesus Christ, our dear savior Amen.

If you are more curious about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or commonly known as The Mormons you can go to Mormon.org where you can meet lots of Mormons by reading their profiles just like mine! https://www.mormon.org/me/BWT3

Babies N' Such

Hey what's going on everyone? How is life?? Life here in the good ol Salt Lake City is kicking on slowly! Okay, not slowly, but very fast actually... I mean, it was just last Thursday like a week ago, when I went to the Temple with my 97 year old Grandpa Hale! Now it's Thursday all over again!! 

Now, I am sure you are all "Curious" about the title of this post?? "Babies N' Such?" Well, that is saying that I have had the wonderful chance a couple times this past week to be able to go and baby sit 3 of my 4 nieces and nephews. Last Friday with my brother Brandon, we went down to Sandy to the Call home, and had a party with 2 of the three of them! Carter and Charlotte! We had a super fun time taking pictures, videos, playing hide n seek, bouncy ball, magnets, cards, watching tv and doing lots more!! It was lots of fun!! The best part?? Baby Charlotte (Almost two months old) went right to sleep after I fed her 10 minutes into the day, and she slept the entire time we were there! 

Then here this past Tuesday, I had the wonderful chance to go be roped into baby sitting again! Since I can't drive yet, I hopped on the Trax and got down to Sandy, where my wonderful sister Jennifer, picked me up with the 3 kids this time, and we went back to the house. As we got in there my sister told me that the kids had some jobs that they had to do. Stuff to clean their rooms, and other jobs that 3 and 5 year olds have to do. Really easy stuff, and if they would do them they could earn some money. Then Tio Connor (My awesome name) would get the chance to mark off the jobs when they were done. So I know had Kaylie, Cater, and Charlotte, to take care of, and I thought it was going to be an easy job! Just so I could hit the "Easy Button" and hear "That was Easy" but man, that hour was a whole lot harder than the 3 hours the week before with Brandon. Why? Well, as soon as Mommy left, they sure didn't want to do their jobs, and I had to hold Charlotte, hoping to get her to fall asleep, but she was just crying and crying... Now you can probably just imagine this going on in your head, One uncle, with a crying baby in his arms, and two little children who don't want to clean up... Hahaha oh boy was it fun! Finally I got Carter to do his room by giving him the incentive of being able to watch the tv show that he rented from the library a couple of days earlier "Go Diego Go" where he could learn some Spanish like Tio Connor! So he went and made his bed, picked up his toys and clothes and a had a clean room super fast! Now young Kaylie on the other hand was trying to be a little trickster, but its funny, because she didn't know that Mommy had told me before hand that she could be trying to be a trickster, and more than that? That I tried pulling the same tricks as a little boy... ;) She was throwing toys under her sheets, books under her bed, and there was just No way that I was gonna let that happen... So with the crying baby in arms, and bouncing up and down, I told her that she had to move her things. She innocently said that "there isn't anything there..." So we worked in there for a little bit with a crying baby, and then all of a sudden Carter came in there with a bowl of Kaylie's stuff, and he ended up spilling these little beads on and then they were all over the room... So I told him we had to clean them up, so I started to help, and then he ended up doing it a second time, so I helped one more time. Then he did it a third time, and I this time I had to get mad, and get him to clean up, So I picked up Charlotte, because she was still crying and Carter had to pick up the puzzles and pieces. 

Later finally when all the bedrooms were cleaned, we ran down stairs to get the tv show to start for Kaylie and Carter, so they could learn some Spanish!! After I got it started I took Charlotte with me upstairs!! I was thinking that I could maybe put her down on the ground and that she would be fine since she hadn't cried for about 3 minutes! Then when I put her on her stomach for some tummy time, and then I laid down on the couch to catch a few zzz's really fast, she started to cry again... So as I sat there for a little bit, I then realized maybe there is a chance that this is how Heavenly Father feels with us?

This is the part that I need the help of everyone else?? So why is that? Well, there I was, lying down on the couch and just kinda relaxing finally, I wanted to close my eyes for like 5 minutes, but as soon as I closed my eyes, all of a sudden, Baby Charlotte began to cry. "Crap, now I gotta hold her and help her even more." went through my head, and then all of a sudden it made me think of our Heavenly Father. He is up in Heaven relaxing, finally at the end of the day, when all of a sudden, one of us, an imperfect child. starts to cry for help. When he has been helping us the entire day, he has held us in his arms the entire day, he has fed us, changed our diapers, and done everything that he could to help us, so he lays us down, and then he thought he was good, because we were quiet for 30 seconds, and then all of a sudden, we started to cry again, and we want help of our loving Heavenly Father. 

Now here is the part I need help with. How does our Loving Heavenly Father feel about us? Is He just happy to help us out, or is He now like "Oh great, another thing I have to do to help this kid become perfect..." 

I mean we are obviously talking about Heavenly Father, He isn't going to just leave us on the side of the road to deal with things ourselves, so He is going to help us, but I mean, does he ever get annoyed of it? If we are constantly falling to temptation, because we aren't perfect, or because we want to rebel against the church or our families?? I am not sure. I feel, if we rebel, yes he would be mad, but if we just fall to temptation, I don't think that he would be to mad with us. What do you guys think??

Anyways that is what has been on my mind for the past couple of days! I now am going to sign off after putting up some pics of the last week, so I can go and finish editing photos from my last photo shoot!! I am super stoked!! :) Anyways, thanks for readin guys!! 

Connor

We are getting Huge!!  

We had JV Water Polo State this past weekend, and I got to help out with that, the girls took 4th and the boys took 2nd! It was awesome!! 

I got to see my old Water Polo coach Brenna, reffing some games at State! 

Later on during the day Jackson and I both saw her, so we had to take pictures so we can make the guys who are still out on their missions, a little jealous! ;)

The first Photo Shoot that I have done since I got back from my Mission!

Josilyn has become such an Amazing model, just wait for lots of picture of her!! (In fact she is the one I am going to go edit as soon as I am done here)

I got to go see my Best Friend Jayden, on Mothers day in the morning! It was super awesome! He gets home from Africa in August!! #CantWait

Yesterday 4/5 of the boys from my neighborhood got home (+ John Poulsen) Matt Sommercorn one of my all time best friends just got home from his Mission in Washington!! It was super sweet to see him after two years!! 

Yesterday my entire family (Minus 3) went to go and see the Payson temple open house! Wow, it was BEAUTIFUL! Can't wait until it is open, I am going to have to go down there to do some sessions, and work for the dead in there! Can't wait to live together forever with these guys through the temple!