The Middle Ages and the Middle East

For my avid readers, this post might be a little boring. For my Engl 291 class I wanted to show several pictures of how Christianity affected the life, and especially literature, of the Old English and Middle English period. So, with the danger of total-readership of my blog increasing from "one" to "more than one," I will proceed.

I've never been to Europe, but I did live in Israel, and throughout Israel are many churches built by the Crusaders and earlier groups of religious peoples. This means both that they had European influence, as well as influencing European architecture and ideals. Remember, many of the features in churches were made to represent places of interest in the Holy Land. At the very least it is a break from reading so much, right? :)

The following are pictures of some of those churches (they are all at least mostly Catholic--some also have Eastern Orthodox influence), demonstrating their architecture, the importance of iconic figures, as well as the influence of/beliefs about the Virgin Mary.


This is a monastary in Jericho, built into the cliff. Can you imagine the venerable Bede sitting in something like this writing his history?



Built by the crusaders in the Old City of Jerusalem, this is dedicated to St. Anne, the mother of Mary.


Here you can see some of the painting on the apse of the church, surviving from the Crusader period.



These two are from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (outside and inside), which houses the spot believed by Catholics and Eastern Orthodox to be the spot where Christ was crucified, as well as where he was laid in the tomb. Thousands (maybe millions?) of Christians make pilgrimages to this site every year.


First built in the early 4th century, this church was rebuilt by the Crusaders (and then destroyed and rebuilt again, but they tried to keep with original design). This is the Church of Pater Noster, or the Church of the Lord's Prayer.



Also first built in the early fourth century, the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem marks the spot believed to be where Jesus was born. The Crusaders did some updates and rebuilding, as have many others since then in efforts to preserve it.

The next few pictures are from a church in Nazareth dedicated to the Virgin Mary. I think it shows a lot of interesting things about how Catholics in their respective countries visualize the Virgin Mary.




















And these last two are of St. George and the Dragon, which I talked about in a facebook post. Just thought it was a little interesting.



And finally, if you are really bored and were just hoping to see a visual representation of Robert Frost's "Mending Wall" and you don't mind Israeli/Palestinian conflict overtones, check out my other blog here. (It really is cool, by the way.)

Finally....

I finally figured out why they have those crazy signs up all over the hill south of campus.



It's because of the deer.

(For those who think we need to do something about the deer problem on campus, you might agree with this article. For those who disagree, check this one out.)

In Honor of Chen Zhen Hui

Today is a day of great importance. The day after May Day, a few days before Cinco de Mayo...today is the one year anniversary of Chen Zhen Hui's baptism.



I first met Zhen Hui (the Chinese put their last names first, so her first name is Zhen Hui) in March of 2009. It was the last Sunday of my second transfer as a missionary in Taiwan, and her sister, Rui Jun, brought Zhen Hui to church with her. Rui Jun had been a member for about 2.5 years and one day Zhen Hui decided to go to church with her.

Zhen Hui was one of the most amazing investigators I have ever met. The next week when we went to teach her the first lesson, we sat down and asked her what she knew about Joseph Smith. She answered with, "Well, not that much. I took a copy of that book home--Gospel Principles? And I read the Relief Society manuel about Joseph Smith. And I read his account in the Book of Mormon."

Before she even got baptized she bought a copy of Preach My Gospel. (It might come in handy, she said.) During the second lesson, we asked her if she would be willing to be baptized. She said yes but set a date for August or September. We felt that she was more than ready and asked her to pray about that. She did, said God had asked her "Why wait so long?" and changed the date to May 2.

I called her today to congratulate her on one full year of activity in the church. She laughed and said, "I am so glad this year of trials is over!" As most new converts know, the first year after baptism can be rougher than expected. But Zhen Hui pressed forward with courage and determination. With two girls (2 and 8 months) and a husband that she brought to church each week, she was the driving force in bringing her family to the gospel. Her husband was baptized 3 months later, after gaining his own witness that the church is true. He now holds the Melchizedek priesthood and they are preparing to be sealed in the temple this August, when he passes his one year anniversary.

Shortly after she joined the church, Zhen Hui decided to go back to work as a school teacher. She felt that their personal economic crisis needed 2 incomes instead of one. But after only 6 months, she quit her job so she could once again stay at home with her girls. She wants to raise her children to love the Lord and follow His commandments, and she realized that she can teach them that better than day care.

Zhen Hui was amazing not just as an investigator but as a member as well--shortly after she was baptized she accepted a calling, she faithfully attended institute, and she introduced us to many of her friends. We went to her house 2-3 times a week to teach lessons to her friends there.

Zhen Hui and her family were special to me for many reasons. Her daughter (Qiao Qiao) was born 3 days after I arrived in Taiwan, her other daughter (Qi Qi)'s name had the same "Qi" as my Taiwanese name (Qi Jun), and her sister Rui Jun had the same "Jun" as my name.

Weird, huh.

In addition, I taught their family from the time Zhen Hui started investigating the church (March 2009), through her baptism, and until her husband was baptized (August 2009). I was transfered two weeks after his baptism, but was transfered back to the area for the last 6 weeks of my mission, where I saw both Zhen Hui and her husband faithfully fulfilling callings and Zhen Hui's husband receive the Melchizedek priesthood and give a prayer in stake conference.

The gospel of Jesus Christ completely changed their family and the very atmosphere in their home. I will forever be grateful for the time I spent with their family and what I learned from their examples of faith, patience, and waiting upon the Lord with humility and gratitude.

Zhen Hui, congratulations.

Where have all the English majors gone?

I might be a bit of a freak about grammar, but sometimes public content is just out of control.

For everyone.

For example: the other day in one of my university classes my professor (PROFESSOR! not TA or student) had a power-point up and he was trying to make a joke. He wrote how to succeed in the class and included in parenthesis, (we like cookies to).

To what?

To eat? to dip in milk? to throw at students? He didn't even leave an ellipses for us to fill in our own blank. Now, I know this wasn't an English class, but science professors should have to spell things right, too. Right?

Oh, and the other killer? A billboard for Sizzler. It says:

I used to Sizzler with my dad.
Now my...
KIDS LOVE IT!

Wouldn't the ellipses be much more natural after the now? The way it is now is just so...awkward. I won't even complain about the fact that "sizzler" isn't actually a verb.

Am I the only one that gets bothered by such things?

Stories that changed my life, vol. II

This story changed my life. Especially since I heard it while at the MTC preparing to go to Taiwan. I was a full-time missionary in the service of the Master.

And this story changed my entire mission.

"A mission president once told me of a missionary he assigned to more than 12 or 13 companions. He said to me, “Every one of those companions was about to go home early or be sent home. But we didn’t lose one of them.”

"When I mentioned that miraculous fact later to the companion who saved so many at the point of their being overwhelmed, I got a response which surprised and taught me. It was this: “I don’t think that story is true. I never had a companion who was failing.”

"I could see that a mission president had been inspired to send the right angel time after time. We can expect in our service to have help sent to us at the right time who will see strength in us and lift us up. And we can look forward to being the one sent by the Lord to encourage another."

--"O Ye That Embark," Ensign November 2008

The Lost Virtue of Integrity

Yesterday I went to a car store (which will rename unnamed) to run an emissions and safety inspection on my car. Last time I did this, the emissions failed (but passed the second time after a lot of prayer--that's a cool story!) so I wasn't surprised when it failed again this year--but just barely. I know why it failed, too--they let it idle for too long before they tested it.

What I was shocked about was the advice I was given by the car inspector people to make my car pass:

"If you want to cheat, just throw in a bottle of heet, rev up the engine, and bring it in--don't let it idle. 'Technically' it's not legal to use heet to pass emissions tests, but 'techinically,' who cares."

I was disgusted. It was even worse than the time the guy in my ward told me after my car had bumped into another car, "Just rub some gas on the black marks and the car owner will never even know you hit it."

Really, now. Is the virtue of integrity dead? Would I really sell my honor for a mess of pottage or even a way to pass the state emissions test?

In defense of the car shop, there was an employee who seemed less eager for me to sell my integrity and looked a little uncomfortable when the guy suggested throwing in the heet. But I was still shocked. And disappointed.

Said Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin:

"A little lying, a little cheating, or taking a little unfair advantage are not acceptable to the Lord. (See 2 Ne. 28:8–9.) The scriptures warn that these are Satan’s ways to lead us “carefully down to [destruction].” (2 Ne. 28:21.)...

"The world desperately needs men and women of integrity. Nearly every day we hear of fraud, misapplication of funds, false advertising, or other dealings designed to obtain gain by cheating or deception. The Lord abhors such practices."

--"Personal Integrity," Ensign May 1990

So is integrity dead? Not yet!

Road Trip

I decided that since I don't have my own babies, I would just have to write about somebody else's. And who better than my sister's adorable baby boy, who just doesn't get enough posts on her own blog!

Less than a week after I got home from my mission, I realized I was in need of some serious mission detox time. A road trip to Texas (by myself) was needed.

So I went.

While the details of my harrowing trip are described on another of my many blogs (each blog must be themed!!!), the pictures of the result of that trip will be posted here.

First, a final picture from one of the last days of my mission. My companion was kind enough to snap this shot of me a couple of days before I went finished my mission. This happened before the road trip but I thought it might illustrate why I so needed a detox tour.



Once there, I decided to feed my sister's baby, Talmage, to the shark.



He didn't like it very much.



Don't worry, he laughed it off easily.



Then, I stopped at my dear friend and former roommate Shayla's house. She live in Oklahoma.

It is pretty close to Texas, right?

Even though I tried to feed her son Max to a buffalo,



he was still happy.



He even taught me how to ride a bike--I had forgotten in the two weeks of post-mission life.



And I got to eat brisket and fried okra--just didn't get that in Taiwan!



Anyway, it was an awesome trip--idealistic, really. Thanks, Kaitlyn and Shayla, for letting me impose on your lives (and feed your children to large animals and aquatic creatures).