Amber Blair

November book: Mockingjay

Yeah yeah yeah. I know everyone and their dogs have read this.

I didn’t read this series in High School, when there were Midnight book releases and most of my friends were reading them. At the time, I felt the premise was too morbid (kids killing kids?!?!) and I had no interest.

However, the first movie came out my Sophomore year of college, and I have a policy to always read the book before seeing the movie, so I read the entire series in about a week. Let me tell you, they’re a bunch of page-turners.

In preparation for the final film (Mockingjay, part 2) I reread the last book. My honest opinion: the movie is better than the book. It as fun to reread and bring back memories of my early college days.

#collegefood

This is the masterpiece Seeley and I concocted yesterday, after our $1 spam musubi plans were foiled. We didn’t have the strength to walk alllll the way back to Foodland, so we decided to make do with what we had, and ended up with my new favorite sandwich.

Not sure if your eyes might be deceiving you? I’ll tell you exactly what this delectable dish contains: Sharp cheddar cheese, Spam, and dill pickles. (For the record– I think sweet pickles are one of the most repulsive food items on this earth.) Grilled to perfection with just the right amount of butter. #win #usingourresources

Living in Thanksgiving

My Sunday is winding down. I hate it when that happens! Sunday is SERIOUSlY the #bestday, and its certain weekly demise is nothing short of tragic.

As I ponder on the past week and plan for the next (which is something I try to do every Sunday), I realize how totally awesome my life is.

You may or may not know that I just graduated from BYU-Hawaii. My amazing parents and favorite youngest sister came to visit me and bought me yummy food. I get to hang out with fantastic third graders every day, and teach them vital skills and knowledge that will help them grow and progress. I’m a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I get to partake of the full blessings of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I live approximately 25 seconds away from a temple of God. I have four incredible grandparents living and breathing and imparting wisdom. I have a device that fits in my pocket and gives me access to basically all the knowledge available to man at this time. It also gives me the ability to maintain contact with my friends and family in UT and CA and MI and NY and everywhere else. I served in the California Los Angeles Mission under the direction of the Lord and President Weidman. Life is good, man.

I’ve set a goal to not just be thankful, but to live in thanksgiving daily. My #ponderize verse last week was D&C 46:7, which says that if we do “all things with prayer and thanksgiving”, we will “not be seduced by evil spirits or doctrines of devils or the commandments of men.” I don’t know about you, but I want a slice of that pie. I’m still figuring out how to live in thanksgiving, but my current quest is to find out and do it.

Ever Learning, Never Knowing

Aloha, my friends!

The majority of my Social Media experience over the last few days has been centered on the recent policy change in the Church. I, like you, have been troubled by the new policy, but I’ve been far more troubled by the reactions of fellow social media users, in and out of the Church, and in and out of the LGBT community. Mostly out.

I’m not here to discuss the new policy. I’m here to discuss a phenomenon of today’s society: taking seriously and personally everything on the Internet.

Since the policy change, 90% of what I saw on Facebook pertained to it. Some friends had changed their profile pictures to be rainbow-filtered to show their support for their LGBT friends and family (I’m assuming), some friends announced they were leaving the Church, some friends posted Elder Christofferson’s video explanation, some friends expressed outrage at the “shameful” move, and all friends were highly opinionated.

It would have taken hours to read all the articles posted by my friends, almost all certainly biased one way or another, so I stuck with the official Church announcement and a few others. But the really amazing thing to me was just how much stuff was out there. Everyone wanted to add a voice to the conversation, and the conglomeration of voices jumbled together created a confusing situation.

A verse in the New Testament stuck out to me in Sunday School today, and I feel it relates directly to the issue at hand. It is found in 2 Timothy 3:7, and it reads, speaking of people in the last days, “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

Isn’t that just a perfect description of our society today? We “learn” all about some stressful issue by reading opinion articles and Facebook posts. Is that knowledge? I don’t believe so. Truth with a capital T comes by the Spirit, who has to be invited. I think it’s time we stopped seeking knowledge in “divers places” and looked to the Source of Truth, who is represented by our Prophet and found in the Holy Scriptures.

October Book: Wonder, by R.J. Palacio

Ohhhhhhh my goodness. THIS BOOK IS PHENOMENAL!!!! Before you read any further, know that your life isn’t complete without Wonder feeding into your collection of literarily-derived empathy and compassion. Do yourself and all your future acquaintances a favor and READ WONDER. Go now. Don’t even read my synopsis.

But if you must know, I’ll tell you a little bit about it.

“I won’t describe what I look like. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s probably worse.”

Wonder is the story of August Pullman, a 10 year old boy born with severe facial deformities. It chronicles his experience going to public school for the first time, and features the perspectives of Auggie himself, his sister, her boyfriend, her best friend, his best friend, and even the bully. Join Auggie and his schoolmates as they discover the meaning of friendship, loyalty, acceptance, and forgiveness.

I’ll admit it brought tears on multiple occasions. Sometimes sad tears, sometimes tears of pure joy. It’s that kind of book.

I Wasn’t Always Like This: a reflection on change

Mosh pits. Loud music. Minimal clothing. Late hours. Poor lighting. Suggestive dancing.

These are the elements of the Halloween party I was forced to attend last night, as the pianist for a good friend who had been asked to sing. Of course I was happy to help him, even if it meant I didn’t get my weekly Sherlock fix, because friends.

I walked down about 50 stone steps into the back yard of some boys in our ward and saw the mosh pit. I also heard excessively loud drumming and felt the temperature rise about 15 degrees as I neared the humans. I immediately felt uncomfortable.

After what felt like 4 hours of torture, where I was on the brink of tears and experiencing my own personal Hell, Mike decided not to sing the songs I played with him. Eagerly my girlfriends and I took off. As we were leaving, my friend Tori turned to me and said, “You know, I didn’t used to be this lame.”

This gave me pause, because a) I don’t think it’s lame to leave a party where the Spirit can’t be, and b) Shoots, I didn’t used to be like this either.

Did I attend wild parties before my mission? No. Did I enjoy low-qual music? Heck no. But before my mission, I could handle the big groups and loud music and late nights. Before my mission, I could also handle going places by myself, sleeping past 8, going to bed after 11, and not ever making plans. Before my mission, I was a different girl.

I can honestly say that I was my #1 convert. I already had a burning testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon, but it sure did get stronger every time I shared it. I already knew the Gospel blesses families, but I know it even better now that I’ve seen it bring families together. I already knew that God loves all His children, but I felt His love for them more powerfully than I ever had before or since.

So although it may seem lame that I don’t like big parties anymore, I’m going to resist that. I’m going to embrace the changes I experienced on my mission, such as delighting in setting goals and making plans, and continue to progress.

I don’t think God wants me to be like I used to be.

I Love LA

Aloha!

I spoke in church today about the joy of missionary work, and it made me miss the mission like CRAZY! Obviously I know I can continue to be a missionary now, so I’m not grieving for that part. I’m talking about the big city of LA that I left.

So, if you’ll indulge me, I’ll offer up some non-sentimental nostalgia.

Probs the best fast food chain ever.

This place is MASSIVE.

We tried to hike this for a zone P-day activity once, and it was closed. #fail

Yeah. My time here make up two of the weirdest days of my mission.

Doughnut shop in our area. Cash only. When I was training, we’d go there every day once we’d met our daily contacting goal. #meaningfulconversations #streetchange

Los Doyers. In my area.

Fall Break

Last week was Fall Break for the Hawaii public school system (#sorrynotsorry everyone else), so I had an entire week to rest and recharge. #necessary #tendermercy

As I ponder on what I did for my “vacation” here in Hawaii, I realized how different it is as a resident, as opposed to a tourist. If I lived on the Mainland, and I had a week-long dream vacation in Hawaii, I would’ve hit up as many beaches as possible, probably gone snorkeling, done some good hikes, graced PCC with my presence, and eaten lots of ono food.

That would’ve been fun. Unfortunately, as a Hawaii resident, I naturally take my vacation-destination location for granted, and I did none of those things. How did I spend my break, you ask? The following:

1. I slept in every day. #heaven
2. I wrote ten pages of my Senior research paper. #success
3. I made serious progress on my portfolio.
4. I went to the temple several times. #bestplaceinhawaii
5. I watched plenty of Gilmore Girls episodes with Seeley. #roommatebonding #teamLuke #teamJess #oywiththepoodlesalready #whereyouleadIwillfollow #StarsHollow
6. I graded. A ton. #teacherlife

Umm that’s about it. It was delightfully relaxing, and I must say I’m almost ready to go back.

Quick thought: what do you take for granted? Are you living beneath your means? (#PresUchtdorf #MormonMessages) Are you skipping out on Paradise, and trading it for sleep? Chew on those.

Elder Scott Memorial

In the spirit of #ldsconf (#best4daysoftheyear #theChurchistrue #IloveConference) I’d like to take a moment to commemorate my late favorite Apostle, Elder Richard G. Scott.

As many of you know, the MTC can be a discouraging place on occasion. I absolutely loved most of my time in that sacred building, but Hna. Warner and I were pretty discouraged on our last day there, after being deserted by all the other members of our district. They’d left for Mexico City and Washington, DC, and we were ALL BY OURSELVES. #lonely Tears were shed at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as we imagined Elder Erikson pouring copious amounts of tabasco sauce on his biscuits and gravy, remembered Elder Dommer trying to make Spanish jokes, and recalled how Sisters would always congregate around Elder Needham for no apparent reason…

It had been our longest day yet (which is saying something), but the weekly Tuesday devotional was a highlight we always anxiously anticipated, and this night was no different. I confess we’d prayed several times that day for an Apostle to come that night. Hna. Warner and I walked a little quicker to the huge room where devotionals are held than we’d walked all day, and easily found two empty seats together.

Something was different. There were big signs that said “No Photography Permitted” and an uncharacteristic teleprompter was positioned at the front. “Someone importante?” we speculated. We tried to obediently sit in silence, but it proved difficult as we prepared our precious notebooks for our final MTC devotional.

Finally the moment arrived. Following the example of our MTC president, the entire audience of missionaries rose and stood on tip toe to catch a first glimpse of our special visitor. I’m happy to report that our prayers were answered; Elder Scott was escorted it, and an audible gasp welcomed him.

I don’t remember everything he said, but I do remember weeping with Hna. Warner when he gave an Apostolic blessing of the gift of tongues to those missionaries learning a language. He also counseled us to pray vocally, which counsel I took and saw huge blessings on my mission because of it.

I love Elder Scott, and I know he represented the Savior as he spoke to us that night. I miss him, but I know he’s with his dear wife Jeneane now. #bestlovestoryever #lifegoals

September Book: Seedfolks, by Paul Fleischman

It’s that time of month again: time to report on my #BookoftheMonth. This book was a PURE JOY to read, and I recommend it to everyone. It’s a super quick read, but it has depth and light and all the feels. Rememeber when I read The House on Mango Street? This book is similar. Again, we have a series of vignettes about a members of a community, this time in Cleveland, OH. Individuals come together unexpectedly, as they are drawn to the neighborhood garden. Totally presh.

A few of my favorite lines:

“If you’re Mexican, the Cubans and Puerto Ricans hate you because they think you snuck in illegally and they didn’t. Which they would have if they could have walked. If you’re a teenager, the whole world hates you. If you’re a pregnant teenager, people think you should be burned at the stake. I’m a Mexican, pregnant sixteen-year-old. So shoot me and get it over with.”

“The older you are, the younger you get when you move to the United States. They don’t teach you that equation in school. Big Brain, Mr. Smoltz, my eighth grade math teacher, hasn’t even heard of it. It’s not in Gateway to Algebra. It’s Garcia’s Equation. I‘m the Garcia.”

“Very many people came over to ask about [my eggplants] and talk to me. I recognized a few form the neighborhood. Not one had spoken to me before – and now how friendly they turned out to be. The eggplants gave them an excuse for breaking the rules and starting a conversation . How happy they seemed to have found this excuse, to let their natural friendliness out.”

Read this book. You won’t regret it.