We See Babylon Everywhere.

     "We do not need to adopt the standards, the mores, and the morals of Babylon. We can create Zion in the midst of Babylon."

-Elder David R. Stone

     This semester I changed my minor to Sociology. I am loving it and so glad that I decided to make that change. However I am learning so much and a lot of what I am learning is upsetting. It is scary to me how much society influences us. Don't get me wrong society is not all bad, but there are so many things out there that permeates our environment with evil. After this semester I cannot walk outside without seeing the negative affect society has on the people around me.

     As the semester has come to an end our teacher had our class read a General Conference talk titled Zion in the Midst of Babylon given by Elder David R. Stone in April of 2006. I thought it was amazing! In his talk he goes on about how we can be lights in the darkness that encompasses our society and culture today. We truly do see Babylon all around us, we must do all that we can in order to remain in our own personal Zion.

    I recommend that you all read or listen to his talk. It had a great impact on me and we can all have a simple reminder to better ourselves.

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2006/04/zion-in-the-midst-of-babylon?lang=eng#watch=video

Power Outage.

     If you ever want to know what's going on with the weather, forget the weather channel just check any social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc). I woke up this morning to get ready for work and the power was out. I was the only one awake so I just went about my routine and started to get ready. It was actually really difficult trying to put on makeup while holding my phone up as a flashlight and then not being able to straighten my hair... #firstworldproblems.  I just kept getting ready and then one of my roommates came out and asked if I had checked Facebook yet, she told me that everyone was posting that because of how cold it was there was a massive blackout. It was affecting most of Southeastern Idaho. It was crazy, I've been in super cold weather before but never lost power.  I looked at my phone and realized that it was -9 degrees but with windchill it felt like -15. Oh and I forgot to mention, Anna and I slept with our window open last night, so our entire apartment was an icebox (sorry about that one guys!).  Our apartment thermostat was dropping by the minute. I was really reconsidering this whole going to school in Idaho thing.

      Then the text's started flooding in. There was no power in the whole town which meant campus was shut down. Classes were cancelled for the morning and until further notice. We had no heater, no hot water, and no way to warm up food or hot chocolate. Anna has a power outlet in her car so we thought it would be a genius idea to take our toaster out and try and make warm toast. Unfortunately it took too much power and burnt out the outlet. We were then notified that classes would be cancelled until 12:45. This meant no work for me and I didn't have class until 3:15. We were getting desperate for something warm, we went all through town looking for something that was open. I seriously felt like I was in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, no one was out, nothing was open, and it was so dark. Maybe I have been watching too much Walking Dead, but town was creepy.

     The hours kept passing and still no power. We decided we needed some warmth, we drove out to Rigby and found one and only one open gas station. We went inside and got some hot chocolate. Im not a huge hot chocolate fan but let me tell you that was the best hot chocolate I've ever had.

     The power had been out for three hours already and we started to get concerned about our food, so we just put it outside, we all know it was cold enough!

     There was really no hope for warmth, so I just bundled up, Im talking two pairs of fluffy socks, a fleece and a sweatshirt, gloves, a headband, and then got in bed with three blankets. I just wanted to be warm and take a nap. Later I was able to take refuge in some friends apartment who was able to get power back early. Seriously I have never been so grateful for a heater! Our apartment finally got power back around 1:30 after 8 hours of no power. After today I seriously am question my sanity and why I am going to live here in the winter. I can guarantee there will be more posts like this in the upcoming months.