Some of My LIfe Mottos

I love this. It's my life goal to always keep part of the kid inside of me. I have to grow up eventually, but I can always keep part of the the little Landon in my heart. I think some people let themselves grow cold as they grow up and become to serious. By doing this, I think you miss out on a lot of the little things.

I think this ones pretty self-explanatory. For me, this means to try new things and push my own self-concious limits. 

This one is thanks to Jordan Buchannan. I'd give up a couple hours of sleep for a good night of video games, a long talk, or a crazy adventure every time.

-LB

"Shall we not go on in so great a cause?"

Well this General Conference weekend has been one for the books, and probably will be among the most memorable for me. It has truly changed my life.

On Saturday morning, President Monson announced that the missionary service age limit for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has been lowered from 19 to 18 for men, and from 21 to 19 for women. This announcement has caused quite a stir in the LDS community, and has created a flurry of excitement. This announcement may seem to be a small matter to some, but it means so much.

With this announcement, missionary work will grow exponentially. So many doors will be opened by the increased number of faithful young men and women who will be able to serve the lord. Areas in the world that have been closed to the gospel will be opened, and so many people searching for truth and meaning will be found and taught the gospel. Their lives and posterity will be blessed for generations to come. This announcement brings such a beautiful feeling of hope, and I know that it is an inspired announcement.

This announcement is very exciting to my family and I, as it applies directly to us. Everything feels a little surreal... I am so excited about this change because I know how much good it will do, but in a way it terrifies me that I will be leaving on my mission in approximately 7 months now...

It is amazing to me, that my entire future changed in a matter of seconds. With my mission now so close ahead, I have been struggling with feelings of inadequacy. I wonder if I will be prepared to serve a mission in 7 months.... it is so soon! I had planned on having an extra year ahead of me, but that time is gone now. I have a strong testimony of this church, and gospel, but I fear that I don't know the doctrine as well as missionaries that have had an extra year to prepare.

As questions of doubt and insecurity race through my mind and heart, I have found peace and comfort in the following phrase, "Whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies." Though I may not  know certain aspects of the gospel as well as others might, I know that God will be my strength. Through God, I will know what to say, and teach. I will be what he needs me to be, and will say what he needs me to say... As clay he will mold me.

I look forward to spending two years of my life in the service of my brothers and sisters. I don't know where I will serve or, who I will serve, but I can honestly say, I have a love for the people I will teach. I pray to be like the sons of Mosiah, who could not bear the thought of any soul not coming unto Christ and obtaining eternal life. Though they were the vilest of sinners,  through repentance they were given  new hearts, and were qualified for the work.

Mosiah 28:3-4

3 Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not ^abear that any human ^bsoulshould ^cperish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure ^dendless torment did cause them to quake and ^etremble.

4 And thus did the Spirit of the Lord work upon them, for they were the very ^avilest of sinners. And the Lord saw fit in his infinite ^bmercy to spare them; nevertheless they suffered much anguish of soul because of their iniquities, suffering much and fearing that they should be cast off forever.

Though it won't be easy, and sacrifices will be made, the salvation of one soul is worth it all ten times over. "The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, Calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done" (History of the Church, 4:540).

The words of Joseph Smith resonate in me, "Shall we not go on in so great a cause?"

-LB

I Believe

What I Believe...


I Believe that you can learn a lot about a person by how they treat people they do not need.

I Believe that I am creating myself everyday.

I Believe that trials are essential for growth, and that they will help me become a better person... even though sometimes it can be hard to see it that way.

I Believe that it is important to become a man, while keeping part of the boy.

I Believe that we experience pain so we can learn to heal, and appreciate love.

I Believe that Love is the most powerful thing in the world. It is stronger than fear, pain and hate. "The world moves for love. It kneels before it in awe."

I Believe that it is never too late to change your ways.

I Believe that people come into our lives for a reason. Some stay, some come and go, but they can all teach you something, and some will leave fingerprints on your heart.

I Believe that even though the world can be a cruel and unforgiving place, you can't let it make you cold. Be soft, don't lose faith in good.

I Believe that there is power in a smile.

I Believe that it's not what happens to you that counts, but how you react.

I Believe that people are good at heart.

I Believe I have a father in heaven. I am his son, and he loves me.

I Believe that people may forget what you say and do, but they won't forget how you make them feel.

-LB

Austin getting creeped on by MJ

Oh man, I think this is pretty funny :) I saw this picture of a friend of mine and couldn't help but slap on a picture of Michael Jackson in the background. Enjoy :)

Summer... so far...

So after what seemed an eternity, school finally ended and in came summer. To be completely honest, it still hasn't quite hit me yet. Usually I go bonkers with the freedom that summer brings, but this time it's just felt empty and kind of insignificant. Probably because i've only been home for like a week of it. I've been gone to a couple different camps and have been pretty busy.... I don't know, hopefully summer will find a way into my system soon.

So I spent the first week of my summer up at Weber State for Boys' State. Boys' State is a program run by the American Legion. It's basically a weeklong meeting where you learn about leadership and how the government works. You go through mock elections and get to see how government works at the city, county, state, and national level. It's fun for the first couple of days, but by Friday you kind of feel like you're scraping your head against a cheese grater. It was really long and tiring, but I met a lot of really cool guys up there. My roommates were really great guys, and it was fun getting to spend some time with them. There were four guys in my room, and when we discovered we were all LDS, we spent every night reading scriptures together, discussing doctrine, and  we would pray together. That was really cool, and I never would have expected to grow spiritually while up at Boys' State, but I did. So that was a pleasant surprise. Boys' State is run by a lot of Veterans, and one of my favorite parts of Boys' State was hearing from them. They are amazing men, and it is inspiring to be around them. Anyways, It was kind of a weird week.... but there were some memorable times.

When I got back from that, I got to spend two days at home before I went to Impact camp. At the end of the school year I signed up to be on Viewmont's Impact Team. The Impact Team goes around to elementary and junior high schools, putting on skits telling kids why not to do drugs, drink alcohol, smoke, and other stuff like that. So for two day's in the summer the kids on the Impact Team go to a workshop where they "train" us. "Training" is spending two days making one 5 minute skit, eating, sleeping, and wandering the Utah State campus. It was pretty boring... Luckily some of my friends were there, so I didn't die of boredom. Oh and there were teams from other schools there..... except they aren't like us, and by "us" I mean normal people. These other kids are INSANE. They take everything so serious and are about as dramatic as they come. For part of our "Training" we had to practice fake crying, being sad, and going into rage. These kids from other schools (especially Woods Cross) got way to into it, and kind of went berserk. Kids were pounding on the walls, screaming, ripping their hair out and just going crazy. Meanwhile, I'm trying to hide my face so that people can't see how hard I'm laughing. It is really pretty entertaining to watch some of these kids, but the leaders don't think it's so funny, so I had to be very careful. If they see you laughing they get mad at you for "Not taking it seriously." It was weird...... funny, but weird. You could say I was excited to get home.

I got home from Impact camp like a week ago, and not much has happened since. I've just been working around the house, running like 3 miles a day trying to get in shape for cross country, learning how to unicycle, and listening to a lot of music. Anyways that's been my summer so far.... I'm kind of hoping it won't be like this all summer or I might go crazy.

-LB

Flightless Bird, American Mouth

Thank you Sarah for showing me this. Absolutely love it.

Cool Poster at Jimmy Johns

             The other day I went to Jimmy Johns for lunch. If you don't already know, Jimmy John's is a sandwich shop. Sooooo flippin' good.... if you haven't been there before, you have to make it a priority. It beats Subway any day. Anyways, in Jimmy Johns they have posters, cool sayings, and all sorts of sweet stuff tacked up on the walls. I was looking around when I discoverd this awesome poster.....

....Its kind of hard to read on the picture so here it is typed up.....

I BELIEVE poster in Jimmy Johns

I Believe-
that sometimes when I’m angry I have the right to be angry but that doesn’t give me the right to be cruel.

I Believe-
that just because someone doesn’t love you the way you want them to doesn’t mean they don’t love you with all they have.

I Believe-
that maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you’ve had and what you’ve learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you’ve celebrated.

I Believe-
that it isn’t always enough to be forgiven by others. Sometimes you have to learn to forgive yourself.

I Believe-
that no matter how bad your heart is broken, that the world doesn’t stop for your grief.

I Believe-
that our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become.

I Believe-
that just because two people argue, it doesn’t mean they don’t love each other. And just because they don’t argue, it doesn’t mean they do.

I Believe-
that you shouldn’t be eager to find out a secret. It could change your life forever.

I Believe-
that it’s taking me a long time to become the person I want to be.

I Believe-
that you should always leave loved ones with loving well wishes. It may be the last time you see them.

I Believe-
that you can keep going long after you can’t.

I Believe-
that we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.

I Believe-
that we don’t have to change friends, if we understand that friends change.

I Believe-
that no matter how good a friend is, they’re going to hurt you once in a while and you must forgive them for that.

I Believe-
that true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance. Same goes for true love.

I Believe-
that you either control your attitude or it controls you.

I Believe-
that regardless of how hot and steamy a relationship is at first, that passion fades and there had better be something else to take its place.

I Believe-
that heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.

I Believe-
that money is a lousy way of keeping score.

I Believe-
that my best friend and I can do anything or nothing and have the best time.

I Believe-
that sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you’re down, will be the ones who help you get back up.

I Believe-
that two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different.

I Believe-
that your life can be changed in a matter of hours by people who don’t even know you.

I Believe-
that even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend cries out to you, you will find the strength to help.

I Believe-
that credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being.

I Believe-
that the people you care about most in life are taken from you too soon.

        Kind of long, I know, but it is chalk full of gold. I absolutely love this poster.... It has so many "I believe's" that stick out to me, and remind me of  experiences I've gone through. There is a lot of good advice that can be taken from this.... I would love to go through here and write down all of the things that really connect with me, but i'll save you a novel.

            Anyways, I think this is amazing and I hope there are sayings that stick out to you in here. Hopefully it will give you some good advice and help you out if you need it. It did for me.

-LB

If-by Rudyard Kipling

If—

BY RUDYARD KIPLING

If you can keep your head when all about you   

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

    But make allowance for their doubting too;   

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;   

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

    And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

    To serve your turn long after they are gone,   

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,   

    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

    If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,   

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,   

    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

                     I first read this poem in my 10th grade Honors English class. Every class we would read something and then respond to it. Usually it was something lame or boring so I normally  didn't care too much about the assignment and would never put much heart into it. But one ordinary day it just so happened that this was our reading prompt. I remember how hard this poem first hit me, partially having to do with that fact that i was not suspecting to learn something meaningful from our boring daily assignment. 

                     In ways I could never hope to fully describe, this poem means so much to me. The way Kipling words and phrases everything in this poem takes my breath away and every line just hits home. I feel so strongly about this poem because it describes in so many ways who I want to be. To be everything in this poem is near impossible. I fall so short to the standards in this poem that it's pretty embarrassing, but I look to this poem as a challenge and will strive to develop these characteristics. 

 

                     When I read this poem It becomes so visual for me.... I can see these characteristics in action. I love this and seeing this poem in my head helps me to more clearly visualize my goal. I have this poem taped up by my bead and I read it every morning. This poem has meant so much to me and I hope in heaven one day I can thank Mr. Kipling for the gift of his words.

Lines that mean the most to me:

"And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise."

 

"If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster 

And treat those two impostors just the same."

"If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you."

"Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools"

-LB