Friday, January 16, 2009

Trip to Las Vegas

I took a quick trip to Las Vegas yesterday for business. This is the third trip in the last few months and if this new business goes as planned this will become a regular happening. I stayed at the Excalibur hotel this time and got a free upgrade to a nice room with a big HD Flatscreen tv (it pays to look really tired when you check-in...). Here's some pictures from the trip





I had a nice dinner at the MGM Grand Buffet! They had a Lobster/Ricotta Ravioli with a Tomato Alfredo sauce and Scallops & Shrimp that was Fabulous! The MGM has a huge Display with Live Lions too!!


After dinner I took a stroll up to the CocaCola store and then Visited the M&Ms World store which is really fun!

Sunday, January 11, 2009

The Sacrament

It was my turn to give the lesson today in Priest Quorum. It is my second attempt at this so I really am just getting used to it. I have spent many years teaching Gospel Doctrine in several wards, but the Young Men are a little different to approach.
The topic of the lesson was the Sacrament. The manual is new this year and is designed for all Young Men's Quorums from 12 (Deacon) to 18 (Priest). It's a great manual with wonderful resource and lesson suggestions that I followed pretty strictly, but I felt that I needed to lead the discussion in a way that would cause the Priests to ponder a little more about the Meaning and Significance of the Sacrament.
As we talked about the sacrament prayers and discussed the special language of these covenants I could see in the response of some of the Young Men that they were seeing these things in a different way.
As we read and discussed the Last Supper and Christ's introduction of the Sacrament to His Apostles the spirit in our meeting was tangible. As the Young Men realized that they are acting FOR Christ in their administering the emblems of the sacrament I believe they began to look at their responsibilities in a new way!
At the close of the lesson our Bishop gave a few remarks about the reverence that should accompany this ordinance and gave a very spiritual example of how we should present the Prayers on the sacrament.
All in all it was an enjoyable and spiritual meeting for me and I think for the Priests too.

First Blog Post...

Hey Everybody!
Not to be outdone by my totally wired wife Daisy, I am finally getting a blog set up! I hope to be able to get in here and post something at least once or twice a week.
Now that our church schedule is 9am I expect to get in here on Sundays.
I'm just enjoying a little play time with my 2 year old Andrew (a.k.a. "Andy Joe") and watching "Juniors Giants" with him this evening.

Just to update, I was released from the Nursery calling a few weeks ago and called to be Assistant Priest Quorum Adviser in our ward. After a year in the Nursery it was a difficult thing to leave 20 or so of my closest little friends. The Priest Quorum is pretty similar to the Nursery in some ways... they just don't cry when they hit each other!

This just in... Well, OK it's not really news, but since MY blog has not covered it yet... My Wife Daisy is pregnant with our 3rd child! The due date is mid-June! Aside from Andy-Joe we also had a baby boy named Ammon, who only lived about 45 minutes, a little over a year ago.

Well, thats a Start! More to come!
Rusty!