And then he told me he used to teach in Kyrgyzstan...

Recently I have been having random experiences that involve really awesome people and the sense that God orchestrated this chance meeting. Do you ever have that feeling? Like, I would think this is coincidence except it is just too awesome to be coincidence!

Like a couple of weeks ago. One of my Arabic professors emailed me and asked if I wanted to go to an elementary school to volunteer there with an activity they were doing involving Arabic, Spanish, and Chinese. Even though it meant I would have to leave work early and leave one of my classes (not to mention the drive to Lehi...) I only thought about it for about 5 seconds before agreeing to go. I mean, how awesome would that be, right?

Although I actually ended up doing almost nothing (they had a real Arab there. What did they want me for?) I met two very cool people--one (the real Arab) was from Morocco. His name was Mohammad. He used to be Muslim. And now he is Mormon. In addition to the coolness of that alliteration, I felt that this was an important person for me to meet. I mean, how many Mohammads from Morocco do you know that have been baptized into the church? And 10 days after September 11, 2001...his story sounded pretty crazy and awesome.

And the other woman there? An American (also Mormon) whose husband was Arab, from Ramallah. And his family still lives there. When I mentioned my desire to write a book about Palestinian women in the West Bank, she said, "Well I know a lot of those..."

And I just thought, wow.

And then! Just when I thought things couldn't get any more crazy and ideal in my life, I stayed after one of my classes a minute to talk to my professor (the one who knew the guy from 1837...). Since he is a visiting professor from Chicago, I asked him if he knew anything about the center for Near and Middle Eastern studies there, since it is one of my options for grad school. Although he didn't know anyone who taught there personally, another student who was waiting to talk to the professor said, "That is where my husband just finished his PhD! In fact, we are flying out to defend his dissertation next week!" And then she invited me over for dinner to talk about grad school at Chicago.

Finally, another day I was talking to said professor about a paper that I am writing for his class. And he mentioned something about "when I was teaching in Kyrgyzstan..."

And I thought, "I used to think you were cool, but now I know you are cool!" Because I have been reading about Pakistan recently (in "Three Cups of Tea") and I have suddenly become a bit more interested in that area of the world. Because actually all the "stan" countries (Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan) lie between the "Middle East proper" and China.

A sort of bridge between my two worlds.

Weird, huh. And then I thought, I want to go to Kyrgyzstan!

What a crazy life I have, eh?

"I knew his brother"

Today in my Critical Theory class the professor was speaking of a critic, von Humboldt, and mentioned that he had never taught this particular critic's theory in a class before. In fact, he said that he wasn't even very familiar with the critic himself, but was more familiar with the critic's older brother, who was a scientist.

"Although I wasn't familiar with von Humboldt's theories," he said, "I knew his brother."

I glanced down at the page and saw that von Humboldt had died in 1835. Now, my professor might think he is old, but not that old. I shrugged it off and figured that professors live so much in their minds that knowing someone in his mind must have meant the same thing to this professor as actually knowing him in person.

But then a girl raised her hand and asked, "I'm sorry, but how could you have known his brother if he died in 1835?" And the professor looked startled for a minute and then realized what he said.

And started laughing.

The rest of the class was laughing, too. Hysterically. In fact, he couldn't even speak for a couple of minutes because he and we were all laughing so hard. And then he tried to start talking about the critic again but couldn't keep the laughter inside.

"I've been doing this for too long," he said. "I have been teaching for way too long."

I just laughed because it did prove my point that professors do live inside their heads...

Seat Thief

You know the security that comes from always sitting in the same seat? When you walk into a biology class or an English class--or even church, for that matter--you don't have to pick again and again where you want to sit. Pick once, and the laws of applied physics will almost guarantee you don't have to pick again. Because everyone else wants to sit in the same seat, too.

Today, that security was stolen from me.

I walked into class and was shocked to see someone sitting in my seat. And he didn't even look sorry about it. Not that there aren't 15 empty seats in the class that he could have chosen without taking my seat. Not that I don't have two classes in that classroom this semester and I carefully categorize my class material by where I sit in the class (a different seat for each class). Not that he didn't know I sit there every day (although this one is debateable, I guess. Maybe some people don't pay attention to things like this).

Needless to say, the karma of my whole day was thrown off.

Children...(not mine)

Since I don't have children of my own, I just take pictures of other peoples' children. Good thing I have so many willing subjects, too, since on my mission my first nephew was born. And my second, and my third.

Crazy.

Anyway, I like to pretend that these fellows won't smile for any other camera but mine. I'm just gifted like that. :)

From the beginning of time...until forever

Does anyone else find this as funny as I do? This is a list of most of the jobs I have held at BYU. And as you can tell from the list, I have been here forever.

Literally.

Please notice the start date and end date of my jobs at BYU.

beginning of time - 7/02/2005
FOODS ELWC/ELWC Catering
7/2005 - 7/2005
SPECIAL EVENTS/Special Events
7/2005 - 11/2005
FOODS ELWC/ELWC Catering
11/2005 - 1/2006
FOOD MTC PART/MTC Cafeteria Proper
1/2006 - 2/2006
CHURCH HISTORY/Church History & Doctrine
2/2006 - 5/2006
FOOD MTC PART/MTC Cafeteria Proper
5/2006 - 8/2006
ANCIENT SCRIPTURE/Ancient Scripture
8/2006 - 8/2006
PAYROLL/Cew Byu Provo
8/2006 - 9/2006
ANCIENT SCRIPTURE/Ancient Scripture
9/2006 - 9/2006
CHURCH HISTORY/Church History & Doctrine
9/2006 - 12/2006
ANCIENT SCRIPTURE/Ancient Scripture
12/2006 - 12/2006
KBYU ADMINISTRATION/Administrative
12/2006 - 5/2007
CHURCH HISTORY/Church History & Doctrine
5/2007 - 6/2007
HP Intra Extramurals/Invitational Track Meet
6/2007 - 8/2007
PAYROLL/Faculty Consolida
8/2007 - 8/2007
ANCIENT SCRIPTURE/Ancient Scripture
8/2007 - 12/2007
PAYROLL/Faculty Consolida
12/2007 - 12/2007
ANCIENT SCRIPTURE/Ancient Scripture
12/2007 - 1/2008
KBYU ADMINISTRATION/Administrative
1/2008 - 8/2008
ANCIENT SCRIPTURE/Ancient Scripture
8/2008 - 4/2010
PAYROLL/Faculty Consolida
4/2010 - 5/2010
DEAN'S OFFICE RELIGIOUS ED./Associate Dean
5/2010 - forever

I'm never getting out of here. I really will be here forever!!! (And no, I didn't add these in myself. They are on my job payroll login...)

Isn't BYU always home?

The other day when I stopped by the records office to get some issues figured out, I mentioned to the girl at the counter that I had just returned from my mission (thus the records issues). She said, "Welcome home! Well, if you call BYU home..." to which I responded, "Isn't BYU always home?"

It is for me.

But even BYU does not remain stagnant as I leave to explore other countries. I thought a list of things that have changed in the last two years would be fitting.

1. Motion-sensored toilet paper rolls in the bathroom? I must admit that I had never seen these before and was slightly startled when I put my hand near one and it moved automatically. Perhaps this is to cut down on toilet paper waste? The only place I have found this interesting phenomena is in the Wilk.

2. Snack zone in the library?!! I guess the complaints and suggestions finally made it through to the top, because the library now has an "official" snack zone--on the 3rd floor at the south end. When I first saw a picture of a chocolate chip cookie in this area, I thought perhaps the library personnel were mocking us starving students, but it is actually an official place for "sandwiches, cookies, fruit, and other non-messy foods." So I guess I can't bring in my sloppy joe or steak, but the good news for me is that now instead of leaving my LRC station for 10 minutes to run outside to eat a sandwich, I now only have to leave it for 5 minutes and walk down the stairs to eat. What a delight.

3. All A lots have changed their "Faculty parking only" hours to the late hour of 7pm. Even on Friday. It kind of bothers me--but some of the lots now no longer have "No parking 1-5 am" signs on them! Does this mean overnight parking is allowed?

4. The traffic office. It's gone. The other day I drove my car up by the bell tower to stop by the traffic office--an area I am quite familar with because I used to work there. And it was gone! All those houses (a little out of date for offices but quaint nonetheless) were razed. And the houses on the south end of campus were gone too. I guess they wanted offices where the bathrooms weren't pink and green?

5. No earphones in the LRC. Signs say this is to quell the spreading of "The Flu"...but still, the whole purpose of the LRC was the free and convenient headphones. Now you have to check out a "clean" pair if you want one...with disposable ear covers.

Well, that's about it. I wish I could list some great and wild things that have gone on while I was exploring distant lands, but I guess BYU really doesn't change that much in two years...

(Still no south entrance to the Library, which is at the top of my wish list.)

I know where all the English majors have gone...

As much as I take pride in being an English major, sometimes I leave major errors in papers I hand in because of lack of time spent (or available) proofreading. Like last week. I turned in a paper that I had spent several hours on in to my professor. I had spent several hours writing it, but obviously zero hours proofreading it, because the FIRST LINE says "Aristotle puts asks the question"...I decided to change the wording last minute and didn't delete the old, obviously.

And so the professor circled it and wrote in huge letters, PROOF CAREFULLY.

Thank you. I know.

It was really embarrassing.

And so the other day in class, he had us pull out our syllabus so we could discuss a paper. And he had numbered things 1-6, and then instead of 7 there was another 6! Which was probably awkward for him, too, because he had to say, "It's under the second number 6..." clearly indicating that he, too, did not proofread carefully.

I felt vindicated. I wanted to say, "Ha! I'm not the only one who doesn't proofread!" But I didn't.

So I know where all the English majors have gone. They're still here, they just don't have time to proofread.

My New Life

The other day I watched this "Mormon Messages" video. Can I just say that I think the Church is brilliant with staying up in technology? I love that they make all of these things available on youtube. And they are so artsy!

Anyway, it really helped me to put my life in perspective. And I realized that because of my Savior Jesus Christ, I really do have an awesome, awesome life.

Enjoy.

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.