This week... Movie-Style

*whisper whisper whisper*

"Hey did you get the popcorn? Its about to start?"

A dad trying awkwardly to squeeze past 10 people with his toddler for one last potty break "oops sorry...er, excuse me there"

Someone’s tapping their foot on the floor. It makes the sticky popping noise of a dried up mega-size coke on worn-out sneaker soles.

"No, not that butter nonsense, I meant KETTLE corn!"

Shuffle shuffle shuffle.

Four-year-old tries to climb over the seats to the next row down.

"Shhh!!! It’s about to start!" "Shhhh! They’re trying to watch!" "SHHHHH! You’re being too loud!"

Shushing louder than the actual talking.

"I don't need to be quiet it's just the previews!"

This week’s PREVIEWS: (i.e. something I can explain in 30 seconds or less, and yet hopefully contains all the explosions and jokes of the actual full-length feature)

1. Somebody actually OYM'ed US this week. That is to say, we were walking away from a lesson, and got stopped by three teenagers who A. wanted to know what we were doing B. wanted to hear about God's plan for us and C. after the mini-lesson, set up an appointment with us to come back.... full movie available only in blog theaters coming this October.

2. One of the Elders in my ward had to go home this week due to illness which means that A. he gave me his wood-burner and set of wooden thing-a-ma-jigs. (Yes, you read that right. w-o-o-d-b-u-r-n-e-r) B. We are getting two sisters to replace him and C. One of the sisters coming is Hermana Woller! (My first trainer.)

3. SOMEBODY mixed up the dinner schedule one day, and we ended up eating dinner--nay--FEASTS two times in a row. I have now officially eaten enough fried chicken to qualify to be the KFC colonel's grandniece or something. I'm expecting adoption papers from him soon. (Which I will decline of course, because I LOVE my family)

And Now, for our FEATURE PRSENTATION:

(Lights fade more and the little Disney castle comes up on the screen, because my life is basically Disney-movie-worthy) Cue……

GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I learned SO much, took SO many notes and left SO inspired.

One of the things that I've been asking my investigators to do was to go to general conference with a question in mind, and then look for the answer by listening to the inspired words.

Well, I thought it would pretty unfair of me to ask that of them if I wasn't willing to do it as well. Thus, before the Sunday sessions I prayed, picked a question that I really wanted answered, and did all I could to prepare myself to receive the personal inspiration I was seeking.

During the very last session, one of the talks that was given was directed, I felt, specifically to answer my question. I couldn't take notes fast enough! It inspired me to come up with a new slogan that I wrote, decorated (Hey, I'm just a girl with multi-colored pens. Whaddja expect?), and hung up on my wall.  It is:

Que compras?

Que pagas?

Which basically means: What are you buying? What are you paying?

--It hit me yesterday that everything comes at a price: health, spirituality, reputation, education, yes, but also laziness, vanity, and other less desirable things. By analyzing what direction you're heading, and where you put your thoughts and resources, you can figure out what it is you're actually buying.

Some things we buy at too high a price, and some good things we give up on because we don't realize how reasonable the price actually is. One really has to look back and analyze how much they are really putting into something to notice that they are making a bad purchase.

Time in particular. I've started to analyze how much time I put into somethings and am embarrassed to find out how much I've spent on things that aren't that important to me. For such a bargain-based society, we sure overpay for a lot of things with our time. Perhaps that's why the expression is “SPEND your time.”

Just food for thought. Thanks for SPENDing your time reading my blog. I hope to PAY you back by writing something interesting.

-Hermana Thomas