Jer3miah: Difficulty of following God

Before watching Jer3miah, I was definitely spectacle to actually enjoying it. I figured that any two-hour, student produced, Mormon-themed series wouldn’t be to my liking. On the contrary, however, I couldn’t stop watching. The plot was both interesting and deep, with plenty of room for interpretation and creative ties to Mormon culture. There were a few themes that I specifically identified with, and that I think would be really good for young Mormon teens to hear.

When Jeremiah is talking to Porter about having to kill that man, and how God commanded him to do it, Jeremiah expresses his frustration with following God’s commands. Porter reminds Jeremiah that just because what we do is difficult, does not make it wrong. This is a good message for any member of the church to be reminded of as we strive to figure out what path we want to follow in life. Jeremiah is on a continual journey of self-discovery that is relatable for many people trying to do what God wants them to do, and may doubt themselves to God when things get tough.

The article brought up and interesting comparison to Joseph Smith. I had also noticed this while watching, seeing how this kid struggled with his own worthiness, the extremity of what was being required of him, and the outside forces battling against him. This show is a good reminder of how Mormon theology can be applied to our lives in so many ways.

Henry's Final Essay

LDS authors face a difficult challenge in their writings. There is a distinct set of values within the LDS culture that the writing must fit under in order to be considered “LDS literature.” This raises the question, however, of who the audience should be for works that qualify as LDS literature. There are pros and cons to both sides of whether said literature should be intended for primarily member audiences or non-member audiences. For the outcome that I see most effective, LDS literature should be written for a member audience.

The advantage of creating works that are intended for LDS audiences are that they are a great way for members to connect with ideas they are already familiar with, to ideas that are perhaps more unique and unencountered in Sunday school. If an author is writing a science fiction piece, like Seventh Son for example, the author is able to create a thoughtful space for the reader to experiment and think about the gospel and its teachings in a deeper way. Another advantage is that if the book or media is explicitly LDS themed, the audience is going to be majority LDS anyways, so it might as well be intended for them. If an LDS-themed piece is read by a non-member who is unfamiliar with the church’s theology and teachings, the main point of the story will be lost on them. The same principle, however, does not apply for Christianity. Christian literature is a good way for those who are unfamiliar with its ideology to learn Christian values on a general level. For the most part, LDS theology can be a little too complex for someone to understand when mixed in with other literary tropes.

The disadvantages of writing exclusively for an LDS audience is that, like I stated above, it limits the available or interested audience. A piece of work that is advertised as LDS will likely dissuade audiences from being interested in it. Something like My Book of Life by Angel is a great example of a story with LDS themes, but still relatable to a wide audience. A book like this is a perfect opportunity for non-members to connect with certain teachings of the gospel, yet aren’t necessarily explicit in the text itself. When LDS authors make their work for all audiences, they run the risk of incorporating false doctrine and confusing those who do not already have a solid grasp of the teachings. Mixing in narratives of fantasy, sci-fi, or drama with LDS doctrine can distort the intended LDS message.

Overall, it is a better option to limit LDS writing to LDS audiences. This way, the church can control what messages are being put out into the world and make sure that nothing they don’t want written about them is being written.

Avatar and The Tree of Life

The first thing that come to mind when connecting Avatar and LDS doctrine is definitely the tree that is so important to the Navi people. People gravitated towards it and believed that it connected them to their Goddess Eywa. This reminded me of the tree of life in the Book of Mormon and the significance it has to out doctrine as a metaphor of God’s love. When Jake finds his way to the tree and has sort of a “first prayer” moment I saw so much similarity between that and Joseph Smith’s prayer when Jake can feel Eywa’s presence and almost confirms his belief in her.

Burton’s essay got me thinking about “things as they really are” and thinking about what it means to be able to experience certain things because of the body we have been given. Jake’s avatar is just a means to an end for him to learn and grow and develop. The same goes for us. Our bodies here on earth are for us to use to learn and grow and develop. The experience that we gain here is all for us to use after this life and to be tested. The same can be said for Jake. He was tested as an avatar, and now after his journey ends he has acquired skills and knowledge to benefit him later on down the road.

Between a Rock and a Dark Place

A Personal Essay by Henry Morris

"There is something at work in my soul, which I do not understand."

I’m not sure I fully knew what exactly I was getting myself into. Neither did my dad. We never really stopped to ask ourselves if it was worth it or if we should we just find a different weekend to go.

Stuck Below the Mountain

In the summer of 2009 my dad, three of my brothers, and I set out to hike King’s Peak, the tallest peak in the state of Utah sitting at 13,528 feet. I was thirteen and had zero interest giving up a summer weekend filled with swimming, video games, my couch, and friends, to go backpacking for a whole weekend. We piled in the Outback and headed to the trail. Cramped and grumpy, we arrived. Well, not really. Adam realized he was holding the map upside down (yes, a map) and led us to the wrong trailhead. My dad is usually a quite aggressive driver but man, I had never seen him drive like that before. Running hours behind schedule now, we arrived at the real trailhead. Our trailhead.

Henry's Revision Plan

1.       As far as revision goes, I think I am ok with the order in which I tell my story. The main thing I noticed as I read it over and listened to the feedback, is that I need to be more didactic in my story telling.

2.       I want to do a better job in the imagery I use in my paper, especially because so much of my surrounding through out the story are in nature, I think I can do a better job at situating the reader to my surroundings.

3.       I have some pictures I have from my first hike and the most recent hike that I want to use. I just have to think about the order I want them to appear and what type of pictures would actually match the theme of my essay. I want the reader to feel like the pictures are really apart of the story.

Henry's Essay Draft

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the explorer Robert Walton wrote a letter back home to his family describing the innate feeling he had to go out and explore the world. Unable to describe it accurately he wrote, “There is something at work in my soul, which I do not understand.”

I’m not sure I fully knew what exactly I was getting myself into. Neither did my dad. We never really stopped to ask ourselves if it was worth it or if we should we just find a different weekend to go.

In the summer of 2009 my dad, three of my brothers, and I set out to hike King’s Peak, the tallest peak in the state of Utah sitting at 13,528 feet. I was thirteen and had zero interest giving up a summer weekend filled with swimming, video games, my couch, and friends, to go backpacking for a whole weekend. We piled in the Outback and heading to the trail. Cramped and grumpy, we arrived. Well, not really. Adam realized he was holding the map upside down (yes, a map) and led us to the wrong trailhead. My dad is usually a quite aggressive driver but man, I had never seen him drive like that before. Running hours behind schedule now, we arrived at the real trailhead. Our trailhead.

Five minutes in and we’re already soaked. I was fully convinced that one of us was gonna die from a lightning strike. I’m crying at night saying I want to go home, and the freeze-dried turkey tetrazzini isn’t helping. I sat in the tent while Will and my dad were fixing dinner and getting drinking water for us. Sitting and pouting. The next day wasn’t better. It was worse, actually. Dark clouds are everywhere, including in my own head. I lagged behind and was lost on the summit. No one in sight. I legitimately thought, in my 8^th grade mind, I might never see my family again. After screaming loud enough for my mom at home to hear, my dad found me and we headed back down the mountain, never reaching the summit.

Ten years passed with every August as a not-so-gentle reminder of King’s Peak. The most vivid feelings of the gooey mud, piercing rain, and bitter cold never fled my memory. My dad would occasionally mention how he anticipated the day that we climbed it together, but those memories came back and I stuck to my vows of never attempting that summit ever, ever again. Suddenly, in the Summer of 2019, it clicked. To this day I don’t know what changed or why, but I felt like Robert Walton.

My family isn’t an outdoorsy family who loves spending time in nature. Most of our camping gear is from the 90’s and our “new gear” is from the mid 2000’s. I hadn’t been camping for well over five years. As my dad and I pack up the night before our adventure, I felt sick. My Nike Free Runs and J Crew khakis aren’t convincing me that I am fully prepared for this trip. My dad’s boots are twenty years old and his Levis aren’t much newer than that. The drive up was early and cold. I was alone with my pacing thoughts as my dad took a few business calls. We arrived at the right trailhead on the first try this time and loaded up our packs. The scent of powdered Gatorade placed me right back in 2009 again. Suddenly my surroundings were all familiar. The trail, the trees, the river, my dad. A strange sense of unexpected confidence overcame me.

The first part of the day was quick and easy. Passing fellow hikers, stopping infrequently to catch our breath, and moving a lot faster than we had anticipated. We set up camp in a perfect spot next to a little pond and on a grassy patch that seemed tailor made for us with big boulders to sit on and rest our packs.

Then the rain came. And it came hard. My dad and I lay in our tent, deafened by the beating of the rain on our tent. It felt like thousands of middle schoolers were having on all-out airsoft war on our tent. We remained calm and decided it was time to eat. The turkey tetrazzini was back. Ten years later I was sitting in a tent, in the pouring rain, eating turkey tetrazzini. (I wasn’t crying this time, though.)

Morning came and we set out on the trail to the summit. Dozens of people passing us with the latest hiking gear who seemed much more equipped for what lied ahead of all of us. This day was filled with a lot more breaks than the day prior. Sometimes we wouldn’t take more than 30 steps and we would stop again until my dad couldn’t hear his heart beating anymore. I began to feel a little uneasy every time I heard his huffs and puffs. He stayed calm and I kept my worries in my head, where they belonged.

We arrived at the base of the summit. It looked eerily familiar. We finally got cell phone reception and my dad gave my mom a call to let her know we were still ok. I checked my texts and had to shift plans I had to next weekend. Then we buckled up and headed up the summit. Now we were taking breaks every 10-15 steps. At this point, I didn’t blame thirteen-year-old Henry anymore. The hike had turned into a climb. We thought we saw the peak, only to summit it and look on to see an even higher peak in front of us. A family of three passed us, with the young dad carrying his three-year-old on his back. Honestly, just find a babysitter.

Suddenly as I climbed up a boulder, I saw multiple heads poking out just thirty yards away. With a new burst of adrenaline, we pushed up ahead and arrived at the peak. 13,528 feet. Thirteen Thousand Five Hundred and Twenty-Eight feet. We took a seat, and then some pictures. Ate some snacks without really chatting too much. We just embraced the colorful beauty below us. It wasn’t long before the daunting clouds to the left of us started threatening. We packed up and moved down the mountain. Multiple people passed us asking how much further till the peak. “Not too close” my dad said.

The second we got off the summit and back on to the trail, we were drenched with showers from those clouds who had been threatening for so long. We put our heads down and marched back towards our camp at twice the speed moving down-hill this time. We were on our way home leaving the hardest part further and further behind us. There was never much chatter along the trail the entire hike. But in the middle of this massive rain-turned-to-hail storm, I asked my dad, “what have you been thinking about this whole time?”

“Your mom” he said.

Henry incorporating Quotes

“Get up and win the race” runs through my head whenever times get tough. These words have meant so much more than just lines of a poem. It reminds me of what is important in the grand scheme of things and I really value in life. DH Groberg’s words have been with me since I was a kid. They represent what I believe and how I should respond in times of trial. I feel closer to home and the warmth of these positive words whenever I hear them.

Every so often in life I find myself feeling the way Joseph Smith felt when visited by the Angel Moroni. “At first I was afraid, but the fear soon left me.” When faced with new an daunting challenges my first reaction is almost always to be afraid and intimidated. It is hard to see an easy road to take, but that doesn’t mean it’s not the correct road. I can always rely on the comfort of the spirit to calm me and give me strength and confidence going forward.

I’m not a big Harry Potter fan, yet the words of Dumbledore have still found a way to have a great effect on me and the way I strive to live my life. “It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” Too often I find myself lacking the confidence to pursue a personal goal of mine because of my fear of failing. It is a good reminder to know that it is more important for me to always try my hardest and not worry about the outcome, then obsess over the results of whatever it is I am attempting.

Henry Leavitt/Hoiland post

During the interview with Martine Leavitt I was struck by her answer when someone asked her about the symbolism in her book. Leavitt said that in her writing, in this book at least, that she never thought about the symbolism she used. She basically never wrote about something thinking that it would be perfect symbolism for something for specific. For some reason I really appreciated that about this book because when I first read it I felt that it was so packed with symbolism. I understand that it still can be packed with symbolism, but it was cool that Leavitt didn't intend for a lot of it to be interpreted that way. 

In One Hundred Birds Taught me to Fly, I noticed one passage that I felt really connected to the author with. On page 43 there's a passage that reads "there were no rules dictating the way we could feel awe; there was no instance that each had to be an active church member to feel the way that God loves us all-we felt that love in the space not where religion meets religion, but in the space where our stories unfold to each other." I guess I just felt like I totally understood what the author was saying. My own view of faith in today's church is so reliant on everyone's stories coming together and building each other up. I am excited to keep reading and see how this book continues to talk about the journey of faith.

Henry's Bold Essay

This was my first experience ever doing this sort of writing. Even in my own journal I never really write boldly in a way that ignores structure and themes. In the writing process, I didn’t once look back and proof read or organize my ideas. Any idea that came to my mind that I felt strongly enough about to write about, I just wrote about it for as long as I needed to. It felt surprisingly good to express concerns and ideas that have been on my mind for months and years. As I was writing I started to think about things that I realized I needed to write about. My biggest take away from this assignment is how positive I felt writing it. At the beginning I was expecting to sort of rant on paper and let a ton of stress out. As I was writing, however, I noticed I sort of put a positive spin on my ideas and seemed optimistic about the future. I saw this as an opportunity to grow and expand on feelings that I have and move forward in a hopeful way.

Henry's Belief Sketch

I have been envisioning this moment for over ten years. I'm trying to remember specific parts of the hike but nothing really is ringing a bell. I keep looking at the top and seeing how far away it is. There's no way we make it there and back by dark. We keep stopping every couple minutes to catch our breath on the up hill stretches, and also to look around and admire the beauty we're surrounded by. My feet aren't appreciating the lack of support I've given them. The summit is so difficult I'm not even blaming my 12 year old self for giving up the first time. I'm ready to move on, though, and conquer this demon. People are passing us every five minutes, yet I don't feel that we are moving too slow. I know we're gonna get to the top eventually if I just follow dad and I am ok with taking our time. Once at the top I felt something I hadn't felt in a long, long time. I looked around and back at what I had just accomplished. I did it.

Henry's Character Sketches

1. She checks behind her to see if she has space to lean her chair back. She doesn't. After we hit cruising altitude she puts her chair back with no hesitation. The top of her head has some grey on it. As we land she stands up and asks me about my trip. Wearing a long turtle neck AND a scarf. I don't get the point of that. She recommends getting the maple bacon donut next time I'm in Eugene.

2. I haven't seen her in 6 months and she's changed quite a bit. Her stomach is bigger, ankles more swollen, and not nearly as much energy as she usually does. She brings up the baby every five minutes. She gets stressed every time we get close to another car. It's like all of her senses are multiplied by 10. She's refusing her normal 64 oz. Diet Coke and laying off the sweets a lot more than normal. She still finds a way to be happy and pleasant throughout this entire process, though.

3. I have no idea what he is studying. I've been sitting across from him for an hour and a half looking at his scratch paper upside down and still can't make anything out. He's hardly even took a sip of water or taken his eyes off the computer screen. He doesn't seem worried or stressed out, however. He's just casually going about his business doing whatever assignment he's doing. I see lots of numbers and lines, so it's a safe bet that it is math related. I'm not gonna ask him so I guess I'll never know.

Three Scenes from Henry's Life

1.      The lights are on the field and it isn't nearly as cold as I expected. I shouldn't have worn a long sleeve shirt underneath. There are small crowds supporting the teams with unenthusiastic cheers. My cleats are too small and I don't even know anyone on my team. We only have 10 minutes to get warmed up and we have one ball to share. I'm already sweating. There is a distinct smell of sweat in cold weather that is like nothing else I can think of. 

2.      I walk in with headphones on so I’m not forced to interact if I don’t have to. The smell is pungent and the air is thick. My roommate’s girlfriend is cooking middle eastern food again, which are smells I am just not used to. I walk back to my room as the smell shifts to Honeycrisp Apple thanks to Trader Joe’s. My room is neat and tidy, just the way I like it. I set down my backpack and just lay there in peace and quiet.

3.      It’s raining so hard my windshield wipers can’t keep up. My backpack is riding shotgun and the music is turned up to 35. Everyone is driving like it’s a parade so they will avoid spinning out of control. I am calm. There is that familiar smell of sunk as I hit the point of the mountain. At least it smells like skunk. I’m not sure what it really is. I’m about half way home but with this traffic, I wont be there anytime soon.

Henry's General Conference Analysis

I noticed in Garrit W. Gong's talk, he started out with a story of a child saying a prayer. The child was thanking Heavenly Father for each letter of the alphabet and numbers counting up. To the audience, most likely familiar with prayer, praying about the alphabet and numbers is odd and not typically something we think of. For Gong's purpose, though, it is effective by emphasizing that God hears all of our prayers. His point is made by using the example of a prayer not familiar with the audience, but true none the less.

Gong also uses a personal example from his life about praying whether he should marry his wife or not. This shows the audience that he has dealt with the topic that he is preaching about, and can speak from personal experience. As a listener, I am much more likely to listen to the speaker and follow their advice when I know that they have personal experience with whatever it is the are talking about. This talk was very effective in the way Gong uses his own personal stories to teach and edify.

Henry's Literary Journal Exercise

Journal Entry:

I woke up this morning and got straight to homework before class at noon. I’m trying to stay a few days ahead so I don’t fall behind. Classes were normal, although I learned some weird stuff about The Book of Mormon and how it was translated. Crazy. After class just went to the library and got some more studying done before dinner with Sam at Taco Bell. After that we basically just sat at the Romneys and chatted. Nothing special but I had a good time. Pumped for movie Tuesday tomorrow night.

1.        

-          Lots of Homework

-          Class

-          More Homework

-          Dinner with Sam

-          Romneys House

(rushed, literal)

2.        

I woke up 3 minutes before the alarm went off. Literally nothing worse. I hate starting the day and just diving straight into homework. My morning routine felt rushed. My classes were boring as always. Except we learned some weirdddd stuff about Joseph Smith. Idk. I got trapped at the library for a few more hours then Sam and I hurried to T Bell for dinner. Then basically just sat at the Romneys for a while..I’m kinda sick of just sitting around

(Negative, annoyed)

3.        

Even though my personal study was rushed this morning, I’m glad I took the time to sit down and pray and read. I think it helped me in my studies throughout the morning. My classes weren’t too bad so that’s nice, although I learned about Joseph Smith translating the Book of Mormon by looking into a hat? That was wild, but it didn’t really bother me too much. I got to see some friends at the library before Sam and I went to Taco Bell for din. Always hits the spot. Then we basically just hung at the Romneys house for the night. We didn’t do anything but I love just sitting there and talking to them. I feel lucky to be friends with them.

(happy, grateful)

4.

I’m tired so this might be short. I’m getting kinda sick of the day in day out routine. It’s just getting old. I feel like I just do the same thing over and over again. I need to find new ways to be happy throughout the day. My schoolwork is weighing down on me. I constantly want to lay down and nap but I never have the time. I need to go to bed.

(no effort, tired)

5.

Who knew that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon using a hat? I mean I guess I knew about the seer stones, but looking into a hat was a little bit of a twist. I appreciate that BYU is teaching this stuff in depth instead of glossing over it, though. I think that is the right approach. And when I think about it, is there any way that translating an ancient text would seem normal? Like, it had to happen somehow. So it’s whatever. Just kinda surprising to hear at first. Anyways, my day was good. Just normal study and homework stuff then went and chilled with friends.

(focused, optimistic)

Using a different approach each time helped me to focus on different aspects of my day. It is interesting to see the different things that come to mind when I choose to write more about certain topics.

Home Literature, Added Upon

The whole purpose of Home Literature, as I understood it, is to have another outlet of literature for Latter Day Saints that isn't the Bible or The Book of Mormon and still have it be spiritually uplifting. It is important for members of the church to seek "the best books" all over the place, and not just within their own scriptural cannon. There are so many ways to learn and so many things to learn from, that it would be foolish to only stick to what we are already familiar with. The basis of our attempt to learn according to Whitney, "means history, poetry, philosophy, art and science, languages, government--all truth in fact, wherever found." This can include stories, fiction or non-fiction, that are not explicitly didactic in their form and can be about a wide variety of topics, yet are filled with meaning and help us learn and grow 

Nephi Anderson accomplishes this in Added Upon by sticking to a familiar principle in the plan of salvation, that many people within the LDS church and identify with. Pre and Post-mortal life, however, is a subject that is widely thought about and discussed among people of many religions. Giving names and dialogue to people up in heaven as they discuss which plan is best and what earthly life is like for them is an effective tool in presenting choices that the audience can connect with the choices of the characters and think about in a way that will motivate them to think in a more spiritual way.

Henry's Annotations of 4th Nephi

The book of 4th Nephi has been a long time favorite chapter in the Book of Mormon for me. It is filled with extreme happiness and extreme sorrow. It has always been fascinating to me to analyze why these two cases were so severe and what caused them. When I read this chapter in the Grant Hardy version, however, I noticed a few themes that I hadn't quite picked up on before, and now can see how important some of the themes presented in 4th Nephi are to the Book of Mormon as a whole.

The contrast between "new" and "old" within just a few short pages really stuck out to me. The passage repeatedly emphasizes what aspects of the Nephite life are new and the changes that are brought about because of what is new. Throughout the story new cities were built in old places, different laws were followed, new classes were made in order to get rid of the old ones, and so on. It is comparing the old and the new back and forth over and over again.

This book is also explicitly instructional. There are multiple times where it states that certain events came about "because" something happened before it. The passage makes very clear why whatever happened, happened so that the audience can clearly see what to do if they want similar results, good or bad. I like the instructional and straight forward aspect of reading this text as literature, and taking a step back and viewing the whole Book of Mormon in a different way.

Read as Literature: The Book of Mormon

Before I even opened the Grant Hardy edition of The Book of Mormon, I was expecting to read a very choppy text that didn’t flow particularly well. I thought it would eb too difficult to combine the verses with paragraphs and make it look and read like a normal book. After reading just a few pages, however, I was pliantly surprised with how much I enjoyed reading it this way.

The headings before certain events helped me better understand what was going on and the flow of events that were transpiring. The organization of this text seemed to help me grasp more the storyline, as opposed to The Book of Mormon we read today that is very separated and marked off verse by verse.

Reading this as literature and not scripture is challenging given my familiarity with the text, however it is interesting to see even in the first couple pages the themes that are frequently present. There is a lot of contrast between doing the right thing and the wrong thing. One paragraph will be about murmuring and choosing to disobey, then the following paragraph is all about choosing to do the right thing and follow God. I am curious to see how this theme carries on throughout the rest of the book.

The Hosanna Anthem and The Family Prayer

The Hosanna Anthem, even read as a poem with no accompaniment, is full of energy and emotion. It is a call to action with the anticipation of a new day coming. This text, to me, is not just directed toward the saints of the church. It is instead meant to stir up those who are not yet members to think about what they are missing out on and the direction the church is headed. This text paints the picture that the saints are not afraid to meet their maker and are readily awaiting the day they can prove their faithfulness. It keeps coming back to the chorus of “singing” and “shouting” in praise and excitement.

The Family Prayer, although could easily be applied to a much broader audience, is intended for members of the church and to emphasize the importance of gathering as a family in prayer. With a young family, which many members of the church have, it can seem hard or irreverent to get everyone together and try and have a peaceful time. The point of this poem is to use words that incite excitement, all under the umbrella of prayer. This poem is a reminder and a lesson of the importance of prayer as a family.

Changing Course

Before I came to BYU, I attended one year at the University of Utah. I was enrolled in the business school and my plan was to pursue a career in accounting. During my second semester there I took a general English class in order to fulfill a requirement without much thought. Throughout the course of that semester, however, we discussed a lot of literary themes and their representation of modern issues that I hadn’t quite anticipated. The things we discussed changed my view of issues I had felt so sure about. Until that point, I hadn’t realized the importance of literature in presenting ideas and progressing certain ideals. In a class with such diversity of students, there were opinions that came from many different backgrounds that weren’t familiar to me. This course opened my eyes and made me think about what was important to me and not see the world in such a binary way. It allowed me to see the influence of God in so many lies and how present he can be at all times. I learned that modern media and literature had a much greater effect on people than I initially thought. This motivated me to change the course of my studies and career and changed the type of professional life I want to lead.

Over the next year I found my self at a new school, in a new environment, and studying new subjects. All of this happened because of the trust I had to place in God to guide me in the right direction. The eye-opening experience of seeing the great influence the study of literature can have on lives and the way we think as a society lead to me to where I am today.  It has certainly changed the way I live and the happier path I have chosen to pursue.