Silver linings are back!

I have not been on here for a long time. Due to some personal issues, due to ... well yeah, just personal issues really. But the important thing is, I am back. I do see silver linings again. I have read some cool books and seen some great movies. I got some new callings in Church, and some I will be losing soon. All in all, my knowledge has grown and with it (I honestly hope) my wisdom.

With all of this said, I have a movie and a book I would like to discuss.
You might have heard of this name before. You might have watched the movie. This lady's name is MALEFICENT.

I am so glad this movie was made! It finally shows that not everyone that is "bad" is really bad.
Let me clarify. People are often times so linear. They say Maleficent has to be bad because she just is! No left, no right, just pure bad. WRONG!

What this movie shows is that she was betrayed, poisoned, violated (when Stefan cut of her wings), she was portrayed a villain by king Henry and later kind Stefan. She was angry, sad and she became a vengeful fairy. She had the right to be THAT Maleficent. She was hurting inside.
But the good Maleficent never went away really. She was there when Diaval was about to be killer. She was there when little baby Aurora was about to fall of the cliff; she was always watching over her. She was hurting, but she was still good inside.

I am not excusing what she did as okay, because there is a great difference between being bad and evil (which I will talk about further down); But I choose to believe that there is ALWAYS good in people and that we never fully know why people are the way they are. We all cope with things in different ways.

The problem, of course, is when people continue to choose to be bad. When they decide they like being bad more than good.
But for all those reasons mentioned before we really should have this in mind:

I also think that that is what God wanted us all to learn from the beginning of the world. 

Some people (like Maleficent) find their way out from the darkness, and some people like Neferet (Goddess, Queen Tsi Sgili, High Priestess of the Tulsa House of Night) don't. 

I guess you've noticed already that we're no longer talking about the movie, but about the book(s) - The House of Night series by P.C. and Kristin Cast. (I recommend you to read this teen fiction).

Anyway, Neferet was a girl (Emily Wheiler was her human name) and she was raped by her father when she was a child after her mother died. Maybe because of that she has a deep hatred of humans.

(He was just a messed up man.) 

After the Tracker found her and Marked her, she became a fledgling and afterwards survived the change into a vampire and became the High Priestess of the Tulsa House of Night. She was a powerful vampire. Powerful, but sad and bitter. She had a sinister affection towards the darkness and couldn't see the wrong in what she was doing. She didn't want to change. She loved the darkness, and that's where she went wrong.

The conclusion to all of this is that there is a thin line between being good and bad. A thin line and a huge 'behind the scenes' story as to WHY... 

Evil is its own category. Evil is a product of being bad for a long time. Choosing to hurt people, choosing to always be bitter, angry, right, prideful...Choosing not to let go!

I pray that we all try to choose good no matter what!

Being good is a choice. Even if one is hurting...

I think i found my new favourite movie that can be put on my "Top 10 favourite movies" list!
And it seems it's the movie (like "The Proposal") that I can watch over and over and over again and not be bored! 
Who would have thought that after the Twilight Saga, which I really did not care for, Stephenie Meyer made another movie that is smarter, thrilling, poignant, and for sure BETTER then all the Twilight movies combined.
Well done Stephenie on this one. - Showing (through the caracters) that caring and thinking outside of the box (and not believing, realizing that not everything your people are telling you to be true is the truth), putting yourself in other people's shoes and thinking with your head (and heart), really saves lives and does not create more hate and destruction. I love it! Compassion!

 
So, I could not help but compare "The Host" to my other dear movie "Avatar." One has alien species overtaking our bodies with an intent of perfecting us and making us more loving and peaceful (which, oh gosh, we need so desperately). The other, has us -  humans with our violent selves, attacking an alien species (again peaceful and loving) to take what is the most precious to them, for our own benefit, just because we thing we can.
In any case, the aliens are the good guys it seems. They are more rational. However, just because someone (alien, human, person) think they are right in what they are doing, does not mean they really are. 
What ever the case may be, I love this movie because it gives hope that living together with anyone is really possible if we are willing to change and accept others the way they are! Despite what others may think or say.

And also, well done to Saoirse Ronan who did a wonderful job playing the Wonderer/Wanda and Melodie. Her acting is really superb. She was the character, it was that believable. Who would have guessed she's from Ireland with that American accent she had in the movie.

Also, I would recommend watching her other movie(s), "Hanna."

Saoirse Ronan as Wanderer/Wanda/Melodie

NO WORDS NEEDED

This video reminded me of a movie I watched a long time ago. "Pass it forward" it was called. 

THANK YOU to all who are passing it forward!

Let us make a world a much better place where hope, love, unity...reside.

AN 8 COW WIFE

I have rewritten this post so many times. It was not making me happy at all. Needless to say, it probably won't be the last one either I will write and rewrite 1000 times. I think I have this need for, at least, making these posts I write - "perfect!"
Why? - Is a question to which an answer might be given in some random post in a very distant future. 

"Mahana you ugly" is quite possibly the best line in a movie of this sort I've ever heard.  So simple and yet it explains the point of the movie so well.

For all of you non LDS people out there reading my blog; the movie "Johnny Lingo" is one of my favourite LDS movies of all time. It talks about a man who understands how a woman needs/wants to be treated. How she needs to feel, so she can love herself and feel good about herself. It portrays everything spiritual a great man, a husband needs to aspire to - what I'd like for my husband to essentially be like!

Johnny Lingo understood the principle (what this post is supposed to be all about), more than anyone on the Island, male or female; because he said this:  "many things can make a woman beautiful, but what matters the most is what she thinks of herself!"  Amen Johnny Lingo, Amen I say! 

Well, the tradition of the Island was for a potential husband to come before the brides father and bargain with him for his daughters hand in marriage. The matter of payment would be cows who are very valued on the Island for their milk, meat and skin. They would make one very rich if the bargain went well.
Even in today's world, "modern world," a healthy cow that gives a lot of milk and has been fed well to have quality meat, can achieve a price as big as the cost of a small car or a motorbike. So an 8 cow wife then is worth a lot!

But it wasn't about the cows; it never is. It was about how to treat people around you and especially those you love. It was about Mahana's confidence. People around her made fun of her. Even her own father did so. The very person that was supposed to give her unconditional love and protection from all the scoff. Weather it was because he was unhappy about his life or he just really was a mean person it matters not; her confidence was gone and he was partially to blame. 
The ONLY thing she needed was for someone to believe in her. Someone she can lean on, who will be by her side at all times and see the inner her. Someone who will love her forever! [Way to go Johnny Lingo for mastering what the Gospel is all about!]

He understood that anyone can believe in themselves and feel special and confident if they see themselves as an 8 cow wife! And the truth is, he is right. All of us (male and female) are 8 cow [people]. The potential is within us - we just need to find the people that make us feel special or be the people that will help others achieve the 8 cow potential.

That's why, these are some of the characteristic I'd like to see in my future husband (a girl can dream, right?): 

• humble
• sees the best in me (and others)
• doesn't care what others think, because he knows what he wants, who he is and what he believes in
• is a worthy priesthood holder!
• treats me like he would other guys to threat his daughter, his princess
• would go through hell and back for me
• is not rude or disrespectful 
• the Temple is his Castle
• PUTS GOD FIRST IN ALL OF HIS DOINGS! 

And if he will be like that (bullet points) He will get this:

And to sum it all up, here's a quote from the very end of the movie that says all of these things I have written in a much nicer and better way:

JOHNNY LINGO: Think what it must mean to a woman, her future husband meeting with her father to discuss the lowest price for which she can be bought. And later, when the women of the village gather, they boast of what their husbands paid for them - three cows, or five. How does she feel, the woman who was sold for one, or two? This could not happen to my Mahana.

TRADER HARRIS: Johnny, I've misjudged you. I thought you were thinking only of how important you would look to your friends, paying 8 cows for a wife. I didn't know you wanted to make Mahana happy.

JOHNNY LINGO: More than happy, Mr. Harris. I wanted her to be an eight-cow woman.

Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings!

“When messengers are sent to minister to the inhabitants of this earth, they are not strangers, but from among our kindred, friends, and fellow-beings and fellow-servants. The ancient prophets who died were those who came to visit their fellow creatures upon the earth. They came to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; … such beings … waited upon the Savior and administered to him on the Mount. … Our fathers and mothers, brothers, sisters and friends who have passed away from this earth, having been faithful, and worthy to enjoy these rights and privileges, may have a mission given them to visit their relatives and friends upon the earth again, bringing from the divine Presence messages of love, of warning, or reproof and instruction, to those whom they had learned to love in the flesh.” --President Joseph F. Smith

Ever since I was very little I have been fascinated by angels and everything about them. Do not ask me "why?" because I do not have the answer to this question. I just know they are my favourite.

The first memory I have about angels (that i can think of) is a memory of a movie "It's a wonderful life" I watched when I was just very young. Maybe 7 or 8. And a quote from it that has always been following me where ever I went.

"Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings!"

I would imagine when I would hear a church bell ring, how an angel must be really, really happy about the ability to finally be able to fly. I would go around the house with a bell in my hand, ringing it really loudely wishing for all the angels to receive wings.

I watched the movie again today and it just reaffirmed why the quote stuck with me as a child. This time however, I watched it through the eyes of a 26 year old girl with lessons learned and some life experiences behind her. And the movie ment so much more to me this time. Well, maybe not "much more," but it was different. I finally understood what the movie was all about. What it wanted to portray. But it still had the same power and Spirit.

I may not know a lot of things, but there's one thing I know for sure - God always watches over me! His loving hand is always extended towards me - for me to hold on to when I feel I can't go on anymore. He always sends help.

So, I have no doubt in my mind I have a numberless concourses of angels; guardian angels of my own, to help me and protect me in all of my doings throughout my life.

This may not be doctrine all the way, but it's my life long theory and I am sticking to it! 

I am the gardner here, I know what I want you to do

(warning - long post)

Yesterday was a bad and a good day at the same time. I felt sad and hopeless, but I also felt happy because I was at church and listening to a world wide broadcast. I was where I belong, surrounded by the Spirit of God. And i reminded myself that:

• I have friends who make me laugh 
• I have the spirit to testify, teach, comfort and guide me
• I have my testimony that helps me in the worst of times and in the best of times
• I have the love of my Heavenly Father keeping me sane
• I have the scriptures to read from to give me a firm foundation
• I can follow prophets teachings
• I can go to the TEMPLE - that means that in the eyes of God I am worthy :D
• I HAVE ME, TO BE ME! with all my weaknesses and strengths
• I have hope!!

I had a lesson with the missionaries about "sources of Spiritual strength," and it was a really good lesson for me. It was good talking about what can help us (me) to be spiritually prepared, strengthened and encuraged.

We came up with quite a list of things we all know help us so much, but most of the time take for granted.

PRAYER - there's nothing without it! It is the greatest tool, a communication device, a conduit to our Heavenly Father and His help. It's so wonderful to know that we can talk to our Father even if we are so far away from home.

READING SCRIPTURES - Even though I slip and don't read my scriptures as often I'd like to, they are our Heavenly Father's way of telling us: "Here, I made this road map to help you get from point A (life) to point B (Celestial kingdom) easier. Use it well and all the time and I will see you shortly. Love, Dad!"

Isn't that wonderful?? I sure think it is.

GOING TO CHURCH - another very important "source of spiritual strength!"

Brigham Young said: "If you go to Church and you don't learn anything or are not taught by the Spirit; it's nobody's fault but yours. You needed to prepare better and repent" (some of the words were added by me; but you get the point). And that's just it. Going to church is not just because it's a commandment from God; but rather to learn something. To be spiritually uplifted and taught by the Spirit. And the most important thing - to partake of the sacrament!

TEMPLE - the best place on Earth!! The only place I can get spiritual strenght without thinking about what tomorrow brings; because "for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself" (Matthew 6:34).

The only other thing  I know will bring peace, happiness, joy, knowledge and strong spiritual strenght is missionary work! You create your own Temple while you are on your mission serving the Lord.

You can find such joy in serving others and teaching them what you know to be true, that you forget about bad, sad, hopeless situations in your life. Not because they are not there bothering you, but because they become your greatest strenghts. You grow so much from learning to deal with these things in a totally different way - surrounded by the constant companionship of the Spirit and the love of God - that you end up understanding so clearly what it is you need to be doing to overcome them.

MISSIONARY WORK = YOUR OWN SPIRITUAL TEMPLE!

There were many other things we've discussed that could be "sources of Spiritual strength," but they are all connected to these main 4.

So, "I am the gardner here, I know what I want you to do" is something God wants us to understand.
Most of the time however, it is hard to understand "why" things happen. But doing these main 4 "sources of Spiritual strength" every day, will help you  keep the faith, have strength in your testimony and will bring you, me and every person on this Earth knowledge and understanding that God is always here for us. He never leaves us alone! He loves us and if we ask Him for blessings in prayer He will do so - He will bless us. Only, He answeres in His own time and in His own way which is so important to know.

There is nothing in this world I would like to do more then teach the Gospel until I die (and then some)!

LIFE...

...The best silver lining there is!! Oh how great I am to be alive!
Well I say that now when things are sort of ok...but give me couple of days and I think I will be telling another story.
But that is not the point; this is:

Isn't this the truth?!

Dear God,

• I am thankful for today's day. For having fun cooking Indian food with Miš and that we had fun talking to each other and afterwards went out and had ice-cream and walked around the city
• I am thankful for people I meet every day. And for the lessons they teach me and the lessons I learn
• I am thankful for my parents/family, friends and my sweet soul sister whom I love a lot! 
• I am thankful for the knowledge I have gained thus far and am looking forward to learning many more things
• I am thankful for the warmth outside
• I am thankful for being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and for all the knowledge, doctrine, happiness, love,...it brings me.
• I am thankful for the Temples
• I am thankful for many more days ahead of me to be lived and experienced
•  I'm thankful for all of it really. Especially the hard times!