Ben Carson: THINK BIG

Okay, so a few weeks ago at Spiritual Sunday Cinema, we watched an awesome movie called Gifted Hands. It's about Ben Carson, a world-renowned neurosurgeon, who was at the bottom of his class as a kid. His mom made him turn off the TV and start reading books and writing reports on them every week, and he worked his way up to the top of the class. He also struggled with a temper, but turning to God helped him overcome that too. So he turned from an unmotivated inner-city black kid to this incredible pediatric neurosurgeon, and was the first to ever successfully separate Siamese twins joined at the head, among other things. Really inspiring incredible movie. Well, he came to speak at BYU forum this week. I was so excited. It wasn't broadcasted to other buildings, so I even sacrificed my foot to hike up to the Marriott Center in the snow to see him. Totally worth it. Not only is he incredibly smart, he's very funny, and had some very great points. Rather than go through all my notes, I'll just write briefly about his concluding remarks. He told us to THINK BIG.
T: talent-we all have talents, we all can do something to influence the world for good
H: honesty-we have to be honest
I: insight-we can and must learn from the insights of others
N: nice-He had us all take a pledge of niceness. For one week, we have to be nice to everybody. Put other people first, talk to people on the elevator, don't gossip. Be nice.
K: knowledge-keep learning, if ever there were an example of one who values learning, it's him
B: books-a great way to learn
I: in-depth learning: don't just "cram," really learn and internalize
G: God-we need Him
I absolutely loved this forum. It was the best one I've been to. It really inspired me, and I've been thinking about what I can do to THINK BIG.

Laissez les bon temps rouler

Gee whiz I have a LOT to catch up on. It's been super busy and awesome around here. I don't even know where to start! I guess I'll write about Mardi Gras! So February 21 was Fat Tuesday. I went out with mission friends to Boudreaux's Bistro and had some lovely red beans and rice and beignets that night. That was fun. But the big event of the week for me was on Friday. I threw a huge Mardi Gras party. It took quite a bit of work and I definitely couldn't have done it without my awesome helpers, but "Lucille's Ball" all came together in the end!
Let the good times roll!


Guests had a chance to decorate their own masks. I was pretty impressed with what people came up with. Also, feathers are akin to glitter in terms of messes that last...in case you wondered.


This is the only picture of food I currently have...I think Kenyon may have taken more, but I don't know what. But this is potato salad on top of gumbo on top of rice. The right way to do things. Oh and what food did we have, you may ask? I will tell you: gumbo and rice, jambalaya, potato salad, king cake, brownies, green/purple/gold Jello cookies, red velvet cookie bars, and the most popular item, BEIGNETS! (I didn't make them though...another time perhaps.)


The entertainment I had planned for the night was watching Princess and the Frog. But the unplanned entertainment was also delightful. A couple of guys in my ward brought their trumpets and jazzed things up! It was pretty amazing! I just thought, "Dang, my party just got legit. Live jazz. Yep. My ward is awesome."


And this is a sample of the guests: we had about 60 people come! It was amazing!


Basically, it was a huge success! I'm soooo glad people came and had a good time!