Liftoff

Ah I have so much to blog about.  I think I'll split up my thoughts over a few days though. 

First, I need to talk about my trip back to Idaho.  I had such an AMAZING experience.  I sat down next to a young looking couple on my flight from Dayton to Denver.  We exchanged the usual flight pleasantries and during that time I found out that they had just been attending a Bible research conference and they learned that I attended a private religious university in Idaho.  Really long story short, we ended up talking for the entire two hour flight.  We talked about being saved by grace verses works, the fall of Adam, missionary work, Joseph Smith's vision, the Book of Mormon, modern prophets and revelation, and so many other things!  I felt a little intimidated because they knew the Bible very well and were able to look up all sorts of scriptures to explain what their beliefs were.  I didn't have my copy of the Bible with me which was really frustrating because I know where certain passages are in my copy because they are marked, but don't know the exact references and couldn't find them quickly in theirs.  Sometimes if I just described a scripture to them they knew where to find it! 

The whole experience made me really realize how I do KNOW what I believe to be true.  They were extremely nice people and never in the entire conversation did they make me feel uncomfortable or make me question my own beliefs.  They were genuinely interested in what I believed.  And although there were many points that we differed on, the one thing we had in common is that we believe that Christ came to this earth to atone for our sins and that the only way we can be saved is though that great sacrifice.  I wish I could write about everything we talked about but that's unrealistic.  For now, the important thing is that I stood up for what I believed in for two hours.  I held a conversation about pretty heavy religious topics with people who were also firm in their faith.  I wish I was better at expressing what I believed on some subjects because I know I didn't do them justice but I have no regrets about the entire conversation.

BYU-Idaho is a great place and I love being surrounded by people who share my beliefs but sometimes I really miss living back east where I can have these types of conversations with people on a regular basis.