How great shall be your joy!

This week I had one of those very wonderful life experiences that I have hoped to have for 10 years now. So let me take you back to a sleepy little village in Northeast Thailand, early in 1997.

Even though it was February or March of that year, it was a sweltering day on my mission (they all were) and I was street contacting with my companion Elder Wengreen (this is Matt, if you hadn't already guessed). We were walking down a street talking to every man we saw and having no luck. It was nearly time for lunch and I decided that no matter what, I was going to get an appointment with the next male I saw. As we passed the next house I saw a young man inside and thought, "to young and it is illegal to knock doors in Thailand, so skip it." But an oath is an oath even to oneself, so I did what I should do, I walked right into the house (without knocking), approached Num, gave him a Book of Mormon, asked him to read 3 Nephi 11 and told him that I would return the next day.

The next day we returned and sat down to read 3 Nephi 11 with him, confident he hadn't read it. At the same time his sister was getting us water, so I asked her to join us an we would read it together. At this point she told me that she had already read the chapter and them some. So yeah, I got excited.

I was able to teach Nok and Num for the next few weeks before moving back to Bangkok just prior to their baptism which was sad to miss, but here is a picture of them on that day.



Now fast forward 11 1/2 years to last week. I was trying to find an old friend and found that he had a facebook page. So I thought, maybe I am a bit old for this, but I will bite the bullet and join up on facebook so I can locate this friend. Once I signed up, I immediately had a request to be friends with a mission buddy (which took me by surprise I must say). This lead to an avalanche of friend requests among which was Mayura Seesarn aka Nok, who was still very strong in the church and doing her best to keep Khonkaen strong. Anyway, I came in contact with her again on a really hard day and it turned everything around for me. The icing on the cake was this picture below of Nok at the Hong Kong Temple (she is on the left). There is no greater reward for missionary service than temple attendance. Thanks for staying strong Nok.

The Five Most Beautiful Things (according to me)

I (Matt) was inspired to write this by a number of breathtaking things I have seen lately, (mostly in my own household) and just had the bug in me to go forward with it. So here goes.

5. Mountains. I recently posted my love for the Sierra Nevada, so here I will dream of mountains covered in trees of the Tropical Rain Forest. A few months ago, I traveled to Puerto Rico for a "work trip" and had a fantastic time spelunking and catching bats and bugs. I just love the rain forest! The first picture is where I would sit and eat meals at the field station in the morning and evening. The second is from a cave we climbed through, and to our surprise, we found an exit that was 200-300 feet high on a cliff overlooking one of the most amazing places I have been. Good times.


Ahh.... mealtime, this beats reading the box of cereal


A nice surprise in the dark cave


Playing with bats.


Did I mention? The beaches on there were pretty nice.




4. Fall in New England
For this I have to borrow from the words of Bill Bryson

"New England provides a setting that no other in America can rival. Its sunny, white churches, covered bridges, tidy farms, and clusted villages are an ideal complement to the rich, earthy colors of nature. Moreover, there is a variety in its trees that few other area achieve: oaks, beeches, aspens, sumacs, four varietes of maples and others almost beyond counting provide a contrast that dazzles the senses. Finally, and above all, there is a brief, perfect balance of its climate in fall, with crisp, chilly nights and warm, sunny days, which help to bring all the deciduous trees to a coordinated climax. So make no mistake. For a few glorious days each October, New England is unquestionably the loveliest place on earth."

Having now moved away from New England, we miss it terribly, however, we have found that Western New York has a great amount of charm and the leaves are very nice here as well.

Sunderland MA, pretty much exactly what Bryson described


The Coast in Maine, there is no rival to this area in Fall.


3. Southern Utah Canyon Country in the Winter.
I love the desert. One of the best books ever written is Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey. Beautiful Prose. Well, I love the silence, solace, beauty, stillness and peace that I find best when sitting quietly overlooking something pleasing to the soul in the desert. Winter is even better because, the air is crisp and cool, there are never other people, you can hike for hours without over heating and there is something about having a small amount of snow dusting over the desert floor that enhances the landscape just that much more. So here are a few shots from the last time I got to go to the San Rafael Swell in the winter.







2. My Girls
As I eluded to above, this blog was inspired by something beautiful in my home. Well, it was my nightly ritual of checking on Ashlan and Elli as I go to bed. Each night my heart is full to bursting as I look at them so peacefully sleeping in the quiet dark of our house. Sometimes I want to sit and stare for a few minutes, other times I am overcome with the urge for a good cuddle or squeeze and on rare occasions I just want to wake them up and play with them. Now I think they are always beautiful, but there is something about them sleeping contently that is really amazing (I hope it isn't just because they aren't making noise). I don't have any shots of the sleeping so I will just post these from the first day of school, more pictures of them are below.

Ashlan


Elli


1. Stacie
I really don't know where to begin with this one. Stacie is the essence of beauty. Inside and out she is the most beautiful person, place or thing I have ever known. There are times (quite often actually) when I look at her and think, "I have no business being married to such an amazing person" but I am and she can't get out of it now, so... lucky me. I would love to go on, and I would, but I know that the more I say, the higher likelihood there is that she will "unpublish" this blog post. In fact if you are reading this, consider yourself lucky, I don't expect it to be up long. Anyway suffice it to say, I am madly in love with this woman, when I count my blessings she is the first, the last and every other in between, and I would be lost without her.


Isn't she gorgeous!



Between my family, my home town and my job, "there is beauty all around". So yeah, I think I am pretty lucky.