Love: An Unconditional Commandment

I haven't blogged for a bit... and I don't know if this is considered blogging, but I shall share some thoughts that I've had recently.
I have been thinking about this a fair amount, but also I had an experience that solidified and backed up my frustration. I was with a couple of friends, and we were just having an everyday discussion. I don't know how this came up, but they said something along the lines of when they had first met me they didn't think I was a Mormon....
Now lets pause here and I'll say what was going through my mind. All growing up you are taught that people should know from your countenance that you are a "true believer". There is a light of Christ that shine from those who believe. So based off this thought I started thinking what am I doing wrong that makes them say such a "hurtful" thing??
I asked them what made them think I wasn't Mormon. They said I was 'too cool' or 'too accepting' to be a good Mormon. Now I'm not going to define a "good mormon" but I can say I try my best, I attend my meetings, fulfill my calling, pray and read scriptures, and other things that many would classify me as a 'good Mormon'.
So I ask this question, should not only tolerating people, but also loving them be classified as a quality among 'good Mormons'? The commandment to love one another isn't a conditional statement. There are no contingency clauses in the commandment saying love one another if and only if they share your beliefs, values, morals, opinions, lifestyle, and behaviors.
I'm not saying you have to conform to their ideal image of a person either. No one should be conforming or changing for anyone else. Either way it goes. What I'm saying is the members of the church can get accused for treating certain people certain ways (again this goes both ways). Jesus Christ came from his father to teach and touch the hearts of everyone who would listen, and performed the atonement for everyone. If we want to truly emulate the Savior our arms should be reaching, our hands should be healing, our words should be teaching, and our love should be extending to everyone. Jesus Christ paid much too high a price for us to be selective in how we treat people.
I know this experience has made me think a lot, and like Gordon B. Hinckley taught I am not only going to try and stand a little taller, but I hope we can also let our arms embrace further.

Election Day Thoughts... (Don't read if you base our friendship on our political opinions).

We are blessed in so many ways in this country with a democracy, and having the right to vote, a right not other countries have. As we exercise our right and perform our civic duties I hope we can come together as a united country.

There are many things I have learned from this election.

1. You can still be friends with people that disagree with you.

Its life. Get over it. Everyone you get along with will not always agree with you. The key here is to have mutual respect and meaningful discussions with those you interact with. 

2. Be strong in your stance, but don't shove it in anyone's face. 

I have the strongest respect for people who have the courage to stand their ground. They know what they believe and they are immovable. They are up for discussions, but are often attacked for being close minded and unintelligent. This is simply not true, they have made their decisions based on their belief system. Let's be honest, that's how we all make our decisions. 

3. Some people are big babies.

I learned this from a coworker. Myself and her couldn't disagree more when it comes to politics and the elections. So she demanded that I don't talk politics at work. To respect her sensitivity she felt to her politic opinions I refrained from discussing politics with her, which is fine because we would have never agreed on anything! Later I find out I was the only one at work demanded to be hush about my opinions. I was hushed by a supervisor because my political beliefs were different from hers. Let's grow up people.

4. Don't laugh at people.

I laughed at a few people that told me who their preferred presidential candidate was. Now this isn't a socially acceptable thing to do, plus it demeans people you interact with. They have their beliefs that coordinate with their decisions and they value them as much as you value yours. So I'm a baby too sometimes, or just mean... you decide.

5. People lighten up with the social media.

I'm sorry, but I do not go on facebook to read paragraphs and essays in mine or my friend's status update comments. I for one cannot bring myself to read all of your opinions crammed into a tiny little box on a social networking website. To go along with this political cartoons are funny people! No need to insult someone's whole family and ancestry because of a cartoon making fun of Mitt Romney's money, or Barack Obama's term. It's going to happen, always will, so relax.

6. I love this country!

The last thing I want to emphasize is that I love this country. This election didn't teach me this, but it did reinforce it. Sometimes we can be short with each other or disagree to both extreme ends of the spectrum, but at the end of the day we are all Americans and we all love this country! 

So come tomorrow morning, I will be expecting endless Facebook statuses, tweets, and continuing contention from all. Please don't disappoint me! 

Hold on I'm tweeting

I really am bad at this blogging on a regular basis kind of thing, but I'm going to try and be better! I know most of you know care, or really have interest in the thoughts that go through my head. They aren't super entertaining or profound, so I'm still impressed that you are still reading this.

I am just intrigued with social media right now. I'm loving the constant feeds, pictures, updates, and anything you can think of, you can seriously share within seconds. Let me share some of my recent facebook status updates, tweets, and instagrams, just for an example:

Do you think Satan gets a lot of letters from dyslexic kids during Christmas?

Bustin' out the CHRISTMAS music! Love this

Almost 3 years ago I left my job at best buy because of crabby customers and their precious technology. I started work at huntsman cancer hospital and have never dealt with more kind and humble people and their fight with cancer. 
Priorities people!

#ThingsIGetAlot I like you as a friend... #friendzoneforlife

Batman came to physics today. Unfortunately at this point in the semester we can't be saved. #physics #halloween #batmansaveme

Then instagram, I've posted pictures of my dog, brother, niece, and leaf-changing trees... Yeah things that I REALLY needed to share.

I was discussing this concept with my neighbor. Social media is a lot of work, and if you don't stay caught up you will fall behind. However if you get lost in it you will fall behind in life. I have more friends in cyberspace than I do in real life. I have been waiting for a girl to date, but then I realized... I could have walked right past her, but I was too busy looking down at my phone! (you would be looking at your phone too if you had an iphone full of friends) Awko Taco... so I really wish I could pull myself out of this trap called social media, but then I would have to have real life interactions... Problem... I forgot how. I will keep to the basics of: eye contact, genuine listening, and maybe a friendly punch in the face? I have a lot to work on, lets just say that.

...wait is this blogging considered social media...? ...crap.

New year, new adventures!

Yes, yes... most people make new year's resolutions. Which is great, but that's not what I'm going to share with you. I am going to look at the adventures I had in 2011, and look forward to the new adventures facing me in 2012! Don't get me wrong, I do have new year's resolutions but nobody wants to hear those.

Adventures during 2011... well I not only bought one, but I purchased two cars in 2011. My first car purchase was my G6, and boy was I fly! It was a great first car buying experience! Months down the road my financial status changed and I couldn't resist the temptation anymore... that's when I bought my second car, my BMW! There are no words that can describe how cool I am now.

During 2011 I moved into my current apartment and its been the best ever! I won't be moving anytime soon. I also tried a few new things that brought good memories to 2011. I tried rock climbing for the first time, it was fun but not sure if its what I want to spend my time doing, plus its expensive! I also water skied for the first time... also not successful, but incredibly fun!

I am not going to include my mini adventures, but trust me...there are plenty.

Coming up in 2012, I am looking to get not 2, but 3 semesters of schooling done. First time I ever do summer school. Wish me luck! 7 months from now will be the first time I go out of the country! Quite a milestone is one's life. I will go to Thailand and I'm preparing to have the most incredible experience! I can't plan everything for this year, but its laying out to be a might fine year. I will hopefully run into more adventures and be ready for whatever this year brings!

Talk about burnout!

This is just an expansion of my facebook status about burnout. I read about this tennis player and think that we can all learn a little from her.

At age 14 Jennifer Capriati reached the semifinals of the

1990 French Open. The next year she became the youngest-ever women's semifinalist at Wimbledon, and in 1992 won the Olympic gold medal

by beating Steffi Graf in Barcelona, Spain. Then the pressures of being a teen sensation seemed to unnerve her, and her career fell apart. She was stopped for shoplifting in a Florida mall in 1993, and the next year arrested for possession of marijuana after a party in a Florida motel. Her police mug shot was widely published and became an

enduring image of a teen idol turned tortfeasor. Later in the 1990s Capriati began a slow career comeback. In 2001 she unexpectedly won her first Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open, and followed that with a second Grand Slam victory at the 2001 French Open. In January 2002 she again won the Australian Open, defeating Martina Hingis to defend her title. She was ousted in the first round of the 2003 Australian Open, and has since been hampered by back and shoulder injuries.

Moral of the story: TAKE IT EASY

สวัสดี S̄wạs̄dī (Hello in Thai)

I've neglected this blog like a Turkish neglects to obey street signs. I just wanted to post some exciting things going on in my spectrum of the world. School is going great, its been busy but in two semesters I look forward to going to THAILAND!

It is going to be quite the experience. I'm going there for a two week service trip. My team of 30 will be going to the southern part of Thailand, around Phuket. I will be on the medical team, I will assist the doctors that are going with us. We will do simple things such as check ups/physicals, lessons on hygiene, and we will stock their clinic with medical supplies that should last them for a while. Other things that we will be doing there is building them a bigger fish pond. These village children eat at school and eat the fish that they raise right from their own pond. Complaints have been made that the fish pond is too small. This will significantly help. We will also help their harvest their garden, and help expand that. While we are there we will get the opportunity to teach english lessons and supply their school with supplies.

This is truly why I want to go into the Health Sciences. I have always wanted to go on a trip like this, and this one is perfect because we get to touch on so many aspects of service it will truly be an enlightening experience.

I truly believe that goodness is giving service, and unselfishness. We are to live for others, and others live for you. This is goodness.

P.S. if you would like to donate to this trip, for supplies and such just send me an email and I will give you details!

Jordan Nielson

nielsonjordan01@gmail.com

The Story of the Broken Sheep

I heard this story today from my friend Masha and I thought it was ideal and everyone would benefit from hearing it, so here it goes. There's obviously a shepherd watching over a field of sheep. However there's one particular sheep that keeps wandering off and keeps getting lost. No matter what the shepherd does he can't figure out how to teach the sheep to stop from wandering off. Well the shepherd then breaks the sheep's legs (graphic I know, but bear with me there is a point to all of this). So this sheep has broken legs and it can't wander anymore because of the pain that it is in. The shepherd picks up the sheep and carries the sheep around everywhere. It takes a healthy amount of time for the sheep's legs to heal and by the time they are better the sheep has developed a personal relationship with the shepherd and no longer has the desire to wander.

I hope you know how I'm going to link this to life and to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Sometimes when we are wandering and getting ourselves lost, Heavenly Father wants nothing more than to bring us back to the Him and to His commandments. When we are in the mist of trials (like the broken legs for the sheep) and we allow the Savior to carry us through those trials we build a deeper relationship with Him and gain a greater appreciation for the Atonement He performed for all of us.

I really like this story and I hope it made you realize that the trials we go through can make us or break us. I hope that as we all face different struggles and stresses in life we can look toward the Savior as our Physician and He will heal us according to our faith.