Origins of Thanksgiving
November 27th, 2008
Have a great Thanksgiving weekend! We’ll leave you with this article from the Fall 2000 True Education. We’ll be back with more on Monday.
The dinner table packed with turkey, dressing and vegetables—it’s Thanksgiving Day! Today the meaning of the day can often be overwhelmed by televised football and other distractions. But how did Thanksgiving come to be a national annual holiday?
What I Learned From My Tortoise
November 25th, 2008
Frank sits happily on my lap, munching on lettuce.
Posted by Michael Dattolo
Recently, my wife and I received a fantastic new pet: a giant tortoise! Frank the Tank, as we call him, is an African Sulcatta tortoise—the third-largest species of tortoise in the world. When he’s full-grown, Frank will be about 3 feet long and weigh over 100 pounds—and he’ll be strong enough to plow through the interior walls of a house!
Right now, Frank is only 30 pounds—still small enough to climb into my lap, as you can see in the picture. He’s ridiculously awesome. Lately, through some of his amusing actions, Frank has (unbeknownst to him as he plods around his 8′x8′ cinder-block-reinforced pen munching Bermuda grass) been reminding me of two lessons about accomplishing goals.
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Overcoming a Mountain-Sized Obstacle
November 18th, 2008
Masada, a man's obstacle
By Grant Turgeon
I glanced up at the peak and sighed. Why couldn’t we just take the cable car to the top? Immediately I wished I was back in the gift shop, lavishly enjoying my chocolate ice cream while reclining in a lawn chair with my feet up on the flimsy table. Anything would be better than climbing a mountain, right?
Chocolate for the Heart
November 17th, 2008
By Sharalee Fraser
The old saying goes, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Well, according to WebMD Health News, the apple has been replaced by dark chocolate. Of course that doesn’t mean that it’s time for you to go on a chocolate binge. The recommended daily intake is 1.6 ounces a day. This small amount of chocolate provides numerous health benefits, especially for your heart, all because of a little thing called a flavonoid.
To Show Thyself Friendly
November 14th, 2008
A friendly face and a warm smile can go a long way.
By Lauren Eames
“Go over and talk to her,” my mother said to me.
Self-consciousness gripped me, and my heart skipped a beat at the thought of meeting someone new. For me, introducing myself to and starting a conversation with someone I have never met has always been a hard thing to do. This time was no exception.
It was at the Feast of Tabernacles. I had noticed this girl a few times before. She was small, with medium-length brown hair and brown eyes, often standing shyly with her mother. She didn’t seem to know too many people. I knew I should introduce myself to her, but each time I decided to do it, I always ended up backing out. It just seemed too hard to do. Now though, I didn’t have a choice. I had been told to go and talk to her, so I just had to do it.
Singing With the Children
November 10th, 2008
By Danielle Lamberth
Miss Ressler directs the San Diego children.
I thought I knew just what to expect at the Feast this year since I was going to my home city, San Diego, California. As usual, there was enjoyable, moderate weather, brethren from around the world, and brethren I’d known for years. Inspiring sermons, rejoicing, and uplifting fellowship.
But this year was different than any other because I was assisting Miss Jennifer Ressler in the children’s choir. My main responsibilities were to help her keep the children in order and to encourage them to smile and sing out. It seemed simple enough, and I love working with children so I was more than happy to acquiesce.
How to Like School!
November 7th, 2008
Posted by Ivory Vendig
The excitement of the first day of school is over. You already know what teachers you have. You have memorized the head shape of the kid you’ll be sitting behind for the rest of the year, and you’ve worn your first-day-of-school-outfit at least three times already. Bored yet? You may notice that magnetic fields are beginning to form between your classmates’ foreheads and their desks. School is basically a six-hour nap.
A pandemic of apathy like this almost made me write off my junior year Spanish class as a total waste of time. No one seemed to care about learning the language (or even just about the grade), so naturally I didn’t either. You know, it’s a little difficult to get excited about a class when the guy to your right is showering the floor with the crumbs of contraband potato chips, there are a couple of students in the back of the classroom decorated in the cords of various electronic devices, and the teacher is too “nice” to say anything about it.
Philip’s Random Thought of the Day #2
November 5th, 2008
Looking down at the cloudy Austrian Alps from Eisreisenwelt, an ice cave.
By Philip Nice
Hey you guys! Just got back to the office after my first-ever trip overseas. I’m glad to see everybody had an awesome Feast! We sure did in Belgium. It was a brand-new site this year, and we all got along famously with the awesome European brethren. In spite of being so far from headquarters, they are so focused on what God is doing here. And everyone kept positive attitudes throughout the Feast, even through some of the inconveniences, etc. that popped up, and I thought that really showed how focused we are on the things that really matter at the Feast. The messages we heard early on set us up for a close-knit way of thinking and inspired us to make big changes in our lives—I felt like I need to really go to work on myself every day, making sure I improve and become more like God every day. It’s slow going sometimes, but I’m definitely inspired to overhaul and improve every major part of my life after the messages I heard. Also, it seemed like everyone mixed around really well like a big family, overcoming language barriers in some cases to do it. Some of the brethren over there speak five languages! They were in high demand for sure.
So, my random thought after all that is this: Travel!
How to Shut Up
November 5th, 2008
By Joel Hilliker
In a previous post we learned why we ought to be quiet under certain conditions. Let’s go over the formula for learning how to be quiet. Here’s the art of shutting up in four simple steps.
Step one: Admit it!
Admitting you have a problem is half the battle. The first thing you must do is catch yourself speaking up in a situation where you should have “zipped it.” Maybe you said something nasty about someone else, or found yourself running at the mouth in a conversation. Admit it!
Imperial Academy Submission: Post-Feast Fever
November 4th, 2008
By Katherine Harmon
In the fall, when the air turns crisp and nips at your nose, and the leaves begin to change from a vibrant green to burnt reds and yellows, we in the Church get something known as Feast fever.
It is highly contagious and it spreads throughout the masses of those in the Church. The symptoms of Feast fever are extreme happiness, excitement, and hearts and minds eagerly awaiting instruction and fellowship. Feast fever is quite well-known in the PCG, but people often talk of post-Feast letdown too. But that was not the case for me this year. This year, my school experienced a healthy epidemic of post-Feast fever.