The Jungle of the Unknown, What You Can't See.....

   I came home from training with the determination to finish the war of clearing the jungle of weeds in my two rows of planting this season.  I started this war a few weeks ago.  I could only tackle on the field of battle in the evenings.

Before the light was gone and the night was about to settle, I put on my well used, purple flowered, mud dried gloves.  Shaking them out before slipping my fingers inside.  I added battle worn armored grubby capris, very long, sheilding socks, and my mud crusted gardening shoes (they had seen many battles).

I marched out to the jungle of what I thought was familiar to me.  I did well the first few minutes of twilight, with my gloves protecting me from whatever creepy crawly creature that might be waiting, with the light dimming, I was fearless and strong.  I could not see the life within the soil as I attacked my foes, ripping them one by one from the moist land.  I felt triumphant, the thought came, "What I can't see won't hurt me."  I chuckled at this idea as I continued to defend my crop from vine-invaders.

 I pulled and I tugged, feeling the satisfaction with each grasp, wringing the neck of my enemy, shaking my soil from the root system of their destruction and throwing the dead weed in the pile to die an agonizing defeat.

I went along fearlessly, it seemed a very long stretch of time, when in a very quick realization, I had the sensation of movement on my bare, unwisely, unprotected arm.  Tremors of chills started from the hairy sensation of the crawling creepy unknown reaching my whole body at the speed of darkness.  I jumped into the warriors dance of shaking and throwing my arm around, trying with vast skill to fling the unsuspecting intruder off my person.  Realizing there was a bit of weight to the unknown creature, I quickened my dance and added the warriors yell of dread (a high pitched squeal know as panic and calling other warriors to the battle.)  As it continued its journey towards my shoulder, I realized I would have to inflict the weapon of mass destruction to remove it, my most feared weapon, my other gloved hand.  Using it like the sword as the Samari of old, I swiped hard and fast with precision, knocking the creature to the earth.  Though, I did not see where it took shelter, I knew it fled for its life.  I came to the realization that "what I can't see, may indeed hurt me."  I struggled to continue and decided a retreat for the night would be best.

The next morning, I decided to water the field and then work to remove the rest of the enemy.  I then understood the true battle of fear, that was presented in my mind as I viewed the rest of the jungle. I had to talk myself into facing the hidden enemies of the earth.  Once I crossed the boundaries of argument within the depths of my psyche, I was able to begin.  Victory soon approached and as I vanquished my foes I recognized that when we need to remove the enemy, a softening of the soil makes the task easier. As I remove the enemy sheltering the soil bugs of destruction, those foes leave of their own free will, for they have nothing to hide in any more.  As I study my life and my core book, I understand that as I remove sin from my life, I rough up the foundation and loose more ground when the soil is hardened than when it is softened, like my heart.  As my heart is softened with true principles, I can add to my foundation (my soil, my land) and remove the false enemies that invaded, and they seem to retreat on their own, for they no longer have the shelter that protected them from the light of truth.

Core Book: *D&C 124:9, *1 Nephi 2:16, *Mark 8:17, *Hebrew 4:7

Salt Lake, Utah Training Reflections

Wow!  What an amazing training experience!  This training flowed smoothly and fluently.  I loved it!  I came away inspired by the wonderful mentors, some new found friends and some life long friends that returned.  I am so grateful for the memories and the learning experiences we shared together.  I enjoyed observing how community can be formed in a very short amount of time, with openness, communication, pure listening, and spiritual connections through the lecture exercises.  I loved coming in each day watching all of the connections you were making and I could tell there were bonds of lasting friendship being created by having to get your attention through the discussions you were having with one another.  Everyone was willing to share and connect personally with others that they were just getting to know.  What a difference it makes in our trainings when personal fears are overcome by sharing and loving, giving and receiving.  Thank you, for being real and giving of your true self!

I wanted to let you know that I sent out our class slide show in pdfs for those of you that requested that information.  I did have trouble with some of your emails that were written down for class.  Please email me with your correct email information so that I can make those corrections and send you the information that you wanted.

I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Misty