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11/30/15 Letter from AJ to Bryce

Hey Bro!

Dad let AJ take the convertible Mustang to Zion...
with girls!!!!
I just got back from St. George for the weekend! Man we got caught in terrible traffic all the way back from southern Utah and then caught in a snow storm from Nephi to Provo. It was some white knuckle driving for sure in the snow and was pretty stressful as everyone was bumper to bumper and sliding all over the place. It ended up taking almost 5 and a half hours to get home when it usually take about 3 and half when there is no traffic and weather problems. 

This weekend has been awesome. We had our turkey bowl football game with the 8th ward, talent show, giant dinner, ping pong tournament at Ben and Laura's and Friday went hiking in Zion with some girls from my BYU ward and Saturday hiking near quail creek with mom and the girls. Also BYU won their basketball game and football game. The only bummer was that Dallas was gone all weekend up north with his wife and wife's family so I only got to see him for a minute when he got back and I was leaving. I'll throw some pictures up from the weekend.
Playing in the turkey bowl

Last week I gave a talk in my BYU ward on thankfulness and I shared a cool Japanese parable I found to illustrate. So there once was a very stressed and tired student, who was struggling to finish assignments and prepare for his examinations. He approached a wise professor with a handful of complaints about how hard life was and how he wasn't sure if he could do it and how he was unhappy. The wise professor shared this story:
Aj's intramural volleyball team -- the volleyllamas
A man was journeying through the mountains and was chased by a tiger, he ran and ran until the hungry tiger corned him to the edge of a 15' cliff. The man began to climb down and looked below to find 5 tigers waiting to devour him. In his dire, nearly hopeless circumstances he looked to his left and saw a beautiful, perfect, delicious strawberry. He picked it and enjoyed the best strawberry of his entire life. The professor stopped telling the story and the student finally asked SO what happened? Did he escape? Did the tigers get him?? The professor said, " That's the end of the story" "That's all". The student demanded a ending to the story and the professor explained: The morale of the story is that many of us are running around unappreciative of the things God has given us. Enjoy what he has given us and live in the present.

“Are you running around, grinning over the feeling of being the luckiest, most fortunate and appreciative person in the world because of what IS  present in your life today, or are you consumed with fear, what you DON’T have in your life or what may possibly happen some time in the future?”

So the morale is that even with all the stressors in the mans life he enjoyed the small moments and was happy despite deadlines, fears and uncertainties in life.
All the group working on their master's program together

Love you man and have a great week.


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