I was looking on the Church's website today, http://www.lds.org/, and ran across this. It was designed to specifically answer questions about our faith. As always, it is very well done. I thought some of you might like to see it.
I tried to embed the video here, but couldn't get it to work, so if you would like to see it go to the link here. http://www.newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/video-challenges-public-misperceptions-explains-myths-vs-reality#current
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Trip Update
I thought I should give a quick update of mine and Adam's trip. After I wrote yesterday, the snow intensified and I was almost sure we wouldn't get out of Moline. But, like the brave travelers we are, we went to the airport on time with optimism. The roads were terrible, snow packed, but we made it, said goodbye to Tammy and the kids and were on our way.
We checked in and headed for our gate. I guess Adam had that mysterious look on his face because we were singled out for extensive searching. They went through our bags in detail with bomb detecting chemical wipes and the whole works. Adam was frisked up and down. He had a big grin on his face the whole time - he thought it was pretty cool to be a suspected terrorist I think.
After we finally got to our gate, we sat and we sat and we sat and we sat. The snow finally slowed and our plane was finally ready to leave about 3 hours late. We arrived in Chicago and sat on the tarmac for another full hour waiting to be allowed into the gate. At about 9:15 they told us we could use our cell phones so I called Tammy. Our flight to Tampa was supposed to leave Chicago at 7:45, but we knew it had been delayed. Tammy checked the internet and found it was now scheduled to leave at 10:05. At exactly 10:05 our plane from Moline was finally allowed to pull into the gate. Adam and I rushed off and found that we had to go to an entirely different terminal to catch the Tampa flight. The schedule board said "Now boarding."
Adam looked at me, and said "we better run." So we ran, literally. We ran hard for at least a half mile to the other terminal. By the time we arrived, we were totally out of breath, panting and sweating like crazy. We ran up to the gate just as the gate agent was hanging up the phone. He looked at us with surprise and then started clapping! He said, "Are you the Finches?" I panted, "Yeah!" He said, I just got off the phone with the tower. They said we couldn't wait for you any more and I was instructed to shut the door! We sighed a relief, walked on the plane, they shut the door and we were off to Tampa! If we hadn't run, we would have been sleeping on the floor of the O'hare airport.
We didn't have a New Year this year. We crossed from the central timezone to the eastern timezone sometime between 11:00 and 12:00 central time. That means it was never midnight - it was instantly 12 something. It's like we're trapped between 2007 and 2008 or something?? Really kind of an odd thing.
We arrived in Tampa at 2:27 am. Adam was still awake - he was too excited to sleep on the plane. Since we were picking up the new car this morning and our hotel didn't have a shuttle, we decided to take a taxi. There were like 30 other people from our flight that wanted taxi's too and there were only a couple of them running that time of morning, so it took a while to get one. We finally got to our room at 3:12 am and crashed on the bed.
This morning we met the car dealer at 9:00. He was a very interesting man. He picked us up at the hotel with my new car and let me drive it back to his house. I'll just say the car is great. It's exactly what I expected it to be so I'm very pleased.
Walter (the dealer guy) lives in a mutli-million dollar house on waterfront property on a little island in the Gulf of Mexico. On the drive he showed us all kinds of interesting things such as Hulk Hogan's house and the original Hooter's restaurant (now I've seen the original KFC and the original Hooter's - what more is there to see?) and even the tree that Hulk's son wrapped his car around a few months ago - I'm sure all you entertainment news junkies heard about it. He was proud of his town.
After the grand tour of his hometown, we arrived at his house on the Gulf. He has docked in his backyard a 60 foot sailboat that he lives on much of the year. He said his goal is to retire within a year, sell his house and just live on his boat all the time. He let us wander along the beach in his backyard (by the way it was 73 degrees this morning) and look for dolphins in the water. He said they play around his boat all the time (yes, he liked to brag a lot), but we didn't see any. He also let us pick a few fresh grapefruits from a tree in his yard before we went in to finish up the car paperwork.
We settled the car paperwork and Adam and I were off. First stop - McDonald's for breakfast. Neither of us had eaten since lunch the previous day except a few snacks we grabbed in the Moline airport (didn't have time to eat in O'hare and there wasn't much available in Tampa at 3 am). After a much needed breakfast we were off to Busch Gardens to play.
We had a great time at the park. First thing, Adam headed to the biggest roller coaster his height would allow him to ride. He's never ridden a roller coaster before and was anxious to give it a try. Not only did he want to try it out, he wanted to sit in the front seat! It was quite a lot scarier than he thought it would be but he of course loved it and wanted to go again immediately (just not in the front seat again).
Next we hit the water rides and got drenched. The day started nice here but cooled to a breezy 63 degrees, so we were chilly after getting wet. Still beats the 8 degree weather in Bettendorf today. At one point, Adam looked at me and said in all sincerity, "I'm wet, I'm cold, I'm hungry, and I'm tired. This is a great day!" Adam was just an inch too short to ride the three biggest rides, but we could do all the others (and I think we did all the others - at least the big ones!).
We finally were exhausted around 5 pm and felt too tired to drive any, so we found a hotel near the park and are now camping out here. We got free passes for a second day at the park, so we're going to go back in the morning to catch a couple of last minute rides before hitting the road for home. Tomorrow night we should be in Nashville, then hopefully home in time to caucus on Thursday.
For all the challenges getting here, it's been a great time so far. We're tired, but it seems it wouldn't be much of a trip if we weren't!
We checked in and headed for our gate. I guess Adam had that mysterious look on his face because we were singled out for extensive searching. They went through our bags in detail with bomb detecting chemical wipes and the whole works. Adam was frisked up and down. He had a big grin on his face the whole time - he thought it was pretty cool to be a suspected terrorist I think.
After we finally got to our gate, we sat and we sat and we sat and we sat. The snow finally slowed and our plane was finally ready to leave about 3 hours late. We arrived in Chicago and sat on the tarmac for another full hour waiting to be allowed into the gate. At about 9:15 they told us we could use our cell phones so I called Tammy. Our flight to Tampa was supposed to leave Chicago at 7:45, but we knew it had been delayed. Tammy checked the internet and found it was now scheduled to leave at 10:05. At exactly 10:05 our plane from Moline was finally allowed to pull into the gate. Adam and I rushed off and found that we had to go to an entirely different terminal to catch the Tampa flight. The schedule board said "Now boarding."
Adam looked at me, and said "we better run." So we ran, literally. We ran hard for at least a half mile to the other terminal. By the time we arrived, we were totally out of breath, panting and sweating like crazy. We ran up to the gate just as the gate agent was hanging up the phone. He looked at us with surprise and then started clapping! He said, "Are you the Finches?" I panted, "Yeah!" He said, I just got off the phone with the tower. They said we couldn't wait for you any more and I was instructed to shut the door! We sighed a relief, walked on the plane, they shut the door and we were off to Tampa! If we hadn't run, we would have been sleeping on the floor of the O'hare airport.
We didn't have a New Year this year. We crossed from the central timezone to the eastern timezone sometime between 11:00 and 12:00 central time. That means it was never midnight - it was instantly 12 something. It's like we're trapped between 2007 and 2008 or something?? Really kind of an odd thing.
We arrived in Tampa at 2:27 am. Adam was still awake - he was too excited to sleep on the plane. Since we were picking up the new car this morning and our hotel didn't have a shuttle, we decided to take a taxi. There were like 30 other people from our flight that wanted taxi's too and there were only a couple of them running that time of morning, so it took a while to get one. We finally got to our room at 3:12 am and crashed on the bed.
This morning we met the car dealer at 9:00. He was a very interesting man. He picked us up at the hotel with my new car and let me drive it back to his house. I'll just say the car is great. It's exactly what I expected it to be so I'm very pleased.
Walter (the dealer guy) lives in a mutli-million dollar house on waterfront property on a little island in the Gulf of Mexico. On the drive he showed us all kinds of interesting things such as Hulk Hogan's house and the original Hooter's restaurant (now I've seen the original KFC and the original Hooter's - what more is there to see?) and even the tree that Hulk's son wrapped his car around a few months ago - I'm sure all you entertainment news junkies heard about it. He was proud of his town.
After the grand tour of his hometown, we arrived at his house on the Gulf. He has docked in his backyard a 60 foot sailboat that he lives on much of the year. He said his goal is to retire within a year, sell his house and just live on his boat all the time. He let us wander along the beach in his backyard (by the way it was 73 degrees this morning) and look for dolphins in the water. He said they play around his boat all the time (yes, he liked to brag a lot), but we didn't see any. He also let us pick a few fresh grapefruits from a tree in his yard before we went in to finish up the car paperwork.
We settled the car paperwork and Adam and I were off. First stop - McDonald's for breakfast. Neither of us had eaten since lunch the previous day except a few snacks we grabbed in the Moline airport (didn't have time to eat in O'hare and there wasn't much available in Tampa at 3 am). After a much needed breakfast we were off to Busch Gardens to play.
We had a great time at the park. First thing, Adam headed to the biggest roller coaster his height would allow him to ride. He's never ridden a roller coaster before and was anxious to give it a try. Not only did he want to try it out, he wanted to sit in the front seat! It was quite a lot scarier than he thought it would be but he of course loved it and wanted to go again immediately (just not in the front seat again).
Next we hit the water rides and got drenched. The day started nice here but cooled to a breezy 63 degrees, so we were chilly after getting wet. Still beats the 8 degree weather in Bettendorf today. At one point, Adam looked at me and said in all sincerity, "I'm wet, I'm cold, I'm hungry, and I'm tired. This is a great day!" Adam was just an inch too short to ride the three biggest rides, but we could do all the others (and I think we did all the others - at least the big ones!).
We finally were exhausted around 5 pm and felt too tired to drive any, so we found a hotel near the park and are now camping out here. We got free passes for a second day at the park, so we're going to go back in the morning to catch a couple of last minute rides before hitting the road for home. Tomorrow night we should be in Nashville, then hopefully home in time to caucus on Thursday.
For all the challenges getting here, it's been a great time so far. We're tired, but it seems it wouldn't be much of a trip if we weren't!
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