Bolivia - I'm Going There Someday

Another chill day with the family. I just spent at least two hours with my dad looking at different places in Bolivia on Google Earth. It was really great to hear his stories and see the places he was talking about at the same time.

My father is from a little town called Tupiza, right in between some mountains. It's literally impossible to expand because it's squeezed in there as it is. The whole geology of it is very interesting (I actually did gain something from taking that class last semester!) and I am interested to know how it happened. My dad pointed out that there two strips of red mountain, and in between them is normal, so what event caused those rocks to change? Somehow the mountains were petrified into solid rock, in small strips. I may just go to my former Geology professor and ask him, because it looks really interesting!

I seriously want to go there though. Like now, ASAP. But I just have no way! I'm going to have to wait at least three years before I could even think of taking a trip down there, and by then I could be married, so that would put a flaw in any plans.. But gah, I need to go visit and meet that half of my family! I feel so disconnected with them, like they aren't really my family, just some people who I hear stories about sometimes.

It will happen. Just you wait, in five years or so, I'll be blogging about my experiences with my family in the third-world country of Bolivia-- my heritage.

Science and Religion Work Together

Gingerbread, frosting, gingerbread, and more frosting. My mind feels like it's going to melt into nothing. Although I'm unable to say that I finished my house, I did get the actual frame set up, and tomorrow is just for decorating!

One important item of business-- I'll have you know that the dates on most of my posts are one day behind, because I have a habit of posting at one or two in the morning. I am going to try and post before 12, but we'll see how that goes. :)

What I really want to talk about tonight is the AWESOME talk I had with my dad. We were able to talk about gospel and science related things, without it ending in someone huffing off. 

My dad is not a member of the church (of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), while I've mentioned before that my mom is a very stalwart member--and both of them are very stubborn. So naturally, they get into pretty heated conversations/arguments about the gospel. I often would sit for hours just listening to them go back and forth. This may be the reason I was so quiet when I was younger. I'm just not the type to cut in when others are speaking; I let people say what they are going to say, because I hate being cut off myself. But when there's people other than me, I often don't have room to add anything.

However, today the missionaries came and asked my father if he had ever read the Book of Mormon. He replied that he hadn't read it straight through, but had compared it to the Bible years ago. This is when I had the idea of what I wanted for my Christmas present, as well as my birthday (exactly three months from Christmas). After the missionaries were gone I proposed my wish: "For my Christmas present, I want you to begin reading the Book of Mormon, and for my Birthday I want you to finish it." I also requested that he not compare it to anything else, as I know this would take the Spirit away, so that he can just read it for what it is. He agreed! 

We continued talking about beliefs, which led to a discussion about how science and religion can be paired. My father agreed that these two do work together. My biggest problem with society in general is that Science is one thing and Religion is another, and we think that one disproves the other.

However, this is not true! God is Science. Science is not proving that things happen by chance, but rather proving that such intricate designs must have a designer. 

As "smart" as mother nature is, she's not a being and could not have naturally made such a huge immensity of complex organisms and elements.

I took Geology this last semester, and learned about things that I honestly didn't even think necessary to know, and yet they still existed. Each and every little detail matters in our universe. This world is so complicated of a subject, because of just how specific things have to be in order to make a world such as ours. Specificity is not natural. As my professor always said, mother nature is lazy and always takes the easiest way. There's no way "she" pays attention to detail. There's got to be Someone that does. 

Evolution was brought up after my father was trying to tell me his belief about the difference between facts and truth. I don't understand his reasoning perfectly, but I did glean something which I agree with: fact and truth are not the same thing. Fact has been scientifically proven, knowledge that the human race has accumulated. Truth, however, is what is-- always has been and always will be. The facts that we have today are only a small pinpoint of the truth. According to these definitions, anything having to do with faith cannot be called a fact, but it can be truth.

Evolution is a complicated issue, because it has scientific proof, and yet a lot of theory as well. It has been proven that species can evolve. Anyone who knows anything would not be able to say otherwise. However, it hasn't been proven-- and will never be-- how evolution started, how the world was created, or anything about the creation. This is where faith comes in. We can look at all of the scientifically proven facts, and still there is so much we don't know. The only way humanity can live with not knowing is to trust in God. Trust that he knew what he was doing, and he was in charge. 

As far as how we were created, that's another thing where you've got to have faith. Some religious people cannot accept that we came from something resembling an ape/monkey, choosing to take the Bible's creation story literally. And yet, how many instances did God, both in Old and New Testaments, speak symbolically? I would vouch that there's more symbolism than literal statements. What's to say that homo sapiens did not evolve until God deemed they were ready for his spirit children to enter them? 

I would like to point a couple things out from Genesis 2.

1. "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground"
   First of all, if we're okay with coming from the dust, what's wrong with evolving from a creature? But that's not the point I want to make. When it says dust of the ground, I'm reminded of the fact that the very first living organism technically came from the dust of the ground. So even through evolution, everything came from dust.
2. "And breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."
   This was my dad's acknowledgment-- the soul is the only thing that would make humans different from the previous homo sapiens. The soul is something that only God could have given us, and he chose when to.
3. In the garden, "the tree of knowledge of good and evil."
   This implies that Adam and Eve did not previously know good and evil. They were like children. But where did they come from? Yes, they could have been placed there by God, but why not have been born from a homo-sapien family? Thus they were born into a family that had the mental capacity more or less of children. And then they were given understanding after partaking of the tree, the true beginning of the human race and God's children. 

I'm not telling you what to believe, I'm just telling you what I believe and why. Once again, I'll just say that facts are few while opinions are many, but truth is everlasting. It's your job to use faith to find it. :)

Nature's Gift

“Four [trees] who reach and do not forget to reach. Four whose only reason is to be and be.” (Cisneros 75)

My favorite chapter from The House on Mango Street was “Four Skinny Trees.” This short description of four trees that are in her neighborhood: “four who do not belong here but are here.”  Every single sentence in this section struck me as an important statement describing Esperanza’s life, feelings, and maturity.

The description of these four lone trees and comparison to herself encouraged me to think about the nature that surrounds me. What can I see that connects to my own soul and personality? I wonder, what is it that draws us to nature? Why do humans feel so connected to it? I just barely read in my other class a letter written by the poet Petrarch, in which he described his journey up a mountain. When he reached the top, his journey and the view both contributed to inspiration on his life and his purpose. Just as he found out new things about himself, Esperanza found out new things from those four trees that she walked by probably every day. When she is feeling down, those trees show her what is possible and perhaps desired, “to be and be.”

I love the quote that I began with, because I do feel as if this should be a goal that we can strive for. To always be reaching for something, never letting ourselves become just a stump, without progression. I want to be something, and continue to be something even after I’m gone. I want to be and be, reaching for something better until I've become it.

Have you ever seen a creature, a plant, a landscape, and realized something about yourself? I imagine there are few who haven’t. What was it for you? What gives you the most inspiration?