My favorite event of the year is coming up.  August 17–21, 2009.  Campus Education Week.  Basically, it is a time where experts in hundreds of different fields come to BYU to volunteer their time to offer thousands of different week-long classes in a myriad of topics for less than the cost of the cheapest class at your local center of higher education (in fact, they make it still cheaper if you register before August 14!).  In my opinion, it is the best deal in knowledge and training on Earth (a number of the presenters charge businesses hundreds of thousands of dollars or more to conduct seminars and trainings!).  I've attended for years now and each year at least one thing in some class has changed my life.
     I believe strongly in life-long learning and being exposed to as many worthwhile ideas as possible.  I would like to be able to admonish everyone with all the energy of my soul to try to attend Education Week at just about any cost, but alas, I am unable to do that in this setting (but please, ask me in person, I'd love to share my full feelings on the subject).  But allow me to to ask you to honestly evaluate yourself in something: Are you sincerely and constantly engaged in seeking out and applying new and worthwhile principles?  Each year, do you pursue opportunities that challenge and stretch you?  Compare yourself to this prophetic standard:  “...Too often we use many hours for fun and pleasure, clothed in the euphemism 'I’m recharging my batteries.' Those hours could be spent reading and studying to gain knowledge, skills, and culture. . . . Those who have planted the good word of God and have served faithfully invariably have awakened in them a great desire for self-improvement. And with that comes a desire to learn more and to gain greater skills” (Henry B. Eyring, “Education for Real Life,” Ensign, Oct 2002, 14).
    Am I saying that you have to attend Education Week to fulfill this?  No.  Education Week is not the end-all, do-all.  Obviously, if one has work or other obligations that truly make it impossible (for this year at least--you can always plan ahead for next year, inform or do favors for your coworkers/boss, etc.), then do what you can: join a book club or discussion group, read the encyclopedia, enroll in self-improvement class, learn a new skill--it can be a wide variety of things.  But please, be anxiously engaged in acquiring and applying knowledge.  It is my belief that if we are not actively moving forward, we are--even if we are unaware of it and our conscience is convinced that "we're doing 'better than average'"--we are, in reality, likely sliding backwards (See 2 Ne. 28: 30).  As one inspired leader has taught: “The path to eternal life is not on a plateau. Rather, it is an incline, ever onward and upward. Hence, ever-increasing spiritual understanding and energy are required to reach our destination.”
(Keith K. Hilbig, “Quench Not the Spirit Which Quickens the Inner Man,” Ensign, Nov 2007, 37–39)

      Again, I state boldly that Education Week is worth almost any sacrifice, even if you can only attend for a small portion of it--the teachers come from all walks of life with insightful perspectives: they have processed valuable information and are eager to give away what they have sacrificed to learn to you--just think of the power of being exposed to one well-distilled idea that you'd never thought of before.  From such inspiration, I'm convinced, is often the difference between a stagnant, frustrated life, and a fully fulfilling and vibrant one.   As the historian Carter G. Woodso has so eloquently stated: "Education means to inspire people to live more abundantly, to learn to begin with life as they find it and make it better."  Constantly invest in yours.

Links:
The main Education Week page
Cost and registration
Full Class schedule
In the attachment below are the classes I am interested in attending.  Please contact me if you'd like to go together (I have several classes listed for each time, but they are organized roughly in order of interest; more stars=more likelihood of attending)

kendels_possible_education_week_schedule_2009.doc
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     So Western culture has this bad rap about being kinda distant toward people who aren't already our friends.  It's nothing mean spirited, we just don't interact more than we have to with strangers.  It's just what we do.  But why?  Why aren't we more friendly and open with people at times when it would be so easy like before class, while waiting in a line,  or when eating?  Well, BYU is doing something about it.  It's dubbed "redefine service."  And it's amazing.  It's about rethinking the way we view what "service" means.  It's not just about volunteering at soup kitchens or donating one's time at a homeless shelter.  Those things are great, they make a difference, and we should pursue them.  But the things that honestly brighten my day the most and make my life joyful are just small things.  Spontaneous things.  Things like a stranger coming up to me and introducing him or herself in a class where I don't know anyone, a roommate seeing that I'm stressed out about schoolwork and offers to do my portion of the apartment chores, or when I'm rushing off the school and someone just comes up to me and starts helping me scrape the ice caked around my car (or even more joyful, when they offer me a ride!! I LOVE that, no scraping, no parking . . . oh! The elation!)  As was said in a recent conference: “Serving others need not come from spectacular events. Often it is the simple daily act that gives comfort, uplifts, encourages, sustains, and brings a smile to others.”1 That's classic, Christlike service to me. 
     But it's not just about encouraging people to do small acts of service to those we encounter every day.  It's also about publicizing the multiplicity of tender mercies that people are already bringing about.  BYU is one of the friendliest places already . . . and we want to get the word out.  We're collecting stories about all those times someone has reached out to you and made your day, stranger or otherwise.  So please, go to redefineservice.byu.edu right now to join with the hundreds who have already pledged to redefine service to make BYU known not only for things like being "stone-cold sober" or football, but also for being the #1 place in the world to feel welcome.  As you look for those ways, I think you'll find that service is its own reward and will bring your life to a whole new level of happiness.  As President Hinckley taught:
“The best cure for weariness is the challenge of helping someone who is even more tired. One of the great ironies of life is this: He or she who serves almost always benefits more than he or she who is served.”2
1(Michael J. Teh, “Out of Small Things,” Ensign, Nov 2007,  35–37)
2(Gordon B. Hinckley, Standing for Something, p. 56)
    Again, The Website is redefineservice.byu.edu and we're still looking for volunteers to help out with a booth we are hosting for the next couple of weeks.  Contact Kelli Haws (801-735-8306) or hkelli7@gmail.com to sign up for a booth time (or for any general questions). 
     And don't forget to send your small acts of service "moments" to redefineservice@byu.edu