Education week this year was AMAAAAAAAAAAAAAZING.  Everyone should read Steven E. Snow's devotional that he gave during it:
http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=13149&x=76&y=5


But, as we all have not time and life's challenges will come at us regardless of our opportunity to read life-changing talks or attend life-changing events like education week, I will give you my favorite points from his talk and the entire week!


Thoughts from the devotional:

• 1. "Such individuals [Nelson Mandela and Lorenzo Snow] teach us that even in impossible circumstances we have a responsibility to educate ourselves and to teach others."(Steven E. Snow, “Seekers of Truth” 17 August 2010 address during Campus Education Week)
• 2. “Sometimes life’s greatest lessons come to us at the most dreadful times of our lives. How we respond at such times of crisis determines if such challenges will be times for progression or merely times of suffering."(Steven E. Snow, “Seekers of Truth” 17 August 2010 address during Campus Education Week)
• 3. “the “school of hard knocks,” or life’s experiences, will not teach us all we need to know to return to the presence of the Father. The Lord does not desire we simply be acted upon in order to learn. We are taught to seek wisdom from the scriptures, to build our faith through study and prayer, to seek and rely upon the Holy Spirit, to serve others, and to endure to the end.”(Steven E. Snow, “Seekers of Truth” 17 August 2010 address during Campus Education Week)
• 4. "...the Lord does not want us to only study the scriptures. In section 88 of the Doctrine and Covenants the Lord seems to be telling us to study history, science, foreign lands, current events, even political science, among other things. He also tells us to study these things out of the best books. The Lord does not want the members of His Church to be ignorant and uninformed. We have a responsibility to know what is going on in our world. We cannot be experts in all things, but an expanded general knowledge will help us to be better parents, citizens, teachers, and members of the Church. Develop habits that will help you seek wisdom from the best books or from your Kindle, iPad, or laptop. Be aware of current events and seek to understand what is happening in our world. Seek to understand all points of view and do not let your opinions be influenced by those talking heads in the media whose shrill rhetoric reinforces divisiveness and fear. Rise above such things, be a bit more objective in your thinking and your judgments, and, above all, move forward with faith, for as the Lord told the Prophet Joseph in Liberty Jail: “Fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever” (D&C 122:9).”(Steven E. Snow, “Seekers of Truth” 17 August 2010 address during Campus Education Week)

Thoughts from the Speakers:

1. Kevin R. Miller: A central purpose of teaching is to promote individual worth and take away the fear of change.
2. Ronald E. Bartholomew: 

--"The best way to get people to come to the tree of life: eat the fruit yourself and beckon with patient love.  If you yell, or get angry, or use guilt, all people will see is an angry, manipulative person.  Why would they want to eat of that fruit?"
--"Heavenly Father's plan is not to stick the fruit from the tree of life in our mouths and keep it there "until we like it""
--what is the key to revelation? Have a relationship with God. e.g., Why did Jesus pray in 3 Nephi when He knows everything?  Reveals incorrect thinking about prayer. It isn't just for times of need.  IT IS BECAUSE HE LOVES HIS FATHER AND IS ALWAYS REMEMBERING HIM!  That is the purpose of prayer.  That is communion.  THAT IS A RELATIONSHIP
--If you can think of something you are not willing to do for the Lord, then your heart isn't broken yet.
  3.    Brent L. Top
--Why is the sin of not forgiving a "greater sin"? We are denying the atonement in the lives of others... it is like saying that we don't want the atonement to apply to another.
--No one is happy when they are unforgiving of something or someone.  
   4.    S. Michael Wilcox:
--Sometimes we get the sword (James), sometimes get an angel (Peter).  
--God can turn all negatives into positives
   5. Rick D. Hawks
--One of Satan's tools is to have us forget our divine potential.  This is the cruelest form of identity theft.  You are giving into to how Satan when you accept how the world teaches you to view yourself ($, body image, etc.).
   6. Hank R. Smith (Favorite Overall Presenter this year):
--"It is not right to judge yesterday's mistakes with today's knowledge.  It's just NOT FAIR!" - Hank R. Smith's wise wife
--"It is not right to open up an ancient wound that the Son of God died trying to heal." -Jeffery R. Holland
--Key to trust: interaction that is 1. Frequent, 2. Personal, 3. Positive, 4. Low-risk
--Blame never works in relationships. Everything is two ways.  It's like saying, "Excuse me, but your half of the boat is sinking."
--Without trust, you're not really leading, you are just... strategizing.
--Is your goal always to get [said task] done?  What about building [this relationship]?
--Unconditional trust: complete empathy with the other party's desires and intentions--there is mutual understanding such that each can effectively act in each other's stead.
    7. Mark E. Beecher
--Our motive can't be to make someone better because they burden us. Ask yourself, am I worried about the person or just my image?
   8. Marie C. Ricks
--The condition of your bedroom is a direct indicator of the relationship you have with your spouse
--Sometimes, tell people no, with no explanation.
   9. Dean E. Barley
--Traits most correlated with life satisfaction:
Curious, gratitude, hope and optimism, love and being loved, zest and enthusiasm
--Those that tell someone else about their goals are 10x more likely to complete that goal.

Misc Thoughts:

• “He who seeks God has already found Him.” [Harold B. Lee, Stand Ye, 358; see also Blaise Pascal, Pensées (1670), no. 553]
  
• "Some parents become so expert at filling every physical desire for their children that they begin to suppose that all is well in this life and that their eternal stewardship is progressing right on schedule. I have noticed that some children living in too much luxury can lose their sense of spiritual values and misplace their eternal priorities. I believe that we must pause and take a careful inventory to determine how well our families are doing spiritually. We could ask how well are we feeding, nurturing, training, and exercising the spirits of our children; or how well have we taught, trained, loved, and inspired our children to build their spiritual muscles and strength? We are given many teaching moments, and the Church has given us the special family home evening to help us accomplish this purpose. Remember, eternity is now, not a vague, distant future. We prepare each day, right now, for eternal life. If we are not preparing for eternal life, we are preparing for something else, perhaps something far less." 
  (M. Russell Ballard, “Spiritual Development,” Ensign, Nov 1978, 65)
  
• One of the lessons of the parable of the soils Jacob 5: some's situations are genuinely better or worse than others.  Soils are POORER than others.
• Why do you do what you do?  What is your inner motive?
• "Real love for the sinner may compel courageous confrontation--not acquiescence!  Real love does not support self-destructing behavior.  "
  (Russell M. Nelson, Teach us Tolerance and Love, Ensign, May 1994)
  

Things Learned Whilst Adventuring in the Holy Land Spring/Summer 2010.  In no particular order.  Continually updated.

1.       I know absolutely little about the scriptures.  But I do know something, and to know anything is a great treasure (OT).

2.       I don’t believe in a God that “lies in wait” for a chance to be punitive.  He won’t “get us” by small technicalities.  We’re not instantly on His ‘bad list’ the moment we make a mistake when our lives have been spent wearing ourselves out in His service.  He cares about our long-term character than our short-term failings.  His mercy is more deep than we can fully understand.  Why not try to be more like Him in that way?

3.       Don’t be too quick to assume understanding.  You can always find something more to take from an idea or scripture, especially if you try to understand it from someone else’s perspective (JC).

4.       It is better to have friends, than to have things.  Even things like GPS-enabled digital cameras while in Egypt (Egypt).

5.       Forgive, even when the other side is ‘undeserving’.  There are few things I hate worse than genuine injustice, but in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, each side’s unwillingness to forgive and forget the willful maliciousness of the other has created a far greater tragedy than the sum of those injustices.

6.       Self respect is doing something and genuinly not caring what others think.  In fact, almost everyone I know who does this also tend to have my respect, even—and sometimes especially—when what they’re doing is rather silly (BW/D)

7.       Whenever you say ‘yes’ to something, you are saying ‘no’ to many other things.  Choose what is most important to you. 

8.       The BYU-Jerusalem program helped me attach principles to places.

9.       A testimony is gained—or strengthened—in the bearing of it (Caeseria Philipi)

10.    Your soul is worth… the price Christ is willing to pay for it (JK, Gethsemane).

11.    The Jews didn’t completely reject Jesus, whole crowded populations accepted Him as the Messiah.  It was the aristocracy of the Jews that rejected Him (C).

12.    To wax cold means not moving, hard hearted, no light (of Christ) to make you soft and malleable (Dominus Flevit).

13.    Capitalize on timeliness.

14.    Be humble enough to sometimes just take someone else’s advice (MA/E).

15.    Witholding information is one of the quickest ways to be excluded from a group (R).

16.    Anything can be a once in a lifetime opportunity (JY).

17.    The act of your choosing it makes it the “place you need to be” (JY).

18.    Knowledge is not remembrance.

19.    The wise learn from the mistakes of others, but sometimes you lose more wisdom by spending too much time trying to collect it.  Sometimes you have to go forward the best you are and learn by making mistakes (SJ).

20.    Hold to the good (SJ).

21.    Trust in God, and have confidence in whom you have trusted (Elah).

22.    Impetuous words, spoken with confidence, often has a much greater effect than calculated words spoken unconcernedly (JB, LW, NO).

23.    The way I regard my imperfect leaders, is a great indicator of my spiritual maturity (L).

24.    Being liked doesn’t have so much to do with what you do, as it does with what you do for others (JB).

25.    Lying makes you feel like trash and is never worth it (JB).

26.    It is worth it to toil through the night to make someone else’s day (Nain).

27.    The best gifts are often bought the most easily: by simple thoughtfulness.

28.    For me, the single most attractive characteristic in a spiritually mature, intelligent woman is thoughtfulness.

29.    Don’t be overly concerned about the logicality of everything in life.  Everything in life isn’t meant to be calculated.  Don’t distrust feelings.  Believe in the magic (LW).

30.    Places matter, but they don’t matter.  They matter because they are an excuse to reflect on events or principles to an extent that we otherwise probably wouldn’t, but places really don’t matter because anyone can have the spiritual experiences anywhere they are… if they focus on those events and principles (Jerusalem).

31.    Don’t waste too much energy presenting yourself as something you are not.  That energy is much better spent being the best you can be.
 
32.    Reading is the difference, in man and in nations, between ascendancy and stagnation (Yad)

33.    Labeling others as having nothing but malicious intent is the first step to Nazism (Yad).

34.    Making fun of something you don’t understand, or only understand from your point of view, is the height of intolerance (Yad).

35.    Education is no guarantee of wisdom (Yad).

36.    Don’t ignore genuine tragedies, but don’t let them consume your whole world (Yad).

37.    God makes exceptions, even to the most important rules (Ruth).

38.    Everyone naturally tends to view the world to the exclusion of others’ points of view (B.U.)

39.    Stand up for what you believe, but beware the soapbox.  Ask yourself: am I driving a wedge? Wanting to be known that I believe this way? Trying to build myself up by putting others down?

40.    Living in paralyzing shame of one’s past—even if genuinely dispiteful—can be much worse than whatever happened in that past (Yad).

41.    Status quo is just another way of saying “I’m too stubborn to work things out” (C.H.S.)

42.    I gained a renewed appreciation for centralized spiritual authority and guidance.
44.   [IANBUBEIPT]  45.   [IWAMTBPA] 46.   [GKMH]

Today was... our last out of Jerusalem Field Trip! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! It was way boss, though. Seriously, great way to wind it all down. We went to Masada, a huge fortress/village on top of a huuuuuuuuuge mountain. It was the site of the last vestiges of Israeli power after the Romans destroyed the second temple. The story is quite chilling: the Roman commander went to great lengths to build a siege ramp up to the city (using Jewish slave labor, knowing that Jews would not fire on their own comrades!). Then, at the last day when they knew the end would be the next day, the Jews stockpiled all of their food so that it would be easily found, and committed suicide because “My loyal followers, long ago we resolved to serve neither the Romans nor anyone else but only God... hitherto we have never submitted to slavery...we must not choose slavery now... it will be a bitter blow to the Romans, that I know, to find our persons beyond their reach and nothing left for them to loot. One thing only let us spare -- our store of food: it will bear witness when we are dead to the fact that we perished, not through want but because, as we resolved at the beginning, we chose death rather than slavery." (Josephus Flavius, Jewish Wars Book 7, 8:6)” Next was the dead sea! It stung sooooooooo bad! Any open... erm... crevice... felt like it was on fire! I had a small sore on the back of my neck and it felt like I had a 3rd degree sunburn on it the entire time! But it was totally worth it. The water pushes you up and … it just a cool experience! I mean, check out the pictures! Our next stop was Ein Gedi, and then to Qumran, the now-famous desert hotspot where the dead sea scrolls were discovered.