Cougars & Missionaries

So Nels & I went on a date last night, well, kind of two dates. First we went to the BYU Football Team's Night-Before Fireside. Did you know that for the last 2 1/2 years the team has hosted a fireside on the eve before every game, home or away. (I may have the timing wrong, but hey...) So it was amazing. The team plans the whole thing, complete with two team mates speaking, and bearing testimony, two musical numbers - by team members - and Coach Bronco Mendenhall and this time even his wife speaking. (We also got to hear from Elder Poelman, member of Qof70.) All this in just over an hour! The top picture I took while the whole team was singing "We are as the Army of Helaman." It was so cool. Their whole focus as a team is to bear witness of Jesus Christ and His gospel. It really reminds me of the AWESOME movie, Facing the Giants. The words of that movie ring true in BYU's football team now, "Win or lose, trust God and give Him your very best." They honor God with their best. Also cool was listening to the young football players, RMs themselves, talk of the righteous examples of fellow players. One told of his brother & fellow teammate taking the scriptures literally, such as the Word of Wisdom, in D&C 89, including the promise that you can "run & not be weary". That was cool. Amazing meeting, filled with mostly young people, esp. YM.

As Coach M said last night, when we give our very best, dedicating it to God and our families, we WILL do our best. He also said that doing well on the field is good for the spreading of His gospel as well. He told of press interviews where journalists inevitably question about the team's philosophy this year, "Perfection," and he points to the quote in Matthew, "Be ye therefore perfect...," clarifying that their philosophy is to strive for perfection, as the Lord told them to do. The press doesn't know what to do with that response. "Football is fourth in our priority list," the coach told us. That's fourth after bearing witness of Jesus Christ, and academic excellence, and family & friends. WOW. Check out their amazing mission, on their "Why BYU?" recruiting page! We'll be taking Gregory to another of these firesides later in the season!

So of course they won today! They trounced Northern Iowa in a fun 41-17 game at Lavell Edward's Stadium (now known as LES). Full story on BYU's sports page.

(Oh yeah, our second date was to see "Hulk" at the "Sticky Shoe" dollar theater--it's a guy thing.)

Today I went & picked up my parents at the MTC and brought them back to our house for visiting, shopping at DI for another suitcase they wanted, a lunch of deli chicken, and even some football (UofU on TV & BYU on the radio). We're so lucky to be able to do this with them! They've had a crazy busy week! They'll go back and have orientation this next week, since they missed it last week, due to some awesome but LONG FH training meetings. But see lots details of their week as usual at their blog.