Buffalo Bills

MittLoganSoCal

This is a nice flower don't you think... I quite like it. Life is good right now. I am going full time on the campaign...I really like it so far, it is pretty intense, but quite awesome to be a part of such a great thing. Mitt won in Ames and has some good momentum going. One of my best friends, Parley is working alongside with me, and that makes it a lot of fun. We are going for 2500 people maybe up to 3000 there to raise money $3 million on the 28th of September. We have a lot of good stuff going and a lot of great people working, so it is definintely possible.
Me, Tal and Char had an awesome trip up to Logan last night and today. We took Grandma out to dinner and had a great night talking and hearing stories. Tal recorded a lot of it, so if you would like to listen let us know. My favorite part was last night...I got Grandma's record player going and pulled out all of her old records. I want to get a record player now. The old fashioned music, the old fashioned sound... I just love it. It was fun for Grandma to recall her memories as we listened. The best part was when she said, "I can close my eyes and see Dean there dancing with me, and I know exactly what move he is going to do next." That one really hit me. What an incredible woman Grandma is. We also spent some time with Melva Stiles (a famous singer who dad met in NYC on his mission who also sang at mom and dad's wedding, she was there visiting grandma) And EmmaRae, Vern's wife. They just told us all sorts of good stuff. We went to Church with Gram today and then headed down and met up with Mom and Dad and spoke with them at a big fireside in Bountiful. Like 20 stakes of single adults, about 1,000 people there. Mom and Dad had me and Tal and Char take some time and speak as well. It was really cool. There was a great spirit there...Mom and Dad are amazing speakers, they are able to appeal to anyone, even young singles. Dad was bringing the house down with hilarious stories about his decision to marry mom and mom brought a special spirit as she talked about getting out of the world and serving others. I also met a beautful girl there I hope to be able to take out.
So it has been an action packed couple of weeks. Read below for pics and info about Char and my trip to LA last weekend. I love you guys.

L.A. Hollywood. SoCal

Hey all. You like the song don't you? I sure do. It is from the movie Once that just came out.
It is a movie from the UK that won some stuff at the Sundance Festival. I haven't seen the movie, but is the lead actor and actress singing this song. So as you may have heard, I got to go on a nice roadie with my best little sister down to SoCal to see our good friend Lisa. It was so awesome. SoCal is just a great place. From the beaches, to the museums, to Hollywood, all that good stuff. This top pic is of us on a tandem beach riding from Santa Monica beach down to Venice beach (crazy people land).

Here is me and Char in Hollywood. In front of the Chinese theatre...with Julie Andrews and my main man Frank Sinatra. I am liking that guy more and more. I can't wait to hear him sing in heavan one day. He is awesome. So simple itinerarie. We drove for what seemed like ages, w/ nice rest stops in Vegas at In and Out Then to the border of Cali/Nevada and a ride on the rolller coaster at Buffalo Bills. It was sweet. Next day, to the beach...Malibu beach, then to Santa Monica and bike ride, then to 3rd Street in Santa Monica (street performers galore). Saw some crazy stuff. Then went up to Hollywood. On Sunday we went to church with Lisa and her sweet fam, had some food with them and then went to the Getty. The sweetest museum I have seen on this side of the US (one of my new favorites in the world) Atop a mountain overlooking LA. The architecture was amazing, the gardens, and the art. Not too much, just a couple from the major artist, but it was quite impressive. They had an awesome Photography exhibit on as well. That night...to the beach in Malibu for a picnic behind all the insanely large houses.

The next day we went to the Ronald Reagan Library, saw the actual Air Force One and learned a lot about Reagan. He was an awesome man...his wife too. Then to Huntingon Beach to Tal's stomping grounds. Hung out there on the beach, then to Anaheim for the Red Sox game...It was Awesome!! The sox lost, but anytime you get to see the two best teams in Baseball go head to head, it is a pretty good game.

Then we hit the road and drove for another 78 hours and got home. With a stop in St. George to say hello. It was quite a trip and it was so awesome to spend some good quality time with my sis. She is the greatest. So much going on for that girl...it was great to talk and get advice, and just enjoy ourselves...and wear matching Red Sox shirts from Israel at the game. More pics below. Notice the slide show on the right of a bunch more pics. I think I want to live in SoCal for a while some day.

The Getty. The temple. The beach in Malibu. I think I want to live in Southern California one day. Those beaches. The ocean. The waves. The temple as a beacon over LA. The Red Sox. Hollywood. Huntington Beach. The Ronald Reagan Library. They just have a lot of great stuff in that neck of the wood. No wonder Tal liked it there so much. Best of all I was with Char. We had such an awesome time.

A Whole Lake of Thinking

Well. These last weeks have been full of good times with the family, beauty time at the lake, and me thinking myself to death. I have thought so much about life and what do in the last little while, it's actually quite taken me by surprise. I am usually a pretty laid back guy, and not to say I have been crazy or antsy or anything, just that I didn't realize how intensly I could think about life. Not sure if that made sense...let me put it simply...this is a tough decision.

Trips to Bloomington Lake with my awesome little neices and nephews, and great talks with my siblings have parents have lightened the burden a lot. But it is just one of those things, that no matter how much you talk to others, when it comes down to it...you yourself have to make that decision. So I am learning that. And the ropeswing is back up at Bloomington after going on hiatus for a period of time.

This is all of us who went on the swing... Kristi took the picture, and afterward she went as well, in her clothes. I thought she was going to freeze to death, but she made it out alright. So the other day I had a great talk on the phone with Spencer Zwick, who is the head of fundraising on Mitt's campaign. We talked and he proposed the idea of me working on the campaign... (big surprise) no what I mean is, the campaign is really working hard to get fundraising going at a more grassroots level...instead of the the richies giving all the money, they are trying to really get it coming in from all levels. So at the end of September, in Salt Lake at the Salt Palace they are having a huge call day (like the one mom and I did in Boston) but with 2500+ people there. Each person being a community captain of sorts, who by themselves, or with a team of a couple of people has commited to raise $1000 that day. So bringing in around 3 million in that one day. Once they see it can be successful here in Utah, they will expand in the next quarter to other states.

So you're thinking, ok, where do you fit in Eli? Well they have the heads of Finace and fundraising for Utah being the chairs of the event, but they need 3 or 4 full time staffers to work out of Salt Lake for the next 7 weeks coordinating the event, getting people excited and committed to it, and actually making things happen. So he asked me to be one of those people. So for the firt bit I would be in Salt Lick and then move on to Boston afterward, hopefully with a good reputation after having a good showing at this fund raiser. If for some reason I am really not feeling it at that point I can move on to something else. So it seems to me to be the perfect opportunity. The more I think about it, the more into it and excited I am. I just sent an email to Spencer telling him that I am excited about the idea, he is going to send me a formal offer, and assuming it is all good and right, that's what I will be doing. Living with Tal in NYC is extremely intriguing and hard to look past, but I have a feeling we'll be there together before too long. By January, or November when Mitt gets elected. So give me a shout, let me know what you think. I sure love you all.

An interersting opportunity.

As most of you have heard, I had the chance to go back to Boston with Mom for this Mitt Romney Fundraiser last week. It turned out quite nice as I am thinking about going back to work on the campaign. This gave me the chance to get up close and personal and see what this is all about. I really liked the feeling there (and the chance to go the Fenway and the Garden). I don't like politics too much, but to work on a Presidential campaign, especially when it is someone who holds the same values as me, is once in a lifetime, not to mention a good resume builder.

So Mom and I made calls from the floor of the Boston Garden with a goal to raise $10,000 between us. It was a little awkward calling people and asking for money, but after 6 or 7 hours, we made our goal! Largely because of Dad, he was calling people from SLC and then calling me, and I would fill out the donor sheets as I talked to him. So we raised a lot of money, and it made it look like I was doing something worthwhile, other than calling friends for 10 and 20 dollar donations.

They even had these banners down. #33 that's Larry Bird. #00 the chief, Robert Parish.

Here we are standing outside the chartered JetBlue plane on the tarmack at the private airport in Salt Lake. That was pretty cool. So anyway, I am feeling pretty good about the prospect of going to work on the campaign. I fasted about it yesterday and have yet to receive a stupor of thought, so assuming I can actually get a job, I think I am going to go for it. Work there in Boston until the campaign ends, and then see what happens from there, maybe migrate down to the Big Apple because as you all know, that is one place I just have to live. I am excited to see you all at the reunion! Keep reading down for some pics of Fenway!

Fenway Pahk! (say it with a bostonian accent)

How bout that lighting.

You can see the history right in these seats.

Terry Francona uses this phone to call the bullpen to bring Papelbon in.

This is where the famous pitchers stand. (in this exact same stance as they look out of Boston's dugout)

The Green Monstah!!

It is the dream of every Red Sox fan to walk on the field at Fenway. There is something magical about Fenway. Being in there and walking around, the whole stadium empty. Thinking of all the great players that had been there. Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Big Papi, Manny Ramirez, Pedro Martinez, Wade Boggs, The Rocket. It was pretty dang cool.

I wish that guy would have moved, but he was pretty set in his ways there.

This is the 2004 World Series Trophy. The one that broke the curse of the Bambino. They had it out there on the field, just for us to take pictures with. Someone has some connections.

This right here is the Green Monster. If you don't know what that is, well I am sorry. It is the left field wall at Fenway. And it was made out of tin. I am sorry for all those who have smashed into it trying to catch a fly ball.

an experience

hey everyone. jordan is awesome. i love the people. i love the places. aka. petra. and how awesome it was. we were just there for four days, but it was absolutely sweetness. the people there struck me as so genuinely friendly and accomodating. we made it back, we've got a couple days back here in jerusalem and then it is over. i am pretty dang sad about that to tell you the truth. it is killing me. this is such a great life to live...traveling and studying. i feel like i am just getting to know a lot of the people here, that i could be really good friends with, so i am sad about that. but with that said, we have done so much incredible stuff over the last 7 weeks, it is just amazing. i was looking through a jerusalem/holy land tour book and pretty much every place i was able to be like "yep, been there". pretty sweet if you ask me. i will put some pics up tomorrow if i can crunch in the time. tomorrow we are going on a trip through the last days of Christ's life. I can't wait. this is one of the things i have been looking forward to most.
speaking of Christ. the other day we were taking tour of some of the excavation sites around the wall of the old city. Brother Whitchurch (charity's teacher from when she was here) was talking about Christ and places he would have spent time. We were there on the steps that led to the temple where the Savior spent a lot of time. Bro. Whitchurch talked about the fact that the Savior would have walked on those steps time and time again. it was a quick moment, but an overpowering feeling of the spirit hit me hard. there i was... in jerusalem...standing on the steps where the Savior stood. Right where he was. I wrote on my application to come here about my desire to walk where the Savior walked, and I have only dreamed of doing that my whole life. And all of the sudden I was there, right where he was. I have been close many times over the course of this trip. But many of the places were only general areas. This time I was right there. It was just an awesome experience. One of those experiences you never forget. It was simple and sweet, but powerful. I wrote a prayer and put it in the wall there at the top of those steps... a prayer that I can come to better know the man who stood on the steps so many times. Just thought I would share that with you. I love you all a whole lot.
Eli

Some thoughts...

This started out as a letter to mom and dad, but I think I will send it on to the whole fam.
Mom and Dad, it was so awesome to talk to you guys a little bit today. especially considering i was doing it from a little olive wood carvers shop in the middle of jerusalem. i tell you what the people of jerusalem are awesome. they really love and TRUST the BYU students here. For example. In order to buy that nativity, (which is beauty by the way, i really like it) I had to go to the money changers to exchange some money, usually you do that with checks, but all i had was a credit card. I asked the guy, Aladdin, who is the money changer that has dealt with BYU students for ages, if he could work as an ATM and give me some cash by charging my credit card. He told me that he would have to apply a 5 percent service charge, after a bit of negotiating, he just pulled out a paper and told me to write my name on it, how much i needed and he then gave me the $200 to buy the set as I told him I would bring him a check next time I come to town. What a guy huh? These people, regardless of their faith are all so full of light and love. I really do love these people. There are some many great faces in town, I love talking with merchants, getting to know them, (and then bargaining) ha. I really appreciate them and their "light" that they have.
In church on Sunday I had a personal epiphany regarding the Savior and key to happiness in life. The two words that I feel best describe the Savior are "light" and "love" I know those may be common, but think about it for a second. He had those, he does all he can to instill those qualities in us. We are all blessed with the "light of Christ." As we accept that light, our own personal light within us goes stronger, as does our desire to love more. To be more Christlike. All the people here have that light within them, and there will come a day when they will be able to stronger associate that light with the Savior and his love... and ultimately his atonement. It may be a while, but one day these blessed Israelis will come around and have a chance to explore and accept the gospel. But it all starts with that light of Christ.
I am sure Charity remembers this, as do you all from the time that you were here, but one of the most interesting comments that we receive, I guess I should say compliments that students here receive from virtually everyone in town, is that there is a certain light that the students here have. They tell me that they can pick a mormon out of any crowd of people. That is quite a compliment. They say our faces are full of light and happiness. I think that is the reason why they love having BYU students here, and why they have anxiously awaited a return for so long.
I really love this place, and the people that are here... everyone from the shopkeepers to bus drivers to the other students in the group to the kids. I just thought I would share some of my thoughts about this with all of you. It all comes back to the Savior and the light that he blesses all of us with. I guess that is what they mean when they call Him the light of the world.
I love you guys. Let's all try to have more Light and Love in our lives.
Eli

an experience i won't forget

You like that music don't you. A great song about Jerusalem sung by a Rabbi who is actually a famous rapper/reggae singer in America, reciting from Psalms. We spent a little over a week in Galilee and I won't forget it any time soon. Actually, I will never forget it. Many of you have been there and you remember what I am saying when I say that the sound of the waves crashing, the colors in the sky as the sun sets, the moon reflecting off the lake, the rolling hills. As if all of this isn't enough, then you think about the fact that Christ walked on those waters...he calmed the storm when the tempest was raging, he lived in Capernaum, he taught on the Mount of Beatitudes, He called Peter and Andrew to follow him. All of that happened in that one Magical area. It was so relaxing to have some time to sit on the beach and relax, to have fun, to contemplate, to read, to pray.
I hope to spend more time at Galilee in my lifetime...definately a place I will be taking my wife someday. My testimony of the Savior has been invigorated and my desire to study His words and teachings more in depth has increased greatly.
We stayed at a nice little Kibutz holiday/hotel right there on the beach. Probably the same as where many of you stayed when you came here. We had classes, New Testament, and Archaeology of the Near East at random times and split the rest of the time between great field trips all over the area, and relaxing on the beach.
I think these pictures can tell the story almost as well as words can, so read on down the page about Galilee, and also the trip we went on today to Bethlehem. Crossing into the West Bank was awesome. How many of you know that there is actually a separation wall between Jerusalem and the West Bank? I didn't. I wish those guys could just work out the probs and peacefully co exist. Make sure you go to the picture link at the top of the page too, there are a bunch of new pics on there. Galilee 1 and 2 and then the Bethehem one. Click on slideshow once you are on the page and you'll be able to see the pics full screen with captions that I wrote.
We'll be here in Jerusalem for the next week finishing up classes, and then next week we are taking off for Jordan!! The only downside being I don't have a camera, so I will be bugging a lot of people to use their cameras. I love Jerusalem. I hope you are enjoying Matisyahu (the guy singing). I love you all. Jesus in the Christ. Christmas took on a whole new meaning for me today. I was there... where it all happened.

Laughing and Bethlehem

Here we are at Shepherd's Field. Overlooking Bethlehem, in a spot that very likely could be where 2000 years ago Shepherds were amazed as they saw the star over Bethlehem and followed it to the baby Jesus, the Savior. We ate sack lunch/dinners, had a great Christmas program with music, the spirit and all. The reason we are all laughing here is that we were throwing tomatoes at Anthony (hilarious kid here) and he was running around trying to catch them.

The church of the Nativity. All built on top of the traditional site of the birth of the Savior. It is the oldest standing church in Israel, dating back to the 6th century. It had an interesting feeling there. It was packed with tourists/Christian pilgrims. It was awesome to be there, but I think I liked the feeling in Shepherd's field more. But how about the colors and the stained glass.

The 14 pointed star/symbol of the Birth of Christ. In the grotto where they suppose the actual birth of Christ took place. It was crazy in there and our tour guide was having some problems with English, so I didn't totally catch the significance of it. I love it when people speak English and mix up the plurals and singulars, it just makes life more fun.

The view from Shepherd's Field overlooking Bethlehem. A boy even came up to us carrying a little lamb and let us hold it.

Galilee

it doesn't get any better than this. the sunsets every single night... I loved just sitting out there on the shores and contemplating and enjoying God's creation. I know why Christ spent so much time there.

Mosaics are another new favorite of mine. These were all over in the Church of the Transfiguration on Mt. Tabor.

The Church of the Transfiguration

I like vegetables too. These are at the Bazaar in the Accre on the coast of the Mediterranean.

the galilee

these cliffs were huge. 200 foot drops probably. unfortunately it was a little bit misty so we didn't have a perfect view of the sea, but we were up there pretty high.

the mount of beatitudes. there was a really special feeling up there I am telling you what. one of the most beatiful spots I have been. There is a powerful presence up there, that is still strong after 2.000 years. It was fun to sit up there and read the sermon on the mount, right in the spot where it took place!

these flowers were pretty amazing. we had a guy, eric, a kibbutz man who has live on kibutz' for about 30 years took us on a hike up in the golan heights to some beautiful waterfalls. he is the same guy that took Charity and her group.

me, jeff, lisa, and lyndsi on top of the waterfall. about 50 feet, i wanted to jump off, but my conscience intervened.

Tel Aviv

We went to Tel Aviv this week. I felt like I had gone to a completely different world. It is about as far as you can get from Jerusalem... from Orthodox Jews with long curly sideburns in the Old City to fat ladies in skimpy bikinis on the beaches of Tel Aviv in about 45 minutes. It was awesome though. Had a nice swim in the Mediterranean Sea, hung out on the beach, wore Shorts!!! ate a fat old hamburger at a great restaraunt right on the beach as we watched the sunset.

I thought I had been to crowded beaches before, but this place made Waikiki look like Dingle, Idaho in comparison to NYC. People as far as you can see. Another interesting contrast to Jerusalem. It was Shavout, the day of Pentecost that we went to Tel Aviv, the streets of Jerusalem were quiet as all of the Jews were fervently studying, whereas it looked like Memorial Day in Tel Aviv, people everywhere.

After some time on the beach and in the water we headed down to Jaffa. A beautiful little city down the coast about a mile from the beaches of Tel Aviv. There was a nice boardwalk to so we walked along the coast the whole way down. We ran into a beauty little restaraunt there on the beach where you sat with your feet in the sand, eating hamburgers (pretty good, though it wasn't no Billy Burger) and watching the sunset. It was awesome. We then made our way down to Jaffa, or Joppa, you might remember it from the pictures in the back of your bible. Where Peter receive revelation to take the gospel to the Gentiles. It was a beautiful old town on the cliffs of the Med. Sea.

Then we had to take a jumping picture, you can see Tel Aviv in the background. The guy on the right actually looks like Superman. Well, the teachers here for some reason think that we all have superhuman powers and can read like 332 pages every night. These classes are rather short (time wise, only 7 weeks) but they pack everything into it. It kind of makes me sad for some of the people who are really worried about grades, because you have to sacrifice a lot of your time out in the city if you really want a good grade. I am working and learning, but I am not letting the work get in to the way of my education. Some people are a bit though. Darn BYU professors. Oh well. We are finishing the Old Testament this tuesday, and then on to the New Testament. I can't wait. I spent some time in the Garden of Gethsemane today reading and thinking, and it got me so excited to study more in depth the teachings of the Savior, and go to the places. I found a note that Charity had left for me there. Man, that girl is awesome. What a testimony she has! She inspired me to elevate my spirituality and get even more out of this experience here. She encouraged me to read Mosiah 3, about the Atonement. Wow. I am in the place where so much of Savior's life took place, and I get to go more places, like Galilee for example...we are going there on Wednesday and will be staying there for 9 days. I am so excited. Before then though we have 2 finals and a midterm for which I haven't studied yet. Oh well, that is what makes life interesting.
I said the closing prayer in church today and it hit me like a rock how lucky I am to be here, walking in the footsteps of our Savior, drawing closer to Him and learning so much. It seems much more like a dream than a reality. The spirit reassured to me today that Jesus is the Christ, and that he suffered in Gethsemane because he loves me, and he loves you. Read Luke 22. I love you all. Click on the link above to see a bunch more pictures from Galilee (the first time we went) and Tel Aviv. - Eli