My Life

I spoke in church again this week.  I addressed a different audience.  This week was to a group of single adults.  It was a slightly different topic--love.  Here is the audio recording of the talk.  Sorry, there are places where my voice is kind of soft.  That's just how I talk.  This is a big file, about 13 MB.  You can download it here .

A couple years ago I read a talk by one of the leaders of my church, Russell Ballard, who said that members of the church should become more involved in gospel discussions on the Internet. The main purpose is to help people have a better understanding of what Mormons are really like. So, I set up a blog ( Yes I'm LDS ) to discuss gospel-related things. I have since changed my mind. I think it is better to simply discuss those things here on my main blog, so that people can get a more complete picture of who I am. I figure this way I don't seem like I have multiple personalities. But if you wish to read any of the posts I made about being Mormon while I was maintaining that blog, please do so. I will not delete that blog, I have just discontinued posting there. So, I should briefly mention how I feel about being a Mormon. I love the LDS church (the official name is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). It is such a big part of my own personal identity. It has shape...

I spoke in my sacrament meeting today.  The topic I was given to speak on was the temple.  I read the lyrics to hymn #288 How Beautiful thy Temples, Lord  and quoted some passages from Isaiah.  Then I pointed out that in 2 Ne 5, Nephi mentions that he built a temple and later in that chapter that his people lived after the manner of happiness. The temple is a very special place to me.  It is a place where we can feel the Spirit of the Lord very strongly, where we can grow and become better people.  I love everything about the temple, and I love going there often. For the last half of my talk, I spoke on the law of consecration.  This is the highest law that we covenant to follow in the temple.  It means dedicating all of your possessions, talents, and blessings to the building of the kingdom of God.  So, I discussed some of the more obvious things that we think about consecrating, such as money and time.  Then I talked about the bles...

I was listening to Pandora radio today (which I rarely do) and this song came on. I've seen Mulan several times before--in fact it's one of my favorites--but for some reason the meaning of the song hit me real hard this time. I can't relate to the feeling of wanting to be a perfect bride or daughter, for the obvious reason, but I can relate to the rest of the song. When will my reflection show who I am inside? Will I ever reach the point of true authenticity? If I were truly to be myself, would I break my family's heart? I sure hope not. I have a wonderful family, and I know they love me very much. Disney has so many inspiration messages. I really enjoy many of their movies. Another of my favorites is the Hunchback of Notre Dame, and the reason is because of Quasi Modo's songs One Day Out There and Heaven's Light (particularly the reprise). The first song because so often throughout my life I've felt like I've been on the edge of society watch...

There’s someone I’d like to share with you, Someone who’s dear to my heart. Someone who you’ll get along with, Who’ll be a dear friend from the start. This is a man who has opened my eyes To the wonderful feeling of love, A man who has taught the true meaning of peace From wondrous heights up above. What’s that? You don’t want him to heal you? Your wounds are too deep and too vast? The time and the patience to fix it, You know that no man would last. “The time for healing is over. I love my wounds, let me be.” But, my dear friend, He will show you. How to spread your wings and be free. Do you not see the scars on my face? On my heart, on my soul, on my mind? The wounds that I had were more fearsome than yours, Albeit of exact same in kind. I stood, long ago, where you stand right now, Trembling, alone, and afraid. I thought that perhaps I should give up on life, That for me this world wasn’t made. All the lies spread by the devil himself, “You’re a fool,...

So far, I have been home for Christmas every year, even though it's almost 2,000 miles away.  One reason this has been pretty easy is that my school gives me about a month off for Christmas break.  Well, this year I decided to take pretty much my whole time off to go and be with family.  I left the day after my last final and didn't come back until the weekend before school started again.  It was a lot of fun. My biggest mistake was deciding to drive out.  It really wasn't all that bad.  In fact, on the way out there it was good because I got to visit my brother-in-law and a missionary who had served in my ward a couple years ago.  So, I took my time and enjoyed the trip on the way out there.  Coming home was another story. I had a baptism to attend, so I rushed as fast as I could.  I made the 1,800 mile drive in a total of 31.5 hours, including the time I stopped to sleep.  That was probably the most exhausting thing I've done in quit...

About two years after I got married, I decided to make a new blog that was for me and my wife.  If you would like to visit that blog, the link is  http://keithandkarenpenrod.blogspot.com/ Since my wife has passed away, I will be continuing my blog here.