Terran to Zerg, Huh?

On the colony world of Mar Sara, and being the Confederate magistrate, you face all sorts of problems.  Zerg, the insectoid aliens, have been invading for ages and it has been a never ending battle to maintain the colony.  Not only is Zerg a giant pain, but you have Protoss nippin' at your heels.  For an Earth exile, Terran, life isn't easy.

As time goes on and you grow more familiar with the species (Terran), you start to really detest those insectoids.  They assimilate everything, use all the minerals and vespene gas, and the creep....Yikes!  You're goal is to wipe them off the face of the planet (literally).

After you get to a certain point in this game (yes, if you haven't guessed it, I'm talkin about StarCraft) the tables turn.  You go from Confederate general master to controlling the Swarm.  That's right, you are now the insectoids.

As quick as I was to dislike this alien race, I soon came to understand them.  Zerg is a race that is in pursuit of genetic perfection and obsessed with assimilating other races.  They too are just trying to find their place in the Koprulu Sector.

"Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes."  We are all quick to criticize.  Quick to decide that we know better or could do things better than someone else.  Our pride gets the better of us far too easily.  President Ezra Taft Benson said:

The central feature of pride is enmity—enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen. Enmity means “hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition.” It is the power by which Satan wishes to reign over us.


We create enmity between us and others.  Place ourselves in a "mightier than thou" type of mindset and can't see the bigger picture. 

It's hard to see what's really going on in someone's life.  That girl that doesn't ever talk to anyone and seems so stuck up, she's actually extremely shy.  The boy that doesn't seem to care about bathing, his family had the water shut off and can't shower regularly.  Things are always deeper then they appear.

So, before you go wiping out an entire alien species or go off criticizing someone, take a step back.  Picture what it would be like to "walk a mile in their shoes."

Oh No You Didn't!

 Certain things just get me all fired up.  It's just who I am and in my nature.  Today someone brought up one of these "fire up" topics and I intend to address it again here.

There is a common stereotype given to the Sister missionaries that has gotten extremely out of hand and is false on so many levels.  Allow me to share with you the exact statement I heard this morning: "The three reasons why a sister missionary serves a mission are 1) They want to and are doing it for the right reasons.  2) They are looking for their future spouse.  3) They couldn't get married."  Oh how lucky that poor child was that I am a missionary and have self restraint.

To share something a little personal, I have been engaged before.  I do not intend to go into detail about it, but know that I was.  At first it was sad, but very quickly I realized what an incredible blessing it was for me!  It would have been a terrible mistake.  The Lord intervened and took me another direction. 

When I first turned 21 and prayed about going on a mission, my initial prompting was no.  So, I didn't.  I continued to work.  But, as I have shared before in my previous post (Why I'm On A Mission), about 6 months later I got the prompting that I should go out and serve the Lord.  A part of me was very apprehensive about it.   Point 3, 'They couldn't get married', was something I didn't want to be labelled.  Thankfully, I listened to my prompting and came out on my mission.  I made that decision and have never regretted it since.  I used my agency to do the best thing I have ever done in my life.

California Santa Rosa Mission Sisters.  Booyah!

Everyone has agency, or the right to choose between good and evil and to act for themselves.  We choose our actions.  This gift is given to everyone.  No one can take that away.  Someone tried once, but he was thrown out.  He tries persistantly to get us to make the wrong choices in life.  Sad thing for him is that he can't force us to do anything.  Silly Satan.  Just never learns.

So, for all you 'nay saying sister haters' out there.  Let me just bluntly tell you that each of us chose to be here.  We weren't forced to come because we "couldn't get married."  We aren't here because we want to "find our future spouse"  It was a conscious choice to come out and serve our Lord and King.  No one took away our agency and kicked us out the door.  This is the best decision I have ever made!

Changed My Life

"We're not alone."  Such a common saying in movies, daily life, and in our spiritual lives.  Not one of us is ever completely alone.  There are so many people in this world.  Some of them we pass by casually on the street, others are very near and dear to us.  Each person we meet has the ability to change us in one way or another.  In the end, there are some people that completely change our lives and help mold us into who we are or who we are becoming.  In my life, there are a few people like this.

Wow, did you see her?

Oh Montana, what memories I have of you!  My Grandpa lived up in Libby, Montana towards the end of his life, which is up in the northwest corner of Montana.  Population of about 2,800, not necessarily your thriving metropolis, but it was gorgeous and had that small-town feel I like.  My family and I only made a few trips up there, but each one was worth remembering.  The most memorable was the first time we visited.



My dear old Grampy was Mr. Mountain Man and took us for all sorts of adventures.  We chopped wood for his house, played at the river, went to the swinging bridge (so cool), went to church, and went Libby sightseeing.  It was awesome!  I was really close to my grandfather and loved every minute with him.  There was, however, one very.....interesting experience there.

One night we had dinner with some friends of my grandpa.  It was a campfire dinner on the river bank roasting hot dogs and marshmallows (s'mores, mmmmm.....).  While we were sitting around the campfire we got to talking about where I was going for school.  Told them I was going to BYU-Idaho in the fall and was pretty excited about it.  My grandpa then started to ask one of the daughters in the family about her experience at BYU-Idaho, she had just recently graduated from the college.  The first thing she did was look at me.  Glanced up, then down, then turned for her response.  Boy, did it make me wonder.

It began with my shoes, "couldn't wear those up there."  Then, the jeans, "the jeans, yeah those won't fly."  My shirt, "shirt is probably too bright."  Sweater, "the sweater is just not something you'd wear up there."  And if that wasn't all enough, my hair came next, "hair, probably can't have it cut like that when you go there."  Of course, I had no response for this.  Just nodded my head with a shocked look on my face.  What more could I do?  I had never been torn apart like that before in my life.  Not that I was wearing anything immodest at all.  Let's face it, it was cold and by a river.  I was in pants, warm sweater, tennis shoes, and my hair pulled up in a pony tail.  Appropriate?  Yes.  Clean?  That one may be a no, but who is when by a fire?  She judged me based off my appearance and before getting to know me.  How often do we judge others when we see them?  Look on their outer appearance and not what is inside?

1 Samuel 16:7 But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord ^aseeth not as ^bman seeth; for man looketh on the outward ^cappearance, but the ^dLord looketh on the ^eheart.

The Lord is the one that does the judging.  It is not for us to judge others.  We too need to put on our "Jesus goggles", as a member in Vacaville called it.  See others for what they really are, sons and daughters of God.  We are all worth something.  You don't know what is in someone's heart based on their appearance.  Judge less, look deeper, and love more.