I feel like the fruits of my Cirrus Drive Life campaign are beginning to take affect. Progress will be slow but accumulative. The website traffic has picked up by several times what it was in November.

I meet with *** on Saturday. I’m so grateful for the opportunity. The *** birthday party on Saturday will also be very fun to go to. They are clients from California that moved to Caldwell. They purchased a Hubble Home and were able to choose several features to make it more accessible for his wheelchair.

The appraisel for the *** place finally happened yesterday. The appraiser came down with the flu last week and had to postpone.

*** has signed an updated buyers contract and they hope to move in to a Next Gen Lennar home in August. I hope it all comes to gather for them.

I sent a message to *** about not selling furniture from his house before they put it on the market. I included his uncle ***. Neither one responded, so I hope it’s not a bad sign.

Business meeting is today. I would like to find myself in the opportunity to hand out some business cards. And I need to buckle down and shoot some Cirrus Drive video.

Come Follow Me

There is alot to study this week. I have my daily reading from the Book of Mormon, and Elder Homer’s talk for Elder’s Quorum, as well as the Come Follow Me lesson. Out of all of this, what stood out to me was the question “what work Does God have for you to do.” It’s easy to let my imagination run while thinking about the answer to this question. But I feel like there is wisdom in sticking with the simple things that everyone is asked to do. I don’t need to feel like I have a special mission. There is plenty to do right in front of me.

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The weekend was good, but I have woke up this morning feeling a lack of motivation. I think it has something to do with what I dreamed last night, but I can’t remember the details. I only remember waking up several times in the night feeling disturbed about what I had dreamt.

Today I am scheduled to get my permanent crown put on. That also might be a factor in how I feel. I’m a little hesitant to go in after last time.

I will be sending paperwork for *** and *** to sign this morning. I also need to check in with the appraiser that is slated to go to the *** place. He got sick during the week and I believe he never ended up going. I hope to be diligent today getting some footage to put together a few videos for Cirrus Drive Life.

Come Follow Me

I will be leading the discussion this week in our class at church. We will be discussing how to put our trust in God and using the general conference talk from David P. Homer. I will read that talk daily as I think about how I will guide our lesson. What struck me today was how relatively early in the church a missionary was sent to Hawaii.

Brother Homer’s talk focuses a lot on trusting God when how or what we think does not align with something declarative from the church or one of it’s authorities.

Sister Pratt’s husband had been sent as a missionary to Hawaii and she was left behind with their children. She did not want to make the trek across the country to Salt Lake but Brigham Young counseled her to go instead of wait for her husband, and the journey became a joy to her. I need to find out more about the story.

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Yesterday was a good day. Started with a good breakfast with Kelsee and Landon, and then did a little bit to clean the house.

Got a baseline for the 5K we will do later in the year by measuring out a walk of that length using Strava. 3,1 miles took 54 minutes at an average speed of 3.5 mph. Moose and I were walking fast. It wore both of us out a little bit.

Updated the website. Traffic really picked up on it, which leads me to think *** is out there getting the door hangers placed. In the afternoon Jenn and I went to dinner with the *** and ***. We went to Cottonwood Grille. It was a good time.

I came home and finally got some more of the Best Day Ever books delivered.

Today will be a serviceful day. *** wants to come to church today, so I will leave ward council a little early to pick him up.

We’re going to have a presidency meeting after church, and then *** and I are going to visit the *** family.

In the evening *** is going to come back to our house for a missionary discussion.

Come Follow Me

More than all of that, I hope I can keep Heavenly Father at the forefront of my thoughts.

It’s so easy to think about other things, and I find myself wanting to see how many views the website got, and do other work related things. But I know how awesome it would be to feel as if I was walking with Heavenly Father today.

I love the feeling of walking with Heavenly Father. Those times, rare in the overall scheme of things, where it feels like He is next to me, and my thoughts are a constant conversation with Him. Where nothing else really matters too much, because I know that in the end He will take care of all. I yearn for that feeling, especially today.

I have so much to be grateful for. It’s easier to think of gratitude in the context of a list of tangibles, whether objects or specific circumstance, than it is as an overall attribute, feeling, or attitude.

I look forward to church today, where I can go to rub shoulders with like minded friends. It’s meant for more than that though. It’s mean to worship and honor the father of our spirits, and remember Him. It’s also to show our gratitude.

As I write this I had a thought become more clear in my head. Jesus, as the first born of God in the spirit and only begotten in the flesh, is our spiritual brother. But as the atonement provides a new birth for us he is also a father to us, giving us life where there was death. So how will I worship? The greatest gift I could give would be to give up my pride. worship, like all things, can be demonstrated externally, but real worship comes from within. I hope that today the feeling of admiration and honor I have for Heavenly father will fill me heart and my mind.

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Kelsee and Landon came to town yesterday so we’re going to have breakfast with them to start the day.

Jenn has an exercise class late morning, and I have some paperwork to do for a contract with a buyer.

we are looking forward to going out with some friends tonight, the *** and the ***.

I hope to fill in some space in the day by collecting some more footage for my short videos highlighting the Cirrus Drive neighborhoods.

Yesterday felt serviceful, which was amazing. A few men from the ward and I helped move some furniture out of a house that *** and *** are helping the owner with liquidating. The owner moved to California to be with family and will need to sell the house shortly.

After helping with that, which turned out to be a bigger job than I thought, I went home for lunch. I accidently dosed off a bit and woke up to hear Kelsee walking in the door. That was a nice surprise.

A little later in the afternoon I picked up *** and brought him back to our house for a discussion with the missionaries. That was very enjoyable.

Spent the rest of the day with Sienna, Kelsee, Landon, and Jenn. And in the midst of all that *** messaged me that he wants to move forward with trying to purchase one of the Next Gen homes from Lennar in our neighborhood. Yay! I am very grateful for the opportunity to help him.

Come Follow Me

The passage that stuck out to me most from my reading today was the last one from the Book of Mormon. 2 Ne 32: 9. Don’t do any work for the Lord without praying that it might be for the benefit of my soul. I always forget this, but it seems like such good counsel. I will try to remember this.

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I have become much better with video in the last couple of months. By better I mean more consistent. Quality wise, and interest wise, I have a ways to go. But I’ll get there. This morning I’m helping load up some beds for the Relief Society at 10am. I forgot to reach out to the Elder’s Quorum for help so I’ll be doing that this morning, and praying for a little miracle that a couple of them respond.

At 3pm the missionaries are having a discussion with *** at our house. I’m worried I’ll forget that, so I need to make it stick in my brain.

Yesterday was a nice day. I made it to the temple, got some work done in the office. and got the door hangers to *** for delivery. After that I went on a walk with Sienna, picked up some domino’s pizza for dinner, and took a couple to the *** family as well. *** is having some pretty concerning health issues. I imagine they are pretty stressed out,

I have very high hopes for business this year, and I have put in a lot of time getting my website to a good place. I have also developed a good pattern for getting myself out there on social media consistently. I’m very happy about that.

But now I feel like I need to increase my efforts even more. I want to close two sales a month (+ 1) in 2025. My goal is 25 in 25. The year has started off with some good prospects, but I feel like more needs to be happening if I’m going to reach my goal. I’ve thought of making lists of non-owner occupied houses and calling the owners to see if they are ready to off-load their properties. I should do some searches to see some other creative, old school ways to get business. My challenge is having personal contact with people I don’t know in order to win business. That’s a difficult prospect. But if I’m going to defy gravity in 2025, it’s going to mean getting over my biggest hang-ups.

Come Follow Me

I’m not sure it’s fair that I write under the heading Come Follow Me when I continue to write about what I read in the Book of Mormon, but I’m sure there’s not someone policing it either. Most likely no one even reads it, besides me. 🙂

I read in the chapters of 27,28, and 29 of 2nd Nephi today. What stood out to me was a section of verses that had very much to do with what I was thinking about before I started reading. I love when that happens.

The section was verses 7 and 8 of chapter 28. These verses describe 2 types of people. The first type are people who do not consider God in their daily lives. At least not in a way where their recognition leads to a certain pattern of life. They eat, drink, and are merry while they have the power to do so.

The second group is a collection of people that acknowledge God and the standards He puts forth. They recognize that they may not be living up to those standards, but prioritize their worldly pleasures (up to a point) before what God wants. They recognize they are not living up to his ideal, but trust that He will still accept them after some sort of just punishment is handed out.

I’m ashamed to acknowledge this, but I see myself in my own description of that second group. Yesterday I went to the temple in the morning. The day started well. By the end of the night I was watching television, and a show which entertained my mind but did nothing to remind me of anything that was virtuous, praiseworthy, or of good report. If the show had any affect on my mind it would have been to point it in directions away from Heavenly Father. At best it was frivolous. At worst it was harmful to my spirit. But I justified it by saying “It’s not that bad'”, “I’m tired and just need something mindless for a few minutes”, or it’s “no big deal.”

All of that sounds disturbingly close to “Eat, drink, and be merry – nevertheless fear God.” or, in other words, remember him when you can, and don’t do anything too bad, and he’ll forgive you for the small stuff in the end. This attitude misses the point. It’s not about punishment, rules, or anything else like that. It’s about loving God, and honoring Him in a way where we take care of ourselves, his offspring. Where we put far away from ourselves anything that would interfere with us being encircled in his embrace. It’s not that he’ll punish us a little and then welcome us in, it’s avoiding anything that will fill us with shame when we see Him or He sees us. It’s not about degrees of sin, or justification, or forgiveness as much as it’s about giving Him 100% of our hearts. If we give Him 100% percent of our hearts, everything else will take care of itself.

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I miss the baptistry, and coming with Jenn. It’s more challenging making a time for us to come together, but that means we just need to make a little more effort.

Our first Elder’s Quorum Activity outside of Sunday church was last night. It was really fun. It was well attended, and the men who came made some friendships, or strengthened ones that already existed.

Today, I have some various marketing things to do. I need the marketing activities to translate into some business soon.

Come Follow Me

The verse that stuck out to me in my reading wasn’t actually from the Come Follow Me reading, but it’s related. I read in the Book of Mormon a verse from 2 NE chapter 27 that states in the last days pretty much all the world is “drunken with iniquity and all manner of abominations.” It causes me to wonder how I fall into that statement. We are “drunken”, which means we don’t even realize what state we are in. How does one “sober up” from that? If the cloud that hangs over us is thick with darkness, what will blow the cloud away? But we would see the cloud, and recognize it. “Drunken” is such a significant and meaningful adjective.

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Today I’m going to take some time to educate myself more about creating social media content. I also have an idea for another Jargon files video.

There is a family in the ward I would like to visit today, and then tonight we are having an Elder’s Quorum get together at the club house in Sienna Hills.

It’s a little surreal that its already half way through the first month of 2025. Time seems to be going by faster than ever. How do I feel about life right now in 2025? I feel good about it. My biggest source of discomfort and/or anxiety at the moment is working through the details of this potential short sale. The unknown is always the most difficult. But besides that, life is pretty good.

Come follow Me

One of my favorite passages of scripture has always been verses that talk about seeking something from God. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened to you. That sort of thing.

It makes such a difference believing in a Father in Heaven who loves and wants to hear from us. Missing my own kids and wanting to engage and be with them is proof enough for me that if there is a being in the universe that is the creator of our spiritual selves, He wants to hear from us. And if He wants to hear from us He surely wants to communicate back to us.

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The land brokerage class yesterday was ok, and I gleaned a couple things, but mostly it felt like a sales pitch for a certification that the teacher does other classes for. I’m already done with all the required CE classes, so it felt a little bit like a waste of time, but it did inspire a couple of ideas to pack away for the future.

My Cirrus Drive Life campaign is shaping up. It’s easy to post anything from our life here that represents the place we live.

I was happy to get my oil changed and car washed after the class yesterday.

And I even got a long walk in with Moose.

Today I’ll go to office meeting, get a Jargon files video done, and try to get out of there and come back to Caldwell to get some work done closer to home.

Tonight I hope to have some interviews at the church.

Come Follow Me

Reading and pondering about Joseph Smith is a weighty thing. It’s easy to get caught up in the social or day to day things of the church, but focusing on Joseph Smith brings into clarity the magnitude of what members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints believe.

Believing the words of Joseph Smith, and the experiences he relates, is an admission that God has an active interest in what we are doing today. It’s hard to articulate the idea I have in my head, but I think it’s that it’s more difficult to believe and have faith in a prophet in our time than to say one believes in the prophets of the Bible. The farther away from us in time someone is, the easier to say “If I had been there I would have listened and believed.”

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I’m also looking forward to learning more on my quest to overcome my fear of other people’s opinions. I’m re-reading the book by Michael Gervais called The First Step to Mastery. It’s essentially about dealing with FOPO. (fear of other peoples opinions)

I read something this morning that resonated with me. It was regarding the subject of performance based identity, and in his description of this I saw myself.

My self-perception, and related esteem, are rooted in how other people might rate my performance. It’s not even relative to how they actually rate my performance, but how I think they MIGHT rate my performance. It seems easy to recognize that can’t be healthy. 🙂 I want to root out this mental pathway. Dig it up, excavate it, pave it over, and make it new.

Come Follow Me

This week we are reading in Joseph Smith history. My thoughts this morning correlate with the very first part of the reading. Joseph is writing to push back against people and institutions who are maligning the church or him personally.

Whenever someone tries to do something that has a large impact, there will be naysayers. I am going to have naysayers. I don’t need to try to ruffle feathers, but it’s going to come naturally the more I try to have an influence. I have to either learn to thrive amidst the naysayers, or be quiet. I don’t want to be quiet anymore.

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Jenn and I will also be taking someone to church that I met yesterday with the missionaries. His name is ***. It’s always a little weird taking a virtual stranger to church, but it always feels good too.

Yesterday felt very satisfying. I helped out with the young women’s activity at the temple in the morning, helped the missionaries with an appointment in the afternoon, and went to dinner with *** in the evening.

Dinner was so good. It seems like *** has to be a chef. He seems so passionate about it. *** is walking now. He was very cute. Spending time with him made me feel more excited for baby ***.

We ended the day with a soak in the hot tub, which is always nice.

Today we have the *** baby blessing to attend after our own church meetings. And I hope to meet with some brothers for ministering interviews on short notice. That’s about it.

Come follow Me

for Elder’s quorum today we will be talking about Elder Budge’s general conference talk “Seek Him with all your Heart.” He writes about making the times everyday when we return to the Savior more still, more thoughtful, and more meditative. To put my own words to it, I would say more all consuming. In those times, put away the world and be still in the Lord.

I’m looking forward to the discussion. I want to do this in my own life. Today being Sunday, I will try to be more rigorous in my attempt to put away worldly thoughts and walk with the Lord.

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