Sunday, October 30, 2011

The Final Sunday Sneak Peak


Thank you all for coming to my farewell today.  I totally felt loved.  I'm going on my mission in 3 days and yes, I'm excited and nervous.  Anyways, I just wanna say how much I love Christ, and how much we owe him.  And that is a lot.  He deserves so much more than we give him.  Anyways here's the story I shared in my talk today.  I hope you can find time to read it.

Seminary Donuts

Brother Christianson taught Seminary. He had an open-door policy and would take in any student that had been thrown out of another class as long as they would abide by his rules. Steve had been kicked out of his sixth period and no other teacher wanted him, so he went into Brother Christianson's Seminary class.
Steve was told that he could not be late, so he arrived just seconds before the bell rang and he would sit in the very back of the room. He would also be the first to leave after the class was over.
One day, Brother Christianson asked Steve to stay after class so he could talk with him. After class, Bro. Christianson pulled Steve aside and said, "You think you're pretty tough, don't you?"
Steve's answer was, "Yeah, I do."
Then Brother Christianson asked, "How many push-ups can you do?"
Steve said, "I do about 200 every night."
"200? That's pretty good, Steve," Brother Christianson said. "Do you think you could do 300?"
Steve replied, "I don't know... I've never done 300 at a time."
"Do you think you could?" Again asked Brother Christianson.
"Well, I can try," said Steve.
"Can you do 300 in sets of 10? I need you to do 300 in sets of ten for this to work. Can you do it? I need you to tell me you can do it," Brother Christianson said. Steve said, "Well... I think I can... yeah, I can do it."
Brother Christianson said, "Good! I need you to do this on Friday."
Friday came and Steve got to class early and sat in the front of the room.
When class started, Brother Christianson pulled out a big box of donuts. Now these weren't the normal kinds of donuts, they were the extra fancy BIG kind, with cream centers and frosting swirls. Everyone was pretty excited-it was Friday, the last class of the day, and they were going to get an early start on the weekend.
Bro. Christianson went to the first girl in the first row and asked, "Cynthia, do you want a donut?"
Cynthia said, "Yes."
Bro. Christianson then turned to Steve and asked, "Steve, would you do ten push-ups so that Cynthia can have a donut?"
Steve said, "Sure," and jumped down from his desk to do a quick ten. Then Steve again sat in his desk. Bro. Christianson put a donut on Cynthia's desk..
Bro. Christianson then went to Joe, the next person, and asked, "Joe do you want a donut?"
Joe said, "Yes." Bro. Christianson asked, "Steve would you do ten push-ups so Joe can have a donut?" Steve did ten push-ups, Joe got a donut.
And so it went, down the first aisle, Steve did ten pushups for every person before they got their donut. And down the second aisle, till Bro. Christianson came to Scott.
Scott was captain of the football team and center of the basketball team. He was very popular and never lacking for female companionship. When Bro. Christianson asked, "Scott, do you want a donut?"
Scott's reply was, "Well, can I do my own pushups?"
Bro. Christianson said, "No, Steve has to do them."
Then Scott said, "Well, I don't want one then."
Bro. Christianson then turned to Steve and asked, "Steve, would you do ten pushups so Scott can have a donut he doesn't want?"
Steve started to do ten pushups. Scott said, "HEY! I said I didn't want one!"
Bro. Christianson said, "Look, this is my classroom, my class, my desks, and my donuts. Just leave it on the desk if you don't want it." And he put a donut on Scott's desk.
Now by this time, Steve had begun to slow down a little. He just stayed on the floor between sets because it took too much effort to be getting up and down. You could start to see a little perspiration coming out around his brow. Bro. Christianson started down the third row. Now the students were beginning to get a little angry.
Bro. Christianson asked Jenny, "Jenny, do you want a donut?"
Jenny said, "No."
Then Bro. Christianson asked Steve, "Steve, would you do ten pushups so Jenny can have a donut that she doesn't want?" Steve did ten, Jenny got a donut.
By now, the students were beginning to say "No" and there were all these uneaten donuts on the desks. Steve was also having to really put forth a lot of effort to get these pushups done for each donut. There began to be a small pool of sweat on the floor beneath his face, his arms and brow were beginning to get red because of the physical effort involved.
Bro. Christianson asked Robert to watch Steve to make sure he did ten pushups in a set because he couldn't bear to watch all of Steve's work for all of those uneaten donuts. So Robert began to watch Steve closely. Bro. Christianson started down the fourth row.
During his class, however, some students had wandered in and sat along the heaters along the sides of the room. When Bro. Christianson realized this; he did a quick count and saw 34 students in the room. He started to worry if Steve would be able to make it.
Bro. Christianson went on to the next person and the next and the next. Near the end of that row, Steve was really having a rough time. He was taking a lot more time to complete each set.
Steve asked Bro. Christianson, "Do I have to make my nose touch on each one?"
Bro. Christianson thought for a moment, "Well, they're your pushups. You can do them any way that you want." And Bro. Christianson went on.
A few moments later, Jason came to the room and was about to come in when all the students yelled, "NO! Don't come in! Stay out!"
Jason didn't know what was going on. Steve picked up his head and said, "No, let him come."
Bro. Christianson said, "You realize that if Jason comes in you will have to do ten pushups for him."
Steve said, "Yes, let him come in."
Bro. Christianson said, "Okay, I'll let you get Jason's out of the way right now. Jason, do you want a donut?"
"Yes."
"Steve, will you do ten pushups so that Jason can have a donut?" Steve did ten pushups very slowly and with great effort. Jason, bewildered, was handed a donut and sat down.
Bro. Christianson finished the fourth row, then started on those seated on the heaters. Steve's arms were now shaking with each pushup in a struggle to lift himself against the force of gravity. Sweat was dropping off of his face and, by this time, there was not a dry eye in the room.
The very last two girls in the room were cheerleaders and very popular. Bro. Christianson went to Linda, the second to last, and asked, "Linda, do you want a doughnut?
Linda said, very sadly, "No, thank you."
Bro. Christianson asked Steve, "Steve, would you do ten pushups so that Linda can have a donut she doesn't want?"
Grunting from the effort, Steve did ten very slow pushups for Linda. Then Bro. Christianson turned to the last girl, Susan. "Susan, do you want a donut?"
Susan, with tears flowing down her face, asked, "Bro. Christianson, can I help him?"
Bro. Christianson, with tears of his own, said, "No, he has to do it alone, Steve, would you do ten pushups so Susan can have a donut?"
As Steve very slowly finished his last pushup, with the understanding that he had accomplished all that was required of him, having done 350 pushups, his arms buckled beneath him and he fell to the floor.
Brother Christianson turned to the room and said, "And so it was, that our Savior, Jesus Christ, pleaded to the Father, "Into thy hands I commend my spirit." With the understanding that He had done everything that was required of Him, he collapsed on the cross and died. And like some of those in this room, many of us leave the gift on the desk, uneaten."

Friday, October 28, 2011

How To Prepare For College

Sorry to all of you college students...  This is late.

I hope you guys were ok without this video of how to prepare for college. 


Starring: Zach Harris and Cade 'The College Genie' Wilkes

 

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Blogging and the likes

When you only have 1 week left until your mission, you realize there are more important things than 
.
...
.....
blogging.

Yeah.

I said it.

So sorry for the draught lately, but really, I have a lot of preparing to do, and blogging is just another thing that takes my time away from packing and preparing.

Anyways, see this guy?
He came with me from Pleasant Grove to Salt Lake!
.
...
.....
On the hood!

He was seriously holding on there the whole time.

I was pretty impressed.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

!0!

Some people celebrate their 100th post.
Some people celebrate their 101st.
Yeah, I'm in the second group.



BOOM.
Alyssa Taylor.


I bet you didn't see her today.
Jealous?  Probably

Monday, October 17, 2011

URL change

Yeah yeah I'm gonna change the URL address of my blog!  

From 

doworkyo.blogspot.com

to 

thedannyhardingexperience.blogspot.com

SO. SICK.

So if you access this blog with the URL, and one day you try to read it, and you can't, simply type in the new URL found above.  It's that easy.  And all my missionary letters will be on it as well, so that's how you're gonna be able to see how I'm doing on my mission to Comayagüela Honduras!

Or just write me a letter.
Which would be the preferred method.




Wanna know what a gangster is?
Take a gander.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Peru

Got my brother

Held a snake

Held a sloth

Saw Machu Picchu

Met a bunch of Peruanos

Basically became a Peruano

Got kissed by a Peruano
(But it was basically the same kind of story as Jessie's)

Had a blast!!

I'll try to do better next post

Friday, October 7, 2011

Peru el segundo

I am in Peru! One of these pictures is of the Place I'm at right now called Niños Hotel. It is very wonderful! And yes, that's my brother. We'll be back in the states on the 15th If you wanna see him. Peru is pretty sweet! What a party.

(sorry about the no Bueno picture quality, I will fix it when I get back a Los Estados. Y Sí, I am bilingual now)

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Peru

I am currently in Peru with my brother Curtis! What a treat! And look who else I found at the airport! So sick.

So does anyone need me to pick anything up for them while I'm down here?

Monday, October 3, 2011

Summed up Sunday

Yes, General Conference was once again wonderful.  I simply loved it!  I tried to pay close attention to the Prophet, Thomas S. Monson, because I didn't want to be like the guy in the story from last week who couldn't recall what the Lord had told us through the Prophet.

Anyways, President Monson's story about being in the Navy was awesome.  He gave it during Priesthood session.  The first sunday in the Navy, the chief officer commanded them:  Today everybody goes to church.  All of you Catholics, you meet at camp decader.  Don't come back until 3 o'clock. Forward march.  Those of you who are Jewish, you meet in camp Henry.  Don't come back until 3 o'clock.  The rest of you protestants, you meet in the theaters at camp fairgood.  Don't come back until 3 o'clock.

Instantly it flashed through Thomas' mind:  Monson you're not a catholic, you're not a Jew, you're not a protestant, you're Mormon!  So you just stand here.  He then stated that he is glad to be alive today.  President Monson felt completely alone.  Courageous and determined, but alone.

This got me thinking.. How easy would it have been for President Monson to have simply walked out along with the sailors of one of the other faiths?  But he didn't.  It takes courage to stand up to adversary, and oftentimes you will be by yourself.  It's easier to go with the flow and allow others to determine your actions.  But it is much more gratifying to decide for yourself, and to decide the right thing.  I wonder if sometimes loneliness is the price you must pay in order have courage and determination.  If this is so, it is well worth the cost.

The prophet went on to quote a poem:
Dare to be a Mormon
Dare to stand alone
Dare to have a purpose firm
Dare to make it known
I add my voice to that of President Monson.  Dare to stand alone.  "This is a time to do what is right regardless of the consequences that might follow."(Gordon B. Hinckley) While you may physically be standing alone when standing up for what's right, you will never stand alone spiritually.  You can do what is right.  You simply need to be willing to.