Road-trip

First of all...a little recap on the road trip I went on with my roommate Rhett April 9-16 (spring break essentially).
Rexburg-Denver-Kansas City-St. Louis-Peoria-Chicago-Twin Cities
Total Approx. Mileage: 2184

Denver - Stayed with the Chubbs family who were members I became good friends with on the mission. Visited the Horstmans in Brighton who I lived with for a couple of months. Also visited the Kovanda ranch out in Keensburg where I did a lot of service with farm duties and building an arena for horse gymkhanas. Topped off the night by going to Coors Field for a Rockies-Padres Game. Started out the night up in the nose bleeds but stole some right field foul territory seats up against the wall by the 8th inning. The game actually went 14 innings so we defintely got our moneys worth. Rhett said if Brad Hawpe had 2 homeruns in the game then he would buy Brad Hawpes' jersey. Hawpe hit 2 that night. Very Cold by the way.

Kansas City - Drove 12 hours straight through the night after the Rockies game. Immediately hit up a Royals-Red Sox game at Kauffman stadium. Got 40 dollar seats for 13 bux each. 1st Base line, 40 rows back. Beautiful sunny weather and we had the shade on us. Score! I told Rhett that if Scott Posednik had 2 stolen bases in the game then I will add him to my fantasy baseball team. Pod had 2 stolen bases. Unreal. That night we stayed with some of Rhett's friends when he lived in St. Louis growing up.

St. Louis - Drove 4 hours and met up with Rhett's brother at his apartment. Got all dressed up for the Cardinals home opener against the Astros but could not get any tickets when we got there. We would of forked out like 100 bux each to even come close to getting in to Busch stadium. Instead we looked at some statues outside at a new park and went to the old courthouse. We also went to the gateway arch and I went all the way to the top of it. 613 feet I believe. Took a tram elevator thing to get up that high. Topped off the night by getting some St. Louis style pizza at the original Imo's and got Ted Drewes frozen custard. very satisfying. Stayed at some of Rhett's friends from growing up in St. Louis. The next day Rhett and I had planned to hit up Nauvoo but instead wanted to take a break from traveling so we relaxed all day and watched some little leaguers play ball at night. Next day we made it to a Cards-Astros game at Busch stadium. Started out in the nose bleeds then shifted over to Mac Land but could not get any seats there because a security guy wouldn't let anybody in unless you had a huge McDonald's fry and fake tatoos on your arm lol. Anybody who had a ticket in that section got those two things along with it. At the end of the game we thought of talking to Matt Lindstrom in the Astros Bullpen. If you know your baseball then you would know that Matt played at ricks college in 2002 and got drafted in the MLB. He closed for the marlins last year for a while and now pitches for the Astros. Rhett and I ran down to the bullpen and saw Matt warming up to pitch but could not talk to him (security wouldn't let us). When the game got over Rhett and I yelled at Matt saying ricks college/BYU-Idaho/mission/mormons/etc. but he never looked at us :(. We were yelling a good ways away so maybe didn't hear us. Rhett said he served in sweeden on his mission. That night we drove off to Peoria, IL to stay the night with my great Aunt.

Peoria-Chicago - The original plans were to go out with my great Aunt and see where my grandpa is buried but there wasn't enough time because of the Cubs game we had to catch. So we had a quick chat along with some other relatives of mine and then headed off to chicago. Don't worry!!! I'm going back to peoria and nauvoo while I'm in MN. So when we got to chicago we parked our car and walked to wrigley. On the way this random guy was walking in the opposite direction of us and we scored box seats with him for 5 bux a person. amazing!!! Unbelievable seats. Unbelievable @ wrigley field. about 30 or so rows back in the middle of home and 3rd base. Cubs-Brewers. After the game we drove off to Twin Cities and drove through Milwaukee on the way.

Minneapolis - Final destination where I'm living for the next 6 months. Brooklyn Park, MN. Unpacked my things and took off to the Twins-Royals game. Brand new Target Field just built. People around here are going nuts about this place! We tried getting tickets but only could get 1 for 10 bux. So I let Rhett watch the game while I went to Hard Rock Cafe to watch it at their bar. I have all season to attend so yeah. At the bar I ended up getting hit on by a drunk girl. The next morning Rhett flew to SLC and only I remained to tell the story. Pics from this Road-trip will be up soon..waiting on Rhett to post them on facebook.

Today I read the opening and closing remarks by President Monson at General Conference. At the singles ward in MPLS last sunday, a high counselor challenged all of us to read one of President Monson's talk's from conference the same day and work on a principle from that talk. I ended up reading his talk from sunday morning and chose the the principle of sharing the gospel. I'll share more about it some other time. Well the high counselor also suggested reading the conference talks by this order: first presidency, apostles, and others. So I begin this journey with these two talks today and will share things that stand out to me

President Thomas S. Monson - "Welcome to Conference" and "A Word at Closing"
Quotes

"Once again we call upon the members of the Church to reach out to the new converts or to those making their way back into the Church, to surround them with love and to help them feel at home."

"May we continue to be faithful in performing such ordinances for those who are unable to do so for themselves."

"I urge you to study the messages, to ponder their teachings, and then to apply them in your life."

"My counsel for all of us is to look to the lighthouse of the Lord. There is no fog so dense, no night so dark, no gale so strong, no mariner so lost but what its beacon light can rescue. It beckons through the storms of life. The lighthouse of the Lord sends forth signals readily recognized and never failing."

I mostly focused on the things that the President of the Church asked each of the members to do. Arguably, those probably are the most important or urgent things we should get from conference. 1. Fellowship new converts 2. Perform ordinances at the Temple 3. Study talks from conference in the ensign and apply teachings 4. Look unto Christ in all that we do

My first day of work with the Twins was today but I will post about it tomorrow. I talked to a lot people over the phone about it already and I am poop right now...like need sleep.