Happy birthday, Joseph Smith!

Today marks 205 years since Joseph Smith, the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a man I regard as a prophet who opened the last dispensation of this earth before Christ's return, was born in a small town in Vermont to little pomp and circumstance. His life and journey changed the world, in my opinion, by restoring Christ's church on the earth, complete with the priesthood that gives men the authority to act in God's name and the ordinances that are needed to return to live with God after this mortal life.

I love Joseph Smith. Regardless of whether you share my faith, there's no doubt that he lived a remarkable life. When he wed his wife Emma, she said he could barely write a coherent letter, and yet by the end of his life, he could speak and read Hebrew and penned beautiful prose. He knew soooooo much about so many subjects, despite a limited formal education. Just goes to show how much self-education can do - his thirst for learning was insatiable. Joseph Smith founded a religion that now has almost (or more than? I lose count) 14 million members worldwide. He was told that his name would be known for good and evil throughout the world, and I wonder if he comprehended just how true that would be. (He was a prophet who spoke with God and Christ face to face and had angelic visitors often. Imagining he'd be known worldwide probably wasn't too much of a stretch, I s'pose!)

Anyways. Such a fan. I'm grateful for the integrity and courage Joseph Smith had to stand by his story despite what anyone said, starting at the age of 14 when he had his First Vision. I can't imagine being so unwavering, but he was, and I believe him. Gaining a testimony of Joseph Smith took a little time for me because his story seemed so far-fetched, but "by their fruits, ye shall know them" - well, the fruits of the doctrines he taught and the Church he established have brought unmeasurable joy and peace into my life. I've been to the grove where he saw God and Christ and to where he translated the gold plates that contained the Book of Mormon in upstate New York, to the temple he built and dedicated in Ohio, and to his home, his gravesite, and the jail where he was slain in Illinois. I've spent hours upon hours studying his life in the 15 years since I joined the LDS Church, and I know with everything in me that it's true.

I encourage any of you who read this to take the opportunity to study it out. Even if it's nothing more than reading Joseph's account of the First Vision and asking God if it's true, I would so appreciate your help in honoring Joseph Smith's birthday by looking into his story with an open heart.



And, along these lines, my second post is up on J. Weekly, looking into Joseph Smith's Jewish connections. Enjoy!

Supporting Sundance

Ah, Sundance.

One of the perks of living in Utah is being able to attend Sundance. My friend Rosie and I just got our locals tickets purchase times (which they do by lottery now!), and it got me thinking back to 2003, when my besties and I went to the Sundance Film Festival with dates. We attended a shorts festival, during which we saw this hilarious short film, "The Support Group." I just found it again via the Interwebs - enjoy!

THE SUPPORT GROUP from Nyle Cavazos Garcia on Vimeo.

Hope for the Holidays

"No matter how bleak the chapter of our lives may look today, because of the life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we may hope and be assured that the ending of the book of our lives will exceed our grandest expectations." - Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf

You know, hope seems to get neglected amid its companion virtues of faith and charity, but I gotta say, hope has got to be one of the greatest feelings in the world! There's something so brightening about knowing that where we are in the now is not where we'll be forever, that there are bigger and better things ahead if we can summon the strength and courage to keep on keeping on.

I'm seeing some miracles come to pass in my life, things I'd written off and lost hope toward - only I didn't realize that I'd lost hope, if that makes sense. Instead I figured I was being tough and wise, looking out for myself, guarding my heart, adamantly refusing to set myself up for disappointment yet again. And that's on a few fronts, actually, but it wasn't 'til right now that the ridiculously obvious parallels came startlingly clear.

Anyways.

The last couple of weeks, events have been set in motion by external forces (i.e. I wasn't expecting or planning on it!), and all of a sudden I'm full of this exuberance and peace and radiant happiness that I haven't felt in a while. The scales of skepticism are falling from my eyes, the pain of the past is dissipating to where it belongs - in the past and far from my present! - and, well, I'm hopeful. Hopeful that what seems to be on the horizon really will be. Hopeful that the other person won't let me down again - and if they do, well, hopeful that I'll be able to rely on the Redeemer's healing yet again. Hopeful that I won't stumble and fall but will be able to make some amazing things happen in 2011. Goodness knows 2010 was packed. I feel like it's the year I came into my own, and now there's nothing but blue skies ahead.

Here's to some hope-filled adventures on the horizon!

How do I love my life? Let me count the ways...

Friends, I would be such an ingrate if I didn't take a sec to hop on here and express gratitude for the many, many blessings in my life right now.

Chief among these is my job. I just got home from our company part, and it as soooooo fun!!! I've never had a job before where I enjoyed my colleagues this much. I've always had close friends at work, but never in such numbers! We just have a blast. I look forward to work every morning, getting to spend the day with my marketing crew. Company functions were always a necessary evening of awkwardness before, but tonight was the highlight of the weekend! I ended up at a table with a bunch of my favorite work friends. It was funny to reminisce back to last year, when my friend Aaron and I were both new - we entered last year's party at the same time, as his girlfriend and I remembered, but back then, I don't think we'd even had a conversation! Now we're good friends, and it's like that with every single person in my department - even the new guy (who, randomly enough, I went to middle school with in Utah 15 years ago. We didn't know each other but have mutual friends. Small, small world!!!).

Anyways, we dined in the barn at Thanksgiving Point and then enjoyed a Jon Schmidt concert. If you are unfamiliar with the awesomeness of Jon Schmidt, behold.

Yeah. Saw that live. Soooo awesome!

Honestly, it is a treasure to have a job you love. After having a string of difficult employment situations in California, where no job ever fit just right and where I survived at least a dozen rounds of layoffs amid a few companies in five years - I will never, ever take for granted being in a secure company (which has never had a layoff) at the top of its industry which prizes its employees so highly. It is such a delight! That company culture, which really does emanate from our incredible CEO, makes me want to innovate and excel and work hard - and they give me the freedom to do so! I've really pioneered our social media effort, and it's been fun to watch the executive attitude shift from reticence and wariness to enthusiasm. I've gotten to broaden the scope of what we do, and we're really taking off! Our LinkedIn group is past 140 members now, and our Twitter account has well over 100 followers now - gaining 10 last week alone. To think, I got to start those up from scratch! Our CEO has a blog that's really making headway, and apparently it was my idea? (They claim I suggested it in my interview. I did that interview with pneumonia, so it's totally fuzzy. I'm still shocked that I managed to get the job, lol. One of my worst interviews ever!).

And I hope that doesn't come off as braggy, 'cause that's not at all how I mean it. I just am brimming over with enthusiasm and wanted to share it. I am just so danged happy, guys! (*knock on wood that something doesn't go wrong!*) I feel immensely blessed. Great job, great home situation, sharing a darling townhouse with two wonderful friends who are so chill. There is NO drama in our home. None. We all get along, everyone pitches in, and it's smooth sailing. Christina and I started decorating for Christmas today, sharing Christmas traditions while we strung the lighted boughs along the banister. It's just delightful.

I'm also so blessed with opportunities to always be doing new stuff, stretching beyond the norm, whether it's doing my Latter-day Shalom blog or trying to pick up running. (Trying being the operative word, lol!) In the last 18 months I've set foot in 17 states plus DC, finished a 5K (don't ask my time. You really don't want to know. But I did it!), sung and danced in two musicals, campaigned for a congressional candidate I believed in, expanded my culinary horizons by cooking more new recipes than I've ever dared before. My life is so amazing.

And, boy, it's taken a while to get to that stride! 2009 into 2010 was hard. I lost my job. FIRED. From a job I hated anyways. How humiliating! And to come down with pneumonia at the same time. Talk about insult to injury! And then moving to Utah in the midst of all that? Utah?! I felt so ashamed that I was moving back here and not to some glamorous, exciting locale. And yet, my life here is infinitely better than it was in Orange County. The dust of my bizarre rollercoaster life started to settle almost a year after the craziness began, and now I finally have my stride and sure footing, and it's wonderful. Even my long-strained relationship with my mother is getting resolution. She wants to be part of my life for the first time in well over a decade, and she apologized for the first time that I remember for past wrongs. That's what I needed, and now I'm able to let go of stuff that's weighed me down my entire life. It's just unbelievable!!! Everything - EVERYTHING - is so, so good!!!

And that was long and rambly, but thanks for letting me pour my grateful heart out. I really would be so remiss if I didn't thank my Heavenly Father for this charmed life I've got right now, because I know none of this awesomeness is due to anything I've done. How thankful I am for His watchful care in my life. And it is so nice to know that there is balance in life - that those terribly difficult times can be followed by some of the best times to be had. Just keep swimming!

Provo, Utah Gurls

And while we're going for good parodies today, here's one that, sadly, hit a little close to home:



Oh my. Wasn't all that long ago that I was a marriage-crazy coed. Thank goodness I've come to care less the older I get - and now when I look at freshman girls, I feel like they're soooooo little!!! There's so much fun to be had beyond the BYU bubble!

Spin the Dreidle

I absolutely LOVE this video by the Maccabeats! Enjoy!

Apolo Update

Well, friends, I finally got to meet Olympic gold medalist Apolo Ohno this weekend! He was doing a book signing in downtown Salt Lake City on Saturday, so my amazing friend Haas indulged my ridiculousness and came with. We had so much fun! The line wasn't too bad, and we enjoyed chatting with the people behind and in front of us.


After we went through the line, we noticed there was no line anymore! Not a huge turnout. So we hung around a little longer and got some posed pics with Apolo.



It was fun to meet someone I've admired for years, but it's also always a little disappointing. Obviously they don't know you from Adam, so it's a weird dynamic. You admire them, but to them, you're just another face in the crowd. Still, it was fun to seize on the opportunity while it was present.

A Jew and a Mormon Walk into a Blog...

So... guess what?

I've taken on yet another blogging project - this time writing about Jews and Mormons for J. Weekly, a weekly Jewish publication in the Bay Area for which my friend Amanda works. I've named the blog Latter-day Shalom (many thanks to my friend Paige for coming up with that. Seriously, how did people live before crowdsourcing on Facebook?!).

I'm not the only LDS-Jewish writer in the blogosphere. Actually, the original was Mark Paredes, writing for the Jewish Journal in L.A. Upon receiving the invite from J. I emailed Mark for advice (and to make sure I wasn't stepping on his toes). To my delight, he's been nothing but supportive - in fact, he wrote about me on his blog last night. Check it out. Mark's spent a good chunk of his career working with the Jewish community, so he really is an expert on the subject - it's soooo nice to have a resource like him!

Admittedly, I'm not an expert on LDS-Jewish relations. I do know a decent amount, though, and I'm a quick study. I'm really excited to put all the bridge-building focus I learned from three years on the San Clemente Stake's public affairs committee to work in such an awesome way, too! Seriously, I'm in awe of the opportunities that fall into my lap sometimes. It's rare that I go seeking these things out. They come to me, and I'm so grateful they do. Here's hoping I can do well with it!

And if you have a story idea, I am soooooo all ears!