Monday, November 23, 2009

Fireflies

Today was fun. I did some homework this morning (surprise!) and I went to the mall with my mom and grandma. I got some cool new shoes that I like and I want to wear all the time, even when I'm sleeping. Oh, but I won't.

My grandma got lost at the mall but we found her. Thank goodness. She didn't bring her phone.

It's nice to be around my family, I feel so at home, like the song says:

Home is a special kind of feeling
The feeling of a place where you belong
A feeling that the world is left behind you
Like a shelter from your cares that seems to want you
to be there.

("Home is a Special Kind of Feeling")

I really like the last two lines.

I like being at home. I have time to enjoy things while I'm here. If only I had my guitar... But that isn't really a big deal. Now I can teach myself the piano! Ha.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

I love you


This is Logan. He turned one yesterday and he is my youngest brother. For his birthday, Mom and Grandma picked out this "CD Player" for babies that plays music.

He loves it very much and likes to press the same button over and over. When it plays music, he gets excited and dances. He has two different dances. One is to nod his head from side to side, and the other is to bounce up and down.

Today, he got dressed up real nice for Church. He wasn't happy in the picture.



I love him.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Joy

Today has proven to been an interesting day in the life of Matt Montoya. Only after spending time pondering the important things of life, such as love, relationships, spirituality, and personal accountability, I learned something important about the way we treat other people.

You see, this girl was mean to me. I called her and called her and she wasn't calling back, and then she called back but I was in choir so I couldn't answer, then I called her and she didn't answer. So, long story short, she wasn't getting back to me.

But I have a good roommate, Nate. He taught me to never burn bridges, ever. So I was very civil in my text messages to her this evening, and she said she was very busy and forgot to text me back, and yes she was working on Thursday night. So she obviously had no interest in meeting me further because she forgot to text me back, but I was very civil to her. I even said "let me know if you ever want to do something," which I found hard to do but I did it anyways, knowing full well it won't happen. Nate said it was nice to say, and Noel and Hailey backed it up. She obviously appreciated this civility and told me "not to feel like a creeper" for calling her so much (I told her I felt creepy after calling her a bunch of times), and so I felt clean and good about things.

I am reading The Book of Mormon in 2 Nephi 2 and I happened upon verse 25:
"Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy."

The words are too profound for me to have comprehended them in the past, even as a missionary. The purpose of life is joy. We are on the earth to experience joy. We overcome trials and temptations so that we will one day be recompensed with joy. If we are not experiencing joy, we are missing out on the purpose of life. I could have sulked on the fact that I was being rejected, but instead I find myself at peace for not being bitter about it.

So next time you curse your luck, and shake your fist at the sky, remember that you are here to have joy. Unpleasantness and heartache and disappointment are essential for our growth, for "there must be opposition in all things" (2 Ne. 2:11). Let us enjoy the journey, and see beauty even in the thorns of life. For all of this, there is a reward. I'm tremendously grateful for lessons learned today.