A Message to Garcia

If you know me very well you know that I have a thing for books. I tend to buy things and take a really long time to read something. So I have a ton of books and have read only a handful. It’s something I need to get better at. But that’s not my story today. When I got home from my mission I was looking for some of the books I had sent home and came across my mom’s box of old books from her parents. There was a good mix of classics and church books.  Some were even books I had been looking for. One book in the box looked definitely older than the rest. It had a soft leather cover that was fading to green and had thick dark pages. My mom told me that she had bought it at when the possessions of a man she knew were being sold after his death. The book was called A Message to Garcia and Thirteen Other Things. This version (I’m pretty sure there are only 2 original printings) was from 1901. It sat on my bookshelf for almost two years and I didn’t crack its pages. I’m not sure what drew me to it at the end of this summer but I started reading it. It probably took me just over an hour to read. I would read a couple of sections a day. I was amazed at the simplicity of the topics of the book. Working hard, being yourself, collecting things, all really simple ideas but things that are super important. I would encourage anyone to read the entire book if they have the chance. Here is a link to just the title article. It is extremely easy and quick to read but teaches a lesson that the world needs to learn. This was written in 1899 and this type of man was rare. Now over a hundred years later in a world where we are even lazier and look for details and excuses and reasons not to do things I’m sure this kind of person is almost impossible to find. http://courses.csail.mit.edu/6.803/pdf/hubbard1899.pdf

Enjoy.

 (Just look at it! Its beautiful!)

EFY

Another summer of EFY has come and gone and I can barely believe it. This summer wa more amazing than I ever could’ve wanted it to be. I worked with amazing people and we were able to share some pretty awesome experiences.

Training in Provo was the first time that I met the group. I already knew Logan and Tazia but everyone else was new. We all bonded pretty quick and spent a ton of time together. We even made a random trip to Squaw peak for a dance party. Its on insta so check it out. (I’m pretty sure you could see my entire summer on insta. Follow me @jaronrsmith. Instagram that crap up.) Yes, this post will have a few things that will only be funny to handful of people #weloveinsidejokes. I had planned on having a couple of weeks free between training and heading out to cali but that plan disappeared. A friend working in Provo was looking for guy counselors so I picked up the week after training. I also picked up the next week in Idaho. That meant pure efy from May 22 to August 4. Woof. I am super glad I picked up those two extra weeks though. I was able to get back into EFY mode and learned a lot about what it would take to be a good BC. My kids those weeks were phenomenal. Sure there were some things that were tough (like kids not showing up for major things like dances or Thursday firesides on more than one occasion) but I guess I needed to have some of those things happen so I would know how to handle the situation from a different position. Tazia, Logan, Derek, and I all worked the week in Idaho and left Friday night so that we could get things put together to fly out Saturday morning. This was seriously a no-stop summer. We may have cut getting on the plane a little close but whatevs, we made it. We picked up Kelly in AZ and Suz met us in Cali. That first week was in Citrus Heights just outside of Sacramento. Things went really well for it being our first week. We had observed a week during training and some of us had worked a week or two so far so we knew how things were supposed to go. We picked up some awesome counselors on the spot who ended up staying with us for a good chunk of the summer. The next week was in Fresno. Really great small session. Swam in the mornings at our hosts’ pool. Texas Roadhouse. Then we drove out to Santa Barbara. Finally I would get to spend some time in my mission. Logan and I first did an EFY express session in Arcadia. Yeah, those things are not the coolest.  Besides being really fast and having a ton of unorganized  kids, we didn’t even have our dance playlist. We had forgotten to bring the laptop and had to put together a dance from my phone, Logan’s ipad, and soundhound. And the kids were plenty vocal about their thoughts. I’m pretty sure I was threatened a couple of times. But then we got back to the Celestial kingdom of EFY. Oh those three weeks were awesome. Amazing kids, view of the ocean, skuncooning, the DLG, Keith, Blenders (craving…), H&M (I still need to find that cardigan), and a billion other things. Spent a Saturday down in thousand oaks. We got Chinese buffet, went a visited a few people, and just had a great relaxing day. May have bought a watch. Our week off was unbelievable. It would have been cheaper for me to go to Hawaii and work. That’s how awesome it was. Our day in Disneyland was freaking amazing.  We dominated that park #changedmylife #nowiunderstand. We had some beach time and got super burnt, went to a baseball game, went to LA, went to institute, just a good week. Oh and Las Brisas. You know we had to have good food that week. Mmmmm…. Then came Tucson. Ugh. Whatever Tucson. Lesson: I hate AZ. It’s hot, hot, and I got a friggin ticket. They have cameras on roads (not just stoplights). And I didn’t even know I was speeding. The road was huge and not residential. My Utah driving says 50. It was 40 and probably had a different speed for the rest of the day. Yeah, their speed limits change depending on the time of day. Birthday Cake Oreos. Our last week was in Redlands. Ready or Not Redlands. This week just had tons of random unexplainable things happen. I was over variety show. Haha, yeah that show was varietous alright. Hip thrusts, midriffs, Maroon 5, pokemon, falsetto, yeah, it was awesome. Coming home was weird. I hate that feeling of having to go back to real life, but I was ready to be done. EFY is draining. Who knows if I’ll end up doing it next year. I love it but it doesn’t do much to pay the bills.

Hawaii

Spring break 2012 was freaking amazing. Did it consume all of my money? Yes. Do I regret any of it? Not in the slightest. I don’t know if there is any way that a spring break could beat this one (and im not willing to put out any more money trying to beat it). If you have never been to Hawaii GET THERE. We spent all 6 days in Maui and I could definitely go back to do the billions of things that we didn’t have time for. But lets get into the story of the thing. So we left school early. Yeah, I don’t do that for anything so this was a big deal. We loaded KJ’s car with all our stuff and made the unforgettable drive to San Jose. Freak that was a long drive.  We left logan at about 5:30 and drove straight to the airport. Lots of peach penguins, twinkies, reeses pieces, and who knows what else were enjoyed. I drove for a few hours and had a Monster to keep me awake. Bad idea. I hadn’t had one for a couple of years and my body said “No way Jose.” Luckily Stuart had eaten an entire pack of redvines so stopping every 15 minutes wasn’t complained about. The girls slept during most of that part. We made it to the airport at about 5 and still had to wait a few more hours before they would even let us check bags. So we got to know a few of the people who we would be spending our time with. It was funny to see people walk into the airport and just assume they were with our group. There were like 60 of us going between 3 or four flights. The flight was torture for me. I was freaking tired and maybe got 15 minutes of sleep. All I remember about the flight though was the weird curry pasta and a crappy movie about birding. Getting into the room took a little bit of time but it was so nice to be at our destination. Our condo was awesome. Right in the middle of Lahaina and it had really nice rooms. I’m not going to go through a day by day report (though I wish I could remember all of the details) but you can check out facebook if you want to see the bazillions of pictures. Best things- Coconut shrimp, Cheeseburger in Paradise, Big Beach, snorkeling, lahaina shops, more coconut shrimp, more snorkeling, sea turtles, lots of sun, I’m pretty sure everything we did could be considered best things. And I legitimately bought two entrees at every meal. True story. I took advantage of every opportunity to eat shrimp and calamari that I could. Haha so far ive talked a lot about food. Though definitely something I enjoyed we really did do awesome things. Not to sound like a Hawaii expert, but my ideas were best. From day one we should’ve realized this. I had done my research and had found a nice little beach super close to the condo that we told everyone to go to. It was right by the Japanese Dojo place and it was beautiful. Unfortunately only part of the group made it to the right beach. The majority had gone a little further north and so they made us go to them. The beach was gross. The water was murky and rock filled and a monk seal was owning a good section of the beach. There were jillions of people there. The little “baby beach” we had just been to had maybe 25 people on it. I think we planned on getting back to “baby beach” every day, but it didn’t happen until one of the very last days. Big beach was also my idea. I knew we had to get there sometime and so I did my best to gently force the plan for Sunday. My plotting worked and we made it down there. Holy freak. Most. Beautiful. Beach. Ever. Golden sand. Crystal blue and green water. Huge waves. Amazing.

Molokini—Also my idea. I had wanted to go snorkeling from day 1 but couldn’t ever convince people of its awesomeness. It wasn’t until Tuesday that the group got its first snorkel on.  A trip out to Molokini and Turtle town was all it took. They were hooked. Why they wanted to do anything else before this I couldn’t understand. If there was any one thing I could spend 6 days in Hawaii doing, it would be snorkeling. Kaanapali was a great place to snorkel too. We went to Black rock and ran into some turtles there as well. 

Not driving Hana. Yep, my plan too. But only a few people stayed back that day. Kj and I went and spent a good chunk of the day at “baby beach”. Then we met up with Lindsay and enjoyed some shaved ice from Ululani’s and just chilled. The car that went to hana ended up getting cursed by their visit to a black sand beach. They locked their keys in the car and were stuck for a while.  That trip took their whole day.

I will admit that a couple other awesome things were not my ideas. First the Gazebo. Mmmmmmmm………… pineapple coconut white chocolate macadamia nut pancakes…………. Kj’s suggestion. Honestly probably one of the best meals of the trip. Another was a trip around the north side of the island to find the elusive Lorraine and her chocolate covered banana bread ice cream sandwiches. We risked our lives to get there but it was worth it. Sooooo goooood. Again I’m focusing on food.

I’ve skipped a million things but it was an awesome trip. And on the way home I got to visit the Donkersgoed fam from my mission. So there, one new post down.

8 month break

I dont think I'll ever really be good at this blogging thing. Here comes a load of posts though. They may be from the past but I feel like some things are worth getting caught up on.