semester done.

consider the lilies of the field, how they grow;
they toil not, neither do they spin:
and yet i say unto you,
that even solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these.
wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field,
which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven,
shall he not much more clothe you,
o ye of little faith?
- Matthew 6:28-30

與我同住

夕陽西沉，求主與我同住；
黑暗漸深，求主與我同住!
求助無門，安慰也無求處；
常助孤苦之神，與我同住!

渺小浮生，飄向生涯盡處；
歡娛好景，轉瞬都成往事；
變化無常，環境何能留住；
懇求不變之神，與我同住!

我深需主，時刻需主眷顧；
若非主恩，怎將試探抗拒?
誰能如主，時常導引扶持；
無論風雨晦明，與我同住!

...abide with me!

the master carver

how slow the forming...
how hard the blows...
but i, the stone, must come to know
in my own person, my own soul,
thy will, thy purpose here below.
o master, now i plead to thee,
cut off my roughness, form my face,
refine my feelings, make of me
a fit reflection of thy grace.
yea, haste the day when i may kneel
before thee and great elohim.
accepted, peaceful in thy home,
at last like thee, each grain of stone.
-j. devn cornish


is there no other way?

"Lest We Forget" - Rudyard Kipling

i know i have been complaining a lot lately.
i know i have no reason to.

general conference was amazing. my first time in the conference center, my first time listening to the prophet speak at conference, my first time interpreting for the world, my first time hearing the grand mormon tabernacle choir.. and the spoken word reads:

When all is well and life is good, we tend to forget those who have made our present comforts possible: the teachers, parents, ancestors, and others who've sacrificed in our behalf. We drive on roads we didn't build, or we eat food we didn't grow—we all enjoy benefits and blessing that have come from the work of others. How often do we pause to acknowledge this? Do we sometimes enjoy the peace without remembering the peacemakers? Do we seize opportunities without giving thought to those who provided them?

We appreciate our blessings more deeply when we choose to remember those who have made these blessings possible. How fully can we appreciate a beautiful performance of music without considering the hours, even years, of practice behind it? How sincerely can we enjoy the gifts of nature—the starlit skies, the flowering fields, the panoramic sunsets—without remembering the God of creation?

Before the children of Israel entered the promised land, Moses reviewed with them the laws and blessings they had been given while in the wilderness. He understood that their prosperity in the land would only be as good as their memory of how they got there: the guidance they received, the lessons they learned, the daily sustenance they were given. Moses counseled, "Take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life."

If the Giver of all good is always close to our hearts, our lives will be enriched by the reverent memory and acknowledgment of our every blessing.

the mandarin interpretation booth

the salt lake temple... with a little of the conference center poking out at the background