Ragnar

Well, Here we go!!

This last weekend I ran the Ragnar Relay. A girl from my ward, Hannah Cahoon, was asking for someone to join her team, so I said I would join. I had originally planned on staying with the Bradshaw-Wright family that weekend since Vera Lyn and Scott were running as well, but Vera Lyn said I should go for it, that the kids would be fine on their own, so there I went! 

On the left is a picture of the exchange point at Snow Basin. I didn't know a lot of the places, but it was cool to see some new territory. On the right is a small stop we made friday evening around 8. Chriss was running and we saw this little stand set up by some kids selling treats. Kristin has 4 kids, so she wanted to stop and buy something from these ones. (she didn't say that, but I think that was part of why she wanted to stop) Hannah is in front to my left. We left Friday morning around 8 from Provo, and then went to Hannah's sister's house in Kaysville. Our team consisted of two vans. I was in van 2 with Hannah, Kristin, Brittaney, Chriss, and Mallory. Chriss and Kristin are Hannah's siblings and then Mallory and Britt are their friends. I wore a BYU shirt for my first run. Afterwards I had a guy come up to me and ask if I was on the track team at BYU. I told him no and he said, "Oh, well I was looking for a reason because you were the only one who passed me." I ran 4.6 miles and then 3.7 and then 10.3. For the first leg I averaged 6:55 per mile, the second leg I averaged 7:15 a mile and the last one I averaged 10:15 or so. 

I took the above picture a couple of hours after my middle-of-the-night run. I took a nap in the car after that run. 

Here is the long run that I ran. The picture below is what I looked like afterwards. I got a little sun burnt and I was a little hungry and thirsty. I did drink a lot as I ran. I got tired of drinking and I felt like I drank too much sometimes. It was in the 90's,so I definitely needed it. I walked for the last 1 1/2 uphill miles. It doesn't feel good to say that I was walking, but my team was happy with me, and supportive.

The top medal was for the hard leg. Everyone who ran got the bottom medal.

But all the praise and glory wasn't what I most appreciated out of the run. I really liked the opportunity to push my mental limits and capacity. I really feel like our family has been blessed with the mental capacity to push ourselves and the physical capacity to take that pushing. I remember talking to Joseph one time about the Erickson physique and we both thought that our core was our strong point. We also have those Fluckiger thighs! haha. It just makes it easier to do things like this.

I also went to Star Valley on Monday night. This is a picture wednesday morning when I was driving home. This is the highway heading to Afton. 

 I helped Grandpa fix some fence and feed cattle. Then he let me borrow his .22 to go shoot some rock chucks down by the dry cattle pasture. They weren't very smart because they were still young. They hung around until I had gotten 3 of them. I shot one more at least, but I couldn't find his body after it went down among some old farm equipment.

 On the way to Star Valley, just as I got to the pass on the south end I saw these beautiful lightning storms. Several people stopped to take pictures and if I were Nicolina, or if I had a camera that would take a better picture, I may have stopped as well. I took quite a few pictures with my phone before I finally captured the lightning in one of them.

In elder's quorum yesterday we talked about the importance of following the living prophet. The bishop commented that his wife is in a book group where some of the women say that they are very confident in Joseph Smith as a prophet and they wish that they could have lived in his day because they aren't as confident in Thomas S. Monson. He asked us what would we say to these people? Why might they feel this way? 

Then later, as we were talking about some modern counsel such as one pair of earrings, no tatoos, etc, our quorum president asked a question and said, "What are some of the struggles that we see in our quorum? What are some of the small things that challenge us in our obedience?"

It was a really inspiring question. One of the quorum commented and said that he sees a lot of people at BYU who seem to have an issue with the honor code. They try to push the limit with their dress or their facial hair. They say that the honor code isn't a commandment.... So maybe it isn't. But speaking from Joshua Erickson's perspective, I don't see anything in the honor code that isn't in For the Strength of Youth pamphlet. There is a purpose behind our dress and grooming. Another member of the quorum mentioned the relativism that some people have let creep into their lives. In cases of sexuality such as living together, homosexual behavior, etc, some people say, "Well if it makes them happy..." or "I don't want to judge..." I think that these phrases have some truth in them (loving everyone, everyone seeks for happiness, agency), but it seems like these phrases are always used when someone is laying down their standards and permissively allowing the truths of the gospel to be sidestepped.  I hope this helps us all think about some of the things that we can do better to follow the living prophet and stay strong in the gospel.