My Top 10 Lists!

My top 10 Best Things about the trip (and I could have come up with a LOT more!)
1. Seeing the ruins at Talum and having Nephi and Helaman as our guides.
2. Horseback riding in Roatan
3. 4 course dinners at the “Windows” Restaurant. SO fancy, and I got to try neat new things. It also cracked me up that they would put your napkin in you lap and say “Don’t forget your seatbelt, Madame.”
4. Climbing the ruins at Altun Ha and imagining that Christ could have visited there.
5. Hearing Bruce Porter speak and delving into deeper stuff than I usually do.
6. The Stela rocks and ruins of Quirigua and feeling like I was standing on history.
7. The speedy jungle boat ride.
8. The amazing wooden carvings at Altun Ha
9. Being able to spend time with Mom and Dad
10. The Chocoholic Buffet! And all the other tasty food!


My low-lights list didn’t even have 10 things on it! I couldn't come up with much, and they weren’t even that negative.
1. Bologna sandwiches for lunch at Altun Ha
2. Gaining 10 pounds
3. I never touched the ocean! Not even a toe into the water.
4. Not enough time to do everything we wanted at the ruins…. All of them!
5. It took too many laps to make a mile when running and I hate having to count laps.
6. Dining rooms were too noisy.
7. Sacrament meeting- I’d have liked a more meeting type meeting, and less of a fireside kind. (I’m happy we had one though, so that was actually a highlight as well!)


Fun Details List:1. That was the first time in over 6 years that I went a whole week without changing a diaper!
2. I only had adult conversations with other adults! I never spoke to a child at all for a week!
3. I didn’t see a single tantrum or tear.
4. That was the longest period of time I went without thinking of my children. (No I didn’t go the whole week, but I really did not think about them as much as I thought I would!)
5. I took 175 pictures of the trip.
6. That was the first time in nearly 9 years that I didn’t have to think about anybody but myself. I rediscovered that I CAN get ready- from bed to walking out the door- in 30 minutes!
7. I went a week with no radio, TV shows (they offered 2 movie channels and CNN), telephone, internet or contact with my husband and children.
8. For 7 days I did not drive a car, make a meal, dress anyone else, clean the dishes, or do any laundry. Wow.

Bruce Porter Lecture Notes

Let me preface this by mentioning that this is all MY interpretation of what he said. What he really did say, and what I have written down may not be the same thing! But here is what I heard, and sometimes only vaguely understood from all his meetings:


Mysteries when written in the scriptures means higher ordinances. They called the higher ordinances “mysteries” since they were sacred and not known to all.

The Church is an earthly organization. There is no Church in heaven. The church was not established until AFTER Christ was here and he did not create it- Christ gave the keys to the Priesthood to his apostles, and they organized the Church. When we die, it will be to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Book of Mormon says Faith in Christ and Faith in the Atonement- those are the things we are suppose to have Faith in. Alma 34- We exercise Faith unto Repentance. The faithful are those who are exercising their Faith in the Atonement through Repentance.

Adam had 3 generations on the ground before he got the Gospel. That indicated obedience. He multiplied and replenished the earth, and gave sacrifice “I know not, save the Lord commanded me.” Obedience precedes knowledge and knowledge requires you to be more obedient to get more knowledge…. Line upon line, precept upon precept…

PoGP- Moses 5:8-9 skips something. Moses 6:50-68 really belongs between Moses 5:8-9

Once Adam had 3 generations born, he was given the Gospel and was told to teach his children.

Once Adam taught his children the Gospel, THEN Satan came among them. No gospel, no law, no sin, no Satan.

Cain was the first child born after the Gospel was given to them…. That is why Eve says “Now I have gotten a man child of the Lord” (or some such thing!) Moses 5, D&C 84, Ether 8)

The Beatitudes are celestial blessings. D&C 101:39-40- the Salt of the Earth.

The Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes are the first sermons in the NT and BoM. Christ is establishing the Gospel in these sermons. He is laying down the doctrines.

- - - - -
The Tree of Life and Parable of the Sower: Both put people into 4 different groups. And they are all people who are members of the church. We like to think these refer to non-members, but they do not. The NT and BoM are talking about Members of the church unless it says otherwise. So the people in Lehi’s dream and in the parable of the Sower, both talk about the same 4 groups of church members. Matthew 13:3-8 is the parable of the so. 1Nephi 8 tells of the Tree of Life The 4 groups are:
* 1 Nephi 8:21-23- People pressing forward on the path- those who know the truth and are seeking to know more, but get lost. Matthew 13:19- the sower sows seeds e blown away.
* 1 Nephi 8:24-25, 28- Those who partook of the fruit and held the rod of iron, then were ashamed and fell away. Matthe21- Seeds fell on stony places: cant take root and fall away (when they meet persecution).
* 1 Nephi 8:30Those who caught hold of the rod of iron and partook of the fruit… good people who remained faithful. Matthew 13:23- Faithful, fruitful ground.
* 1 Nephi 8:31-34- Those who went to the spacious building and were lost in darkness or drowned. Matthew 13:22- Seeds that fell in the thorns. People who heard the word and became unfruitful
- - - - - - -

2 things we can become perfect in are repentance and forgiveness. These are 2 things we must do to be righteous.

Anything contrary or not in harmony with the scriptures is merely opinion. Only a prophet can teach contrary to the scriptures, and only then if he says he’s doing it and that it has been revealed from God.

Repentance is the Lord’s process for changing our character.** Changing character means we stop doing what is wrong, and start doing what is right.* Character is changed by our own CHOICE, and AGENCY.

Need to develop the character of God to dwell with God. (This may take eons.)

Satan’s 2 goals are: To destroy the nature of God and to remove the need for the atonement. Most religions believe in the Trinity, which destroys the nature of God, and many believe you are saved just by believing or declaring it; this removes the need for the Atonement.

Before the Fall, Eve was called “Woman”. After the Fall, she became “Eve”, which means “the mother of all living”, because she could now have posterity. (This part was complicated and I didn’t catch it all, but what I think he said was….) It was a patriarchal society, but the mother was the only one who knew for sure who the father was, and who the firstborn is. She is the one who could decide the patriarchy…. Which is why Rebekah could declare that Jacob should be the next in line, rather than Esau. Mom declares the patriarch, and the priesthood confers it.

The Book of Mormon was written for us. It was written for today’s members of the church. We need to liken the scriptures to ourselves. Parables and stories from the BoM represent LDS. The sins of Israel are the sins of Israel.

The book of Genesis is for patriarchs. It is a priesthood manual.


Only Royalty could wear the Quetzal feathers. Quetzal feathers on the serpent represents Christ/Deity. Moses used a Brazen serpent to heal the sick. They were sick from serpent bites, and Moses used a serpent on the cross- look to the serpent and live. Christ and Satan parallel there.

There is only one place in space where the sun and moon are of equal size- where they appear to be equal in size. Eclipses show that that place is Earth. The greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. Sun and moon only seem the same size on Earth, no other point in space.

Pyramids all line up. Angles are important. The sun shines at solstice and lights up certain things. Pyramids represent the 7 steps to get to heaven. The Mayans built them with 7 levels to represent these 7 steps.

Pyramids are sacred places. Sacred places are created, or made. That’s why the pyramids are built around a circular center. In the center is the “primordial mound” or the Naval. It is a sacred place created by design and dedication.

Nephites built; Lamanites did not. Lamanites conquered Nephites and took over their cities, then built on top.

Mayans built on top of structures. Kept building up and on top of. Just built more and built higher. They did that because the city/pyramid/home is built around the sacred/consecrated ground. Usually they built it up every 52 years- either due to generation or kingship rituals. A new king meant a new dynasty, and they would build on top of the old one and start over.

The Mayan calendar ends on 12-21-2012. Speculation over that: is that just as far as they calculated? Or is that when all the calculations come together and the world will end?

Book of Mormon always separates water, baptism, the Holy Ghost and blood. (This was not all clear to me, so this may make no sense!) Baptism of water, fire and of the spirit are 3 separate things. The earth has to go through these 2 baptisms, just like we do. It has been baptized by water and the spirit (which is also called the wind sometimes?), and baptism by fire is all that is left.

Book of Mormon is the record of 3 migrations to America. There could be more than that who were led to the promised land, and we just do not have a record. They are not mentioned in the BoM if so. Mayan ruins are mainly apostate Lamanite civilizations, but could be other groups not mentioned in the BoM. It is a limited record, and there could be more people who were led by God to migrate. Christ said he had other sheep, and that could have referred to others who are not recorded in the BoM.

Scriptures, the prophet’s words (while he was the prophet ans speaking as the prophet), and the words of Joseph Smith are all Gospel. All other writings/words, are opinion. (These are the 3 sources Bruce Porter was told he could use when doing research for the church.)

Coronation is a ceremony to make a person ready to be a king/ready to become Deity. So a coronation is a distorted temple ceremony.

End of my Adventures. PART SIX

Saturday morning I was up early to meet Dad to run. I did an easy 18 laps. Dad did most of them with me. I like running with Dad. It certainly makes it easier to do it. And its more fun to sprint that last half lap when I have an impressible audience. Whoo-hoo for sticking to my running routine!

We had breakfast early. We wanted to try the nice restaurant for breakfast and hadn’t yet done so. It was pretty much the same offerings as the buffet, but you got to order it and they brought it to you. It was quieter though and a nice change. Except Mom was feeling seasick and left after one bite of her cinnamon raison French toast.

At 9:30 we gathered for a Bruce Porter Seminar. I took notes and learned good stuff. I'll post it later. So, Bruce Porter spoke and had such fascinating things to say. I felt like Dave Barry’s description of an ant on a tire- I know I’m standing on something huge, but I have no clue what, past the tiny portion that I can see!

We also had debarking (that word made me laugh.) instructions and everyone got a token drawing prize. I got a little jug of Mexican vanilla. I was happy with that. I had a little time before lunch, and thought about a nap, but I got distracted with reading. That worked well, because Dad called and said Steve wanted to download all our pictures. I went up there and Steve got all our pictures onto his laptop so he could cut disks later for us.

Oh, the reason we didn’t do lunch right after Bruce Porter was they were having a “Chocoholic Buffet” at 2pm and Dad wanted to go hungry. Let me just say “WOW!” A million people were there, but there was sufficient for all. They herded us through pretty quickly too. It was beautiful; there were huge ice sculptures, and then a lot of chocolate sculptures (I recall the dragon and griffin, but there were a lot more.) as well. All the cakes and confections were attractive as well as tasty, with sugar decorations on top and other interesting things. It was beyond impressive. There were 4 very long buffet tables filled with these sculptures and chocolate confections. So cool! We piled our plates high and gorged on tastiness (chocolate covered brownie, mile high mousse dome, chocolate cake, chocolate mousse pie, brownie pudding-like stuff, ice cream…. I passed on the chocolate sushi.) till we wanted to puke, and waddled out of there.

Bruce Porter agreed to one additional lecture at 3pm, but I bailed. My brain was so full and my tummy too, and I was sleepy. So I did go take a little nap, while Mom and Dad were edified some more. When they finished there, Dad called me and we went all over the ship taking pictures. That was so much fun! We did silly poses with everything we could think of. I also did a bunch of “missionary shots” by myself. One of the things we took a picture of was the hand sanitizer. Everywhere you go, they have these automatic hand sanitizers, especially at the restaurants (an when you board the ship!). So we took a few minutes for me to pose and get a shot with it. The funny thing is that after we took the picture, about 3 people around us laughed and said that they either had photographed that too, or had wanted to. We also got pictures of the sun setting. So we had a very good time.

We got Mom and headed up to dinner around 6:30. All that chocolate for lunch hadn’t done any of us any good! We enjoyed dinner though and still got dessert! We took a few more pictures and called it a night. Well, I meant to, but the lure of the internet was too strong. I caved, and spent the $15 to use the internet. I can’t believe I went an entire week without reading email or logging on!

It was the last night, and I had done everything I had wanted to! I had to pack my bags though- remembering to leave out all the clothes and things I would need for Sunday morning. Then I had to put the colored (green) tag on my bags and leave them outside the door. The magic luggage fairy comes in the middle of the night and removes them so they are all organized when you get off the ship in waves, according to your luggage tag color. So I took care of that. Sandra was out till midnight again and I can’t sleep till its all dark and quiet, but it was kind of nice to have an excuse to not go to bed! But I slept pretty well till 5am, when I realized we were docking. I was well awake at 6:30, so I went to the library room to read. I met Mom and Dad for breakfast at 8am and we hung out in their room till 9:30, when our color was called.

It was pretty quick work to get off the ship and find our bags. Then we had to line up and wait for customs. I was very sad I didn’t get any stamps in my passport, so the nice customs man gave me a US stamp. Not as good as one from Honduras or Guatemala, or Belize or Mexico, but at least my passport isn’t totally empty! Mom called our ride and we waited on the curb for 10 minutes. He drove us to the car, which had been bumped while we were gone. A lovely smudged bumper, but most of the mark will buff out, probably. We loaded the car and were on our way! 4 hours later we arrived at Andy and Kera’s, a little after 2pm. I opened the door and Delaney was playing on the steps and she just looked at me. The most suspicious look I’d ever seen. She just stared at me as I picked her up and then she was happy.

We stayed the night there and Monday morning Mom drove Delaney and me to the airport and we flew home- no problems.

Celestial Cooking!

Yes, this is just an aside. I had to take a break from my Cruise adventures and tell you about this amazing website Sharon introduced me to. www.thepioneerwomancooks.com
Amazing! I love this site! She walks you through the recipe and has pictures and is funny too. Its even recipes I would make. You can't beat that!

Also needing to be mentioned is a problem with the computer. I do not know what happened while I was gone, but the computer now has a spacing out problem. You'll probably notice it in my typing. The gosh-darn computer will space out suddenly, while I'm typing, and since I don't type properly (I look at the keys!), I do not notice. I may type a few letters or a sentence or 2 before it comes back and acts like it never left. So in the middle of a word, a whole bunch will be missing. I just want you to know its not ME! And I'm sure we have a virus or something, but I don't know what to do to fix it! Grrrrr.

I'm going to go make something tasty to console myself.

More Adventure- with Nephi! PART FIVE

By the way, this was the day we had fun taking silly pictures, so be warned!

Friday Feb 1, 2008 was the most amazingly coolest day ever! We did have to be ready at 7:30, just in case we docked early. We didn’t. I had been up early and we ate breakfast at 7, so we were ready, but the ship was actually a little late docking in Cozumel, Mexico. There was a big crowd to get out too, and then we milled around a bit, then we walked and walked and walked. It was a fair distance to the ferry. It did seem silly- we arrive on the island of Cozumel, and then take a ferry to the mainland?! That is what we did. We landed in Playa del Carmen, which I think is in Cancun, but I’m not sure. We walked a few blocks to our bus. It seemed like every day we spent more time traveling than at our destination!

Still, that day it was totally worth it! Our tour guide was LDS from an LDS family who did tours of Mayan ruins and gave the Book of Mormon perspective. Nephi was our guide on the trip out. He told us how his grandfather had joined the church and named all his post-baptism children after Book of Mormon people. So Nephi’s Dad was named Helaman, and had followed the tradition. Helaman was the guide for the other half of our group on the second bus. Nephi was so great. He pointed out thing of interest on the 30 minute ride and shared about his life and was just a neat man.

We got to Talum and went in to see the Mayan ruins. We had a short tram ride to get from the gate to the building structures there. Before we went in, Nephi told us that if we had come looking for a testimony, we would not find it here. We had to find it in ourselves first, and then seeing the ruins would en it. The ruins would not give us a testimony though, external sources can’t do that; it has to come from within.

Then we went in, and WOW! It was truly amazing to me. I loved it! Nephi talked about how it related to Book of Mormon times. Talum is actually post- Book of Mormon time period. Nephi explained how these were built after Christ came and went- a few hundred years later. This was a time when the righteous had apostatized and become wicked. He showed pictures that had been made during that time, and they showed white and dark skinned people together. He told us that archeologists can’t explain why there are 2 skin colors, but as LDS know, they are Nephites and Lamanites. The picture he had seemed to show that the Nephites were subservient or slaves to the Lamanites.

He also had some great stuff about how they probably apostatized- After the 200 years of righteousness, the high priests probably became proud. That corresponds with the time when the colors and decorations of the buildings became more brilliant and intricate. So they became proud and worldly. To get around the Lord’s desire for a “broken heart “ the priests began to offer up a literal broken heart- hence the human sacrifices. They also literally partook of flesh and blood.

In Mayan carvings and pictures, the feathered serpent represents Christ. The snake is usually associated with Satan, since that’s what he was in the Garden of Eden. However, when clothes in the Quetzal feathers, it represents Christ flying back into the heavens. So the serpent means a fall to earth (Christ became mortal) and the feathers represent ascention into heaven (Christ’s resurrection)e feathered snake is a depiction of Christ.

When the Spaniards arrived, all they saw was human sacrifices, cannibalism, and worshiping of Satan (since it was a snake). So they thought the Mayans were Satan-worshippers and burned all of their records which is why there is really no records of the Mayan civilization. There was also a thing about red hand prints. The Mayans had a legend of a white god who would heal people with his hands, and they show that with the red handprints. Archeologists explain the red hands by saying it is the architect or artist’s signature.

Nephi also suggested that initially the Mayans may have worshipped one god. Just like we have many different names for Christ and the Lord, they may have had many names for one god. Then it became the god of corn, the god of, rain, the god of crops…. May have become different gods they worshipped, or it may have still been one god with many names.

One other neat thing Nephi said was that when asked why the did what they did by the Spaniards, the Mayan priests said it was because their fathers and father’s fathers had done it. He said that when he was a boy, his friends asked why he went to church and he said it was because his father did. Then he realized that was not good enough, so he studied and prayed and gained his own testimony. Now when people asked, he knew for himself. He bore his testimony so strongly without actually saying all the usual repetitive things, and it was really impressive.
Then we got to explore. Oh, one funny thing- Nephi kept pointing out relatives of his who were conducting other tour- Lehi, Lemuel (“He’s a good Lemuel!”), his sister, Alma, and even his cousin Abinidi! How cool is that?!

Talum is right on the beach and a lot of people were out there in their swim suits. It was darn hot, especially since we were dashing around, trying to see everything. There were a million iguanas out there too. They would perch on the top of the structures like living gargoyle-like decorations. Some were enormous. We saw the structures, but you were not allowed to climb them or really to touch them. It was really amazing. These were more complete than Altun Ha, and were just fantastic. Despite the time crunch, I had a blast trying to come up with new poses for each picture we took. It was a good time, and the Spirit that I felt there was wonderful.

We didn’t have time to check out everything as much as we’d have liked. We didn’t have time to visit the beach either. That was a bummer, but not a huge deal to me. I got lots of fun pictures, so what else did I need?!! We spent our time looking at things, and forfeited shopping time for that. A fair trade, I’d say. We hustled back onto the bus and enjoyed a sack lunch, courtesy of Subway, so we were all happy. Much better than the ill-fated lunch of the day before! Plus, we busted out the chocolate chip cookies we’d brought along, and all was well.

Helaman, father of Nephi, was our guide on the way back. He was as cool as his son. He also had a friend who make replica’s of the ginormous “Tree of Life” rock carving. The nice thing is that there is an explanation of the scene on the back. Naturally I had to purchase one! It is pretty neat, and how cool that the Mayans had a carving depicting Lehi’s Dream!

We got back to the ferry just in time. We HAD to get on the 2pm one, as the following ferry didn’t go till 4pm. The crossing took 30 minutes and the ship was set to leave at 4:30, so we had to get the 2 o’clock one! We did, and arrived in Cozumel at 2:30, which gave us plenty of shopping time. We’d been told that Cozumel had the best shopping. I felt quite mislead. It is true that it had the most prolific shopping, but it was by far the priciest as well. They did have $1 flutes, so I got some for Kera’s kids. I also decided I needed a lovely sheet of fabric that was a swim wrap. It was so pretty, and Mom looked so cute with hers. I also found a carving that I liked. It had been priced at $45 somewhere else, and I got a slightly smaller version for $12 and was happy. I did however use the credit card on that purchase, so I hoped if USAA called Dan that he would say yes, the credit card was out of the country and probably being used by his wife! With that, I spent all the money I had brought and was down to $1.50. The best part is that I still loved everything I had gotten. Rarely do I still like everything later!

We were on the ship 10 minutes before the required time and I ditched Mom and Dad and went to get an ice cream cone. So delicious after such a hot day! I hit the shower next and had some time before I had to get dressed up for dinner. We had decided to get dressed up at least once for dinner, and we were going to the Italian (5 courses!) restaurant for the first time. So I wore a dress, and even put on make up. We had a 6:45 reservation, and Sandra came with us. So we were a party of 6- Mom and Dad, Steve and Kathy and me and Sandra. The food was pretty good… all 5 courses. The desserts were to die for. They had a sinful chocolate cake for dessert, and it was truly sinfully delicious. The waitress was a hoot too. Dad asked if he could have a second one and she said yes. She asked did he want two, one to take back to his room? Dad’s eyes lit up and the waitress said “When you get to your room you will have to confess, because it is so sinful!” It was funny. And Dad did take them both back to his room for later.

After dinner, I changed and went back to meet everyone in the theater. The show was kind of a talent show by the cruise staff. They recruit heavily in foreign countries, so there were a lot of people from other countries. (And every single one of them was so nice and friendly!) The show was mainly cultural dances: 2 from the Philippines (my favorite), an Indian (from India) one, a Polynesian dance, and an Indonesian dance. There was also some singing and a juggling bartender. It was fun and I’m glad I went. The grand finale featured a number of crew members singing, and the captain came in and spoke briefly and introduced some of the important people- like the head chef, who had waxed mustaches!