Realities of an Average Snowboarder

In honor of the Olympics I decided to write about my own experiences as a snowboarder. My favorite Winter Olympic events to watch are the Snowboard Cross and the Halfpipe. I watch these events in awe at their ability to do these amazing things; the speed, the precision, the tricks, the DARINGness, etc. and I always get a small, very small, thought of, "They make that look so easy. Maybe I should try to go snowboarding a little more and then I will be able to do the McTwist." and then I chuckle as reality cruelly comes back into focus. I am but a humble snowboarder who is happy doing the "falling leaf" down the mountain and excited when I can carve. (No worries, every year I'm improving a little)

So here is just a little fun as I list some of the realities, experiences and "must do's" of the snowboarding world.

A snowboarder must wear at least one item of ridiculous clothing (if not the entire outfit)
OR! At least something that STANDS OUT! This is one area where I fall short as a snowboarder. My coat, pants, boots, bindings, board, goggles, gloves, etc all coordinate and in subtile ways. Oops.

Getting-off-the-lift Anxiety
Oooooh yeah, it's a thing! It is a right of passage to be able to get off the lift without falling. It takes concentration, balance, and a little prayer in your heart saying, "PLEASE don't make me fall in front of everyone again! I promise to be a better person!" When I first started snowboarding I would stop in the middle of conversations to prepare myself to get off the lift; everyone on the chair would become invisible to me yet I would be panicked I would be knocking them over in a few seconds as well.

Just watch:

The celebration of getting off the lift without falling
Yup... this is a thing too! It is as if you try to play it cool until you know, without a doubt, you will not topple over and then... you celebrate. Whether it be a loud cheer or whoop! Or a silent put your hand in a fist pulling your arm down, while whispering, "yes!"

I have a friend, Spencer, that I love to go snowboarding with because we are at the same level but we also push each other to get better. Spencer is about 6'2" and I... am not. I was with him his very first time ever trying out snowboarding when a group of our college friends went snowboarding. The first time he and I rode the lift together I assured him he could get off the lift without falling (clearly I was lying but I was trying to give him a little confidence). Well it came time to get off the lift and we started to smoothly slide down the small slope when *WACK* he completely took me out. Ahahahaha! The best part were these two punk teenage snowboarders who saw this happen and one said to the other, "Dude! That guy took that little girl OUT!" You can bet Spencer was celebrating the day when he could consistently get off the lift without falling over.

The celebration of reaching each stage of snowboarding

1. Stopping
2. Getting off the lift without falling*
3. The Falling Leaf
4. Riding Toe Side
5. C-Turns
6. S-Turns
7. Carving
8. Speed
9. Jumps
10. Tricks in The Park
11. The Olympics

*This really could fall anywhere on the list... if you are lucky it happens at the beginning of learning how to snowboard.

A Consistent Hatred of Cat-tracks
Ugh! Nothing is worse than getting stuck on a flat area of the mountain. These situations tend to lead to scootching your body in a weird fashion which leads to exhaustion, hopping about in a side to side and slightly forward motion which also leads to exhaustion, getting on your hands and knees and hopping forward or undoing your bindings and walking to a snowboard friendly area. Good thing none of these actions are humiliating... oh wait... they are.

My thanks go out to any skier who's ever helped me out in these situations and held out their pole for me to hold on to while they pulled me along.

Yeah... this is a good interpretation of my feeling of ending up on a cat-track; especially when it is a complete surprise.

The Sore Bum, Wrists and/or Neck at the end of the day
It's inevitable. The sore bum and wrists seem to come from falling over; especially when trying to get better at certain things. And the neck comes from those knock-the-air-out-of-you tumbles. I'm too old for those things.

The snowboard itch on a powdery day
It's a lot more fun to fall over into powder; I am much more brave and willing to try new things when there is a think layer of powdery/fresh snow. When it is snowing a lot and I know the mountains are filling up with new snow I ache at the idea that I have to wait for the weekend to go (Stupid grown-up jobs). Who wouldn't want to go snowboarding in this:

Other Fun Things About Snowboarding
Talks with Friends on the lifts.
Meeting new people and hearing their stories while on the lifts.
That peaceful/quite feel on a snowy night for night boarding.
Fresh air.
Being out in nature.
Doing something you love and enjoy.

Missionary Moments Part 2

Recently I blogged about some missionary moments and I had a few more thoughts I wanted to share but I thought that post was getting a bit too long. Mostly these are just other examples of people in my life and how they are sharing the gosepel through their everyday actions. I'm really grateful for their example to me.

I had a friend in college (We're going to call him Kevin... because that is his name) tell me about a neat missionary experience he and his family had growing up. His family moved in next door to a non-member family. The two families, just being courteous and kind to each other eventually became friends. Simple hellos expanded into "how was your day" conversations which lead to dinner invitations that later on extended to game nights and more. Kevin's family simply became friends with their next door neighbors. There was no agenda or goal; they were just friendly and created a relationship with a really good family. As the non-member family grew closer to Kevin's family they would ask questions about the church; just simple "I'm curious" or "Could you clarify" questions but they were close enough that they knew they could just ask. Kevin's family did invite their neighbors to church activities and dinners where they could get to know other people in the neighborhood (which is funny because here Kevin's family was the newer family in the neighborhood). It wasn't until about 8 years of the two families being close that Kevin's neighbors joined the church; the entire family joined and they are still extremely strong members today. I thought that this was such a neat story because something as small as being openly kind and friendly and letting it grow into a natural friendship, led to a strong family joining the church.

I was talking to another close friend who recently finished reading, "The Power of Everyday Missionaries" by Clayton M. Christensen and she was telling me about a blurb from the book and I loved it. (I need to read this book!) In his book he tells a story about when he and his wife have moved out of state for school and since they were around more non-members they were excited to share the gospel with as many people as possible. He and his wife invited one of his classmates and his wife over for dinner and games and then invited them to come to church with them the next day. The classmate and his wife politely declined. Not to get discouraged the Christensens moved on to another couple in the program and asked them over for the same activities and the invited them to church. This couple politely declined going to church as well. They continued this routine. Later on Clayton found out that one of his classmates, who he had invited over at one point, had told another classmate that he did NOT like the Christensens. Turns out this classmate was annoyed that the Christensens didn't want to be friends with he and his wife if they were not interested in their church. The Christensens had no idea and had not realized this was the impression they had left.  (I have no doubt the story is written much more smoothly and eloquently in the book) I think this example happens to SO many of us; in a completely innocent way. As members of the church we are incredibly busy with work, family, church callings, service, etc. So when it comes to everyday missionary work it can be so easy to jump to invitations and when we're turned down then just move on to the next person when instead, like Kevin's family, taking the time to build a real relationship. Who knows, that relationship could never lead to the other party joining the church but at least they will have a good opinion of members of the church.

This friend, who talked to me about reading The Power of Everyday Missionaries, has been such an incredible missionary in her everyday actions a lot lately. She always has been a good example, loving and inviting to everyone but she moved out of state almost two years ago now and has been a missionary in many ways. It has been fun to talk to her about her many missionary moments while living in a very non-member populated area and state. She hasn't gone out of her way to be a missionary but has been an example through her everyday actions and letting it be known (in a courteous  and even fun way) what her standards are. She has had many casual conversations where her roommates may ask a question here or there and she'll answer them without a hint of defense in her answers. She has been open about things too (which I find so inspiring); when she gets home from institute or church and her roommates ask her how it was she doesn't just say, "It was good!" and leave it at that, nope, she says, "It was good we learned about (insert subject)." And then if her roommates ask what she learned about she'd give them a simple answer. In return, when her roommates get home from their churches she always asks them what they learned. She also has been having a lot of fun showing her roommates and classmates that members of the church are "normal," like to have fun, are motivated and interested in education, etc. Again, it sounds like my friend's roommates probably will never join the church, though you never know, but at least they have a better and more accurate understanding about our church.

Elder Perry came and spoke at my Regional Conference in November and he talked about missionary work. These are a few notes I took from his talk:

• "We should be grounded in the gospel"
• "We need to do more when we have been given so much"
• "Be a missionary in your everyday actions" (examples given were: blogs, Facebook, conversation, etc.)

Just to wrap up, I thought this quote by President Benson gave a great light of hope... not discouragement... with this big task of missionary work for all of us to tackle:

"Our work will be light and easy to bear if we will depend on the Lord and work. Don't worry about being successful. We are going to be successful - there is no doubt about it. The Lord has sent us to earth at the time of harvest. He does not expect us to fail. He has called no one to this work to fail. He expects us to succeed." - President Ezra Taft Benson, "Keys to Successful Member - Missionary Work." Ensign, September 1990.