This week I have thought a lot about my BYU experience. The realization hit me that I will be graduating and moving on to another chapter in life, and that thought seems surreal. Because I have been at BYU for five years (with a 2 year mission break), I am just so used to it being pretty much my whole life that the thought of my time here being up feels strange. I am the kind of person that loves to get into grooves and routines, not strict routines but general patterns of life. Whenever there is a major change, like graduation, I feel nervous but excited at the same time. I know that I will be going to dental school after graduating, but I also know my daily life will be different. Different because there is only one BYU, and one BYU experience. If I had to say what the best thing about BYU is, I would say it is the teachers. The general student body has a lot to do with my experience, but because the bulk of my on-campus time has been spent in lecture and lab, the teachers have made the greatest impressions and not only taught me the lesson material, but also important life lessons. The funny thing is that I don't think I could ever list those things out, but I know they are there because of the way I have changed. The greatest change has come in my process of thought, and that is what I am most grateful for. Many professors throughout the years have pushed us students to think for ourselves and use logic, deductive techniques, and always ask ourselves if something is concurrent with what we know to be true. And I love most of all the simple things in the classes that help guide me towards the gospel, such as the prayers in class, the continual references to Jesus Christ and the plan of salvation, and most importantly the spirit that each professor has brought to the class with their sincere desire to help us students gain not only temporal knowledge, but spiritual knowledge. I wish I could always be here at BYU, but the lessons I have learned and the feeling that have come will never leave, and I can feel how I have become a better person because of this BYU experience.

In order to celebrate and reflect upon the resurrection of Christ on this Easter Sunday, the Elders and Relief Society each had lessons focused on this subject. My wife and I separated at the end of Sunday School into our respective classes, prepared to talk and ponder more on the Savior and the Atonement. What happened in the following hour exemplified the difference between the Relief Society and Elders Quorum. My wife told me that in her class the teacher took them through all the New Testament scriptures detailing the death and resurrection of Christ, and how this has impacted the lives of every person. Multiple women shared their experiences of how the atonement has changed their lives and the lives of their family members in extraordinary ways. The women were filled with the Spirit and a few tears were shed. In contrast, as the lesson began in Elders quorum, a large flat screen TV was wheeled in and the teacher hooked up his iPad. For the next hour we watched the new short films produced by the LDS church. The movies were pretty good, although I enjoy the older ones a bit more. At the end of church, my wife and I shared what we had learned. We had a laugh at the difference in lessons.

I highly enjoy General Conference, but even though I pay attention and take occasional notes, I have trouble recalling specifics from the various talks. I can speak generally about what was said, but I think the hard part is that there are so many amazing talks one right after another that I don't have time to digest the messages and ponder how I will implement the teachings into my life. This is why I am thankful that the church publishes the talks, so that I can review them and study each one in depth. However, reviewing the notes I took during the broadcast and comparing them to the printed talks is always interesting because sometimes the things I have written down have nothing to do with what the person was talking about. The discrepancies let me know that I wasn't just writing down the exact words of the speaker, but writing the thoughts and impressions the Spirit brings to my mind. During the Sunday morning session, I had a random thought and just daydreamed about it for a bit subconsciously while watching the speaker, and the thought was a really good one that helped me out a bit, but when I snapped out of it, I had pretty much missed the whole talk. I think doing this is ok because the Spirit is the one that is supposed to teach us and bring the message to our heart and mind.