Everything Depends on Our Perspective!

FAM!

I'm definitely missing la Junta - I would have been happy to stay the rest of my mission there :( I was honestly in love with that place... One day I'll take you guys there!!

But yea, this week was kinda hard getting used to the city again!! Seeing a traffic light actually kinda freaked me out!!! Haha! I haven't seen so many cars in so long!!! And the area we are in is known as a harder area... they've only had 6 baptisms in 2 years, and my comp and I are both new here, so it was a week of knocking on SO MANY DOORS and getting SO LOST, but we managed to have some fun while we were doing it!!! I really do enjoy doing missionary work, even if at times we get rejected, and boy, do we get rejected here! Hahahaha! The people are a lot different from la Sierra so we've got our work cut out for us!!  But it's cool to be back here in the city. It's different, and different is good!!

I learned a lot this week, and it was fun. My comp and I both learned a lot, but something a member said Sunday in a class really stood out to me. We were talking about what it means to be perfect, or how we can become perfect. Something that I absolutely loved was this:

'The Earth is full of mountains and valleys. There are peaks as high as Mount Everest and canyons as deep as the Grand Canyon. One might say, just looking at the surface, that the Earth's shape is incredibly imperfect. But, if you change the perspective, and look at it from a distance, like from outer space far enough to look at the Earth at the size of a billiard ball, the earth is some 3 times more perfect than a billard ball.' (Evidence in detail at the bottom of the post)

Everything depends on our perspective! We as humans have our 'mountains' and 'canyons' whether is physical, spiritual, or temporal - maybe challenges, mistakes or sin.  But the thing is, it only looks like a huge issue if we're staring directly at the face of the 'mountain' or flaw. If we simply change our perspective, and view the person in his/her entirety, divinely created in the image of a perfect and loving God, we can see how perfect the person really is. :) So, all of us, with all our flaws and faults, can be seen as perfect in an eternal perspective.  And we can all be encouraged that the Lord has always used imperfect people to do His will perfectly. :)

That's a lil' something that I really liked, and I think its something that everyone can learn and benefit a little bit from, whether youre talking about yourself or someone that you have a hard time getting along with! Simply change your perspective. :)

That's kinda all I have this week, I hope you guys had a great one!! Let me know!!!

Till next time :)

Nick

(Pictured traveling in the back of a truck, his preferred mode of transportation from la Sierra ;-) Ha!)

Evidence that the Earth is Smoother than a Billiard Ball

The World Pool-Billiard Association Tournament Table and Equipment Specifications (November 2001) state: "All balls must be composed of cast phenolic resin plastic and measure 2 ¼ (+.005) inches [5.715 cm (+ .127 mm)] in diameter and weigh 5 ½ to 6 oz [156 to 170 gms]." (Specification 16.)  This means that balls with a diamenter of 2.25 inches cannot have any imperfections (bumps or dents) greater than 0.005 inches. In other words, the bump or dent to diameter ratio cannot exceed 0.005/2.25 = 0.0022222

The Earth's diameter is approximately 12,756.2 kilometres or 12,756,200 metres.
12,756,200 x 0.0022222 = 28,347.111  So, if a billiard ball were enlarged to the size of Earth, the maximum allowable bump (mountain) or dent (trench) would be 28,347 metres.
Earth's highest mountain, Mount Everest, is only 8,848 metres above sea level. Earth's deepest trench, the Mariana Trench, is only about 11 kilometres below sea level.  And if the Earth were scaled down to the size of a billiard ball, all its mountains and trenches would fall well within the WPA's specifications for smoothness.

It should be also be noted that if the Earth is not a perfect sphere. It is an oblate spheroid and should therefore also be tested for conformity to WPA specifications due to its shape. The distance between Earth’s poles is shorter than its diameter at the equator by approximately 43km. The maximum deviation with the respect to the Earth’s average diameter is half that distance, or 21.5km, which is within the scaled up WPA tolerance of 28.3km.  It can therefore be seen that the Earth would conform to WPA specifications for billiard balls if it was scaled down to the appropriate size, and it could said to be smoother than at least some billiard balls that would be permitted by the WPA.