Tangled in Eden

This week was fantastic! But, before I get into anything, here is a picture from Maddie's baptism last week:

To start of the week with a bang (and lots of travel time) we went to Philly! It was my first time actually going to Philly. I'd been there before for meetings, but never to do fun touristy things. So, let's look at Philadelphia through my camera.

First, we had to stop by China Town. We didn't actually go inside because nobody else wanted to go... but I will make it back there some day! 

Next on our stop was LOVE park. 

(I'm a classy tourist, in case you can't tell)

Then we headed to the temple site! Elder and Sister Carr, the ones who are running the temple site and visitors center, were on vacation this week, so that was a little disappointing. It was still awesome to see the temple in real life though!

On the way to the Rocky Steps, we stumbled upon this little museum, bronze garden kind of place. It was cool.

Lastly, for our final tourist destination: Rocky. We headed over to the Rocky Steps, and while we were taking pictures, this guy comes up and offers to take our picture. We gratefully accepted, but what started out as just one picture, ended up becoming this whole photo shoot! We were laughing so hard, it was the funnest thing. 

 

Also, while visiting Philly, I would recommend using public transit. We bought these all day passes that give you access to all transit free for the day. We hardly used them. We walked every where, from Center City (pictured above) all the way out to the Rocky Steps and around to the temple site. But that concludes adventure time in Philadelphia. 

Next: This Week in Elder Horne's Kitchen

Also, our district is awesome.

On a completely unrelated note, I thought of this fun example for the Fall of Adam and Eve this week! This all came about, when we were teaching this guy about Adam and Eve, and he'd been raised Baptist, and saw Adam and Eve as these awful people, for initiating the Fall. We were trying to think of an example that would help him view it the way that we do, when it came to me. Tangled. 

So, I'm probably not the first person to think of this, and I know it's not the best example, but hear me out. I was just thinking about Rapuntzel, and her life in the tower. Especially the song, When Will My Life Begin. We'll say the tower is like the Garden of Eden and Rapuntzel is like Eve (she even has Pascal!). In the tower life was good. There wasn't much going on, she was pretty safe, same old thing every day. However, Rapuntzel yearned for something more, for a greater taste of life and opportunity. Yet, just like Eve, she had been commanded to stay. And also, as Eve, she was given warning of the dangers that would await her should she leave; as seen in Mother Knows Best. 

Then, the Fall comes. She leaves, and we immediately see the mixed response that it has on her. The frank opposition that she is faced with. The exposure to greater agency, and the affects that has. Had she stayed however, as the scriptures say, she "would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for [she] knew no misery; doing no good, for [she] knew no sin" (2 Ne 2:23). Throughout the rest of the story we can see her become acquainted with both good and evil, she learns and grows through her own experience and observing others. Her life does become a lot more complicated and difficult. Yet, nobody ever wishes that she would have just stayed. Why is that?

I love the parallels that this has to the Fall of Adam and Eve, and how it helps us see the picture so much clearer. It can become confusing trying to teach or understand this principle, but I've found that this helps a lot when trying to explain. Examples and analogies help us to learn and apply things. I'm glad that I've finally found one for this part of the Plan of Salvation!

While I was writing that, I realized that the story of Tangled was probably based around the Fall, just because the themes and experiences are so similar. I'm probably just the very last person to realize this. Oh well, hopefullysomebody reading this will just be discovering this for the first time as well. 

Love,

Elder Horne

PS More chickens