Week 3: Visiting St. Joseph's Catholic Mass. Lighting Candles, Blessing Rosaries, and Colored Glass!

Peace be with you!

This week I finally had a chance to check out a Catholic mass! After a quick visit to the bookstore to buy candles, a booklet on hell, and some rosary beads, we made our way to the chapel. So here is the breakdown:

ATMOSPHERE: 10/10 candles

The atmosphere was wonderful! It was like stepping back in time to the middle ages. I felt like I was in a Knight's Tale or in 16th or 17th century Europe, simply magnificent. The building itself was constructed in 1899 and in Spanish Gothic style as can be seen in the pointed arches. It seemed very archaic, as well it should, the Catholics boast the oldest (tied with the Eastern Orthodox Church) denomination of Christianity and this was the oldest Catholic parish in the state and one of the most traditional; they kept to their roots here. I have always been interested in the Catholic faith, to me it always seemed so archaic and mysterious, so full of ceremony, ritual and custom.  The art and architecture were captivating, so full of symbolism and meaning. One thing I got to observe about Catholic tradition was that everything has a meaning, there is nothing there in the church that is superfluous. Every image, carved stone, candle, and object has some symbolism behind it.

Even the doors here in this church have meaning, there are three entry ways, each representing one of the holy trinity, the father, the son, and the holy ghost. You enter through the second and (largest) door which represents Jesus, the son. They believe that only through Jesus can you reach salvation, the door is also the larger of the three because that is the main door through which people enter and exit the Church here. 

I was also quite taken with the stained glass here, it was very beautiful and on all sides when you were in the main chapel. Each window had an important figure on it with their accompanying symbols, tokens, signs, and so forth. Intricately designed and colored to take in the light and bring a story to life! St. Patrick, St. Paul. St. Joseph, and of course Jesus and several windows for the Virgin Mary were all situated neatly, and extravagantly along the walls to watch over and inspire the reverent worshipers.

SERVICE: 9/10

The music was traditional and the whole gathering was heavily ritualized. There was a lot of standing then sitting, then kneeling then standing again and sitting... it was a very active service and I really felt like I was a part of it, I felt drawn in and immersed by it, having little time or opportunity to take notes. I prayed with the congregation as I happened to know one or two of the prayers by heart. In fact, I even went up during communion and was blessed. While everyone else was partaking of the bread and water/wine I crossed my arms over my chest, bowed my head and the priest said a short prayer as he swiped his thumb over my forehead. It was an interesting experience, after the Mass I even had the priest bless the rosary had I bought bought.

You could definitely feel how sacred this place was to these people, I noticed that there were many of the congregation that were Hispanic and had possibly directly immigrated from Mexico where the Catholic presence is high. There were Spanish translations for much of the material and on all of the signs around the church, which is not an uncommon thing in downtown Ogden. The service held my attention and I was never bored, in fact I was almost disappointed how short it was, there was just so much to look at and to be captivated by that I stayed after the service to take more pictures of the interior:

Some signs and holy water. The holy water was also found in several marble bowls throughout the church.

 This is me in front off the Tabernacle. The golden door there in the middle is where they put the bread and wine/water and they believe that it actually turns into the literal flesh and blood of Christ, this is called transubstantiation.

 This is a statue of St. Joseph, the man after which this parish was named.

COMMUNITY: 6/10 candles

I knew before coming that I should not expect the unabashed warm welcomes and boisterous "howdy doody's" commonly seen in baptist churches like the one from last week. Catholic churches are different in that people start praying in private the moment they enter the building. It is a quiet, sacred, spiritual affair for them and pleasantries are best reserved downstairs in the lounge and book store, or outside after Mass. The people were very friendly, however I sometimes felt like there were some whispering about the strange visitors. I also witnessed a crabby-looking woman who seemed to glare at everyone. I was new to the whole formal ceremony thing so I was always self conscious about the signs and motions i was doing. I was obviously an outsider and the people in the pew in front of me and to my right had noticed. So every time they would lean to whisper to each other I felt like I was their topic of conversation. I caught myself once getting mixed up doing that cross thing you see Catholics do (forehead, sternum, left, then right shoulder). I had went right to left and out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw one young woman talking to her neighbor making the same incorrect motion. Aside from that brief bit of awkwardness (and possibly paranoia on my part), the people were kind and warm to us when we did actually get a chance to talk to them. However for the most part, the people kept to themselves in private worship.

MESSAGE: 10/10 candles

The sermon portion was very short due to the fact that most of the Mass was singing (beautiful) hymns, reciting prayers, and ritualized ceremonies. The only take home message that I caught was:

"Greatness is often found in unexpected places"

Really the sermon was more like a "thought for the week" sort of deal, but, this week it happened to be a 10 candle winner! This is a wonderful message that we can all live by. Don't underestimate someone or turn them away because they are of humble origins. The priest brought this message together with stories of how Jesus came across some of his apostles. Some were fishermen, some came from places no one in the world in those times wanted to live, Jesus himself came from one such place of Nazareth (I am paraphrasing the story of course). Greatness can be found anywhere, you just have to look. Now I will admit that when he tied god into this my skeptical side went on a tangent when he said:

"God is everywhere and he speaks in a small voice. You can only find him if you look for him"

I was thinking to myself "well sure, it's like ink blot tests, people can extract anything out of anything depending on how they wish to interpret it," or "yeah that's called presuppositional apologetics, starting with the answer and looking for things that fit the model to explain it" but that didn't devalue the massage, it only made it Christian.

OVERALL: 9/10

I thoroughly enjoyed myself, not much more to say. I think that based on the cultural and artistic merit alone, everyone should attend a Catholic Mass at least once.

(Tune in next week when we visit a lively Pentecostal Worship and feel the touch of the holy spirit!)

Week 3 preview of St. Joseph's Catholic Church

Hey Folks!

It's that time again! I know it is late notice but it is time for this week's pick of the faiths, this week I am heeding the call of the Catholics! The parish of choice, St. Joseph's. It was a last minute change from St. James' Catholic Church because I will again be sharing attendance of this fine Sunday mass with my dear friend Chad, who is also blogging (which ) about our adventures in faith here. Honestly, Chad would be the expert here as we was once an active Catholic after leaving the Mormon faith years ago and now, like me, has opted out of all religions and is an atheist. We were planning on attending His home parish from when he was an active member but we have mutually decided that it would e better to attend a church with which he has no ties as there would have undoubtedly been very awkward encounters with members who would recognize him. It may be more conducive to our research if we were not to make any scenes or attract any extra attention to ourselves.

Admittedly, I don't know much about the catholic church. I have only a rudimentary knowledge of some of the ceremony associated with it and of its leadership. This is of course a good thing because the purpose of this project is for me to expose myself to realms of different philosophies unfamiliar  to me. It is not enough for me to just read and hear about peoples' beliefs. My goal is to experience them and to see what it is that members see, think and feel. The very little understanding I have about this church is largely from the media and brief to lengthy stories from Chad. I think my next project will be to undergo the 9 month training classes to become a Catholic. What do you think? Feel free to leave me a comment, should I convert to Catholicism?

Anyway, this is what I know:

I know that (of course we all know this from the media) that the catholic church has been involved with many child sex abuse scandals over the years (Which will not be the focus of this blog). I also know that the Roman Catholic church shares the honor of the longest running and oldest Christian Churches in the world with the Eastern Orthodox Church. That is pretty much the extent of what I know but I am hoping to expand upon that more productively.

As for the church I will visit tomorrow, St. Joseph's is one of the most prominent, church's here in the state of Utah. It is also one of the (if not THE most) traditional Catholic masses in the state. I am looking forward to stepping back in time and witnessing how ceremonies were conducted over a thousand years ago, this is going to be a good one!

The Berean Baptist Church: The Most Entertaining Guilt Trip Ever! And It Came with Goodie Bags!

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! Take some time today to remember and appreciate some of the great strides in civil rights we have made through history and some of the social advancements we have made in this country, but first I am going to share with you my journey to the Berean Baptist Church in Ogden! Pack your bags, we are going on a guilt trip!

Today, I and my friend Chad basked in the glory that is the Berean Baptist Church, this one was located in Ogden, tucked away in a quiet neighborhood with its adjoining youth academy (oh please save these poor children...).

"We believe that God created the heavens and the earth, including all life, "Each after its own kind," by direct act, and not by any process of evolution. We further believe that the Genesis Flood in the days of Noah was universal."

- part of the Church's faith statement

 It was a modest little chapel with a very plain decor as to be expected from a Baptist denomination. They are a fundamentalist, King-James-only, independent Baptist church. It did give me a sense of nostalgia from the days of Faith baptist church with my father, there were several hymns that I recognized and some of the messages were similar to what I heard all those years ago.

ATMOSPHERE: 6/10 candles

Non-hostile and welcoming, the chapel was modest and simple. It was filled with plenty of natural light. There was definitely a bit more energy here than last week's venture to the St. Paul Lutheran Church. It was more informal and I noticed that the age groups in attendance were more varied. It was warm, quaint, and comfortable.

MESSAGE: 2/10 candles

Okay, prepare yourself, there is material in this section that you will very likely find offensive but remember that these are people's beliefs and we need to do our best to respect peoples' right to believe what they want. Please remember that in the comment section! Comments and criticisms are fine on the beliefs but please refrain from insulting the individuals who hold those beliefs.

The messages of the sermon could be summed up as follows: (O) = I agree, (X) = I disagree,
(N) = neither agree nor disagree

1. Forgiveness is good. (O)
2. We as humans love our grudges, love our resentment, and we take pleasure in holding on to those (N) 
3. Criticizing or questioning church authority is sinful and wrong (X)
4. Sex is bad and men are rapists without god to keep them in line (X) 
5. You are worthless without God  (X)
6. We are born into slavery (to sin) and are compelled to sin and are unworthy of salvation. (X)
7. Christians have a new master, God. As a slave to God he can do what ever he likes to you and there is nothing you can do about it, FEAR HIM! (XXX) 
8. you need to worship god to be happy, so come to church regularly, "there is no other way to be happy, but to trust and obey" (X) 
9. The Bible isn't supposed to make you feel good about yourself (O) because we are prideful, sinful beings (X)
10. True Christians are persecuted by Mormons (X)

The sermon started talking about forgiveness, which is something I can get behind totally!

"Forgiveness is letting go of bitterness. That bitterness affects those around you and hurts those over whom you have influence and those who look up to you."

However that  was a brief review of last week's lesson so we quickly moved on and the pastor discussed what constitutes a sin and defined it as any non-conformity or transgression to the laws of God, making this a VERY broad definition. He also added, which I found particularly interesting that criticizing church authority is sinful and dangerous, as all sins kill in one way or another, this segwayed beautifully into .... SEX!

Oh how passionate the Pastor was on this issue! Shouting, literally pounding his fist on the pulpit and frequently used the word "fornicate" which I found quite amusing, it was like what you see in the movies. He addressed the young men in the audience and Chad brought to my attention a woman who leaned over to her son and sternly said to him "Are you listening to this?". I think from now on I am going to bring my digital recorder to capture some of these precious audio moments, however, they post their entire sermons on their website if you are curious to see what goes on.

Then came the real meat of the sermon, the main card of the service. This is where they lost me. I mean I should have had some idea what I was walking into but his caught me at such a surprise it took all I could muster to keep from outburst. Today's sermon was about... wait for it... SLAVERY! You heard right, slavery. That day, the day before Martin Luther King Day, we were told that we were all slaves. We are Slaves to sin, we are born into slavery making us the lowest of the low in the slave hierarchy. There is a Greek word to describe this, dulos, meaning slave, but not just any slave, the lowliest of all the slaves. There is a hierarchy of slavery with those being born into servitude occupying the lowest spot on the totem. That is us. The only way to move up the ladder is to change master's... Meet God, your new master. Serve him and worship him, he (and I'm not making this up, these were the pastor's words and they were supposed to be metaphorical... I hope) "takes your old, ugly chains and shackles and replaces them with a better chain, like gold or an ornament".

SERVICE/ACTIVITY: 5/10 candles

Ok, there were some ups and downs. Positives, it was entertaining, it was interactive with the occasional member of the congregation chiming in with an "Amen" or a "that's right" or a "praise Jesus". The pastor frequently used buzz words like fornication which I found amusing. The choir was nice and music was played on the grand piano.

The negatives? So... many... hymns! Some were nice, I'm not going to lie but a lot of them dragged on for a while. I also have to dock points for the comments on the Mormons. This church seems to have a sort of victimized complex with the Mormon Church. They feel picked on and that the Mormons scrutinize true Christians' ideas of salvation through faith rather than works which the Mormon church emphasizes.

COMMUNITY:  8/10 candles

The people were great! Very open to us as new visitors, friendly, and most members of the congregation came over for a handshake and an introduction. We weren't even all the way in the  door before being approached by a greeter with goodie bags. He asked us if it was our first visit, it was. I realized I had left my notebook in the car and ran out to get it. The greeter seemed a bit surprised when I held the door for some people on my way back in saying that that was the first time he had ever seen a first time visitor hold the door open for the regular members. Wasn't quite sure how to take that, but I guess it was a compliment.

OVERALL: 6/10

I can't even imagine what it would be like living a life believing this. Up to the time of this writing, this was the most self-loathing, guilt ridden sermon I have ever attended. I learned that God made sex and made us to enjoy it and that men are all sexual predators who need God to stay in line, because without god we are empty, worthless, creatures. I learned that the only way to find happiness is to accept God as your master and then he gives you a fancy collar. Overall I found the experience entertaining and a bit scary. The most terrifying thing to me is that they have a private school next door and they send missions everywhere. I feel that these are harmful messages they are sending out. despite all that I found the service enjoyable and it kept my attention.

Tune in next week when I explore one of the oldest Christian faiths in the world, the Catholic Church.

Coming Up...Week 2: Meeting the True Believers of The Berean Baptist Church

Next on the list my buddy Chad and I are going to visit the Berean Baptist Church in Ogden,Utah. Their homepage reads:

"Since 1958, Berean Baptist Church has been standing as a faithful gospel witness in Ogden, Utah and throughout the Wasatch Front.  We count it our special privilege to serve the Lord in this area and at this time. "

 I was looking through the site and it appears that this is an independent Baptist church and are proudly fundamentalist and adhere only to the King James version of the Bible. One thing that raised an eyebrow for me was this:

"A Church that Defends the Faith (2 Timothy 2:24-26).  Living in Utah provides us with many opportunities to defend the faith against unbelieving attacks.  We strive to do so in the spirit of meekness as God's Word commands.  But we also strive to do so rigorously, with a humble boldness and reliance upon the Word of God in every apologetic encounter.  We strive to defend the faith manfully, earnestly contending for the faith.  We strive to defend the faith faithfully, not ever apologizing for the "less than palatable" parts of Scripture.  We strive to be "always ready to give an answer to every man that asketh us a reason of the hope that lieth within us."  In the future, we will provide material and information that directly addresses Mormon attacks on our faith.  If you would like to watch a 25 minute gospel presentation that plainly presents the gospel of "grace alone" and is particularly designed for our LDS neighbors"

They call it a humble boldness, but to me it comes off as a bit arrogant and like they are in Utah, calling out the Mormons. In this tactic they also seek to play the victim which I find distasteful.
They are pro-Seperation of Church and State (which REALLY surprised me! Good for them, that's a win). Or really separation of just about everything, they seem to be very exclusive so I am not certain how they will react when two strangers show up out of the blue.Oh and humans are lowly creatures...

"We emphasize the Biblical doctrine of man's innate wretchedness and sinfulness against a holy and righteous God.  We believe that salvation is the gift of God, whereby a sovereign and holy God extends His free grace to unworthy sinners."

I am looking forward to the service and hoping that I can gain better perspective on their positions and meet with them in their house of worship and try to understand them. Chad is not really looking forward to this one but we are in this together. If we are questioned about why we are there or what our position is, we will of course be honest, and tactful. My goal is mainly understanding and experience followed by entertainment (but I may leave out that last bit).

"According to Acts 17:11, Paul praised the believers in Berea because they "received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily."  At Berean Baptist, we desire to follow the example of these early Bereans.  We strive to live by the whole council of God.  We want to help others do the same."

This will be fun

St. Paul Lutheran Church and School: Info and Review

This is a looooong over due review on the Lutheran Church I attended last Sunday with my Friend Chad (see his blog here). Work has been picking up this week so I hadn't had the time to sit down and blog. With that said, I will have to condense the background and review into one entry and i will do my best to keep it short and sweet.

Being that it was a Lutheran church it is a Christian denomination stemming from the Protestant family and follows ideologies of Martin Luther. If you are interested in knowing more about their church and their message you can check out their website (in case there is anything you want to know that I didn't cover): http://stpaulutah.org/
There is also an adjoining elementary school, which I never noticed all the times I have driven by so that was an interesting discovery.

 It was a lovely  adorned with Christmas decorations (Yes this late in January!). It was still appropriate, as this Church celebrates high church holidays. The twelve days of Christmas run from December 25th to January 5th this night is called, I believe, the Twelfth Night. The following night is the Feast of Epiphany which celebrates the visiting of the wise men to cute little baby Jesus. The Sunday thereafter is known as Epiphany Sunday. That is my limited understanding of it anyway... on to reveiw!

Review is broken down into categories of Atmosphere, Message, Community &Hospitality, Service/Activity, and Overall. Scale is 1-10 candles with 10 being the highest.







ATMOSPHERE: 8/10 candles

I found the atmosphere warm and inviting. The walls were plain and whitewashed, occasionally adorned with a portrait of Martin Luther or a festive Christmas ribbon or trinket. Inside was an East-facing chapel with ornate stained glass windows, and simple, traditional altar. Very beautiful, and there was a feeling of peace, I felt very comfortable.

In addition to  the windows there was a beautiful pipe organ located to the rear of the chapel near the entrance. The music during the sermon sounded cheap and digitized. Probably my least favorite thing about the sermon, though there wasn't much I could pick at it was a lovely sermon (See Service/Activity)

MESSAGE: 6/10 candles

The topic today was water. I enjoyed the fact that the Reverend could egin the service with a personal story and it was an entertaining yarn about a stormy day he had witnessed near one of the Great Lakes in Wisconsin. The message was that water can be dangerous or it can save you, this transitioned into a sermon on baptism and the destructive forces of water in the bible like the parting of the red sea story and the story of Noah. Here is where I was kinda taken aback,what I gathered from the sermon was basically a guilt trip and threats of watery wrath if you don't follow God's word. The worst of it was when the Reverend was appealing to archeological evidence of the flood and the parting of the red sea, none of which has been substantiated by credible science. He made claims that archeologists found Egyptian chariots and the remains of Egyptian soldiers on the sea floor, furthermore there is no evidence outside the Bible of a mass exodus out of Egypt. So due to these bold exclamations of unsubstantiated archeological findings I would have to dock points in this area. However there was a sincere prayer in the sermon for safety for people in all situations, I felt it was sincere and in my opinion, concern for others is a message that would benefit everyone so kudos for that. The celebration of mass genocide of the entire human race via global flood, however is not a good message to send children.


COMMUNITY: 8/10 candles

The moment Chad and I stepped in the doors we were approached by a friendly lady who welcomed us warmly and asked if it was our first time visiting. She was helpful in offering to answer  any questions we might have had. The rest of the congregation didn't really approach us but I sensed no tension but could feel the understandable curious glance but no sign of animosity. We shook hands with the Rev after the service and he was very friendly. No one questioned who we were or why we came.

SERVICE: 7/10

They were able to hold my attention and it was a short and sweet service with plenty of community announcements and boards and potluck dates. This is a busy group of people who are dedicated to their community and their church. The music was probably the only thing that didn't wow me, but that what can be expected from traditional church hymns? It was a very new experience for me and according to my friend, Chad, it was very similar to a Catholic mass minus the emphasis on ceremony.

OVERALL: 7/10 candles

A new experience and I got to see traditional greetings and learned much about Christian holidays and what goes on behind the doors of that little church with the colorful windows I drive by on a daily basis. Guess I had my own epiphany on this holiday I never heard of before visiting the St. Paul Lutheran Church.

An Unexpected Journey: Introduction to the Project

Hello everyone!

Welcome to my first blog...ever. I am still trying to figure out how to use everything so if things start out a bit bumpy that is my story and I am sticking with it. 

A Bit About Me:


My name is Austin and I am an Atheist. I do not subscribe to any religion or doctrine. I reside in Utah and was brought up in the Mormon Church while occasionally attending a Baptist church with my father. As I grew older I gradually fell further away from the church and adopted more of a deist position then transitioned toward an agnostic position. From there, I eventually gravitated to atheism at the age of 19. I will eventually post a more thorough account of my religious background and experience (I have little participatory experience outside the Mormon Church). There seems to be a common trend in people who became atheists after once adhering to one form of faith or another, and that is the "angry atheist" stage. Through this survey and firsthand observations, I hope to better understand people, their rituals, their beliefs, and why they hold those beliefs.
 

The Project:

As the name of the blog suggests, I will be trying to explore 52 different paths to truth, these of course being different religious denominations. Every week I will attend a different church and share my experience here on this blog. For those of you who know me personally, you are/were probably wondering "what in the world are you doing going to church? Have you finally lost it?". Let me take a moment to explain my madness and the reason behind this endeavor. This is a personal research project for my own betterment and enlightenment about the various religions that are practiced in and around my area. I am seeking a better understanding of various religions through experiencing them first hand. One every week for a year. If the congregation has a post-service social and the company is enjoyable I will attend that as well.

NOTE: Attending these meetings I know I enter as a guest and will act accordingly. I will be respectful, polite and cordial. My purpose is not to cause trouble but to gain an understanding of beliefs and culture. My aim is to blend in as much as possible but to be honest when I am approached. If asked, I will not lie about why I am there and I will be friendly about it. There is no need to perpetuate the negative stereotypes about atheists, it is my hope to help dispel these if I can and  show that even atheists can be personable and non confrontational, I go not preach but to observe and will do so quietly.



How Did you Come up with the Idea?:

I didn't... Two years ago I read about someone doing a similar project and I decided that it would be an interesting way to familiarize myself with different religions and their beliefs, political and social positions, as well as the attitudes of the members. I have been wanting to pursue this for some time but never got around to it for one reason or another. It wasn't until a close friend of mine revealed to me his new year's resolution to do this that I got the motivation to get this under way myself.

He did a lot of digging and compiled a very diversified list of 52 churches here in Utah, many of which are in our area. So the credit goes to Chad for the preliminary research and selection of churches we are going to visit. As it stands now, I am basically along for the ride on many of these, I would also like to recommend his blog: http://52weeks52churches.blogspot.com which is sure to be an enlightening read as he has an encyclopedic knowledge of the material and can give you an educated perspective, having years of experience within several religions and many years of university study on the topic. All I am able to provide is my own insight as being largely new to many of these religions to be covered and sharing first impresions.

How It's Done:

Every week, Chad and I will attend a different church together (schedules willing). Before the day of the sermon, activity, etc I will post on my blog a little preview of what the church is, a brief history, and a little bit of what I might expect to see and experience. I will attend the service and make another post the day of the sermon or the following day describing and outlining the experience.

In this post there will be an analysis where I will rate the experience on several factors using a scale of 1-10 candles (that was my idea! ;) ) with 10 being the highest. these categories will be as follows...

The Rating System

• Message- Higher ratings will be messages that are positive and applicable to everyone, and non discriminatory. Examples would be teaching tolerance, love, etc. 

• Atmosphere- General atmosphere, how are the aesthetics of the meeting area, is it a comfortable or tense atmosphere. Higher rating means it is more enjoyable.

• Community and Hospitality- Was the congregation personable, friendly and helpful? 

• Service or Activity- Okay, this one is the entertainment factor. Could they keep my attention? Is it  lively or droll? Is it something I would recommend someone else to check out?

• Overall- The overall experience as I see it. This rating will take the sum of all the previous ratings and divide by the number possible for a mean. Would I go back, and would I recommend it to others?

One more rating will be given describing where the church stands politically and theologically in terms of being conservative vs liberal and traditional vs progressive. These values will be represented also on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being most conservative/traditional and 10 being most liberal/progressive.

Comments:

I really do hope to get plenty of feedback and insightful discussion from the readers, however I realize that this is a heated topic and people often hold very passionate views on the subject of religion. THIS IS NOT A HATE BLOG, this is about discovery and education. With that said here are the rules:

1. No name calling, let's try to be mature.
2. No Trolling (Yeah, like a troll is going to listen).
3. Stay on topic.
4. NO SPAMING! Advertisements in the comments section or plugs to businesses without my consent will be promptly deleted.
5. No insulting the the religion or its members. 
6. Skepticism and questioning material or evidence included in their sermon is okay, and criticisms of a Church's STANCE on political or social issues is also permitted (Thank Chad for this one!)

New rules may be added depending on the behavior of those who choose to comment, but I will play it by ear and see how it goes trying to keep them straight forward and simple as possible.Comments on this blog should be kept tactful as possible. Please do not use profane language and please do not insult others who may comment.


So that's it in a nutshell. I hope to learn much through this experience and share with anyone who has time to sit and follow. I will try to make it entertaining as well, those who have followed my tales of Buffalo Jill know a bit about my literary style. I would also urge others to try this challenge and see what they can learn.

Cheers!
Austin