"And the Lord was with Joseph"

Wow, double wow, triple WOW! I love Joseph. All of them, but particularly right now I love the one with the coat of many colors. He inspires me profoundly. Last Sunday morning I read the Bible account (about 10 chapters) and I was deeply moved. I found myself openly weeping as I read of his struggles, his trials, and his tremendous opposition that was all overcome in the end with the help of God and the righteousness of his soul. He was sold into Egypt by his brothers and spent years in prison for crimes he did not commit (ironically it was by resisting Potipher's wife that landed him in the dungeon). But he was consistently faithful and the Lord prospered him. "And the Lord was with Joseph and he was a prosperous man. And his masters saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand." (Genesis 39:2-3). Later, in verse 21, we read that "the Lord was with Joseph and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keepers of the prison." Eventually after interpreting Pharaoh's dream of the upcoming famine, Joseph is promoted to 2nd in command, subject only to Pharaoh himself. He is given power over all of the resources in Egypt.
In the most dramatic scenes of the story, his brothers come from far away to obtain food and bow before him. Recognizing them, Joseph "sought where to weep" yet concealed his identity. Eventually, they had to bring Benjamin and Israel to Egypt, and when Joseph finally does reveal himself to his brothers, they are (naturally) "troubled at his presence." Yet he responds (Genesis chapter 42):
5 "Now therefore be not agrieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
6 For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.
7 And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
8 So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.
9 Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not."
He doesn't blame them, he sees the whole "misunderstanding" as the Lord's hand, and he goes out of his way to reassure them, to comfort them, to let them know that they are forgiven, and that he wants to be part of the family again. Can your soul get any greater than this?
I especially like the phrase "and the Lord was with Joseph" found throughout the story. What did he do to stay so pure, so focused, so righteous and worthy while away from his family, his religion, and home? He didn't have the Ensign, he didn't have weekly YM activities, or home teachers to check up on him... and yet "the Lord was with him." I have a lot to learn from Joseph. His example and character stand out as morally excellent, and he inspires me to be a better person. I dare you to read the account yourself and see how it affects you! I highly recommend it. The Lord was with Joseph... is he with me? Thats what I take most of all from this magnificent story.

2 out of 3

Last Friday, I had a job interview at the Ritz-Carlton at noon for the Amenities-Coordinator position. The hotel is located on the southern tip of Manhattan, and I've been there before, namely when I dropped off my resume last fall, not that any positions were open at the time. Well, they finally called me to let me know that there was a position available and that I should apply. So, I did. On interview day, I left my temporary job in plenty of time. I had studied the route, and I knew that the Rector St. subway station was nearby. The problem is, once you come out of the ground in NYC, you are always disoriented, and its the hardest thing in the world to determine N,S,E,W. So, my typical approach is to ask 3 people, because typically 1 person does not know what they are talking about and the other 2 most likely do. Bad formula, I know, but it has worked quite nicely for me about 87.5% of the time. Why I haven't bought a compass yet, I don't know. [Note: if you come to NYC, bring your compass.] So, for some reason the formula was way off last Friday, and nobody knew anything about up, down, north, south, the Ritz, etc., so basically I asked the wrong people and spent 24 minutes running around in high heel shoes, most of the time in the wrong direction! It was horrible. My feet still hurt. I had on a suit and it was drizzly out, so my hair got all mussed up. Nice. Some impression for the Ritz-Carlton. Well, I called the hotel to tell them that I was running late, and I finally got there 19 minutes past the hour. The interview was mediocre, and needless to say, they haven't called me back. Ever hear that song by Linkin Park - "In the end"? It comes to mind: "I tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn't even matter." Oh well, the moral of the story: buy a compass, bring your compass, and don't rely on the 2 out of 3 formula, although I do have to say that if you're in a bind, its mostly helpful! :)

Dr. Nelson gets a job... with no help from his wife

Here's a cool story about our life here in NY and why we're so content to stay yet another year!
Peter applied to about 36 OMFS residency programs last fall. He got a lot of rejection letters, but very few invitations to interview. Many of these letters looked alike, and I admit that I just threw a bunch of them together in some "organizational/ work in progress" box to make our living room presentable for company sometime around the middle of October. I also admit that I didn't/ don't always get around to actively processing the stuff that ends up in that box. Having said that, let's fast forward to the last Sunday in October. I was home alone because Peter was on-call at the hospital and worked overnight. There I was, lounging around the house, reading a book or something when I had a distinct impression that I should really go tackle the stackle. So, I did. And what to my horror did I find? A sealed envelope from St. Luke's Hospital in Manhattan containing a letter dated three weeks earlier to Dr. Nelson, inviting him to an interview the upcoming week! He should have booked it 3 weeks ago... ACK! I got up the courage to call Dr. Nelson and tell him about the letter, fearing the worst, not from Peter but for his "missed" opportunity. Miracles of miracles, he didn't get upset and didn't overly lecture me, he simply called the next day and there was still an opening for an interview. Whew! The interview went well and Peter liked the program. He interviewed at a few other places, none of which panned out. So now that Chicago fell through, UCLA didn't offer us anything, Brooklyn didn't work out, and we're out of options, St. Luke's offered Peter a position! We'll be moving to mid-town Manhattan in late June after which Peter will begin another one-year OMFS internship at St. Luke's (located by Central Park, Columbia University, and the beautiful Hudson waterfront). This was "meant to be" as far as we're concerned, and we're so grateful for spiritual impressions from a loving Heavenly Father who knows our needs and goes out of his way to bless us as we seek His will and guidance. Here's to hoping the Big Apple will rock this coming year! Yay!