3. What did you love to do in high school?

I attended Orem High from 1973 to 1976.

What did I love to do?

I was on the wrestling team for a while by Sophomore year,  but I wouldn't say that I loved it.
I played Seminary Bowl, like Scholars Bowl, but with seminary questions.  I loved that.  In 9th grade, which was technically Jr. High for me, my team took first place in all of Utah County.  We also played Scripture Chase: a game in which a clue is given and the contestants race to see who can be first to find the scripture.  The competition to be on the team was fierce.  More than 30 students showed up to compete for a spot on the team.  We started with a five second clock.  Anyone who could not find the scripture in five seconds was eliminated.  No one was eliminated.  At four seconds no one was eliminated.  At three we lost maybe five kids.  At two seconds, over twenty kids could still find the right scripture.  At one second we got the group down to about twelve.  We had to get to six: four team members and two alternates.  We had to go to fractions of a second to get to six.  Needless to say, we obliterated every team we went up against.  A kid from Dixon Jr High took honors as the individual who scored the most speed points, but myself and David Leonhard were second and third.  Our team was so good that on one question all four of us found the correct scripture and raised our hands simultaneously--no time had expired.  That, I loved.  

I was called to be a member of the Seminary Council in 10th Grade.  I loved that.  I got to associate with some of the best kids in the school.  I attended early morning seminary and early early morning seminary.  My class started at 6:00 a.m.  I loved it.  No competition--this was my favorite subject in high school.

I also started my poetry writing when I was in high school.  I still have a lot of the poems that I wrote back then.  Some of them were published in the school's creative writing annual.

I started singing in the ward choir when I was in high school.  My older sisters took me along.  I sang base.  Whenever there was a Stake Youth musical production I went along.  So, though I never took music in school past jr high I got pretty good at it--good enough that I got to sing in the missionary choir that performed when the first stake was formed in Finland.

I loved crashing the dances at Youth Conferences that were held every summer at BYU.  It wasn't hard to go to BYU on a Saturday and since these were stake and multi stake events, no one was really aware that there was a kid no one knew.

I loved the Drafting class I took.  I was pretty good.  These were the days before CAD.  My Junior year, I received honorable mention in a state wide drafting competition.

I remained active in my Boy Scout troop during high school.  We didn't have a very organized program for 14 and up, so I stayed with the Scout Troop as part of what was called the Leadership Corp.  At 16 I was put in as Junior Assistant Scout Master.  So, I did a lot of camping and hiking with the Scouts in addition to the back packing I did with my dad.

My scout master ran a river tour company called Cross Tours and Exploration.  He hired me as a boatman on two grand canyon tours.  That was fantastic.  I did the grunt work, but I got paid to go down the Grand on river rafts.  I remember on one of those trips sitting around a camp fire with the teenaged kids from the group.  I loved to talk about the gospel, and we stayed up very late.  I remember telling them that I was a priest in the Aaronic Priesthood and that I could perform baptisms.  One of the girls said that she felt going down to the river and getting baptized right then.  I told her that we couldn't without a bishop's supervision.  I have always loved teaching the gospel more than anything and couldn't wait for my mission call.

I played the piano a little.  I was never very good.  I took lessons from about age 5 to age 8.  After that my parents couldn't afford to continue the lessons, but we had a piano and I taught myself from that point forward.  I liked the music of Neil Young and James Taylor and learned to play a few of their songs.