The Amish Project

Dear Friends and Family,

Just recently, in fact... an hour ago. I was just winding down getting ready to go to bed, when I decided to check my fantasy basketball numbers for the day. I did not get to them, because as soon as yahoo came up the front page had something that caught my eye.

It was about Jake Reilly (ESPN's Rick Reilly's son). Jake went on a very interesting adventure. For 90 days, he went without a cell phone, email, and social media. The article that interviewed him was very well done. See for yourself! Check it out!!

He is asked about his experience and most of his answers were inspirational. He talked about how he became so much closer to those around him, and how he found out which friends of his were actually as close to him as he had thought in the first place. Jake also learned that life is meant to be lived more fully than the little devices we hold in our hands.

Seriously though, this was so amazing that I have decided that I want to give it a shot. I want to see what its like to live without all these things that occupy so much of my time. I want to try it for 90 days. Looking at a calendar, If I start on February 1st, I could finish my 90th day and be back to the "real world" by May 1st. The more I think about it the more I really truly sincerely want to give this a shot.

However, I have a few obstacles in my way... a major one is the fact that I am getting married in May, and will likely need Facebook in order to get what info I need from certain individuals, especially those in Australia. (or is that just an excuse??? perhaps that is just an excuse? I could find a way possibly to work around that.....)

Next is my calling. I haven't relied on emails all that much until I received this calling, Everyone seems to be able to contact me best through emails... again, ways could be established to overcome this barrier...

School. Unfortunately there really is no way out of this one. I NEED to be on the computer for this one because my classes all require me to use the Internet to turn in assignments and/or get a hold of the professors. Not to mention the fact that I have an online class...

But those are really the only legitimate things that come to my mind as things that would hold me back from achieving this goal. I know that part of the reason life on the mission is so enjoyable is that you really are more aware of your surroundings and less occupied with technologies and other distractions. So I know I have done it before, I would love to do it again.

I am going to go for it. Today, the 31st of January 2012, will be the last of my social media contact until May. If you need to get a hold of me... call my house. ha ha! the number is... (801) 268-2021

I feel excited to see what the next few months are like, and can't wait to report them back to everyone who is interested.

Til Next time!

Rob