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Mile 1,012.  A walk around the loop near Sarah and Darin's home to see the Christmas lights, with Sarah, Becca, Benjamin, Abigail and Chloe!  For pictures, today's walking thought by Merrill Bateman, and more, please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

Today's walk was 3.82 miles, with 24 feet climbed in 1:07:25 hours, giving it an average 6.9 tortoise rating. 561 calories were burned on this walk.  

My walking map provider, www.mapmyfitness.com, has changed formats recently and the maps haven't transferred to this blog as well since.  Instead of embedding the map, let's try this link and see if that works better for you to see where Lou walked today:

http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/602815060

Here are the overall stats so far for 2014:

1,012.82 miles walked, which is 101.18% of my 2014 goal.

317:31:46 hours walked, which is 101.45% of my 2014 goal (which was to walk 1 hour a day each day for 313 days)

48,685 total feet climbed 

160,443 calories burned
99.04% of the year has passed

I've walked 5 consecutive non-Sundays since my last missed day on December 23, and overall have walked on 295 of the 310 non-Sundays thus far in 2014, a 95.16% consistency rating.

The purpose of the percentages is to have a higher percentage of distance and time walked than of the year. This tells Tortoise that he is on track. Yes, this is more numbers than you are likely interested in, all Tortoise can say is he's really good at setting high goals and having them slip away because he doesn't do them every, every day.  (If you doubt this, compare Tortoise's 2013 walking record with 2014)

And now for today's walking thought, initially presented in April 1994 ...

"May I close my testimony with a short story. A few months ago, Sister Bateman and I were touring the Japan Fukuoka Mission. The missionaries in Kumamoto introduced us to a young Japanese brother who had just joined the Church and then told us of his conversion. He was from a non-Christian background. When he met the missionaries, he was interested in the message. He liked the young men who were teaching him, but during the course of the lessons he could not understand or feel the need for a Savior. The missionaries took him through the lessons and taught him about our Heavenly Father, Christ, and the plan of salvation, but he didn’t have a witness. The missionaries wondered what they should do and decided one day to show him a film, a Church film that deals with the Atonement. It is called The Bridge. The young man saw the film and was disturbed by it, went home, and couldn’t sleep all that night, but still he didn’t have a witness.

"The next morning he went to work. He worked in an optician’s shop making eyeglasses. During the course of the day, an elderly woman came in. He remembered her coming in a few weeks before. She had broken her glasses. She needed a new pair. When she had come in earlier, she didn’t have enough money and had gone away to save more in order to purchase the new glasses. As she came in that day, she again showed him her spectacles and showed him the money that she now had. He realized that she didn’t have enough yet. Then a thought came to him: I have some money. I don’t need to tell her. I can make up the difference. So he told her the money she had was adequate, took her glasses, made an appointment for her to return when he had finished making the spectacles, and sent her on her way.

"She returned later. He had the glasses ready for her. He handed them to her, and she put them on. 'Miemasu! Miemasu!  I see. I see.' Then she began to cry. At that point, a burning sensation began to grow within his bosom and swelled within him. He said, 'Wakari masu! Wakari masu! I understand. I understand.' He began to cry. Out the door he ran, looking for the missionaries. When he found them, he said, “I see! My eyes have been opened! I know that Jesus is the Son of God. I know the stone was rolled away from the tomb and on that glorious Easter morning He arose from the dead. He can make up the difference in my life when I fall short.”

To watch, listen to, or read this message in full, please visit https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1994/04/stretching-the-cords-of-the-tent?lang=eng  #ShareGoodness

The tortoise is smiling!