The Priesthood

Gotta love them Priesthood boys. I do. But it seems highly unfair that they should control the thermostat of church. That's my one beef with the whole thing. Because no matter how cozy you boys are in your full suits, when it is 97 degrees outside, it should NOT be 55 degrees inside the church building! Summer is the worst in church because it is too cold. I'm dreading tomorrow. I may wear a coat (A WINTER COAT) to church in THE END OF JULY because last week I had goosebumps and was shivering the entire three hours. Other than that though, I love having the Priesthood in my life. What a blessing to be a member of the church.

Missionaries and Wrinkles

Matt's little brother Michael went into the MTC yesterday. He's been called to serve in the Pocatello, Idaho Mission. On Tuesday we all went up to Salt Lake. While Matt, his mom, and Michael did a session, I did baptisms. Unlike the Provo Temple that takes FOREVER to do baptisms, I was done within 30 minutes. The Salt Lake Temple is so beautiful and old and has so much history.

The temple grounds have flowers blooming all year long because of an expensive heating unit in the ground that keeps the soil at a temperature sustainable to fragile flowers. Tulips have got to be my favorite flowers. I think they're just elegant. The ones around the temple were so lovely.

It was a beautiful day. I didn't mind waiting 2 hours for the rest of them to be finished. It was cold outside but I enjoyed myself.

We went to the Joseph Smith Memorial building for lunch and I took photos of Matt and Michael for a bit after. I think Matt looks so handsome in these photos. I love him in grey.

There was an old woman on the piano playing a medley of The Sound of Music songs.

I'm getting wrinkles. It's hard to imagine why that could be....
I think it's kind of unfair to still have acne when I begin to get wrinkles.

Easter Weakend (Strengthened)

Not a type-o, but a silly pun I guess. Weakend as in the end of being weak. First we got to be spiritually strengthened through General Conference (the end of our weak resolutions and a strengthening of resolve to do better) and second we celebrate our Savior's resurrection -the overcoming of everything weak.

I got tickets to see General Conference from my Bishop. It was my first time. Matt and I drove up in the morning and watched the first session in the old tabernacle (pictured above). The organ pipes were beautiful and it was really neat to be able to watch conference being broadcasted in the building where conference had been held for so many years.

Salt Lake Temple

During the intermission Matt and I took a tour of the Beehive House and had a lunch-to-go from the Lyons House.
The Beehive House was where Brigham Young lived with his family. It was really beautiful and very opulent (especially considering the times and how difficult it would be to make and obtain these things out in the middle of Utah when very little transactions were taking place).

You can see us in the mirror.

Digression: Lately, Matthew and I have been getting a lot of :"You two look like siblings!" False. We do not. This is what my siblings look like:

Sister

Brother

While Matt and I are cute together and I'll admit we may look similar, I do not think we look like siblings.

Back to Conference:

Conference Center aka The Meganacle

We looked darling. I curled my hair for the day and felt very pretty. I was really thankful to be able to go to conference (even though I fell asleep during the sustaining and my pen fell off my lap and the little girl next to me put it back on my lap while I was snoozing away on Matt's shoulder). Also I look A LOT like my niece Katie in this photo I think. Compare with photo below.

For Easter I made a Lemon Crepe Cake courtesy of the Martha Stewart Magazine. I hate lemon curd but this was absolutely delicious. Though I could only take a few bites before I hated lemon curd again.

Wise Words and Wondering Thoughts

Rambling Thoughts and words of the Prophets

Christ knows the scriptures so well because he was the God of the old testament. It was he to whom the prophets of old spoke

express love and show it
bear testimony and live it
be constant

we look back to claim the embers from glowing experiences but not the ashes

when we have learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead, we remember that faith is always pointed toward the future.
there is something in us that particularly fails to forgive and forget earlier mistakes in life -either mistakes we ourselves have made or the mistakes of others. that is not good. it is not christian. it stands in terrible opposition to the grandeur and majesty of the atonement of christ.

let people repent. Let people grow. Believe that people can change and improve.

Forgive, and do that which is harder than to forgive: forget. And when it comes to mind again, forget it again.

why is there no witness until after a trial of our faith? because the Lord will not give things to people who have not had the opportunity to grow to a level where they can understand them.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

I did not like this book. I read it today and it made me feel funny inside. It is the story of a young seagull who doesn't fit in with his flock. He is less occupied by trying to obtain food and just live, and more occupied with learning as much as he can about flying and testing the limits of his bodily strength. He is rejected by his own people and goes to a sort of "heaven" were he communes with a greater seagull named Chiang. Chiang teaches him that the physical body is no more than the thought and perception that it is there. He learns until his flight in itself is perfected. As a perfected gull he returns to his own flock to teach those who feel they do not fit in with the other gulls and who have more meaningful things to think about. He teaches a young gull Fletcher until this gull becomes perfected and then Jonathan Livingston Seagull leaves Fletcher to take care of the flock and teach those who are in need of teaching. There is a predominant theme of learning things, line upon line, precept upon precept. Starting to see the allusion?

Painting Jonathan as Christ wouldn't bother me if this book wasn't riddled with 1970s ideas about transcendental out of body ideas and the phrase "Hey, man..." I talked to Nicole about this and pondered why this bothered me so much. She concluded that it was the way in which they presented the information. They took the most important story to ever have occurred and twisted it. She says that in so doing they lessened the importance of Christ and his role here on earth. Especially when Fletcher "comes to realize that Jonathan was no more divine than he himself is." The Flock even calls Jonathan "Son of the Great Gull." When Jonathan ascends into heaven he pleads with Fletcher to not let the other gulls think he is a god.

Apparently people in the 70s related to this. Just as everyone will when presented with a little truth. The truth pulls at our Spirits to remember and then things that attempt to diminish Christ, like this, will twist them into something "rational" or "conceivable." When in reality, the Atonement, and Christ's mission on this world is something that is rational and conceivable to our spirits but not necessarily our thoughts as the world has shaped them.

My mom wanted me to share this book with everyone I know. I refuse. She says I'll never look at a seagull the same way again, I submit that it has only served to strengthen my testimony of the truth and diminished my liking for people who attempt to distort the Lord's mission to fit temporal understanding and standards.

Sorry Mom, I absolutely did not like this book.

Wise Thoughts

There is wisdom in the statement "Listen more than speak," for in such a manner even a fool can learn.

In being selfless, one never loses but always gains.

Seeking to keep peace will result in greater rewards than seeking for your own desires.

Though these thoughts seem passive and submissive, I've been thinking a lot lately about my feelings of complacency in my growth and improvement. I've decided that, while I value understanding my own thoughts and values, it benefits none for me to be openly decided about my opinion. I'd rather keep peace than push people away by my blunt nature. I am working on a few things for the next month and I'll try, through Divine help, to make these weaknesses strengths for me.

Things I am working on:

not swearing (my tongue has become far too lazy and inappropriate)

patience (I completely lack this valuable characteristic)

uplifting others (If I start to think an uncharitable thought toward someone I try to sing "As I Have Loved You" and look at the good in that person)

self control (whether this be controlling the urge to state my opinion, controlling how I speak and the quality and tone of my voice, or not over eating, self control is necessary)

humility (I've grown very confident since living in London, I'd like to have humility and the ability to recognize my faults as to not put myself above anyone)

I feel like all of these are good things to work on and things that I definitely lack. I also feel like they're all pretty interrelated. It is my goal this semester to a) get out of debt and STAY out of debt as much as possible, and b) to be the person that I know I can be, and the person that I want to be.

“And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them” (Ether 12:27).

Oh, that I could be like [a tree], rooted to the ground but with my every hand raised up to God in praise!

Life of Pi p260

How can you forget your birthday?

I have been so busy at work this week (I'm working over 50 hours) that I COMPLETELY lost track of the dates.

Yesterday, August 6 was my birthday -kind of. It was the 4 year anniversary of me being baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

I cannot begin to express how thankful I am for this church. I can imagine my life without it, and I'm not happy with the picture. Everything that I have, and everything good that I am today is because of this church.

I love this Church and I'm so thankful to be a part of it. I'm thankful for everyone who has been a good example to me and encouraged me to learn more about this "freaky" religion. 

Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps, for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and what they ought to be. 

- William Hazlitt
  

“

So many gods, so many creeds,
So many paths that wind and wind,
While just the art of being kind
Is all the sad world needs.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Marriage

Most people know that Utah, especially Provo, is a hub for marriage. Oftentimes I believe that the pressure is a bit much, not that I feel pressured, but that I know a lot of people do, and their perception of marriage gets warped. Sometimes it bothers me that as Latter-day Saints we are less cautious of getting married for eternity than others who are only getting married for life. That seems a bit backwards. Also, I know that a lot of people rush into marriage because a) they've been dating for a long time and feel that they're already committed to marrying that person if they've spent that amount of time with them, or b) because they've been dating for a while and have reached a plateau and marriage is just the next step. (I refuse to admit that many people are driven to the altar because of raging hormones, it's just unfortunate)

But like I said, I don't really feel the pressure. I know myself, and I've seen too many bad examples of marriage to rush into anything. Plus as I'm aging I'm learning to differentiate the qualities that I want in a husband from the qualities that wouldn't bother me if I was only dating that person. I don't think about marriage all that often because I'm not even dating anyone, but sometimes someone will say something, and it will really strike me how wonderful it will be to be madly in love and married to my best friend, forever. 

My sister Jaime is a wonderful example of someone who just adores her husband. From what she lets on in her blog, she has the type of marriage that I want. I wouldn't want anything different from what she and her husband Brian have built. They are a wonderful example to me of good, faithful people, living Christ-like lives, and building together a loving eternal marriage. I hope that they will rub off on me - through their blog, since I've only met them once -that by the time I am ready to be married I can emulate them as much as possible.  

Here is a perfect example from Jaime's blog of how much she adores Brian. It struck me and absolutely melted my heart: 

happily ever after. today is my honey's 33rd birthday! happy birthday babe! let me tell you a bit about this man so you can be insanely jealous. he's the best. the. best. this last year has been our best year together yet. better than when we were dating. better than the newlywed stage. the best. he just keeps getting better. first of all he's a hunk. just look at that face. he's so handsome. i'm happy that my kids look like him because he's a total babe. he's smart. not only smart but quick. he can come up with the funniest things so quickly. his mind is amazing. every night we have a 7:30pm date where we watch Jeopardy together. he continually outsmarts me. he's funny. and charming. and loyal. and generous. so, so generous. he cooks a mean steak. works hard. even with recovering limbs [he was in a terrible motorcycle accident and underwent several surgeries and pretty much broke all his limbs] he's still out there bustin it for our family. he's an amazing dad. our kids adore him. gavin wants to do everything that his dad does and katie wants to be everywhere her dad is. emily is full of smiles for her daddy. and most importantly he loves our Heavenly Father and is always trying to make improvements. he's perfect for me. he is my happily ever after. i'm so glad that we found each other. i can't wait to grow old on our porch swing together. when we get a porch swing.

happy birthday baby.

i love you.

And I love you Jaime and Brian. Thank you for being such wonderful examples to me. 

Hare Krishna

This past Saturday, Lauren, Becky, Patrick and I went to the Hare Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork.









We had a lot of fun. The temple was beautiful, though not as peaceful and serene as some others that I've been to. ;)










We got a tour of the temple and the man answered all our many questions and gave us a brief rundown of Hinduism.



















It was a really great experience. I think it is wonderful how truth transcends religion, and how when plain and precious truths are twisted something quite small can transform into something quite large.


















We took many photos and walked the grounds. A yoga class was held whilst we were there. We played with the birds in the aviary and got them to speak.




It was a beautiful day and we finished it off with a delicious Indian buffet lunch and Aladdin.


























Hare Krishna,

Hare Krishna,

Hare Hare,

Krishna

Krishna.

Hare Rama,

Hare Rama,

Hare Hare,

Rama Rama.

Three Years

Three years ago, August 6, 2005, I was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Though it's only been three years, it feels like a lifetime ago that I wasn't a member. I honestly can't remember how I got on without the knowledge and comfort and guidance that this church has afforded me. I love being a part of this church and I love the opportunities to come to BYU and work in the MTC that were made possible in part by joining this church. I know that this church is good and that all the things it purports to be are true. I can't imagine ever living without it, and I'm grateful that I will never have to, for eternity.