New Year

It is now the beginning of a new year. As I know everyone does they reflect back to the year before to the good and bad times and how they can make this year better. Looking back I realized I had a blast in 2011. I had the opportunity to go to Zion's with friend, a family vacation that included New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Missouri and other amazing things. I got to hang out with my awesome friend Chelsea, and I got to meet new people and hang out with my other amazing friends. To add with that I also went to a lot of weddings, mission farewells, and homecomings, and baptisms. A lot of awesome things that will be hard to beat. The thing I can change is not to have so many bad things. I had my heart broken, cut a friend out of my life, and I'm still learning I have a friend that is bringing me down and not helpful but I don't want to lose them. Luckily though I have more postitive things and people in my life that it outweighs the one.
Yesterday in Relief Society we talked about goals. A quote shared was "if you don't know where you are going it doesn't matter what road you take." I thought that was an awesome quote because it's really true. You need to have it planned where you want to go. Once you know where you are going the road is a lot easier to take and you have things narrowed down which makes it even easier to get there. My challenge at the moment is to come up with some goals that are not only doable but will help me become a better person. I have a way to go and I need to straighten my priorities but once that is figured out I will be set to go. :D
I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas and a happy new year!!! It's such a wonderful time of the year. I love how at Christmas time everyone is helping others and give service. I wish it was like that all the time but it takes little steps. Happy New Year!!! :D

Surprise

I know I just wrote but I had to write again. I had completely forgotten that I had a little party Saturday night. I went to celebrate a birthday and then I hung out with my awesome friend Julie. We watched a Muppet Christmas Carol and put up Christmas decorations. It was so much fun!! For some reason when I help someone else put up decorations it's more fun and magical then doing it for my own family. I learned that they make awesome temple ornaments which would be cool to have one for each temple or something. And to kind of go back in time on Thursday I had the chance to go to the Hale Center theater and watch a Christmas Carol with my mom and sister. That play gets more amazing every time I see it. I love the message it shares and how you can tie it into the gospel and into life. Everyone gets a second chance and you never know how much a little thing can help. Scrooge caught little glimpses from the past, present, and future and that was enough to turn his whole life around. The thing that hit me the most was when Bob Cratchit sang What Child Is This. For some reason that song hit me pretty hard and it has become one of my new favorite songs. :D I feel like rambling a little bit so be prepared. Yesterday was Wednesday and that means dinner group and institute. At dinner group I witnessed a priesthood blessings. I have a lot of faith in the priesthood and it made me happy that those 3 young men were worthy to give a blessing of healing and health. I love it when guys take their priesthood responsibilities seriously and I know if for some reason my dad couldn't be there I know there are guys that I can turn to. At institute the regular teacher was back and something interesting happened. At the beginning of the semester I liked him, then I was a little annoyed and didn't like him. Yesterday I realized I had been kind of judgemental and a little selfish. The lesson was very powerful and I thought my chest was going to burst. Some of it because of sadness but I was also happy. We talked a little about testimonies and that they are important. It reminded me of testimony meeting last month. I had planned before I left for church to bear my testimony. When I got up there I was so scared but I knew what I was saying was true and it came straight from my heart. Afterwards a girl in the ward told me she loved my testimony. She said it was so pure and straight from the heart. I know now that all the doubts and maybes I have been having shouldn't be there. I know this stuff is true. I have faith and hope in it probably more then I even know. Back to class when we were talking about testimonies there was a quote mentioned and I can't remember it know but it's "Charity preventeth a multitude of sins." Charity is an amazing gift that can help build up your testimony. If you have the pure love of Christ you wouldn't do anything bad and you would continually be out there helping others, being selfless, and becoming more humble.
Sorry for the rambling I guess I had more to say then I thought. The church is true and there are many wonderful parts to it. Until next time remember that you are amazing and Heavenly Father loves you!!! :D

Baptism

Sorry this is delayed but here is another post. Last week and the beginning of this week have not been so good but there are 3 days that were amazing. Last Saturday I had the chance to witness 6 baptisms. The first 4 were children from my parents ward. It was good to see people I haven't seen in awhile and to watch these children take a big step toward exaltation. The other two baptisms were my cousin and another little girl. Something funny the other girl was the cousin to my friend. So it was good to see her. Anyway it was cool to watch my cousin's bother get to be a witness and to watch my dad fulfill his role as a priesthood leader and was able to join in the circle for the confirmation. All 6 of these little kids are amazing and they have no idea what blessings are in store for them. Sunday was the Christmas devotional and i love hearing from the first presidency. They should a clip of Christs birth from when Mary is told by an angel to when they flee to Egypt. Those kinds of movies that depict Christ's life always touch me. Sometimes it doesn't seem real that someone loves me so much to go through all that pain and suffering. I am very grateful that Christ is our Saviour, brother, and friend. To go along with this yesterday I had the opportunity to go do baptisms for the dead. It was nice to go to the temple and step out of the world for an hour. The world is full of distractions that sometimes you just have to get away from it. I'm grateful that I have the opportunity to help those you have passed on. A story that has stuck with me from young women's dealt with baptisms for the dead. My young woman leader told us when she was in young women's that when she went to do baptisms she could feel the presence of spirits in the room and she felt gratitude. I know there are spirits who have passed on waiting to be baptized and confirmed. It's always nice to know you are helping others and this is the biggest help you can give. It's completely selfless, and to me it gives me a tiny glimpse of charity. :D Sorry if my thoughts don't flow well but I really felt like sharing a little bit of my testimony. Thanks!

Thanksgiving

This past week was Thanksgiving. I am so grateful to have a day where we can truly stop everything we are doing and take the time to think of what we are grateful for. I think gratitude is taken for granted. We are so busy with life and trials that instead of thinking I'm so glad I have a job or I'm glad I'm going through a learning experience we think why is this happening or I'm miserable. I know I am guilty of this but I have noticed when I pray I get into that mindset which I love. Prayer is really important to me even if I'm not consist all the time. It gives me time to really think of blessings during the day or week. I know that was a big leap but in Sunday school we talked about prayer. It was nice to go over the basics of why and how we pray. There is a girl who is learning about the gospel and I hope close to being baptized. She told us the missionaries told her prayer is like a sandwich. You have the bottom and the top so the start and end of the prayer but the middle is up to you. There are many kinds of sandwiches so there are many things you can put in your sandwich. I thought that was a really good visual and analogy.
Ok so back to Thanksgiving. By night I was a party animal but by day I spent time with my family. It was nice to see my sister who lives in Orem and just spend some time eating and cooking as a family. We also wrote our annual Christmas letter which was weird because I have done nothing with it in the past and this year I had to write about my dad. So I hope it turned out ok. It was so much fun to be around friends and just to sit around and talk and learn more about each other. One of the nights I saw Pursuit of Happiness for my first time. That movie was depressing but there was a good message to it. Hard times will come and for some people harder then others but if you preserver, don't give up, and grasp onto the tiny positive things it will get better. Will Smith kept going even though he was upset and tired and in the end all his hard work paid of. This is an amazing message that can apply to our lives now. A thought that just popped into my head is Heavenly Father doesn't gives us trials more then we can handle. That makes me happy because knowing that I know life will be hard but I will be able to overcome it and become a better person in the process.
I hope that everyone had the chance to be in the attitude of gratitude. It makes life easier and your glass will always be half full. :D Until next time remember to laugh, smile, and live.

Life

I know it's been a little while but I'm back. So life has been good and I feel like I have accomplished some big things and I need to work on doing more. I have signed up for classes for January at UVU, working on applying for jobs, going to ward activities, and meeting/ getting to know new people. Last week for FHE we played toilet paper dodge ball and it was awesome. I was pretty good about being one of the last people in and it was kind of cool. Then I got to play volleyball 2 days in a row. I'm slowly learning to not be afraid of the ball even though it's kind of scary when I'm on the front lines. Over the weekend I had a blast. I got to hang out with my amazing friend Julie. We watched an awesome movie, went to an open house and went to an amazing organ concert. The organ concert took place at the Madeline Cathedral in Salt Lake. I had not been inside in 4 years and I forgot how big and how amazing the acoustics were. A girl in my ward was having a concert and the songs were awesome. My favorite song was the last one she preformed because it had a lot of dissonance and it came to a big end. It was cool to go support her and to have a good amount of people from the ward come to support her also. So a big thing that happened was yesterday there was a cluster fhe. They had a barn dance and I had decided I would go even though I'm not a fan. I ended up having a lot of fun. I got to dance with a couple of cute guys, line dance, and afterwards i went to Ihop with some people and just hang out and talk. It was awesome!

Halloween

Last week was Halloween. It was sooo much fun. I am very grateful for friends and the opportunities I had to be around those people I care about. For Halloween I dressed up as masquerade party goer #15 from Phantom of the Opera. It's quite a mouthful but it worked out splendidly. I wore my choir dress, had my awesome friend Jenny curl my hair and I borrowed her mask which was beautiful. I got to go trick or treating to one house and hung out for a little bit there and then went to my friends house to party. It was one legit party. There was a mummy pinata that didn't have a chance, a spooky movie, homemade root beer, and of course card games. It was just a lot of fun.
On the weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to go to 2 wedding receptions, a baptism and of course party some more. The receptions were so beautiful and I loved the feeling I had at both of them and the love in the rooms. The couples were so happy and you could see it glowing on their faces. Along with that at the baptism I tagged along and I'm so grateful for the choice the girl made to join the gospel. She had so much support from her family and friends and I hope her choice sparked something inside her family. It was an amazing experience.
I mentioned I partied it up and with that I continued Halloween by watching Arsenic and Old Lace. That movie is hilarious and the group that watched it were pretty funny to be around. On Saturday after the baptism I went to my friend Julies house and had so much fun. We of course had to watch the pink bible version of Pride and Prejudice, followed by a card game with math. I learned I don't know how to add to 11 without my fingers. It was a sad night but we ended with Pete's Dragon and sang along to the songs we were awake for. :D It was an awesome end to an awesome week.

Crazy Week

This past week has been a little insane but I was able to help out alot. I have helped some friends move, take care of some cats, and took a friend to the dentist. It felt so good to help out friends and that they know I would do anything to help. The best thing I had happen was receiving my second calling. A couple weeks ago I was asked if I would accept a calling to serve on the missionary committee. Today I was officially called and sustained. I'm very excited to help out inactive as well as nonmember get excited about the gospel. I know that I have been called to serve as a ward missionary for a reason. Along with this I have still been strong with the Book of Mormon and Way to Be. Today I read about being positive. There was a phrase that struck me. On page 84 it asks who wants to be depressed and feel negative. "Optimism, on the other hand, and looking on the bright side, refreshes everyone." Being optimistic does refresh a person and everyone around you. You have energy and it is contagious. Being pessimistic brings fear and depression which is the opposite of Heavenly Father's plan of happiness. I think it is amazing how in the worst of times there are still people who are positive and have faith things will be better. I hope I can be an optimistic person and help lift those around me that may be struggling. Today I recieved a really nice compliment. Someone told me that they love how smiley I am. I have been complimented on my smile and I know I need to learn to see that. Smile, be positive, and remember you are awesome! :D