Letter January 26

I am so blessed. For the past few days I've just been so close to tears all day (and sometimes in tears.. I'll explain) just thinking about how incredibly blessed I am. I have an incredible family, incredible friends, and I know the Truth… what more could you ask for? Seriously!

Last week was rush week for the LDS sororities and fraternities. It was so much fun and I met so many incredible people! I'm SOOO blessed!

This last Sunday I attended two farewells. One was for this kid max doxey, went to East, goes to USU, good friends with schu and jolley. And the other was THE most influential girl (besides family) in my life, Jessica Wathen.

Max's farewell was awesome. There were SOOOO many people there! He's such a great kid - one of the greats like you. After he spoke the line waiting to talk to him at the church went down the entire isle like 3 times! We had to wait like an hour to see him! He knows basically everyone. Anyways, his talk was real good. He talked about the scriptures. I really loved some of the things that he said

· We hear these answers (primary answers – read scriptures, pray go to chuch) so much that we forget they are essential to our salvation

· You must know something before you teach it. Just as you can't tell someone how to get there if you've never gone down that road before, and can't help others come to Christ if you're not holding on to the rod yourself.

· That one reminds me of another thing I think I heard in a Wilcox talk. You can't help someone to God's kingdom without getting closer yourself.

· He realized that he must learn to love the people first before he can teach them the gospel. I love that because I feel like that's something I'm good at – I LOVE people – seriously they're my favorite! So that makes me a perfect candidate to help others come to Christ!

· He also made a good point about faith. He told a story of how a guy was pressuring this man because he had no tangible evidence that the Church is true. He answered "I know I love my wife – no one can prove that wrong through the scientific method" I liked that!

I also went to a fireside that Sunday. It was Judge Durrant, Utah's supreme court judge. He spoke on judgement. Ironic eh?

· He shared an amusing anecdote before he started his talk that I thought was hilarious so hopefully you will too! He was talking about how righteous the people down in Provo are, so righteous that they pray silently over their food before they eat in the cafeteria. One day he saw a particularly striking girl praying on her food in an empty booth. He slid in beside her and when she opened her eyes, he said "your prayers are answered" pahahahaha

· The biggest points that I got out of his talk were how he said that they have to have certain kinds of evidence (ie can't have someone's monkey's uncle who said he heard her say this to that guy) before we can make any kind of judgment. Too often I find myself making myself on other people based on what other people have told me when I should find out for myself.

· He although we don't have the kinds of judging power Christ has, we should judge as Christ would, which means giving the benefit of the doubt. Always have a presumption of good faith and give generous judgements.

The best talk and most moving to me that I've heard since I last wrote was Jessica Wathen's talk. It was incredible. She is such an amazing example to me. I've always looked up to her, she's been a mentor of sorts to me. And when I got to her farewell I realized how many other girls lives she's changed. Here are some highlights


· Like me, she grew up as a Disney Princess. When she converted to the Church, she didn't know much about the church except she knew it was true and there was a Disney Princess castle in downtown salt lake that she was going to get married in. cute! I love it!

· There is nothing better than the temple for the living or the dead

· Liberty Jail was called a "prison temple" because God was there. I can make every place I am a temple by having the spirit there. Isn't that cool?

· Her conversion story is one of the most incredible I've heard. She got herself into some pretty bad stuff and one time when she thought that everything was going to end and there was no way she could make it through she heard the words "everything's going to be ok" and she was like… how? But its all because of the church! Now she's as happy as can be! This can just prove that some of the most profound and spiritual experiences can occur in the darkest times or places in your life – just keep hope!

· Trials cannot only happen to us, they must happen to us. That is how we grow

· Can't handle life? Turn it in to the Lord and he'll make it a blessing

· She spoke of when she was Miss Murray, how influential she could be to other young girls, and now she's trading in the crown for a name badge that holds his name.

· Considering everything he's given us? Is a year and a half (or 2) really all that much?

· Sacrifices for the Lord aren't sacrifices at all, you trade in something good for something better

· See people the way the Lord sees them, treat them like the person you think they can become

This girl has seriously changed my life. Because of her, I'm making some changes in my life, or changing my attitude about why I make certain choices. I've been going to the temple every week for myself, and its been really great. But I heard from a girl in her ward that Jessica takes her all the time. I want to be that girl. I want to help out the other girls and let them know they're beautiful and take them to the temple when they can't drive and bring them to Christ hand in hand with me. Because of Jessica, my passion for serving a mission has grown even stronger. I still don't know if I will, but preparing for it certainly doesn't hurt. I just say that I'm on a mission now!

And here I am on January 26th and this letter is still not sent! I'm sorry! But now I must add more!

Here's some other things I've learned this week, some are in talks, some are in church, and some are things I just realized on my own

· When chosing friends, ask where they are going and if you want to go there with them

· A boy said this at his farewell "I want to tell my friends they are responsible for who I am" and it makes me wonder what kind of people am I making my friends

· I know this is different for those on missions, but think of when you were home on this one. Think of how much time you were doing homework, playing sports, playing on the computer, or stalking people on facebook. Now how much time did you serve the Lord?

· Only the home can compare to the temple in sacredness. What am I doing o make my home a sanctuary and a holy place?

· Service in the home – I think I'm doing better on it but this is something I need to work on. In church, the speaker talked about how we need patience, selflessness, to spend time with them, to forgive your family, have unconditional love, help them, cry with them and serve your family. I know I need help with lots of those, but I'm trying to get better at them by helping out with cleaning, and my favorite- I'm writing a note to my parents every night and sticking it on their door. I haven't been very good at it yet but hopefully it'll get regular

· How can I shrink from my responsiblilty or calling when Joseph Smith still did all of his responsibilities and even spoke to the congregation the night after he was tarred and feathered?

· Find joy in the journey!!!! I love this one

· The door to Satan only swings one way, and it only opens wider. Individuals may chose to close it or leave, but society never will

· Story… there's two guys at a train station talking and one says to the other I have 2 wolves inside of me, fighting all the time: good and evil. The other man asks which one is stronger and the first says: "the one that I feed" wow.

· Oh ya one last thing. I was listening to a talk and the speaker… I don't remember who it was.. Wilcox? Bytheway? Anyways. He said that when others ask us about our weekends church often gets forgotten, it should be put into our stories of weekends because its an opportunity to share the gospel or at least let people know how important it is to you so if they ever have questions they know they can talk to you. I've already shared my church stories with several of my nonmember friends and will never forget to tell about church in my weekend stories again :D

I know my thoughts are so scattered but that's just the way I think. I don't always explain how I feel about certain things because I think you can figure it out. I love you all!