Having a Perfect Brightness of Hope

So this week has been rather rough. But I'll get to that in a minute. The highlights of my week were going to the temple with a couple of my friends. One was my friend Crystal; the other is a new friend named Mia. It was fun to go with those two crazy girls. The other was having a "short" lunch with my sister Megan. By short, I mean it only lasted an hour. For those of my readers who are unaware, my family tends to be very talkative. I imagine some of you will understand a bit better now, why I tend to be rather talkative.

This week, I also got to break out my winter gear which was disappointing. This week I'm slowly closing in on the end of The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan. It is a continuation of the Percy Jackson series.

My roommate Risto pictured in my last post is letting me read it. I also bought the next book in the series called The Son of Neptune. I may like this series a lot considering that when I met one of the new sisters in my home evening group that I thought she looked like Annabeth.

Okay, so my week started and I was slowly coming to a decision. The decision I came to, around Monday evening, was that I was finished with the dating scene for the semester. I won't provide details just know that this was not quickly made decision; I'll just say that my dating history is best summed up by the French phrase "C'est toute une histoire." The next day I was going to do my scripture study and I asked the Lord that if He had anything in particular that He wanted me to read that he would direct me to it. I was prompted to read "Continue in Patience" by President Ucthdorf. As I read I felt the Spirit elbowing me and letting me know that this talk was meant for me to APPLY right now, so I changed my attitude and continued to read. Eventually I got to the part when he talks about how patience requires that we work towards our worthwhile goals and don't get discouraged because results don't instantly appear. I then read this line that was a sharp divine call (for me) to repentance "patience is not passive resignation". I knew right then, that I needed to repent. That afternoon, the devotional was on the Atonement and the temple which reinforced the Lord's message to me. That afternoon I went home and repented.

Well the rest of the week was characterized by lots of homework stress and no progress on the dating front. At first I was annoyed when the Lord reminded me that there must be opposition in all things; this includes dating. On related note, I will say that one of my roommates got engaged this weekend and right now, I am happy to be single because I know I couldn't handle all of the stress of an engagement on top of everything else I have to deal with.

I feel a bit uncomfortable writing this... mainly because I don't talk like talking my love life outside of a small group of people. They know who they are.

So I hope that you will try to listen to the Holy Ghost, especially when it tells you to repent. But more importantly, I hope you don't lose hope in the Lord's promises. I know that they are real, no matter how distance they may seem to you. God loves you. He knows the details of your life and understands your feelings perfectly. Never lose hope; the Atonement can heal you and help you regain the hope that you need. Remember the blessings and many answered prayers that you've had, if those are not great reasons to hope; I don't know what is!

I pray that you all have a good week!

The Greenie Theory

So this week has been long and kinda hard but the good news is that it ended with my family coming up. Then the next day I had a date.

Monday we had a fun HE. One of my roommates planned it. First we played a game of missionary tag. Then we did a fun activity that had someone get their face dirty in the dark. Then the same girl named Monika volunteered to have her face remade into a Sundae. So we did that. Here are some photos.

I should mention that the guy Monika is hugging is my roommate Risto. He's one who came up with both the ideas that got Monika dirty. So you can see that she was just being "sweet" and sharing with him.

On Friday my family came up from Utah to spend some time with me and my sister Megan (Refer to last post). We had dinner together at Applebees which was really good. We had fun and got to feel like a family again.

Saturday morning I worked and then I came home. My date happened earlier than planned because she had some time constraints. I made Sloppy Joes that were more like soupy joes because I added too much water. My date brought a cinnamon apples in syrup which was really good. We decided to make Muddy Buddies (also known as puppy chow) on the spur of the moment which was messy but fun. Before I left, my date gave me a full bag of muddy buddies to take home. This is what's left.

On Tuesday we had another excellent devotional given by a Brother Wilkins who's grandfather was President Harold B. Lee. He gave a great talk about not worrying about the future but living to the fullest today as the best preparation for today. To be honest I really needed to hear that. As of late I've been worrying a lot about my immediate future in different aspects and it was creating a burden of worry and doubt. This burden had been stressing me out and limiting my productivity. So I talked to the Lord and I've worked at removing it; that talk helped me because it's changed my attitude about how to deal with stressful things.

I came to realize that this burden has stopped me from doing something important. Stretching myself. No, I'm not talking about making myself taller (as nice as that might be). I mean getting out of your comfort zone and learning. My religion teacher Brother Pyper (I'll get a picture of him one day, I promise) has a theory that I believe is at least partly correct called the Greenie Theory (hence the title). It goes that when one goes on a mission, you get in the MTC and you're nervous and don't know what to do and you're really uncomfortable but learning and growing a lot. Then you're sent to the mission field and the same thing happens. This cycle repeats itself at many other different stages of our lives.

I think that can be like being humbled. Originally the Lord will humble us but as we grow more spiritually mature, then He expects us to humble ourselves. If we forget, then He will come along and humble us again. I feel like the Lord will initially move you out of your comfort zone but eventually He expects you to do that by yourself. I personally had forgotten and it had created a spiritual burden that I had not consciously recognized until this week.

Remember that God created "things to act and things to be acted upon" (2 Nephi 2:14). We must act for ourselves. If want our talents to grow we cannot bury them in the ground or use them solely for our own benefit; we must take them to the money changers or use them to help others then and only then will our talents grow. If we do no use our talents, we will find them diminished or taken away. I hope that each you looks for you talents. If don't know them, go find some one to serve. I promise that you'll find them then. I hope you find a way to stretch yourself and find a way to get out of your comfort zone so that you can grow in the Lord's way. This my humble prayer. Have a good week!

The Tender Mercies of the Lord Are Over All Those

So this week has been interesting. It's been fun but hard at the same time. I've had a lot of homework, work, and other issues. The good news is that I have a date later this week. I'm happy about that I think it'll be really good.

On Saturday I was able to go back to the temple. I haven't been in over three weeks which was waaaay to long. The good news is that even though I had to wait for an hour in the temple, I was able to feel the Spirit and I even felt a pang of grief at having to leave the temple and go home.

Saturday afternoon, I got to see my sister because we both worked the same shift at work and then we decided to have lunch together. I also got to walk home with her on Sunday. It was good to be around family and get to talk again. We've both have been busy and so we haven't see each other a lot.

On Sunday, church was really good. Every single speaker touched on something that I needed to here. Also we had a special music number and a sister performed the most beautiful rendition of "Come Thou Fount" that I have every heard. I will be honest, I cried because the Spirit was that strong.

This week, I was in the middle of writing a missionary when I realized a tender mercy of the Lord. Before my mission, my sister Megan (pictured above) were really close. When I came after my mission, I was more mature and my sister was a young women and no longer the little girl I remember. So needless to say we found that our relation would need to change and we tried making it work with some success. Then my sister applied to and got into BYU-Idaho. Eventually she decided to live in the apartment complex next to mine. Because she lives "next door" we've been blessed to be able to rebuild our relationship to as good, if not better, than it was before. I realized that this was a tender mercy of the Lord. After that I started to see many others in my life.

I ask you, my readers, to look for the tender mercies of the Lord. As I learned in church on Sunday, "the Lord doesn't have a cell phone" but that doesn't mean that He isn't trying to sending us the equivalent of little love texts or tender mercies just as often as we receive texts. I hope that you stop and review you days and look for the tender mercies that our Father in Heaven has given you.

Being Sensitive....to the Spirit that is

I figure I will start out by updating you on what happened yesterday. This is what happened: woke up, work, lunch, homework, comforting a friend, homework, dinner, dance, evening chat. Here's the best best picture of me and a couple of my friends at the dance.
Megan, try not to make weird noises or twitch too much when you see this photo.

Today, I got up and went to Church was good but could have been better if I had managed to get to sleep a bit earlier.

So as today I found a theme that the Lord has given me for the last week. It like my title indicates, that we need to be sensitive to the Spirit. I have to say that is something that I struggled with remaining sensitive to the Spirit. It requires a lot of repenting and doing the right thing no matter how tired, hungry, or what type of 'mood' you are in. It also requires not giving in to those ideas to say something that you know will drive the Spirit away or is inappropriate.

This afternoon, I was reading a devotional given by Elder Bednar when he was just President Bednar of BYU-Idaho, entitled "Line Upon Line" which has some of the same material he used in his talk during the April general conference "The Spirit of Revelation". I found this talk because it was recommended to my teacher Brother Lon Pyper, who has been a spiritual mentor of sorts for me up here, back in 2009 while I struggling to make a decision. I think I'll try to get a picture with him so that you, my dear readers, can have a face with the name but I digress. In this talk he talks about how if we are keeping the commandments and are diligent then we will receive revelation. He says that often times "we receive a series of seemingly small and incremental spiritual impressions and nudges, which in totality constitute the desired confirmation about the correctness of the path which we are pursuing." I like that quote because I've started noticing those 'nudges'. He also talks about the relationship between faith, obedience, wisdom and desire, which I have diagrammed below.

Faith --> Obedience --> Wisdom --> Greater desire for added light and truth

I would also like to note that it dawned on me today, that while Elder Bednar gave both of these talks, the difference being that he was ordained an Apostle in between them, that he has the same basic testimony that he has always had; though his testimony of the principles of the gospel is obviously much stronger now then it was then.

So I would like to encourage you, mes chèrs lecteurs et lectrices, to try to remain sensitive to the Spirit. I promise you that as you do the Lord will guide and help you. He will sustain you in your trials and amplify your joys amid your sorrows. I hope that each you have a good week as you strive to be sensitive to the Spirit.

Continuous Revelation

Wow.... So it's been about two weeks since I last posted. I think a few of you may have seen the change that I made to the back ground.

Seeing as it's been two weeks since I posted, I suppose that I should give you an update on things. Well I getting a handle on my classes which has been a bit rough. I think my brain is asking for a break.

Last weekend I went 'home' to Utah to visit my family. It was nice to have all of us together but it was odd because I was reminded of how we've all become our own adults with different interests and different lives. My family and I had the opportunity to go to General Conference. It was amazing and like my dad said best "Has it really been 3 hours already?".

Being there reminded me of the great blessing that we have to live in age were have easy access to the words of a living prophet of God.

I'm always impressed by the talks. Especially after I learned from Elder Holland that almost none of the speakers are assigned a topic. I'm impressed how well those men and women are able to follow the Spirit and teach the gospel with their own voice.

I'd like to lead you, my readers, with a scripture that I got re-read a couple of weeks ago for my class.

“And now, verily, verily, I say unto thee, put your trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good—yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously; and this is my Spirit.” (D&C 11:12)

This verse stuck out to me because I always want to follow the Spirit but it is often less than straight forward on how to recognize those promptings. This scripture sheds some light on the matter.

Elder Bednar last General Conference talked about revelation. He said "But regardless of the pattern whereby [revelation] is received, the light it provides will illuminate and enlarge your soul, enlighten your understanding"

I love how the Lord has given us both the scriptures and living prophets who can help us to better understand how to recognize the Holy Ghost.

I challenge you and myself to try listen a little bit harder for the whisperings of the Spirit.