Building Others

So I think that I should start with some updates. I finished my internship in Utah. It was really cool. I loved being able to contribute to a community. Wendy and I moved back up to Idaho. While I was down in Utah I made a shirt for a good friend of mine. It was the first shirt design that I'd ever done on my own. The quote on it is an inside joke from a double date with him and his wife.

Since moving back to Idaho, Wendy has started back to school and I've started back to work. We've made lots of friends in our new ward and we're really liking it. Also I made Wendy a shirt design after we got back. I have to admit, I really like making the designing because it gives me a creative outlet. Now I'm thinking about making more shirt designs.

Wendy and I have arranged our apartment and made general preparations for when our baby girl comes in a few months. We've been blessed to have all of our parents helping us out in that regard. One of my new favorite things is to put a hand on Wendy's stomach and feel our little girl kicking or moving. Wendy and I have discovered that we like eating at Frontier Pies. We both really like their pies.

My spiritual thought comes from our Gospel Doctrine teacher at church. Every Sunday he gives his lesson and finds a way to emphasize helping others out. Each week he asks us if we have experiences from the previous week on how we've helped others. Recently I've realized that the whole goal of the Gospel of Christ is to help others. Christ's teachings uplift us and help us to understand how to teach everyone but I think the ultimate goal of His teachings and actions was to show us how to help others. This week it is my goal to be more like my Savior and try to help those around me. A friend of mine once told me that I was a "builder" or someone who tried to build others up. At the time I believe I did a better job at "building". I want to challenge y'all to try to help build those around you then let me know how you did. I hope y'all have a great week!

Update

For starters, I'm alive. It's been over two months since I posted. They have been crazy busy for the most part. I apologize for not writing sooner. Either I remembered and didn't have time or I forgot; the last few weeks have been a lot of the former. I'm very sorry guys.

Well, what to tell you.... I've been doing school stuff, work, wedding stuff and sometimes relaxing. Since last time, Wendy and I went to a Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert on campus. Wendy was super happy to go and we had really good seats. Wendy and I also went down to my parents house for General Conference and Thanksgiving. Both of those were really good and I was glad to spend time with my family and my darling Wendy. These last couple months have been full of ups and downs.

Today, going to church was a bittersweet experience. It was sweet because it was my last Sunday in a single's ward. While I have really enjoyed being in that ward, I won't miss the competition that seems to go on in a single's ward. At the same time, it was a bitter experience because it was my last time in the 67th ward. The ward that has become my home ward having been in it for two years. The experience was embittered more by the fact that the man who's been my Bishop for two years got released today. I won't deny it, that man has become my friend because he's helped me in some of my toughest moments. I will note that I was pleased to have him do an important interview for me today which was very touching because he's not just my Bishop, he's my friend.

Well, I should say that I'm really happy to be finishing up school this week and heading home for bit. Then from there I get to fly home with my darling Wendy to meet her family. And a few weeks after that I get to marry my best friend!

My spiritual thought this week comes from a reflection that I had during sacrament meeting. I realized one of the reasons that this ward has become my favorite and my home ward. It is because of all the friends that I've made here. Something I've really come to appreciate over the last few days are the friends that I have. They are really great people and I love them dearly. They have helped me and more often than they know they have changed my life for the better. As Sister Dalton once said in a devotional here on campus, everyone in your life is there for a purpose. I know that this is definitely true of my friends and I'm grateful to have them in my life. I hope y'all can recognize that your friends are gifts from God and I hope you let them know how much you love and appreciate them! Have a good week!

P.S. I've stop talking about what books I'm reading because I'm pretty sure no one really cares. Let me know if you wanted it included. If not I'll leave that part out.

The Power of Choice

So this week started out with me fighting the despair and discouragement; it seems to me that Satan must have been running a campaign against me. I asked Heavenly Father to help me overcome but promised to do what I can to overcome it. I will say that Heavenly Father helped provide me with love and support that I needed. I want to share an idea that helped me. I have made a list of songs that I call my "Pick Me Up" . I listened to that song which contains a mixture of my favorite hymns and quite a few of my favorite modern songs that have positive music and positive lyrics. Listening to these songs truly helped keep me buoyed up through that rough patch.

On Tuesday, I think I had a pretty powerful lesson in Brother Pyper's class; his pictured below with me. One of my class mates told a story from her life and taught us an application of scripture.

This week, I had a string of good scripture study sessions mainly because I followed the promptings of the Spirit and I read some different talks and scriptures that I wouldn't normally have read. On Friday I went and watched a movie with one of my good friends, Chellie. The movie is called "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time". As may be obvious from the title, it was about time travel. I liked the movie because without meaning to, it highlighted how our simple choices have a large impact over the long run. This seems to have been a theme for me, at least this weekend.

The last two days the stake to which my sister and I belong has had it's stake conference. It has been very good to get so much instruction. This afternoon, a girl in my French class (who's apparently in my stake) gave a really good talk about the Atonement and choice. She said that everyday she gets on her knees and tells the Lord that she's going to give or loan him her agency; I really like that idea and want to set that as a goal for myself. Another sister in our stake referenced President Ucthdorf's talk "A Matter of a Few Degrees" and said that we should also look at that a few degrees of improvement can have a large impact for good. She also encouraged us to get to the temple as often as we can.

So this week I'm going to try to make some improvements in my life. One of them is smiling. I feel that if I'm happy that I should be smiling more than I do. Another thing that I'm going to do is pondering after doing scripture study so that I can better apply it. I will continue to make a small list of things to improve. My challenge to you is to find small things that you can improve and to make those choices and stick with them because you don't know the importance it may have in your life.