The simplicity of God's creations

I am an East Coast girl . Although I kicked and screamed when I realized I was going to the middle of no where (Rexburg, Idaho) I knew that it is where I needed to be. One of the things I quickly learned to love about Idaho were the sunsets. One of my favorite things to do was, running to the Rexburg temple at night and being able to see the sunset on my run back. I always stopped and looked how the sun settled on the temple. There was always a peaceful feeling that came from watching the sun go down. It reminded me that God lives and that he is in charge of everything on this earth. It reminded me to slow down and enjoy the beauty on the earth. It reminded me how blessed I was to have a temple so close to my apartment. It reminded me exactly why I was there and why I need to be in Idaho at the time. There have been many instances in my life where simple things in nature have reminded me to stop for a minute, stand back and enjoy the moment. I think we often get caught up in blessings we want to receive, but don't enjoy the day to day blessings we already have. May we all stop and enjoy the simple things in life!

Once upon a rock..

I'd never gone REAL rocking climbing. Sure I had been to a rock wall or two, but that's not exactly the same. My roommate had to fulfill one of the requirements for one of her classes so I decided to join her. On our way to the canyon I realized how inadequate I was. Every one in the car was talking about the other times they had been rocking climbing and I just stared at my roommate. " What did I get into?" I thought. After most people had gone up one of the instructors that came with us said if I was ready to give it a try. My roommate was going to belay me and although I trusted her I was still scared. I think she could see that I was a bit frightened so she asked, "do you trust me?" I quickly replied " Uh..yeah" So off I went. I did trust her, but I didn't really trust myself. What if I stepped on the wrong rock? What if the anchor would come loose? What if the rope just broke? Every bad thing that could happen was going through my brain. On the other hand I was ready for the challenge or else I wouldn't have came. I took a deep breathe in and up I went. My roommate and instructor started telling me which rocks I should step on and where I should put my hands. It became easier as I could feel where I was going. Looking back at this experience I learned a lot of different things. I learned that although I may not always know what I am doing or where I am going if I put my trust in the Lord he will guide me exactly where I need to go. The Lord has put different people in our lives like family and friends to help guide us through this journey. We may not know everything, but if we are up to the challenge and take things as they come 

The Lord will never leave our side...

Slow down ...

I'm the kind of person that constantly needs to be doing something because as soon as I have "down time" I loose motivation to do things. Coming home after my first semester of college was hard. I was used to going from one place to another and constantly being busy. Above the rest, I think I missed most having people who had the same standards as me. Growing up I didn't have many friends who were members of the church. I had a good group of friends that respected my beliefs, but it wasn't exactly the same. These group of friends have taught me a lot throughout the years. They made me want to be a strong member of the church because they knew it was something that was important to me therefore, I never wanted to give them the wrong idea about what it means to be a member of the church. Coming on a mission and serving the Lord has been the best decision I've made so far. I can't imagine doing something different with my time right now and every day I learn just exactly where I am here. There is so much that needs to be done on a day to day bases of mission life. Even though at times we're not exactly sure what the day will brings us, it is always rewarding to know that whoever we taught or talked to that day brought them a little closer to our Savoir. Tomorrow and Sunday we get that opportunity to slow down a little bit and hear the prophet speak! So take that time from all the craziness of your day to listen to what the prophet and apostles have to say to us. I promise that there will be something for each of you.

These are some pictures of General Conference last Fall :)

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I love to see the temple

 

I love the Manhattan Temple! There's something about going into the crazy city of New York and being able to enter the temple, and it instantly becoming silent. It amazes me every time. The Manhattan temple is unique. It's unlike many of the other temples. Growing up my dad was not always a member. Although I knew he knew the church was true I knew that he had to make that decision on this own. I think being an example to him helped him with his decision to get baptized, along with all the many patient missionaries that came in and out of my house. He was already great, but I knew the Gospel would change him in a different way. I remember being sealed in the Manhattan Temple with my family for time and all eternity. I didn't understand at that moment really what was going on, but I knew that I was going to be with my family forever and that's all that mattered. I remember going as a family to do baptisms or going with our youth group. There was such a peace there.When I was at BYU-I we did baptisms as a ward at the Idaho Falls Temple. After we were done, we sat in the chapel and our Bishop talked to us for a bit. Something he said has always stood out to me. He said that "many times when we leave the temple and refer to the world as "reality" but really when we enter the temple we are in reality. Nothing is more real then being able to be in the house of The Lord.