"Family" Home Evening

In my church, we set aside Monday evenings for special family time. It's a time to gather together and start the week off with a spiritual lesson and some good, old fashioned family bonding time. Now, we did this for a while when I was very small, but we stopped as me and my sisters got older and busier.

Now, this isn't just a program for families, we do it in our singles congregations. We divide up into groups and play family. Even though sometimes it's really a pain, overall, I really like it. Tonight we had a lesson that I really enjoyed. Andrea had a bunch of random things in a pile and we all took one. Then we had to think of a way to relate it back to the Savior. The point was to think of ways to bring Christ into our lives on a regular basis. I know I'm guilty of making it through the whole day without thinking once about Jesus Christ. To some people, that would be perfectly normal. I have a lot of non-religioius friends or members of the Church with me that don't live their lives constantly thinking of religious things. But, for me, I know that I need the extra strength. I need to be better and the only way I can be better is through my Savior, Jesus Christ.

Living in Provo

If you had asked me if I would be living in Provo after graduation, I would have answered with a resounding "NO!!! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!! I WANT TO LIVE!!!!!" And yet, here I am, living in Provo and actually enjoying it.

How did this happen? I will tell you.

1. I have awesome roommates. This, I have found, makes all the difference. You will hate wherever you are living if you aren't surrounded by the right people. This little apartment has become home for us.


2. I have a job. You know, finding a job is hard, and finding a job that excites you is even harder. So even though Provo isn't my ideal, I will stay here because I love my job. I was really worried, coming out of graduation with a degree in English, that I would have a lot of trouble finding some way to make money. The plan was to get my teaching credential and masters degree and then, hopefully, get a job teaching at my old high school where my mom is currently working. There were a lot of problems with that plan. For example, how was I going to afford more school and where was I going to do it? Moving back to Woodland Hills, though it will always be home, would mean that I wouldn't be around people my own age at all. I've always been more comfortable around people who are older than I, but I should probably be social.
   
   More about this job: I work at Qualtrics in Professional Development. That means that my team is in charge of all the employee training. We work mostly with sales and new hires, right now, but the goal is to permeate the whole company. This team has really only been around for 5 months, so not much has happened, but we have big plans.


3. Boyfriend. Now, I'm not saying that I need a man to complete myself (though, in a way that's true - keep your eyes open for more posts on this matter), I am perfectly content on my own and I haven't been in a relationship since the first semester of Sophomore year of college. I'm rather picky about who I go on second dates with. I'll go on a first date with just about anyone, but I will politely decline a second. This guy shared European chocolate with me, so it was fate, really.
   
   How could I not fall for him? It sure makes life more fun to have someone to do things with. I love my roommates and all, and we do go out on roommate dates, but it is so not the same.
   
   My advice to anyone out there searching for or in the beginning stages of a relationship: be honest and communicate. We went on dates for about 4 months before we started Dating, and in that time we became really good friends. We had the opportunity to see each other in a lot of different situations from playful to serious. He saw me without my make-up on, it just so happened that we met each others' family, and we talked. I learned that being honest and on the same page and really getting to know the person you are smitten with before you start smooching them makes all the difference. It was an easy transition from "friends who go on dates" to "in a relationship."


4. I'm surrounded by good things. I love CA, it will always be home to me, but there is something to be said about being in a place where my testimony of Jesus Christ could be nourished and, in a way, given a break. I was constantly being challenged in CA and it strengthened me so much. I really became converted to the Gospel during High School when I was forced to ask questions of myself and to defend what I believed. But it's been nice to have a bit of a break and to learn how other people live the Gospel. I don't want to get stagnant, by any means, but being challenged at every turn can really take a toll on you. When I do finally leave the Provo bubble, I will be ready to bring good things to the rest of the world.
   
   The thing that keeps coming to my mind on this point is movies. I've gotten so used to tuning out parts of movies that aren't necessarily good (you know, sex, language, drugs...) and here I've met people who actually take the time to fast forward and who are much more careful about what they watch. I've ben blessed by their example.

So even though living in Provo isn't what I expected out of life, I'm happy to be here. I've fallen in love with these mountains and all their hidden treasures. I've been changed by the people I've met. I'm happy.

Mommy/Friend/Roommate

Sometimes, I get to play mommy to my roommate and, though I complain, I love it. I don't like loosing sleep as I sit up and rub her back to calm her down, but I love helping my friend. I hate watching her throw up and be in pain, but it feels good to nurture her. I love the drama, too. Her mom made her clean up her own barf when she became old enough. Thanks mom and dad for not making me do that. I emptied her barf bowl last night. She is currently freaking out, texting me "please don't clean the bathroom. I promise I'll do it when I have more strength." She passed out more than once last night. The moral of the story: if you know that your stomach can't handle red meat, don't eat it.

No Such Thing as Perfect

I had a pretty cool class last week and I took the time during my next class to write down, again, everything I had learned to sear it into my mind. So I know these notes are all over the place, but I'm too lazy to write it again for the eyes of others. Enjoy! I just had the most amazing Shakespeare class. One of the things that Prof. Seigfried lectures on is just about scholarship and learning and becoming better people. She talked about brain development and how challenges literally make us grow. Our brains will jump to the occasion if we give them the chance. Think about little kids and how they learn to do such amazing things. When we turn 22 is when our frontal lobe becomes solidified. This is the part of the brain that allows us to recognize that sometimes the little bit of pain right now will lead to better things. We talked about how we can transform pain into good things and how our painful experiences are things that might help us in the future. She posed the question, “Why does the Church spend so much money on producing scholars?” We get a first class education at the price of a community college. It really is amazing. As we learn how to learn, we learn how to study the Gospel. We become more well rounded people and learn how to communicate with other people and relate to them. We learn how to converse with everything and everyone. It really is amazing. They are investing in the future of the Church knowing that we will go out and share what we have learned. We talked about innocence vs. virtue vs. perfectionism. Virtue is the goal. Virtue comes from the Latin “virtus” meaning force of life/power. The word went through many interpretations throughout the year including being touched on by the Catholics. The idea of spiritual power came then rather than physical virility. Think about the monks taking a vow of chastity – they didn’t have physical power, but rather spiritual power. All these things lead to the list of virtues we have now. Innocence, compared to virtue, is static. There is no inherent power in innocence, but there is potential. Innocence is a period of time where the tools of power may be gathered, but there isn’t the power to use them quite yet. Perfectionism implies that there is an ideal and that we are not reaching it. It implies that there is a point that we can reach where we can stop working because we will know it all. Throughout this discussion, I’ve realized the importance of continuing education. I don’t want my brain to get smaller when I stop going to school and stretching it. I know now that taking any kind of break after graduation isn’t a good idea, but I should keep going with something. I also realized that teaching is exactly what I need to be doing.