Friday, February 15, 2013

Temple or Bust.

          Confession time.....I am not very good at going to seminary. Today was no different. Once again Claire and I tried to avoid going as long as possible by trying to talk to our seminary principal, Brother Sweat. This trick normally helps us avoid a couple of minutes of seminary and get a note from him excusing our tardy. Who knew that this simple childish act would end up being a blessing.
          Today we walked into that office and started asking every question we could think of. At first the questions were stupid and just a waste of time but slowly the questions turned into really cool topics in an hour we covered these topics.
 
1. Joseph Smiths marriage and how hard it was for Emma
2. Polygamy in general
3. Temple marriage
4. Worldly marriage
5. The work inside of the temple (he couldn't go into much detail)
6. Cloning
7. The lost plates
8.The sealed plates
9. John and The Three Nephites (These guys are legit!)
10. Resurrection
11. Going on a mission
12. There is only heaven
13. Temple names
14. Divorce
15. The priesthood
16. How much the Bible connects with the Book of Mormon
 
          I have a testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This church is the one and only true church! Without it I really believe that I would be lost and unhappy. The joy that it brings me everyday is incredible. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love me! The Holy Ghost touches my life in small simple ways daily! Everything in the church just.....WORKS! God seriously has timed everything in history perfectly! He is obviously a genus and creator. Don't take my word for it. Go read those books! I'm so excited to go on a mission in just a year and a half. Being able to show people what they are missing will be amazing! Being able to go to the temple in about a year is so humbling. I'm going guys! I'm not settling for anything less than the temple! I'm blessed to have a family that raised me in the church. I was baptized by my dad! How lucky is that? I love having three priesthood holders in my house. This church is everything to me. 

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Life is Good!

          You know that moment where you finally accomplish a huge goal and you suddenly feel like you're on top of the world? That happened yesterday. It started out being a normal day. I woke up, ate a bowl of Special K cereal, took notes in first period, read and analyzed an article in second period, skipped third period, thought about skipping fourth period then ended up going, had the usual lunch group over at my house for pizza, then went to fifth period where I failed to run more than a mile thanks to the pizza. All of that was fun and average. The amazing part was next.

          Every Tuesday I have a lesson with one of my coaches, Merna. She is for sure my strict coach and most of the time I end up getting frustrated in my lessons with her. Yesterday was different! I finally got a smile out of her! The whole lesson was working on my footwork and somehow after every element she would smile and say something like, "Wow! Carly I can see your improvement." or "Those are looking so good!" IT WAS JUST WHAT I NEEDED! This may not seem like a big deal, but for me it was a huge blessing! The rest of my ice time was spent vigorously working on something else to impress Merna with next week! Who knew those simple sentences could mean so much!

          Somehow, that lesson really got me thinking. I have a lot to be grateful for! Today I spent the entire day choosing to be happy and make the most out of everything that happened. Here's what I noticed.
 
I get the most joy in serving people.
If you make an effort to say hi to someone they will say hi first the next time you see them.
You decide if your day is good or bad.
Making some one's day can be so easy!
The Lord times everything perfectly.
I absolutely adore my friends and family.
 
 
Have a good week! The weekend is quickly approaching! What am I going to get myself into next!?!?!