Gospel – shazzamber

We’ll All See Eye to Eye

Today is the last day of my amazing Institute class Jesus Christ and His Everlasting Gospel. The class is (obviously) entirely focused on the Savior, and I’ve loved every week of it. My teacher is phenomenal, which is a big part of why I love the class so much.

Last week’s class was focused on the 2nd Coming and the Millennium, and we did a really cool activity for the opening hymn. Bro. Halvorsen had all the hymns about the Millennium written on the board, some indicating specific verses and some the entire hymn. Instead of singing, we had 5 minutes to read the words of as many of those hymns as we could. [Activity to be filed away for future use. Muy eficaz.]

One hymn that really stuck out to me was #48, “Glorious Things Are Sung of Zion.” The lyrics of the 4th verse were particularly compelling:
When the Lord returns with Zion,
And we hear the watchman cry,
Then we’ll surely be united,
And we’ll all see eye to eye.

We’ll be united and all see eye to eye?? I can’t even conceptualize how that would be! 14,000 people dislike a recording of Beethoven’s 9th symphony on Youtube. Somehow Sonic and Dairy Queen are still in business. There are people who write with 0.7mm pens. A majority of my state voted for DJT. The Oxford comma continues to not be employed by AP style.

As mind-boggling as perfect unity feels to me, I have faith that it will happen. This is the remainder of the verse:
Then we’ll mingle with the angels,
And the Lord will bless His own.
Then the earth will be as Eden,
And we’ll know as we are known.

I can’t really think of anything more beautiful and hopeful than the vision of life with the Lord, where we know as we are known. That seems like the epitome of peace.

In the meantime, I think we should strive for as much unity as possible. My plan is to associate with people of differing opinions from mine. I believe that the two groups of people on Earth are ones I love, and ones I don’t know. So as I come to know people from a variety of thought patterns and belief systems, I can grow to love them and maybe even become united with them. More immediately I can grow to be more united with the people closest to me as we prepare for the return of our King.

26 down, 70 to go

Today I complete 26 years. Am I where I imagined I’d be? Nope. Am I happy? Definitely.

My mom had 3 kids by the time she was my age. But you know what? I’m not my mom.

I’ve decided to focus on having faith in Jesus Christ, rather than having faith in outcomes (like getting married and stuff). Doing all the things (Sunday School answers) doesn’t mean my life will go according to my plan. But doing all the things CAN mean that I’ll have the gift of the Holy Ghost and the ability to receive revelation, which means the Lord can share His plan with me and help me achieve it.

26 will be great. I’m going to deepen my relationship with my Savior Jesus Christ. He won’t ever break my heart or lie to me or cheat on me or anything. He loves me perfectly, and that’s all I need.

The Race

One of my favorite analogies for life is a race. That poem by my uncle Dee that used to get quoted all the time in Sacrament Meeting has always given me strength– in order to be successful, we just have to get up each time we fall. Racing as a metaphor for life makes sense to me because I have about 20 years of personal experience with racing. Each time I race, I feel like the Lord teaches me something important.

This is me yesterday. I’m finishing the Ogden Half Marathon. (I know, it’s lame. I’ll run a full marathon asap.) My parents and my recently-returned missionary sister Lauren all drove up to Ogden with me on Friday afternoon, and we went to a nice Thai restaurant for dinner.

As we were eating, the topic of her new boyfriend came up. I expressed how frustrated I was that both she and our cousin Haley, who went on their missions at 19 and both got boyfriends almost immediately after returning, seemed to be getting all the blessings I wanted, way faster than me. I couldn’t go on my mission until I was 21, I’ve been home for 3 years, and I don’t have a boyfriend.

During my race the next morning, these words from Elder Holland came clearly into my head: the race is against sin, not against each other.

It’s not a race to get married first, or make the most money, or have the most degrees, or travel to the most places, or have the most kids. It’s a race against sin. We’re all running it together, and our Coach has asked us to help each other get home.

When A+B= a different C than you expected

I learned an important lesson on my mission: exact obedience brings blessings. This mantra is echoed throughout every book of Scripture, and is an integral component of God’s plan. If we are obedient to the commandments, we will be blessed. On my mission, as my companions and I were exactly obedient, we were blessed. In our case, that meant baptisms. In other words, when we were obedient, we had lots of baptisms. It was almost like magic.

After the mission, I continued to be exactly obedient. I followed the command of my stake president to attend the temple every day for 30 days. I followed the counsel of my mission president to continue to study the Book of Mormon every day and to worship all day on the Sabbath. I tried to have 10 meaningful Gospel conversations every day. I did my Visiting Teaching every month. I looked for service and missionary opportunities. I studied my mission language. I did family history. I did my very best to be as righteous and obedient as I could possibly be, and yet I graduated from college without getting married.

Let me be clear: I know I was blessed immensely throughout college and every day after. I even kept a gratitude journal and recorded the hand of the Lord in my life every day. I’m not suggesting that the Lord left me high and dry, nor am I saying that I was being obedient for the single purpose of getting blessed. I’m saying that I kind of thought if I did the right stuff, I’d be married by now.

So I’m still single. (Side note: It’s cool. I am quite content.) I sang “I Hope They Call Me On a Mission” and “I Love to See the Temple” all growing up. They called me on a mission, and that was awesome. I went to the temple, which was also awesome. But there are no Primary songs about being a single adult. I never had a Young Women lesson about preparing for the life I’m living now; it was all about strengthening home and family. I know I can strengthen home and family by being a positive role model for my students, but it’s just not what I envisioned.

So my life isn’t what I expected. Lol life is rarely what we expect. That’s life.

When A+B= a different C than we planned, then it’s time to walk by faith, knowing that Father definitely has a better plan. If I’d gotten married right after the mission, I would’ve missed out on a lot of important lessons and experiences. So it’s all good.

I know this to be true from personal experience:

Feeling Worthwhile

Last week, one of our vocab words was worthwhile. We were reading a story that featured all the vocab words, and when we came upon worthwhile, I said, “Raise your hand if you’re worthwhile” expecting every kid to immediately wave his or her hand in the air.

I was wrong.

Only about 5 kids raised their hands!

So then I was like, “Wait a second! You don’t think you’re worthwhile? What??” I stopped the lesson to talk about how special each of them is, and I read “You Are Special” out loud. This got me thinking about the huge blessing I had to grow up singing “I Am a Child of God” from like age zero. Then in Young Womens, I stood every week and declared “We are daughters of our Heavenly Father who loves us and we love Him.” This is a precious truth I’ve known my entire life, and I guess I’ve kind of taken it for granted.

My kids don’t know who they are!

On the mission, it was my job to teach that God is our loving Heavenly Father and we are His children. One of my favorite street contact questions was, “Who is God to you?” and they would respond, “He’s everything!” or “He’s in my heart.” and then we’d talk. But now that my job is different, I forget that my kiddos are essentially in the same shoes as my street contacts.

Because of church and state, I can’t tell my students who they are. However, I can help them feel God’s love by teaching them that they are in fact special, and treating them in a special way. CS Lewis’s oft-quoted passage about everyone being potential gods and goddesses who we would be strongly tempted to worship applies to EVERYONE, including my students.

#beautyforashes

Did you watch the Provo City Center Temple cultural celebration yesterday? I hope you did. I got to go to the Marriott Center to watch it live, and it was fantastic. Then today I had the glorious opportunity to watch the dedication of the Provo City Center Temple, formerly the Provo Tabernacle. I want to take this time to write a little memoir of this beloved building.

To begin with, I have several special memories going to stake conference in the tabernacle. It was the only time we ever drove to church, and the benches were the most uncomfortable benches I’ve ever sat on for two hours straight. I also sang the Mozart Requiem there with my high school choir and other chamber choirs from Utah, under the direction of Mack Wilberg. Pretty awesome experience. I always thought it was the prettiest building in Provo.

Then on December 17, 2010, the gem of Provo caught fire, and the entire interior was demolished to ashes.

It went from this

to this.

We all mourned its loss, and wondered how Heavenly Father could possibly allow this to happen to one of His sacred buildings. The following Conference, President Monson gave one of the greatest announcements we’ve ever heard:

I was living in Hawaii at the time of this announcement, so I was watching Conference by myself on my bed at 6:00 in the morning. Let’s just say tears were shed. Loudly. For a good 20 minutes. #joy #tendermercy #beautyforahses #Hisplan #grateful

Then the tabernacle went from this

to this.

Stunning. When we all asked why, we didn’t know He had a bigger, better plan for our tabernacle. I know it is the same with our lives– when tragedy strikes, and we figuratively catch fire, it’s because Heavenly Father has a bigger, better plan for us. I know that to be true. He makes beauty from ashes.

Joy

I’ve recently been thinking about what joy is. I listened to a pod cast the other day about what kinds of things make us happy, and it’s been on my mind since. I asked a friend who has left the Church what brings him joy, and he told me he didn’t believe in joy. I honestly had no response for that. A life without joy?! So I’ve decided to bring you a collection of what brings me joy.

1. Really good, long, meaningful conversations.
2. High quality food.
3. Being in the depths of nature, specifically Rock Canyon or Hukilau Beach.
4. Doing a puzzle while listening to HP.
5. Playing duets with Lug.
6. When people agree with me. #Leen
7. Beautiful music.
8. Helping people understand stuff I’m passionate about. (i.e. the Gospel, grammar, etc.)
9. Effective scripture study. (This is a continual struggle for me.)
10. Puns.

I for one believe in joy. I believe our purpose here is to have joy, and I also believe joy is impossible without deep sorrow and suffering. The most joyful experiences of my mission came out of the most difficult trials. The deepest joy I had with my students last semester came from struggles they had. Joy is possible for all of us because of the Savior.

Therefore, I’d like to conclude by saying He was born so I can have joy. Not all the time, but on occasion.

Elder Scott Memorial

In the spirit of #ldsconf (#best4daysoftheyear #theChurchistrue #IloveConference) I’d like to take a moment to commemorate my late favorite Apostle, Elder Richard G. Scott.

As many of you know, the MTC can be a discouraging place on occasion. I absolutely loved most of my time in that sacred building, but Hna. Warner and I were pretty discouraged on our last day there, after being deserted by all the other members of our district. They’d left for Mexico City and Washington, DC, and we were ALL BY OURSELVES. #lonely Tears were shed at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as we imagined Elder Erikson pouring copious amounts of tabasco sauce on his biscuits and gravy, remembered Elder Dommer trying to make Spanish jokes, and recalled how Sisters would always congregate around Elder Needham for no apparent reason…

It had been our longest day yet (which is saying something), but the weekly Tuesday devotional was a highlight we always anxiously anticipated, and this night was no different. I confess we’d prayed several times that day for an Apostle to come that night. Hna. Warner and I walked a little quicker to the huge room where devotionals are held than we’d walked all day, and easily found two empty seats together.

Something was different. There were big signs that said “No Photography Permitted” and an uncharacteristic teleprompter was positioned at the front. “Someone importante?” we speculated. We tried to obediently sit in silence, but it proved difficult as we prepared our precious notebooks for our final MTC devotional.

Finally the moment arrived. Following the example of our MTC president, the entire audience of missionaries rose and stood on tip toe to catch a first glimpse of our special visitor. I’m happy to report that our prayers were answered; Elder Scott was escorted it, and an audible gasp welcomed him.

I don’t remember everything he said, but I do remember weeping with Hna. Warner when he gave an Apostolic blessing of the gift of tongues to those missionaries learning a language. He also counseled us to pray vocally, which counsel I took and saw huge blessings on my mission because of it.

I love Elder Scott, and I know he represented the Savior as he spoke to us that night. I miss him, but I know he’s with his dear wife Jeneane now. #bestlovestoryever #lifegoals

Comp Inventory

Everyone knows that a secret to relationship success is effective and regular communication.

Missionaries learn to have good communication in companionships, and they practice by having a weekly companionship inventory. It’s their opportunity to share goals, ask for help with the goals, talk about each other’s strengths, and then address anything that could be keeping the companionship from working in unity or being obedient, and resolve conflicts. Brilliant, inspired invention.

In my current companion-less state, it’s been nearly a year (#hijole) since my last comp inventory, and I have to admit that I miss it! So I was pondering on that, and I realized that my companion right now is Heavenly Father. So… I decided to have a comp inventory with Him. It was awesome. So much so that I want to share the process and invite you to try it!

Here’s how to conduct a comp inventory with the Lord:
1. Share with Him your goals, and ask for His help to accomplish them.
2. Discuss the strength of your relationship.
3. Discuss any challenges that may be keeping you from being obedient.
4. Share what you think your strengths are.
5. Ask for suggestions on how you can improve.
6. Set goals that will improve your relationship.

Will you do it? I know that if you do, your loving Heavenly Father will bless you with personal revelation and help you come closer to Him.

July books: A Wrinkle in Time and A Wind in the Door

So, I kind of already spilled the beans about my July books in my last post about Fiction.
WHICH, to be clear: I have not become an introvert. As much as I love and respect my dear introverted friends, I have never scored less than 85% extroverted on any personality test, and I definitely don’t get energy from being by myself. #PersonalHell. Just clarifying.

As I mentioned, my July books changed my life! They were the first two books in Madeline L’Engle’s Time quintet: A Wrinkle in Time and A Wind in the Door. Most people read these books in about 5th grade, but for some reason I never got around to it when I was that age.

You may have noticed the shout-out to Madeline L’Engle in “Interstellar” (You know the part with the bookshelf, when they show a few books up close? One of them is A Wrinkle in Time.) and I think that’s because Christopher Nolan must have been influenced by her books when creating the story for his movie. I have to say Hans Zimmer added a lot to the story, but it’s just fine without him.

These two books are adventures of three children named Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace. They have to conquer evil, use their strengths, show love, and essentially hasten the Work. I said these books changed my life, and I think it’s mainly because they’re such a fantastic illustration of the importance of serving and sharing our Message.

I once heard a person say that his religious philosophy was “find a spiritual path that works for you, and keep it to yourself.” I thought about that a lot on my mission, especially when people said things like “God is the same everywhere.” or “We’re all His church, we just worship differently.” Those arguments are enticing, but I have learned that our message is so vital that we MUST share it.

A Wrinkle in Time and A Wind in the Door illustrate that very idea. Elder Oaks said in a talked called “The Purpose of Missionary Work” that, “We invite all to come unto Christ by repentance and baptism and confirmation in order to open the doors of the celestial kingdom to the sons and daughters of God. No one else can do this.” Bam. Read these books to learn more about hastening the work of salvation.

I want to end this with a quote from A Wind in The Door:
“If someone knows who he is, really knows, then he doesn’t need to hate.” #lesson1 #GodIsOurLovingHeavenlyFather #charity

I miss constantly telling people that that God is their loving Heavenly Father and they are His children, but I loved reading about it in these books. I know it’s true.