July 24th buckets

I know I have been away from the nest lately{and by nest, I mean this beautiful little piece of the internet that I call my blog.} but I have good reason. My heart is filled with thoughts and emotions as I sit here at my computer in my EFY t shirt watching fireworks that are probably illegal explode outside my window. The last few days, as well as the majority of the summer, have been extremely thought provoking and have ultimately made me a better person. Now the only way I think I can explain my testimony this summer is to say that if a testimony was measured in water, I have gained buckets. I have gained buckets of love, and buckets of joy. I have had buckets of spiritual experiences that have taught me things that I have never even thought of before.
These experiences stretch from the first session of EFY I attended this summer with the amazingly wonderful Mamma ShellBell {and by the way, the screaming of my name and attacking me with a huge hug on Monday basically made my life and I just love you so stinkin much and you are basically the greatest ever.} and my awesome company #TheCharitytez who taught me so much and who reminded me that there is much more to life than tumbling. This session of EFY taught me about the pioneers in a sense that I had never thought about before.
My next rendezvous took me to Missouri where I competed at the US Power Tumbling National Championships, but tumbling is beside the point in this post. Tumbling took me to Missouri, but what I found was much greater. In Missouri I was given the opportunity to visit Far West, Independence, Adam-Ondi-Ahmen, and Liberty Jail.These were things that I might only get to see once in my lifetime, and they are things that helped me get a greater understanding of my pioneer ancestors and their reasons for crossing the planes.
Not long after the Missouri experience I put on my bloomers and headed out on pioneer trek. {are you sensing a theme here?} This was an incredibly awesome experience that I haven't shared much about due to the fact that immediately following pioneer trek I headed to my second session of...
EFY! Which is where we are now. See, I have this obsession with EFY where 1 week just isn't enough. We just finished day 3 of EFY this week and let me just say it has been absolutely incredible and I have loved every second of it thus far. Now I have had an experience that came as somewhat of a surprise to me. Yesterday during dinner our fantastic guy counselor Jett came up to me and said "Amberleigh wants to talk to you." {I must add here that Amberleigh is my counselor and she is pretty much the coolest person that you will ever meet and I am obsessed with her knowledge of quotes and scriptures and her ability to make things fun. I love you Amberleigh!} Well Amberleigh asked me about my instagram and I had no idea what she was talking about. She later explained to me that someone was posting things bashing the church on my instagram. I won't go into much detail on that, but I want to say that this experience taught me more fully how the saints felt before they left to come to Utah. I feel like I now understand a sliver of what they must have felt like to be persecuted.
Now, I have had many many more spiritual experiences that I would love to write about, but unfortunately I must arise early tomorrow because tomorrow is going to be a long amazing spiritual day, and my bed is calling. So I leave you with my testimony of the Mormon Pioneers and that they crossed the planes for a true religion. The entered into Zion that I might be able to live in peace and freedom to worship my God. I have a testimony that I know this is the only true church and that no matter what anybody says or does to try to convince you otherwise, you must stand firm in the faith and be a witness and a beacon of light to the world around you. These are the later days and we are the later day army. We must fight with everything we have and do everything in our power to honor our pioneer heritage and the legacy they have left for us. We have big footsteps to follow, but we have been given the tools to do it. I know this church is true and that Thomas S. Monson is a true and living prophet. I love this gospel and all the joy it has brought. I have a strong love for all of you and I write these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.



feel my sunlight



p.s. Um... have I ever told you I love EFY, and that I love all my counselors? Shout out to the incredibly awesome Kjarinda, Randi, Braden, Michelle, Spencer, Jett, and Amberleigh. You guys are such great examples to me and I love you all so dearly.