Whitney meets famous Mormons! [episode 1]

Whoohoo!!!

Here is the newest episode of "Whitney meets famous Mormons!"

JK that's actually not a thing... but wouldn't that be a cool show?! I think so.

It's been an INCREDIBLE month when it comes to meeting incredible people.

I mean... I don't think I'll ever write a post again where I can say I've met Mallory Everton, T.C. Christensen, Hilary Weeks, Al Fox Carraway, Dawn Armstrong, and Anthony Armstrong all within the last month.

Several weeks ago two of my friends, SaBree and Kenna let me know that Mallory Everton from Studio C was speaking in their stake. I'm a huge fan of Studio C and so of course I went! She talked a lot about being in the world, but not of the world. I adored everything about her talk, but my favorite was when she was talking about perusing your passions and she said to "go with what you love, because you will serve more people that way... And wherever you are in life, the gospel will only make you better at it."

She also gave me curly hair envy and inspired me to go back to my no-heat hair days.

haha thanks for being so awesome Mallory!

---

Since I'm on seminary council at my school I had the chance to help organize a morningside for the students at Layton High. We were so lucky to get T.C. Christensen come speak to us! For those of you who don't know who he is, he is the directer of 17 Miracles, Ephraim Rescue, and he also helped with the movie Forever Strong.  He also has a new movie The Cokeville Miracle coming out soon. He showed us clips from his movies and gave us behind the scenes information about the stories in his movies.

What stuck out to me was the faith of the incredible saints that came before us. They went through a Hell that is unimaginable to me. If it wern't for them I wouldn't have the gospel in my life, which is the single thing that has brought me the most amount of joy. I will forever bless the names of my ancestors that came before me. While I may not be asked to die for my religion as many of them were, I have been asked to live for it. And I hope I can do it in a way that would make them proud.

This morningside also made it to the Standard Examiner! Read about it HERE!"

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Yesterday I got a text from my adorable friend Lexi saying that Hilary Weeks was speaking in her ward. I've met Hilary two times before and both of those times were with Lexi so she said that it just wouldn't feel right to hear her speak without one of the Reid girls there. haha Hilary is always one of my very favorite speakers and she is an even better singer.

What stuck out to me a lot in her talk yesterday where the words;

"He loves me & ALWAYS WILL"

God Loves us all the time. Not just some of the time. He knows exactly who we are and what we are doing. You matter so much to Him. Because of this love he has given us everything, but we can't accept this "everything" unless we decide to follow Him. He doesn't usually give us a long to-do list, so we need to follow with exactness. He will let our testimonies grow until He lets us graduate from this life. 

"The trick is to enjoy life and stop wishing away our time waiting for another day."

Here are a few of my favorite Hilary Weeks songs...

---

And then TODAY was also a day for the books. If you've read my blog at all you probably know how much I love Al Fox Carraway. She is one of my all time favorite humans. I tell my mom all the time that "I want to be Al Fox when I grow up." I can never get enough of her enthusiasm for the gospel. It's seriously contagious. I've never seen a chapel so packed. I love love loved how when closing her testimony she said "in the name of Jesus Christ, my best friend, amen." Because he is my best friend and I want to be able to have the same kind of love and excitement for the gospel as she does.

After hearing her speak I just wanted to shout to the world that "I KNOW THE CHURCH IS TRUE AND THAT HAPPINESS IS REAL!" Because that is the kind of feeling she gives me when she speaks. One of my favorite lines from her talk was;

"The Gospel is the greatest thing you will ever be a part of... and I love that."

I also love that she took the time to talk to us and take a picture with us even though there were a BILLION people there. Also she remembered who I am which made me extremely happy. Thanks Al! Love you!

---

I'm not even done yet...

While at Al's fireside I saw a few familiar faces. All of which played major parts in the movie

I got to talk to both Anthony and Dawn Armstrong who are the "missionary" and "missionary mom" in the movie.

They are both such incredible people. While waiting in line to talk to Al, Dawn came over to our little circle and talked to us for a really long time. She was seriously one of the NICEST people I have ever met. I swear she hugged me like four times.

She also promised us that she'd go with us to go see Meet the Mormons in Salt lake at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in a couple weeks... Like who does that?!

She just commented on one of my instagram pictures saying "You are such a doll!! It was my honor to meet you all tonight. Yeah for kept appointments! They bring the greatest friendships! Whoot whoot! Stay sweet precious girl!"

She's seriously my new favorite person.

We also got to talk to Anthony for a little bit and I loved how when we asked him to take a picture with us he just said "I'm nothing special... just a regular RM."

Excuse me bro... but you're in like one of my favorite movies. haha

He was seriously one of the most humble "movie stars" I've ever met. haha Thanks so much for taking the time to meet us!

---

I am so thankful for all the opportunities I've been given to meet such incredible sons and daughters of God. I only hope that someday I can be half as good as these people. Thanks so much for all your enthusiasm for living the gospel. It makes me want to be a better person.

I have such a strong testimony that Jesus Christ really did die for me. That weather we are someone "Mormon famous", or someone that writes a blog with 14 followers, He knows who we are, and He loves us.

GO FORTH AND FEAR NOT. FOR THERE ARE GREATER THINGS IN STORE FOR YOU.



feel my sunlight

---

p.s. I promise my life isn't usually this cool. I just am an expert at crashing other peoples firesides.
p.s.s. I promise to blog more often. I've missed this corner of the internet.

18th birthday, Ogden Temple, exciting stuff

It's Saturday, it's raining, music is turned up, and it's beautiful. It's defiantly a blog day.

The last 10 days have been exquisite.

Remember when I wrote this post? Well this post was actually a paper I wrote for AP English. I got that paper back a few days ago with a splendid comment written at the end of it. I can't tell you how happy I was to read this note from my fantastic teacher!



Since reading that I've begun to notice just how much impact a few words can have on a person. I failed the AP test last year. As you can imagine I began to doubt my writing abilities. I wrote blog posts less frequently and left too many blog posts as drafts. But this single comment has restored my confidence as a writer. I may not ever have millions of readers, but one person appreciated my writing and took the time to tell me so.

Don't ever stop doing something you love just because someone told you you weren't good at it, and don't ever hold back a compliment. It could change someones life.

And on another exciting note...

I TURNED 18!! I got a lovely little 55mm 1.8 lens and I couldn't be more excited about it.  Thanks to everybody who made my birthday special! I spent my lunch with some of my very favorite people at an awesome seminary activity taking stalker pictures of students (I'm the historian for seminary council).

After school I went to the gym for an hour to coach some of my favorite kids on the planet. They never cease to make me laugh. I love my job. And after work I went to Robintino's with the family and ate some splendid food. And the best part of my birthday is the most exciting part hasn't even happened yet.... COUGH ZIP LINING COUGH...

17 did me good, but I am so excited for what 18 will bring!

A few days after my birthday I got the opportunity of a lifetime to participate in the Ogden Temple Cultural Celebration. It was an INCREDIBLE experience and I'm so glad I got to participate!





The day after the celebration I was able to attend a broadcast of the temple dedication at my local stake center. It was such an awesome meeting and I can't wait to attend the Ogden temple!


Life is splendid and I can't wait to see what the future will bring.

Here's to senior year







feel my sunlight




p.s. Since I'm 18 I can now open my Etsy shop!!! Stay tuned for more info

Exciting happenings

New pictures from Multnomah Falls in Oregon up on the Portfolio Site!

Happy Sunday my friends!!!

I'm in this really bad habit of starting blog posts and then not finishing them. Which explains my lack of posts. haha ops.

I was writing the other day when my mom said to me "how do you have so much to write about?" haha well to answer your question mom, I guess the more you write, the more you have to write!


And oh my GOOD-NESSSSS there are so many things to be excited about.


Exciting happenings:

1) I have been invited to coach competition team. This is a great opportunity and is proof that things really do work themselves out and that God really is involved in the details of our lives. God cares.

2) I turn 18 on Thursday! That's 4 days away!!! WHOOO!

3) The Ogden temple celebration is this Saturday! After many long practices I am so excited to be able to join together with so many other youth in celebration of this awesome gift the Lord has given us.




4) The Ogden Temple will be dedicated next Sunday! The Ogden temple has been under renovation since I was a 12 year old. It is so exciting to finally have my temple back. By far the greatest 18th birthday present I could ask for!

 5) Conference is coming up soon! For us Mormons the Conference excitement is about the equivalent of Christmas. Conference is an opportunity for everyone to listen to living prophets speak. For me it means the tradition of watching church on TV in my pajamas, It means the tradition of making food with my family, and most importantly it means hearing the things the prophets of God have to say. Every time I watch I receive something that seems to be directed specifically to me. It will be broadcasted on TV, the radio, and online in several places and to learn more about where you can watch or listen to conference CLICK HERE! I encourage everyone, Mormon or not, to tune in to this incredible experience on October 4th and 5th. I promise you won't regret watching!!!



So many fun things. Things are happening and life is swell. In the words of C.S. Lewis:

I love this so much because it speaks truth about the reality of life. Too often we find ourselves reminiscing on the past and wishing we were still there. I feel that sometimes we forget that God has a plan for our future, and not just for our past.  We can't see the big picture so we just assume that there isn't one. God has exciting plans for us, but in order to accomplish those things we must sometimes give up things we desire, suffer trial, and often ride into battle.

After all, you cannot be crowned Kings and Queens of Narnia, until after the battle is won.




The question is not; "who will win" for we already know the outcome of the battle, the question is rather; "what side will we be on?" Because while we already know that God's army will win, it is up to us to decide if we will be fighting for him or against him. And if we decide to fight for him we will find that he has great reward for us. We will find that we become heirs to the kingdom of God, a gift in which I will gladly ride into battle for.

feel my sunlight



p.s. I wrote an ENTIRE blog post. Snaps and claps for me!!!

we are a meeting attending people

Never in my life have I ever walked out of a meeting that was better than the one we had today. Never in my life have I left a meeting in such a good mood.
Never in my life have I completely fallen in love with a group of people in a meeting.
Never in my life have I ever thought "man that was fun" after a meeting.
Never in my life have I enjoyed meetings.

Living as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints, we are often faced with meeting upon meeting for our various organizations; Young Womens meetings (girls 12-18), BYC ("Bishop Youth Council" who are presidents over youth organizations ages 12-18), YCL Girls Camp meetings (5th and 6th year girls who are "youth camp leaders" and in charge of camp), Family History Consultant Meetings (family history consultants help people learn about family history work), and Seminary Council Meetings (a group of youth who help plan seminary activities and invite people to take seminary.)

And those are only the meetings that I personally have participated in.

And I'm only 17 years old.

So we are a meeting attending people. Yet, nobody enjoys meetings. So why do we keep having them?

Because in a church with 15,082,028 members, things need to be discussed, things need to be planned, and meetings need to be held.

I have the opportunity to hold a calling to participate and serve on a seminary council.

As a council we help plan activities, invite others to participate, and ultimately strive to help bring others to Christ.

I've been in a lot of meetings, but for some reason the seminary council meetings are some of the best and most fun meetings I have ever been in. As I left our meeting this morning I began to ponder what sets these meetings apart from other meetings I've been in, and what can I myself help do to make other meetings more enjoyable to sit through.

So here is what I have come up with.

#1 Everyone wants to be there.
Attitude is everything. If you decide that it is going to be boring before hand than it will be, but if you decide that it is the place to be than it will be. Keep a positive attitude no matter what and you will find that you will have a better time.

#2 Participate
Nothing can happen until you open your mouth. Don't be afraid to work your ideas into the conversation. Your opinions matter and things are much more fun to plan when you are helping with the planning.

#3 Share testimony
So far in seminary council I have been able to hear the testimonies of every single person on the council because everyone has been given a chance to give a spiritual thought or lesson. Sharing your testimonies and sharing spiritual thoughts helps bring people together as friends. By sharing testimonies you can bring the people in the meeting closer as a group, and a close knit group is much more likely to get things done.

#4 Listen and qualify
Let everyone have an opportunity to talk. And if you hear something you like then let everyone know. There is no better feeling than sharing your idea with the group and having someone respond by saying "I love that you just said that...." By qualifying and lifting up other people you make it easier for people to share.

#5 Don't forget to laugh
Keep the spiritual moments reverent, but when it comes to discussing activities and whatnot don't forget that a little laugh here and there can make all the difference. Marjorie Pay Hinckley once said that “The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache.” Well I think this same quote can apply to meetings. "The only way to get through a meeting is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache."


 
So there you have it. Ways to make your meetings more exciting. Let me know how your meetings go!



feel my sunlight



p.s.On a totally unrelated note: have I mentioned that I New York for EFY on SATURDAY?!?!?! I'm more than excited and I can not even handle it. It took a lot of work, and I had to give up my chance to compete at National Championships, but let me just say that I cannot handle my excitement for it.

p.s.s. Enjoy this video of a cute old man dancing. This is the kind of mood I am in right now.

Intro to my beliefs: The Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints

Dear friends of blog land,
I apologize for my temporary unintentional hiatus I've taken from this lovely blog land. I have been enveloped in tumbling, school, work, and whatnot that this cute corner of the internet has been set on the back burner. (not literally... don't set computers on fire people.)

So, I have had some things running through my head recently and I have two topics that I would hope you would take the time to read about. Not because I want recognition for myself, but because I want you to know and understand what I believe, and I want you to have this great joy I feel in your life.

This first topic is dedicated to my countless friends that don't share the same faith as I do. This is for those of you who don't understand the time I turned you down when you offered to buy me coffee, or why in the world I choose by my own free will to wake up at 5 am on Tuesday morning late start days to attend the temple. I know it seems odd from the outside looking in on my life, but I just hope that this post will make me and my faith a little clearer to you.

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints (LDS church), popularly known as "the Mormons".

The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints is Christ's church on the earth today. This short video accurately describes how the LDS church came to be.

*****intro to Mormons video*****

The Bible is widely known to much of the world, however, during this same time period Christ had another land of followers. These followers lived in the Americas and they are the ancestors of the American Indians. After Christ's death and resurrection he visited these people. The record of his ministry to the people in the Americans is called the Book of Mormon.

The Book of Mormon is not meant to replace the Bible, but rather to serve as another testament of Jesus Christ.

To me it only makes sense that if God had prophets on the earth in the times of the Bible, He would have prophets on the earth today. Joseph Smith was the first prophet of these modern days. He did not create the church, but rather, he reestablished it for these later days. {To learn more about Joseph Smith's story and to watch one of my FAVORITE movies CLICK HERE.} The prophet on the earth today is President Thomas S. Monson.

I believe that the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints is the true church and it has been reestablished by the hand of God onto the earth by his prophet Joseph Smith. I believe Joseph Smith was a true prophet and I also believe that Thomas S. Monson is the true prophet today. And lastly, I have a strong believe that the Book of Mormon is true.

Now, I want to shift gears a little. You may be wondering "how does any of this apply to me?"

We live in a world of trial and turmoil. We live in a time of much confusion as to what is right, what we should do, and what we should believe. I want you to watch this short video and we will talk after.




I feel like the world often feels like the frantic, tragic, scary world depicted in this video. We live in a world where the family is attacked, and morals questioned, where crime is high, and charity low, where talk of religion is not allowed to be spoken of at work or in schools. I feel like there is no question as to why the world would be confused when in this scary state of chaos, But in this state of chaos I have found a source of peace.

This source of peace is with my Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ and with his church restored to the earth for these later days.

This is why I wake up at 5am on Tuesday mornings to go to the temple, this is why I spend my Sundays at church meetings, this is why I spend an entire weekend listening to 10 hours of the prophet speak twice a year. This is why I dress modestly. This is why I don't drink coffee, this is why I have clean language, this is why I study out of an ancient book, this is why I write this blog.

Peace.

My testimony of the gospel has given me so much peace in my life. I have had hard things happen to me, but every day is made brighter through Christ who is the light of the world. I have a testimony of this Gospel and I know the church is true and I invite you to come unto him, for he is calling to you saying "abide with me".





feel my sunlight



p.s. To learn more about my religion click HERE, or email me at feelmysunlight@yahoo.com. To request a FREE Book of Mormon click HERE!


p.s.s. I'm in the midst of making a relatively big decision that has to do with this summer. I am 99% decided on what I am going to do. I'll give you a hint... It has somewhat to do with this blog post and EFY, yet will require me to give something up this summer that look forward to every year involving tumbling. More on that later.

exceedingly great joy

This blog post is going to be obsta quick because my mom has this weird disorder where my typing can wake her up when I am upstairs and she is downstairs. Also, "obsta" is now a new word. It has the same denotation as super, but has a connotation of something high quality. Therefore, this post will be super quick, yet it will lack nothing in the normal quality, because you know I have the highest quality out there.

What am I even trying to say? I'm loosing it.

I have several topics on my mind but I have two videos that are drawing me in. They need to be seen. Watch them.

These are real people. This is true happiness from true light. This light comes from the Atonement of Jesus Christ.








These videos talk of peace. They talk of redemption. This peace and this redemption only come through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

The Atonement of Jesus Christ can heal even the darkest of trials. It can touch the saddest of hearts, but it is also for the small pains. It is for the tears gone unseen to the world. It is there for you when you need that extra push or that small whisper of peace. It is for you.

Christ performed the Atonement for all of those on this earth, but if you were the ONLY one on this earth Christ still would have done it FOR YOU.

Feel the goodness of God and taste of the Atoning sacrifice of Christ, for it brings joy just as King Benjamin taught in Mosiah 4:11

"And again I say unto you as I have said before, that as ye have

 come to the knowledge of the glory of God, or if ye have  

known of his goodness and have tasted of his love, 

and have received a remission of your sins, 

which causeth such exceedingly great joy 

 in your souls, even so I would that ye should remember,

 and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God."

-Mosiah 4:11 

I have a testimony that Christ loves me and that he loves each of you. He hears your thoughts and he knows of your heartaches. Reach out to him and he will reach out to you. I know that through him we can taste of the only true happiness. I know this because I have felt it. He knows us. He loves us. He sent his only Son to die for us. He wants nothing more than to give us everything he has. May we ever strive to return to live with him again in his mansions in heaven.

feel my sunlight

p.s. Did everyone have an obsta awesome Christmas?

Sunday Afternoon Bountiful Temple Photography Excersion

Bountiful Temple pictures up on the Photography blog! Check them out HERE!

never be the same

HEYYY! Sorry about the lack of posts over the last few days. Do you know that feeling where you feel empty. Like someone has just grabbed your squeeze bottle of motivation and emptied it to the point where there is only that miniscule amount of stuff left that is so small that it is never coming out of the bottle? That's how I've felt the last couple of days. There has been enough for me to open blogger several times, but never enough for me to get anything out of my head; therefore, here is my blog post 4 days late.

First I must catch up on the four days of 30 days of Thanksgiving I missed because I was lazy.


day 14
I am thankful for Sunday mornings. Every Sunday I race the sun to see who can get up first. After that I get ready and take a hurried drive over to the seminary building where I pretend to be a missionary and I teach fake investigators about the real gospel. The spirit is always so strong and I just love everything about mission prep. The drive home is always the prettiest drive of my week. I don't know why but this same drive that I take on the way home from school everyday is so much prettier on Sunday mornings. I'm pretty sure it is 50% the spirit felt at mission prep and 40% the lovely church music playing in the car and 10% the weather.

 Sunday morning drive song of the day.

day 15
I am thankful for service. I had this brilliant idea for a service project that my friends and I are going to do instead of buying each other Christmas presents this year. I am super excited about it and I am so glad my friends are just as excited about it as I am. I will share more about the details of our project when we get closer to Christmas.

day 16
I am thankful for my readers! Today I hit 12,000 page views! My readers are incredible. I don't know where this blog would be without you. I promise that I will always keep writing as long as you keep reading! Thank you all so much!

day 17
I am thankful for an incredible ward. I love my Young Women's group, I love our leaders, I love our bishop, and I love everything about going to church with my ward. There is so much love and joy that everyone brings that makes it an enjoyable experience for everyone. In our Young Women's group everybody fits and It is so nice to have a place to know that even though in the world I'm different, I believe different things, I am not popular, and I get mocked for my decisions, I know that there is always a place where I fit and where I have friends, and where I don't have to worry about being the weird one who follows the rules because I am surrounded by great friends that also follow the rules. We have a good time.



feel my sunlight



p.s. I have no Idea what I want for Christmas. Any ideas?

get your rod on

Two things.

This,

  

 and this.

Your life is better now. 

I am in a ridiculously good mood right now. Conference was fantastic and I am finally registered for EFY express and I just can't wait! It's been a good day.

As any of you with a twitter know that the twitter overload that happens during conference is pretty crazy. Basically everybody on twitter tweets everything any of the speakers say included with there thoughts on just about everything. Its kinda fun. Out of all of the tweets I read to day my favorite by far had to be this one by Alex Boye...

I thought it was an awesome tweet and it is going on a sticky note on my bathroom mirror as a reminder to live everything said during conference. It is a reminder to hold fast to the rod and to follow the teachings of God. I also like how by saying "get your rod on" it as if you are putting on an outfit for everyone to see. We aren't just supposed to keep the commandments quietly, but we should be standing up to our beliefs and being an example to everyone around us. We are the Later Day Army. We are fighting for him and we want the whole world to see us that they might join us. So don't be afraid to "GET YOUR ROD ON!!"

For the rest of my spiritual message for this post all I am going to say is I want you to watch any session or talk that you may have missed (first video), and let Michael Mclean's music (2nd video) play sometime thought the next few days and really listen to what is being sung. Also, "GET YOUR ROD ON!!

feel my sunlight

p.s.  Isn't conference the best?

sweet sundaes

This week has been sweet and I have to say Sundays {or sundaes} are the sweetest. This week is the week in preparation for conference weekend. For those of you who don't know much about conference weekend, prepare for an explosion of awesomeness from the Mormons. I personally can't wait. I mean, a chance to watch church on TV in your pajamas while you eat food? Not to mention the fact that we get to listen to the prophets of God and learn what God wants us to know and do in our lives. Pretty cool right?

So pretty much conference=happiness. Yup that just about sums everything up! I could end with that, but I do have a few things I want to share.

For starters, I invite you all {regardless of weather you are a "relief society" person or not} to listen to this talk given yesterday by President Monson during the General Relief Society Meeting. It was a great talk.

 One thing that stuck out to me in this talk was when he said

          "although [our challenges]   

are different to each,         

       they are common to all." 

I liked this because it made me remember that everyone on earth is fighting a hard fight. And I think that if we can remember that everyone is fighting a hard fight we would do better to treat people in a way that will help them fight that fight, rather than bring them down. We are all on the same team and we would do well to remember that we are only each others team mates, not each others opponents, and that if we fight together the game will be so much easier to win.

A second quote from President Thomas S. Monson that stuck out to me was when he said.

"The words of truth and inspiration,     

   found in our four standard works, 

are prized possessions to me."      

Anyone who knows me very well knows that I almost always carry my journal around with me. It's something I learned from my dad who always has his notebook out ready to take notes in whatever church meeting he may be in. For me you may not see it, but I always have it with me in my backpack, purse, or gym bag. I carry it with me everywhere because you never know when you are going to hear an amazing quote, or receive an answer to a prayers. For me having this journal with me allows me to record these gems of truth so I don't forget them. The things in this journal are "words of truth and inspiration" that help aid in my understanding of the standard works and they are "prized possessions to me." This journal is also where all of my ideas for blog posts come from and I never write without it open in front of me. (I just realized that I only have 10 pages left....ah guess its time to buy a new journal!)

Flipping through my scribblings from Church today I am reminded of something said during our 5th Sunday combined lesson taught by the bishopric. Our bishop said,

       "as soon as you take the patience to       

       observe individual stars,              

               you will begin to                 

    observe constellations."          

The same concepts is true with scripture study. As we begin to have patience to understand what individual verses are saying, we will begin to see the big picture and realize how these versus apply to us. It is only then that we begin to receive revaluation for ourselves. It is only then that we are able to taste just how sweet the gospel is.

I love this gospel and I know just how much sweetness it has brought to me and my life. I hope you all take the opportunity to stick your tong out and taste it for yourself.



feel my sunlight



p.s. This week for Young Womens we filled our bishops office with creepy dolls and funny sayings. He loved it. My ward is so awesome.

       

I hope you enjoy Holland

Dear blog, I'm sorry I've neglected you the last couple of days. I wish I had some great extravagant excuse like I was riding Elephants in India or something, but the reality is I was lazy and that's that.

I just finished a long, well procrastinated assignment that took much longer than any single assignment ever should. So naturally I am rewarding myself with blogging. At midnight.

It has been a good Sunday. It has been an awakening day, or at the very least it has shaken me out the trance I have been in the last couple of days. Not that I was doing anything wrong, but I feel like the last couple of days I have been hypnotized by the things of the world. I think this is a regular occurrence for all of us and sometimes it is good to be reminded to snap out of it, because it feels so much better on the outside.

There was an awesome talk given by a sister in my ward today that really hit me. She talked a little bit about finding joy in adversity and she told a story that her friend sent to her that I loved and imediatly knew I had to share it with you. I am retelling from memory and hope I can tell it as well as she did.

{picture via. Google. view original image here.}

You have dreamed of traveling to Italy for your entire life and you have finally planned your trip. You board the plane and you can feel the excitement among the passengers who, just like you, are so excited to land in Italy. When your plane lands you hear a voice come on over the intercom "Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to Holland." Holland?! Holland?! You where supposed to land in Italy. You have dreamed your whole life of going to Italy and now you are stuck in Holland. How terrible! Now, there are two ways you could approach this, you could either walk off the plane and soon find the true beauty of Holland and enjoy your experience, because after all, Holland is an incredibly beautiful place, or you could spend the rest of your life wishing your plane had landed in Italy and spend the rest of your life moping about the fact that you are not where you had planned to end up.

I think this is what we often do in our lives. Sometimes we have the perfect idea of what is supposed to happen, and when that doesn't workout we don't realize that maybe we were put somewhere for a reason and sometimes we don't realize that where God puts us is much better than the place we dreamed of.

I hope you enjoy Holland.

I think too often we get caught up in how perfect our lives are not, and we forget too often how much our lives are actually worth. This same sister that spoke in my ward today said

        "you may not be seen as

          perfect  

 by the rest of the world,          

         but you are seen as 

     perfect by him."          

Remember who you are and remember that you are perfect in the eyes of your creator. He knows whats best for you even better than you do. That is why he creates the maps for your life, not you. Follow his map and don't ever stray from the path he has drawn because if you follow his path he will lead you to the "X that marks the spot" and he will lead you to eternal life.

I know that if we strive to follow him we will one day return to live with him and I write these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Feel my Sunlight

p.s. Happy comments are the greatest. They bring me lots of joy.

Sunday Thoughts

I love Sundays.

Today I got to go to a farewell of a friend I met at EFY and I just want her to know England is so lucky to have her. You will be a fantastic missionary Kayli! Love you lots!!

After Kayli's farewell I hurried over to my own ward where a return sister missionary spoke. I think the theme of the day was sister missionaries and it just got me to thinking about my mission.

I am planning on serving a mission when I turn 19 in a few years. I am so excited for this part of my life, and I am reminded that while I'm still two years away, preparation must begin now.

For me missionary prep extends beyond reading my scriptures and going to church every Sunday. It extends to attending the temple regularly, to participating in and seeking out spiritual experiences, to sharing my testimony with those around me through words as well as actions. It extends to studying the gospel and coming to know of its realness for myself. I believe a great sister missionary is one that lives and follows the young women's theme...


We are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we love Him. We will “stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places” (Mosiah 18:9) as we strive to live the Young Women values, which are:

Faith • Divine Nature • Individual Worth • Knowledge • Choice and Accountability • Good Works • Integrity • and Virtue

 We believe as we come to accept and act upon these values, we will be prepared to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants, receive the ordinances of the temple, and enjoy the blessings of exaltation.

In the Young Women's theme I love the part where it says to "stand as a witness of God at all times and in all things, and in all places" Because It shows that we don't have to wear a name tag to be a missionary. We can be a missionary everywhere we stand and we must always be a representative of the followers of Christ.

I am reminded of an experience I had a few years ago while I was in San Antonio, Texas with my team for the US Power Tumbling National Championships. Some families from my team had decided to go to church Sunday morning since we didn't have to be at the arena until later in the day.

We got to the church a few minutes early to find that the doors were locked. We sat there until church was supposed to start when finally a man walked up and unlocked the door. I believe it was the bishop of the ward.

Our group after Church that Sunday in Texas

We were the only ones there at first and we were the only ones there until a few minutes after the meeting was supposed to start when a few people started walking into the chapel. Our little group just about doubled the size of the ward.

While we sat there we noticed a young man with a walker sitting up with a few other young men preparing to pass the sacrament. We watched him, with the assistance of another young man, help pass the sacrament to that ward. After the sacrament we watched him push his walker up to the stand. He was the first speaker.

I don't remember what was said, but I do remember the spirit felt in that little ward that day. This young man was a true follower of Christ. He did his duties and he did them to the best of his abilities. And there was no question as to weather or not he had a missionary name tag written on his heart.

I think that this is a fantastic example of someone who "Stands as a witness of God at all times and in all things, and in all places."

Another thing with standing as a witness of God is always heeding to the promptings of the Spirit.

President Thomas S. Monson said,
"the Lord's purposes are often accomplished as we pay heed to the guidance of the spirit. I believe that the more we act upon the inspiration and impressions which come to us the more the Lord will entrust us to his errands."

I believe that as we heed to the promptings of the spirit, and we strive to live with our missionary nametags written on our hearts, we will be better prepared to serve when the time comes. I love this church and I love all the joy it brings me in my life. I hope all of my readers can find this same joy in their lives. I write this things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen



Feel my Sunlight


p.s. It's been decided. We are skipping the whole go-back-to-school-thing and we are going back to EFY instead.

Pray for Kalon

Any of you remember the time I posted about that international competition in SLC that I competed at while I had a sprained ankle? AKA The Kalon Ludvigson Invitational. Or any of the other times I posted about Kalon and how awesome he is? Well this post about Kalon is a different post. It is a post to tell Kalon how much we love and appreciate him and it is a call for prayers from each of you.

For those of you who don't know who Kalon is, Kalon Ludvigson is the USA's most decorated tumbling athlete since being included in the FIG programme. He holds 20 World Cup and World Championships Medals as well as setting the World Record for Difficulty in 2008 and 2011.

Kalon was born in Sterling, Utah where he found gymnastics at the age of 8. He was a recreational athlete practicing 2 times a week until he decided to focus on his training at age 15 and seriously pursue elite level competition. Kalon became the youngest senior elite tumbling national team member at the age of 16, and won his first U.S. Senior National Tumbling Title in 2006 and hasn't lost a U.S. Competition since. (Kalon's biography on facebook)

I have known Kalon for the majority of my tumbling life. He and his coach, Justen, have done many camps and clinics that I have been to and they have been a huge help to me with my tumbling. They have both taught me so much and I always love seeing them, talking to them, and learning from them when they are around. I have been privileged to get to see Kalon tumble every month when I am at meets and I love being able to say "I know him". 

This last week something shocking happened. Here are the posts and statements in order by both Justen, and USA Gymnastics.

It has been an eye opening week. Many prayers have been said in behalf of Kalon and Justen and I just wanted to say thank you to them for being so good to me and my team over the years. I will never forget the February meet when I hit a pretty good pass and got a Justen hug right after, or the time Kalon signed our credentials at nationals. I love and support you both and am so thankful to have been able to have you in my tumbling life.

I just want you to know that Flipside is praying for you. And to all of you out there reading this Flipside is starting a Kalon Fund to help you them medical costs. If any of you would like to donate to this either contact me, or donate directly to Kalon HERE!! Anything helps.

Kalon we are praying for you. Stay strong my friend and get better fast! You are always going to be an inspiration to many. We love you!

 

Feel my Sunlight



p.s. Um Sundays rock my socks.

Rejoice

I love love love this gospel because it gives me hope. It gives me hope that for everything I am doing, and all the effort I am giving I might one day be rewarded for it and that my efforts won't be in vain.

One of the lovely girls from my group this last week shared with us a scripture. This is now one of my very favorite scriptures. Here's why.

"And I soon go to the place of my rest,   

    which is with my redeemer; 

for I know that in him I shall rest.          

  And I rejoice in the day when my 

mortal shall put on immortality,       

       and shall stand before him; then shall I see his face 

      with pleasure, 

and he will say unto me;             

          Come unto me, ye blessed, 

here is a place prepared for you in the          

    mansions of my Father. Amen."

                     -Enos 27

I love the word rejoice from that scripture. It reminds me that I should not fear what might happen to me in this life, for if I endure it well, I might gain everything and be blessed when I return to live with my father. And when times get hard, and struggles happen he is always there. Just one prayer away.

 

feel my sunlight



p.s. I am obsessed with EFY music. Isn't it great?
p.s.s. My mom is awesome. Just sayin.

Blog Swap! {Hannah}

Today is the day I said goodbye to sugar. I got up this morning to the aroma of a  cupcake scented scentsy. This may prove to be harder than I previously thought. 44 days my friends, 44 days.

So my friend Hannah and I decided to swap blogs today. She is awesome. Read this post then go read my post on her blog HERE.

Blog Swap!

Hey guys! I'm Whitney's over dramatic, slightly sarcastic friend Hannah Hancock. Whit and I are dong blog swap! I'm writing on her blog and she's writing on mine! It's gonna be so fun! :)

~~~~~

When you are a little girl, you dream about being a princess, finding your prince, and living happily ever after in a castle. Now, this has always just been considered a fairy take, something that you could only achieve in your wildest dream. I mean for goodness sakes we can't all be Kate Middleton! (But Prince Harry is still available so there's still hope!) ;)

However, we Mormon girls are lucky. We are daughters of a King, our Heavenly Father, so we are all princesses! We can have it all! Once you find the prince you get to pick which castle you get married in. That's right. There's more than one, actually more like 141 and counting!

The temple is a sacred place where the Lord teaches, guides, and blesses us. It is the Lord's house and on the outside of ever temple is inscribed, "Holiness to the Lord. The house of the Lord." Temples are the most sacred place on earth and I love them so much!

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has built these beautiful temples all over the world and I feel the need to share their beauty with all of you! And so, without further a due, here are just some of the gorgeous temples from around the world!

Campinas Brazil

 

Logan Utah

Manhattan New York

 

Manila Philippines

Melbourne Australia

Oakland California

St. George Utah

Guadalajara Mexico

Bountiful Utah

Hong Kong China

Vancouver British Columbia

Salt Lake City Utah

{All images from lds.org}

I love the temple and I love sharing about it too!

If you want to know more about temples, click HERE

If you want to know more about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, click HERE

Thanks for letting me take over your blog, Whit! Love you!

~Hannah~

The army stands strong in times of fear.

Hello friends! It has been a few days. I guess that is what happens when I try to get all my computer tech work for the entire unit done in two days. (Turned in! Now I have the rest of the week to do nothing but post in that class! Whoo!)

So a quick update on myself and my fab life would probably start with mentioning that imaginary boyfriend and I are doing well in the sense that our relationship status hasn't changed one bit. But even though I have been sixteen for eight months now and haven't been on a single date {COUGH COUGH} I am happy and loving life. I am still weirded out by the fact that FamilySearch already has a spot for my husband. I mean who just "adds a husband"?

Ha I love that family search already has a spot for him. It's cool to think about really. I mean, he is out there somewhere. What is he doing? Does he ever think about me? If my future husband ever reads this I hope he knows that I expect, and hope that he is fighting on the Lord's side and that he has joined the army of Helaman. {look teacher! I just foreshadowed something in my writing! *fist bump*} And oh how excited I am to meet you someday. Now like I said, I am happy and enjoying life. I learned something from a fantastic lady this weekend. This is a former teacher of mine that taught me several years ago. She has fought some hard battles including a battle with cancer. She gave me some wise advice that was something I really needed in my life. She told me to be like the little duck that as it surfaces the water, lets the glistening liquid run down it's neck. She said to the happy one that rubs off on other people, because life is too short to spend your time being sad, and it may be shorter than you think.

{Picture via Google. christophermartinphotography.com}

Now those words have stuck with me over the past few days. "Life may be shorter than you think." It makes me think of the children, and the runners and spectators whose lives have been shortened. These two events, added to thousands of others have brought much fear to the lives of many people. Many people are living in a state of fear that limits what they do. Just yesterday a pipe bomb was found in an elementary school very close to where I live. It hit home when I drove past a bomb squad vehicle on the way to the gym and got there just to hear stories of my teammate's schools being evacuated. Events like these make you think a little bit about your life. I am reminded of one of my favorite Mormon Messages that has given me great comfort in these difficult times.

I remember wanting to share this message with the many people who stayed home from school that day that the world was supposed to end. Because no matter how difficult the world gets, we will be okay if we only have hope in our father.

Now these huge calamities have startled the peace of the world, but what about the peace of ones soul? This is my favorite talk. It was given last April by Jeffery R. Holland and I listen to it often.





I know with out a doubt that Jeffrey R. Holland is speaking truth. In the last days even the very elect could be deceived if they stray from the iron rod and let fear overtake their lives. The hour is nigh at hand, but we still have work to do. Do not fear, and do not let the influence of Satan govern the way you live your life. We are the army of Helaman.

{Pic via google}

Feel my Sunlight



p.s. I know that was long, but I really hoped you watched all of those videos since my words are no where near as powerful as the words of our wonderful prophets. Stay strong army, stay strong.