Week 46💌

Oi gente, como vocês estão? Minha semana foi boa! Finalmente tenho um plano para meus sites de serviço, o que deve ajudar bastante. 

Segunda: I visited [redacted] and saw [redacted]. It was incredibly awesome. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to go on this trip, and I am excited to maybe one day tell y'all about it!! 

Terça: Today was all about travel. It was long, but it wasn't too bad. The flight was actually pretty cushy, it's just hard traveling for long periods of time with my headaches. 

Quarta: Today was another good day. I went to one of my service sites which is the Columbus Center. I volunteered there back in high school, so I'm glad that I can do it again. I get to volunteer with my mom which makes it better. In my personal study, I studied judgement and the basis of how we will be judged based on not just our faith, but our works. (Revelations 20:12 and 2 Corinthians 5:10)

Quinta: I had a companion study with my comp Sister Howell this morning. We studied a conference talk and then a couple of hymns. One hymn that we studied was amazing grace, so I themed my personal study around grace (1 Corinthians 15:10 and 2 Nephi 25: 23). Today was the wedding of my friend/neighbor Indy! It was a beautiful reception held at an art museum in Springville. I saw my high school Spanish teacher/tennis coach there, Sñr Crockett. Indy and his wife are such a cute couple and I am so happy for them!! The reception was black tie/dress, so I wore a dress and a pair of 4" heels. My feet were SCREAMING at me after like 20 minutes. I saw that the bride was wearing flats, and I will totally be stealing that. Heels are so not worth it.  

Sexta: Today I studied about temples (Psalm 122:1 and Doctrine and Covenants 88:119). I am so grateful to live in Utah where there are so many temples close by. Today was an awesome day, because I got to go to the Tulip Festival!! For those of you who live outside Utah, every spring there is a festival of tulips down in Lehi. It is always stunning. It's a little tradition that we have to go every year, just the girls (me, my mom, Audrey and my Grandma Starley). I am glad that I got to go and see my favorite flowers! Because of the weird snowstorm that we had, many of the tulips didn't make it. It was still gorgeous though. The gardens also have statues of Biblical and Book of Mormon characters and stories. I love those particular gardens. After the festival, I had my interview to be an ordinance worker at the temple. I'll be working there on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. I am so excited!

Sabado: Today, my sister had 2 back to back lacrosse games up in Park City. She and her team did awesome! Kiddy sports are so cute. After that, we went and got Culvers as a treat. My sweet boyfriend David came over to say goodbye before he left for North Carolina for the Summer. I am glad that I got to see him before he left. He walked me to my district activity of perler beads and pizza. It was nice getting to know some of the missionaries in my district better. 

Domingo: Today was a hard day. I've been dealing with headaches all week, but today was particularly rough. My ward is early in the AM (8:40) and we have classes first. I already had a headache before church started, and classes sapped up all of my remaining energy. Nothing screams fun like wearing sunglasses in Sunday School! I made it past the sacrament being passed and then went home to lay down. I had a new missionary orientation at 7pm. It was nice to see some of the new missionaries who are starting their service missions. I was surprised by how many of them are transfer missionaries, missionaries who started out proselytizing and then had to come home for some reason. It was comforting. 

Spiritual Thought: Today's spiritual thought comes from Doctrine and Covenants.

D&C 58: 26-28.

26: For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward. 

27: Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness. 

28: For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward. 

Sometimes I think about how great it would be if God could make all of my decisions for me. You know, you say the prayer asking for help between choosing 2 options and He clearly tells you which to choose. However, that isn't how life works. God gave us the power to choose, He gave us our agency. He asks us to be anxiously engaged in a good cause. As crazy as it seems, God doesn't care about every minute detail! Are both options good things? Great! It's up to you! If the option is between a good and better, that's when He would guide us to the right option. But if they are on equal ground? Follow your gut.

I have had a hard time getting started on the service missionary thing. I was out of town, and then had to line up some interviews. I was feeling a little lost. I wanted God to spell out exactly what I needed to do with my schedule. But, thankfully, God trusts me to make good choices and to be my own agent and put together my own service schedule. As I hopefully improve healthwise, I can add more to the schedule but as of right now, I will be working at New Hope on Segundas, the temple Terça, Quinta and Sexta, the Columbus Center on Quarta and Sabado will be my day off. 

Pictures:

1. One of the new statutes in the Light of the World garden

2. Aren't these flowers just gorgeous??

3. My favorite tulips are definitely the orange ones.

4. Utah is just stunning, no one can change my mind.

5. (Mom addition) 

6. Audrey and I after her back-to-back lacrosse games! Isn't she just the cutest thing on planet earth?