10 Year Anniversary

Have you noticed that in America we are way too focused on "taking". We "take" baths, showers, naps, tests, breaks, etc. Where are we taking these things from and where are we taking them too? Why so much taking? But the phrase using taking that I dislike the most is "take out my endowments". The endowment (a special spiritual blessing given to worthy and faithful members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the temple), like the Holy Ghost, is a gift - it cannot be taken, it must be given, and for it to be meaningful in our lives we must choose to receive it. I received my endowment (or at least began to) 10 years ago. It is strange to me that it has already been 10 years since I remember that day so well, but it has been, and over these past ten years I have received my endowment more fully each time I have attended the temple.
Since that time I have attended 19 temples (plus visited 8 more that were closed) - there are similarities and differences about all of them, and I have loved them all. But the best part of all of them for me is the peace that I feel, even when I am first on the temple grounds. I am so grateful for that peace, and for the strength and answers I have received as I have attended the temple. What a great gift!

The Las Vegas Nevada Temple - where I first received my endowment.

Meeting an Apostle

Our stake president has been serving for 10 years now, which is the amount of time they normally do, so we have just had a change of our stake presidency. We've known for a while that it would be happening, and while I know our new stake presidency will also do great, I'll be sad to not have our past one because they are just fantastic. But one great thing about this change is that Elder Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles came to reorganize our stake along with Elder Right of the Seventy. I have met several of the general authorities. I have liked, enjoyed, and been impressed with all of them. Elder Christofferson was no exception.

Elder Christofferson
Before he came President Beesley, our stake president that was just released, suggested that we prepare ourselves for his visit, and that we invite others to attend. I am glad he suggested that, I am not sure I would have thought to do that myself. I invited some of my co-workers. One of them, Hannah, came. I have brought Hannah to a lot of church activities, and to a lot of activities with people from church, but this was the first time I actually took her to church. She came not only to the full stake conference on Sunday, but also to the Saturday night adult session. She really enjoyed it and even took notes. After the Friday night session I asked Hannah if she would like to shake his hand. She said we did so we did. It was a pretty neat experience, I had the feeling they could tell that Hannah was not a member of our church, not in a bad way, just that they could feel she was a little different than most of the congregation. They paid her special attention. It made me want to cultivate that same spirit of discernment so that I can better reach out to those in need.

The conference really was quite fantastic. Some of the most important things I learned/ was reminded of were (these are not quotes, just what I learned while listening):
Brother Betts ( a member of our Stake)
-I should speak more frequently about Jesus Christ
-I need to cultivate an attitude of service

-We need to understand our relationship to God - the pedigree of our spirits can be written on a single line - I am a child of God
-No other doctrine will change behavior more than an understanding of the doctrine of the atonement
President Beesley (exiting Stake president)
-As you go on the Lord's errand He will send the Holy Ghost, and He will tell you what you need to say
-Take notice of how you feel - if you feel the promptings you should go
-You can desire the atonement, and that is sufficient (none of us actually deserve it)
-The great joy in your life will be from brining someone to the feet of the Savior and He will heal them
President Wilden (exiting 1st counselor)
-Mosiah 18:9 defines home and visiting teaching - reach out to bless the members of the church
President Stancliff (exiting 2nd counselor)
-There are only a few callings in the church that are life-long callings - we are called and we serve - we are never elft alone to know what to do - if we pray and ask how we can best represent Heavenly Father and magnify our callings we will be prompted to know how
President Rhodes ( new stake president - was our patriarch)
-If you don't step out of your comfort zone you will never learn, if you never learn you won't grow, if you don't grow you will not have joy
-We are all living well below the blessings Heavenly Father has for us
-Heavenly Father is far more concerned with who we are becoming that with what we are doing - He's not concerned with the little boxes we check
President Sagers (Ft. Worth Texas Mission President)
-It is not so much who the apostle is, but the office he holds
Elder RIght
-Ponder anew what the Almighty can do, who with His great love doth befriend us - try to be more charitable and kind, don't estimate the power of love
-Ponder what gifts Heavenly Father has in store for me that I am not claiming
-We can't be healed without the atonement
-We individually choose to apply the healing powers of the atonement - no one can choose it for you
-Physical death and suffering pales in comparison to spiritual death and suffering
-The atonement can heal all suffering - it is not just specific to one kind
-The atonement will not run out - it is eternal
-In order for this meeting (as well as regular church meetings, temple attendance, etc.) to have an impact we must change, we must leave a little different than we came - apply the words of Elder Chrsitofferson
Elder Christofferson
-The Lord's acceptance of my offering is the highest honor that could come to anyone
-Don't snack on the gospel
-Keeping the commandments is the key to success in every meaningful sense
-It's not the thing that happens that makes the difference but how we face it - whether we turn to God or away from Him
-There is no suffering we can face that the Savior cannot convert into a blessing for our benefit if we will turn to HIm
-If you want everything He can give you, give Him everything you are
-The Savior must be at the very center of my life
-Take advantage of every opportunity to being the temple
-Learn another language
-It is a great privilege that the Lord lets us assist Him in HIs work - the desire to bless the lives of others in ways with eternal significance is innate - we are so blessed as members of the church to have the opportunity to serve - through this service we are permitted to give His children we learn, we grow, and become more as He is
-Pray that the new stake president will be blessed and that the windows of heaven will be opened for them - the Lord has blessings for you individually and for the stake if you will do so
-If you haven't received a patriarchal blessing yet, do so
-The ultimate gift of service is in receiving the Melchizedek Priesthood
-Don't compare yourself to others in a way that makes you feel discouraged and want to give up - If you do look at others do so only to see them as an example and mentor of what you could become - learn all you can, take advantage of help and the examples of those around you
-It doesn't matter how many talents we have, we just need to be diligent with what we have and we will all receive the same blessing
-If you will be diligent it is enough - it is not requisite that a man run faster than he has strength - if he will be diligent he will win the prize (D&C 123:17) - cheerfully do what you can and be assured the Lord will do the rest
-We must be careful as we seek to become more Christlike that we con't become discouraged - becoming Christlike is a lifelong pursuit
-What a tragedy it would be to not take advantage of the blessing it is to be alive at this time with the gospel on the earth - lay claim on the blessings the Lord has provided for us
-There is no stronger witness of Christ than the Book of Mormon

In addition to all these great lessons Elder Christofferson also left us with tons of apostolic blessings. I feel that such blessings are a little personal, but if you would like to know more about them leave a message and I will send you an eamil about them.
Anyway, it was a fantastic conference and I felt blessed to be able to be there.

Soul Sisters

In the first area of my mission I lived in a house with my companion (obviously) and another companionship (so two other girls). One of my roommates had a sister that sent her a talk tape, but on the tape she also included the song "Soul Sisters". It kind of became our theme song. So when I think of that song I think of the "Sisters" (women that I served with) on my mission. Although I learned a lot from a lot of different sisters on my mission, I just want to write about my companions, what I learned from them.

-Crystal Little - she was my MTC companion, my very first companion. I was blessed to get to serve in the same branch with her for our first six months in the field as well. We always wanted to be companions again, but I wasn't blessed with that chance. But we were trained at the same time (obviously) and then we trained at the same time. We got to talk about what we were learning along the way and since we were experiencing similar things it was extra helpful and drew us even closer together. From her I learned that a mission should be filled with joy AND FUN. She always worked hard, but with a smile on her face. Just seeing her you could tell how much she loved being a missionary. I also learned humility by her example. Also, I learned to think about what you say before saying it. She never was careless in her speech - what she spoke she meant to say, and it was always good.
-Jenny Cashmore - she was my trainer - that means she was my first companion in the field and was in charge of teaching me what to do as a missionary - and she did great. I have known a lot of people that did not like their trainer. I LOVED my trainer. From her I learned not only what to do as a missionary, but I learned the power of loving the people (she is filled with love) and to work hard til the end.
-Sandi Peterson - I trained her. From her I learned even more about how to be a missionary. I learned the power of testimony. I learned to pray more fervently. She really helped me become a better person.
-Christy Conger - I learned from her the power of touch (she always had hugs) and of laughter, even when you might not be that happy.
-Nancy Anderson - I learned from her to be sensitive to other people's feelings - that even though you may think what you are saying his harmless and you don't mean it in a negative or hurtful way, you should think about how what you are saying may be interpreted by others. I learned to laugh a lot more. And I learned about service.
-Haleigh McMullin - we were in a trio with Nancy Anderson, so when Haleigh came I learned about I learned about what it is like to be in a trio. I also learned more about how to let people know how important they are to you and to God.
-Shani Brinkerhoff - I learned the importance of faith and of the atonement in missionary work. I learned about relaxing sometimes and just having fun.
-Tsolomon - she is Mongolian and only has one name. I learned about being sensitive to different people's cultures. I learned about true charity. I learned about some flaws American's have, and some strengths. I learned we are all put in different places for reasons, whether to bless others or to be blessed by them.
-Jamie Whipple - from and with her I finally learned to have fun as a missionary - to have fun and be happy and really love being a missionary while still working hard and trying your best - to not be stressed about things out of your control or about little mistakes. I am not sure why it took my entire mission to learn this, my mission president wanted me to learn it much sooner, but I finally did - I am so grateful to her for helping me learn it.

And that is all the companions I had - they were pretty freaking fantastic, so lucky.

A Miracle Today

I made a friend my freshman year at BYU - Ty. We stayed friends the whole time I was at BYU, and then I went on my mission and I haven't seen him since then. A few years ago he co-authored a book, In Quiet Desperation. Ryan gave it to me for Christmas a couple years ago and it changed my life. The first third of the book is written by the parents of Stuart Matis - an LDS man who suffered from same-gender attraction and after years of struggling took his life. I remember when that happened, I was at BYU and felt so much sorrow for him and his family. His parents tell of his struggle and what they learned from it. The last two thirds are written by Ty - he tells of his own struggles with same-gender attraction and what he has learned. I LOVE this book - I think EVERYONE should read it (READ IT!).

Some of my favorite people in this world have this struggle. My best-friend from BYU (we met the second day of our freshman year and have been good friends ever since) has same-gender attraction, has embraced it, and lives a homosexual life-style. I have a sister that has 4 good friends that I can think of that also have same-gender attraction. While I do not support homosexual activity, I have great compassion for these individuals.

Because of my experiences with people who deal with same-gender attraction I did not think I would necessarily learn a lot from this book, I just thought it would be interesting to read it. But I was WRONG. I learned a ton! I think anyone that reads it learns a ton. The thing that has been most beneficial to me was learning how to apply the atonement more fully. In fact, I learned more about the application of the atonement from this book than any other book I have ever read - not only for forgiveness of sin, but really to become a better person - through the strengthening, enabling, comforting power of it - how it can help you develop true charity. I learned that what your challenge is doesn't matter - we all have challenges designed to help us draw closer to Christ. Ty says that same-gender attraction is not a weakness, it is a challenge that exposes weakness, a weakness of faith.

Additionally, for some time I was of the opinion that it was wrong to encourage people with same-gender attraction to marry someone of the opposite sex - that this will only lead to pain for all involved. While I still believe that people with this challenge should not be encouraged to just get married, or that getting married will cure them of their attraction, Ty taught me that there are people with same gender-attraction who are blessed with a person in their lives of the opposite sex that they are sufficiently attracted to to have a happy and successful marriage. That even when they are married they may still be challenged with same-gender attraction, but when you are married the nature of your attraction doesn't matter, as long as you love your spouse and are faithful to him or her. I had never considered that as a possibility before - I am not sure why - it seems so obvious now. But since that time I have prayed that Ty would be able to find someone (a female) in his life that he could marry. I have corresponded with him a few times through email about his book, and about marriage.

Today Ty is getting married to an amazingly beautiful girl. I couldn't be more happy for them. I am 100% confident that Ty is just as attracted to her and in-love with her and devoted to her as I am to Ryan. That Heavenly Father could make such an opportunity possible for them is a miracle to me - and I am grateful to know of it.

My Girls

I have been thinking for some time now about how blessed I have been by the women in my life. I have a fantastic life, filled with fantastic people. I have been wanting to write about the fantastic females in my life for some time now, but haven't taken the time to get around to it. But I am feeling so much joy in thinking about them today that I am going to.

The first group of women is my family. I have SIX sisters - I am so blessed. My sisters are the greatest gift my parents gave me. When people hear about how many sisters I have they will ask what that was like and if we fought a lot - I LOVE having all sister - all six sisters. Anyone that knows me well knows I love my family. My mom is superwoman - literally - the best woman I know. This is not only acknowledged by me and my sisters, but people outside my family as well. Why I was so blessed to be her daughter I do not know, but I am forever grateful. And then I have 6 AMAZING sisters, I love them all. I was also the granddaughter of the two BEST grandma's in the world. I have done a post all about my mom's mom, Grammy, before. I will do one about Grandma Lissa sometime - equally amazing. Added to my group of family women have been my super nieces, my aunts, my cousins, and my mother-in-law and sisters-in-law. I know not everyone really likes their in-laws or feels like their in-laws like them. I LOVE Ryan's family, they are so super good to me, again, I am so blessed.

I grew up in one house - from the time I was one until I graduated from high school and moved away I lived in the same place - my parents still live there. Most of the people that lived around us did the same. I grew up with a HUGE group of girls my age - so lucky. I have two best friends - Wendi and Wendy - who I have known since before I can remember. They are phenomenal. And then there are about 20 more who even though I haven't seen some of them in years I still love them to death and feel close to them (Facebook and Blogs help with this).

I was blessed with great friends at BYU - from roommates to neighbors to classmates - I was blessed.

And then I went on a mission - I was again blessed with companions who taught me TONS and who I love (I will do another post on this).

I got married - to the BEST MAN IN THE WORLD - but this is a post about women so I will have to post about him another time.

We moved to Texas and I have again been blessed by great women. Our family ward here is filled with women around my age (give or take 10 years) and they make my life here joyful. Even though we have been in the single's ward a year now so I don't get to see all my friends as often as I would like - between book club, play group, and game nights we still keep up pretty well.

So why did I get blessed to have so many great women in my life? I don't know, but I think Heavenly Father knew I would need them to bring out my best self, to learn the things I need to learn, and to be happy. Thank you Heavenly Father, and thanks to all the women in my life - LOVE YOU!

Where I am at

Well, I thought I would review my goals and see where I am at.

Spiritual
• Spend time daily doing both personal and family religious study - pretty good
• Get 100% visiting teaching every month - got it last month
• Increase my understanding of the atonement through a more in depth study of the fall and the atonement - have started this but could intensify the study
• Pray for and ponder ways to bring two of my favorite people to full activity in the church - need to improve
• Have at least two of my friends take the discussions - need to work harder
• Learn to do family history and start doing it - need to start
• Catch up and keep up on my journal - doing great on one journal and terrible on the other
• Don't say anything that could be considered gossip and if others start to gossip around me ask them to stop - doing pretty good at not gossiping but haven't yet had hte courage to ask others to stop gossiping

Mental
• Become proficient in fMRI - improving
• Read, or listen to, at least 6 classics - just finished Pride and Prejudice
• Become more expert in autism and the aging brain (not that I am currently an expert in either, I just mean that I might not be considered an expert in either by the end of the year, I will just work on learning more about each) - improving

Family and Home
• Clean my house for real at least once a month (nope, I'm not a great housekeeper, and it is hard to motivate myself to clean when Ryan and I don't make much of a mess so you don't really see dirt) - I did clean my house really well this past month because my parents came to visit
• Pick up my house daily, or at least every other day (don't want to commit to too much) - I have improved
• Call a sister at least every other week (this is a goal not because I have to motivate myself to talk to my sisters, but because I HATE making phone calls to anyone - Ryan is the only one I don't have to talk myself into calling - it's a challenge - can't really explain why) - still working on this - why is it that I hate making phone calls so much - could it be genetic?
• Call my parents every week, or at least every other week (I can't always think of things to say on a weekly basis) - I believe I have talked to my parents at least every other week so far, but that just kind of happened
• See Ryan's family at least once a month - need to work on this - I did see his parents twice and his younger sister once, but didn't see his older sister at all
• Be better at recognizing Ryan's needs and desires and tyring to meet them, even if it means putting them above my own - needs improvement

Physical
• Exercise at least 156 days of the year (that's just 3 times a week) - doing fantastic - I have already exercised 31 days!
• Eat more balanced and healthier (try to get all my food groups in every day in the proportions that I should) - I have been eating pretty healthy, but can improve int he balance area
• Only eat sugar on holidays and mine and Ryan's birthdays - haven't had any sugar this year
• Drink at least 64 ounces of water a day - preferably 80 or more - doing fantastic, I usually drink about 100 ounces, except weekends are a little harder when I am at the temple or church all day
• Take my vitamins every day - doing pretty well - I know I have missed some days but I have taken them more days than I have missed

Social
• Do something with someone other than Ryan and people I work with at least twice a month, preferably once a week - I did last month
• Do at least one act of service, outside of service related to my church callings, once a week - I have been doing this but I haven't yet had to push myself or to do something outside my regular routine yet, so I should stretch myself more
• Have friends to dinner at least once a month - did this
• Keep current on my blog - I am currently a little behind but plan to catch up today

Talents, or lack there of
• Practice the piano - at least an hour a week - definately lacking
• Learn to be a better photographer - definately lacking

I think over all I am doing pretty well, but I obviously still need to improve - hopefully I will do better in February than I did in January.

Help Please

A family friend of ours for many years, Garth Abbott, has recently been diagnosed with that very aggressive form of breast cancer known as IBC, inflammatory breast cancer. He is a wonderful man and an example to all who know him as a dedicated father, grandfather, friend, and a humble servant to those around him. Sadly, he is uninsured and while he needs to start chemotherapy and radiation treatments immediately he is unable to show that he can pay for them and therefore cannot get the treatments he so desperately needs.

His daughter in law decided to try to get an auction going to try to raise some money for his treatments (they are going to cost over $100,000). MANY generous people have donated goods and services to be auctioned. There are 180 now I think.

NOW we need people to BID on these items! Please take a few minutes to check out the auction and see if there is something you are interested in purchasing. Many people have asked for a way to donate money directly to this wonderful man and so an account has been set up in his name...you will find the information for that on the blog as well.

http://www.thedailyabbott.blogspot.com

Thanks so much!

My Goals for 2010

I always have a desire to set goals at the beginning of the year. I often make huge lists of things I want to work on, and then end up failing in almost all of them I think. I am not sure how to rectify this issue, and doing so is not necessarily one of my goals. I just have so many areas of my life that I want to improve upon and it is hard for me to just pick a few to focus on. Perhaps I am not the only one with this problem. But after my grandma passed away one of my sisters got her journals and has started typing them up and giving us copies. I have read the two volumes I have so far and I found that several times she would make lists of her goals for a year, about as long as mine end up being. But she didn't only make the lists, she would come back several times throughout the year and evaluate how she was doing at meeting her goals. I will try to do this and see if I am more successful. So, here are my goals, by area.

Spiritual

• Spend time daily doing both personal and family religious study
• Get 100% visiting teaching every month
• Increase my understanding of the atonement through a more in depth study of the fall and the atonement
• Pray for and ponder ways to bring two of my favorite people to full activity in the church
• Have at least two of my friends take the discussions
• Learn to do family history and start doing it
• Catch up and keep up on my journal
• Don't say anything that could be considered gossip and if others start to gossip around me ask them to stop

Mental

• Become proficient in fMRI
• Read, or listen to, at least 6 classics
• Become more expert in autism and the aging brain (not that I am currently an expert in either, I just mean that I might not be considered an expert in either by the end of the year, I will just work on learning more about each)

Family and Home

• Clean my house for real at least once a month (nope, I'm not a great housekeeper, and it is hard to motivate myself to clean when Ryan and I don't make much of a mess so you don't really see dirt)
• Pick up my house daily, or at least every other day (don't want to commit to too much)
• Call a sister at least every other week (this is a goal not because I have to motivate myself to talk to my sisters, but because I HATE making phone calls to anyone - Ryan is the only one I don't have to talk myself into calling - it's a challenge - can't really explain why)
• Call my parents every week, or at least every other week (I can't always think of things to say on a weekly basis)
• See Ryan's family at least once a month
• Be better at recognizing Ryan's needs and desires and tyring to meet them, even if it means putting them above my own

Physical

• Exercise at least 156 days of the year (that's just 3 times a week)
• Eat more balanced and healthier (try to get all my food groups in every day in the proportions that I should)
• Only eat sugar on holidays and mine and Ryan's birthdays
• Drink at least 64 ounces of water a day - preferably 80 or more
• Take my vitamins every day
  

Social

• Do something with someone other than Ryan and people I work with at least twice a month, preferably once a week
• Do at least one act of service, outside of service related to my church callings, once a week
• Have friends to dinner at least once a month
• Keep current on my blog

Talents, or lack there of

• Practice the piano - at least an hour a week
• Learn to be a better photographer

Well, that is all I can think of right now - seems like I thought of some other ones throughout the past few days, so I may update later.

What are your goals?