LDS Blog Challenge Day 1

So I think by now, all my friends realize that I am pretty bad at posting on my blog. But I am showing slight improvements. Anyways, on Saturday I decided I was going to do one of those 30 day blog challenges. I picked one out and was going to start yesterday. But we had a really good sacrament meeting on how we should use technology as a missionary tool so I wanted to do an LDS blog challenge and was VERY disappointed to only find one when I Googled it. So since I am not creative enough to make up my own, you get the only one I could find :-P I got it from this blog.

01. When did you (or your ancestors) become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints? What has this membership meant to you?

Well my Daddy joined the church in 1986 I believe. For some reason, I can't remember right now.. But I am pretty sure it was 1985 or 1986. I officially joined the church July 27, 1997. I cried like a baby and didn't want to because of my fear/dislike of water my whole life. Which is embarrassing to admit but it's true. My parents finally coaxed me in and it is definitely in the top ten of best decisions of my life. I wish I had the pictures from that day but they are at home in Wisconsin. And Chris joined the church on June 6, 2009. And I do have the pictures from that day :-)

What has this membership meant to me?  Well it has meant a whole lot to me. It has affected every single aspect of my life.  How I dress.  How I act.  How I dated.  Where I got married.  My family growing up.  What I ate.  What I drank.  How I lived my life in general.  When I was 16 years old, I got my patriarchal blessing.  I cried the day I got it because the Spirit was so strong in that room and every time since when I read it, I feel the Spirit and different parts of it stick to me.  Because they are what the Lord needs me to focus on at that point in my life.  Or it's what I need to hear at that moment to feel the love of my Heavenly Father and feel the comfort of a strong spiritual hug from the man who created me.  Being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has taught me who I am, why I am here on this Earth and where I am going after this life.  It makes life a kazillion times easier when you know those three things.

And the last way I can think of right now that being a member has affected me is when my grandfather died last year.  I have always had a hard time with good-byes whether it be for a few months or for the rest of my life as is the case with the death of a loved one.  But I can honestly say that his death was the "easiest" for me because I had really grown in my testimony that I would see him again and that he was in heaven happy and free of pain.  I knew that he was with his mom and his son again.  And so his death was still very hard and very painful but I got through it because of my testimony of the gospel and of the Plan of Salvation.

Happy Valentine's Day

As you can imagine, this morning was very difficult for me. I was the only married person that I knew waking up on Valentine's Day without her husband. To add to my pain and sadness was the fact that Chris also wasn't here for our Six Month "monthiversary" or the year marker since he proposed to me. I would be lying if I said that I didn't cry like a baby. That I didn't want to just skip school today and stay home and eat all the ice cream and junk food that I could find. But deep down I knew that it wouldn't do me any good and that I had responsibilities. Chris didn't leave me here in Rexburg by myself to fail my classes and not finish my coursework so I could be back with him. So, I wiped away my tears and I got ready to face what I expected to be a very hard day. And I was right it did have it's hard moments. Like walking past all these happy couples and seeing the happy stand to buy roses and things for the love of your life. But you know what it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. My Social Work friends are AMAZING. And Michelle, bless her heart realized that I was alone and she just gave me the sympathy I needed and joked about how we would all skip class and go celebrate my Valentine's Day. Obviously, we didn't skip class but just knowing that people care about me and try to cheer me up meant way more than any celebration we could have had.

And then I came home to this:


I am pretty much a sappy emotional girl to begin with but add in a major holiday, a husband being hundreds of miles away and probably a slight bit of depression; and this pretty much put me on the verge of tears. As you can tell there is no indication of who it is from but I loved it. It really made me feel so much better. Somebody thought of me and took the time to come and leave a little love for me on my door. And I'm sure they had no idea how much it would mean to me.