My Church Class :D

Left to Right: Spencer, Josh, Sara, Taylor, Laura, Alisa, Chantel, Victoria, Me.

This is my church class. I love them to pieces. Thank you for the examples and support you are without even knowing it. It truly makes me want to be a better person.

It's that time of year again!

This year, I'm studying U.S. History in school, and every public schooled Mormon knows what that means. Inaccurate textbooks, and suspicious nonbelievers who love to throw around polygamy accusations. Friday was the day we came across that little part of American history, and I was both happy and nervous about it. All I was thinking was "keep smiling, Julia." And that's what I did the whole time. I smiled. And can you believe, my teacher defended LDS members?! She did! She said, "Now, I'm not trying to convert anyone but just listen. Does everyone agree that in the old testament and new testament, God spoke to people?" to which the class murmured a general yes. She continued "Then why is it unreasonable that he just stopped, now? That he never doesn't talk to people anymore, and hasn't for thousands of years?" There was a general quiet in the room, and I just kept smiling, bigger this time. A girl behind me said "Because he's angry with us" to which I wanted to reply "I think that God is above the silent treatment, don't you?" but I didn't, of course. Anyways, after that intro she started talking about it, she referred to me for all the things she didn't know, and she was so respectful about it. Some kid in the class even had a Book of Mormon! I asked him why he had it, and he said someone gave it to him. It was way cool. Its always hard to get through this time of the year, my friends, but there is no reason to be ashamed of our history. Right now, I can't understand why those people would have to have multiple wives, and I wish they never did. But I don't understand everything in life, and so I keep smiling, and believe it all happened with someone in mind, as all things do. So when you come across this blip in your curriculum, don't be ashamed, just smile and say, "Yeah, it happened, but it doesn't happen any more!"

I can't even begin to comprehend.

A while ago, my dad was having a rough time at work. He felt people were taking advantage of his easy forgiveness and calm demeanor, and felt like he was being weak where he needed to be firm. He told me about a man who wrote a particularly brash email, and while my dad sent a calm and rational one in return, though he was angry he got such an email, another guy from his office stood up to the man, and defended my dad, but in not kind words. I didn't know what to say to my dad, so I told him he did the right thing by being the bigger man. I think thats a common thing in the workplace, that the "good Christians" get taken advantage of simply because they are nice. But that night, as I was reading my scriptures that used to be my brothers, there was a small handout that talked about "blessed are the meek" or something along those lines. As I read, I started to smile, because the man that they were describing to be the ideal person, who was humble and meek, was what my dad was being, and what he perceived as being weak. I took the handout my brother had put in those scriptures so long ago, and pasted it onto a piece of paper, and then wrote my dad a note, leaving it outside his door. When I got back to my room, I was so grateful to be able to be the hands of God, if only for a moment. I can't even begin to see the vastness of His plan for us, because there is no way that my brother just happened to put that handout in the pages I, as a slightly irregular reader during the summer, would be reading on the night of my dad's hardship. I will forever be grateful for that, and the confirmation of the power of God that experience was for me.

There are Those People.

Last week, we had this band competition at Sam Houston State University that took all day. As mentioned in previous posts, my section in band doesn't always get along very well, and today was one of these days. One guy said something to another guy, and it snowballed to the point that everyone on that snowy slope got sucked in. We were all mad at each other. It's a good thing we had to be quiet before we got onto the field out of respect for the people already performing, or we would still have been bickering. As we were literally waiting at the opening of the field waiting for the band before us to end, I heard this voice saying "excuse me" over and over. Kind of irritated, I turned my head to glare at the person moving up our compact lines. My glare fell instantly when I saw the person was in a wheelchair, and was a volunteer from SHSU. He zoomed past us, and said "I was supposed to move you guys here, but it looks like you did it yourselves! You guys are awesome!" He had a huge smile on and was laughing. He then proceeded to back up out of us, again apologizing, but with a huge smile on his face, not embarrassed at all. I started crying. I have no idea if this guy was a member of the church, but he had such an aura about him, that he was practically glowing. I wanted to talk to him, to bask in his inner light. He made all of us smile, though we were about to jump down each others throats, and even though he probably didn't have the easiest life, he smiled through it. Now, I have no idea who that guy was, what his name was, what he does in his life, but I will always remember him. He was one of those people, one of those people I wish I could be. God bless you, Nameless Wheelchair Man, you touched someone's life with a laugh.

Rumors Make Me Laugh.

No joke, I got the best ever question the other day. This person wanted to know why Mormons typically have such outrageous family sizes, to which I replied was simply because of how family oriented we are. We love each other, and the family is a sacred thing, so why not have as many people to share that with as possible? She told me someone had told her that Mormons believe that there is some kind of box in heaven full of souls, and you get more points or something the more souls you get out of the box. What the heck, people? Where do these things even come from? I would love to know, because that is the wackiest thing I think I have ever heard. But just for the record, if there WAS some kind of crazy soul box, Mormons would have mad points.

Coffee and Tea are not for Me!

Most commonly asked question in my life: "Why can't you drink coffee and tea?" I used to hate it when people asked, because the honest truth is, I don't really know. All I know is that a man who talked with God said we shouldn't. And now, that's a good enough explanation for me. Back in the day, who knew how bad tobacco was for the body? It was even more common for people back then to smoke than even now, if you can believe that. People didn't know how dangerous it was, but science has proven that it leads to all sorts of complications and fatal illnesses, not to mention misery. So who's to say that later we won't discover how bad coffee is? No one really knows, so for me, just following, even blindly, is enough. It might be a restriction to some, but then again, the fact that I can get up in the morning without anything dark and murky first seems pretty liberating for me. Plus, who wouldn't want just some hot chocolate?

What is Fun?

So while me and a good friend were walking to class, I was complaining that my ears hurt from my earrings, and my friend who is of the male category declared that if he were ever to get a body decoration or whatever one would call such things, he would get a tattoo. I agreed, but said I would never have one, because Mormon's can't. I immediately regretted that phrasing. I mean, generally people don't, but the word "can't" is so restrictive. And thats not the point. These things are made to help us respect ourselves, save us pain, and other things I probably haven't thought enough about to know. Anyways, after I had said this, my friend said "Gosh, can't you have ANY fun?!" To this I replied "Well, what do you define as 'fun?' Because I certainly don't think puncturing your skin a billion times to fill it with some kind of lame graphic is exactly a joy ride." He didn't really have much to say after that, but it got me thinking. What is fun, and do the rules, or mostly recommendations, of the church really restrict that? I don't think so. I have heard of so many people who regret the tattoos that they had gotten in their youth, because they don't look as good later in life, and also because it doesn't hold the same meaning to them now as it did at that time. So though it might be fun to show people it when you got it, is it fun later to have to wear clothes that cover it, or worry about it all the time? Is it fun to get drunk to the point of memory loss, and have people tell you about all the stuff you did later, only to find you've done something you regret? I mean, fun is able to be interpreted in so many ways, and the media portrays so many things that we members don't participate as so glamorous, but you just have to think, is this really what you want to be doing?