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?

Men of God.

The Priesthood. Something I swear I know much too much about, and yet at the same time know little to nothing about. Which, of course, is the paradox of most things in the gospel. You can always learn more. Today was, of course, General Conference. I am never disappointed in the content, but more than that, I am never prepared for the Spirit I feel when President Thomas S. Monson comes to the stand. What other man can be standing a thousand something miles away, and then transfered into a million pixels, and put onto a computer screen, and still have the Spirit so strongly with him, he can make a highly influenced girl of the world tear up? Today, he said "I love you." And I believed him. He really truly loved ME, as well as all of you, though I have never met him in my life. I felt he loved me. I know he does. After the meeting was over, he stopped, and talked with children, even giving one a high five, and buttoning the jacket of another. I had a huge smile as I watched him, and I could only imagine what the mothers of those kids were feeling. The prophet is indubitably a man of God, my friends, and there is no denying that, no matter what religion you come from. One of my greatest hopes in my life would be to one day shake the prophets hand, and get it on video camera so I can forever remember what it felt like to shake hands, though indirectly, with God.

General Conference.

Because this IS a blog about being a LDS youth, and this weekend WAS General Conference, its only appropriate that I write a little something about what I thought about it. Overall, GC is always something to look forward to for me. I mean, as a kid it was like "Sweet! a day off!" But now that I'm older and the lessons apply to me more, I've really grown fond of this weekend. Because of a band competition, I didn't get to listen to the Saturday conferences, but I listened to both of them today. And Jeffery R. Holland once again blew me out of the water. Last session, he did it too. When GC rolled around last year, my sunday school teacher challenged us to go into the conference with a question about the gospel, and promised it would be answered. My question was "How in the world could Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father know each and every one of us so explicitly when there are thousands upon thousands of people walking amongst us today?" Living in Houston, Texas, this seemed like a very legitimate question, something I had always struggled with, especially when I was out and about. If I'm being completely honest with myself, I have to admit I didn't expect my question to be answered. I mean, how many people were waiting to have some super important question of their own answered as well? Surely, mine wasn't of that much importance. But, I was wrong yet again. Brother Holland gave a talk entitled "None Were With Him". In it, he speaks of the atonement, how Jesus went through the ultimate walk alone, going where no one will ever or has ever gone, just for us, just so we would never have to. It's because of the atonement, that Jesus knows each and every one of us more than we could ever know ourselves. The real question I should of asked in this case, was "How did Jesus survive all that suffering for all the billions of people that have, had, and will have walk the earth!?" I knew not to doubt General Conference again. So this time, I was totally expectant, and eager to listen. At first, I was a little shocked at his talk about the Book of Mormon. It was almost angrily adamant. I wondered what had happened to make him like that. But then I realized, it was the strength of his testimony that drove him to that. I would give so much to be so utterly convinced about the gospel. His conviction has inspired me to read with more depth, and more real intent, so that I, too, can tell people with just as much spirit how much I know it to be true. I was also glad it gave me something else in my BOM defense arsenal, for the next time someone doesn't believe ME :D

Look Alike?

My seminary teacher looks like Tony Curtis.

"Free" Agency.

We watched this completely ridiculous movie in seminary. It was about this kid from the 80's who was all mad at his mom because she told him no when he asked to do something. At least, I think thats what happened. All I know is that he was all yelling at his room that was quite messy might I add, and then he threw his jacket in the 2 year old temper tantrum manner, only to have it land on his significantly better looking alter ego. At first, I thought he was one of those shoulder angels, you know the ones that always argue with the other shoulder angel, for comic relief? Yeah, I thought he was one of those, but life sized. But he just turned out to be this ridiculously good teacher of free agency. He made this incredible comparison of driving a reallllyyyyy nice car. Like the kind of car that makes you squeal before you even sit in it, much less turn it on. Anyways, this kid wanted drive that car at the speed it was meant to go at, or dang freaking haulin'. But there are speed limits! So devilishly good looking alter ego in a nice pair of Av's says, "Well, this is your dream, so lets make it have no rules!" And the speed limit sign disappeared. That kid took off, and heck, I would too! He gets down this road, and then this semi truck, or in other words, the stereotypical bad driver, comes roaring down HIS side of the road, and then kind of changes lanes right in front of the kid in the car, and right when they were about to die and stuff, POOF! They were magically back in the room. Now, the kid was all mad, cause he was having a good time! What nerve, what ghall! That truck driver had NO right to get in his lane. But then alter ego said, "Well, we took the rules away, so it wasn't the drivers fault. If we didn't have rules, no one could break them, and therefore no one would appreciate what it feels like to follow them," but in much more words, and probably more eloquently too. But you get the idea. Anyways, I thought that was an amazing point. I thought about it all day. People always complain about things like that, and how rules are restricting, but are they really? How could you appreciate good things, when the bad things are good too? That was the first thing I learned. Then it went on to talk about the message that two wrongs don't make a right, but I kind of blew that off, as it is so common and everything. This is where this whole recap of this movie ends, and my life continues. So I was at band, and I'm pretty much one of those kids that is mostly insubordinate, and wants to make the most of THEIR time, so maybe talks more than they should. But the thing is, the DI's (band leader people) are really rude a lot of the time. "Be quiet" turns to "SHUTUP!" and so on and so forth. As a highschool teenager who feels repressed, I of course react defiantly, and always justified my actions with the reassurance that they were being complete jerks, and deserved any crap I could dish out. Then after a particularly snarky remark, the clearest thought resonated through my head. "Two wrongs don't make a right." I almost stopped marching. I suddenly realized that I was at much fault, if not more so than the common band dictator. By being equally as rude in return, I was no better then they! I was floored, and kind of annoyed. I WANTED to be mean back, I WANTED to defend my rights. But I knew I shouldn't. The next time someone told me something in a less than friendly way, I answered back politely. And the effect was immediate. The devil of marching band started talking and laughing with me! I was amazed. Just by being polite, I was able to make life more bearable, even though I thought that by sticking it to the man, I was making life more "fun." This is the worldly fun, my friends, and does no good for a person. Finally, I would like to remark that it has not been easy to renounce my rebellious ways. In order to truly appreciate my choices, I have to sacrifice some of my comments I want to make as to abide by the no talking rules. Free agency isn't necessarily "free;" you have to work and sacrifice to get it. But the end results are so much better than the momentary satisfaction you might get by the gaping mouth of a slight superior you just put in their place.

It's not a mistake.

This week I had to make a difficult decision. And it's not like this has been the first time I've ever had to make a tough decision. But this is the first time that the first thing I thought to do was pray. I was so relieved at the easy fix that I honestly laughed. So I prayed. AND THEN A BOLT OF LIGHTNING STRUCK ME IN THE FOREHEAD AND I KNEW WHAT TO DO!!! False. I sat there, and nothing happened. But I found myself thinking a lot about one of the options, and then I thought of something I could do, and I did it. When I thought about it, I realized that could be the answer to my prayer, but I decided it wasn't because it had been my normal thought process, and I hadn't really felt something out of the norm. So I was kind of disappointed that I hadn't been answered and I had a few doubts about my ability to hear, or God's wanting to answer. So I went to bed, and just decided to kind of forget about it, and just sort of say that what I had done was an answer, even though I didn't really believe it was. Then today in church, a woman got on the stand and decided to talk about prayer. And she said "I felt impressed that I needed to say this, but not everyone gets answers in the same way.." and then proceeded to list of ways we can be influenced by the Spirit in answers to prayers, and I just sort of stared at her in shock. The whole "impressed to say this" is almost a cliche in church talks, and I never thought much about it. But this was fantastic, and extraordinarily accurate. Usually at times like these, I would burst into tears at this magnificent revelation, and feel dumb for doubting anything. But today, I got a content little smile, and I just felt happy. I sat back in my seat, and almost felt like God was chuckling at me, which I have no doubt he was. Who would have thought even Heavenly Father likes to say "I told you so?"

These are my Friends.

Every single one of them is completely different from the other. But somehow, we all mesh perfectly together. I have never met such a group of people I feel so natural with, while being so completely weird with all at the same time. They are my family away from home, and this isn't even all of them. I couldn't ask for better people to love.

"A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother."

Proverbs 18:24.

These are random pictures of those who mean so much to me. :D

Julia, Andrea, Me

Me, April

Ayesha, Me, Andrea

Bobby, Chris, Me

They come in all shapes and sizes, but they all bless my life every day one randomly hysterical comment at a time. Be it a shoulder to cry on, or a shoulder to grab onto for laughter support, they make my life better than I could ever imagine. I LOVE YOU GUYS!

Blessings in Sleep Deprivation

So this week, by some miracle, I made it to seminary every day within 5 minutes of 6 in the morning. That's completely ridiculous. I'm pretty sure most people don't even understand HOW ridiculous that really is. Last year, I usually rolled in around 6:30, only to catch the closing remarks and prayers, and even then, I'm not sure how much I really contained, though the lessons were nothing short of amazing. This year, since I'm entirely dependent on myself and can no longer decide to blame Oliver, I have had to make a renewed effort in getting up on time. And so I did. I haven't felt tired all week, and did not think much of it, until yesterday, which was Saturday. I woke up and was sure I had never been that tired before in my life. This is completely strange, but I was overwhelmed with gratitude. Seriously, I was glad I was too tired to function on a Saturday. To me, it was a blessing of seminary- I made it through the whole week without feeling tired, something I'm sure I never would have accomplished on my own. I have band after school on Monday's, Tuesday's, and Thursday's every week, and often have to attend the football game most Friday's that end at about midnight. Factor in PreAP/AP courses at a school like Cinco, and then early morning seminary, and you will find how much of a miracle it really is that I made it to Seminary within 5 minutes of 6 o'clock every day, and then lived to tell the tale today.

Fun in Family

So this blog post wasn't really brought on by seminary, but I it has a huge impact on me daily. This year, my oldest brother Sam came back from his mission in Chuuk/Guam. After that, both he and my other older brother Oliver went off to A&M University in College Station. Ever since then, it's just been me and my parents, and I can't even begin to describe how fun it is to be the only child with them. When people ask me how it is to be the only kid at home, I usually just tell them "quiet," but it's really anything but. In between my Dad's incessant jokes and my Mom's ever increasing laughter, there really isn't that much quiet time, except for the lack of techno music at absurd hours of the night, as it used to be when Oliver was still around doing his insane work load. I love to go to school and tell people about my family; it's something I never grow tired of. I rag on them all the time at home, but I truly adore them all more than I can ever say. This Thursday was my birthday, and though they weren't there, both of my brothers surprised me with a birthday card in the mail, and then came down on the weekend. They gave me a video game- Beatles RockBand, and we played it all day long. I'll never forget it, either. Every person played the game- even my mom! She sang, and at the end even played a little guitar. In our church, family is a fundamental thing. When I was younger, I was always annoyed with that, that I HAD to love my family and everything, but now, I'm so grateful that I have them in my life, and that I can share an entire eternity rockin out with each and every one of them.

The Meaning Behind the Madness :D

SO! In my seminary class, my teacher brought up the idea of making these blogs to post our beliefs about the church, which would be The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is quite the mouthful, so LDS church or the Mormon church. I was pretty much pumped, because this kind of stuff is rockin'! Not to mention that this is for a church class, and we basically never do stuff like this. So anyways I went home that day and made a blog super quick... and then posted nothing. So here I am now, taking the time to write about what I believe!

First and foremost, I know this church is true, and with that as the basis of everything else, I know President Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet of God, that he really DOES know what he needs to say to comfort and guide the people in this church. I would follow him to the ends of the Earth. I know that prayer works, and that he really does listen to what you are saying. I believe sometimes you mistake the Holy Ghost as your own thoughts, which isn't necessarily a bad thing because it probably means you are on the right path to be so connected. I believe everything happens for a reason, even if it's something really bad. You can always become stronger because of it. I know that the Book of Mormon is really a book from heaven, and not just something made up by a delusional young boy by the name of Joseph Smith. I know that Joseph saw what he said he did, because I have felt the truth in his words, even today. I know you're never alone in anything, and that Jesus Christ is the best friend you can or will ever have. I know that Preisthood blessings, especially father's blessings, are the real thing, and that many times, it isn't your earthly father speaking, but your Heavenly Father instead. And finally, I know I am a daughter of God, who loves me, and I love him.