Time goes by so fast..

First of all, where did my week go? It feels like yesterday I posted, but that was almost a week ago!

Most of this week I have been running errands and cleaning up the house. Tuesday I was able to go down to Salt Lake and get everything ready at the VA hospital for my New Employee Orientation which will happen on Monday. That included getting my badge made up. I'm excited, I don't think I've ever had a badge at a place that I've worked!

Other fun events of the past week include - going down to Herriman to visit one of my roommates from last year. We hung out at her house, rode her tandem bike around the neighborhood, went to an after-institute activity at the SLCC in Jordan which included basketball and volleyball, then went to the 9:50pm showing of Toy Story 3 - super cute. Thursday I got to meet up with the cute Relief Society ladies of my Stake here and sewed more dolls for Primary Children's hospital. That is always fun, I am going to miss meeting up with those ladies, as I'll be working from here on out for the rest of the summer.

Also been keeping up with Doctor Who. I've got my brother watching it with me now. We finished up season 1 (it came out in the UK in 2005) and now started season 2. Yay for Netflix - don't have to watch it with commercials!! - also found out that there was a spin-off series called Torchwood.. so when we run out of Doctor Who, we'll still have more to watch :)

Yesterday I went outside and cut some flowers. We have a really pretty and good smelling rosebush behind our house and daisies also. I like daisies, they are cute but I don't really like the smell of them. Also our apple tree and apricot tree have fruit on them, and the grapevine is looking good too. I hope it's good fruit so I can make jam later!

Today I have been reading Ether chapter 12. I love this chapter, especially a few verses which I want to share:

  4 Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.


  6 ... I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.


 27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.


I love verse 27! It has helped me so many times in my life. I also like the way that Moroni finishes the chapter in verse 41: And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever. Amen.




Well today I am going to try and finish reading The Bread of Angels, it isn't how I thought it would be but it is very interesting. I am interested to see how it ends. Later today my brother and I are going over to my Grandpa's place to go swimming. I am excited! I haven't been swimming since I have been back from Arizona. YAY for the sun! I love the weather right now, finally feeling like summer :)

Stake Conference Part II

The last session of Stake Conference was good. We met in the Tabernacle by the Ogden Temple. 

It was really great. The theme again was mainly about families. And more focused on Fathers, as it is Father's Day. :) 

President Jardine started the meeting talking about God being our Heavenly Father and how we should take some time to Pray and thank Him, then he reminded us of the scripture "If ye love me, keep my commandments". 

Then he (and a few others were talking about prayer) mentioned about how in answer to a prayer Joseph saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. He talked about the relationship between the Father and the Son and how He introduces His Son to Joseph... "Inilah Putraku yang Kukasihi, dengarkanlah Dia!" ... or in other words This is my Beloved Son, Hear Him!

Then he counselled us to

1. Communicate with Heavenly Father - open our hearts and minds - seek Him out

2. Write down impressions we get - when praying, in church meetings etc.

3. Express gratitude to Him - through prayer, including verbal prayers

4. Validate the words of our prayers through our action

To finish up the conference Elder Robert D Hales read St. John chapter 17 And talked about the prayer Jesus prays to Heavenly Father. It was really touching.

After conference we came home and I called my Dad for Father's day and got to talk to him for a little while. Then I made my brother help me make two banana cream pies for the BBQ over at my Uncle's house tonight. He wasn't thrilled but it was good for him to help hehe. Later I made cabbage salad too. So yummy!

The BBQ was super fun. After we ate my uncle lit 76 candles for my Grandpa. It was awesome, Grandpa had all the young kids help him blow them out. We had pie and brownies and these chocolate peanut butter rice crispies treats... sugar overload! But it was awesome!

Stake Conference

Last night to kick off stake conference was stake temple night. That was really nice. :) I am so grateful to live so close to a temple, that I can go any time. Great place to leave the world behind and ponder on things that really matter. Also a great place to receive peace and personal revelation and answers to prayers. ^_^

Today I awoke before my alarm to 'stayin' alive' by the Beegees .. did I mention that I can't stand them? My stepdad loves music, and to play it loudly whenever he is doing something. Well this morning he got up early to make us all breakfast and the music followed. >_< Oh well, it made sure that I didn't fall back asleep after my alarm went off, and breakfast was awesome - pancakes, sausage and bacon Mm!

Today was alot of running errands. Tomorrow we are having a Father's day/Grandpa's Birthday BBQ so today we went out to get things for it. I will be making a cabbage salad (yum!) and a couple of Banana Cream Pies! So fun! Then came back and had lunch and my brother and I ran to the cute Farr's Ice cream parlor near our place. I went for Pralines and Cream today. It was fabulous!

Then after some down time, including watching some first season(2005) Dr. Who on netflix my stepdad and I went to the Saturday night session of Stake Conference. It was really good. A big theme was strengthening the family. Elder Hales presided and spoke to us. The last time I saw him was about 2 years ago while I was in the MTC. He came and spoke on the Atonement.

On my way out the door I grabbed the first notebook that had space to take notes with. It was one I got on my mission to take zone conference notes and things. So before I share some notes from stake conference, I am going to share some notes from a super cute count down to Christmas book Elder and Sister Young put together for all of us missionaries in the Kuching Zone last Christmas.

"Charity is accepting someone's differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let you down; or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn't handle something the way we might have hoped. Charity is refusing to take advantage of another's weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other." - President Marvin J Ashton

"To remain true and faithful through this mortal vale of tears, we must love God with all our heart, might, mind, and strength and love our neighbor as ourselves... We must gather strength from each other. We must also succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees."
(See Matt. 25:35-36,40; and Mosiah 2:17)

"As we remember the Savior, we remember an empty tomb that the Lord has risen and a promise to all of the Resurrection and life after death. Because of our Savior's Atonement, in death's darkness there is no sting, in death's depression there is no victory." -Elder Robert D. Hales


So back to tonight's meeting:

One of my favorite quotes this evening was used by President Jardine to open the meeting which he borrowed from President Marvin J Ashton:  "What we learn to love, we learn to live, what we learn to live will make or break who we are."

LIfe is Good

Well since I have returned to Utah from Arizona, I have been quite busy running errands and such! Another task that has taken up a lot of my time is searching and applying for jobs. Yesterday I was feeling particularly useless and down about not having found a job, but I worked on the translation project, watched Dr. Who, Burn Notice and Psych (not one after the other) and went to bed on time, figuring that everything would feel better in the morning.
  I attempted to wake up early, but the lack of sleep from the last week (staying up waay too late chatting and/or reading) finally took its toll and I fell back asleep for another hour ish, then I was woken up to my phone ringing. I didn't recognize the number but of course answered it anyway.
  The result of the phone call... I have a job!! Super exciting news I tell you what! So starting the 28th of June, I will be working down at the VA Hospital in SLC! I applied for a Medical Data Clerk, but one of the ladies in charge decided to take advantage of my field of study, and I will be helping them set up/organize the office spaces also. Woot woot! Yay for Interior Design! I couldn't be more excited! ..or could I? Turns out that they have UTA van services that run to work from my area, and the lady who called me was super cute and is going to help me get in on that so I won't even have to drive to work. All I can say is BLESSINGS! I am so grateful for this opportunity! I think it will be fun and keep me busy, with weekends off :)

  In other news... I have found that there is a Cookbook section in the Library here. That was a happy discovery! I joked with my brother, that that is what my house is going to look like someday. I love cookbooks, I love cooking and baking and trying new recipes. My future husband is going to be a lucky man.... although I hope that he enjoys spices as much as I do.
  Today I checked out The Bread of Angels by Stephani Saldana, Why Some Like it Hot - food, Genes, and Cultural Diversity by Gary Paul Nabhan, and just for fun I checked out Everyday MALAY :) I was going to check out some more books by Shannon Hale, but I figured I needed a break from fairytales and such... although Th Bread of Angels while based on a true story, is essentially 'a journey to love and faith'. So I am excited for that. I picked up the food and cultural diversity book when my brother and I were looking at the language section. It sounded interesting so I thought I would try it... hmm that reminds me I want to read Cradle to Cradle also...

Soo many books, so little time :) How I love to read!

Well I'd better be off, it is Stake Temple Night tonight, I'm excited :)

TGIF!

So this morning I woke up totally thinking it was Saturday and promptly turned off my alarm, and went back to sleep. Then an hour later I managed to get up and realize that it was indeed Friday. O_o

The last couple of days have been busy. My darling cousin came up from Payson and we went to see Iron Man 2. I wasn't expecting it to be very good, and if I hadn't seen the first one I probably wouldn't have liked it. But overall I liked Iron Man 2. :) Then we hung out at her Grandparents house and yesterday morning we got up and I took her to the airport. She is spending her summer out east. After taking her to the airport, I went home and my Mom and I went up to Logan to finally see about getting me an apt. for next school year. I was able to find one where I have my own room. It is a smaller apt. complex so I think I will really like it. :)

Other exciting news this week: I was chosen to receive a scholarship from the company my Dad works for. That will definitely help things!

So among trying to look for a new job, look for a job up at USU in the Fall, cleaning my room and the house, making sure my brother stays busy and does productive things, reading my scriptures and keeping in touch with friends I am reading a new book. So far this summer I have read The Goose Girl, The Alchemist, and now am reading Enna Burning - book 2 of the Goose girl trilogy :) It is a delightful trilogy and have throughly enjoyed reading it! I love reading so much, and am glad that I finally have time to read books of my choosing :)

A new day...

  So life the last little while has been quite exciting. Last weekend I got back from spending a week in Arizona visiting my Dad. My darling cousin Katie came with me and we had a blast. Not to mention came home a couple shades darker thanks to some fabulous pool time every day :) I really like Arizona, although I've never been there in the dead of summer. While we were there it was mid 90's to 100 F. Perfect Arizona weather :) So now I am home again, finally finished putting everything away, I really don't like living out of a suitcase. It's good to be home so once again, resumed the job search. So we shall see how that goes. One good thing is a was awarded a scholarship by Raytheon, so that will help with this year's tuition!

  This morning I am reading from the Book of Mormon, in Mormon chapter 2: I love the last few books of the Book of Mormon, but it always makes me so sad to see how fast the people turn away and 'willfully rebel' from the Gospel of Jesus  Christ - in this case a couple hundred years earlier, Jesus Christ appeared to the people and taught them just like He had taught in Jerusalem, but now as a Glorified, Resurrected Being (start reading around 3 Nephi chapter 11)

So anyway where I am reading today this was the beginning of the chapter: 1 And it came to pass in that same year there began to be a war again between the Nephites and the Lamanites. And notwithstanding I being young, was large in stature; therefore the people of Nephi appointed me that I should be their leader, or the leader of their armies.

  2 Therefore it came to pass that *in my sixteenth year I did go forth at the head of an army of the Nephites, against the Lamanites; therefore three hundred and twenty and six years had passed away.

 

This of course is Mormon speaking, in the previous chapter he is chosen by Ammaron (when he is 10) to later retrieve the sacred record and record about the people. Now at 16 he is chosen by the people to lead the armies?!? I cannot even imagine being in his shoes. A few verses later it is just heartbreaking to read and think about these people:

  11 Thus there began to be a mourning and a lamentation in all the land because of these things, and more especially among the people of Nephi.

  12 And it came to pass that when I, Mormon, saw their lamentation and their mourning and their sorrow before the Lord, my heart did begin to rejoice within me, knowing the mercies and the long-suffering of the Lord, therefore supposing that he would be merciful unto them that they would again become a righteous people.

  13 But behold this my joy was vain, for their sorrowing was not unto repentance, because of the goodness of God; but it was rather the sorrowing of the damned, because the Lord would not always suffer them to take happiness in sin.

  14 And they did not come unto Jesus with broken hearts and contrite spirits, but they did curse God, and wish to die. Nevertheless they would struggle with the sword for their lives.

  15 And it came to pass that my sorrow did return unto me again, and I saw that the day of grace was passed with them, both temporally and spiritually; for I saw thousands of them hewn down in open rebellion against their God, and heaped up as dung upon the face of the land. And thus *three hundred and forty and four years had passed away.

I am not sure what is more painful than watching others willfully rebel against what they know to be true. Nothing good can come of it, and there is always the option of repentance but there will come a time when it will be too late.

  I love the scriptures so much. It is hard to read the stories of those who didn't follow the commandments but I am grateful for the teachings and examples in the scriptures so that I can learn from them and apply them in my life.