Because I Have Been Given Much

I just finished the Book of Mormon again. It feels so good. Once I hit Ether I can’t put it down.

I did some work on personal progress today too. I’ve got 4/8 projects done and three more in the works. And I’e got over 60% of the experiences completed. AND I might be getting a calling with the Young Women soon (my bishop mentioned it yesterday but didn’t get really specific). Aaaaaaaand we talked about my mission. I really am going to serve, you guys.

I’m excited about life!! :D

The gospel is true. I promise. Live it, learn from it, love it. 

This is a service appreciation post. 

There are so many people in my life who serve me every day. It’s so humbling to stop and think about it. All of these things really, genuinely mean a lot to me. I listed one thing that really stuck out to me every day for a couple of weeks and this is what I came up with. (I know there are more than 14 items in this list but shush.)

Ben –studying panic attacks to try to help me, being my rock
Ben’s dad – paying the utility bills and insurance as well as doing dishes
Phil – always being there, unofficially home teaching me when my “real” home teachers where nowhere to be found.
Mom – paying my phone bill, always making sure I have what I need
Hailey – helping me adjust and find my way around the ward, being a genuine friend even though she’d only be in the ward for a few weeks when I moved in
Tumblrstake – always being there to lift each other up
Ben – always tries to understand me and my problems and the way I react to things to find ways to improve our relationship and make my life better
Mom – everything she’s ever given me, texting me every single morning
Ben’s whole family – giving me place among them
Ben – never blaming me for anything
Sister Rupert – being awesome and encouraging about Personal progress and serving a mission
The whole RS and YSA – being awesomely inclusive
Cody – seeming to make an effort to pass me and the Frisbee even though I was clearly unathletic
Lindsey – giving me hours at the East Side store even though I work at the mall store because she knew I’d need/want them
My friends - forgiving me for things that have come between us and times I’ve not been as good to them as I should have been, for loving me and being there for me later on anyway
Bishop Patrick - going above and beyond what I expected out of a bishop in the month that I’ve been a part of his ward 

Honorable mention goes to Hoosier for not eating any my my stuff. He’s a good dog.

Among other things, I’m working on the first Personal Progress experience for Faith right now. (this one) One of the main parts of it is to regularly say morning and evening prayers. I’ve really been focusing on this habit lately, trying to be sure I say them every single day and to make them more meaningful prayers. 

One thing that I’ve noticed is that the more diligent I am with my morning and bedtime prayers, the more likely I am to pray regularly throughout the day, and the more meaningful my prayers have become overall in the short time I’ve been working on this.

I’d encourage everyone to give it a shot. Just some fodder for thought… 

This is new for me… And it’s AWESOME. I mean, Ben was over at my apartment all the time when we lived in Bloomington, but it feels completely different actually technically living with a priesthood holder in the house.

(For those not in the loop [which might actually be everyone]: Ben and I just moved three hours south of where we lived, into separate spaces at his dad’s house. [We had our branch president’s encouragement with this move despite technically living together even though we’re unwed. We live with his dad and we’re in separate rooms and all so it’s fine.])

Other major adjustments include attending a family ward. I’ve been to a family ward twice in my life. It was a little weird. I joined the church in the YSA branch I’ve attended for the last year and a half and Ben joined the church in a family branch. So kiddies + a ton of people will be weird.
But they’ll have a YW program which means I can do Personal Progress like a normal person and even maybe get my honor bee and/or maybe have a calling in YW. And they might actually have some mission funding available for us (The YSA branch was in the red on mission funds which was no bueno.). AND they’ll probably actually have temple trips more than once a year! So I’m really excited. (I’m not going to publish the very long detailed post I wrote the other day about how the leadership of the branch was failing me on every possible level.)

For now though, the internet access at the house isn’t the best. I can’t get online with my computer at all. So posts might be a little bit sparse until we get this fixed.

I’m moving in a little under two weeks. Between now and then I’m going to finish the Book of Mormon (I stopped tonight at Alma 17.) and complete 15 one-sitting Personal Progress value experiences. No biggie. I can do this, right?

It’s not like I need to pack everything I own, attend church meetings/magnify my calling, work 40 hours a week, go to the temple, eat, or SLEEP. RIGHT?!

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Whatever. This is happening. It must.