This talk is spiraling out of control.
It’s over 1400 words (three single-spaced pages) and I’m not even close to being done writing it. I’m not just going to stand up there and read verbatim from my papers the whole time, but still!! And I don’t have anything I want to cut out. Maybe a few sentences but that’s really about it…
I’m speaking as part of the Young Women sacrament meeting (I’m the secretary of the Young Women’s presidency.) so I’ve got to fit my talk in with the sacrament, ward business, hymns, three youth speakers, a musical number, and a talk by the Young Women president…
UH OH.
How long are your talks normally?
I want to be more like Mary
This is a phenomenal piece about Mary (mother of Jesus) from an LDS perspective. It’s especially relevant to Young Women and anyone working on Personal Progress but everyone should read it. Everyone. I really do want to be like Mary. She’s such an amazing and inspiring example to all of us.
13 Articles of Healthy Chastity
I think everyone who is LDS should read this post, especially anyone involved in a youth leadership role. There is sometimes a difference between the true doctrine of Christ and LDS cultural norms, and I think this article does a great job of highlighting that. If you don’t want to read it all, at least read the 13 points near the end. Not sure how much I agree with the last one, but 1-12 are spot on. It’s time to make some changes.
I’m glad I came across this. It’s an issue that’s been near and dear to my heart for a myriad of reasons since long before I even knew anything about the church. This will definitely be an issue I champion as a Young Women leader. This privilege makes the calling all the more special and even sacred to me.
We are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we love Him. We will “stand as witnesses of God at all times, and in all things, and in all places” as we strive to live the Young Women values, which are: Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice and Accountability, Good Works, Integrity, and Virtue. We believe as we come to accept and act upon these values we will be prepared to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants, receive the ordinances of the temple, and enjoy the blessings of exaltation.
I was sustained as the secretary of the Young Women in my ward yesterday.
I’ve felt since before I even left Bloomington (in July) that this is the direction I was supposed to be heading. I couldn’t be happier or more excited about this calling.
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.
The Worth of Souls: This is my "Bucket List"
“Give me a young woman who loves home and family, who reads and ponders the scriptures daily, who has a burning testimony of the Book of Mormon. Give me a young woman who faithfully attends her church meetings, who is a seminary graduate, who has earned her Young Womanhood Recognition Award and wears it with pride! Give me a young woman who is virtuous and who has maintained her personal purity, who will not settle for less than a temple marriage, and I will give you a young woman who will preform miracles for the Lord now and throughout eternity.”
-President Ezra Taft Benson (emphasis added)
I love this. I do. These are such worthy goals and this is certainly a true statement. But whenever I see this I feel really bad that I never had the chance to attend seminary. (nevermind this post over here…) :’(
#convertproblems
I WILL earn this.
(I’m getting close to the halfway point!)
(Source: docedeleite-com-nata)
I HAVE A PRIESTHOOD HOLDER IN MY HOME.
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.
My hair is a wreck and I’m wearing a too-big shirt that’s a hand-me-down from Ben’s eldest brother which I don’t even know how I acquired, and there’s entirely too much white in this picture but I don’t even care.
My Personal Progress books came today!! \o/ I’m downright giddy.
Let the concrete tracking of progress BEGIN.
So FINALLY, after over a month of waiting around for people to get back to me on things *cough, cough*President Decker*cough, cough*, and then taking a few days to track down my Relief Society president to discuss it further…
I can do Personal Progress!!! :D
I mean, I knew I could do it, but now I can actually, well, make progress. Wahoo!
…Now I’m just waiting for the book and the journal to arrive. :/
(I know that I can do it all online but I really want to do it all on paper for various reasons. Though I am using the online stuff somewhat until my physical stuff gets here from Church Distribution.)
