WHAT I LEARNED FROM CONFERENCE

All young men and young women should serve a mission, if able. Missionaries are representatives of Christ. They are heroes and heaven sent angels. Have a question? Need help with something? Ask the missionaries, they can help you. They are here for you. Sister missionaries make a very large contribution and are wonderful to have. It is clear that missionary work is very, very important right now. Put aside the many trivial things of life to serve.

The youth of today are constantly affecting those around them whether they know it or not. They have never been stronger. Remember that the lord often answers other people’s prayers through you. So be a good example, even when you think no one is watching.

 Immersion in the scriptures is necessary for spiritual growth. Don’t just read them, but live them. Deeply study them. Memorize them. Make them your new best friends.

Ask yourself, “Am I prepared to meet God? Am I keeping myself blameless?” If not, remember that it is never too late to use the atonement. Repentance will always be there for us. 

The crowning characteristic of love is always loyalty.

When we joined the church, we enlisted to serve God. When we got baptized, we promised to take on the name of Jesus Christ. Because of these choices, we now have a big responsibility. We must not only emulate Christ’s example, but also take on the Christ-like qualities that Jesus taught. Be gentle, long suffering, kind without guile, give charity to all men, and have virtuous thoughts. With practice, we can become more like the Savior. Whether you are 8 or 80, never forget your baptism and the promises you made to your Heavenly Father.

Separate yourself from unrighteousness and worldly conduct. Leave the past behind and move forward with clean hands and a pure heart. Your mindset should be, “I will give away all my sins to know Thee"

Take action to feel the spirit now. Be patient with yourself, perfection is not for this life. Don’t demand of yourself things that are unreasonable, but demand of yourself improvement. Do not feel guilty for things you cannot change. Do not punish yourself.

Never be afraid to say, “I’m a Mormon. I know it, I live it, and I love it.” In fact, confidently declare that statement. Live the gospel more than you live anything else. Share your beliefs, your testimony, and your joy for the gospel to anyone and everyone. Do not be ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

Remain focused on what matters most in life. Spend more time with those you love, and allow yourself to be happier. You do not want to look back on your life with regrets and what-ifs.

The family is our foundation for love, peace, and spirituality. Never forget that or take it for granted.

We must become the person Heavenly Father intends for us to become. Follow His plan for you, He knows best. We need to open our eyes to our unknown and unimagined talents and future opportunities. Our futures are bright as long as we stick with Heavenly Father.  

When you are sick, you listen to the doctor. When you're spiritually sick, listen to Christ and His word.

The pavilion that seems to intersect of divine aid doesn't cover God, but occasionally covers us. God is close to us, and aware of us, and never hides from His faithful children. He loves us, and is mindful of us. He will always be on our side, as long as we do what is right. "Fear not, I am with thee, oh be not dismayed."

You cannot just dip your toe in the water and claim you went swimming; you are capable of so much more.

We are in charge of our own happiness. Life is not a race, it is a journey. Enjoy it, and find joy in the journey. Our years on earth are precious, so do not wait for a certain point in life to be happy. Happiness is already available. We cannot take for granted one single day; we must truly learn to live now.

We must always listen to prompting of the spirit, regardless of our fear of embarrassment.

First observe, then serve! In your morning prayer each new day, ask Heavenly Father to guide you to recognize an opportunity to serve one of his precious children. With faith, this can be accomplished. You will be able to discern specific needs of those around you. “Not my will, but thine be done"

Be doers of the word, not just livers of the word. 

Take the next step in your conversion. Conversion unto the lord requires both persistence and patience. It takes all of our heart, all of our might, all of our mind, and all of our strength. We must act, and not sit in thoughtless stupor. When doubt comes, we will not turn back.

Are there walls within us that need replacement? Windows of our soul that need fixed? If so, replace and fix them. We deserve the best, because we are children of a king and our bodies are temples.

If we properly prepare for the sacrament, it will change our lives. Have a feeling of gratitude during sacrament meeting. Come to sacrament with your questions and concerns, because you will receive answers. Memorize the sacrament prayers.  
At the end of each day ask yourself, “Have I done any good today?” The answer should always be, “Yes!”

We are to go to the rescue of the lost, the last, and the least. Our mission is to warn people, as kindly as possible, that repentance is the only way.

The Lord knows the level of your efforts and whether or not you have done your very best. When your efforts are less than best, move quickly towards improvement.

Do not let your faith falter. Treasure your faith. Protect it and defend it.

Trials of faith are designed to make you stronger. When faced in a trial, put your trust in Jesus Christ. With faith come trials of faith, bringing increased faith. Every person is eventually backed up to the wall of faith and there must take his stand. Don’t be surprised when it happens to you.

We are under the savior's command to care for each other. Teach by example. Reach out to protect the little children of the world.

CANT STOP WATCHING.

Montana from Jedediah Thunell on Vimeo.

I seriously cannot get over this video.
I've watched it at least 20 times. At least.
So beautiful and so inspiring.

TREK

I was sitting in church, only somewhat listening to the announcements, when something that was said caught my attention.

            “We have decided to do a pioneer trek! Summer of 2012!! It’s going to be so much fun!!!” Said the overly enthusiastic young women as she handed out the packet of information. I read it over and laughed. It explained how the youth ages 12-18 would dress up as pioneers and pull handcarts through the desert for a week. It was to help us learn of our Mormon ancestors, or something like that. You really think I am going to go on this? I thought in my head.  Are you kidding me?

            Fast forward to Monday, July 9^th at 5:00 in the morning. I was wearing a big cowgirl hat, a long sleeved button up tied at my waist, and the ugliest pink floral floor-length polyester skirt Goodwill had to offer. This was real. I boarded the bus with my best friend Whitney and off we went.
           Everyone was put into a “family”. Mine consisted of a “Ma and Pa” (older couples that volunteered), two “aunties,” (twenty-something girls that volunteered) and eight other “brothers and sisters.” (All youth that I had not previously known.)  Each day we got up early and walked anywhere from 3-8 miles, pulling a 500 pound handcart that carried all of our stuff, in 100+ degree weather without any shade. Around noon we would stop and set up camp. We attended classes where we learned how to do things like throw machetes, lasso cows, and how to play a few old pioneer hymns on the harmonica. Then as a family we would cook our lunch, which most days was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  After lunch we had free time. I would usually get together with friends and hang out. We’d get out our harmonicas and the few guitars that were there and have a little “pioneer jam sesh,” or just sit around spraying each other with water and complain about how hot we were. At night we would sit around the camp fire, telling stories about the pioneers that we were trekking in honor of. This was my favorite time of the day, because we would always become closer as a family.

          The last day was by far the hardest. Everyone was excited, knowing we would be to Zion (our home base and the last stop of our trip) soon. We were told that it would be our easiest day, 3 miles tops. There were even rumors going around that there was ice cream waiting for us. We were ecstatic.

            About a mile or two in, we started going down this huge hill. We took a little brake to drink some water and take a look over it. Zion was there, just down the hill! I could see it! I could practically taste it! Everyone laughed and cried and hugged one another. We were so excited to finally be there. We decided to start going again, as long as we kept going down this hill we would be there in no time. At least, that’s what we thought. Someone walked down the hill a little bit to scope things out only to find there was a HUGE drop off that we didn’t see. If we would have kept going, who knows what would have happened.  Our carts started getting stuck, and everyone was struggling. Out of nowhere, we looked up and saw this whole stampede of boys from the other group come running down the hill to help us. It was the coolest thing, having them come to our rescue like that. But it was only the beginning.

         We ended up having to go all the way around the hill, taking us about 6 hours. We lost one of our family members due to a really bad asthma attack about an hour in. An hour after that we ran out of water. People were fainting left and right and everyone was panicking. We lost every boy in our group, our strongest girl, and our ma and pa due to heat exhaustion. All that were left was me, a younger girl, and our aunties. We tried to pull but really couldn’t do much. To our amazement, some of the boys that had already made it to Zion came back and joined our group to help us the rest of the way. I felt such strong gratitude for both the young men that saved us, and our pioneers that went through this every single day for years for our church.

         As we finally arrived in Zion, all of the kids that had gotten sick, along with all of the adults, welcomed us in. They clapped and yelled and waved their little handkerchiefs. We parked our carts and ran through the sprinklers! In the green grass!! Once we were all soaking wet, we went to a table full of cookies and cupcakes and homemade root beer and every other fattening treat you could think of. It was absolutely amazing and perfect.

           As much as I didn’t want to go on this Trek at first, I ended up having a blast. It was by far the hardest, grossest, and smelliest week of my life. But it was also the most rewarding. And I’m so glad I did it.

I WENT ON A DATE TO THE FAIR ONCE.

It was fun. 

"YOUR JAYWALKING EXPERIENCE DOES NOT DETERMINE THE WORTH OF YOUR SOUL, CASIDEE."

Is what my best friend just texted me.

I thought it was pretty blog-worthy.
In other news, Sophomore year is officially OVER.

Aaaaaand Summer has started!!!
{yes, that was worthy of an obnoxious amount of exclamation points.}

Here are a bunch of crappy & blurry pictures from my phone.
This post is going to be so obnoxious, I can already tell...

This is my Summer:

work, work, work, work, bowling, work, work, movie marathon nights, work, work, work, the pool, work, work, work, work, work, skate world, work, work, work, work, work, spanish tutor, work, work, working out, work work, woooorrrrk, and a little bit of sleep.

 But I am really loving it.

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL INSTAX

I have the world's greatest friends.

{Also the world's dorkiest friends, but you know...}