Memphis Day 2

Yes, after three months I am finally finishing my Memphis posts.
If you missed Day One's actvities, here is the post.
Friday, October 10:
We woke up Friday morning and went to the Memphis Zoo with Josh, Alicia and the kids. It was a ton of fun watching the kids get excited and tell us everything they knew about all of the animals. Boy are they smart! We got there just in time to watch the sea lion show. Here are some videos from that.  

 

Here are some other pictures of the other zoo animals. As well as the camel that we got to ride on! The zoo is one of my absolute favorite things to do. I love animals.

Zoo Entrance

Hippos, underwater was all we saw of them

After the zoo, we went to one of the best places in the Memphis area to get snowcones! They were delicious, to say the lease, and one of the best I've ever had.

After that we headed back to Josh and Alicia's house to get ready for Emmett's baptism. Their church building is right next to the temple, so they were able to get pictures in front of the temple. It was a great baptism. Isaac and Emmett's grandma Krupp gave talks, there was a cute musical number by Emmett and Melynn, as well as many other great things. The spirit was very strong and it was a very memorable moment for me.

After the baptism, we went back to Josh and Alicia's for cake and ice cream. The ice cream was delicious, a kind that they apparently only sell in the south. YUM!

It was so fun to be able to spend Emmett's birthday with him, and to be there to witness his baptism. He truly is a great young man.

Inspired

Isaac isn't supposed to email me, so he never does. He has a couple times before, for important things, like about finding him an apartment for next semester. So when I got an email this morning, I was pretty shocked. I hadn't expected it, and never have. I had a particularly rough weekend, and missed him more than I have in a really long time. Last week, school was really hard, and I struggled a lot. I expected my weekend to be good and stress relieving, but for some reason it just wasn't. There were some great parts to it, but it just didn't make up for the stress and letdowns I had had throughout the week. I woke up this morning not knowing how I was going to get through the next few weeks. But decided to just put a smile on and trudge through it.

So to get an email during a break between classes, was an inspired thing.

Somehow, Isaac always knows when something is up. Even from a different country. But hearing from him is like an instant stress-relief.

 "Hello :) I just wanted to write a quick email letting you know that I was thinking about you. How is school going? .......... I hope that everything is going well. I am sure that you are doing well :) ..............  Thank you for everything. You are amazing :) I love you!!"

 Love this song by Hunter Hayes, but also loving it by these two! 

"You know I'd fall apart without you. I don't know how you do what you do. Everything that don't make sense about me. Makes sense when I'm with you."

Lucky

I am such a lucky girl. I've got so many people who love me and who help me out constantly. I don't know what I would do or where I would be without any of them. Also, I love my job at domino's. For the most part. It is
I started this post on Sunday July 1st. And then fell asleep with my laptop open, so there were about a trillion f's across the screen. I think I wanted to finish that sentence with fantastic? Who knows.

All I know is, on Sunday I didn't really know how incredibly lucky/blessed I really am. I could only fathom a very small portion. I have so much to be grateful for, and instead of telling you all about my past week, I am just going to make a list of things that I am SO INCREDIBLY GRATEFUL FOR:

1. My life. I am so blessed to be here today. It is amazing

 how one experience can change your outlook on

 even the simple things like having more time here.

2. My family. I am so grateful that families can be forever,

 and that my family will be together forever. With that, I am 

grateful for the temple and my ability to go there often.

3. Isaac DeMar Wood. I can't even explain this one. 

The impact he has had on my life is not even explainable. Even though

 I haven't seen him in 18 months, the impact he has on me continues to 

grow. I am a better person because this man loves me.

4. Miracles.

5. The Gospel of Jesus Christ. I have no idea

 where I would be without it. It means the world to me.

6. My jobs. In this economy, there are so many that don't

 even have one job, and I am lucky enough to have two. To help me

 pay for college, and also all of the things along the way that come up.

7. My loving Father in Heaven. Who knows me, loves me

 unconditionally, and is always watching out for me.

8. My parents. My dad is the most incredible man ever.

 He would do absolutely anything for me, and he loves 

me so much. My mom is amazing, and does 

a lot for me. I love them both so much.

9. America. Not only am I grateful for it, but I am grateful to live here. 

There are so many freedoms that I have that I have taken for granted in the

 past, that so many men and women have fought to protect. I am also

 grateful for the founding fathers, and that they were led and 

guided to write an amazing document such as the Constitution.

10. The power of prayer. Not only am I grateful that I can pray 

to my Heavenly Father, I am also grateful that He answers 

our prayers with so much power behind them.

 

Sunday

Sorry about the length, I promise it is worth it. But, at least read the very last paragraph! :)

Wow. Do you ever have those Sundays where you go to church and get so much out of everything? Where it seems as if everything is relevant to what you are either struggling with, or what you need to be working on? Or where you just feel like you learn so much? Today was one of those Sundays for me. I haven't had one of these in a long time, and I am so grateful for the reminders I have been given. I recently moved back home and today was my first official day in the YSA branch here. I already love it. There is nothing like being in a YSA ward/branch. I can always feel the spirit much more strongly there because of the quietness and relate ability of the people around my age.

To start off, when I got in my car, I changed the radio station to the sounds of Sunday station. It always brings the spirit to my day. I was lucky enough to hear this tune on my way to church, which just so happens to be one of my favorites (I also heard it on the way home): 

I was a little late to sacrament meeting, but only a few minutes. I was able to sit near the front, which is my favorite place to sit because it makes it easier for me to focus on the speakers. There were 3 speakers in sacrament meeting. They each spoke on 1 faith, 2 repentance, and 3 then Baptism and the Holy Ghost.
I am only going to share a couple of my favorite things from each talk.

In the talk on faith: Having faith is simply making a choice to have faith. All you have to do is make a conscious effort. In the talk on repentance: Christ will not condemn you for your sins, as long as you take the time to repent and become better. In the talk on baptism and the holy ghost: The past is to be learned from, not lived in.

After sacrament I was asked to give a talk, my first one in over a year. I am actually kind of excited. But only kinda. The funniest thing about it though, was that my assigned topic is something that I have had a lot of experience with in the past year. It was a reminder that no matter where you go, the church is always true, and the Bishopric/Branch presidency truly are guided men of the Lord. More to come on that talk later.

Sunday School was also incredible. It was on Mosiah 25-27. There were so many different things talked about, and I just loved so many things. But my favorite thing came from 25:10; When they thought of the immediate goodness of God.... God loves each and every one of us. He awaits the day that we want to come back into the fold or repent of something that has been keeping us from him. As soon as you decide to stop sinning, and come back to God, he is right there to immediately receive you and take you back. I know that this is true, even with small sins or something as simple as not regularly reading the scriptures. He is always willing to take us back.

Relief Society was downright incredible. The lesson was on two different conference talks from April 2012. The Laborers in the vineyard by Elder Holland and The Merciful Obtain Mercy by President Uchtdorf.
President Uchtdorf says in his talk:
"My dear brothers and sisters, consider the following questions as a self-test:
Do you harbor a grudge against someone else?
Do you gossip, even when what you say may be true?
Do you exclude, push away, or punish others because of something they have done?
Do you secretly envy another?
Do you wish to cause harm to someone?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may want to apply the two-word sermon from earlier: stop it!"
Towards the end of the lesson, she had us each think of one person who we need to forgive for something they have done to us or for someone who just drives us crazy. I thought of someone who I used to be really close with, but over the years we have become the opposite of close. There were a few exchanges between us that were a little less than friendly (okay a lot less), and I have despised her for about a year. I don't usually hate people, and I don't hold grudges for more than a few days, but with her it has been different.
The teacher then went on to say that she was going to give us one minute of silence to vent in our minds about this person that we had chosen. After that minute we had to let all of that go, and forgive them. We had to move on and forget it. We had to merely STOP IT! She said, "You don't get to be the one to decide if those individuals deserve to be forgiven. You must forgive them. The Lord will decide if they truly deserve that." You and I have no right to decide who deserves to be forgiven of what. Everyone is fighting their own battle. We each need to "strive a little harder, to be a little better."