A Slice of Zion

     Three years ago today, I was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I was taught by a beautiful missionary (Sister Stratton ) and her two companions, Sister Willes and Sister Morris (now Sister Holyoak) . Sister Stratton somehow (God probably knew I wouldn't want anyone else) managed to stay in Niceville to teach me all of my baptism lessons, attend my baptism, teach all of my parents' baptism lessons, and see their baptism as well. I'm pretty sure we got almost through the second round of lessons before she was transferred to Fort Walton Beach, a 20 minute drive from Niceville.      In honor of my three year anniversary of baptism, I wanted to share three things I've learned these past few years about Christ, Heavenly Father, and living the gospel: 1. CHRIST AND HEAVENLY FATHER ARE ALWAYS LISTENING: Even when you don't feel like They're listening, when you feel like They don't care...They DO. Hea...

Merry Christmas, everyone! Like always, this post seems closer to the New Year instead of Christmas. I honestly have no excuse this time. Uni is on break and I have become a regular ole lounge lizard. Believe it or not, but I've been clocking a healthy 9 hours of sleep almost every night. My body is thinking, "Oh, yay! She's stopped doing those late nights! We can rest!"  Don't tell my body, but it's in for a cruel awakening in about a week. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas season. I know I did. The week leading up to Christmas was a whirlwind of fun and activity including a trip to Louisiana and to the Birmingham, AL Temple. The day after finals ended, I was waking up early to go to the temple. It was a beautiful day and I was able to be baptised for my Mimi (mother's mother). Also, it was my boyfriend's first temple trip! How awesome is that? Chrismas was on a Sunday this year so my ward held a beautiful sacrament meeting filled with ...

As senior year is winding to a close, I have begun to reflect on the past year. Since my last post, a lot has happened that has put my faith to test. Lyndon, the person who baptised me and I was dating, broke up with me and cut me out of his life. The personal details of such will not be discussed. All I will say is I miss my best friend dearly, but I guess the Lord is putting us on separate paths for now. Who knows...maybe I'll bump into him at Walmart in like 5 years and I can be all like, "Hey, still hate me? *finger guns*" and he can be all like "Yup, go away, weirdo-meanie". All in all it will be a fantastic and so very loving reunion that it will bring even the Queen of England to tears. A  wonderful quote by D. Todd Christofferson I look a lot now is "Challenges are are at times an indicator of the Lord's trust in you." I truly believe that the Lord is helping me get through this year and the person I have to thank for knowing that is...

  Tonight, we had the missionaries over for dinner. Like any typical visit with them, it ended with laughter and smiles. But, before, we had a wonderful, wonderful spiritual conversation.   After a delicious dinner of omelets, the sisters played for us " Only a Stonecutter ". If you haven't watched this video released by the Church, then totally do. It's so touching. Anyway, the whole video was about magnifying our callings in the church and a reminder about the things the pioneers did for us so many years ago.   The man, John Rowe Moyle, in the video was a pioneer and convert from England. He walked all the way from Boston to the Salt Lake Valley with his family. After he arrived, he was called as a stonemason for the Salt Lake Temple. For over 20 years, he dedicated his life to building the temple even though that meant walking 22 miles to Salt Lake on Mondays and 22 miles back home on Friday evenings. That left only a day for chores at his family farm.   We...