BYUI Week 3: Donating Blood and Girl's Night!

This week in good ole' Rexburg was a pretty calm week.  I am getting more used to my classes and schedule and I usually don't get lost anymore!  On Monday for FHE, we invited our FHE brothers over for pizza and we just got to know each other.  We planned out some pretty great ideas for future FHE nights!

Tuesday was an interesting day.  This was the day that we had a special guest speaker for devotional. Guess who it was! JEFFREY R. HOLLAND of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles!!!!  But before I got there, everything that could possibly go wrong, went wrong.  I was so frustrated and just wanted to go back to bed, but I eventually made it there, granted I was sitting on the very top balcony so he looked like a little ant, but I made it there nonetheless.  He gave a talk on happiness.  He says if we want to be happy, do what happy people do!  It was such a great talk.



Anyways, after that my week was pretty boring up until Thursday.  I got out of class at 2, and then two of my roommates and I went down to Rigby to donate blood!  It was my second time donating so it wasn't too scary! BUT the lady missed my vein the first time so she had to poke me again and it HURT! Then after that we went to a clogging studio because I won some sunglasses in a raffle!!
 

So on to Friday which was such a fun day!! Friday evening some friends and I met up at another friends house and we had a girls night! We played board games, ate pizza and cupcakes, and just talked and had a great time!



Saturday was a lazy day, but we did get to watch the General Women's Meeting on television and it was amazing! Today (Sunday), we went to church and had testimony meeting which is always my favorite Sunday! Tonight we had ward prayer, which is basically what it sounds like.  We gathered together as a ward and had a spiritual thought and prayed that our week might go well.

Next week is looking like a very hectic week so I can't wait to update you on everything that happens!

Also, random spiritual sidenote, for my Book of Mormon class this week, we read 1 Nephi 1-5.  Each week we have to submit a study journal, where we pick 4 or 5 doctrines/principles that were taught in our reading for the week.  This was our first week of doing this assignment and I LOVED doing it! It was such a great learning tool for me and helped me to better understand what I was reading.  Here is what I wrote for the week if anyone is interested in looking at it!

Study Journal Week 1 (9/22-9/27)
·         “…and because thou art merciful, thou wilt not suffer those who come unto thee that they shall perish.” 1 Nephi 1:14
o   The Lord promises us in this verse that if we are kind, forgiving, and compassionate, we will not have to worry about people who persecute us.  I believe this can be directly applied to our day because we as “Mormons” are often ridiculed for our beliefs. We just have to remember that as long as we are forgiving those who trespass us, we don’t need to worry.
·         “…and they did murmur because they knew not the dealings of that God who had created them.” 1 Nephi 2:12
o   While this verse can seem a bit harsh, I love it.  It reminds me that if I really trust in the Lord and in his doings, I have no need to murmur.  It’s a verse that reminds me who I am and why I’m here and that I don’t need to get so caught up in the trivial problems of life. 
·         “And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto me, saying: Blessed art thou, Nephi, because of thy faith, for thou hast sought me diligently, with lowliness of heart. And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper, and shall be led to a land of promise; yea, even a land which I have prepared for you; yea, a land which is choice above all other lands.” 1 Nephi 2:19-20
o   What a comforting verse this is!  I love to replace Nephi’s name with my own, because it makes the scripture more personal to me.  I love this verse because it gives me hope.  This life isn’t always easy, and sometimes it seems downright unfair.  Personally, I believe enduring is the hardest part of the Plan of Salvation.  This scripture gives me a reason to endure.  It gives me a reason to try my best to live a Christ-centered life and to make the most of it.  The Lord has promised us more than we could ever ask for if we will simply have faith and endure to the end!
·         “And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do. Nevertheless I went forth…” 1 Nephi 4:6-7
o   I am amazed by Nephi’s incredible amount of faith.  In life it is sometimes hard to follow the council of the Lord because you can’t see how it could possibly be necessary.  We have to remember that the Lord can see the bigger picture, while we can only see a tiny sliver of it.  The Lord knows what is best for us and we have to put our trust in Him always.  So like Nephi, when the Lord asks us to do something and we can’t see the end result, we need to go forth.
·      ·         “Now behold, ye know that this is true…wherefore can ye doubt?” 1 Nephi 4:3
o   This is a scripture that could be applied to my life on a daily basis.  In the world we live in today, it is so easy to fall into the grasp of Satan and begin to doubt our faith.  Whenever I am feeling doubtful, I constantly remind myself that at one point, maybe four years ago or maybe yesterday, I knew that this is what I wanted.  I knew that whatever I’m having doubts about was what I needed in my life and was helping me live a happy life.  If it was true then, it is true now.  If I knew it at one point, how can I doubt?


XOXO, 
Anna!


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