Last week in church I gave a talk about finding peace in our lives.  I really was impressed that I have learned a lot about finding peace and it has helped be happy.  I decided to post the talk I gave:

I took a logic class my freshman year at San Jose State and loved it even though I hardly understood any of the lectures (and I hardly remember the ones I did understand).  But I do remember the most simplistic logical sentence.  If A, then B.  A is true, therefore B is true also.

Here’s that statement related to a topic I firmly believe in: If I am seeking peace in my life, then I need to put some sort of effort in gaining peace in my life.

I’m going to make a broad statement and say that we are all searching for peace in our lives.  But since we are all in different stages in our lives and looking for different things, I can only speak for myself.  So I can say yes A is true: I am seeking peace in my life, and therefore B is also true: I am required to put some sort of effort into gaining peace.  We can even see this in the scriptures:

Doctrine and Covenants 59:23 says, ‘but learn that he who doeth the works of righteousness shall receive his reward, even peace in this world…” Peace is a reward for righteousness, but in order to receive that peace, we must live righteously, meaning we have to do our part.  We can have peace in our lives, Heavenly Father wants us to have peace in our lives.

Elder Wirthlin said that, “peace is more than a lofty ideal.  It is a practical principle that, with conscious effort, can become a normal part of our lives as we deal with matters both large and small.”  We will have peace in our lives if we work at it.

Having peace in my life is something I’ve had to work at also.  A few ways I have found increased peace in my life are:

1. Have a positive attitude
2. Recognize the blessings that I receive come from God/ humility
3. Pray
4. Strengthen my relationship with the Savior

These are by no means the only ways to have peace in our lives, but they are the most pertinent to me, and the ones I have a testimony about.  You can call it my soap box.

1. Have a positive attitude.

It is easy to get caught up in the negative of a situation because it seems so apparent.  For example, I realized yesterday something interesting about myself while driving back from DC.  I like to travel with music on when I’m alone (even if it’s low) because that allows myself to think.  If I’m in the car with silence it’s too easy to for me to pay attention to everyone else’s driving and I get road rage.  It was easy for me to focus on the negative around me when I wasn’t trying to think of something nice or sing along to the music.

Also, being grateful and appreciating the situation we are in and looking for the good in life in hard times.  It’s not the ideal goal for all of us to stay in this single’s ward.  Because I’m talking about my goals and only assuming that yours are similar, my goal is to get married and move on with my life.  But I have learned to take advantage of the opportunities I have here that I can only have being single.  For example, moving to Atlanta, going on sporadic weekend trips, not being accountable to somebody else for my finances.  I’m excited to take the marriage step when it comes, but there is so much I can learn right here and right now while I’ve been given this opportunity to be single and get to know myself better.

Along those lines, it is important for me to surround myself in love.  I do things that make me happy, have pictures on my wall at home of things I have done with my family, and pictures of my family.  I don’t love my internship at the moment, but I love the girls I am with.  It is important to look for the good in the situations I am given and don’t dwell on the negative, always wishing my circumstances would change.

2. Recognize the blessings that I receive come from God/ humility

Alma 5:40 says, ‘whatsoever is good cometh from God.’

I am continually reminded how blessed I am.  Going back to keeping a positive attitude and looking for the good in a situation, I see all of the positive things in my life as blessings from God.

When I recognize the blessings in my life, I say a little prayer of thanks to my Heavenly Father for being mindful of me.  To me, this is a reinforcing principle, that when we show gratitude for the blessings we receive then we receive more blessings.

3. Pray

Pray for the strength to endure, for faith and fortitude to face what sometimes must be faced.

From Chrissy Fin: It was a powerful lesson that made me re-evaluate my prayers and how I am allowing myself to become to my Father in Heaven.  The more mighty my prayer, the stronger the connection.  However, the weaker prayers cause a distance in the connection.  It is completely up to us on how we want that relationship with our Father in Heaven to be.  That is why consistency is so vital.  I have a strong testimony about prayer and the power in mighty prayer.  As we pray we are showing faith and through that faith miracles come.

A couple of years ago I was facing a trial that seemed to overtake me in every way.  I was not myself, and I was feeling really depressed.  It seemed to go on forever to a mild degree.  I knew it wasn’t healthy and I knew that I wasn’t happy and didn’t have peace in my life.  I prayed a lot to the Lord to remove the pain and sorrow, but I wasn’t willing to do anything about it to get myself out of the situation.  Finally my really good friend said to me that I have to decide that I’m going to be happy, and I have to take initiative.  Asking the Lord for help was only part of the solution.

I have since learned that when I’m facing a trial to ask the Lord to help me bear the trial with an attitude of ‘what can I learn from this experience?’ and ‘what can I do to bear this trial with a positive attitude?’  It has changed my prayers, and has made me draw closer to the Lord when I need him the most.

4. Strengthen my relationship with the Savior

Elder Wirthlin said that, “attaining harmony within ourselves depends upon our relationship with our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, and our willingness to emulate Him by living the principles He has given us. During the Passover feast, the Savior taught His disciples: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).”

How do we strengthen our relationship with the Savior?

I strengthen my relationship with Him by reading the scriptures; keeping sacred covenants of baptism and temple covenants; repenting of sins I have committed, and giving up my favorite sins.

On those lines Elder Scott said, “pondering the grandeur of the Atonement evokes the most profound feelings of awe, immense gratitude and deep humility.  Those impressions can provide you powerful motivation to keep His commandments and consistently repent of errors for greater peace and happiness.”

As we become familiar with the atonement and learn how the atonement can be applied to our lives in every way, then we recommit ourselves to living the gospel and in return gain peace and happiness.

My and your relationship with the Savior is the most important key to having peace in our lives.  By living by the principles He teaches and emulating His characteristics, we will receive the most spectacular gifts of peace and even more than that is eternal life.

I’ll just close with this comment by Elder Holland and a scripture:

“Whoever we are and whatever our problems, his response is always the same, forever: ‘Come unto me.’  Learn of me and follow me, and in the process I will give you answers to your prayers and rest to your souls.”

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

These are powerful blessings and promises of which I have a testimony.  We know the Lord wants us to have peace in our lives, but we cannot expect him to give us peace unless we are willing to do our part.

Last week I went to go visit the Nation’s Capitol!  I think it’s especially interesting that Washington DC is not incorporated into a state or county.  A little ironic, no?  All the license plates say ‘taxation without representation’ and I thought it funny that (even though it’s meaning is much more meaninful) the people living there are being taxed and don’t really have representation without being incorporated.

I started Monday night and headed to Cooper’s home in North Carolina.  I told Cooper that I love it up there and I want to move because there is so much character!  About every 50 yards is a little shop selling good-for-nothing goods that clutter the house and the yard.  Everything from boots to yard statues can be found in those cute little shops.  I was so tempted to stop off and get a bag of North Georgia apples or some boiled peanuts but didn’t because I didn’t have a fridge to keep them in.  The mountains were especially beautiful with the fall colors, they looked a little like this, except in real life:

Cooper’s family was so kind to house me for a night in their beautiful woodsy home.  Thanks to the MacCourtneys for their kindness and hospitality!  It’s funny to realize how small the world is, and that was especially apparent when I ended up knowing a cousin of Cooper’s grandma…  Before I left his grandpa gave me an authentic Cherokee basket made of honeysuckle and dyed with black walnuts, it’s beautiful!  Next stop: Ashley’s house in DC.

First appointment on day one was the Capitol building to check in on Congress.  We sat in on the Senate to watch them vote a judge from South Dakota in and it was cool to see those people for real!  They don’t just exist on TV and they’re just as opinionated in person.  Voting was a nonevent though because it was unanimous.  Then we tried to race over the House of Representatives but they had already gone home for the day, mind you it was 3 in the afternoon.  Maybe next time I’ll catch them!  Then we took a tour of the Capitol and I think the only thing I got from that is that each state is allowed to display 2 statues of important figures.  We also got to see the old senate room where there is a great echo spot and the democrats can spy on the republicans and vice versa.  Sneaky government officials!  The guide made up some story about how John Adams pretended to be asleep on his desk but was really listening to the other side of the room.  Here we are outside of the capitol building:

When Ashley (the girl I stayed with)’s mom (Virginia) got home we drove all around.  One destination was the temple, which is just as spectacular as anyone who’s been there has said.  And the trees!  Oh the trees were so colorful!  I knew what ‘fall colors’ were growing up.  Tan, candy apple red, pumpkin orange, goldenrod yellow.  But nowhere in my imagination were all those colors on trees!  The temple grounds were wonderful, and on Thursday I got to attend a session inside and, if possible, the inside is just as beautiful.  It is also very astonishing at night when you drive around the 395 and it stands out over the trees.  I’ve heard rumors that they had to turn down the lights at night because it was causing accidents…

We wanted to hurry and get downtown to see the sunset from Virginia’s office building but the sun wouldn’t wait for us.  Virginia works downtown on the 7th floor of the GSA building and can see pretty much everything noteworthy downtown from her balcony.  Seeing all the monuments from afar only fueled my desire to be there up close.  The city looked peaceful along the Potomac (which I kept calling Plutonic) River.

Thankfully Thursday after going to the temple we had scheduled going to every monument we could fit in.  We tried to get tickets to go to the top of the Washington Monument but that proved difficult as they handed out all of the tickets in the morning before we got there.  Next time…  But got off the Metro at the Mall and headed toward the Kennedy Center.  We were told that a free show commences at 6pm every night there and that some of them are pretty entertaining.  We showed up to a mime eating paper from a shredder and proceeding to cut it.  The audience was predominately children and I quickly decided I needed a different venue.  Ashley and I left to go walk around the deck on the 4th floor where Georgetown University is across the river, and the Air and Space monument can be seen as well as other pretty high-rises.  It was the perfect time of night at dusk to see the sunset and the monuments’ lights turn on.  We walked along the Potomac River to the Lincoln monument and all it’s glory.  It sits across the Reflection Pool from the Washington Monument with the Capital peaking from behind:

Both Ashley and I decided that it would be romantic to walk around to all of the monuments on a cool summer night, and then we ran into all of the junior high school kids on the loose…  We were able to enjoy the Korean, Roosevelt, and Jefferson Monuments, however.  The history in Washington DC is so rich, and I wished I remembered more from my Jr. High classes.  I wanted Erin with me to explain what all went on back in the day.

Friday was my museum day at the Smithsonian.  I was able to see the Hope Diamond in the Natural History Museum, and I was surprised how small it was!  Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t cry to see that on my finger  But with the fame of the diamond I was expecting something a little more Pink Panther size or bigger.  Erin, Jeremy and Juila came down from Philladelphia to spend the day and we started off going to the Holocaust Museum.  They had an overwhelming plethora of artifacts, stories, and facts.  We only lasted through half of the tour before we decided we were depressed enough.  Interesting someone even said the architecture there even makes you unsettled because nothing is square and it feels suppressive.  Then we went to the Air and Space Museum where Erin, who knows me so well, was taken off guard at my interest in space.  I wanted to see more of the universe like stars and galaxies, but I got to see the spaceship that landed on the moon!  Oh to be Kevin Bacon and be a part of Apollo 13 in his cute little astronaut suit.  I could have spent a week just at the museums, but one day had to suffice.  It was so nice to spend the day with Erin and Co for the day.  I also loved dinner at a Lebanese place with her brother Joe and cake and ice cream at his house after!  Thanks for making the trek!

My favorite part of DC?  At the Metro stations they have this:

I kept asking Ashley what they did here and her response confused me the first few times.  She said that instead of taking a cab you can have someone drop you off and they give you a kiss as you get on the Metro.  I was thinking, sign me up!  Then she told me when she takes her mom there in the morning she drives up to the Kiss N Ride to drop her mom off, and it was nothing more than a drop off place.  I was a little disappointed, but it has a great name!

Before I headed back to the homeland on Saturday Ashley and her mom took me to see the Great Falls.  This is where the Potomac River takes a 76 foot drop over one mile, but we only hiked about 1/2 mile and saw the pinnacle of the falls:

I know, right?  Great picture with my hair blowing in the wind.  I’ll send it to People Magazine.  But just bask in those trees for a tiny second:

The ride home was also enjoyable as I got to see plenty of countryside in the South.  This last picture is for Cecilie, who on occasion still calls me “Wawa” like she did when she couldn’t say her L’s and R’s at 3 years old…

It was a great trip!  Kudos to you for reading it all!

This weekend I went to Savannah, Georgia!  I spent most of the day on Saturday at the beach of the Atlantic Ocean.  The biggest realization down there was that the sunsets aren’t on the beach!  Living all my beach life on the west coast it naturally follows that at the end of the day Mother Nature paints a beautiful sunset to polish off a perfect beach day marinading in the sun!  I couldn’t believe when the sky started getting dark and I couldn’t see the water but I could still see the expensive beach houses and sunset BEHIND me.  Nonetheless, my peaceful nap with the crashing wave ambiance in the background was just what the doctor called for.

Savannah was everything I’d hoped for.  I drove down with 3 other people from my ward out here on Friday night.  We spent the car ride playing a $1 get-to-know-you card game and 20-questions and drove in around midnight.  I knew after I got out of the shower in the morning that blowing my hair dry would be a nonevent and realistically useless.  This proved to be more than correct.  We spent the morning walking around River Street which is a typical village shop street along the Savannah River in thick humidity.  There was a cute little candy store that caught my attention called “River Street Sweets.”  The moment I walked in the door there was a wave of caramel and chocolate sensation that overcame me.  I was a sucker for the fresh candy and bought some rocky road (I’m my mother’s child) and some caramel pecans.  For some reason we rushed out of the pleasant riverside walk to get back to the rest of the town.  Along the road we parked was green grass and tall trees covered in Spanish Moss.

We wanted to go to the Colonial Park Cemetery and it was about 10 blocks away.  No problem, right?  Except that the humidity was more than sticky and walking around stimulates increased perspiration on the skin.  My normally straightish hair was turning very curly through my up-do.  It was such a pretty day though with the sun shining through the gorgeous trees.  Savannah is rich with US history and on the way to the cemetery were cannons, historical markers and tributes to heroes.  We passed by the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist which was so elaborate in artwork and architecture.

Also unknown to many is that Savannah, GA is the birthplace of Juliet Gordon Low, founder of Girl Scouts of America.  Being the Girl Scout I used to be I had to take a picture with her sign.

By this point in the day we were exhausted and sweaty so we decided to go to the beach.  The day that was humid, sunny and beautiful turned into a pouring, flooding mess and we hydroplaned our way to the coast.  Thankfully the storm was on it’s way to sea and by the time we got to the beach it was only sprinkling and warm enough to put our feet in the water.  The clouds parted and gave way to a few good picturesque scenes:

And for fun:

I loved Savannah and plan on going back!

fact: Georgia has 158 counties and California has 58.  Georgia’s population is 9.6 million, California’s population is 33.8 million.  A little excessive Georgia?  I think so.  A native Georgian told me that Georgia has a law that they can only have so many counties in the state.  This has caused problems in Fulton county because the north side is very affluent and the city of Atlanta (the south part) seems to use all the funds for their own personal use without contributing to the honey pot.  Wow.  I go through 3 different counties to get to church, and it’s only 15 miles away!  Apparently in junior high here everybody has to learn all the counties names and where they are.  I’d never make it!

Here’s a little visual of what I’ve been having a hard time wrapping my head around:

and a map of California:

Keep in mind the size of these states.  Do you see what I mean?!

Recently was the General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints where we had an opportunity to listen to words from the living prophet and apostles of our time. Elder Holland is an apostle of God, and I was impressed with the words he spoke about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.

Here is a link to his talk: http://broadcast.lds.org/genconf/2009/10/50/GC_2009_10_503_HollandJR___eng_.mp3

And here are a few of my favorite quotes:

“The power of Christ to counter all troubles in all times, including the end of times. That is the safe harbor God wants for us in personal or public days of despiar.”

“No wicked man could write such a book as this and no good man would write it unless it were the true and he were commanded to do so.”

“My testimony of this record and the peace it brings to the human heart is as binding and unequivocal as was theirs [the ancient prophets]. Like them I give my name unto the world to witness unto the world that that which I have seen and like them, I lie not, God bearing witness of it. I ask that my testimony of the Book of Mormon and all that it implies be given today under my oath and my office be recorded by men on earth and angels in heaven. I want it absolutely clear when I stand before the judgement bar of God that I declared to the world in the most straightforward language I can summon that the Book of Mormon is true. That it came forth the way Joseph said it came forth and was given to bring happiness and hope to the faithful in the travail of the last days.”

His words are so profound and inviting to read the Book of Mormon and feel the Spirit that the book evokes. I have found comfort in the teachings of the Book of Mormon, and know that I have been blessed by learning from the prophets of old. Joseph Smith was an inspired man and translated this book to help us come unto Christ. The purpose of the Book of Mormon is for us to learn of the true happiness in returning to God by becoming like Christ.

I HATE cockroaches.  And I wish the “La Cucaracha” song included a dance to get rid of cockroaches.  The Orkin man came by yesterday to spray the house he was told we don’t have problems with bugs inside.  This was true.  Until this morning when my blood pressure skyrocketed because I found 3 roaming around like they owned the place!  To date we counted 8 sightings of cockroaches in our house.  We think that the Orkin man just agitated the nests around the house so the smart ones (oxymoron?) are coming in the house for revenge.  I’ve never been one to scream and be scared of bugs.  Then I learned that some cockroaches can fly!  And that they are dirty little critters and carry all kinds of germs.  (I will admit to being a germ-o-phobe in every way)  So I made my pregnant friend dispose of the bugs after I smashed them.  I made her gag because I kept freaking out and gagging that I was sharing living space with them.  Without further adieu (and much anxiety and disgust) I show you the creature that crawled out of the drain this morning:

I think the hate for cockroaches originates from a little trip I was a part of to Tijuana, Mexico a few short years ago.  We stayed in a little one room house with a few mattresses.  Every time we moved a mattress we unsurfaced about 10 of these bugs (the ones who cannot be named).  I had the worst nightmare that night that these bugs were crawling out of every crack and small opening in the room until the room was bursting at the seams when I finally woke up in a sweat.  True story that one of the girls woke up with a few on her body.  I’ve been in loathe ever since.  It would also be an understatement to say that I’ve been paranoid all day, and will be until Monday when the Orkin man comes again!

This morning I woke up VERY early (for not being a senior citizen) and drove out to Birmingham, Alabama!  It was really dark for the first hour of driving, but by the time I got into Alabama I saw the misty sunrise (in my rear view of course because I was going west).  It was an odd sensation because it was in the morning so it looked cold but I had my air conditioning on because that’s the only way to cut the humidity.  Having the AC on AND thinking it looked cold outside tricked me to putting on my heater to get ‘warm’ but that only lasted a hot second!  So moral of the story is don’t let that misty sunrise fool you, it’s there because you can drink the humidity out of the air and to make your hair go frizzy.

I headed down there because I made an appointment at the temple to go to the 8am session.  It took me until the delirious hours of this morning when my alarm went off before it needed to to figure out that since they are an hour behind I can sleep in an hour later!  Maybe I was just rationalizing sleeping in longer, which is second nature to a college student.  But, you’ll be glad to hear I made it on time.  The temple was packed!  There were a lot of people from the Atlanta area because this temple is closed until 2011 sometime.  One girl was telling all the other ladies that she and her friends had to wake up SO early and drive ALL the way out here, and that she’s living up in the Kennesaw area (close to where I live) because she’s such a poor college student.  It amused me to hear the ladies say they felt so bad for her when most of them drove just as far.

When I was sitting quietly in the temple I heard this loud obnoxious sound from outside, and then I realized that it was THUNDER!  Seriously, I don’t think you’ve heard thunder unless you’ve been down here in the south, it’s earth-shaking!  I drove in to Birmingham to partly sunny skies and there were no more blue skies when I left.  Such is the life down here, how else would all these rivers get muddy so that country singers would have lyrics?

I asked a friend what I should do if I were just going to Birmingham for a few hours and he told me to go see the Vulcan.  I wasn’t sure what I’d be in for, but I’m pretty sure that the toosh of an iron man wasn’t really anywhere on the expectations list.  Here’s a picture so you can see what I mean:

It’s a really interesting statue though.  He was made to show off the resources that Birmingham has.  JH Adams (same as John Adams?) made a few statements about how the wealth of these natural metal resources will be the source of power in years to come.  Vulcan Park is up on a hill overlooking the city, so there was a spectacular view.  I wish I brought my camera with me to show yall.

Next trip is to South Carolina… stay tuned!

Bad weather shuts down all metro Atlanta public schools

We’ve had some really bad rain for the last 5 days.  So bad that there have been a lot of accidents on the freeways and some freeways have closed due to flooding.  Yesterday some schools tried to cancel after the kids were already at school and that didn’t make working parents very happy.  Today I got a call from my program director that school is cancelled!  I’m surprised Utah doesn’t get the same clue when it snows 1 foot in a day…  But, there has been a lot of flooding, up to 12 feet in some places.  I have been fortunate to not have any of these side affects in my neighborhood, and I am safe and dry.  It’s crazy to live here during this natural disaster.  I can only imagine what this flood will do for the mold here since it’s already a perfect humid environment for it to grow in.

A few nights ago we had a thunder and lightening storm.  The thunder was so loud that it actually shook the house a few times!  And the lightening was amazing.  I didn’t see the bolt of lightening, but the whole sky lit up in different colors.  It was pretty spectacular!

Actually, the title is something that Melissa and Jake always say, and it’s really funny with a good moral.

The first week of the internship I got a parking ticket.  I was definitely the only one in the program to get one, and all the other girls acted like ‘yeah, so glad I’m not you because I was totally parked illegally too.’  The officer who wrote up the ticket couldn’t even spell, and as far as I’m concerned that voids the ticket then and there.  But, there’s no way I was going to pay for that one because on the internship schedule we weren’t supposed to get one until Wednesday, how was I to know where to go?  I didn’t, and ignorance is bliss.  I went into the Police Department (or rent-a-cop place) and asked if I could do anything about it.  The front desk guy gave me an appeal form, and I wrote a compelling case as you can see for yourself:

Moral of the story: Life University parking enforcement is logical.  BYU parking enforcement is ruthless.  It just might work out here.

#1 thing I’ve been told by just about EVERYBODY down here:  I need a GPS system!  I have a very keen sense of direction, definitely put to the test in  the Atlanta area.  I knew I was really in trouble when I drove in the car of a local who would only drive if we had an address she could put in her very nice female-talking Navigation system.  Case in point:

I would like to point a few things out about this photo.  Not only are there 4 different names for the SAME street, but two even use the same name!!  One is named a PLACE and one is named a DRIVE.  How is a girl to find her way?