Reuniting with Friends

This week was mostly work and hanging out with my family up until Saturday when I was able to go to brunch with one of my long time friends from high school Madi. It was a lot of fun to catch up and check out a cute new brunch place called Plated Dreams that my mom told me about. Madi and I played on the golf team together and hadn't seen each other since before I left for Pittsburgh. She is a strong confident and resilient girl and I look up to her so much. Also the french toast at Plated Dreams was super yummy and the décor is absolutely adorable. Will definitely be returning again! 

Another fun highlight of the week was driving down to the Saratoga Springs temple open house with my mom. It was kind of a trek down there but experiencing the peace and beauty of another new temple was worth it. I feel so blessed to be back in Utah were there are seriously temples in every direction. My mom and I talked about the Layton temple that is under construction and how we hope we can be involved in service opportunities when it is completed and the open house begins. 

You can't take pictures in the temple which is good but one of the things that impressed me the most was the artwork. There are some beautiful depictions of Christ and His ministry that I have never seen before and many pricked my heart. Tears filled my eyes as we entered one waiting area outside the sealing rooms and a volunteer usher sat in a wheelchair guiding everyone to the next room. Directly behind him was a painting of Christ healing someone. It was a poignant reminder of who Christ is and what He does. We all have challenges, I feel like there have been so many challenges in the lives of so many people I love that have come to light since we've been home but that moment in the temple reminded me that though I can't comprehend or fix it I know who can: Christ. He'll make everything right, maybe not in this life but one day all will be made right, healed, fixed, reinstated. He overcame all and will help us to do the same.

Sunday I taught my first lesson in Young Women's. Before I knew we would be here for a year I was given a few dates to teach and selected the closest one not knowing if we would be moved out into a new apartment by the end of the summer. I also was excited to see the lesson was titled What Does Jesus Christ's Atonement Mean to Me because I figured if I could teach anything in a few months that would be the most important thing I could teach. 

I structured the lesson by first discussing what the word atonement means. We talked about why we need the atonement to overcome spiritual and physical death and then the enabling powers of the atonement. I found several scriptures that I "edited" and passed out to the girls that they would read out loud and put their name in the blank space. Then they would bring the paper up and put it underneath which section they thought it applied to. 

Here are some examples of scriptures. I've found this exercise to be incredibly helpful in making the scriptures come alive and feel personal to you:

Finally we discussed ways that we can make Christ's atonement part of your daily life. The girls came up with these ideas:

• Picture of Christ - reach out and touch it as you walk past
• Christian music on shuffle
• Remember Christ knows how you feel in every situation
• Be still
• Remember Him through music
• Make time for Him
• Read scriptures daily
•  Pray daily 
• Repent daily 

I handed them out this cute picture I found from a cute Etsy shop called saltlightandcolor and had them write their daily goal on the back and put it somewhere where they would see it and remember their Savior.

 

After church we had dinner with the Richins and celebrated Dempsey's birthday. Later that night we hopped on a FaceTime call with the CMU Crew which was so fun to catch up and see everyone. It's still strange that we don't see them all the time or have dinner with them every week. We are so grateful for technology that keeps us connected. And we are even more grateful for God's hand guiding us into the lives of amazing people.  

Peaches

• Seeing my friend Madi
• Took my mom to the car dealership to get a protective coating on its exterior and interior. There was a cute little vintage themed waiting area with lots of cool neon signs hanging around 

Spending time with family

• Going to the Saratoga Springs temple open house
• My mom's friend who has cancer was the Young Women's president when I was first in young women's I reached out to a bunch of girls who were in at the same time and we put together a gift basket to send to Nicole. One of the girls wanted to put together a book of messages from us to send to her. Nicole is a HUGE Twilight fan so I found this quote that I thought was fitting along with this scripture that I loved and said something like "I hope on your darkest nights and toughest moments you will feel an increase of strength and prayers of many who love and are thinking of you but most importantly you will feel the love and understanding of our Savior who counts the stars and knows all you're dealing with perfectly. YOU are a star!" I think it is a good message for all who are in the midst of trials and need a reminder that someone is aware of them, because He is. He knows and loves YOU 

• Teaching Young Women's 
• Parks took my phone and filmed the cousins throwing a ball on the roof and trying to catch it when it rolled down. This is the moment he dropped my phone and goes "oh no oh no oh no... oh good it's ok..." He wants to be a YouTuber one day but he's going to need to learn how to stabilize his filming

• FaceTiming CMU Crew

Pits

• Jaden tore a hole through his elbow of one of his work shirts. Him and several of his friends and siblings have complained and made fun of his wardrobe. It's time for an overhaul. He said once he starts working then he will buy new clothes. I've decided to be his personal shopper and take matters into my own hands, with a budget of course. 

• Before I left on my mission my cousin and I bought tickets to go see Charlie Puth in concert in SLC. Unfortunately he had to cancel our tour date and then I left for TN for 18 months. When I saw he was coming back to SLC this summer I texted Jordan and was like let's gooo!!! But when we went to go get tickets USANA wasn't selling any general admission tickets (have never heard of that before) and the actual seats were almost all sold out or over $150. We were so sad. Maybe one day we'll see Charlie