The Season of Gratitude

One of my favorite General Conference Talks this session was President Monson's talk on gratitude. I have reread it many times since I was there live and it just impresses me every time. And since it is a season of gratitude, I always like to write things that I am grateful for. These are my top things:
-The Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life
-Supportive Parents who love me and want to help me succeed
-A wonderful place to gain an education
-My friends and roommates
-Jesus Christ and the atonement

"We can lift ourselves and others as well when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues.... The grateful man sees so much in the world to be thankful for, and with him the good outweighs the evil. Love overpowers jealousy, and light drives darkness out of his life." President Thomas S. Monson

I am more excited this thanksgiving to go home and see my family than I have ever been before! Plus Provo is FREEZING! :) (but gorgeous)

Forever Stained

Everyday there is always something that makes me laugh hysterically.
So yesterday, I was able to go to the BYU vs. USU basketball, it was a great game and a awesome game to be a cougar. :)
However, I met some friends at the library afterward, because we are just stalwart students like that. I was concentrating pretty hard on my Statistics homework. Then out of the blue I hear Kennedy say, "Its a bird". And then I hear the flapping. Stacie yells, "No that's a BAT". At this point the 4th floor of the library turned into chaos. I was in awe and didn't move, meanwhile Stacie and Kennedy are clinging to each other and hiding behind bookshelves. As the bat swooped around the ceiling it got lower and lower and then all of a sudden it was over our table. At this point, I freaked out and jumped into the bookshelves with Kennedy and Stacie. The bat migrated to the other side of the 4th floor and we knew because we could hear the chaos forming as well. Mind you the 4th floor the library is the Quiet Zone. It suddenly turned into the NOT so quiet zone. I heard two boys yell, "Its like the office." They darted off with a coat and a garbage can. At the entry of the 4th floor the bat was trapped, by this time it had quite a crowd, paparazzi included. It was quite the scene. They threw a jacket at it and the bat hit the wall and fell to the ground, it got out from underneath the jacket. The boys threw another jacket at it and it was trapped. They quickly grabbed the garbage can and scooped it up, put a garbage bag over it and made a little air hole, so the little buddy could breathe. Everyone gathered and took pictures of the little creepy thing. I don't know where they put the bat, but about 20 minutes later the police came up. They said they had heard there was a bat on the 4th floor, we were like way to go security, way to be on top of it. After the commotion settled, it went back to the normal grind at the library. That spot on the 4th floor of the library right by the media lab will forever be stained in my memory.

Lessons We Learn

Today we had a WONDERFUL ward conference, the bishop spoke, as well as the Stake President. They both are wonderful men and have such a sweet spirit radiating about them.
One of the things that struck me that my Bishop spoke on was about choices.
He said, "You can only do the big things right if you are doing the little things right." I loved this, he went on to list the little things that guide us along a safe secure path to making big decisions, these include:
-Meaningful Prayer
-Scripture Study and Pondering
-Temple Worship
-Partaking of the Sacrament and renewing our covenants
-Serving others
-Caring for the poor and needy
-Magnifying our callings

All these in a sense are "little" things bring us to our Heavenly Father. They help us gain a strong hold to the iron rod. I have a strong testimony that as we do these things we will gain a knowledge of who we are and who we are to become. I love my Heavenly Father and I am extremely grateful for the blessings that he pours out to me.

Bleeding True Blue

Soooo obviously I am back from Israel, much to my dismay. I still reflect on those days quite frequently. But I love having my J-ru Crew up here in Provo its a blast.
I do not know if I have fully adjusted to being a full blown cougar, but I am sure having blast!
Hope we can win tomorrow! :)

Gamla

This at the top of Gamla. Gamla is in the Golan Heights, its a mountain that resembles a camel. It was a good hike, in Matt. 5:14-16, "a light on a hill" this mountain has the perfect image. You can see the Sea of Galilee from here. Christ would have taught at the synagogue on the top of this mountain.

This is Lebonon!

We went to a mine field, and I didnt realize it was real until one of my friends threw a rock into the area and everyone freaked out. So that sign its real and they dont want to clear the mines yet because Israel is afraid of Syria coming and attacking back so therefore there are still landmines. A little scary.

Eating Fishy and Freezing Water

This is a restaurent that we went to that served fish from the Sea of Galilee. The fish that they served would have been the fish that Christ ate and performed miracles with. I actually pizza, but I did try the fish and it wasnt to bad at all. People ate the eyes and the brain and that took it a little to far.

We hiked down to this beautiful water fall in the Golan Heights.

This is Me and Kim getting into the absolutely freezing cold water. I couldnt believe we actually got in it, I had never been so cold in my life and I stayed cold for the whole day. Kim didnt think it was that bad.

But we swam all the way to the back and got into the rock. We were so proud of ourselves. Until we realized we had to swim all the way back. I could feel my blood slow down and my lungs were not expanding like they should.

The Beginning of the Galilee Trip

The beautful sunset in Galilee. These pictures dont give it justice but the Sea of Galilee was so gorgeous.

Brother Manscill's class, we took a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. It was so fun, got to sing Master the Tempest is Raging and study Jesus the Christ. It was so amazing to read about the teachings and parables that took place there.

Thats where I stayed for the 11 days I was in Galilee. We stayed in a kibbutz called En Gev on the Sea of Galilee, the mountians that behind are the Golan Heights.