Youth Conference... absolutely amazing. 10 of us youth all went with a couple of our leaders. We left Thursday afternoon and headed up Little Cottonwood Canyon to stay in a cabin for the weekend. If you were to ask me my favorite part, I would hesitate for a minute because all of it was so great. But I will always remember the devotionals and testimony meeting that we had... Thursday night we all gathered on the deck in a circle of camp chairs for our first devotional to introduce the theme and start the weekend off right! Mama and Papa Bolli- As we liked to call them who planned the whole thing (The Bolli's) taught. Papa Bolli introduced the theme: If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear. One of the scriptures that we talked about that really stood out to me was in Doctrine and Covenants 121: 45. It says, "Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven. We talked about how VIRTUE and CONFIDENCE go hand in hand. I wrote in the margins of my scriptures: If you are clean, you will have the confidence and courage to get through trials. When you have confidence and faith, fear and doubt will start to diminish. It won't always be easy, but it is possible. I also wrote: The closer you are to your Father in Heaven, the more strength you will have to resist temptations and to bear trials. It is so so true. I have seen this principle come true in my own life. The lowest points and hardest times in our lives are when we tend to grow closer to our Savior and Heavenly Father. We need to rely on them. Their hands are outstretched to us, just waiting for us to take them. They love us no matter what. That love is always there. Papa Bolli then mentioned that it is not only the worst of times, but it is also the best of times. There are a lot of crazy and horrific things in the world, but there are also great and wonderful things. With God's help especially, we can make it and we can get through it. A quote came to mind by Rosemary M. Wixom, "As individuals we are STRONG. Together, with God, we are UNSTOPPABLE." How amazing is that?! The spirit was super strong, especially in the mountains away from everything and the world. Another fav part of mine was the relaxing time. Which means yes, the hot tub. Fun times. Then Friday morning came... HIKE DAY! Hikes are the best, so of course this was one of the highlights of the weekend. We originally planned on just hiking to Lake Mary (up by Brighton Ski Resort) but we couldn't resist hiking further once we saw the stunning view. Once we reached Lake Mary, we all gathered as a group and had another little devotional. It was sunny, there was a nice breeze, and the spirit was there. What more could you ask for? Mama and Papa Bolli talked about how our physical health can effect our spiritual, mental, and emotional health as well. Getting outside, being active, and even just going for a little walk around the block can boost our mood and attitude. Me and one of the YW, got up and read out of The For Strength of Youth pamphlet to the section titled: Physical and Emotional Health. We then shared our thoughts and testimony on it... Anxiety and depression are one of my weaknesses. I have noticed that as I try to get out and enjoy all that Heavenly Father has created, my mood instantly boosts. Negative thoughts are replaced by positive and uplifting things, I start to appreciate things and feel my Heavenly Father's love so strongly. Before I end with a few more pics (Yes, there's a lot. I'm sorry ;) ) I just wanted to share my testimony on Youth Conf and the theme... I am SO grateful I was able to go. It was fantastic. And thank you to everyone who planned and made it so great! I know without a doubt that if we let faith into our lives -even just a small particle- God will grow it and fear will diminish. Good always triumphs over evil. Light penetrates darkness. If we prepare ourselves with faith and trust, we will be blessed. Thank you lovely readers for reading. Hope you enjoyed. As always, have a happy Sunday! Ness
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Oh goodness, I don't even know where to begin. There just aren't words to adequately describe how amazing, fantastic, and wonderful this year's Young Women's/Girls Camp was. (K, maybe there's at least 3 words) Bear with me as this post might just be the longest one yet. I have so many thoughts that I want to write down and TRY to organize ;) READ TIL THE VERY END! I'm wanting to write about the significant parts of each day and then wrap it up with my testimony and what I learned and everything at the end. (Although, every little part of every day was significant!) Monday- The bus ride up to Heber Valley was just so great. We talked about a little bit of everything from the best movies and chick flicks to screaming disney songs at the top of our lungs. Once we and everyone got there, we unloaded all of our stuff into our cabins and rushed in to find ourselves the perfect bunk. Now this is where the laughing-so-hard-we-cried part of the week starts in... I go to open my sleeping bag and all I see is brown fabric. I'm thinking "What the heck, my sleeping bag is blue..." I ripped open the black garbage bag that it was in and it turns out to be a FLIPPIN' DOG BED. A. DOG. BED. (Hold up for a sec, I don't even have a dog currently... It was one of the boxer's bed that we had just stored away in my garage.) Let's just say I never lived that down that whole week and probably for the rest of my life. MORAL OF THE STORY: Check your dang sleeping bag and make sure it's actually a sleeping bag! ;) One of my very favorite parts of camp was the devotionals each night at the amphitheater and the speakers that came. Monday night's speaker was Sister Callie Reeve (I think that's how her name is spelled) She spoke a lot about staying true to who you are, especially in the gospel where we need to be examples to others especially as women in the church. We can be an influence for good. At the end of her talk she sang "Come unto Christ, Come unto him" The spirit was so strong, and of course I cried. I wish there was a video of her singing it on YouTube or something but sadly there isn't... Tuesday- LAKE DAY! Woo! This is always one of my favorite parts about camp. We could choose between a canoe or paddle boat. We chose the paddle boat to switch it up a bit. I got to sit in the middle and tan most of the time while my fellow paddle boaters AKA friends who I love dearly got to go hard at work toning their legs ;) alright alright, we switched places halfway through so that I could feel the pain too haha! After everyone is out on Legacy Lake we all stop what we're doing and have 2 minutes of silence to just look around at the scenery around us. The trees, glistening water, the bright blue sky full of fluffy clouds, etc. I couldn't help but think during this time of how incredibly blessed we are to have this beautiful world that our loving Heavenly Father has created. It's breathtaking. After the 2 minutes of silence, we all sang "I feel my Savior's love" together. It was great. That night, we had another devotional by Carmen Rasmusen Herbert. When she was 17 she auditioned for Season 2 of American Idol. She got cut from the top 200 but was later chosen to be on the "Wild card" show. She made it all the way to the final 6 before being eliminated. She spoke about putting faith and family above fame and fortune. Putting God first will allow everything else to fall into place in your life. Always! At the end she sang one of my very favorite hymns "Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing". It was so so beautiful. That night around 9:30-ish all the wards went back up to the amphitheater for "Singing in the trees", which is where each ward goes into their own spot in the trees and sings the song that they've been practicing for months. It's completely dark except the stars and moon shining on us and their flashlights of course. Once each ward finishes, they turn their flashlights off and the next ward begins to sing. We were second to last. We sang "Glorious" By David Archuleta. After that, together as a Stake we sang "Stay" by Jenny Phillips. Here is the link to the song. You won't regret listening. CLICK HERE! Wednesday- CHALLENGE COURSE DAY! Another thing I look forward to for camp! The big course that we had this year was the zipline! Like any other zipline, it was a blast. Along with this, we have mini challenge courses that we do after as a group of about 10 girls. The mini course that has always stuck out to me is called "Lifeline". We start out sitting on a log blindfolded. We can't see anything whatsoever. One by one we are taken by one of our leaders to the starting point which is a tree. All we have to hold onto are wires attached to the trees. As we walk along, we hold one arm up that isn't holding onto the wire, to protect us from running into branches/trees or anything else. Along the way, I would sometimes get stuck. I would take a wrong turn or grab onto a wrong wire (pretty much going in circles). At one point I had a leader tell me that I needed to turn around. Slowly but surely... I got to the end! When I finished, my Young Women President took me by the arm and shoulders and told me "Congratulations, You made it home." I couldn't help but think of how our loving Heavenly Father will tell us the exact same thing when we return home to Him after this journey we call life. This mini challenge course is very similar to life: We are sometimes blindfolded by our trials. We get stuck. We take wrong turns. During these moments of hardship in our lives we think, "How in the world am I going to get through this? This is so hard." But you know what? We DO get through it. How? Because of our Savior Jesus Christ and our Father in Heaven. They love us. They want us to return home. They are reaching out their hands just waiting for us to take them. <3 Later on that day, me and a few other girls in my ward did a service project! We loaded and unloaded ginormous logs to different camp sites. Our legs burned from hiking up different hills to get to various campsites, our arms ached from carrying heavy logs, we were "attacked" by flying ants and nasty other spiders that don't need to exist ;) , etc. But in the end it was totally worth it. After each group finished their service project, we all met up at the cute little old missionaries trailer's. One of the many things that stood out to me that was said by one of the sister missionaries (I forgot her name :( was, "He knows the color of your eyes. After all, He (Heavenly Father) created you." Doesn't that just give you the chills? He knows us each by name. He knows our struggles. He knows our pain. And most of all, He loves us so so much more than we can even imagine! Later that night we had another devotional by Ashley Smith. She too, is a singer! She spoke a lot about self worth. She sang "Try" by Colbie Caillat. In one part of the song it says "When you're all alone by yourself, do you like you?" That alone in itself is so powerful. Especially nowadays there is SO much pressure on us girls to be PERFECT. Society expects us to be done up all the time. Our hair done, our makeup perfect and exactly how everyone else is doing it, etc. But the great news is, is that we don't have to give into that. You be you. You do you. You be your OWN person. We are all different because we are meant to be. You are beautiful EXACTLY how you are right now. Do not ever let anyone tell you any different. Thursday - Our last full day and our (almost) 5 mile hike! The hike was breathtaking and absolutely stunning. At the midpoint we took a group picture overlooking the whole Heber Valley camp. You literally felt on top of the world. Our last and final devotional was by our Stake President, President Edwards! Such a great man. He said that we all started with our own "Once upon a time" (our birth). In the pre-mortal life, each and every one of us raised our hands and agreed to come to this earth. We were excited! Can you believe that? Excited! At times we may think, "Why in the world was I excited when I knew all of the hard things I would have to face?" It is because we will eventually get our "Happily ever after." (Returning home to our Savior and Heavenly Father). God's plan is perfect. It is the plan of happiness. With His help and our Savior's, we can make it! And then came testimony night (once we all got back to our campsites). We all gathered around the fire with our camp chairs, hoodies, and blankets. It may have been super cold, but the spirit was oh so warm! You can bet your bottom dollar that we had tonssss of tissues ready! Testimony night is always a highlight for me. The spirit was so strong. And to top off the night, we had dutch oven peach cobbler! Good stuff.
Friday - Basically just cleaned our cabins, pavilion, bathrooms, and showers all morning! The bus ride home was bittersweet. We missed our own beds and we all were exhausted, but we honestly didn't want to leave. If we could have stayed another week, we would have. For sure. If you're still reading, props to you and I love you! I hope you've enjoyed reading about my week as much as I truly enjoyed it. Before I end with a few more pics, I just want to share a little bit of my testimony with you all... Girls camp will always always have my heart. It was so nice to be able to be up in the mountains for a week and enjoy what God has created without the distractions of our phones, social media, TV, etc. It's nice to rough it out (even though we did have cabins and such ;). This earth that we get to live in is absolutely stunning. We are so lucky! If there is one thing that you take away from this post, I want you to know that you are never alone. Never ever ever. Seen and unseen there are angels around you bearing you up, along with our Heavenly Father and elder brother Jesus Christ. They love you with an infinite love. Each and every one of you, no matter who you are. No matter what you have done or what you have been through, They are always there. Let them in, grab their hands. Remember to always STAY IN TUNE with the spirit. Stay close to your Heavenly Father. Pray often. K, now I'm done. Phew! Thank you for reading. I appreciate it so so much. <3 Happy Sunday! With summer comes no school, no homework, no projects... basically no major responsibilities, etc. So yes that means you have those days when you're sitting at home doing nothing. It can get super boring. Who can relate?!
So, with the idea and help from my cousin (Love you Mal!:)) I decided that today's Motivation Monday will be a list of summery things that you can do to stay productive and make the most of your time! (This didn't even cross my mind as an idea, see this is what happens when you guys give me ideas! They are much better than mine;)) TO-DO: (These may get super random! Haha!) - Go on a walk/ hike, There are plenty here in Utah! Look them up! - Go to the park - Go on temple trips, my goal is to visit temples I haven't been to yet! - Go swimming - Go out for ice-cream or snow-cones - Write someone a letter/note - Perform a random act of kindness! - Make cookies or any other dessert, Pinterest is my bff for things like this! - Go bowling - See a movie - If you live in Utah go to The Puppy Barn, you'll more than likely find me there ;) - Go to your local animal shelter - Sun tan - Go fishing - Take your dog for a walk... if you have one! Or your cat... whatever floats your boat ;) - Make S'mores - Read a good book - Catch up on scripture reading - Make homemade pizza - Play frisbee - Take a nap - Do a puzzle, especially a challenging one! - Go up the canyon - Go for a drive - Visit your neighbor or someone sick - Make a smoothie - Take pictures - Organize/decorate your room - Clean the house, believe it or not but sometimes I get a burst of motivation to do this. But still very rare unless I'm told hahaha - Find local food trucks and try new food! - Make lemonade - Paint your nails - Stay up late and watch movies - Start a blog, google blog ideas there are tons! I reccommend it ;) - Star gaze - Lay outside and look for shapes in the clouds - Work on Personal Progress! ( or Duty to God for the guys) - Write in your journal - Make a collage of quotes on a poster board, I've done this and it turned out pretty great! - Make a DIY chalk board, I've done this also. Pretty fun! (Google or look it up on Pinterest) - Play board games with your fam or friends - Go to a museum - Go to your grandparents' house and give them a hug b/c grandparents are pretty darn great. - Go camping - Do some sort of service project! - Online shop, one of my fav things <3 - Go to the zoo - Go out to eat or for a treat - Do an at-home-workout, there are tons and tons of ideas on Pinterest! - Browse through inspirational quotes, yep you guessed it- Go on Pinterest for this! (Can you guys tell yet that Pinterest is just my fav thing?) Well, that's 50 things!! If you've thought of any other ideas, leave them in the comments! I'd love to hear em'. And of course before I end, here's a quote from Henry B. Eyring :) Happy Monday! Long time no post, seriously guys! I struggle hard core on trying to come up with post ideas. I could really use your ideas... If you think of anything at all, any topic, comment or send me a message! I'd love that! Before you read any further... Check out the new Ponderize of The Week and the new Quote of The Week! (Computer- On the side bar, Phone/device- Scroll all the way down to find them!) So I wanted to base today's post on the quote I posted on my @_simplyness_ insta account... Such a powerful scripture right?! With our loving Heavenly Father on our side, we can do anything. In particular resisting temptation and staying strong. These 2 things have been on my mind a lot. Especially in our day of age, there are so many evil and negative influences around us that sometimes our minds get distracted from important things in our lives like the gospel. It is so important that we stay strong and remember who we are and WHOSE we are. We are His and He loves us.
I firmly believe that He will not give us anything that we cannot handle... even when it doesn't always seem that way. When we've reached our breaking point and lowest of lows that is when we need to come unto Him. He will lighten our load. How lucky are we that we are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?! Even the thought brings me so much hope and peace. Simply because I know that I have a loving Heavenly Father who knows me personally and knows my struggles, and simply because I also have an elder brother Jesus Christ who is my Prince of Peace. He is our Savior. With this knowledge alone, brings so much peace. I know that if we stay strong individually and in the gospel, remember who we are/whose we are, resist temptation, and be an example to others of our faith and strength... we will be blessed! Just like Jeffrey R. Holland says, "Keep loving. Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep growing. Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever!" The Mormon Channel on YouTube posted a video a couple months ago titled "Be Still, My Soul" that I think fits perfectly with my post as far as trusting in Heavenly Father and relying on Him for strength. Watch it, it's a good one for sure! Click HERE! |
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Ponderize Of The Week:
"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed." - James 1:5-6 Quote Of The Week:
"Give it to God and go to sleep." - Unknown |