Apostles and warm fuzzy spirit and testimony, oh my!

Tonight, I went with my best friend to a fireside for young single adults.

{I apologize for the poor quality of this iPhone photo. We were working with a very pathetic amount of light, and I didn't want to have to use flash, so deal with it. ;) }

{for those of you going, "what the heck is a fireside??", it is kind of like a special sermon or a devotional given seperately from a Sunday meeting in the LDS church. Usually it is aimed toward a specific audience (in this case, young single adults), and/or has a special guest (in this case we had a few special guests)}

At this fireside were two general authorities {"clergymen" for lack of a better term, from Salt Lake City, where our church headquarters are.}, and an apostle. And if you are going, "Wait, an apostle?  Like, from the Bible? Like, Peter, James, and John??", then to that I say, 

"Absolutely, yes, actually."

I felt kind of silly because I know a lot of other people in my church that I know have been lucky enough to have seen and met and shook hands with at apostles before, and they might be like, "Dude. It's whatevers. Every day thang, girl...". But I had never seen one in my life, except for on the screen of General Conference. So, it really excited me when my bishop emailed me and my mom and said that Quentin L. Cook would be in town for a fireside. 

I grabbed my best friend and we ran after that opportunity! 

Guys. I don't know if everybody else who was there felt like it was this amazing, but I felt like it was super amazing.

The spirit when Quentin L. Cook and the two other general authorities just walked into the room. We all stood, and Elder Cook smiled at us and I felt the spirit so wonderfully. 

And when he spoke, even the obnoxious boys behind us who wouldn't shut up {and I feel like I don't even know why they showed up, like if you really just wanted to chat it up with your buddies, your mom isn't making you go to firesides anymore. You're an adult now, so just stop talking, or leave. Jadyn and I were a little irritated.}but even they were quiet, and eventually completely silent. He had such a spirit about him. He was glowing. I had never noticed the glow when I watched him on a screen during General Conference, but he just glowed! And his words were wonderful. He told us that this was a great time in our lives, and to not let doubt and fear get in the way of making important decisions, but to have faith in the Lord and let Him guide us. It was beautiful, and the best part, was at the end. Elder Cook was bearing his testimony, and he said, "Through experiences too sacred to discuss,  I have heard the voice of Jesus Christ." And right when he said that, the spirit filled me up, and it felt like someone had filled my insides with warm hot cocoa, or wrapped me in a warm blanket that was fresh from the dryer, and I could just feel the spirit testify to me that Elder Cook really is an apostle of Jesus Christ, and that he has heard the voice of Jesus Christ, and that Christ lives, and speaks through his prophets and apostles, and it was one of the most wonderful feelings I have ever felt. 

As he was leaving, I didn't get to shake his hand, but he was about 20 feet from me and I waved and quietly said, "Thank you" and he smiled at me and waved. 

That man is an apostle of Jesus Christ.

Thomas S. Monson is the prophet of the Lord.

This church is true, and I had to blog about this while it was still fresh in my mind, and I can't wait to spend 18 months starting this summerish/fall of 2013 proclaiming on a mission. I can't wait to help people feel the way I have felt because of this perfect, wonderful gospel, and especially the way I felt when I saw a prophet of the Lord today.
Oh this gospel is great and wonderful and amazing!  

You should read this book.

I have almost finished this book, and when I do finish it, I want to flip back to the beginning and read it all over again. It's one of those books that you wish you could gobble up in 20 minutes so that you could soak in all the marvelous inspiration that's inside of it before you start your day. 

Stephanie Nielson is the blogger behind Nie Nie Dialogues. I have read her blog for a few years now. She has always been inspiring, but this book, learning about how she met her husband Mr. Nielson, and hearing every challenge that she overcame after her tragic airplane accident that burned 80% of her body, touches my heart, and I can see the ways that God blesses her every day. She is such a strong woman, and a wonderful mother. Reading her blog is even more inspiring after reading her story in depth. She is a superwoman. :)

If that didn't convince you, here is a video promotion for the book:

Read it! Read it! Read it!
And read her blog, too. :)

French braids and math class and dandelions, oh my.

Today, I woke up and got ready for school. 

As some of you may know, I'm kind of obsessed with hair. 

I love to play with it. I haven't worn my hair the same way twice to school at all this year. 

Which isn't that impressive considering I only go to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

But I could do it differently every schoolday for the rest of the semester... I'd be willing to bet the rest of the year if I wanted to. 

Easily, actually.

I have a few hairdos up my sleeve. 

Especially now that I am beginning to master the art of French braiding my own hair.

Here is what I did to my hair today, and I daresay I am quite proud of it.

It's a French braid going from my bangs to my crown, and then a high sock bun. And I gotta say, those sock buns are little buggers, because it is quite a challenge to get those things to stay hiding inside my bun. It's embarrassing. Like, "Oh, hey, your bra strap is hanging out" embarrassing.

But I had it tamed all day today. Hooray for me.

I was a little peeved, however, because in my public speaking class, my presentation group told the teacher last Thursday, while I was gone, that I would provide an outline for our presentation. And when I walked into class today, she wanted it now. 

I was like, "Hey, thanks you guys. Feelin' the brotherly love."

Lucky for their sorry hides, I had by chance taken notes on everything we were doing for our presentation, and those notes were acceptable unto our teacher. They are so lucky I'm a good student.

Kind of.

Observe me ditching part of math class because I couldn't stand to hear any more words like "algorithm" and "vertical asymptote".

It's okay. Only one more semester, and then I don't have to take math ever again.

Then I raced out of math and ran to my precious truck, Florence. "We're going home, Florence!" I would have exclaimed if it weren't for the nutcases in the parking lot who would have given me strange looks.

I drove down the road, well on my way home. Then when I passed the Gilbert temple, I was like,

Ah nuts. I had forgotten that I needed to take my fingerprint clearance card to student services so that they could make a copy of it so that I could get my service learning hours done for my education class.

I couldn't do it the next day. I had to turn around and go back to the school.

Yuck.

But it was all okay, because look what I found when I went back to the school?

 A dandelion! These are only my favorite things! 

Needless to say, I made a wish.

I can't tell you what it is though. Duh.

Then I went home, and my home teacher came with his lovely wife and we talked about Dallin H. Oaks's talk from the April conference when he said, 

"Yet some erroneous people think that these marvelous physical attributes happened by chance or resulted from a big bang somewhere. Ask yourself, could an explosion in a printing shop produce a dictionary? The likehood is most remote. But if so, it could never heal its own torn pages or reproduce it's own newer editions."

I absolutely love this quote. Our physical bodies are marvelous! How can it be that they are not divinely created, heaven sent? There's no denying it that they are God-given gifts.

Goodnight, my happy little friends!

(Oh yeah. Last night I bought a lovely bright red lipstick, and I cannot keep myself away from it. It's hard enough not letting myself wear it to school. How can I resist it's brightness?)