Changes.

So these were my thoughts during the sacrament today:

Well this weekend has been full of change. My roommates for the past eight months/school year all moved out to a different apartment, I received a new roommate who's really cool, and we're going to be getting  a new bishopric today. I am going to miss the old bishopric but am excited to see who our new bishopric is going to be. I am looking forward to this summer–lots of fun things to do, and I hope to get more excited as the summer goes on. Right now I am excited and nervous, because I've never spent the summer away from home before, but I think it will be fun. I'm grateful for my Savior–finals week was rough and tough, but I did it! And I was sick, too. I got all the rest I needed to get through finals. And now I should be able to catch up on my sleep and get so much better. I might be changing my major...again. But this will be the last time, I promise! I was having lunch with some friends on Wednesday and they mentioned this new major to me–and I don't need to apply to get in! That's exactly what I need! I'm going to look into it and probably go see someone in the department in the next couple of weeks so that I can hurry and change my fall schedule accordingly. Also, I got a SCHOLARSHIP for next year!! So that's fun. :)

I am going to miss our old bishopric, but Brother Durfey is staying!! So that is really awesome. Our new bishop seems really great and I'm excited to get to know him, our new counselor, and their wives. 

I'm feeling much better this week than I was last week, but I still have that blasted cough and cold! I'm hoping that catching up on sleep this week will be just the thing I need. I'm so grateful–my custodial job's hours are being pushed up (back?). I'm not sure of the phrasing but it's now from 4-8 instead of 5-9. So that will be just great!

I might be changing my major again...the Lord sure has a funny way of getting me on the right path hahaha but I still love Him :) Also I got a scholarship for fall/winter of 2017/2018!! I am so excited!! What a weight lifted off my shoulders–I don't have to repay it!!

As you can see, it's been quite a weekend, and I'm grateful for it. I'm looking forward to the future, and to having new things in my life. On to what I learned today. :) 

Sacrament meeting was quite emotional haha–I tried not to cry but once Sister Anderson started tearing up, I started crying, and basically didn't stop...I mean, it wasn't full-on waterworks, just a slow trickle, but I definitely was trying to hold back.

Sister Anderson:

Get sleep. Look for ways to serve others.

Heavenly Father notices effort, and He blesses effort.

(our old bishop) Bishop Anderson:

Inspiration can come at any time (but hearing the Spirit is harder the later it is).

Service can be difficult, but the Lord blesses us.

The Lord loves His children. He loves you and knows you.

He lives, loves, and knows you.

He smiles and is happy with minuscule changes. Keep trying to change! Focus on where you know He wants you to go. 

The Lord is quick to forgive.

"I'm not perfect yet."

There is power in the priesthood.

If you will let Him in, He will bless you.

(My favorite thing that Bishop said was "I'm not perfect yet." There is power in the fact that we have room to change and improve. We have the chance to progress here on earth. That's why we're here.)

Sister Wilhite:

There is no other way but through this Church.

Brother Wilhite:

The Savior lives and loves you.

(our new bishop) Bishop Frank Maughan:

We are noble and great.

Some of the things mentioned in Sunday School were:

Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ know and love us

Temple attendance and prayer are great and important things that we should be doing

"Move your life forward."

Priesthood/Relief Society was combined today: (topic was Sabbath Day)

Pres. Hinckley said "every sacrament meeting ought to be a spiritual feast" and "a time of spiritual refreshment."

"If the service is a failure to you, you have failed. No one can worship for you." Pres. Spencer W. Kimball

"The Sabbath is a holy day in which to do worthy and holy things. Abstinence from work and recreation is important, but insufficient. The Sabbath calls for constructive thoughts and acts, and if one merely lounges about doing nothing on the Sabbath, he is breaking it. To observe it, one will be on his knees in prayer, preparing lessons, studying the gospel, meditating, visiting the ill and distressed, writing letters to missionaries, taking a nap, reading wholesome material, and attending all the meetings of that day at which he is expected." ~Pres. Spencer W. Kimball

Funny thing...the reason why this is so late today is because I've been napping all afternoon. I'm just following the prophet. ;)

On a more serious note, I'm grateful for what I learned today. I'm grateful for my new roommate, who is just awesome!! Seriously, guys, she wrote me a note while I was napping in the living room!! We are going to get along just fine :) #ilovewritingnotes

I'm also grateful for our old bishopric, and our new bishopric. I am excited to get to know them, and I'm excited to get to know all of the new people who are moving into the ward this summer. I'm looking forward to all of the fun summer things that can happen this summer, and I hope that this summer will be an awesome one.

I know that God loves you, and I know that He is watching out for you, and guiding you. I know that your Savior loves you, and wants what is best for you. I know that service is the best way to show your Father in Heaven that you love Him. I know that service also always, always, always makes you feel better, about whatever it is you're going through. Taking time to put aside your worries and troubles and bless someone else's life makes you feel better, and you will be blessed for it.

I hope you all have a great week! For those of you still in school, hold on! It's almost over, and you can do it! <3

Xoxo

Mattie

Songs and service.

So, today was the day I performed in sacrament meeting! Unfortunately I have not been feeling well the past few days/weeks, and I woke up this morning with a sore throat and a stuffy nose. I was terrified!! I needed to be able to sing today before everyone goes away for the summer! So I drank a LOT of water, took some medicine, took a little nap, and prayed that I would be able to sing well–even if I got worse afterwards. And it went better than I thought it would! So grateful!! Of course, after that I did spiral downwards in health. I am now super tired and extremely sick. It's fine. I will live. I'm just going to go to bed super early tonight.

So, as I was sitting in sacrament meeting, thinking about the Savior, and my upcoming solo, and being nervous (the STAKE PRESIDENT was at sacrament meeting today), my roommate–sensing my nervousness–leaned over, patted my arm, and said, "You're gonna do great." A few moments later, one of my friends in the ward texted me and said the same thing. TENDER MERCIES!! So grateful for their words and love.

Also grateful for the messages in sacrament meeting:
-If you're doing what you're supposed to be doing, you'll be blessed.
-We need to look for and be those positive examples of obedience.

In gospel doctrine, we talked about spiritual gifts, and there were some wonderful things that were said about them, and about how we can gain them, and I wanted to share some:
-We should be acting in accordance with how God sees us, and how we wish to be.
-God doesn't want us to be down on ourselves.
-You have to put in the effort for the spiritual gifts, to be better and them and to better yourself.
-God needs us to bless other people.

In Relief Society we talked about Elder Bednar's talk from the October 2016 conference entitled "If Ye Had Known Me", and we talked about four things he said can help us come to know Christ.
1) Exercising Faith in Him
Nicole shared a scripture that I loved and wanted to share. It's 2 Chron. 14:11, and my favorite line was "It is nothing with Thee to help". I loved that. Whatever we're going through, as long as we have faith, and as long as we have God to help, it is nothing.
2) Following Him
We need to do the work, put in effort. We need to do our part. We can't just leave it all up to Him.
Sometimes we have to put aside our will to follow Him.
Heavenly Father keeps us where we are because He loves us and knows what is best for us, and what we need.
3) Serving Him
Okay, I learned something new today, and this was way cool. So, Elder Bednar said in his talk, "We grow to love those whom we serve." Mosiah 2:17 tells us that when we are in the service of others, we are in the service of God. Ergo, as we come to love those whom we serve, we come to love God. Well, serving others is my favorite way to serve God and love others, so I'm on the right track! :)
4) Believing Him
Believing Him invites perspective and peace into our lives.
This gospel is an eternal gospel. It will last through the eternities.
Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will always respect the agency of others.
He knows you. He knows your strengths, weaknesses, desires, hopes, dreams, wishes. He knows what you need to feel loved.  He knows that when you're SUPER sick, you're basically a useless worm.
HE KNOWS. He knows it all. And He still loves you.

I am so grateful for my Savior, who stands by me. I am so grateful for my Father in Heaven, who sends me messages of love and comfort through friends. I'm so grateful for the Holy Ghost, who comforts and calms me when I'm nervous or scared. I'm grateful for the love of my Heavenly Parents, my Savior, and the Comforter. I am grateful for their hands in my life. I'm grateful for the opportunity I had to sing in church today. It was so great to share the message of the song "Beautiful Savior" with my ward and my friends (Fun fact: that song is President Acerson's favorite song). I'm grateful for my family, friends, and roommates. It's been a crazy year, of which I will share a little bit next week, so stay tuned. ;)

I love you all! I wish you a blessed Sunday and a happy week!

Xoxo
Mattie

He is risen!

Happy Easter! Jesus Christ is risen!

I had the opportunity to go home this weekend and it was such a blessing. The primary children sang "Gethsemane" in sacrament meeting and it was so cute and really brought the Spirit. My sister was sick and couldn't teach in Nursery, so I subbed for her today. Be still my heart! Those kids!! So cute and so sweet!! 😍😍❤️❤️ 

Here are some Easter videos from the Church, and here are some music videos. This year's theme was #PrinceOfPeace. Here is one of my favorites. ❤️

I am so grateful for my Savior, and for His sacrifice. I read an interesting article–well, it was a video–the other day that really changed my view of His Atonement. You can see it here. I really recommend it. It was such a great video. I'm so thankful for Jesus Christ, and His willingness to suffer and die for me. He didn't have to, and He asked if there was another way (Mark 14: 36), much like all of us. But He did it anyway. He knew what He needed to do, and He loved us enough to do it. Every day, I'm grateful. He lived, He died, and He lives again. Oh how sweet is that sentence! He lives. With Him on my side, I can conquer anything and everything. Because of Him, I can be at peace. For He is the Prince of Peace.

Xoxo
Mattie

With Him we can. :)

Today is Palm Sunday, the day Jesus entered Jerusalem before His great sacrifice for us. Easter is next Sunday! I'm so excited! I'm going home (again. Wow, I have gone home so much this semester) and am hoping that I will be done with most of my homework by that time so I can rest and relax. We'll see how this week goes. :)

Sacrament meeting was AMAZING and I definitely needed it today! Before I get into that, though, here are my thoughts from during the sacrament.

Some day, life will make sense. I am counting on that day. Right now, however, nothing makes sense, and I struggle all the time, as we all do. Lately, it's been really hard to be positive and optimistic and happy. Mainly because it's the end of the semester and I have a LOT of things to do, but there are other suspicious factors, too. Anyway, it's just been really hard to look on the bright side of things, and I want to wallow all the time, but I don't have time for that right now. I am really grateful for my Savior. I don't deserve all of the second (and third) chances that I get, yet He give them still. If that's not love, what is? I am grateful for my Heavenly Father, who sent His Only Begotten to die for us. I've been struggling with some things a little bit lately, but how can I fail with my Heavenly Father and Savior's love and help? 

Speaking of struggling, guess what the topic in sacrament meeting today was? If you couldn't guess (you probably couldn't), it was about attitude, adversity, and trials, and how to get through/overcome them. It was a blessing! I really needed it today. :)

So, some of my favorite things that were said were:

• When we face adversity, we forget about all the great things going on in our life.
• Don't try to change the things that you can't control.
• We are free to choose joy.
• We need to realize that we have EVERYTHING that we need to be happy in that moment.
• Adversity has a purpose–to help us grow and change.
• God will be with us. We should not be afraid. We are not alone.
• The only thing we can control is ourself, and our actions. 
• We need to trust that God sees the whole picture.
• He shows us our weaknesses so that we can work on them.
• We need to have a good attitude. Yes, sometimes it's hard. But we need to "Hold on to the hope that there are good things in the world," and realize that "Even darkness must pass."

In Relief Society, we talked about visiting teaching, and one of my favorite things that was said was that Heavenly Father uses other people to remind us that He loves us. My last favorite thing was that we're all trying to go to the same place; we need to lift each other up.

Don't forget that God is with you. With Him, you can do anything. That reminds me of two things: one is this scripture that we talked about in Sunday School. It's the Joseph Smith Translation of Matthew 19:26, and it says, "But Jesus beheld their thoughts, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but if they will forsake all things for my sake, with God whatsoever things I speak are possible." The bolded parts are the parts that are changed/clarified from the Joseph Smith Translation. I loved this verse when we read it in class. And this reminded me of the song, "With Him We Can", which you can find here. It's a beautiful song that talks about how with God, we can do things that we never thought possible.

I'm so grateful for my ward! I love the people I've met, and I cherish the friendships I've made. God knew exactly what He was doing when He put these people in my life. I love them all so much and I wouldn't change anything! I'm grateful for my family, and for my friends. I'm grateful that I have so many people to depend on and turn to. I'm grateful for my Savior, and for all He's done for me, and I'm grateful for my Heavenly Father, who knows exactly what I need to grow and be better. I'm still working on it, and He's right there with me. I hope you have a peaceful Sabbath and a wonderful week!

Xoxo

Mattie

Perfect love casteth out fear.

Conference weekend has happened once again! Loved the messages this weekend! Grateful that I had the opportunity to come home and hang out with my family (however rambunctious the boys became during the last session). Here are a bunch of my favorite quotes from this wonderful conference weekend!

"In a darkening world, the light of the gosepl will shine brighter and brighter until the perfect day." ~Elder Bragg

"Faith is a practical principle that inspires diligence." ~Elder Soares

"We embody Christ in not only what we say and do, but in who we are." ~Elder Hales

"Diversity is not cacophony."
"The loss of even one voice diminishes every other singer in this great mortal choir."
"Remember it is by divine design that not all of the voices in God's choir are the same. Don't disparage uniqueness."
"There is room in this choir for all who wish to be here." ~Elder Holland

"In order to be all in, we need to stand up inside."
"We may need to let go of the world so we can hang on to eternity." ~Elder Sabin

"Children are great imitators, so give them something great to imitate." ~Sister Jones

"Things work out when we stand firm in the trial of our faith." ~Elder Clayton

Fear doesn't change hearts.
"In the face of fear, let us find courage, muster our faith.."
The pure love of Christ is the antidote to fear. ~President Uchtdorf

"Sometimes those who raise a warning voice are dismissed as judgmental."
To warn is to care.
"Then Jesus, beholding him, loved him."
"Because of this love, and with this love, Jesus asked even more of him." ~Elder Palmer

"We should not be surprised by what may seem like 'small things' because of their simple and repetitive nature."
"Conversion to the gospel does not mean all our problems will be solved." ~Elder Cook

Hope you had a great weekend and that you have a great week!! I'm struggling with the last couple weeks of the semester and I am frightened for finals but hopefully I'll be able to get through them! I'm looking forward to reading the talks again in the upcoming months (at lds.org. Join me in reading them again!). I'm grateful for the prophets and leaders and for their inspiring thoughts and messages this weekend. A few of the overall messages that I heard/noticed were that we need to love everyone, perfect love casteth out fear, and faith is an essential principle of power. I'm grateful for my Heavenly Father and for the messages that touched me this weekend. I hope that I will be able to apply the lessons and become a better person.

Xoxo
Mattie