Peace be with you.

Here's your friendly reminder that, no matter how much you love music/performing for people, sometimes it is still downright terrifying:

Thoughts during the sacrament: I'm singing in sacrament meeting today. Honestly I'm terrified. My heart can't stop racing. I wasn't terrified for this at all until last night/this morning. I'm praying for peace and hoping it will go well.  Everyone keeps saying it will be fine–and I'm sure it will be–but my body/brain isn't listening.

It's Father's Day today. I'm so thankful for my dad, all the fathers in my life, and especially my Heavenly Father. I don't know where I'd be without their love, guidance, and examples.

"Peace be with you", I just heard/thought. And my heart has slowed down. I'm still nervous, still a little jumpy, but I feel better. I know He will be with me. And I am not alone–it's a quartet. :)

The first speaker in sacrament today talked about PEACE! I was like, "I need that!" Megan said something that I loved and had never really thought about before: Sometimes the answers to our prayers is to reach out and help others. I never thought that me serving someone could be the answer to my prayers. I know that me serving someone helps someone else and can be the answer to their prayers, as well as make me feel good, but I didn't realize it could be an answer to my prayers. I thought that was really insightful. She also said that the Savior is the perfect example of peace and I really loved that.

Our musical number went great!! I had a solo at the beginning, and during the chorus the second time around I harmonized (because it was too low for me) and this resulted in a lot of compliments today. I'm so glad that it went well! I was really worried and nervous, but it went well. :)

The second speaker talked about how Heavenly Father sees us, and knows us, and can help us. He has the best plan for us, and He can help us overcome our weaknesses, if we ask Him.

Relief Society was great, as usual! Clarissa talked about some things that I needed to hear and I"m so grateful for that!

The topic was Peace and Contentment Through Temporal Self-Reliance. These are just a couple of my favorite lines that were said today:
-As long as we can be self-reliant, we can help others.
-Good things take effort. You are worth the effort.
-We need each other's help. It's okay to depend on others.
-How many times do we have to fall before we can stay up?
-The best things in life take work.
-Messing up doesn't mean we're not good at it and should stop.

"If ye are prepared ye shall not fear." (Doctrine and Covenants 38:30)

I'm grateful for the opportunity I had to perform in church today. I'm grateful for the messages that were shared–I needed to hear the messages of peace today, and the messages that it's okay to depend on others, and it's okay to mess up sometimes.

Happy Father's Day to all you fathers! I'm grateful for my father–I love my dad. He's the best. He's taught me so much and I can always turn to him. I'm grateful for all the father-figures in my life. They teach me so many things and are such great examples. I'm grateful for my Heavenly Father, and for all that He has done for me.

Hope you have had a peaceful Sabbath and that you have an amazing week!

Xoxo
Mattie

Catch up, tour, and blessings.

I know it's been a while since I've posted, and I'm sorry. I had Spring Break last week and we went to Disneyland/California on tour and then Sunday I slept. Then this week we went back to school and it's been really busy trying to catch up on my English homework because I thought that we didn't have to read over spring break, but we actually didn't have any reading due over spring break. So I've been behind in the reading a little bit, but I finally caught up yesterday. Tour was so much fun! We learned a lot about teamwork and leadership skills, and we got to go to Disneyland and California Adventure and it was super fun! My friends and I got stuck on the Indiana Jones ride and we were hanging with Indiana–literally:

My friend accidentally made that pun when she texted our teacher that we were going to be late to the leadership training. It was hilarious! We also went to the beach, and we saw the Pacific Symphony in concert–Paul Anka performed the last half of the concert. He was funny–he went into the audience and some lady was on her phone and he took it (He was in the middle of singing a song) and sang to the person on the other end with some improv lyrics. He was a little bit dirty, though, and I felt really bad for Mrs. Kelley–she looked so embarrassed. Oh! Saturday night we went to a pirates diner, and Mrs. Kelley and her husband were both busy, so I was watching her baby (He's so adorable!!!) and playing with him–he really liked the bus hahaha–and I have noticed that when he gets sleepy, he tends to tug on his ear and suck his thumb, which he started doing. So I started to sing him some lullabies, and he kept getting a little distracted, especially when his mom would start talking because he loves her so much, but I was also rubbing his back as I sang to him, and he finally started to calm down and he fell asleep. He was drooling while I was playing with him, and when he fell asleep, he continued drooling, so by the time we got to the diner, my shirt had drool all over the front–and the inside! Haha he's such a cutie and the drool was no big deal–I'm the oldest of nine, remember, so I've dealt with babies before. Drool I can deal with; spit up? Nope, that's a deal breaker, haha! :) All in all, it was a fantastic trip and I'm so glad I was able to go.

I know that Heavenly Father blessed me to be able to catch up on my reading for English, and I know that He kept me safe on tour–I had trouble with steps all throughout spring break and tour. On Monday, at home, I tripped up our front stairs outside–We only have two and I didn't even get to the second one. I cut my big toe and my second toe on my right foot pretty bad. So it was sore all throughout tour, but I didn't even really notice it unless I hit my toes on something. So that was a blessing. I know that Heavenly Father was watching out for me–I am accident-prone and when I tripped, it could've been worse, but it wasn't. I know He loves me, and I'm so grateful for Him and for His Son. 

Blessings in disguise.

Sometimes changes in plans are blessings in disguise. Today I was supposed to be getting my senior pictures taken at 4:30pm, but because of the weather I decided to not chance it and will be getting them taken at the end of next week instead. Which I am okay with, because even though I was really bummed that we had to reschedule, I have a lot of homework to do for Monday, so it all works out in the end. I'm grateful that Heavenly Father knows what He's doing and I'm grateful that He is watching out for me.