The Book of Mormon brings peace, clarity, and answers to my life.

I am so thankful for the sacrament. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to renew my covenants with God, and to start the week anew. Sometimes I make mistakes, and sometimes I make the same mistakes, but I am learning! I might make the same mistakes, but sometimes I quit while I'm ahead. I think to myself, "Mattie, you're better than this," or, "Mattie, you can overcome this. You're strong enough," and I choose to stop, or I choose to get up and change the situation, and go serve someone. Sometimes our trials and temptations seem like they are bigger than us, or have a hold on us so tight that they won't let go, but at some point, we can overcome. Not all the time, and not always right at the start, but a lot of the time, and early enough. One thing that honestly and truly helps me is reading the Book of Mormon. I have been reading every day for my Book of Mormon class, and it has helped me so much! Yeah, sometimes I slip in my trials/temptations, and I make a mistake again, and I fall backwards. But once every couple of weeks now versus sometimes every other day then is PROGRESS! And I welcome and am proud of that progress! 

We all have our own struggles, our own trials, our own temptations, and they're all different, and require different answers. But I know that the Book of Mormon helps us find those answers. It helps us find peace. It helps us find clarity. It helps us heal and become whole again as we turn to our Savior and trust in His Atonement.

Last night, my roommate and I were studying 3 Nephi 19, and I noticed that Jesus went away from His Nephite disciples three times to pray, much like when He was giving the prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Except this time, His disciples were still awake and praying when He comes back. One other thing I noticed is that in 3 Nephi, this is happening during the day, and there is a lot of mentioning how white and bright everything is. In the Garden, it's nighttime, and His disciples keep falling asleep. I don't think the similarity between these two events is a coincidence. I never made this connection between the two events before, and I thought it was just an amazing connection to make. (Another thing I just thought about is that three is such a powerful and repeated number in the scriptures. "Three is a magic number.")

I bore my testimony in sacrament meeting today and I honestly don't remember it at all! I was so terrified, my heart was pounding, and I was struggling to keep my body upright, but I knew I had to get up and say something because I had been thinking about the Book of Mormon during the sacrament and I knew that I had to express my gratitude for it, and how it has helped me through this semester, and through some of the trials I have been going through lately. (Of course, the moment I sat down after I was done bearing my testimony, my heartbeat was back to normal. Glad I can depend on it to keep me calm during moments of extreme terror ;) )

I'm grateful for the lessons I learned in church today. I didn't specifically take too many notes, I mostly listened today, which is all right. Sometimes you just need to listen. Today I just needed to listen, and feel, and take into my soul. I am grateful for my ward–I learn something new each and every day just from interacting with my friends, and they are all so wonderful and insightful and bring new insights to the gospel that I've never seen or thought of before. I'mg grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who knows just what I need and cares enough about me to send me what I need, and to bless me every day.

Xoxo
Mattie

Multi-Regional Stake Conference.

Today was the Multi-Stake Regional Conference. It was so good!! I was able to attend at the Marriott Center, and it was sooo packed!!! There were tons of people who didn't get to go in because it was so full. There were a lot of great messages shared today, so I'm just going to talk about a few of my favorites. :)

Bishop Davies talked about patterns in the scriptures and in our lives. He said if we read the Book of Mormon, those who ask about it in faith will get an answer. He also said that reading the BoM will bring to you an understanding and peace of mind.

Sister Burton talked about how we show the Lord that we honor Him and keep His Sabbath day holy. She said that there are many different ways that families have decided that they will try and keep the Sabbath day holy. She said that Sister Stevens (of the Primary General Presidency) said that she tried to prepare for the Sabbath on Saturday. There was a family who tried to focus on the sacrament, before, during, and after the sacrament, throughout the whole week. They would pick something to think about during the sacrament and then they would talk about it at home.

President Hallstrom talked about who is hastening the work of salvation. The answer is the Lord is hastening His work in His own time–He may be using us, but He is the one who is hastening it. He also said that Satan is hastening his work, too, and that we cannot be saved without effort on our part.

Elder Ballard's talk was wonderful! He talked about how our contributions are significant and important. He talked about maintaining healthy [spiritual] practices/habits, like sincere daily prayers, regular scripture study, and worshiping in the temple. He also talked about how it's okay to ask questions, and that we need to help others answer their own questions–it's also okay if we don't have all the answers. :)

It was such a wonderful session!! I'm really excited for General Conference in a couple of weeks. :)

OH! And I'm going to be going home to visit later this afternoon. I'm kind of excited. :)

Xoxo
Mattie