Cardboard Cut-Outs

I'm surrounded by people all day. And you probably are too. (Unless you're in solitary confinement, then I'm not quite sure how you got a hold of my blog...) That's just a part of living in the world.

And it's really great! People's lives are so interesting. I don't know why it's so easy for me to think of the people I meet in Carl's Junior as props -- just there to make the scenery more pleasant (Or sometimes less pleasant. Let's be honest). But they're real people and they live real lives, with just as much depth and excitement as I belive my life to have.

I think certain people are put in my life to teach me lessons. (And really good jokes. I learn my best jokes from other people.)

I'm starting to realize that everything that I am and that I've done in life, I owe to all the great examples that are around me. The people around me truly shape my life; I would never be where I am now if not for my family and teachers and friends and leaders. And not the least of which, Jesus Christ.

Answer Key

Anyone who knows anything about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints knows that we love us some modern revelation, and we believe whole-heartedly in an open cannon of scripture (essentially meaning that the Bible isn't the end of what God has to say). The nickname that most people know us by comes from a book -- the Book of Mormon, which we believe to be the word of God -- and we love it.

I would go a step further than saying that the Book of Mormon God's word. It is. That's for sure. In addition to that, it contains the answers to all of life's great questions ("should I get bangs" is unfortunately not considered one of life's great questions).

I tell people that all the time, so I thought I should at least try it out for myself. This morning I thought of a really good question. A question to end all questions. A question that, if answered, had the potential to change my life.

Does God know me?

God's Mouthpiece

Dear Mormon friends (and those familiar with LDS culture) (and other),

Today is a day worth blogging about.

But, let's be honest, everyday of my life is worth blogging about. (sarcasm)

Anyway, someday in the very near future, I will have the privilege of attending a talk given by Jeffery R. Holland. Yes. This is real life.

For all of you in the "other" category (and those not in the other category), this is significant because Jeffery R. Holland is an Apostle for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

And that's significant because that means he has the authority to receive revelation for the entire world's population.

I tried my best

What keeps us from becoming the best that's within our capacity to become; the best version of us? I read on a fortune cookie, (of all things to inspire this question) "If you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it."

Fortune cookies often inspire deep, soul-searching questions in my mind. (Be careful not to leave me alone with [American] Chineese food for too long.) This one in particular made me question what we define as our 'best'. Often we use the phrase "I tried my best" as an excuse for not getting the desired result, but are we really expecting the very most of ourselves? I don't think we are. Well, I'm not.

The scriptures counsel us to "serve Him with all your heart, might, mind and strength". This year I'm going to

Undeniable Truth

An undeniable truth: we are all more alike than we are comfortable admitting.

I talk to people -- all day, every day. It's practically a full-time job (that I do for free). And I love to do it. Because the more I talk with people, the more I realize how similar all people are.

We all need love. We all need acceptance. And as hard as it is to admit sometimes, we all need each other.

I recently challenged myself to learn to like certain people that I didn't particularly want to have a picnic with.

For the record, I would love to have a picnic
with any of these lovely ladies.

It's been so eye-opening.

When I first came up with this goal for myself, Sister Snyder told me,

#sightandsound

Missionaries are assigned companions - another missionary that we do everything with. We stay together all day, every day. We're always in sight and sound of each other.

That sounds exhausting, right?

Amazingly, it's not. That may have something to do with the fact that I have a pretty great companion - Sister Annie Snyder. She's twenty-one years old. She's from Indiana (not India). And she's the BEST. We've been together for eight weeks, five days, four hours, and fourteen minutes. Not that I'm counting.

 

Things that I love about having Sister Snyder as a companion:

1. We always have an endless supply of breath mints. (That really comes in handy.)
2. We both have a great appreciation for Christmas. You can tell by our matching Christmas bows that we wear in our hair. And our abudant collection of Christmas CD's. And our two mini Christmas trees in our bedroom. And our peppermint essential oils that we like to use for perfume this time of year.
3. We accidentally talk in unison sometimes. And sometimes on purpose.
4. Sometimes we forget that God is watching us. So I have to sing about it so we remember.
5. We both love broccoli and ice cream. But not together. That would be weird.
6. We both quote The District, Napoleon Dynamite, and The Errand of Angels on a very regular basis.
7. We both really love to go running at six thirty in the morning. (That one's a joke.)
8. Sometimes we get lost. But it's always almost always a good experience.
9. When we are angry with each other... Wait, that never happens.
   
10. We help each other to improve and work on our appropriate goals.
11. Our bedroom always smells good.
12. We enjoy the small things. Like midgets, amoebas, and mini-golfing (on P-day of course).
13. Sometimes we forget that bad/sad things are happening around the world, and in our area, and we are happy all the time anyway.  
14. We are good at sharing cupcakes. Sister Snyder eats the frosting, and I eat the cake.
15. We are good at making fun of each other's hair.
16. We have so much fun with our investigators. We think some of them might like us, maybe.

Things that are less good about our companionship:

Smiling is My Favorite!

I love life. I love all of the fun and exciting things that come with living. I also love all of the boring and monotonous things I get to do. I even love don't mind waking up at six thirty every morning. I don't so much love it when bad things happen to me. Like when I rip my favorite jeans, or someone is mean to me, or I do something really embarrassing (all the time, I've learned to live with it).

Even though bad things happen sometimes, I'm still happy.

Even when this happens to my week-old bread. 

I'm learning not to let those things bother me so much. Things happen, and life is sometimes really hard to handle. In those times, I channel someone who is such a great influence.

Buddy the Elf.