Well, I'm really bad at this. I don't think i've posted in a very long time. I'm sorry.....except nobody really reads this. Here's a little update of things going through my mind...
So, I'm not going to go through all the things I've been up to. I'm going to say this: College is fun. Learning a lot......of things I didn't think I'd be learning.
I used to think that Provo/Orem was "mormon central" and that everyone out here would be very much like me.....I was so so wrong. Boys and girls, Kaysville really is as "Mormon" as it gets. Maybe I'm ignorant, but I wasn't expecting the community to be like this. I still love everyone up here....it's just a little different than I thought it would be. People don't attack the church in Kaysville.
Here's where my "Churchy" lesson comes in so LISTEN UP. In my old ward, my dad would teach a kinda famous lesson in my ward. He taught it a lot....It's his "famous" lesson (If you don't count how he also always teaches the pornography lesson......which is .....fun). The lesson is, "What you believe" The basic concept is, there will come a time when you will have to ask yourself what do YOU believe. Growing up, I have told myself that I know what I believe....and that is true. I do know what I believe, but that is only half of the lesson.
When my dad gave this lesson, he always told a story (because that's what my dad does best) about a girl he used to know when he was living in Japan during the first couple years of my parents marriage. I don't remember the girls name, but she was the only young-woman in her ward....in fact, the only young-woman in her district. She was also the only LDS member in her family. Nobody woke her up and told her to get ready for church. Nobody reminded her to read her scriptures or say her prayers or pay her tithing. She did all that on her own. The church house was about an hour away if she biked. Her parents had a car, but they were not willing to drive her to church on Sundays. She had to get up around six every Sunday to get ready for church. She loved to swim and was very good at it...but she wasn't on the team because swim meets were always on Sunday and she didn't want to miss church or break the Sabbath. She had a seminary teacher.....kinda. The teacher didn't live anywhere near her. She never met the teacher in person. She had to mail all her homework in. Her teacher would mail her lessons.
So, here comes the famous punch line my dad always said. The first time he told my brothers and I this story, I remember him getting very serious and emotional (which NEVER happens....when he does, it's very important that you listen to what he's saying) and said, "Now boys, I know you have a testimony. I know you believe that the church is true...but would it still be true if you were her?"
Of the many things my parents taught me, I'm so happy they taught me this one...because when you leave home, it's not so easy to be LDS. I don't go to BYU so i'm not in a LDS school. I have never ever had to stand up for the church in a classroom setting...and I've never had to stand up for the church alone. For the first time, it's difficult to say, "Hey, i'm Mormon and what you are saying is not true" because I've always had people backing me up.
I'm so happy that I was raised the way I was...because things aren't as easy as they used to be. Sorry to be all churchy....but that's what's going on down here. Hahaha, what about you?
