Medical Day... New perspective.

Wow, what another amazing day. I'm happy when we can go go go with the service and not have breaks, but since I forgot my journal, it's been nice to have some time to record our India happenings on my blog each day. Today was medical day and man was it humbling. We went to a leprosy colony, to a little church where we set up the stations to do the medical exams of the leprosy affected people. Some of the stations were: finger nail and toe nail cutting, blood pressure, blood testing, cleansing wounds, etc. I took their blood pressure and it was a blast. It was fun to meet them all and it was humbling to see their gratitude for being able to be examined every 2 weeks. My dad and I were talking and we said it was so neat (especially just having celebrated Easter) to watch their wounds be cleaned. We imagined that's what our Savior did in his ministry here on earth. We always hear the stories about the lepers from the Bible, so sitting there watching these people made what we've read in the scriptures even more special. We also walked around the colony. We met some small children and their families. The ones without leprosy were especially grateful to us for helping their family members out. The GREATEST thing for me is that many of these parents have children at the Rising Star school, where we're staying. Some of them told us who their kids were, many of them ones we had met. Their faces just lit up with excitement as they asked how they were, wanting us also to tell them hi. Many of them looked like they wanted to cry. All of the kids are going home for summer vacation this Sunday, so I can only image their excitement. However, at the same time, I know they feel soo blessed to have their children in a safe and healthy environment where they are being well taken care of. All of this experience is so rewarding, as I've said so many times. I can't stop saying that because besides my mission, I don't feel as fulfilled as I do when I'm serving the people here. It's amazing. Here's what I captured from medical day.... :)

This sweet girl was a tender mercy of the day. Her sister goes to the Rising Star School and she and her family met were soo excited that we know her sister. You can tell that they love each other soo much. It made me even more grateful for my family and the importance of family. 

Jeremy was in charge of giving eye drops to the leprosy affected people. 

This woman is a saint. 

Abraham and us were laughing soo hard together today. We told him to smile for the pictures and this is what he gave us every time. Love it :) 

Children upon children upon children. 

Had to take a picture at the boomba. It reminds me of my mission in the Philippines. 

Leprosy colony. 

Took peoples' blood pressure today. 

Ella and I at the blood pressure and blood testing station. So fun. 

More of the colony. It was so fun not only to do medical work, but to walk around, get a feel for where they live, and talk with them and their families. 

Afterwards, we went to the zoo! It was HUGE. We actually didn't see too many animals, but the fun part is that we rode around the zoo on bikes. It was soo fun and we had some good family bonding time. I've loved this trip because I've been able to spend so much time with my awesome family. I'm grateful for them. I really do miss them when I'm down in Provo all the time. 

Sorry, we just had to.

Last of all we had 2 awesome hours of play time with the kids. It was the BEST one yet. Usually not all the volunteers come but today EVERYONE came. It was a cool site to see all of us with around 200 kids just running around everywhere. I had been kinda nervous all week about remembering names of the children. I'm already soo bad at names, but on top of that add all the tricky Indian pronunciations. Today was awesome, though, because all the little kids would come running up to me and I remembered mostly all of them. At the end of play time, it was time to go and it seriously took 30 mins to leave because all of the cute kids wouldn't let us leave. They'd come running up to me saying, "Erica, Erica, Erica"! Or I would see a kid that I've met or a new kid and play with them soo more. I've been able to feel this awesome love the children and people here in India and it's been such an amazing experience. I've truly learned how to love people more. This morning I woke up in kind of a funk. I was worrying about some things, like having finals in just a week and some other things. I realized that I just needed to focus everything that I have in me to this trip. It's been one of the greatest blessings in my life, but I was a little consumed with school and other things. Today I 110% participated in everything and just lost myself in loving the kids and leprosy-affected people we helped. It felt great. I think it was a test that Heavenly Father gave me, to see how grateful I would be for this opportunity to learn to love others and just serve them with everything I have. I think the past few days, I could have done better, but man, today I felt on top of the world. Today was AWESOME. I'm soo excited for another 3 days of this trip. I'm learning a lot and I've felt true happiness in serving others more each day. 

This was probably the coolest experience of the whole day. We met this little girl's baby sister earlier in the day. I showed her the picture of her sister and I. She grabbed my phone held it to her check, kissed the phone and almost started crying. It almost made me cry. These moments make this trip so rewarding

Teeter totter. 

So cool to see a Book of Mormon at Rising Star. 

Meet my new friend Goona. He's soo sweet. His laugh made my day!!! 

The day ended with awesome community dinner and a lip syncing contest... pretty awesome. WHAT A GREAT DAY. 

Community Outreach Day!

Today's also been awesome. Our family was assigned to community outreach today. We helped plant trees at the Rising Star Gardens. Rising Star is trying to help the school become self sufficient. Instead of having to go the market to get food for the children, we planted all these fruit and vegetable trees so they can just go to the gardens to get the food. They also want food planted here because they won't be grown with any pesticides. So everything will be healthier for the kids. I think it's an amazing idea and it was cool to be apart of it! One of the directors turned to us and said, "isn't it soo cool that we're planting all of this for the kids?" It was so humbling to think about why we're here and who we're serving at all times. I know these kids will be soo happy and blessed because of the projects we get to help with. Take a look...

Sure do love my family. 

What did you do for spring break? We dug up manure....  

Where we planted the trees. 

Watermelon break. 

Well where they pump water to water the trees and such. 

Bee house. 

Sista sista. 

Rising Star van. 

Evidence that we worked hard. Thanks Chacos... 

We had play time as usual today! It's seriously my favorite time of day! We're all building awesome relationships with the kids the longer we're here. 

Picture. of. the. day. 

Sweet Praveen, the little boy I'm going to sponsor. He's only 5 years old. He just started learning English, so he doesn't speak much, but he's adorable because he always comes up to me and says, "me you play!" I adore him. 

Playtime's nothing with painting nails. 

This little boy wanted to paint my nails soo bad. 

Funny thing about play time... girls' favorite question is if you have a boyfriend and if you're married. They love love. 

:) 

I Can't Wait to Be a Teacher!!!!!

Wow, today was amazing. It was our first day of service here at Rising Star. We were assigned to education today. It had such a neat experience working with the children. They are so confident and exited about school and learning. They all speak Tamil but they're learning English, so that's mostly what we tutored them on. There are grades kindergarten through 12th grade... except they call them standards instead of grades. They said there are about 250 students. Many of them have parents who are affected by leprosy, and the others do not have family members who are affected by it. Also, each of the students have 3 sponsors. It's amazing the way the community and others in the world reach out to these kids. I want to sponsor one so badly! It's humbling to be apart of this program.

Here's what we did in the schools... English tutoring with kindgarteners, reading with upper level students, computer lab with kindergarteners, values lesson with upper level students, and PE. The KGs were the cutest. I've never seen kids so energetic about learning. With each kid, we were given a paper telling us what they needed to work on, usually word formation or pronunciation. They are so smart. It made me soo excited to be a teacher one day. Reading with the students was awesome too because I put with some students who are struggling a little. So when they would read something correctly in English and I would tell them "good job," man, the looks on their faces were priceless. That's what I'm looking forward too with teaching, just seeing students light up when they understand and excel in school. Computer time was also great... the kids got soo excited to be on the computers and again, they're soo smart with the games and such. During PE time, we learned some fun Indian games. The kids were working together so well and were yelling these Tamil chants while rooting their teams on... soo adorable. It's crazy, they run barefoot on these gravel paths. We were all wondering if that was painful, but apparently their feet are so calloused that they're used to it. Awesome. Last of all we met with a few girls who are about 15 years old and we got to teach them about a certain value. We were assigned to teach them about making good choices. It was neat to hear stories from them about time they made good or bad choices and how their choices have affected their lives. It's a great blessing at this school that they can learn about these good values. I'm sure it'll help them a lot when they graduate and moreso go out into the world. All I can say after today is my love for children grew even more and I can't wait to be a teacher some day. It will be soo rewarding. Today sure was :).

Kids lined up for their morning assembly... at least I think that's what it is ;) 

The first student I worked with. Seriously, her smile got me! 

They all LOVED singing the alphabet with us! 

Goofballs 

:) 

They love the whiteboards... they were so helpful in tutoring too! 

Computer time. This little girl was adorable. She cracked me up. She wouldn't put the headphones on unless we put a piece of paper underneath first. 

My brother enjoying some computer time with the students. 

PE time!!! 

JerBear and I taught these 3 awesome girls the values lesson on making good choices. 

Complementary crazy hair come with the Rising Star experience ;) 

The rest of the day we enjoyed play time with the kids. It's so neat because they're remember our names now and we're slowly getting the hang of learning all of their names haha. Slowly but surely. There are soo many. It's so awesome. I went out with some kindergarten students earlier and we had a blast. We played on the swings, played card games and just ran around. Also, we carry around our phones for pics and such, so they LOVE taking pictures and looking through our pictures. Their favorite questions with our pictures is asking about our families and if we have boyfriends. They crack us up. Today I played with one of the cutest little boys EVER, Praveen. I seriously want to be one of his sponsors. I felt like we had a cool connection as we played. He felt like a little brother who I already love soo much, even after just one day of knowing him. It's awesome to build relationship with the people here. It's cool because none of the kids are really shy. They love us volunteers and are so interested and getting to know us and tell us ALL about them. I enjoy it a lot. I'm excited that we have play time with the kids every day. Also, at night at 9 pm we have story time with them, where we can talk with and/or read stories to them before they go to bed. They are so fun to be with during story time. 

My mom playing cards with the kids during play time. 

Great shot from one of the kids who was playing with my phone... but this is what we are required to wear each day to match their culture and to be modest. I wouldn't mind dressing like this everyday... and wearing no make up without doing my hair too. 

Praveen is the cutest little boy. 

Look at that smile. 

Seriously, I love kids soo much! 

"... Ye have done it unto me"

Well, I forgot my journal here in India, so I decided to reopen my Gospel blog and share this amazing experience. India is awesome. It's very different than I expected. The culture is very different, but I've already fallen in love with it and the people here. It's super hot here too, maybe close to 100 degrees during the afternoon... it's taking some adjustment, but I love it!! Let's say,  that I've never slept so well at night in a long time due to the heat haha. It's really crowded here, there are people everywhere. They are so friendly, waving to us all the time and asking how we are! I love it. I'm so excited for the experiences we'll have here and for the service we get to do!

I feel very blessed being here, especially over Easter weekend. Christ's service and love are such profound messages of Easter. He led his entire life this way before he gave himself up so we too can live again. So it's been great to serve others over this holiday weekend. It's really true what people and Christ has told us that we're the happiest when we serve others. I only hope and pray that the kids and others we serve can feel our love and Heavenly Father's love for them as we're helping them. The week before I came here was a tough one. The timing of this trip has been an amazing tender mercy in my life. I've realized that I need to serve more in my life. I know it's what really makes us happy, and when we're serving others, we're serving our Heavenly Father and Savior... nothing better than that!

Here's an update from the past few days....

We got here on Friday.... 3 flights later at 4 am in the morning. We had all slept on the plane and we had to get up at 7 am, so we didn't sleep at all. Travel was great and I'm blessed to be with my wonderful family. No bias, but I'm blessed to have the best family in the world.

After no sleep, yet still having energy, we had a great first day in Chennai. We went shopping in some city a bit away from where we're staying. We also went to the Ideal Beach Resort, where they have a pool and beach! It was so fun. There are all these tiny shops. The city is known for their stone carving, so it was neat to see all the talent these shop owners have. We found some pretty sweet souvenirs and gifts for friends and family. In one of the shops, we met this adorable 2 year old girl. That's when I first fell in love with the people in India. Her smile killed me and her father's care for her was really touching. This made me soo excited to work with the families and kids at Rising Star. The beach and pool were soo fun. We went body surfing and relaxed all day long. I even got sunburned for the first time in 2 years, after being home from the mission too. So worth it! It was a fun day to get to know the other families who are volunteering at Rising Star. We have an amazing group... take a look :)

That's the sweet girl and her father we met while shopping.

Look what I found... Mogu Mogu from my mission. 

Rising Star group at Ideal Beach Resort. 

Got these cool leather sandals made. 

There are cows everywhere... kinda like karabaw in my mission. 

Sunday was awesome! Happy Easter. I'm grateful for the experiences I had Sunday in India. We got to go to church, which was amazing. It was Fast and Testimony meeting, so it was awesome to be able to hear the testimonies of the sweet Indian people there. The church really is so amazing wherever you go. It's so true and I saw and felt such great faith from the people in this ward. The church seems pretty similar here to the Philippines where I served, kind of new. A lot of the members were talking about their conversion stories. They were amazing and I felt of their love for the Gospel and our Savior.

I felt prompted to get up and bare my testimony. I seriously ALWAYS get prompted when I'm not in my actual ward, but I couldn't fight the feeling this time either. I had a cool experience on the bus ride to Chennai for church. It was over 2 hours of driving, so I had a lot of time to read the scriptures and ponder about Easter and what our Savior has done for us. I read John 20 every year on Easter morning, which talks about after Christ had risen, how he appeared to Mary Magdalene at the tomb. Usually I pay attention to the account between the two of them and the example of Mary to all of us, seeking Christ out. However,  this time something new stuck out to me. Christ tells Mary to go tell all the brethren and disciples what she has seen. She does and later the disciples are gathered. They know that they will see Christ and it says that they were somewhat fearful. The first thing Christ says when He appears to them is, "Peace be unto you." Especially in the previous week, I feel like I had had so many worries and Satan had been on my back. Things were totally fine at this point but reading that brought such peace to my heart. I thought about how grateful I am for what Christ has done for us. He knows how we feel at all times in our life and if we use His Atonement through anything we're going through, we always will feel that peace. The peace and hope of the Gospel are such central parts to Easter message and what Christ has done for us. I'm grateful to have a testimony of that.

After church, we went to the mall in Chennai. Rising Star is about an hour and a half away from the main part of Chennai, so it's the only day we have to shop there and get groceries. So that's what we did. I got some cool souvenirs and gifts for some friends. The mall there was CRAZY huge and so crowded. It was cool to experience it, though.

The rest of our day was full of orientation and getting ready for a week full of service at Rising Star. I'm beyond stoked to be able to serve the wonderful kids and others who live here. We get to do construction, medical work and serve in the schools. It's cool because we live on campus where the school is and the leprosy colonies are super close by too. It's all set up soo well. Tomorrow... drumroll please... we're assigned to education rotations. We get to tutor, read with, and help the students on campus. I'm super pumped for this day since I want to be an elementary education major. This will be right down my ally and I just know I'll fall in love with the kids!

Man, I feel very blessed to be here.  The blessings are unreal. I've been reminded of the scripture in Matthew that says, "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." I love that and I sure am feeling that while here in India. This week is already so unreal. More to come :) 

To Be, Do, and Serve Beyond Capacity.

The past 3 weeks have been especially full of reflection for me. It's been both a wonderful, but also difficult time reviewing everything that's happened lately in life. It's really caused me to better focus entirely on the Atonement and study it more in depth. Through my study, the other day I learned something so profound. A lot of the time we think of the action of the Atonement, which is the greatest act possible and is so important. I haven't thought much about this, but the other day I was taught more often than we think people don't take as much time to reflect on the Savior's character behind the Atonement. It is the greatest act of LOVE anyone will ever perform, to the extent that we won't ever be able to fully comprehend it here on earth.

The Atonement allows us to forgive others, forgive ourselves, enabling us to be and do good and serve beyond our own individual desire and natural capacity. This is one of the greatest purposes of the Gospel, and the Atonement, as President McKay once said, "to make bad men good and good men better, and to change human nature." Elder Bednar said, "The journey of mortality is to progress from bad to good to better and to experience the might change of heart-to have our fallen natures changed." It is to help us to put of the natural man as best as possible. 

Mosiah 3:19 says, "... And putteth off the natural man and become a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." If submissive, the Atonement is the true link to bringing about real change. From experience, stubbornness and trying to get ahead of things or the will of the Lord doesn't work. It is through true humility and submission that bring about the enabling us to be, do, and serve beyond our individual desire and natural capacity. Now back to what I said above. Just how important the act of the Atonement is, the character is just as, if not more important. Heavenly Father loved us so much that he sent his son, Jesus Christ, down to minister on the earth and then to voluntarily atone for each of our sins. The combination of God and his Son's love made the Atonement possible. The Atonement was a choice for our Savior, but he understood the will of God and how much it would impact each of us, that he lovingly said yes... the greatest outward expression of selflessness. This joint love is what brought about the Atonement, to love us so much that we would always have a Heavenly Father and Savior to turn to in times of happiness, success, sorrow, guilt, sin, and so forth. It is what brings us the greatest measure of happiness possible. 

This example and action of love is how we are to use the Atonement in our life. It's how we get rid of selfishness and pride. Think about it. Heavenly Father and our Savior were so selfless and full of love, a way was created for us to submit ourselves and repent, becoming clean so we can be  instruments in the Lord's hands. I think about my mom and dad and what they've taught me. They are some of the greatest examples of love in my life. They have made it a goal in life to teach my siblings and I the Gospel and the Atonement. Not only have they taught us these principles, but they have used the Atonement, exemplary of the Savior, to serve and love each of us. 

This goes to the last part of what I learned the other day. Once we have properly used and consistently use the Atonement in our lives, we need to develop and show such love and service to others, as individuals and especially in relationships and future spouses, parents, etc. And through this service and love, it's not so much about our actions, but the character we develop and obtain through our actions. There is so much love demonstrated through the Atonement. Our Savior performed the Atonement out of an incomprehensible amount of love for each of us. We need to willingly submit ourselves, so that we may develop these characteristics in our life in order to, again, be, do and serve beyond our own individual desire and natural capacity. 

Thank You For Loving Me Enough to Cut Me Down.

There is an AMAZING lesson to be learned through this video, "The Will of God," by Elder Christofferson: 

One of my weaknesses in life is being stubborn, and although I am far from perfect in this area and have more to learn, I have learned that seeking out help and willingly receiving guidance in this life is one of the biggest blessings we can partake of here on earth, especially through the help of our loving Heavenly Father. The message above is perfect in explaining this.  Our Heavenly Father truly knows what's best. Life is scary sometimes and is full of big decisions, especially as we get older. Even when things seem to be or are really fine, often times there is more of a lesson for us to learn or something completely different that our Heavenly Father has in store for us. I have learned that living the gospel to the the fullest gives us more access to our agency as we become more entrusted by our Heavenly Father, when we truly keep the commandments desire to make the right choices in life. On the other hand, even if we are living the Gospel to our best ability, sometimes it takes more than ourselves in making decisions and so forth. There are angels here on earth who really are the Lord's hands who are put in our paths to help us, whether it be our parents, friends, or people we hold dear to us. From someone who is sometimes stubborn, sometimes I think I can make all decisions on my own, when the more correct thing to do is to seek out help or listen to the advice of others. Of course we have our own agency that we exercise on a daily basis, but I do believe that answers and help often come through the people we are surrounded by. We also, of course, have a loving Heavenly Father who loves, knows, and understands us perfectly. No one knows us better. He knows the desires and intentions of our hearts, and knows how to perfectly help us when we are in need. Here on earth we have this wonderful gift of agency that we have been greatly entrusted with. I have found it wise in my life to seek out God's hand in all things, but sometimes He leaves it up to us to make decisions.  Many times Heavenly Father expects us to step into the dark and make these decisions. It can be a scary thing, but Heavenly Father knows best and he will never lead us astray in making our decisions as long as we live our lives properly and rely on the Spirit in all things. Other times, Heavenly Father is anxiously waiting for us to seek out his hand and full help in our life. He really does know what is best for us and will never help us or lead us to anything that will harm us in life.

There's one part of Elder Christofferson's message above that sticks out to me and has taught me a lot, especially when battling bmy stubbornness. I love when he says that in order to meet God's high expectations we must willingly accept and even seek out correction. The story of the current bush is a perfect example of how I and I'm sure a lot of other people feel throughout our lives feel, but the moral of the story is the important thing. It is the pruning or in different terms the molding that our Heavenly Father aids us with, that we become what he wants us to become. Often times I ask myself, "but why? everything seems fine; I'm doing the things I need to." Often times I feel like that little current bush crying out to the gardener, "How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth and now you've cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me. How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here." That's where our trust in our Heavenly Father comes in. He is our "gardener." He and our Savior Jesus Christ made it possible so that we have this wonderful, yet often trying, experience here on earth. But because of that, they know what's best for us. That's why we'll always get a response like: "I am the gardener here and I know what I want you to be. I don't intend you to be another tree. I want you to be a current bush. And some day you'll thank me for loving me enough for cutting us down." We often have great visions for ourselves, but the wonderful yet often hard thing to see if we don't open our eyes and ears a little wider, is that we have a loving Heavenly Father who knows what's even better for us. Heavenly Father again knows our hearts and desires and most of the time, if we live our lives right, he wants to give us what we desire, but sometimes our desires are not enough. Sometimes we need a certain pruning or molding in our life to make us become an even better someone our Heavenly Father sees best fit for us.

So we need not be afraid of what the "other plants" think of us and we don't need to be stubborn so we don't miss out on Heavenly Father's plan for us or miss out on the advice or help from others. Step into that darkness and exercise your agency properly, but always be willing to seek out the help and advice of others, especially from our loving Father in Heaven who does know us perfectly and always sees the big picture with everything. We can't expect the same outcome in life if we just do the same things and keep to ourselves. There are loved ones around us who want to help us and will help us stay on the straight and narrow. Seek out Heavenly Father and others for help. If you have the Spirit with you and you are choosing the right, chances are Heavenly Father and others who you go to for help won't lead you astray, because ultimately God knows what's best for us and he knows what to do for us and he knows what people to place on our path to help us here on earth. So get on your knees and give thanks to our gardener, our loving Heavenly Father, for loving us enough to cut us down. I know that through doing these things we can become more grateful, more eager to seek out God's help and others' help in our life, and that will better be able to see the eternal perspective of all things, and truly see the hands of our Heavenly Father and Savior on a daily basis. For however small or great our capacities are, we are all able to meet the high expectations of God, just as long as we pray for his love-inspired correction.

An Atitude of Gratitude

Today was such an amazing Thanksgiving and I have soo much to be grateful for. Lately, I think gratitude is something I could have a lot more of. Today was a great day to take a step back, look at the big picture, and reflect on on the many blessings/everyone and everything I have to be grateful for.
Something I have been focusing on studying this past week and trying to implement in my life is focusing more on the things in life that matter most. I've reading and rereading President Uchtdorf's talk "Of Things That Matter Most." Sometimes I get a little caught up the rush of life, not realizing that life doesn't have to be going a million miles per hour. Life isn't about constantly checking off our to-do list or wanting to things to go at our pace. President Uchtdorf's advice is: "We would do well to slow down a little, proceed at the optimum speed for our circumstances, focus on the significant, lift up our eyes, and truly see the things that mater most... diligently doing the things that matter most will lead us to the Savior of the world." I was thinking today and I think gratitude better becomes apart of someone's nature when they really focus on the important things in life, rather than getting caught up in the haste in life. I think that's how I can personally develop a better attitude of gratitude in my life. Focusing on the essentials and the things that matter most is what can bring us true happiness, help us forget ourselves and more fully serve others around us. All of this can help us develop more of a grateful heart and attitude in life.
In a talk a while back, President Eyring talked about keeping a journal and asking ourselves "Have I seen the hand of the Lord in my life today?" I was sitting in my family room today and looking at all the amazing people, things, and knowledge, especially of the gospel, I have in my life. The Lord's hand is definitely in my life on a daily basis. This Thanksgiving has taught me that I need to slow down, open my eyes and ears a little more, and more fully recognize the Lord's hand in my life. Our Heavenly Father and Savior are aware of each of us and know exactly what each of us needs and even know our greatest desires. If we slow down a bit, recognize the hands of the Lord, and focus on what matter most, then we will achieve the greatest happiness in life. So let us all have a better attitude of grattitude. I know I could  I can and have the desire to improve in this area, along with others. I know that slowing down and focusing on the things that matter most will definitely help in being more grateful.

I'm so grateful for so many things. Here are a couple of them... 

1) The gospel 

2) A loving Heavenly Father who loves all of us perfectly 

3) Our Savior and the Atonement 

4) A loving and supporting family, especially my parents 

5) Being adopted into a wonderful family that have the blessings and knowledge of the gospel 

6) Being sealed to my parents and siblings 

7) The scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon 

8) Modern day prophets and apostles 

9) The best friends anyone could asked for who love, support, and help me in my life

10) My family living so close to BYU 

11) BYU and the oppotunity to gain an education 

12) My church leaders 

13) Having a job 

14) Fun

15) The outdoors and everything beautiful about the world 

16) Skiing 

17) Traveling and the opportunity to enjoy other cultures in the world 

18) My Jerusalem study abroad- Not a day goes by that I don't think about this wonderful experience 

19) Learning experiences and the oppotunity to learn new things every day 

20) Trials which teach us the biggest lessons in life. 

And the list goes on and on. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I couldn't find the video on blogger so here's the link... such a great message!  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjl9oNUApKg