I want to be a missionary!

      I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, also know as the Mormons. In our church the young men (aged 18+) are asked to leave their friends families and comforts of their homes for 2 years and share the joy of the restored gospel and the love of our savior Jesus Christ to our brothers and sisters around the world. Young women (aged 19+) can also have the opportunity to serve a full time mission for a period of 18 months. 

Some of my cousins and I in Phoenix after the cousin leaving on her mission spoke in Church.
Photo Credit to my Aunt Natalie.

     This weekend my cousin gave a talk in church and she will depart on her mission tomorrow. This now makes five of my cousins serving full time missions. They are serving in South Africa, California, Washington State, Ohio, and Chicago (although she is going to Mexico first to the Spanish Missionary Training Center). On both sides I am suspected and encouraged to be the next one out on a mission, and if not the next one, then one of the next couple, and I am so excited!

     I know I am meant to be a missionary. I have received confirmation of this fact multiple times and in multiple ways, and lately I've been wondering why? Why am I supposed to be a missionary, and what exactly makes a good missionary?

     Music always speaks to me, an two song in particular touch me when it comes to missionaries. Hymn 249, Called to Serve and Page 169 in the Children's Songbook, I Hope They Call Me on a Mission.

"Called to serve Him, heav'nly King of glory,

Chosen e'er to witness for his name,

Far and wide we tell the Father's story,

Far and wide his love proclaim.

"Onward, ever onward, as we glory in his name;

Onward, ever onward, as we glory in his name;

Forward, pressing forward, as a triumph song we sing.

God our strength will be; press forward ever,

Called to serve our King.

"Called to know the richness of his blessing--

Sons and daughters, children of a King--

Glad of heart, his holy name confessing,

Praises unto him we bring."

     I know I am a daughter of my Heavenly father and his love for me has helped me through so much. His love for me gives me hope to move on through trials and adds to my joy everyday of my life. I have a testimony and a love for this truth and the truth that I can and will live with my family forever. One of my deepest desires and hopes is that I can help bring this fact to my brothers and sisters of the world who do not have a knowledge of the joy of the eternities.

"I hope they call me on a mission

When I have grown a foot or two.

I hope by then I will be ready

To teach and preach and work as missionaries do.

"I hope that I can share the gospel

With those who want to know the truth.

I want to be a missionary

And serve and help the Lord while I am in my youth."

     I taught 4 year-olds at church for 6 months and my love for the children's hymns rekindled, so while I may not be growing a foot of two before I leave on my mission, I hope they call me. I hope I'm ready and I hope that people will be ready for me to talk to them. I am so greatful for the opportunity to give a year and a half of my life to strengthen my testimony and help plant and water the testimonies of others from all around the world. 

     People always ask me if I know where I want to go, and honestly I don't. The lord is no respecter of persons. He loves all of his children equally and I know he will call me to where ever I am best able to serve his sons and daughters. I have seen this as my brother and other missionaries have come home and shared stories about how much they love the people they helped and served with and how they know that where ever they went was in fact the perfect place for them. I know where ever I get called will be the perfect place for me.

     Many stones and rocks have been thrown in my way, but I am on the path to serve a mission. I have a testimony of this restored gospel and of my Heavenly Father and Savior's love for me. I am a Mormon, I know it, I love it and I live it!

The Wonders of a Smile

I wrote the following essay for my English 2010 class, I wanted to share it with everyone:

"We all know her or sometimes him. The girl or boy that everyone loves, who can brighten anyone’s day. They never cry; they never appear hurt or sad in anyway. Simply put, they are good at smiling. Can I tell you a secret though, they weren’t always happy. Don’t get me wrong, there are days where they didn’t have a care in the world, but most of the time the smiles are because it is all they can do to keep from falling apart. No one’s life is perfect, including theirs, but he or she doesn't let it stop them. To them, their problems are personal and they don’t need to burden others with them. Instead he or she has decided to try to relieve others of their burdens and troubles. When they ask questions such as “how are you?” they really care. Somewhere in all of this caring and being concerned for others, he or she found that all of their concerns were lessened.

"How do I know all of this? I am that person. Well to me I’m not. I do my fair share of crying and have had more than enough bad days. I don’t always feel happy, and I rarely feel like people go out of their way just to say hi to me. That person is in my life, but I don’t feel like I can fill her shoes. Throughout high school that girl, in my case that person was female, and many others thanked me for my positive attitude and constant smile, traits I don’t remember possessing. I do remember trying to be happy, and I do remember listening as others vented to me about their bad days. I remember my smile sometimes making me happier, but I remember the smiles of others helping as well. Somewhere along the line however, I became that girl-- the one that people gravitated to when they needed a piece of sunshine.

"I believe in optimism, and even beyond that, I believe when the world is falling apart around you, you can and should find something to be happy about. In the midst of an earthquake where the whole world it seems is crashing down, hold fast to that lamp post, a pillar of light, holding steady in the chaos. For myself, that light usually comes in the form of sweet caring and supportive friends, or in the glowing smile of that girl.

"In high school, we'll say her name was Alli, she cared about everyone. Our senior year Alli became student body president, not because everyone thought she was cute or funny, though she was both, but because everyone knew she generally loved and cared for everyone she met. Everyday she would meet someone new and strike a conversation with them. The next day or several days later she was able to again converse with them about things they had told her. Alli had a knack for making everyone's day better, even if they just passed her in the hallway. Surprisingly to me, on more than one occasion she thanked me for my smile.

"Most of the time something as simple as a smile or a sincere greeting can turn a day around. The reason behind the smile varies though. Sometimes my smile symbolizes sincere happiness, while other times I smile because it is all I can do to hold myself together. If I stop smiling, I cry. It is these days that a smile from someone else becomes my light post, steady through the tremor. These days make me want to smile for others.

"I believe in smiling; I believe in optimism. I believe anyone can become that person, the one who can turn anyone’s day around for the better, all it takes is a smile. A smile is a powerful tool, one that can lighten your spirits, along with those of who knows how many others. This I believe."

The past couple weeks have not been easy at all for me. I feel like my emotions decided to take a roller coaster ride and it's been quite hard. Despite it all, I know when I put a smile on my face, I become happier, and when I don't dwell on my problems they seem to lessen.

"It's funny how some distance makes everything seem small." This weekend I'm in Arizona for my cousin, Courtney's mission farewell, and that step away from my problems made them seem silly. My mom told my aunts, uncles and my grandma about one thing bugging me, and they all started laughing and said, ot that's funny. Not in a hurtful way, but it made me realize, maybe it is a little silly and I shouldn't be worring as much about it as I am. So I joined them and Laughed.

To end my blog today I just want to quote one of my favorite scriptures, "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones." Proverbs 17:22.

Some Water and Sugar to go with your Lemons?

So I was going to write about Yellow and Holidays and kinda why I named my blog this, especially since I'm really new at this whole blogging thing, but, I decided to write something different. This has been on my mind the last couple days.

"Everything happens for a reason." My roommate reminded me of this the other day, and I agree that it does. In the moment we might not see it, but take a step back, or wait a while and the purpose of an event can become clear as glass.

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." "You can only grow from this." "My trials make me a better person." How often do we hear these sayings? Yes, they may have become overused, but what isn't now a days, in a world that has existed for thousands of years and been home to billions of people, it's hard to have an idea that is purely your own, but the things that are over used are so, because they work, they are real. That is definitely a purpose behind each event in our life, because if you chose to you can grow from anything and everything.

Sometimes in life, disappointments can give you hope. Anger can give you determination. A spark can give you hope of a fire. Care can give you strength and reasoning often leads to pure understanding and respect. Hey, in the past week alone I've felt all of them.

Again, a cliche, but life hands you lemons. Bad things will happen to everyone, whether they be old young, rich, poor, introverted, outgoing, optimistic or pessimistic. Bad things happen, but I am a fond believer that the ultimate decision of what to do with the lemons is up to you. You can toss them back (but from my experience, it is hard to through trials and changes back at life), you can take them as is (but then that gets sour), or you can make them into something sweet, like lemonade. Yes, you have to provide your own sugar and water, but it is possible.

My sugar is optimism and determination. Knowing that I can and will get through this alright, and having the perseverance to take whatever life throws at me, and come out on top, as a better person. The water for me, is the tears I shed over the change, the talking and thinking it out. Actually discovering how I feel and where I want to go from this. Talking it out with those I am close to, currently includes my family, roommates, friends from home and my Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ. And then I take what they tell me to mind as well, cause they all have advice. Ultimately though the decision is mine and mine alone.

With out the right amount of sugar and water, no lemonade will turn out alright, so the important part is to deal with the problem, face the issue, but don't give it too much time or thought. Know when it is time to stop. Each case is different. Lemons are different sizes and life hands you several all at once. it takes practice to understand the recipe, and I'm not claiming I know it yet. I know what lemonade tastes like though, I know how I want to feel when it is all over, and I understand that there is a recipe. This is a good start.

Lemons are all around us, but life throws them at us for a reason. A good batch of lemonade does a soul good. So when you do get some citrus to the face, don't forget, with a little water and sugar, you have an amazing treat on your hands! :)

A Little Introduction

Hello, My name is Holly, and I love yellow. Some people like yellow, or think they love yellow, but I really do. This is how I often start introducing myself, so I guess it was a proper way to start on here. I am a student at Utah State, and I've been here for about three weeks now. High school and home, to college and independence has not been the easiest transition, but there are some people who helped me out a ton. My roommates and family were a big part of it and I'll probably write about them all you'll get sick of it.

My roommates are the reason I'm writing today. See it all started with Cass, who has been writing a blog for a couple months. When we all found out we were roommates and stalked each other on Facebook, we all pretty much fell in love with her blog, A Special Occasion. As we were all talking about it the other day Tay (times with taylor), Kate (Happy Days with Kate) and Jess (Raes on the Water) all decided to start/revive their blogs. My other roommates were thinking about it too. I'm not sure why exactly. Maybe it was how amazing Cass's was, or maybe it was just to give us a place to talk on and on about what ever we wanted with out feeling bad about posting really long status' on Facebook. I know for me, it was probably the latter, here is my post from a few minutes ago:


"So I have amazing roommates! (as I've posted before.) and about half of them write or are starting blogs. Jessica Christensen posted something on hers that hit me hard. I think it can all be summed up with the picture she posted "Here's the truth about big life changes: Some people won't come with you. And that's okay." While it has been so hard to be away from the friends that struggled through high school with me (Amiee, Hannah,Spencer, Anna, Libby, Emma, and MANY more) I know I am right Where I am supposed to be. My Heavenly Father has strengthened me and made this change easier, and while I still love my hometown friends, I feel like I've known my roommates for forever. So who knows, maybe I'll follow in their footsteps and write a blog. But for now, I just need to thank Cassidy, Taylor, Katelin, Jess, and Audge for instantly loving me, going everywhere with me and becoming my instant best friends! I love all you guys, in Rexburg, Logan, Ecuador, and where ever else you may be!"

Yeah, this is probably a better medium for that sort of stuff. (That post is referring to Jess's blog above). So maybe this is just a place for me to rant and rant about what I believe, and my thoughts and feelings. In English we're currently writing essays about what we believe, and it got me really passionate and excited.

Just be warned, I am no English major. I hate English and usually I'm no good at it. If this bugs you, just stop reading. I won't be offended and probably I won't even know.

So that's me, or at least what I'll tell you for now.

Have a fantastic day.