The Temple!!!

I was able to have one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Let me preface the story just a little. For years I have wanted to go through the temple and take out my endowments. For a girl there are a few reasons that you can do that. First reason would be if you were going to get married. It is essential that you take out your endowment first. The lord is a god of order after all. The second option would be to go on a mission after you turn 21. The last option is to get older and not have done the first two options. I had always been told that the magic age was 24. So here I was waiting to turn 24. I don't know if waiting is the right term to use. I wasn't just sitting around letting the years go by, knowing that someday I would be 24. That would defeat the whole purpose of needing to be 24. I went to the temple prep class 4 times if my memory serves me right. This was done over the past 5 years. I have just always felt like I needed to be ready when ever the time was right. I wanted to be prepared.

I'm not going to lie, I was really hoping that option 1 was going to be the one for me. I have dated a number of people over the years and only had one that really should have worked out. But here I am still single. That means on to option 2. I've never really felt compelled to go on a mission while I was young. I always focused on education. I love learning and I couldn't even fathom taking a year and a half off of school. People have asked if I was going, and I just say that I am getting as much education as possible. So there went option 2.

Option 3 was beginning to look like my destiny. Right before I turned 22 I had a talk with myself. I decided that I was going to go through the temple for my 24th birthday. I was going to spend the next two years preparing to become who I need to be to get those blessings. When I moved to Salt Lake City in April the lord blessed me with two amazing visiting teachers. One of them asked if I was endowed. I told her that I wasn't 24 yet, so I hadn't had that opportunity. She said that if I really felt like I needed to go through the temple I should talk to the bishop. I wasn't really sure at that point if it was really time for me to go yet. I had had 24 in my head so long that I couldn't really think of it differently.

The summer presented me with interesting experiences. I finally read the Holy Temple. This is an amazing book and I had a real desire to go to the temple. In August Michael ended up getting engaged. He informed me that I would be getting my endowments out so that I could go to his wedding in December. I told him that I wasn't going to do it for that reason. They later had to move the wedding to March so I had more time to decide what I wanted to do. In September I was thinking about the temple a lot. I figured that it wouldn't hurt to ask the bishop if I could go to the temple. We had a chat and he asked when I would be turning 24. I told him not for another year. He said that I needed to at least wait until after my birthday. So on October 25th I had my interview. Then set up my appointment with the stake president. I got my recommend about two weeks before I went through. It finally started to be real for me at that point.

I scheduled my time with the temple for November 14th. I made all the calls and invited my family to come and share this experience with me. So yesterday I got in the car with my mom and headed to the temple. I have never felt the love of my savior that much in my life. I knew that I as a daughter of my heavenly father. I was special and a individual. My heavenly father was filled with joy that I had made this decision and made it to his holy house. It was such a neat experience to have so much of my family there and know that I was loved. They took time out of their lives to come for me.

I can't wait for the day that I will be sealed in the temple with the man I love. It will be one of the most sacred and precious moments of my life. I have taken so many things upon myself at this point. I know that I want to keep myself worthy and clean to receive that final ordinance one day. I pray that I can live me life the way I need to in order to be a light in the darkness for others. I hope everyday of my life I can do what I need to do for a worthy young priesthood holder to see me and know that I am his.

Pretty much to sum up the temple is amazing and I am going to go back as much as I can!

Grad school entrance tests.....

After taking the GRE I was a little disappointed with my score, but live must go on. The day I received my official GRE score I signed up to take the Miller Analogy Test. I couldn't find a practice test online that was free, so I ordered some flash cards. The website said they would be mailed within one business day. I was expecting to get the package fairly quickly. I was very wrong. I received my package yesterday. I was really happy to finally get them, but not excited to take my test today. So I gave up my Monday night volleyball to be responsible and hopefully get a better grade on my test. Then I got off work an hour later than I planned on. I drove home, sat down on the couch and studied for four hours. Then I went to the U and took my test. As I finished I was scared to push the submit button. I really didn't want to have to take it again. I clicked the button and.........

I PASSED!!!!!!

Yes that is the word. So I am one step closer to applying to graduate school. So that is my story and I'm sticking to it.

Registration

I remembered today at work that I needed to register for winter semester classes. I was a little scared because I thought I would be writing emails to teachers and talking to my advisor trying to figure out a way to make it all work.

Registering has always been a big hassle for me. I don't know if there has ever been a semester that I just sat down and got all the classes I needed. I spent a few hours a couple of weeks ago piecing my schedule together. I have four classes that I need to take. Along with those come three science labs. I don't know if any of you have ever tried to coordinate labs, but it is hard work. These particular labs are all connected to a certain lecture class. In order to make everything fit the lecture class and the lab have to fit in a particular spot. Coming down to the last classes you have to take is difficult. You don't have a lot of options and you have to take the classes or you will be behind a whole year. My favorite is when you have planned out your schedule a couple weeks in advance. Then you go to register and the class times have changed. Then you get to redo the entire things for one class.

So long story short I didn't have any of these problems this year. Actually it was helpful, one of the lab times for my chemistry class changed. But instead of it being horrible it was wonderful. Michael is getting married on a Tuesday in March. I was trying to plan my schedule so I could go to his wedding without too much hassle. It ended up that I was going to have to put my chemistry lab on Tuesday. Then I had to move my Anatomy and Physiology lab on Wednesday morning so that I could possible go to the Monday section of my chemistry lab when Michael got married. It was all a lot of work for just one day. I must really love Michael.

So the lab time was changed so I could take it Wednesday afternoon. This the allowed me to change my Anatomy and Physiology lab back to Monday afternoon. I now won't have to start class until 9:45 a.m. In Rexburg this is a good thing. It is already freezing cold there in the winter. It doesn't help if you have to go out when it is dark. The sun makes it at least a little warmer.

The moral of the story is I registered, it was a breeze and worked out even better than originally planned!

As a side note, I went to look at my account to see how much tuition was and I discovered a Pell grant for this semester. I'm not sure how this work, but I wasn't about to question it. I just said a pray thanking my heavenly father for this wonderful gift and rejoiced. I know that people get excited when they find $5 in their pants pocket after doing laundry, but I wasn't expecting to find an extra $488 hanging out in my account. I love life and its little miracles.