Smiling's MY Favorite

It all started when a handicapped man at the bus stop pulled me aside and told me to never stop smiling. At the time it didn't mean anything significant, but then I enrolled myself into Institute and got an amazing teacher and everyday I leave he shakes my hand and says, "Keep smiling Aubrey!" The counselors in my Bishopric tell me that my smile can brighten a room. Although my Bishopric and teacher have no idea how much this means to me it truly makes my day. Some days smiling is difficult. Trust me. I know. But I can testify that if you smile even when your hurting or sad, someone will help make your day a little bit better. You put in effort and Heavenly Father will recognize this. He will come to your aid and put someone in your life that day who will influence you, even if they just gave you a smile in return. To all those people who have told me to never give up and to always smile, you make me smile and I love you. What are you guys waiting for? Pay it forward and help make someone's day by shooting them a friendly smile.

Love,

Lobster

Coming to Christ

My Institute teacher, Brother Linford, told my class that he was driving on the freeway and received a call from an anonymous number. As he answered with a questioning hello he got a response saying, "Brother Linford, I want to come speak to your students." My teacher responded, "We would be honored to have you Elder Holland." Yes. You heard me right. Elder Holland came to speak to UVU's Institute. How lucky are we that the President of UVU is Elder Holland's son.  

Yesterday was a huge day for all at the Institute. Brother Holland was on campus and he would be speaking to us specifically. No general conference setting, but a smaller (yet still huge) crowd. As I had a class that was close to the time of it starting I didn't make it into the actual room that President Holland was speaking. I was pretty bummed but I was still happy that I was a part of this crowd. 

Elder Holland spoke on repentance and forgiveness. A reoccurring thing in our lives that we need to do daily. His two main topics were on truly changing and believing that we will be forgiven.

A Change of Heart

Often I catch myself thinking, "How can a person truly change?" We are who we are and it's hard to completely change your ways. We make mistakes some bigger than others, but we always can repent to our Heavenly Father and promise him to be better. Heavenly Father looks at us and sees that we're trying. He knows we're not perfect and what a wonderful thing that is. As Elder Holland told us that we can change through the Gospel I started to think of the daily things that I can do to change myself for the better. 

1. Read scriptures and pray daily

       Although this is an easy concept I struggle with this everyday. 

2. Attend the Temple regularly

       Over spring break I attended the St. George Temple and did Baptisms for the dead. As I was packing for this trip I found my temple recommend and saw that it expired in march of 2013... How sad I was to see that I hadn't attended the Temple in over a year. 

3. Attend Church meetings every week

       High school was a struggle for me, especially in the church department. I think my senior year I went to church like 4 or 5 times... I dreaded going. Moving out was a huge blessing. I love my ward and being a part of church. I love going.

4. Happy POSITIVE thoughts

       I'm constantly beating myself up and what for? It doesn't make me feel good, it doesn't make my day go smoother. I say it just because why not? Well that's not healthy. Having happy positive thoughts helps me feel confident and good about myself. We are incredible human beings who were created in the sight of God. Let's always remember that. 

5. A grateful heart

       Look for beauty in everything. Look for the beauty in having choices to make/agency, missing someone,your daily struggles. There is beauty all around us. We need to be appreciative for everything Heavenly Father has blessed us with.

Although this is a simple list, I think it's a good starting place. 

Forgiveness

Some of us feel that we are too far off the path to come back. This is a damaging thought. Many times I have thought this and my faith completely diminishes. As tears came to my eyes listening to Elder Holland preach about my life and my exact feelings I kept thinking "He gets it. He understands." If he understands and doesn't even know me personally think about our Father in Heaven. HOLY MOLY. He knows me better than my parents, He knows me to my very core. From the inside out He knows me. I am so humbled. What a loving God we have. His amount of love is almost surreal sometimes. Elder Holland reassured me that I can come back, In fact he exclaimed, "YES, YES, YES, ETERNITY OF YES!" We all can come back to Christ. No matter how awful you think your sins are, Christ is there with open arms asking you to come back to him. What a beautiful thing the Atonement is. I can't imagine my life without this gospel. 

Love,

Lobster

Happy

Blogging. Setting this up was ten times harder than I ever expected but I think I got it. I think..

The thought of getting a blog was really intimidating. I kept telling myself that I wasn't word savvy or creative enough to catch people's eye, but I've been intrigued with starting a blog. I think it is kinda cool writing your life down and being able to share your thoughts and feelings in such a way, although, I know my blog is just going to be jumbled up thoughts most of the time. I'm no good with diaries and I figured being in college, constantly doing online homework, it would be easier to log on and write rather than hand write in a diary. haha I find it funny that I hate writing. Like literally. I loathe it. But why I think that I'll keep up with this, I don't know. wish me luck.

anyways...

It's been a crazy freshman year. I couldn't be happier with my choice to come to Utah Valley University. The Lord definitely directed me here and I'm so grateful he did. I've made incredible friends and seriously am having the time of my life (besides the whole school/homework part). Moving out was a huge step for me. Even my mom told me that out of all my siblings, she thought I needed it most. haha thanks mom? No, I don't cook. No, I'm not super independent. Yes, I'm lazier than lazy. I see where she's coming from. Honestly, It's been a huge blessing and I thank my Heavenly Father for guiding me to such an amazing place that I get to call home. I have five wonderful roommates that I love oh so much. Even though sometimes my ears bleed from the operatic singing, I get headaches from the dramatic stories, and literally something falls out of our freezer every time we open it, I am so content with it all and love everyday I'm here. 

In high school I always woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Not a joke. I even had someone who loved me enough to send me sweet texts to wake up to but still there was no happiness there. I really struggled and I could never put my finger on as to why I felt this way. I loved my boyfriend and he really was such an amazing light in my life. He's taught me so much about myself and I will always be grateful to him. I now know that I was never happy with myself. I didn't love myself the way I should and it made it hard to accept the love that people so freely offered me, especially Presten's huge heart full of love for me. Although I struggled, it led me to where I am today. I love life.. most days. haha I'm so thankful for those crazy, difficult, lonely high school years. 

Be happy. Such a simple concept, yet so difficult to achieve.

We can do it.

With Love,

Lobster