Spotlight

I have this friend.

Yes, Julia, the spotlight's on you.

So, anyway, I have this friend...Julia.

Why am I writing a blog post about Julia? No clue. Except that she inspires me. So I thought I'd devote a whole flippin' post to her.

Many people inspire me, so maybe one day, I will spotlight all of them. And many people have been spotlighted in the past. Please refer here, here, here, here, here, here, here and let's not forget here for past spotlights.But anyway, back to this spotlight.

Julia Lewis. Now words can describe this girl. She's real. She's cool. She's real cool. :) She's chill. She's so down to earth. She's genuine. She's without guile. She's herself.

Now sure. Everyone has imperfections. So I'll go ahead and name a few of Julia's.......... Just kidding! :) I wouldn't know what to name, but I'm sure she has them. :)

But really, while she has had struggles, and no one is perfect, this is a girl I want to be like. Mainly because, she knows who she is. The light of Christ shines all over her face. She chooses her time wisely, but can still let loose and relax and have fun.

We have our "things"...just as I do with most of my friends. She taught me the yumminess of scookies (a huge cookie taken right out of the oven, with ice cream put immediately on top so it kind of starts to melt...RIGHT ON THE COOKIE SHEET. No need for bowls or plates.) And watching one of the greatest chick flicks ever, The Lake House. And eating at Craigo's Pizza.

She reads and ponders her scriptures nearly every day. (Or...she did when I was her roommate.) She volunteered as a grandparent person...(sorry, Julia, I don't know the technical name for it.) But it's where she'd go visit older people and hang out with them...every week. In fact, I think she's in charge of that organization now. Or, I could be making that up. But whatever.

She just wrote a blog post about the fun she had helping underprivileged girls in Chicago for the summer.

She's just good, through and through. I never feel judged by her. Never. I'm 5 years older than Julia, and I probably should have set a better example for her while living with her, but she set the example for me. Oh yeah, and she never seems to talk negatively about people.

One of my favorite memories with Julia is of us driving home one snowy winter day...actually, two days. We're both from Oregon, so I was giving her a ride home from Rexburg for Christmas vacation. And, let's face it...Julia is probably a bit more spiritually refined than I am. It was snowing hard. And Chuck and my mom were in the van in front of us. And it was getting dark. And I couldn't see anything. Literally...could not see a thing. I had told Chuck to drive slowly so I could see his tail lights, but he kept speeding up ahead of us. And my windshield wipers would stop every once in a while...and my tires felt like they were going to fall off, and the fluid in my car wouldn't squirt out to wipe off all the slushy mud that was hitting my windshield...and, well, I was SCARED and thought we were going to die. Julia was beside me, and my solution, instead of praying...was swearing. Yeah. I was swearing up a freakin' storm. Did Julia judge me? No. Or, maybe she did...and I just didn't know. She just tried to remain calm...and I think she laughed a couple of times. And then, all of the sudden I was like, "Dang, we're gonna die...I really need to read The Book of Mormon more." And Julia busted up laughing. Her laughing eased my tension. And then, I think I started praying instead of swearing.

But seriously...I never felt judged by her. She's good. Good to the core.

This good girl just got engaged to a man I can only hope is good like her. But, I think good attracts good. I'm so excited for her.

So, Julia, thanks for being you...and the quiet example of the Savior that you are. I've needed you in my life.

And....spotlight over. I've gotta go to the bathroom.

Something on my mind

My belief in my religion is not proof based. Therefore, I'm getting a tad impatient with people's attempt to disprove my religion (my own grandmother included in those "people"). You can't disprove something that isn't proven. I don't believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ as taught in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true because it's been proven true by man. I believe it to be true because the Spirit has born witness to my heart that it's true. You can't disprove that.

With that said, I'd also like to state that I don't believe in my religion because man tells me to believe it. I believe it because I've talked to God about it.

My brother-in-law, Matt, recently had a priesthood meeting with Elder Nelson, a member of the quorum of the 12 apostles. In this meeting, Elder Nelson was confronted about the issue of black members of the church unable to hold the priesthood until the '70s. Elder Nelson said that, while the doctrine of the church is always true and perfect, the policies are not always true and perfect. Elder Nelson said that in the case of withholding the priesthood from black men, the policy was incorrect.

Allow me to be so bold as to say, in other words...the brethren were incorrect in withholding the priesthood from black men, according to what Elder Nelson recently said in this meeting (a meeting in which I was not in attendance. So, yes...we must take that into account. I'm hearing his words through my brother-in-law, who was there in person.)

This isn't really news to me, however. But it's news to some, I'm sure. See, we as Latter-day Saints like to bury any negative things affiliated with our church deep deep in the ground as to not taint the church's image or taint our testimonies. My feeling is, however, nothing can change my testimony. Because my testimony, you see, is not founded on man...it is founded on Christ. Christ is the head of this church, but men...flesh...humans...run it under his watch. And, sometimes...men make mistakes. Do the mistakes of men disprove the reality of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Nope. They don't.

The blacks/priesthood issue is not the only confusing thing in our church's history. If you were to take some time to research, you'd find all sorts of surprising things. ALL SORTS. You don't have an apostate grandma and serve a mission in the South without discovering some of these "surprising" things. But again, I've never claimed to have perfect human beings running the church to which I belong. I've claimed to be a part of Christ's church, but until Christ is here himself, running it in person, mistakes will be made...on multiple levels, I'm sure. The gospel and the doctrine, however, will remain perfect.

I've experienced some things in the last 10 years of my life...some things that the majority of my friends and acquaintances are unaware of...that could have pushed me away from the church, had I let them. Those experiences still linger with me to this day. And, as Amy Grant says, "I'd be lying if I said I had not tried to leave a time or two...but every road that leads me, leads me back to you." "You" being God...and God always leads me to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have contemplated what it would be like to leave. I've toyed with the idea. And sometimes, it seems very appealing. If that makes you think less of me, well...I apologize for that and commend you for your unwavering faith. Honestly, I do. It's a gift of the Spirit to be unwavering in your faith, and I'm grateful for people with such a gift.

Although, I wouldn't say my faith was wavering...but maybe my patience...which is a Christ-like attribute, one that I continually need to work on, because my flesh is weak and gets in the way of my spirit.

But the fact remains, no matter how much my patience is tried, I have a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that does not seem to go away. I believe The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Jesus Christ's church established in the latter days, and I do believe that good, righteous men of God hold God's power, and guide His church with that power. No amount of "mistakes" or "discoveries" will disprove my testimony.

I love...

I LOVE making people laugh!!!

Oh my gosh, like seriously. It's one of my favorite things ever. And I love to laugh. So it's great when I can make someone laugh, and then the fact that they're laughing makes me laugh. And then we're both just busting a gut. Best. Feeling. Ever.

I also love the fact that after tonight, I'll be FREE from tests, projects, presentations and assignments....for a whole month and a half! Until I start up my film-production program.

I'm going to do the BIGGEST happy dance when today is over!

Okay, back to studying. Buh bye now.

Guitar Friend

I miss my guitar. This is the only picture I could find of me with it. I'm listening to Ingrid Michaelson right now...she's just strumming away at her guitar. And all I can think is, 'I want my guitar.' Like, it's making me ache.

So, it's probably a good thing I'll be reunited with it soon. I didn't bring it to D.C. with me because of money...or lack thereof. But it will definitely be accompanying me to Seattle.

It's a piece of me...like an arm or a leg. I'm missing a ligament. :)

Anyway. I'm going to New York next weekend. It will be the greatest trip known to man. And then, I'll say goodbye to D.C. on the 15th. Bitter/sweet, but definitely more sweet than bitter.

I just realized...I've never named my guitar. Do you think I should? Is it like a boat? Does it need a name? Does that mean I don't love it that much?

Maybe I'll call it Guitar Friend. :)