A testimony building experience I had...

In my internship there a lot of people who aren't LDS. I have heard a lot of swearing, I have see a lot of people smoking, drinking, and all sorts of stuff. Here's an encounter I had with a girl while doing my blood drawing rotation this past week.
I can honestly say that SLC is a lot different then just Temple Square and the SL temple, but I have known this for years. There are a lot of people who have grow up LDS and who have just taken a different road in their life. Some people absolutely hate LDS people and just don't care about the church anymore, and some who are tolerant because they aren't sure how they feel about the church. I had a conversation with someone the other day where she asked me where I got married. I told her I got married in the temple. She then went on to say, "I thought so, if I ever stepped in to a temple I'm sure that it would fall down around me." I guess she left the church when she was 13 and hasn't had any desire to go back. She is also married and is going to be having a baby. Someone had told her that she would have to pay for all of the horrible things that she has done in this life in the next life. This is what she told me after that, "I am married and having a kid. I believe in God, but I think that some of the ideals that people within the church place upon themselves aren't necessarily what the church wants us to. They teach their children that everyone who isn't Mormon is a terrible person, and I hate that because I don't think I'm a terrible person for believing in God, and not being a member of the LDS church."
It was kind of an eye opener for me. I realized more that my actions can really either help or hinder someone in the church. I don't judge her for leaving the church. I'm sure she had her reasons, or just wanted to have her own "freedom," but I'm not sure which. I have always been really grateful for the church and everything it stands for, but I to hate it when people teach others that other people are bad because they aren't members of the church. Does that make sense? I know a lot of people who aren't members who are really good people and are God fearing people. I know that judgement will only be passed by God and not by me. Here's what I said to her statement, "People have the right to choose where ever they want to go, it's not for me or anyone to decide how a persons life is going to go. That's what God is for." Was that right thing to say? I was going to say more, but we got interrupted. I was going to go on to say that I hope that my children will learn to love the church I like have, but it's up to them to gain a testimony of it, and not for me to force a testimony on them. If they start to go down a path that I don't think will be good for them, I will counsel with them to see if they need any help from me. If they continue to do things that are not what they grew up learning, then I will seek to help them in any way that I can, but I can't take away their freedom of choice. Sometimes people have to learn for themselves what the LDS church really means, but have to lose their way before they can come back. Many they don't come back in this life, maybe it's the next life they choose the Savior. All in all, I know that everything is in the Lord's hands and if we trust in that...then we have no need to fear.
I hope I have made myself clear. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make a situation like this a good one instead of a bad one? I hope I did well and didn't offend her at all. She didn't seem to be.

Ode to stupid drivers

Sorry...I have to vent. If any of you have done these things, I'm not against you or anything, I'm just venting because of these things my car has been nearly hit and could've got both of us injured. Let's just say I'm learning to be a safer driver.

Ode to stupid drivers

First...the blinker...the one that takes about a half second to turn on...is a really good thing. USE IT!

If there is someone in your blind spot...check your blind spot BEFORE you get over....usually they don't know you are getting over until it's almost too late.

RED lights are RED for a reason. And really RED lights are RED for a good reason so you don't hit cars that are going through a GREEN light!

You aren't the OWNER of the ROAD, just your CAR. So, why don't you take care of your car and try and not hit other people's cars with it.

Construction zones are just that...CONSTRUCTION! Don't go 80 mph not thinking you won't hit a pot hole or something else in the road and expect no one to be around you when you lose control of your car...because most likely there will be.

Next time...don't use your bright lights to drive. They blind people.

Oh and don't use your brights to make me go faster...for crying out loud, if you want to go fast JUST PASS ME!

Tail gaters just get off my butt! If I can see your face...you're too close.

Diesels are bigger then you are, so just don't cut them off...ok?

Stop signs are meant for STOPPING not GOING.

Dear Road fixing people...please make noticable lines in the road so people know where the lanes are...that would be much appreciated (on I-15 there are parts where there aren't any lanes...yep, that's the truth!)

I probably have more, but that's all that I can think of right now.

Update on life

So, I haven't written in awhile. It's because I'm so stinkin' busy all of the stinkin' time!!! I started my internship about three weeks ago, and it is certainly keeping me on my toes. Plus I am working in the Microbiology department at BYU...so there are busy days. My BYU job is awesome because I can work whenever I want to, or whenever I can. It's so nice. I decided not to go to work this week because I just feel so worn out. I have to get up at 5 in the morning, leave by 6-6:15 to get to Murray by 7. And then I'm there until my trainer lets me leave. Sometimes it's only until 12 or so, but there are other days where my trainer wants me to be there until almost 5. Yeah...I have long days. And then, just to top it off...I still have weekly tests. During this rotation, which is Chemistry, I am blessed to only have one test a week. Some of my friends who are doing their internships aren't as lucky. My poor Sabita has 5 tests this week! Not really looking forward to that rotation (hematology). But all in all, I'm had a pretty good experience. The first few weeks were tough...I thought I wasn't going to make it through this internship. Basically, I hate the commute, I hate the inconsistency with what I'm learning from my trainer and what I am actually tested on (they aren't the same), and I get discouraged that I feel like the under dog compared to everyone there. One of my trainers this week noticed that I wasn't really happy, she told me something that kind of helped. She said, "we have all been students, we are still students, lots of things change in this career. Just hang in there, you of all of the students I have taught can make it and feel happy with everything." I have a test tomorrow, I hope I can do better then I did the past two weeks. I get discouraged, but that's when the Lord picks me up and tells me to keep going...It will all be worth it in the end.

Our Christmas tree!

Monica and James were so nice as to let us borrow their little Christmas tree! We are missing a star or angel still...but hopefully we will find some in my parent's Christmas stuff. It's little and doesn't have a lot of decorations, but we still like it! It's very useful as a night light. :)

This is our only other decoration at this time, but isn't he cute!

Bowling with the girls, and the last day of school

Yesterday, I took 2 finals. Each one was for my each lab that I had taken this semester. After my chemistry final the lab teacher told us to clean out our desks. What?! Are we really done now?! Crazy... I cleaned out my lab desk. It was a bitter sweet moment. Bitter in the fact that I will be leaving BYU to go on to another chapter in my life called the internship, and sweet in thinking that I will be graduating soon. I will be a college graduate! I never really thought that day would come.

Well, to celebrate two of my friends from my major wanted to go bowling. We were able to get a free game because we were students and you are able to get one free game a semester. It was a lot of fun! I broke 100 my first game, and then kind of only got 80 my second game. I can honestly say I am better at Wii sports bowling then real bowling. Here are some pictures. The lighting was weird because they had the black lights on for the last day of bowling classes.

 Katie getting ready to bowl. She ended up with a 146!

 Blurry picture because of the lighting

 Our names for bowling. We thought it would be fun to have cool names.

 Ashlee was romantically attached to her ball...jk. She bowled really well!

Just being silly

Something to think about...

So, today was kind of an interesting day. When I was walking up to school from my car, a car ALMOST hit me! The driver was going super fast, and luckily, I wasn't crossing the street yet. A car in the other lane had stopped for me to let me cross the street, the other car was approaching the intersection, and I guess they didn't see me because, well, they drove right on past! Then I thought about it, what if I hadn't paid attention to that car and got hit... Hmm...interesting to think about.
Then another weird thing happened. After my parasitology lab, I went down to the computer lab to print off some stuff so I could study for my tests that are coming up. I left all of my school stuff and car keys with my friend Ashlee, just so I didn't have to carry them to the computer lab. The only thing I had was my cell phone. So, I was getting on the elevator to go up to study, and the elevator suddenly stopped between floors. Thinking to myself, "well, this is unusual." I waited for about 20 seconds, and the elevator just started to move again. I got off on the floor that I wanted to, and thought...what if I really had be stuck in an elevator? What in the world would I do?
Just something to think about...

Honeymoon pictures

So, Blake wanted to edit our honeymoon pictures, but I think he forgot. I am putting some of them on here, just so people can know we did go on a honeymoon, and we did have fun! LOL. For those of you who didn't know or hear...we went to Disneyland on our honeymoon! It was a blast! And we were able to visit Hollywood (not a fan) and San Diego! Enjoy!

The temple was under construction, but we were still able to do a session!

Turtles!

Penguins!

The Hoppers with Hopper the grasshopper

Bride and Groom

My favorite ride as a child. Dumbo!