Temple Square

Did anyone see where April went?!  Seriously.  I cannot believe it is the end of April.  This year is flying by and I cannot keep up.  I definitely need like three more hours in my day.  That's not too crazy right...just three wee little hours!  

This last weekend was a crazy great one.  I drove down Thursday morning to Draper because we had A LOT going on this weekend down south.  Friday was a special day for the youth in our ward.  I don't think I have ever written in the blog about my experience working with the young women in our ward.  It is truly an answer to prayer.  I was feeling like I needed another outlet in my life - something different to think about outside of what was happening in our home.  And almost immediately I was called to be in young womens.  

If I am being honest, and I really try to be on here, it has been probably one of the most frustrating callings I've ever had.  And I knew as soon as I typed that that it is going to come across as really negative.  Frustrating usually equals bad, right?  But that's not entirely true.  It has been a huge learning experience and for that I am grateful for.  It's taken a long time and Mark has been incredibly patient as he hears me go on and on and on about different things that have gone on but, again, I have learned a lot.  It's been amazing to feel inspiration come to me about these girls and I have spent countless hours praying and worrying about them.  I am really grateful for this calling.  

Our young women president wanted to have a day on Temple Square with our youth and it was really great.  We had more young women come than we expected (which is ALWAYS a great thing!) and it was a really special day.  My parents were so kind to watch the kiddos for the entire day so that I could be with our youth. 

I met up with them at the Family History Library at 9 and it was so much fun finding out famous people we are related to and how so many of us (youth and leaders) are related to each other.  It was awesome.  

We then went to the Church History Library and were able to explore there and then grabbed some lunch at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.  The girls had a blast sticking clothespin with happy thoughts written on them to each other...and to complete strangers.  They are great.  

Next, we went to the Salt Lake Temple and were able to perform baptisms.  I remember fondly being able to go to the Salt Lake Temple once when I was a youth to perform baptisms and what a special experience that was for me.  It was one of our young women's first time and I loved getting to watch her experience it.  

We then loaded up and went down to the Jordan River Temple Open House.  Even though it made for a really long day, it was neat to have those two experiences back to back and to have some great conversations in the temple with our youth about what happens in other places in the temple.  

I hope it was a faith promoting day for our youth.  They are great kids trying to navigate hard times.  I loved talking with one of our young women a couple days after asking her how she felt about the trip and her response was a sincere, "I loved it.  I didn't want it to end."