I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!

Saturday was...just perfect. Not my ideal day but it's just what I needed at this time in my life. I woke up around 3:30 am to drop Joshua and Kim off at the school for the leadership workshop with Dr. Tim in Phoenix, AZ. I've attended that workshop at least two times and it's really cool because the things he teaches really go along with gospel principles as well as "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People". Being a good person because that's part of your character will show in your actions and will naturally inspire others to be better people. After dropping them off I went back to sleep (of course!) and woke up again around 7:30 to help the White Cliffs ward clean the church building. I had helped the Long Mountain ward clean the church building twice so I was used to just having someone sitting by the cleaning supplies and handing out jobs to do but that was not the case with White Cliffs. I couldn't find the person in charge and everything seemed to be taken care of so I went back home and applied for Love's gas station (cashier and clerk for Subway and the actual gas station part). Turns out one of my friends, Rusty, works there. Hopefully he can put in a good word for me. At 11 am a few members of the YSA met at the stake center to do baptisms for the dead with the youth of the Long Mountain ward. There were six of us from the YSA; Diane Cramer, Amber Vargas, Ben Gale, Dominique Rodriguez, B.J. Turney, and myself. The best part was that the six of us all rode in the same car! What a blast!!! It started out with Amber driving, Ben in the passenger seat, then me behind Amber, Diane next to me, B.J. then Dominique. Amber let Diane drive because she's not a fan of driving in Vegas and she wasn't sure where the temple was. So it switched to Diane driving, me in the passenger seat, Amber behind Diane, Ben, Dominique, then B.J. Amber wasn't able to go down to the font with us but she enjoyed the grounds of the temple, which are always so lovely! Diane, Ben, B.J. and Dominique have been endowed so they got to ride the elevator down. I wonder if there's some significance to that or if it's because endowed members are usually older so they just try to make it convenient for all endowed members... I don't know. Anyway, when we get to the chapel we wait for a while. Turns out the man conducting our meeting was new to it. We sing "Come, Follow Me" and have an opening prayer then the First Counselor of the Temple Presidency address us. I don't remember everything he said but he invited us to follow the Savior and return to the temple as often as we could and encouraged us to have our own limited use recommend. I do have one of those, it's just a matter of having gas money and time. I've got plenty of time now, just not a whole lot of moolah. The actual baptizing and confirming was a little different than any other time I went. Some were just baptized and some were able to be both confirmed and baptized. Diane just did baptisms and I got to do both. Ben, B.J, and Dom helped the Melchizedek Priesthood holders that witnessed and dunked. Ben told me later than he really wanted to baptize Diane and I, which was sweet but the guy who did baptize us knew one my sisters in Flagstaff. I didn't know which one and I forgot to ask. I'm thinking Angela just because he seemed about the same age as her but it's always interesting to find those little connections in life. On the way home Diane drove, B.J. sat up front then it was me, Amber, Ben, and Dominique in the back. Amber and I do not have the narrowest hips so we ended up spooning a little bit. Just a whole lot of fun and giggles. We got home around 6 pm, enough time to go home, eat, sit for a little bit, then head on over to the Rutherford building for David Cruz's baptism!!! I really enjoyed the talks given. The talk on baptism was just simple and I really like how he worded it all. The ordinance is very quick but it opens a gate to a path. Just simple, sweet, and to the point. Maddie Peterson gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. Again simple but perfect. Before the baptism began I sat next to Amber and we got to talking and I'm excited for the day she can do baptisms with us. She's excited and I don't blame her. I've always kind of taken it for granted but it really is a huge blessing and to see someone work towards it because they know it's true. She's come a long way and I love her dearly and can hardly wait till she can go through those doors with us. We're going to go to the temple the first weekend she's got her recommend! After the baptism the Pease family invited everyone to swim at their house. I wasn't sure how to get to their house so I drove to Amber's and we carpooled. It was a jolly good time. Not perfect but a jolly good time. We ended up staying till about 11 pm. Poor Maddie, she had the feet flippers on and was pretending to swim like a mermaid under water and ran into the wall! She came up and had a pretty good sized scrape. It ended up bleeding and almost getting into her eyes. Luckily Brian followed her home and I found out yesterday that her parents would wake her up every two hours. I was very glad to see her alive on Sunday. When Amber and I got to her house we were talking about stuff and I ended up going inside with her. She basically told me about how her and Ben starting getting so close. When her brother, Rusty, got home she started telling me about her work place. It ended up going on until about 3 am. Needless to say my mom was worried sick because my phone had died and I didn't think to call her but it was just a wonderful day. I went to the temple that day fasting for employment. I've been looking for a job for a while now but no one has called me back or anything so I was becoming discouraged. I was beginning to wonder if I should even bother staying in Kingman longer than a few more months. I fasted for a job but that day I gained a testimony that the Lord really knows our hearts and our desires. It's only Monday so I'm not expecting a whole bunch of phone calls today but I know that I am supposed to be here and that things will work themselves out. I'm still working for my mom and trying to make her yard look awesome. She's noticed that I've been working out there so that's good. There's still a lot I need to do but it is coming along. I plan on attending MCC in the spring and getting my CNA certification and possibly a Medical Billing and Coding degree or whatever it is I need to do that. One last thing. I've been invited to paint with Sam, Ben, and Amber. I'm excited to say the least so I'll blog about that for sure. :D