Smell the Flowers

Two posts in one month! Wow I'm getting better at this! :)

A few weeks ago, on our usual scooter drive up to the temple, I noticed that there were a lot of flowers on the temple grounds. This was the first really cold day of the season and I noticed how warm I felt just by seeing the simplistic beauty of these flowers. We did our stuff in the temple and a few hours I found myself going the opposite direction down that sidewalk and still amazed at how warm I felt as I thought about the flowers. I don't know what it was--it could have been the memories of looking at the huge hibiscus outside my bedroom window at home, or the memories of summer, or even the peace of knowing that I am doing what our Heavenly Father wants me to be doing. No matter the cause, I literally felt warm.

And I had the strongest desire to smell them flowers. So I stopped and smelled one of the flowers. As soon as I did, a wave of emotions and memories came flooding into my mind. I remembered pretty much every experience I have had that involves flowers. I remembered my grandma and how much she loves plating and watching flowers grow. I remembered going to school dances and having to but the corsage. I remember going to a flower garden this summer with my siblings and their families. Overall, it reminded me how much the Lord loves me. He has given me all of those things in my life because He loves me. And the crazy thing is that they all came back to my memory from something so small.

General Conference

I love General Conference! It is definitely my favorite weekend of the year! The only down side is that it only happens twice a year. This year, I enjoyed Conference a lot more than I have in the past. I don't know why that is, but I learned a lot more this time than I think I ever have before! There are a lot of things that I know contributed to my enjoyment  of Conference including

• I was much more prepared to listen to the Saturday morning session than usual. aka my dad didn't wake me up ten minutes before it started and I wander up the stairs and start eating breakfast as the first talk was being given. This time I was up a good three and a half hours before it started! And I was in a much better position to listen and learn.
• I actually wanted to learn. I wanted to find and hear things that would make me more prepared to teach this gospel and spread the joy that it brings (and I definitely did learn some awesome things!)
• My mom suggested that I write down three questions before Conference started and during the talks to look for the answers. That definitely helped me to stay focused on all of the talks! :)
• Just the fact of being a missionary I think was a big help.
• And I came up with a pretty good system of taking notes. People make fun of me for my many pens that I have, but  they all came in handy for Conference!