What I Learned Today

Today is my birthday. I am now 25 years old. A quarter of a century! It's pretty awesome. I slept in until about 8:45 and then woke up and went to the temple. I had to go alone because no one else volunteered to go with me and I had to go! I was waffling about going because of the activities that were planned, but after hearing Elder Hillier speak yesterday about the temple, I just had to go! It was where I was supposed to be. I felt so much peace and tranquility about the whole trip that ending up going alone was fine. I was able to attend the Spanish session and opted to not have the English headphones, so I went through the session in Spanish which was easier to understand than I thought and also harder than I thought. I am grateful that I remember a lot of the endowment in English so that I could grasp key words and know where we were. I am also thankful for what little Spanish I do know so that I could understand most of it. It was definitely a neat experience and I know that it means the same in any language.

While sitting in the Celestial room I prayed about what I should do with my life and I felt comfortable with my decision to pursue teaching instead of nursing. I feel that until I am able to influence a family of my own I am going to reach out to children through teaching to help strengthen home and family relationships and encourage the children to seek the better part. I am also not going to worry or stress about finding my eternal companion right away or feel like a failure because I'm not dating. I am simply going to live my life the way I need to be so that when the Lord is ready to bless me with that opportunity I am ready and worthy to accept.

What I learned today from the temple, or what stuck out most to me, was how every time we sin, we must have some sort of punishment, be it a heavy sense of remorse or temporal hardship, but after that punishment, immediately, even in the same breath as being told what we have to deal with, we are told how we can avoid ever having to go through that again as long as we are obedient to the Lord. He knows that we need to learn from our mistakes, but he so badly wants to let us know how we don't have to suffer. His love for us is so strong and infinite!

Yesterday we had the opportunity as singles to go attend a special devotional with Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and also hear from Elder Hillier of the Seventy. It was a wonderful session. The love and authority that radiated from Elder Scott was so intense! He has a bright and wonderful witty sense of humor and his love for the youth of the church is so obvious in his speech. He held a wonderful question and answer session with those in attendance and afterward shook the hand of all who wanted to - which was pretty much everyone! His handshake was so perfect! I know it is silly to fixate on it, but seriously, I have never had such a handshake before! It was a wonderful evening!

So, now I am going to go to sleep. I think this was probably one of the most excellent birthdays I have had in a long time! It was so peaceful and calm, yet fun and enlightening! I may have to make birthday temple trips a tradition!