Power beyond Our Own Capability

“Father in Heaven knew that you would face challenges and be required to make some decisions that would be beyond your own ability to decide correctly. In His plan of happiness, He included a provision for you to receive help with such challenges and decisions during your mortal life. That assistance will come to you through the Holy Ghost as spiritual guidance. It is a power, beyond your own capability, that a loving Heavenly Father wants you to use consistently for your peace and happiness.”
-Richard G. Scott

LDS Young Single Adult Gems, my new favorite item that comes to my inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 11:00. This one particularly hit home for me. Somehow, lds.org just knows what will help me the most as I go about my week, talk about incredible! This time in my life is filled with so many ups and downs, bumps and bruises, decisions and challenges, and so many other things I do not even care to think about.

I love that no matter what happens, ever, I have my Heavenly Father to turn to. He may not solve all my problems ASAP, but he always lets me know he is aware in someway, however obscure it might be. I am grateful to know that he does not revel in my pain and uncertainty, he loves me and wants me to achieve the potential he knows that I have, as well as make the correct decisions that are going to help me get there!

I am eternally grateful for general authorities who come right out and say what they know is true, in order to help me to remember what I have already known, I am always in need of a reminder. I love the power or prayer, as well as the comforting feeling of peace I receive from the Holy Ghost.
What an incredible blessing in my life!

FREEZE FEST 2009!!!!

So my event was this passed weekend. I am forever grateful for the experience working with BYUSA has given me, but I am now officially calling it quits for my college career! I have met so many amazing people, and I am BEYOND grateful for the people who volunteered this last Friday and through out the entire semester to make the event even come about! I had an amazing co event lead:
Kelsey Celeste Jones


She pretty much became my BFF through this event and I can think of few other people I would have loved planning an event with. She made it a lot more painless than it would have been. We mastered the EAF, dominated massive Wal-Mart shopping trips, figured how to shove way to much stuff into Kels' car, decided sitting on batting while driving is the only way to go, especially after it explodes and learned that poinsettias die over night if you leave them in a freezing car. I think I will be successful in life now.

Our event was Epic. That is just the only word to describe it! Since I really love lists, that is what I am going to do to let you know about it!

1. We had an ice sculpture. It was a swan...obviously!
2. We used 48 strands of icicle lights to decorate the facility.
3. Cosmo was there in his blue Santa Suit. He LOVED us!
4. We had a cheesy sweater contest. The finals contestants had to do a walk off and I loved it.
5. We had two service projects going on. What better way to get in the Christmas spirit than with service right? That is what I thought as well.
6. We had a Hot Chocolate bar. Complete with flavor shots, creamers (7/11 style), nutmeg and cinnamon, candy canes to stir, and to top it all off, spray whipped cream! It dominated everything.
7. We had an AMAZING dance party! Thanks to the best DJ(s) in town!! Mark Boothe from MBX-treme! I absolutely adore him and Logan was also there to help out! Thanks guys!
8. We had sugar cookie decorating. 375 dozen sugar cookies to be frosted with 175 pounds of butter cream frosting. Mmmm.
9. Last but not least, we had ice skating and broom hockey!! Ridiculously enjoyed by all who participated! We accommodated close to 2,000 people for ice skating and even more than that for broom hockey! Thank you so much to Ice Peaks employees who helped out so much this whole evening!
   

All in all, it was a new record for people at Freeze Fest and that makes us, as Event Leads, ridiculously happy and proud of our advertising (however creepy it may have been)! :)

She's my sister...

"She's about this high, she's ...shorter... than I, sometimes she helps me tie my shoe. She's my sister. And she plays with me and I hope that she is glad that I'm her sister too!"

Many of you know her, and those of you who don't...well I am pretty sure you wish you did. Recently, my sister moved away from me. To go nanny in New Jersey. She is doing amazingly and making the best of every situation that is thrown at her. We have NEVER actually lived this far apart from each other, and I am realizing, I don't really like it.

Here are just a few of the reasons why I love My sister:

• When we shared a room, she would always clean up my side...it was awesome.
  *Secret: She would tell me to make sure I cleaned up my room before I went to school the next day..I would always 'forget' and when I got home from school all my stuff would be picked up!*
  
• She ALWAYS knows exactly what movie I am quoting and where it is located in that movie, as she goes on to quote the next line, and me the next; until everyone around us thinks we are crazy because we have been quoting a movie for the past ten minutes.
• She wants to meet Sandy just as much as I do.
• She is always working on her progression.
• She follows her dreams. She sets goals and ALWAYS achieves them.
  (Hawaii, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, college, graduation)
  
• She is one of the hardest workers I know.
• She is a super good baker and is so creative!
  
• She has had trials in her life, and she never loses her faith in God. She is 100% trusting and willing to do whatever is required of her.
  
• I have shared a room with her more years of my life than I have had my own.
• She always made me stay up way later than my curfew allowed me to... ;)
  (Diagnosis Murder, Monopoly, "Rearranging" our bedroom)
  
• "I. Got. Myyyyy very own set of designer genes, how do they make me loook?"
• She has come so far in her fear of the male gender, it is absolutely inspiring!
  
• She tried out for the Drill Team in high school, never having taken a dance class, and made it!
• She did something similar to that in college when she tried out for Folk Dance and made it. I don't even know where she comes from.
  
• She is the only person I know that color codes her crayons, markers, pencils, and gel pens on a regular basis. Notice I said codes, present tense, she just did it about a year ago!
  
• She never let me color in her coloring books as a child because she was afraid I would not color in the lines...do I love her for that? Well, not really. But it was a fun fact!
• She is so disciplined when she sets her mind to something.
  
• The only time I see her cave when she is trying to eat healthy, is when it comes to her addiction to ice cream! She loves it.
• I have so many inside jokes with her, it is ridiculous.
  
• She introduced me to Yo Zone!! For that I am eternally grateful.
• When Cal was living with us, it was her favorite thing to come in after we had already been sleeping and do 'flying squirrel' to us. She loved it.
  
• After three years of being completely selfish with her water bottle, every time I have asked her for a drink in the last year she has given me one! :)
  
• Last of all, and most importantly, she has an incredible testimony that is evident to anyone who talks to her. She wants what is best for everyone and for everyone to experience the joy of the Gospel.
  

I am completely grateful for her in my life and would not be where I am today without her. I love her so much and for so many more reasons than are listed here. I miss her presence in my everyday life.

I love you Bri!!!

She may be my sister, but I more fondly refer to her as my
Best Friend.

Happy October 31st...a few days late!

If any of you were able to witness or see pictures from the MONDO Halloween party W4 threw last year and our killer costumes...you would realize what a depressing thing it was for my apartment and I to have it be 11:00 Halloween morning and not have a costume. We were planning on doing a little party hopping, which was going to be sweet, but we DEFINITELY needed a costume.

After this awesomeness:

last year; we had to be something that could at least somewhat compete.


After a trip to Maceys, Gen X, Deb and Wal-Mart, we were SET!
Here are the results of great minds thinking together.

I give you the: SPICE GIRLS!!

Introducing; Paprika, Nutmeg, Ginger, and Cinnamon Spice! :)

Spice Girls
"Spice Up Your Life!"

And this is Tink...our other roommate!

BIG face...someone had to sacrifice.

Miss Kendra....Miss Haynie?

Well, whichever one I end up being called it will be sweet and I can't wait!
BECAUSE I AM GOING TO BE A TEACHER!!!!!!

I got my letter of acceptance while I was on my trip and I had Bri read it to me. I was stoked.
Not only did it have a congratulations, but it also had...exclamation points!!

(If you know of my past history with BYU and their lack of them, you would know this is HUGE!)

When it did not come for so long, I actually got super nervous. God is awesome like that and taught me a few lessons in the meantime, gotta love him!

I start my program next semester and have my entire graduation plan set... career here we come!


THANKS BYU!

Best Week of My Existence.

Well friends and family, this last week was one the most incredible weeks I have ever had in my life. Because of it, I will never be the same person again. It changed me forever in the best ways. It was a trip of sorts that you have zero words to describe it, but you want every single person to hear about it. That is the dilemma I am facing right now. How do I blog about experiences that touched me so deeply and caused my testimony to grow more than any other experience ever has? I don't know either, but here I am going to make an attempt at least!

I had the opportunity this last week to go on a Church History Trip with my honors Church History Class. We went to Palmyra, Rochester, Kirtland, Fayette, Hiram, Mentor, and Nauvoo. I was in 9 states within six days and loved every single second of it. Not only that, but I also stayed in 5 different hotels in 6 days and did not even mind carting my luggage around every single day. Yeah, that is how good my trip was.

Here are a few Things I know~
* God loves me so much more than I can ever comprehend.

* Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and brought about the Restoration of this Gospel; with help from Heavenly Messengers and appointed servants to get the work done that was entitled to him.

* God the Father and his son, Jesus Christ, appeared to the Prophet Joseph numerous times throughout his life. First being in the Sacred Grove in 1820. He learned that none of the churches on the Earth at that time were true and that he would be responsible for bringing to pass the restoration of the Gospel. Thank goodness. They also appeared to Joseph and others that helped to bring people unto the kingdom of God on the Morley farm in 1831, The Johnson home in Hiram, OH in 1832 (here section 76 was revealed as well as 19 other revelations), the Newel K. Whitney Store in 1833 and the Kirtland Temple in 1839. All of these places minus the Morley farm, were places that I was able to go and visit while on my trip. I was able to sit in the rooms, bear testimony, and in the case of the Johnson home read D & C section 76 verses 22-24 in the room where the Savior and God once stood...and it was, for lack of a better word, INCREDIBLE!!!!

* I love the Erie Canal song! It was our theme song for the trip. Bro and Sis B always sang it into the microphone many times a day while on the bus...and for some reason, none of us still actually know all of the words.

* We (as members of the Church) are not in the cover up business, we are in the SACRED business.

* The Sacred Grove truly is a sacred place. The peace that you instantly feel as soon as you walk in those trees is unlike any I have ever felt before. It is so instantaneous. Even if you don't want to feel the spirit you do! You have no choice!

* There were so many incredible miracles that took place within the first few decades of the restoration of the Church. Of course, they are still occurring everyday, but it was extremely evident how strongly the Lord felt abut this Gospel being restored and was willing to put his hand in a lot of situations to make it work out. Just one example of that is the printing of the Book of Mormon. It is amazing how it all came to be!

* If you've got a question about something Church related, ask it! We are a questioning church! This Church was founded on/because of a question! Make sure you ask in faith and not as a critic.

* Out of the following; Comfort Inn, Palmyra Inn, Super 8, Baymont, and The Nauvoo Family Inn and Suites, The Palmyra Inn most definitely gets 5 stars!! Hot tub, a California king size bed, a sink/kitchen, 2 other twin size beds and a body length mirror... you just can not beat that! We got a little spoiled early on, and had issues staying at every other hotel because of it! :)

* I did not go on this trip as any sort of coincidence. I went because God loves me infinitely and individually. I was there as an answer to prayer; my own prayers, my parents prayers, my ancestors prayers. They love and care about me, and wanted me to gain and have that strong firm testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith.

* If you are going to sing a song while everyone that will be singing is crying, make sure that you pick a song that does not go above a middle c. (Example: When you are all sitting in the Carthage Jail in the exact room that Hyrum and Joseph were shot, don't choose to sing 'A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief'. Everyone is crying and there will be times that everyone stops singing because no one can hit the notes.)

* I adore Visitors Center missionaries! Sister missionaries as well as the Senior couples! I saw my future while I was in Nauvoo...especially at the Nauvoo Rendezvous. Where there happened to be 20 senior couples singing and dancing about the early days of Nauvoo like it was nobody's business. It was incredible and one of the happiest days of my life! If any of you go to Nauvoo, make sure you make time to go watch the Nauvoo Rendezvous. It will change your life! :D

* Three buffets within 4 days, does not do good things for your body...Just believe me.

*The Book of Mormon is a true book!! "... the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.” I know this to be a true statement and I love this Book!!!!

* The early Saints sacrificed so much. Homes, lives, children, money, businesses, spouses, so much time and the list goes on and on. If there is one thing that I learned more than anything else while on this trip, it was the law of sacrifice and consecration. Because of this, I also realized what a selfish person I am, and how I have so much more to learn and such a long way to go to become like my Savior. I need to be more willing to give. Give of myself, of my possessions, especially my time.

* Bro. B is never going to be able to keep us reverent during Church History class again; because after being with people for 24 hours a day for 7 days, you become best friends with them, it just happens.

* I have the best Aunt Lucy in the world! When I was stopped for a layover in Dallas, I called to tell her I would be there, just because I knew she would not be happy with me if she found out at a later date and I had not told her. I was not really expecting anything, and before I know it she is asking me for my flight number and when I am going to be there and everything. She meets me at the airport, brings Star and I dinner and Mango shakes and just talked to me for the quick 20 minutes we had. She drove us to our other gate and took pictures of us going through security like we were her own children going away on a new adventure! I love her, and all of my family SO much!

* I have a testimony. I love to bear it and every time I do it gets that much stronger! I want everyone to know about how great this Gospel is. From the power of prayer, to families being sealed for time and all eternity. Nothing can stop this great work from going forward. It truly is 'Good News' and I want so badly for everyone to know of it. I am eternally grateful to my Savior and his unfailing love for me no matter what. I know that this Church is true with everything in me.

I know you guys are all feeling a little stressed and overwhelmed by this post, but I told you I would not be able to say it all like I want to. I have SO many more stories and experiences about the School of Prophets, the Johnson Family, the Whitney family, the Red Brick Store, and the Community of Christ church...all that will have to be saved for another time! Those shared above are some of the most important lessons and things learned while away! I am grateful for the opportunity I had to go on this 'class on wheels' trip.

I AM 100% OBSESSED WITH CHURCH HISTORY AND THIS GOSPEL!!

Also, I am going to post a "few" photos on this post (a few being like 43...but out of the 400 I took, 43 is just a few!) and I am going to put an entire album on Facebook. As soon as that happens, I will post this link so everyone can take a gander at the rest of my incredible pictures!!

If you desire, watch the entire slideshow, it is just a little walk through of my trip!

Love you all!

Instant Messenger

Does everyone remember the days of MSN instant messenger? I guess I should ask, who doesn't remember the days of MSN?! Didn't everyone use it?

I can not think of anything more thrilling for me (at that time...) than to watch the little half body spin in circles while I was being signed in, and then to see who was also wasting their day away chatting on IM. Although that was fun, even more exciting than that, was having a request to chat from an unknown email address, old friends being online that you hadn't spoken to, or the best of them all, having your crush be on at the same time as you! Trying to think of something super witty and charming to say that would make them type, LOL....or ROFL. Those were the responses you wanted out of the guy you liked. or maybe that was just me, because I take pride in myself when people laugh at me... Anyway, the days of hotbutterfly89@hotmail.com have long since passed and I have now moved on to bigger and better things, at least for me and my needs...GMAIL! (little plug for Google, you can thank me later!)


Now for the reason this post even came about, the other day I was running to the LRC to get a computer before they were all gone. I got one, sat down, logged in and waited for all my settings to load. As I did this, that cute little picture you see above popped up. I was astounded. I had not seen a sign in to Messenger in at least 4 years and was amazed to find out that people still used it frequently enough that it would pop up on my lab computer. I looked at it, looked around, thought about all the homework I had to do and thought what the heck, and I signed in. I was more than pleased when I signed in to find that they had the most upgraded version, at least the one I was familiar with. Where you could have moving emoticons and even video chat if you had a camera. My little display picture on the side was still one from the time my sister Tara and I were both wearing pink so we decided to have a photo shoot. It was definitely one of my off days!


Not only that but as I was looking around the all too familiar rectangle I was a little embarrassed to read my 'status' from what appears to be the end of 11th grade. " Please tell me this is not really happening. What are the chances he would get a My Space!?" If any of you know this story, it will make complete sense. For those of you who don't, your life will be ok without it.


I laughed at myself for a while and then continued to look around. My 'groups' that I had made were still the same. Split up into all the different years of EFY, Family, and Everyone else who's on here. Creative eh? I thought so to. It occurred to me also during this time, how many hours were spent on MSN. So many deep conversations about the Gospel, many awkward/embarrassing conversations about kissing underwater and "Did that really happen?", along with "what movie should we see tonight" and "meet you at Park Discovery?" I was amazed to see how many of the email addresses I still was so familiar with and could tell you who they belonged to. xblankcanvasx, luckychic_82, allstarcarla, bbdude100, jord_red2, and eightgarren were just a few that I loved seeing as 'online' when I would sign in. Moral of this post? Well there really isn't one. It was just fun for me to reminisce a bit about my early teenage years. As of now, gchat treats me more than just fine and I am grateful to be able to chat while I am actually in my email. What a novel idea! I hope that you are all going to take some time now and remember those great conversations that you had over MSN!

Enjoy! :)

Sis. Brett and Sis. Sorensen

Missionary (noun): Someone who leaves their family for a short time so that others can be with their families for eternity.

Watch out Temple Square!! Here comes two sisters that will make you something you have never been before! :) My cousin Emily Sorensen and new found best friend Jenae Brett, both went into the MTC 1.5 weeks ago. They are both doing AMAZING and I would expect nothing less!

Before Jenae went in last week she had flown into town from Washington but had already been set apart. Therefore she needed a companion for Tuesday and before she went in, CALLING SIS. HAYNIE. That is where I came in. and my sister, and Taryn! Loved it all! We hung out in the CougarEat where all of Jenae's adoring fans came and said good bye to her!

Sis. Brett and Sis. Haynie (her very first companion!!)

COUSINS!!!!
How blessed we all are to have lived so close to each other for so long! Love them all!

Both of these girls are such amazing examples to me! Their testimonies of this Gospel and their willingness to go out and share it is something that I strive to have. Not that it means I have to actually receive a mission call, but there is missionary work all around me, I just need to seek it out. Make it a more frequent action in my life.

They are both going to do such amazing things! I can not wait to hear the stories they have to tell and hear about the lives that they are going to help the Lord change!

Absolutely love and miss you dearly Jenae and Em!
God Speed Sisters! :)