Looking Down, from the Top of the Y

     So yesterday a few friends and I hiked the Y.  (If you haven’t been to BYU, and don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s this giant “Y” on one of the mountains behind the BYU campus.  You can hike up to it and look over the whole valley.)  I remember hiking the Y when I was younger when my parents would take my brother and I to their old school.  I remember the fun times we had and how my younger self thought that when I made it to BYU, I would hike the Y everyday for a workout.  Man, my younger self was so wrong.  I don’t know why I could not remember how steep it can be at some points of the hike, but hiking it on Saturday was a little bit of a struggle.  The steepness, plus factor in the thin air, and we had ourselves an adventure.  My group hiked up the trail, constantly looking to the Y to guess at our distance from it.  It was all so worth it, once we reached the top.  The view was breathtaking.  You could see everything!  The beautiful Utah Lake, BYU, countless homes and neighborhoods.  It was amazing.  On the way back down, I was thinking about that, the journey to the top, and it made me think of our lives.  We are always moving, always moving forward in our lives, day by day, second by second.  When climbing, I could have kept going up, or quit and gone back down it.  That’s much like our choices in life.  You can keep going up, no matter the trails you are facing, deciding that the end goal is so much more worth it than your current situation.  On the flip side, you can quit, decide that life is too hard and think that you’re alone and won’t make it, so why try.  I prefer to think like the first option. Now, I know there are hard times, heck everyone has rough patches.  I know in many instances, I have thought to myself that whatever trial I was going through was so much bigger than it really was, that I was hopeless.  But working through it is so much more rewarding than letting it consume you!  You can learn so much from hardships, gain so much faith from them.  And never think that you are alone.  You’re not.  When looking back, they are worth going through, just so that you can come out on the other side stronger than you were in the first place.  While sitting on the top of the Y, I was looking down at the trail we traveled.  Now it may just be me, being an optimistic person, but I was filled with such a confident spirit gazing down, that I was positive that I could hike that trail again and again, that it was easy and that the journey was worth it.  I bet that’s how it will be for us, when life comes to a close.  We will be done with it, looking at how far we’ve come.  Hopefully through we’re looking down at it, and not at the bottom looking up. 

Why a Blog?

It still seems so weird to me that I am already out here, already at BYU.  My whole life, I have been dreaming of what life at college is like, and now I am here, a week into it.  I am so blessed to be going to my dream school.  Truly, it is amazing.  It kinda feels like you’re trying to take a drink of water out of a fire hose.  There is just so much, all rushing in at you, but it is all so good!  It’s hard to grasp it all.  Especially at BYU, where you’re a part of so many different things!  You have your ward, your family home evening group, your Y group, your dorm-mates, and so forth!  I am in so many things that its hard to keep it all straight, but at the same time, that means so many options and activities to be a part of.  It’s overwhelming, and crazy, and fast, and new, and I love it all.  I love my classes so much.  I love how enthusiastic the teachers are about what they teach, the love they have for their field of work.  I also love the spirit BYU radiates.  It is so thick with the spirit, with love, kindness and service.  

     Oh wait!  I almost forgot to explain why I’m doing this blog.  In my Book of Mormon class we were assigned to do a project that we will be doing the whole term around, relating to the half of the book that we are reading.  I was thinking of Nephi, keeping records for his people, and this blog idea started forming in my head!  Why a blog, you may ask.  Maybe it’s my love for writing.  Maybe it’s because I thought it would be fun!  Maybe it has something to do with my generations fascination with documenting our every thought, thinking that they are all diamonds. (catch the Easy A reference anyone?).  Mostly though, I think that I just want to share this wonderful time I am having with you guys.  I want people to feel connected to me, for me to be able to share my experiences with you guys, help someone out if they need it.  I am having so many amazing experiences on many levels, from physical to spiritual.  I just have to share them.  

     This week I was called to be a Sunday School teacher.   I was very intimidated at first, because I would be teaching my peers, kids who in some cases are way smarter than I am.  Most of them are also way taller than I am so that just added to the whole intimidation thing.  Any who, the lesson was on the saints in Kirtland, and the sacrifices they made as those early church saints.  As I read through it the night before, I just became so thankful to them and all they did to make the church where it is now.  The Mormon church would not be where it is today without them.  It just made me even more excited for my mission.  Almost in some ways, it is a way for me to make them proud, to show that I appreciate what they did, that many of them were poor, had families and still went on missions.  That even though they were in danger and persecuted, they still stood by their faith and the gospel.  That they would not stray from the Lord.  They had a amazing amount of faith, one that I can only hope to one day have.  They put all of their trust in their Father in Heaven, knowing He would not leave them, much as He will never leave us today.  I even know He gave me strength today, while teaching my lesson.  I was so nervous, but as it got started, it was so amazing!  I loved teaching!  I’m not sure what it was about it, but it was so amazing.  I got a rush from it and am excited to teach next week.  Maybe I should go into something that involves me teaching... hmmm. 

     I am so excited to be doing this blog and to be going to BYU.  I hope you all have a wonderful day!