differences in religion

Tuesday my friend Tyler Ford invited me to join him and his church friends for a worship service at their church. I immediately jumped at the chance to experience how someone else celebates God and religion. It was certainly different from what i was used to, that's for sure!  There were roughly around a thousand kids there of college age. They had us go into a huge auditorium with an amazing stage. I felt like I was about to see Blink 182 in concert or something. They sang a few upbeat alternative style songs about God and Jesus Christ. Then they had a sermon and quoted from different areas of the bible. [deuteronomy, romans, john, and revelations.] The main idea of the sermon was really nice, I even agreed with a lot of it. However I noticed that there were parts missing. Which is when I remembered they only have part of the truth. They don't have the fulness of the restored gospel. I thought to myself about the good things they were saying, and how much better their lives could be if they understood how much more there was! I suddenly wished they were all in an LDS church. I'm grateful that I have this knowledge for myself and that I know that I have a completed puzzle, no missing parts. I hope so badly that some day all of those people from that Christian church can some day have that knowledge for themselves as well.

Scripture of the Day: John 4:16

16 "And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him."

Stressed! ---Helaman 5:12

Turns out things aren't as happy as I thought/hoped. Things for the family are down right ridiculous and filled with drama at the moment. It's very unfortunate, and it's stressing me out beyond belief. Amoungst all the crazy though, my relationship with my siblings has never been stronger than it is right now. I love them all so much. They mean the world to me. I'm so grateful for them, and that when times get hard, we stick together. I'm so lucky to have been blessed with my siblings. [And my best friends too, I should add!]

Being home in New York has been quite a challenge for me in itself, but with drama on top, it's even more difficult. Last night was possibly the worst it's ever been. But in the middle of it all, me and Cariann had the most wondeful and constructive conversation on just about everything in her life. She felt so relieved after, and if there was only one reason I was sent home to New York, one reason to make all the pain and struggle worth it, last night with Cariann would have been that moment for me. Below is my all time favorite scripture, and more and more it is becoming more relevent and real to me. Every day it becomes more a part of me than the day before. I'm so grateful for the scriptures, and the knowledge and power they bring into my life. I love the gospel.

Helaman 5:12

"12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."

NYC for new years!

I spent the holiday in New York City. My most favorite place I've ever been to. I brought along Rachael[Steve] my sister from another mister. haha! We had a fantabulous time. My friend Dan Ahlers flew in from Utah to see his family in Conneticutt and then met up with us in NYC for some fun. We had a plan me and Steve, for what we were to accomplish while we were there. We accomplished none of it. But I'm glad we didnt. The way things went down were too fun to be mad about it.

What we wanted to do while in NYC:
-See the Tim Burton exhibit at the MOMA
-Ride the ferris wheel inside Toys 'R' Us in Times Square
-Be right in Times Square when the ball dropped.

What we did do while in NYC:
-Froze our butts off! My one sneaker had a hole in it I didn't know it had, so my right foot was soaking wet from all the snow and sludge in the streets.
-Went to the Nintendo Museum/Store and played Wii games and DS-I games for hours.
-Rockafeller Center. 30 Rock!!!
-Danced while riding the subway.
-Hit up the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
-East Village Book Store.
-Some random girls apartment to watched The Twilight Zone and play cards games before a party.
-Went to a party we weren't invited to on 54th street that overlooked Times Square.
-Crashed said party by using my ipod and some speakers to turn it into a sick dance party.
-Ran as quickly as possible from said party an hour after it was over because some guy Steve had been macking on was trying to take her home with him.
-Did "Unforgivables" the whole way back to Queens.
-Got lost in the subway system for 4.5 hours trying to get back to Queens. Getting home at 5am.
-Spent the entire next day sleeping for recovery.
-Hit up Chinatown on Saturday and got a bunch of awesome crap for cheap as I'm awesome at bartering.
-Freezing from the cold so much that we left a bit early. Much too cold to be outside as long as we wanted to.

All in all it was a very exciting trip. And the things I'd wanted to do, but couldn't [Tim Burton was sold out!] I will do within the next couple months when I go back. I'm not done with NYC yet. I also neglected to take any pictures whatsoever with my camera and new zoom lens while I was there. It was simply too cold to whip it out!