Baptism Ahead!

I am so excited! I just had my baptismal interview with Stake President. I am getting baptized on 9/3/2013!

As I sat outside the office waiting for my turn to be interviewed my thoughts went back to 2 years ago. Two years ago today, I sat outside that same office waiting for a different kind of interview. I sat outside waiting for my disciplinary council to begin. I was so sad and yet understood that what was about to happen was very necessary. When I left the office after that council, I was no longer officially a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints but I was still LDS at heart.

Today was a very different experience. I was practically vibrating with suppressed excitement over my upcoming interview. I was ecstatic to meet with Stake President and happily answer the baptismal interview questions with resounding affirmatives. I think he is almost as excited as I am about my upcoming baptism!

6 days and I will be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints again. This upcoming Sunday is the last Sunday I will have to skip taking the Sacrament.  And in a few short weeks I will be able to return to the temple to do baptisms for the dead for the first time since I was 15. And probably even sooner than that I will be able to get my long-awaited patriarchal blessing!!



I just want to close this post by sharing an amazing experience I had yesterday at the temple.

I was studying at home yesterday, on the verge of tears from frustration at these physical issues, and suddenly the thought popped into my head that I needed to go to the temple, which seemed weird to me since I can't go in for a little bit longer. But I clearly recognized the prompting, so I asked a friend to meet me there. We got to the temple and the gates were locked. I was so confused. It was such a clear prompting but the doors were locked?! 
Fortunately someone was in the chapel that is right next to the temple. So we went into the Relief Society room and began studying the part in Preach My Gospel about temples. We had the window open so we could at least see the temple. We had been studying for about 30 minutes when I happened to look out the window and noticed the temple gates were open. I was like "Lets go study on the grounds"
So we grabbed our stuff and walked over to the temple. As soon as we passed through the temple gates I noticed a difference. We went up the hill on the grounds, adjacent to the temple, laid out a blanket and continued our studies in PMG and the Doctrine and Covenants about the temple. It was so uplifting and just what I needed. The longer we were there the better I felt, as we closed our study and prepared to go home, I asked my friend if she thought I sounded better and she was like yeah, you sound almost normal. I felt so much better, abs still hurt, voice is a bit rough, but my peace has been restored.
It wasn't until after I had left the temple that I realized what had happened. I had always thought of the adversary attacking us through temptation, emotional, or spiritual means, but he was using physical means to get to me and Heavenly Father knew I needed to get out of the world (away from where Satan has influence) for a bit and so he sent me to the closest holy place that I could get to, the grounds of the Birmingham temple. Just how much better I felt while on the grounds let me know that these ailments that are afflicting me are no ordinary illness but the adversary's desperate attempt to derail my upcoming baptism.

I am so grateful to live only a half hour from the temple and to be able to go there to feel closer to my Father in times of trial. I just want to bear my testimony that I KNOW the temples truly are the house of the Lord and that He wants us to visit them as often as possible. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Permission... Granted!!!

       So these last two weeks have been a little difficult, physically at least. I have been struggling with muscle issues since the YSA Conference and then this morning my oh-so-talented self got a tear in one of my abdominal muscles and am out of work for Heaven only knows how long. And on top of that, I'm just getting over being sick for the last 10 days. I was wondering why I was struggling so much, I mean things had been going good and then all this so close together.
       Tonight I went to see my Bishop about some of the struggles I have been having. At the end of our appointment, he ever so nonchalantly says, "Oh by the way, Stake President got your response." I'm looking at him, totally confused, when he says "You have received permission from the First Presidency to be re-baptized!"
       I was like, "Really? Really? Really?" Like it just wasn't registering, and then it did and I started to cry such happy tears! This was 2 hours ago and it still feels kind of surreal. I have to have my baptismal interview with Stake President next week and then we can set a firm date for my baptismal service. I have no idea how to plan a baptism, but when I called our Sisters (Sisters Toone and Clark) to tell them the great news, they offered to help me plan my baptism and I am so grateful for the assistance.
      I am just so freaking out, in a good way, right now. In just a few days I will be getting baptized and be taking the Sacrament for the first time in over 12 years. Words really cannot describe how I feel right now. It has been a long and often hard, rocky road but so worth it. The joy I feel just thinking of my baptism, won't even begin to compare with the reality of that special sacred day.

a YSA Branch and Spanish Sacrament

          Sunday was awesome. I went to Sacrament at the Lorna Branch. I was able to talk to a couple people in Spanish and understood about 1/3 of the talks. Singing hymns in Spanish is so beautiful! I am so glad the Lorna Hermanas encouraged me to go. Everyone was so friendly and totally patient with my simple broken Spanish. I wish I could have stayed for Sunday School but had to leave so as to not miss the car pool to the YSA Branch.
           Other note, Sunday was also the first Sunday of the Tuscaloosa YSA Branch and it was awesome!!! The entire branch presidency spoke, as did Stake President. Then we all combined for Sunday School and had a combined Relief Society/Priesthood lesson. I felt so blessed to be there and I love being a YSA (though I wouldn't be sad to become a young married adult, lol).
           I got good news about being a YSA yesterday. So I was talking to our new Relief Society President and turns out she turns 31 in 3 weeks which got me to thinking. I talked to her this morning and she said that they are raising the age cap for YSA, just not sure how high. But either way, this means I will NOT age out of YSA next year and I am absolutely ecstatic about that.
           Oh and yay! I finally have a car. I got it last Wednesday, and (lol) have already put 100 miles on it doing team-ups with the Sisters in my ward! I love missionary work!

2013 Southeast YSA Conference

Oh my gosh the conference this past weekend was so awesome. I didn't want to leave. The workshops I attended were amazing and the talks by Sister Dew, Brother Wilcox, and Elder Bednar were so inspired!!
        Saturday was so much fun. The workshops were awesome. My notes from the respective dates are below. After the workshops we had a carnival and dance. I must have gone down the Slip n' Slide twenty times. So much fun, but I am sooo sore now. Totally worth it. We had a dance after the carnival and I worked up my courage and asked a guy (who I really like) to dance and then to dinner. (He got his mission call last night and is going to Anchorage Alaska on November 11th). He said yes to both. I know he's younger than me but we get along really well. I feel a bit old to wait for a missionary, but we'll see where things go before he leaves.
        My favorite quote from the whole conference is from Sunday's devotional by Elder Bednar. He was talking about how some stray from the straight and narrow path because the world makes what it has look so tempting and then he said "We are already in the lifeboat, why would we want to get back on the Titanic?"  
        That just hit me like a bolt of lightning. We already have the knowledge of what needs to be done to gain eternal life and happiness. The party on the Titanic may look like fun, but we KNOW the ship is sinking. The covenants we have made (or in my case, are preparing to make) place us firmly in the lifeboat and no wave is going to knock us out as long as we decide (and behave like) we want to be in the lifeboat.
       The Sacrament meeting was so powerful. Almost a thousand YSA's were gathered. It took 6 priests to bless the Sacrament and another 24 to pass the Sacrament. I feel so blessed to have participated in such an inspiring and inspired gathering of young Saints.

They Have It!

I got a text (this morning) from my Bishop that Stake President has confirmed that the Office of the First Presidency has received my application for permission to be re-baptized! Now I just have to wait 8 weeks for an answer... Let the countdown begin!

I am so happy that they have my papers, I've been floating on air all day. I just have to remind myself that permission is not guaranteed. But I trust my Heavenly Father and I KNOW that Thomas S Monson is His chosen prophet, so whatever the First Presidency decides is the Lord's own will and I will support the decision because I know He wants whats best for me and He can see the whole picture.