Clutter

This week I've really been thinking about how the world is SO LOUD and it's often hard to hear the Spirit over all the noise. We learn over and over that the Spirit whispers and is a still, small voice. The world is loud and we have to consciously work to hear the Spirit and put ourselves in situations where the Spirit can reach us. My roommate, Rachel, and I were talking about this and she made the comment that it seems like the world has gotten louder as time has gone on. I think this is in big part due to mass media. When in history have this many people been able to be reached this quickly with information? Because of mass media, the world can form more collective opinions and push its views on soooo many people, so often, and with such pressure.

What does this mean for us? It is imperative that we learn how the Spirit speaks and "sounds" to each of us personally, so that we can hear Him through the hubble and bubble. It is crucial that we take time (as much as we can) "off" from the world and be in places (physically and spiritually) where we are seeking His will through the Spirit.
This is how we can be happy. I know.

I'm grateful I can talk to sweet Rachel about these things. She pushes my thinking and helps me come to new insights.

Plus we went to China together!

Christmas!

OK. So I thought it would be fun to run a little ad for the folk dance show I'm in. It's called Christmas Around the World and this year is the 50th Anniversary of the show! It is always such a great performance and you get to see dances from countries all over the world! Dance is such a wonderful expression of love and life and I feel very fortunate to represent people from so many countries. The show runs December 4th and 5th at 7:30pm or the 5th at the Marriott Center. You can get tickets at the Marriott Center or here:) It's a beautiful way to celebrate Christmas and I'd love to see you there!

More like "Male Appreciation"

We had stake "Relief Society" appreciation night on Saturday. My roommates and I dressed up, went to the Wilk, and were escorted by sweet boys to our tables where we had a delicious dinner. Our stake pres. and his wife said some wonderful things and then we had a talent show by some boys in our stake. The show started out great and there were some really funny/beautiful acts, but then all of a sudden it turned into kind of a "we're desperate girls who love slobbering over cute boys" type of thing. It was weird. They were giving us their numbers and my roommate, Lisa, and I felt soo awkward as if because some girls were acting silly and desperate, it made us all seem like we wanted a man. The boys tried hard to make it a fun night, which it was, but by the end it seemed like we were there to appreciate them, not to appreciate each other as the wonderful women we are. Somehow the message got mixed up in this media.

I just thought this picture was sweet:)

Piano? Really?

My cousin Katie and I like jamming on the piano on Sunday nights, so when she heard of Grand Pianos Live (the piano version of Acoustic Guitar) she set up an audition. We played three great Beatles duets-Penny Lane, Eleanor Rigby, and Let it Be-and were accepted for the show. I found out it was a competition the day before, which kind of saddened me...I was just thinking that a night of eclectic piano performances for some people at BYU would be perfect. Anyway, we knew our piece wasn't of the competitive nature, but we also knew we would have a blast. Best cousins on the piano? Heck yes!
So we got all decked out in our British Flag shirts and were ready for a night of entertainment. The MC started out by telling the audience that this was the first strictly piano show of this sort at BYU. That sounded great. The first few pieces were great and all different from each other, which I loved, but then we had some people get up and play original compositions, which I respect, except that they sang along with them. I loved the singing. Great voices and great lyrics, but I didn't see how they were "strictly piano." I mean if Katie and I had added a drum set to our rendition of the Beatles, it would have been more of a crowd pleaser for sure, but then it wouldn't be a piano song. I thought this was about honoring the piano, but I guess I was wrong. One of the "singers" won. Beautiful voice, but she basically played chords along with it. I guess I was just excited to be part of a show that celebrates the piano and so that was disappointing. But I loved performing, as always!

Anonimity

Anonymity gives great power. It can empower you to do great things and it can give you the power to hurt others. I was thinking about this recently because I was reading a friend's blog (someone not in my class) and she had asked people to reply by anonymously sharing a secret on her blog. The first disconcerting thing to me was that I actually read their replies (I like to think I'm above stuff like that, but I guess not quite) and the second was the range of things people needed to get off their chests. Some people told about relationally aggressive things they had done, but some people admitted to horrible things like seriously hating their in-laws or committing adultery. The whole post anonymously thing just really didn't sit right with me. Be yourself. Be good. Let others know how you feel about things and don't hide that you feel a certain way. This is how I feel.

Not what I thought

So for the sexual content assignment this week I watched a movie because I don't watch TV at all right now. Weird. Anyway, my roommate has been telling me to watch Freedom Writers for a while now, so I did! It was wonderful! Such a great movie. There was hardly any sexual content in it, which was awesome, but I think that was because they were focusing on other aspects of the kids' lives. This story was very inspirational and it made me want to reach out and really serve others. I hope I can do some good in my life the way Erin did with the Freedom Writers. Everyone should see this movie! There is so much to learn from it!

President Uchtdorf

The fireside last night was incredible. Pres. Uchtdorf touched on such different topics, but really got in depth into all of them. He gave me a lot to think about and I talked to a lot of people about it afterward. Good disscussions are one of my favorite things!
I watched the fireside with my cousins and afterwards we each made goals for the week. My cousins all made goals to get a girl's number or take a girl out this week. My goal is to smile at people more.
I feel like church leaders have been really getting on our generation to date, date, date! Five years ago, Pres. Oaks gave his infamous "no hanging out" fireside and since then I've heard that alot from other leaders. So what's the problem? We hear these great firesides, but are we actually changing our behavior? Do people go on more dates than they did five years ago? What is it that actually gets people to go out and "do"? We can listen all day long and agree with someone, but that doesn't always cause change. I guess for my part, I'm going to encourage my guy friends to take more girls on dates (casual, no pressure dates) and encourage my girl friends to be nice and approachable. Sometimes we make things harder than they are.