I am meeting a lot of great people in my program. Some are single, some engaged, some married, some have children at home, some have children that are grown, some are from far away countries, and some have lived in this area their whole lives. I am grateful to have the classmates I do. The teachers told us to help each other because "the competition is over." It is very true that the more we help others, the better we actually do individually. I have found the more chances I have to teach something to someone, the better I get at the skill or I understand it more fully.
So even though it is busy and I have late nights, I shouldn't complain. I am in an amazing program, gaining wonderful knowledge, taught in incredible facilities, and have tons of great friends who support me.
I chose the title for this week because our church Stake President made this statement several times in our Saturday night session of Stake Conference at church. The main focus last night was about finding happiness now, in our trials. A sister from the stake spoke about how her life changed dramatically about 2 years ago. Her 20 year old son was texting while driving and hit a car, swerved across the median and then hit 5 other cars. He sustained a serious brain injury leaving much of his body paralyzed, and drastically decreased motor function. He was in a coma for 6 months. In the first 30 days of his stay in the hospital, over $500,000 of medical bills were incurred. Then her husband lost his job. He had never been unemployed. He couldn't find work for a year, and they lost their house and declared bankruptcy. She tied her experiences to a talk given by apostle Joseph B. Worthlin called "Come what may, and love it" which is one of my ALL-TIME favorite talks. (http://lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/come-what-may-and-love-it?lang=eng).
I was blown away by her testimony of the atonement of Jesus Christ. She spoke of the power of compensation that comes through it. All our losses will be made up. Even though times are still hard, and she is now taking care of a young adult son as if he were a toddler, she finds joy in life. My complaints about research class seemed petty and small in comparison to this woman's trials. In his closing remarks, our stake president said, "Brothers and Sisters, quit your whining!" in the most loving way. It was one of those meetings where you come away feeling grateful for everything. Loved it.
The other church event that has happened recently is my young women group had our New Beginnings activity, where we talk about the new theme for the year and the purpose of Personal Progress (the goal centered achievement program for the girls). Many of the girls bore their testimonies of how specific values have helped them find happiness and strength in Christ. Everything that we wanted to be said in the evening was said by the girls.
Outside of school and church, we have been hanging out as usual. We did go to an Atlanta Hawks game because my school provided cheap tickets. We sat next to this lady who had a hat that said "James" with an embroidered crown. It had lights and everything. She let me pose with it for a picture.
The Hawks were playing the L.A. Clippers, which was cool since Matt was excited to see Blake Griffin, new rookie NBA All-star. The lady next to us was originally from L.A. and was more of a Laker fan, but she still showed her support for the other L.A. team as she sporadically shouted "Clip their wings clippers!!!" We had a great time. We used our GPS to find a gas station after the game and the closest one was called "quickie pick." There is a chain of gas stations here called quik trip, so we didn't think it sounded too weird. Well, the GPS took us to an old, rundown area with no gas station. So we went to the next closest one which was the most broken down chevron I have ever been to. I stayed in the car :) Here are some pics from the night.
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