Day 15.

It's almost the new year! How crazy is that?? Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012! Before I welcome in the new year, I thought I would reflect on the past year. 
    2011 contained so many different feelings. Happiness, Excitment, Love, Heartbreak, Motivation, Realization, Sadness, Discouragement, Exhaustion, Gratefulness (yep, that is now a word), and so many other great feelings that a word doesn't even exist for!
    I started out this year in love and in the wrong type of love. I loved a man before I loved the Lord and that was truly the wrong way to start out my year. As time progressed and Heavenly Father got His words, finally, in my mind and my heart, I broke off that relationship to find a relationship with Heavenly Father. I remained inactive in the church for a couple of months until I returned home from college for the summer. When I started to attend church again, I fell in love. Due to a summer job (which is not even a great excuse), I was only able to attend the first block of church anymore. My job was exhausting, but looking back it was rewarding as well. I learned a lot having a job. I learned how to be financially responsible for myself, how it feels to be able to support myself, how rewarding it is to work for my money, and of course, I also learned what patience really is and thankfully Heavenly Father prepared me with this gift! When Summer ended, I returned to school in Rochester and met with the missionaries once a week. The missionaries were great guys! They let me pick what I wanted to learn about and help me address issues I have in my life. Every Friday we were even able to get together for our very own family home evening with my friends to play some volleyball and learn something new about the gospel! Those home evenings paid off when two of my friends started to attend the church with me! I prayed so much for them over this time. They mean the world to me and to see them be happy about the church is, for me, seeing God's answers to my prayers. Of course, with this comes opposition and eventually we lost one of my friends to that but I know that Heavenly Father will answer my prayers, once again. It seemed as though after my two friends were contacted, many other girls in my building were being contacted as well. Soon the missionaries were talking to way more people than they started out talking to! I prayed so much for that campus! Though a lot was happening on campus and with my friends, a lot was happening within myself as well. During the month of September, I challenged myself to re-read the Book of Mormon by myself. I had previously started reading it but had stopped. This time I'm going to do it! I started to read every single day and finally found that I was understanding and enjoying the scriptures more as I prayed about them and sought the truth! I did find truth in every word I read. I have never felt so amazed by a book more than I've been amazed by all of my scriptures. No matter what is on my mind, I know that when I pray about it and read my scriptures that I WILL recieve my answer! Heavenly Father is cool like that! He has been doing amazing things in my life this year. He's brought me closer to the church, He's challenged me to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, and He's changed my life! I can only hope and pray that He will continue to change my life in 2012 and the years to come!