Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Quirky Me

Everyone has things that they are particular about that are a little bit quirky to others. Here are my quirks:

If I'm drinking soda from a can I will never finish the entire drink, however, if I pour the same amount of soda in a cup, I will probably drink the whole thing.

When making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I always spread the peanut butter first, then the jelly. The reasoning behind this: I will eat peanut butter in other situations and thus don't want my pb contaminated with the jelly, I rarely eat jelly in any other form than pb&j, so a little pb in the jar is not that big of a deal. Also, my ratio of pb to j is very high, I really love the stuff.

Everytime I drive through a small town (population less than 1,000) I think to myself 'Where do these people get their ice cream that they can bring it home before it melts?'

I can not stand blankets and pillows on the floor. Even if the floor is covered with other sundry items, the blanekts and pillows must be cleaned up first. Then the mess is much more manageable.

I prefer pencils over pens, I like the scratchy feeling that comes with a pencil as I write.

Three things I will not share with anyone, including my husband: cups, towels, and my sleeping pillow. They are the only things I'm territorial over.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Book of Mormon in 4 days

Our ward Relief Society had a marathon Book of Mormon read two weekends ago, reading the book from start to finish, without reading the chapter headings, and had a certain time frame to complete a certain number of chapters. We met on Thursday night and read for 2 1/2 hours, then on Friday had a homework assigment to read certain chapters that took about an hour, then met Saturday from 7am to 8pm, then on Sunday from 3pm to 9pm then had a homework assignment that again took about an hour, and finally met on Tuesday evening from 6:30 to 8. Some men in the ward came and dressed up like Nephi, Jacob, Enos, King Benjamin, Captain Moroni, Helaman, Mormon, and Moroni. When they weren't reading we went around in a circle and each sister read 4 verses. We would stop periodically for meal breaks, but even while eating we were listening to the CD reading.
At first I wasn't going to participate, I figured that A had to work and I wouldn't be able to do it, with nobody to watch my kids. But eventually I decided to just 'do it'. But still each day for a few hours before it was time to leave I would convince myself that I wasn't going, but that little niggling feeling would get me out the door. And I must say that I don't regret doing it at all. Granted, Saturday was a huge challenge, 13 hours straight of reading, is a very long time, and by the time I went home it was very hard to see straight, literally.
I didn't attend on Sunday because A had to work, and unfortunately missed out on Alma 52-about Mormon chapter 3 or 4, which, sadly is some of the best parts. It was very interesting to read it straight through that way, I really felt the story, the humanness of the people who participated in the book.
Although I wouldn't necessarily categorize it as 'fun', it was definitely worth it.
On Tuesday night our RS. 2nd counselor, who was in charge, asked us to spend a few minutes after we finished the last chapter quietly thinking, then we would have a prayer and then a shout of joy for having finally finished. But when the last words were read and the room was silent, a powerful Spirit filled the space around us and it was very special, a prayer was said, and even after that no one wanted to talk; the 'shout for joy' wasn't needed, peace was enough. When I went to the car to drive home, the radio was on, and I had to turn it off, I didn't want that feeling to leave so soon.
The Book of Mormon is a powerful book. I already knew it was true, but boosts like this make me stop and recognize the Spirit whispering to me of it's truthfulness. To acknowledge to Heavenly Father that, yes, I felt you telling me, and yes, the Book of Mormon is inspired of God, and yes, Jesus is the Christ, and yes, Joseph Smith is a prophet, and yes, the Savior will come again, and so many other 'yeses'
It was hard work, but what a blessing!