i believe in Christ

Sundays are just perfect. I dont know how else to describe them.


Today was full of enrichment, and the spirit.


In Relief Society we talked about Time Management. I am pro at wasting time, and it is something I want to be better at. The things we spend our time on shows what are priorities are. Am I hypocritical in what I say is important in my life and what I donate my time to. I let silly things that aren't important to me suck my time away. It is amazing what an outside perspective, or an invitation to examine our own lives can do.


we talked about the atonement and what that can do for us, and related it to time management. It reminded me of something I had learned in a class a few years ago. He talked about how our Heavenly Father just asks for OUR best, and our best might change day to day. There are days I wake up and I feel like I can conquer the world. On those days more is expected of me than the days that I wake up feeling sick, and drained. On those days he expects to do my best, but does not hold me to the same standard as the other days. He makes up the difference.


Later today I was able to go to the Young Ambassador's Fireside on BYU campus entitled "I Believe in Christ." It was wonderful. They sang beautiful songs and interspersed they bore their testimonies of him. The audience joined in on the last song by singing the last verse of "I know that my Redeemer lives" The spirit was over powering. It was beautiful. It also doesn't hurt that it is one of my favorite hymns.

I Know That My Redeemer Lives

I know that my Redeemer lives,

What comfort this sweet sentence gives?

He lives, he lives who once was dead,

He lives, my ever living head!

He lives to bless me with his love,

He lives to plead for me above,

He lives my hungry soul to feed,

He lives to bless in time of need.

He lives to grant me rich supply,

He lives to guide me with his eye,

He lives to comfort me when faint,

He lives to hear my soul's complaint:

He lives to silence all my fears,

He lives to stop and wipe my tears,

He lives to calm my troubled heart,

He lives all blessings to impart:

He lives my kind, wise, heav'nly friend,

He lives and loves me to the end,

He lives, and while he lives I'll sing,

He lives, my Prophet, Priest, and King:

 He lives and grants me daily breath,

He lives, and I shall conquer death,

He lives my mansion to prepare,

He lives to bring me safely there:

He lives, all glory to his name!

He lives, my Jesus, still the same:

O the sweet joy this sentence gives,

"I know that my Redeemer lives."

I have found in my life that one of the fastest ways I feel the spirit is through music. I am grateful we had the opportunity to go to the fireside. The night was topped off with watching Charly (one of my favorite movies ever- as Ethan could tell by my quoting it to him). While I ended the night in tears, because of the heart wrenching ending- I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of the plan of salvation.

today was a good day.

too much goodness

So I have been avoiding blogging because there are too many good things to blog about. I just get overwhelmed. But the longer I wait, the more fun  and exciting things happen, the less I want to blog. It's a downward spiral- I swear. So im sucking it up, and just jumping in head first. So here is the brief update of my wonderful life. In bullet-point form.

Friday.

*I LOVE Hobby Lobby. and looking at fabric. I made these flag type things to hang in our loft that were hanging on the Southbank when we were in London. It was so fun to look at all the different fabrics and try to choose ones that would match, or look good together. I swear the lady who cut the fabric hated me because I had so many different fabrics to cut, and only wanted a small amount. dear worker at Hobby Lobby, Im sorry.

* Dinner at Panda with Megan, Giselle, Jessica, and their roommate Lauren. Delicious. Made my stomach hurt the rest of the night. devil.

*Most perfect BYU football game ever. Why...let me list the reasons

1. front row seats. there is something more exciting about standing against a railing than up on the bleachers.
2. a high five from Cosmo
3. we were on the fan cam
4. I made friends with a police officer who had a mustache. We talked about if BYU would come back after the half. He was the nicest.
5. Got a high five from one of the marines who shoot the cannon. and then later talked with him and I might get to shoot the cannon at a game. fingers crossed.
6. saw Jimmer. lots. at one point he was only 5 feet away.
7. made a new friend. turns out he is in my ward. we didnt make the connection until Sunday when i saw him at ward prayer. weird.
8. oh yes and we WON!

  I am excited for this weeks game to say the least. side note: there are times where I get really quiet and awkward. the first half was one of those times. I was sitting with "friends" from freshman year. the quotation marks are because two years changes a lot. I was sitting there realizing that no one knew me. That no one really cared about my life. Instead of acting- like i should have done- i reacted and shut down. silly ellie. i was talking to phil (the new friend) on sunday and he was telling me how i should never be quiet again because the second half was more fun. mental note to self. dont be dumb.

* after gameness at Megan's. Aka I fell asleep watching the movie. shocking.

Saturday.

*woke up at 8 15. picked up Megan at 8 45. drove up the canyon. arrived at soldier hollow. RAN THE DIRTY DASH. took a freezing shower. drove home.

side story. the dirty dash ended up being a crazy ordeal. in the fact that people who were planning on doing it had things come up. then the people they found to take their spot ended up not being able to do it. friday night i was terrified that no one could do it and i would be alone. Megan, the amazing friend she is, and who is not a runner at all, agreed to do it with me. It was great. We climbed under walls, through tunnels, over pipes, through trenches, and sloshed our way through the reservoir. I loved every moment of it. I have voted that our family is doing it next year. 

*took the best shower of my life.

*put away laundry, and worked on making the flags. 

*Sister date with Keri- PERFECTION. half a cafe rio salad later we were off to the Marriott to watch the RS General Broadcast. It was a wonderful broadcast. and Uchtdorf's talk on Forget-Me-Nots was absolutely perfect. I absolutely adore Keri, so it was fun to have a night with her.

*Saturday night was full of parties. It started at Stacee's where I met up with Eric and Tanner, then on to Kesley's (we stopped by the LAX party on the way) and after Kelsey's we headed over to the avocottage for an open mic night and stayed there for the rest of the night. It was wonderful.

Sunday.

* I woke up at 7 45. note i had nothing until 10 30. silly body. instead of rolling over and going back to bed, i got up. craziness- i know. it ended up being wonderful. i was able to get so much done that morning- including finishing the flags.

*had a delicious pancake breakfast thanks to anne. and met abby. who is the sweetest girl ever.

*church. wonderful per usual.


*looked at an outside of a house with matt and keri. it had charm galore. it was built in 1900 and was recently redone. their were balconies, three stories, and looked perfect. (we went back yesterday, and walked through. not so perfect. hopes dashed.)


*birthday party for a girl in a ward, Jari. Side story. Ellie is a CREEPER. yes, thats right folks. she had worked EFY in Virginia and I knew all the Virginia people via facebook because of Morgan. I felt like I knew all their life stories and they had NO clue who I was. 




Monday.


* work was grand.


* class was grand.


*cardio cinema. love. me + the italian job + the eliptical = best workout ever.


* ward FHE. story number one. walk up. brother dewsnup sees me and says "i was watching you on Sunday when we stood up to sing. you are really short" ah devil. later they needed someone to say the closing prayer. i raised my hand. he called on me. "super short girl" yes. he doesnt know my name. but at least he knows im vertically challenged.


*played ultimate frisbee. im not the best.  i have a run around technique that makes me look like i am trying but really do nothing. i like to roar when i guard people. and i scored twice. it was grand. and made new friends. 


*i hate studying. i successfully got very little done by blog stalking people. dear blogger you are ruining my life. correction. dear child psychology you are ruining my life. dear blogger you make my life better.




Tuesday.


*no megan at work today. i cried.


*worked out with the free personal trainer. moral of the story. im out of shape. moral of the story. i am changing that.


*night classes. not a fan anymore. i was so antsy. thank you angry birds for distracting me.


*walked through the house with M&K and we were all bummed at the fact it wasnt perfect.


*was supposed to study but didnt get home until eleven. sometimes i make bad decisions. bad ellie, bad.


*went to bed. funny story of my life. recently i havent been able to fall asleep. it is the most annoying thing ever. last night i was frustrated so i switched the direction i slept in my bed. aka put my feet where my head normally goes. i feel asleep right away. weird.


THE END of my crazy, yet wonderful life.


*Pictures to come

  

i know.

 A three year old child is a being who gets almost as much fun out of a fifty-six dollar set of swings as it does out of finding a small green worm.  

~Bill Vaughan

Today I found that the fun came from a simple ball. it was the kind you usually play with in water, for the life of me i cant remember the name.


For the last 6 weeks I have been going to church at the Stratford ward. We leave at 7 30 in the morning and sometimes dont get back until after 3. it has made for some long days. would i change it for the world? no. it has been such a lesson to me on sacrifice. i thought my life was hard with a 15 minute car ride to church at 8 45. To see the sacrifice but forth by others, it makes me feel silly for ever complaining. Most sundays included lots of laughter and frustration as something always went wrong trying to get to church. however, that was not the case. trains were running from liverpool street. we didnt miss the train. we got off at the right stop. and the doors opened when we wanted them to. it was a miracle. this meant we got to church 20 minutes early. it was so nice to not feel frazzled. to be able to sit and think before church started. we were able to talk to the sister missionaries which was amazing. they are the cutest. and one knows a girl i work with. small small world.


i started the day off with the amazing little guys pictured above in primary. they are the cutest, most amazing kids i have ever seen. it is amazing how even though a half a world away the church is still true. their ward is a lot different then your stereotypical american ward. you dont have 15 different people who can play the piano. 3 people have to do the job of 10, because the wards are so small, but they do it.


i got to send the middle part of my day with these guys (minus the one of the far right) in nursery.

daniel, daniel, me, kevin, and kevin's brother

back home the nursery kids are separated the whole time. but not here. these little guys were such troopers and sat through the whole first part of primary before we split off for nursery. the time before it had just been me and daniel (far left) and we had had a great time- but it was fun to have more kids. it was a ball- literally. daniel, daniel, and i played with this little ball for probably a good 20 minutes. they were the cutest. trying to catch, throw, and kick. all in this tiny tiny room. i was impressed with how amazing daniel (far left) was. no worries kevin was having a ball playing with trucks with the choir director who came in to play too. i was amazed at the love i felt for these little guys. we stopped playing and read some bible stories before going back into primary to help them settle down, and they just sat there cuddled right next to me as i read. i never wanted to leave, but eventually the knock came. let me brag a little bit more about these guys. we went out and it wasnt quite time to go in so they had to wait outside. they were as reverent as could be. they would only wisper and stood in line. i had them tell me how old they were and then they guessed how old i was. daniel guessed 10. so cute. but to make them even more impressive when the junior primary came out to wait they were way noisy. i was so proud of my little guys for being so wonderful. except it made it being the last sunday so much more difficult. we ended primary with them saying thank you and giving us cards to say goodbye- and getting some pictures of course.

sacrament meeting was wonderful. the faith they have is amazing and most of them have only been members of the church for a few years. "the BYU students" as they called us sang the spirit of god before testimony meeting. it was so simple but watching everyone i was so touched by there faith and spirit. the rest of church was wonderful, and i was able to help someone learn how to apply to byu after the meeting. thank you BYU student services.

the group of us with some members. ellen, meisha, preston, casmin, choir director dude, dezi, members i dont know, holly, and me

the train ride home and tube ride seemed to fly. Ellen and I talked a lot about efy which is always fun. She is hoping to be a counselor next year so we talked about what it was like to apply, and what you do. and i talked through all my anxieties with her. she is wonderful. and small world, is from the chicagoland area too.

then it was home. i felt like i was wasting a ton of time- so i decided to stop. sounds simple, but it was so invigorating. i started packing, put lots and lots of pictures on facebook, and looked through old notes from conference. i talked with people. watched part of the royal wedding online with lauren. and then we had a roommate dinner. elly is the most amazing person ever and made the most delicious dinner ever. we are on eat all food mode, so she made us yummy pasta with chicken and cheese. ah so great!

after that we had our last devotional. crazy how time flies. the last devotional was a testimony meeting and it was amazing. absolutely amazing. i wish i had my notebook with me so i could have written everything i was feeling down- oh the importance of being prepared.

some of my thoughts: i have been so blessed. i was born into a family with loving parents and sibiling. i have been able to do a lot of things that i many people arent able to do. i am healthy. i had the opportunity to come to london. my "perfect" summer fell into place. it is amazing how blessed i have been, there are times i am scared that i will reach my limit. that you can only have so many blessing. there are times i feel like i dont deserve everything i have been given. it amazes me how much my heavenly father loves me, and knows me personally. he knows the people i need to meet, the experiences i need to have, and while it doesnt always make sense to me, he knows. he knows me perfectly, he knows me better than i know myself. and i love him dearly. another thing on my mind is how crazy everyday has been. it has been chalked full. at times this is overwhelming, i feel like i need a day off, but i dont want to miss anything in london, and we only have a limited amount of time here. 6 weeks, while a long time goes by so fast. as cali put it- we are living the life of a tourist, but we always should. we are accountable for our time here. we have a limited time here on the earth. we should make the most of everyday we are given. why look back with regrets. but also the importance of filling our time with the right things. today as i was reading through my notes from conference it felt wonderful because i felt like i was doing something worth while. while seeing sites and shows and exploring london is amazing- i miss having a purpose. i miss making a difference on the world. and for that reason i am so excited for efy to start. im excited to get outside myself and focus on other people. these last 6 weeks have felt very self centered. what do i want to do. what do i want to see. what am i going to get out of this experience. and i cant wait to have a new focus. and to have that focus be on others and my savior. 

to end. one of my favorite songs from efy years past.

funny moment of the night: skyping with my parents. elly brought me a corner (yogurt deliciousness) what do my parents do? my dad goes and gets yogurt for the both of them so we can have family "dinner" or yogurt time over the computer. i LOVE my parents.

a day of rest.

 i love sundays. love love love them.

today was stake/regional conference. which means instead of leaving the flat at 7 30 we left at 9 15. instead of traveling for an hour and a half via tube, train, and possibly bus, we walked 10 minutes and were there.

i got there early to make get a spot and to just take time to read my scriptures and ponder. my study has recently been focusing on the savior and his ministry. i love the lessons we can learn from the savior.

the conference itself was wonderful! absolutely wonderful. it was broadcast from the conference in salt lake and we got to hear from a member of the seventy, Barbara Thompson, L. Tom Perry, and President Monson. it was phenomenal. some of the gems.

• bind yourselves to act on the impressions you receive, take notes, make the change, otherwise it is useless 
• the lord doesn't put us through a test to give us a grade. it is to change us through the process 
• we limit ourselves in so many ways. we limit our potential, we limit our change. we think to ourselves "i cant do that" when in fact we can. especially with the lord on our side. 
• act on promptings you have immediately. dont wait to become better. have faith, and take the jump 
• things come without warning, we must steady ourselves and then move on. but we can strengthen ourselves for those times through prayer, scripture study, and following the prophet. 
• everyone is someone's mother, father, son, daughter, friend- treat them as such. how would you want someone to treat your family. 
• if you dont try, you dont do, and if we dont do then why are we here? 
• see christ in every face you see, and act accordingly 

it was chalked full of great lessons and things to ponder on. i wish i could go back and watch it five more times to get those little things you miss as your mind wanders. today mine wandered a lot to efy. what i needed to have my parents bring to the airport from home. how i would get to the first session from the airport. what i would miss in the two day i wont be there. how i have no idea what im doing. as my mind started reeling out of control. i stopped. and just realized everything would be fine, and worrying would do absolutely nothing.

we came home and it was off to the kitchen along with everyone else. i think at one point there were 12 girls in the kitchen. after a delicious lunch it was time to blog, and figure things out for efy. emails. training. and watching videos later. i was still feeling a little uneasy, but a little bit better. recommendation- dont go straight from london to efy. give yourself time to prepare. just a thought.

a sunday nap was in order and was wonderful- and then we had our sunday devotional. and it was wonderful. adding it to the already wonderful sunday. addison, patrick, and preston talked about their missions and shared some great insights. one of my favorite things was the very first thing addison talked about. he talked about psalms 37 which in his words says- "do good, trust God, and dont worry" how applicable to life. especially to the worries we feel.

other random tidbits of the day.

we tried a mars bar today- after hearing all the rage our expectations were set high. expectations were not met. its like a three musketeers but not as good in my opinion. it tasted funny. 

its this beautiful girls birthday today. happy birthday lauren! 

a work day of church.

today is as short a post as possible.

7 30. left for church.

8 15 got to victoria station. no trains going to stratford from victoria. got tickets from the stratford station is ilford. worker woman was rude and shhed mischa. not nice at all

8 45ish got to stratford station, just missed the train

9 10 got on train.

9 30. made it to church just in time

9 45. was asked to teach a primary lesson, that i got at 9 45. it was on the good samaritan, we acted it out, and the lesson wasnt awful, but wasnt the best.

11 30. spoke in sacrament. kind of scary. we were asked just to introduce ourselves and bear our testimonies.

12 30. decided to stay for a "quick" choir practice.

2 00. choir practice finally ended. we were exhausted. sick of singing. and hungry. ellen switched to soprano to help even it out, leaving me and dezi on alto. ive never had to be so confident in my part. its awful.

3 30. finally make it back to the flat. mischa and i caught a bus from the tube station, and i have never been so happy in my life.

5 30. cali put in pizza (the gross kind)

5 37. knock on the door saying the pizza is burning.

5 40. begrudgingly eat gross pizza, and make amber, cami, and elly all help. amber shared a bite of her coconut ice cream bar. one word. amazing.

6 30. finish blog post from the day before. getting a day behind is the worst.

7 00. fireside at flat. LDS london theater people came and talked about what it is like to be mormon in theater and things they have experienced.

8 00. planned italy. for a long long time. bought tickets for vatican. got train tickets to sperlonga. was grumpy when people werent happy with what was planned. was sad i was grumpy.

12 30 skype

1 30 fall asleep while skyping

i will edit in more details later. oh yes and that it is 8 hours from the time we left for church to the time we got home. 

the tube, and trains, and buses oh my.

first day of church in the stratford ward. it takes apprximately 1.75 hours to get there. meaning we were leaving our flat at 7 30 this morning. can i just say it isnt smart to go to bed around 2 when you have to wake up at 7. bad life decision ellie.


our journey started on the tube, the transfered to the train. we had one of those picturesque moments of running for the train as it was pulling away, no worries, we missed it. so we got on another one that was leaving 15 minutes later. we then got off the train (one stop early, whoops) and got on a double decker bus. yes my first ride on the wrong side of the road, it was very exciting. and we made it. as we were crossing the street almost to the church building we heard "BYU!!!" and turned and these cute old ladies were yelling out their cars. it was grand. and we felt that same hospitality the whole time we were there.


i met this way cute girl names, Isgard, who was from Germany and we talked and sat by each other for the first part of the day. she was amazing, she had just graduated college and had just upped and moved to london to look for a job and live with her brother. she was so sweet, and so cute, and i just adored her. also there was this adorable little girl, probably right around two, who was sitting with the lady next to me, and she kept me entertained. which makes me so excited to work in the primary and nursery. it will be grand.


i had to fight falling asleep in sunday school and sacrament, and unfortunately sleep won both times. but i made it through, and we ended up staying for choir practice. so by the time we got home from church we had been gone for 8 hrs. yes folks 4 hours traveling, 4 hours of church. but as long as it was i loved every moment of it. it was the first real sacrifice i had to make getting to church, and the travel gives plenty of time to get to know the people in our church group. its wonderful. i love them all, we have such a great group.


we got home and grabbed food, we now know that we need to bring a snack. talked with some girls and then i skyped with mi familia for mothers day. my mom has decided for mother's day she has decided to change her name to cate. after 60 years of going by cathy (which she isnt the biggest fan of) she decided to fulfill a life long dream of going by cate. i found this morally wrong. she is cathy, cath-a-der, she cant change her name. i dont think my mom was expecting my emphatic rejection to her name change, but no- not possible. talking was wonder. jonathan and chelsea are in town for mothers day so i got to talk to them and my parents, and james too. he is adorable.


later we had a fireside about london during wwII. it was absolutely fascinating. the man who talked to us had to evacuate with the children during the wars. hearing about how the children had to evacuate was heart breaking. i couldnt imagine saying goodbye to my children not knowing if i would live to see them again. after the fireside we had these delicious yogurt things for dessert, and then we worked on our scene we had to present tomorrow in class from little eagles.


sorry no pictures from today. but it was a wonderful wonderful sunday. but exhausting. happy sleeping.