Learning Activity

     It is always fascinating to me when I learn about other religions. I don’t quite know what it is that grabs my attention, but it does each and every time that I encounter the opportunity. I have a deep love for learning and being educated. I believe that these are two big qualities to take with you throughout life; with that being said I definitely enjoyed this week’s learning activity. I grew up in a small town in Wisconsin. The best way to compare it to would be Rexburg, Idaho but without the vast population of members. I graduated high school with only one other member, so it’s not as common to see members of the church around the Midwest. Some of my girlfriends growing up and throughout my years of school I had friends who were not members. We would always talk often about what my religion entailed and what they believed in. Since some of these conversations happened in elementary school, middle school and high school they were not as effective as I probably could have been right now in my life. Learning takes time and my testimony is constantly growing and developing, as I am. I was pretty shy and much more timid than I am now. I have had a lot of time to mature and learn some necessary life lessons, which is helping me to flourish within the gospel and the principles that it is teaching me as I raise my family.

     I think the most important thing that I learned from this lesson was how effective it is to share your testimony in the most simplistic way. I always feel that for my points to come across in a magnificent way that I have to be elaborate. Then I am struggling trying to fight off these feelings of stress and second-guessing what I should talk about. It is a nasty battle to have with myself, and I am always so quick to pick apart myself, that it tends to eat away at me little by little until I realize that I need to stop and recognize that I am capable to rise above those negative feelings. I know for a fact that Satan is trying his very best, and I do not want to succumb to his ways but make decisions that help me achieve only my best. My ultimate goal in life is my family, so I need to keep true to what I believe in, and then I will be blessed to have them for eternity because of my faithfulness.

     I felt that the best thing for me to do was talk with one of my close girlfriends. She is a Christian and attends church more regularly now because she has found what it has been doing for her as a big benefit. Having a Christ centered life as she put it, gives her more hope for the future. She is able to have more faith in those things in life that tend to be harder to believe in. She finds peace and comfort from prayer and loves her family far more than she did back in high school; these are her current values, which was interesting for me to learn because I can remember when other things took more of a priority in her life. We talked at length and she knows that she will be with her family; but that once they are dead she will not see them again and doesn’t really know where they will be after death.

     To some extent she believes in heaven but it’s hard to believe in something that could be non-existent as she put it.  As far as she understands this is where she is at currently and it is so much improvement to when I last got in contact with her. In my opinion as long as she is coming to find God in her life and striving to want his help through prayer and reading the bible, those are stepping-stones to far greater things to come in her life. Her perspective is one that makes her happy; she still values family just not in the same way as members of the church value family or how I value my family. Families are infinite and eternal, just like the love our father in Heaven has for each of us which is the sweetest knowledge to have.