A Pep Talk from Kid President to You

"Silence in the Face of Such Calamity is a Sin"

I view that day when the Lord will come to us again as a very wonderful day. There will be an overwhelming feeling of love  for God, for our families, for our loved ones and friends. What is truly important in life will be illuminated. Greed, selfishness, doubt, violence, hate, and pain will all be abolished and  we will again be reunited with the Savior that made it possible for us to be redeemed, to live with God in a state of never ending happiness. That is a day worth living for. Peace. Hope. Love. Resurrection. Freedom from pain, sickness, insecurity, disability. To be honored for the squeaky clean, and silently noble lives we have lived from day to day, month to month, and year to year.
I know that in my life, there will be so much opposition to my beliefs, to the way I live my life, and to my testimony. I know that I, and other members who choose to "Stand as a Witness of God, at all times, and in all things and in all places" will be hated by many, persecuted, lied about, discriminated, and punished for our beliefs. Yet, I am not frightened, intimidated, or worried about the darkening world in which we live.
I know that many, especially in the years to come, may misunderstand my beliefs, feel threatened by them, and will strongly disagree with my personal viewpoints on Human Rights, Marriage, Morals, Substance abuse, the way we worship God, our view of commandments, what we do with His Sabbath day, modesty, integrity and the little day to day things on which we will not see eye to eye.
 We have been blessed with the rights to voice our opinions publicly, to have a right to worship as we please, and a right to live our lives in which ever way we choose. This in fact, is evidence of God's love for us. He has given us the amazing gift of agency, of choice, to decide whether we will choose Him, or not. Without choice- there is no good or bad. Without good or bad, there is no choice.

I love the gift of agency. It is powerful. It makes me strong. It gives me hope- that someday my weaknesses may also become strengths. I will use the incredible gift of Choice that God has given me to stay on His side. To uphold His Gospel, and His Church upon the Earth.

The storms will rage, the calamities will come, the opinions will bite, and the trials will blow without stopping. But I will live up to the powerful declaration that I and millions of other girls like me have recited weekly for our youthful years- that We are-

Daughters of our Heavenly Father Who LOVES us,

and we LOVE Him.

 

We WILL STAND as WITNESSES of God at ALL times, and in ALL things, and in ALL places.

 

as we STRIVE to LIVE the young women values which are

 

Faith

Divine Nature

Individual Worth

Knowledge

CHOICE and accountability

Good Works

Integrity

and

Virtue

 

we WILL BE PREPARED to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants

receive the ordinances of the temple,

 

AND ENJOY THE BLESSINGS OF EXALTATION.

 

Those most precious blessings of exaltation will begin the day that the Lord again returns upon the Earth. I don't know when that will be. But until that day, come persecution, come discrimination, come hardship, come disagreement, come trial, I will CHOOSE to serve the Lord, to uphold His ordained apostles, prophets, seers, and revelators.

 

I will Not be silent. I will Not be still.

 

Part of being a witness- requires us to open our mouths- and speak.

 

 



A Journal Entry, An Inspirational Person, and A Whole Lot of Memories

 

 

This Right here ^ Is Matthew Scott Everett.

 

Right now, He is serving a full time mission in Mexico City West.

 

 

I am home for the Thanksgiving Holidays and was going through my bedroom, reminiscing the good old days of high school and before. I decided to go back and read through my journals and look through all of my pictures of my senior year of high school. Along with dance photos, old mic tape from shows that had somehow ended up rolled up and preserved in my journal, and many a crazy high school memory, I came across countless journal entries about my best friend (who is handsomely posing above)

 

I realized that I never fully publicly described all of the things that I learned from him, nor did I, beyond a short facebook post the day he left, describe how inspirational, and wonderful Matt is. I decided it was probably time that I fully express how appreciative I am of him and his example to me.

 

I sat down and thought of the top 10 things that I learned from Matt which are as follows.

 

 

10. God puts people in our path for a purpose. He has a hand in the way that they meet, and knows when is the proper time to bring two friends together.

There were so many ways where the lord guided this friendship. Both of us were going through some overwhelming times. He had just recovered from surgery, and received a mission call, and I had just quit my drama program that I loved as a leap of faith and following prompting  that left me with a lot of lonely days and hard times- granted I never regretted it, but that's an entirely different story of it's own. Heavenly Father knew we both needed a pal to confide in. Through a series of little miracles and tender mercies Matt and I met just in time to be that pal that the other needed. Matt was always very quick to attribute "coincidence" to God, and His hand in our lives and in our friendship.

 

(The tennis balls we played with the day we met. so fun!)

 

9. My Bowling Score Doesn't Determine my Worth- I am awful at bowling. I'll face it. The thought of a strike was far beyond anything I ever in my wildest dreams could have imagined. (except for that one fluke time when I got like 3, right Nathan?) Although I epically failed, Matt was always very encouraging that it my worth didn't depend on my bowling score- or any other successes or failures for that matter. He was always very encouraging, believed in me, and told me to get back up whenever I failed at anything in life.



 

8. The Goofy Movie really is the best. Nuf said.

 

7. Rivals make the best of friends.

 

Cats trump Indians. Always. But if you were to ask him- he'd say Indians trump kitties any day. We couldn't be more different in our school associations. High school rivals. College rivals. You name it. We're rivals.  It was always entertaining to poke fun at our rivalry and laugh that neither of us ever would have anticipated our best friend being a die hard UTE/COUGAR or BRAVE/CAT. But what I respected so much about Matt was that he always knew when to stop. We both have witnessed so much classless bashing on both sides- and Matt, though always first to poke fun, was always considerate and classy in his teasing. Such a relief from all the classless bashing that goes on. Sportsmanship was one of Matt's best qualities.

 

6. So What if the Cookies get burned? The dough's the good part right?

 

One evening, we decided we would make a batch of cookies. (Though, mostly on my part- I just like the dough. And we probably had enough to feed a missionary farewell. but that's besides the point) He was baking, I was writing songs for Nathan about how stupid junior high girls are since he had a couple mean ones on his case. We got in a pretty awesome flour fight. Although the cookies epically failed- the process of making them was a blast. He always made the best of every situation, and found a way to make every experience worthwhile. He made me want to be even more of an optimist because even if we epically failed at whatever we planned- we still found ways to make it an adventure.



 

5,4,3,2,:

 

The last things that Matt taught me can be found in one single journal entry I wrote shortly after he left for the MTC. It pretty much sums it all up. (which is what sparked the idea to do this post in the first place.)

 

" Matt  taught me to be selfless. Matt helped me to love myself, and recognize the daughter of God that I am daily, and to use that to help others. Matt taught me what it was to love others and yourself unconditionally. Matt taught me patience. Matt showed me gentleness, kindness, and christlike love. Matt taught me that Disney movies are pretty much the bees knees. Matt helped me learn how to find answers to my prayers about the simple things in life. Matt taught me that the goofy movie is probably the best movie ever made. Matt taught me that the temple is the ultimate goal. Matt helped me to recognize the divine hand in my daily life. Matt showed me what it was to be a true best friend. Matt introduced me to Daniel Beck- and that alone is something to be notably thanked for. He rocks. Matt taught me that even boys will interpretive dance to Taylor Swift if they're manly. Matt taught me adventure. Matt taught me to never settle for content- strive for happy. Matt helped me realize that football really isn't so bad.

Matt's humility was one of his most outstanding characteristics. He was humble about his accomplishments, always attributed his successes that he had had to Heavenly Father, and was very sweet about everything he did.

And although he beat himself to a pulp at times, He taught me what it was to be mighty in faith, to rely on the Lord for everything ,and to keep moving forward. His example is one that I will never ever be able to repay. I know he his going to be an outstanding missionary, and I will be forever thankful for the wonderful friendship that he has given me. He will be missed, but I am so proud of him for his missionary service."

 

 

1. Matt Loves The Savior.

The most important, most notable, and most inspiring thing about Matt is his love for the Savior. From his favorite song, "Gentle Savior" to his missionary letters wherein he testifies of the savior and how his imperfections can be replaced with strengths (Ether 12:27) through Christ. He has more faith than any I have ever seen. He willingly hands himself to the Lord and allows himself to be molded and shaped into what the Lord wants of him. He tried his hardest to emulate the Savior in every way- and was very successful at it.

He is merciful, charitable and caring just as the Savior. I cannot even count all of the times when he would come over when I was sick and keep me company, gave me blessings, and cared for me when I wasn't feeling well. And although he is far from perfect, as we all are, what matters to me, is that he gave it his all. He had a strong relationship with Christ and allowed that to shine through all of his actions.

I am grateful for his example that strengthened my testimony so much by him sharing his testimony through his daily actions.

 

 



(skype snapshot I took while we studied scriptures)

 

(The Gang)

 

 

 

So I'll wrap it up here.

 

Along with thousands of memories, hours of laughter, and gallons of hot cocoa, Matt was an inspiration and an excellent example to me.

I am so glad he is doing so well out in the mission field and I know he will continue to influence lives as he brings others to Christ out there.

Just felt like I needed to fully express my appreciation for such an amazing friend.

"Because I knew You- I have been Changed for Good."- Wicked

 















"I Am A Child Of God"

In my Mission Prep class today,  I was pondering our challenge. Which is to testify to the person sitting next to us a simple truth, and how we know that. I was impressed to open my journal, which several months ago, I was also prompted to evaluate what truths of the gospel I already know, and what more I needed to gain a testimony of.
Here is an exerpt of the things that I wrote in that particular journal entry.

" I have a testimony that I am a daughter of a loving heavenly father who knows me, and loves me. I find when I remember WHO I AM, and WHERE I CAME FROM, I am most happy and successful. I know that God is my father in heaven. I am his cherished daughter [as it says in my patriarchal blessing] I know he knows me better than I know myself. THe times when I have the best relationship with him are the times I am happiest....." It goes on. but that's all I'll share of this for now.

When I read that, I knew that in mission prep, I knew I had to testify that I do know that I am a daughter of God. He does truly know me personally. Those words were as true in my heart as they were on May 27th, when I first wrote them down. Retestifying of this truth gave me a feeling of peace, and of joy that I really do know that God loves me, and listens to me.

I am at the beginning of my College experience. As we speak, I am at the BYU library, studying for a midterm test, but I just was distracted, and couldn't finish studying without expressing my feelings on this subject.

You can tell just to look at a person if they know WHO they are and WHOSE they are. You know because the ones who know are service oriented, give God the credit for the things that they do, and seek to bring glory and honor to his holy name all the days of their lives. But what about the ones who don't?

What if you haven't received that confirmation that God is REAL?

I'm no prophet, or president of any big organization. Heck, i'm a member of the indexing and temple committee (Which is actually a really awesome calling, but i'm sure i'll tell all about that later)
I am a simple college freshman, anxiously trying to learn how to live life in general, and specifically how to navigate this big world full of choices and expectations, and mostly just learning how to work so that I can be an effective missionary next year. At this time next year, I will be knocking on doors. teaching lessons. helping others come unto Christ. But I might be able to at least explain some insight on the subject of our divine nature, and worth.

We live in a world where satan is trying to frustrate the Lords work. All you have to do is look around and you will see a lot of people lost, not knowing where God is, if he exists at all.

He does exist.

He is real.

He knows each of us personally, and knows what we are going through. When we are faced with a decision, a cross roads of sorts, where you can only choose one path. He will reveal the path that is right for you.

When you look into a mirror what do you see? What jumps out at you? The zits that have kindly formed right in  the center of your forehead, the extra five pounds pooling out of your muffin top? When you look at yourself, do you classify yourself as the world would classify? Or rather, do you look into a mirror of eternity? Do you see who you truly are?

I would advise you to open your eyes, just a little bit wider. See just a little bit further, and realize what is in you. You are the literal offspring of the most magnificient, loving, caring, gentle, but powerful being in the universe. Surely, you have not been brought of him, and have not inherited even a fraction of his light, of his love, and of his skill. You are no simple creation. God does not create Duds. As we are his offspring, that is not possible. We have children who are not reaching their potential, but not as a result of their spiritual genetic make up.

Pray to know what you're potential is. in fact, take everything to him in prayer. Don't let an hour go by, when you haven't counseled with him, at least silently, to know what it is that is his plan for you.
He will reveal it to you as you listen.



Here's the bottom line.

God loves us. he wants us to be happy and he wants us to know that he IS there. He can't jump out to each of us personally and say HERE I AM. because that would defeat the purpose of faith.
Sometimes relationships that form a bond from a distance, end up being the closest relationships of all.
He has blessed us with an entire earth to inhabit, and look how beautiful that is. You have the same beauty. There is beauty in every day, and in every thing, every situation ,and every person.

God is there. Start listening. realize your potential. and you'll feel it too.

I know I have a divine purpose in this world.
I know I have responsibility to share my testimony that God lives, and loves his children.
I know I have been blessed with talents and abilities, which need to be shared for the helping and uplifting of those that I love.
I know that I can someday be a like God if I but have a little patience, and press forward, with baby steps, to someday attain his level of Glory.


that's it.

That's my shpeal.

I am daughter of a loving heavenly father, who loves me, and I love him.
I will stand as a witness of God. At ALL times, and in ALL things, and in ALL places.


Now off to study for midterms!

Know you're loved, and that you are prayed for, and thought of. Don't give up. Even if you don't know it yet, it will come. I promise.