Seminary

It’s hard to believe that it’s been four years of seminary. It seems just a day ago I was skipping off to my first day of Old Testament. I was in Highland Utah and attended “release time” during the day. I loved learning about the stories and people in the Old Testament. Then we moved to Rexburg Idaho and I attended release time again during my school day. I followed the adventures of the apostles of Jesus through the New Testament and was deeply moved by his birth and resurrection. My hero in that class was the Savior and I learned to love him more through the stories of his life and good works. Then we moved to a wonderful tropical island called Saipan. I was excited but dreading early morning seminary. Everyone was kind and inviting and Sis. Conner taught us the wonders of the Book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ. My testimony of missionary work increased after being challenged to give away a Book of Mormon. I learned things I’d missed in my personal reading as we went quickly through those blessed pages and saw how each story fit with the other. I saw Ammon as a missionary serving King Lamoni, I felt like I was there when King Benjamin preached to his people, I cried tears of joy as the Savior blessed the children in 3rd Nephi, and I ached for Moroni as he traveled alone keeping the record as the Lord had commanded. So many other lessons I learned. Then the next year came around and the Doctrine and Covenants was coming up. I was excited. I knew so little about the Doctrine and Covenants. What a powerful book of scripture it turned out to be! Joseph Smith is a true prophet. He lived and sacrificed for this gospel so we could have it. No one can convince me that it isn’t true because I’ve had a conformation of the Holy Ghost that it is true and the Jesus Christ lives and speaks to us through the pages of his scriptures. This year he spoke to me through the Doctrine and Covenants. I can’t thank everyone enough for the examples you’ve been to me. It is so humbling to be a part of the youth of this Church. The world is wicked, sleazy, and scary, but we have the choice to “Stand in holy places” and to “Let virtue garnish our thoughts unceasingly.” I love you all! I can’t wait for the day we can all sit down to a picnic in the celestial kingdom, and tell each other the end of our stories here on earth.

Remember who you are, and why you’re here!