Howdy to my friends and family! First week of classes just happened. I'm pretty pumped for this new semester. I'm taking some fun classes (ice skating, badminton), I'm in two research labs, and I'm gonna be learning a lot about marriage and the brain! The biggest miracle happened this week. The bill for my hospital trip two months ago finally arrived, and initially my insurance was only covering about half of it, so I was going to be paying a large chunk of money (two weeks worth of my paycheck), but I found out my insurance paid an additional large chunk of money, so I was left paying only $90!!! What a huge miracle.
Monday
I went to my healthy sexuality class at noon, which is my first class of the day. That's super nice. My teacher seems super awesome and has done amazing and inspirational things with her life. This is a class everyone should take at BYU, and I am saying that after only one class period because there are so many myths about sexuality that Satan spreads and that so many members fall susceptible to. Additionally, every parent could use some help with knowing the most appropriate and effective way to teach their kids about sex, because it's often super awkward for both the parent and child!
Tuesday
My 8am badminton class started today. I got there with a few minutes to spare! I thought I was okay at badminton, but I have a lot to learn! My neuroscience class was intimidating at first, but after class today, I am pretty excited for it. My teacher seems very fun and engaging. He is passionate about the subject and makes learning fun. I had my ice skating class that afternoon. I am definitely at the bottom of the totem pole in that class. So many classmates are amazing skaters! It is intermediate, after all, so I shouldn't be surprised. My work will be cut out for me, but I'm excited. The only down side is that skating makes the bunion problem in my feet even worse, but that's just something I'll have to deal with to keep enjoying something I love. Afterwards, I drove down to meet Julia and her kids. I'm helping her two oldest with practicing piano. She is paying me super well! I went to a TA meeting at 6pm and then the institute kick-off at 7:30pm.
Wednesday
Wow, my research class I'm in for the development of religiosity in youth is very intimidating! We are being thrown straight into the research and will be writing a research paper and making a poster to present at Utah State and then at a conference come April!
Thursday
In my Marriage Enhancement class this evening, over half the class raised their hands to indicate that they were married or engaged. A couple is teaching the class, Brother and Sister Hill, and I took family finance from Brother Hill three years ago. After class, I said "hi" to him and said he probably didn't remember me from his class all those years ago. He said he remembered my face and then asked if I was attending this class with my husband. When I said "no, I'm single," he responded, "oh, we need to get a group of singles together!" It was funny because he said it in a tone of "You're single? We need to fix this!" Haha, my time is coming.
Friday
I went to the temple this morning. Later that evening, I met up with my former mission companion, Ali Palmer, to go to dinner before attending Becca Harper's (formally Sister Strong) wedding reception. It's hard to believe she is already married!
Saturday
I went to the library and then shopping. I also went in to work for a few hours, then later that evening I went to babysit for Julia (I help her kids with practicing piano). It was actually a lot of fun to play with and be around kids! Her two youngest are absolutely adorable and took a quick liking to me. When I first arrived, they were outside in their swim suits... and it was snowing. I was so confused but then realized they have a hot tub outside. How fun is that, swimming in a hot tub while it's snowing?! By the time the parents arrived home, a lot of snow had fallen, completely covering my car! The husband was nice enough to drive my car down the steep hill, teaching me some tricks for driving in the snow.
Sunday
I woke up at 6:30am, through on some clothes, and went down to the church to help shovel snow. Four other people came to help. It wasn't all that bad. I finished preparing for my Sunday School lesson, then off to church I went! Church was good, except I felt so nervous about teaching that my stomach was churning the whole time. I don't even know why I was worrying because everything turned out good. A lot of people said they enjoyed my lesson. I had a lot of people participate. It was great! Andrew and John Burton came to Come, Follow Me this week, and hopefully they enjoyed it enough to come back next week. Guess we'll see... I met with the Bishop afterwards because I want to start working at the temple! I think that will be a huge blessing in my life and help me to gain a greater testimony of the temple. Then I went to Reconnect and ended staying later than usual, just talking with Sister Osborn. Their home feels so cozy and comfortable. I love attending each week. Y'all better believe I took a fat nap afterwards because I was still tired from not getting 8 hours of sleep :). And the devotional by the Christofferson's was good. All in all, a great Sabbath day!
Be still and know God. I truly believe that we come to know God in the stillness of life. Praying. Studying scriptures. Attending the temple. Pondering. Reflecting. Even dreaming at times. God made our bodies, and it isn't a coincidence that He made it so we have to sleep for a third of our life. Just as we need to physically be still in order for our brain to heal, store memories, and recover, we also need to be still spiritually in order to come to know God and have our hearts softened. Make time this week to be still and know God.
Much love,
Emily Burnham
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