24 July - 30 July 2023
Highlights of this past week!
I went on a boating trip with my activities committee. Three other young adults were able to make it, plus our high councilman, who had the boat we all went on. This was my second time going boating that I can actually remember in my entire life. The only other time was a youth trip when I was in young womens. We did wake surfing, and it took me a lot of tries. We all took turns going, and we got around 30 to 40 minutes each total, but maybe only chunks of 10 min rounds. So on my third round (which was like 20 failed attempts later), I was actually able to get up on the surfboard! It happened three, maybe four times! But I didn't stay up long or know what I was doing once I did get up. But hey, the important thing was: I GOT UP! For the first time ever! And it was SO rewarding! I'm so grateful for the support of my committee members and their encouragement to keep going past the point where I would have given up on my own. I also am proud that I buckled down on Saturday and wrote my 8-page essay, went to the temple, took my three-hour practice exam, AND managed to eat actual meals! It was exhausting and a lot, but I did it, had an overall okay and peaceful day, and was able to do all of this without too much need to force myself. I had a spiritual morning on Sunday, just listening to the "Faith is Not Blind" book where they talk about not having faith with expectations of what God will do or that He will answer you in a certain way, but having faith without stipulations or expectations and being okay with being uncomfortable and not getting the answers and keep trusting in God and doing the things you need to do anyway. I had been praying for clarity about a certain topic, really struggling with not knowing or having a clear answer, and basically begging or demanding an answer and clarity, to make sense of my emotions, and in that moment of listening, I realized what I was doing and expecting, and I told God, "Hey, I don't know how to handle this or what the answer is or how I should respond or react, and I'm okay with not knowing right now. I'm going to choose to trust you and just keep doing what I know is right--going to church, serving--and when these feelings come up that are really uncomfortable and have been driving me crazy, I'm going to acknowledge them and that they are hard to feel and not comfortable, but that's okay and I can keep moving forward anyway. That was a really tender and special moment I had with God that carried me forth to church.
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Much love,
Emily Burnham
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