Easter

On Sunday Phoebe and I went over to the Watanabe's to watch General Conference and celebrate Easter! It was such a good day. We even had a mini easter egg hunt before breakfast. Mio, Mika, Phoebe, and I drove up to watch the afternoon session of conference which was such an awesome experience.

I loved being in the conference center with thousands of people that are striving to do good just like me. I loved the spirit in the room which was so overwhelming. When President Monson walked into the room everyone stood up and was quiet and I was literally knocked with the spirit that I had to hold back tears. I know that President Monson is a true and living Prophet of God. I know that he is here to help us and to lead and guide this church. I am so grateful for a Prophet to give us counsel and lead us closer to our Savior. I am so grateful for all the talks that I heard as well. The big theme of the conference seemed to be about family like parenting, relationships, and teaching. I need to re read the talks and go over them and then I'll talk about them but there was so many that I liked! The talks were so powerful and I am grateful that I could apply the words into my life. The motab sang one of my favorite songs "I know that my Reedemer Lives" and I felt the spirit so strongly that I could barely sing. I know that my Reedemer lives and loves me. I know that he suffered for me in the Garden of Gesthemene and he took upon himself all of my sins, trials, burdens, and emotions. I am so grateful that he did that so he knows how I feel and he knows what I am going through. It is so comforting to know that he loves me so much to do such an amazing and extremely hard and painful thing for me so that I can return back to him and my Heavenly Father. He knew that I would sin so he went through all of that just for me because he loves me so much that it was worth it to him. I never really understood the atonement until I had to actually use it ha. I don't really ever talk about it but I can not express the feeling that I felt after fully using the atonement for the first time in my life. I don't think that I ever felt so much joy and relief and gratitude as I did when I was fully forgiven of something stupid I did. I love my Savior. I am so grateful to be apart of this church. At times I would think it would be so much easier if I was like the other kids at my high school, but I am so grateful that I wasn't and I am not. I am grateful that I stick out because I'm a member of this church. I am grateful that I have standards. I am grateful that I have a family who loves me and knows that we will be together forever. I am grateful that I understand gospel principles and know why I am here on earth and know that I have a purpose. I am grateful that I know that the power of prayer is real. I am grateful that we have prayer to communicate with our Heavenly Father. I know that Heavenly Father loves me and he does watch over me. I used to always think how does he listen to my prayers when there are about a bajillion people in this world. Why would Heavenly Father listen to me when there are so many people suffering a million times worse than I am. I sometimes feel like my pains and my trials aren't really worthy of Heavenly Father's time but I know with all my heart that that type of thinking is so wrong and not true. In my Patriarichal blessing it says,

"The Lord has been mindful of you throught the ages. He has watched over you and guided and protected you...He has heard your prayers and your pleadings and is aware of your every need. Draw near to our Father in Heaven and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, for it will be through your close personal relationship with the Savior that you will be supported and sustained during your times of greatest need. Cherish all the experiences of life...The blessing you recieve this day will bring great peace of mind and comfort to your soul through the knowldge you gain of the great love and concern our Father in Heaven has for you and your family."

Basically those words right there sealed the deal for me. I know that the Lord is mindful of me! Lately it seems like everything was going so well and now everything is kind of going downhill. I have felt pretty alone and kind of confused at what I am supposed to do. I have had some pretty bad days, but during my bad days there has always been one thing that has made my day so much better and when that happens I know that my prayers have been answered. I love prayer and I love at the end of the night Phoebe and I both get into our beds and kneel down and say our individual prayers. I know that the Savior lives and was resurrected. Dad sent me a chapter from one of the books he's reading on the resurrection and I was just amazed at what the Savior has done for me and everyone.

Anyways, we went to conference came home and Mary Anne had steak and potatoes and broccli for us! I felt so at home! We decorated cookies and dyed eggs and it was the bestt day everrrrr.