100 Happy Days!

Day #18: Getting answers to prayers makes me happy. Awhile back I was super stressed about certain things in life, well I can see that things are working out after fasting and prayer. Yay for the gospel in my life!!

100 Happy Days!

Day #17: Having a great second job is super happy and I love that I'm busy, so I'm not sitting around bored. Yay for life!!

100 happy days!

Day #16: Personal revelation and Stake Conference makes me happy!! Yep having God in your life is better then living with Satan controlling your life.

100 Happy Days

Day #15: Good friends make me happy!! Today I got to hangout with some awesome friends and it was a very good day. The song 'You Raise Me Up' fits with this perfectly, only good people who want to inspire and uplift you are people you want to associate with in life! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJxrX42WcjQ

100 Happy Days

Day #14: Free agency makes me happy!! In the LDS culture you always feel obligated to be friends with everyone. But I have thus learned in life that God wants you to be friends with people, but you ARE NOT expected to be friends with people who abuse and use you. I'm very glad for agency and having the choice to associate with people or not. I'm glad that I'm not forced to associate with people I met last year. I run into one of the nasty girls way to often and she's tried to lie about me to my friends. In the end my friends know who I am and don't believe the miserable girls lies. Every time this miserable girl has tried to do this I'm always so thankful that I DON'T have to associate with her, it's all entirely a choice. And I'm a much happier person not being in connection with those horrible people! They can live in misery, but I WILL NOT and I'm in a much happier place then I was back then with them trying to force their opinions on me. (their misery didn't stick with me)

100 Happy Days!!

Day #13: A snowy January night makes me happy!! :) This one may sound weird. But I thought that January may turn into the worst month ever because a year ago I lived with some horribly selfish, mean and in fact miserable people. They were so miserable they tried to drag me into it, so I thought that January might always remind me of that. But as a fact this January has been completely amazing!! Just tonight I was out and about to notice the clear view after a snow storm and it's so awesome seeing snow all over the place. What is even greater is that I am experiencing what is talked about in the Book of Mormon. There is a verse in Alma I believe that talks about how if you don't experience the bad then you'll never appreciate the good. Now that I've been in assocation with some miserable people and have completely cut all ties with those people life is much better. Because I have now experienced the bad and seen the worst in people, but have completely cut all ties with them and can have a joyous life now. Isn't life great?

100 Happy Day!

Day #12: Elder Holland quotes/talks make me happy because they are so true!!

 

100 Happy Days

Day #11: Stories with good endings make me happy, especially when they are real life stories. Recently I read a book about a girl who'd been abused as a child and then later kidnapped, leading to worse. She eventually got away from the evil kidnapper and the kidnapper went to prison. This girl said something very profound at the end of the book in relation to the fact that she should really hate the kidnapper but doesn't. This is what she said 'I deserve to be free. And I can't have freedom if I'm walking around everyday with resentment and bitterness. Forgiveness is the only way I can truely reclaim my life. If I don't forgive the kidnapper, then it'll be like he imprisoned me twice: first while being held hostage and now even after he's gone. I'm letting my hatred of him go so I can truely get my new life back.' I thought that was profound because I had to deal with several pretty mean and selfish people like a year ago. One dragged it into the summer and wouldn't stop, so it was hard to not be like 'I hate this person.' Not long ago I had read a book about a mom of one of the kids in the Sandy Hook shooting. Pretty profound once again. This mom talked about hating the shooter, but after time decided the only way to deal with it was to let it go. That was the key and helped a lot. I decided at that time that I never will agree to associate with those horrible people again that I had to deal with last year. But I didn't want to dwell on them or remember how horrible they were, so I decided to do as the Sandy Hook mom suggested and have attempted to let it go with those horrible people. Interesting fact is that almost about a month of doing so they come to mind a lot less often and I don't think about how horrible they were. The best key to happiness is letting it go with bad people you've met and forgiving.

100 Happy Days!

Day 10: A living prophet makes me happy! Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in bad things people do, but this song is always a good reminder that we don't have to be in darkness of the world. But there is always the living prophet to lead and guide us. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRchmZZB2Do

100 Happy Days!

Day #9: Plan of Salvation!! A guy my family knows died in a wreck. Makes you wonder why some die so young. I'd completely give up on life if it weren't for the Plan of Salvation. I don't quite understand how so many people in the world live without God in their lives. If you are visiting my page and confused by the reference of Plan of Salvation then look at lds.org and mormon.org
Good ones to watch on this topic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiRc84kihRM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDbMAeMdpB0

100 Happy Days

Day #8: Inspirational people make me happy! If you happen to be viewing my blog then you should read Al Carraway's book on her conversion. :D

100 Happy Days

Day #7: Snow makes me happy. It's cold and all, but it's white and fluffy. And much better to see snow in January rather then in May.

100 Happy Days

Day #6: My job makes me happy, in fact I got the 'certificate of awesome' this month. Yay!

100 happy days

Day #5: Elizabeth Smart makes me happy. She has this book that tells about when she was kidnapped for 9 months. These horrible people kidnapped her and would twist in religion to justify the evil they constantly did. The guy  married her (nothing legal about it) and raped her every day, but would justify it saying they were married. She almost died one time, he would constantly use the money to buy beer and wouldn't buy food barely. At one point the police caught him for a whole week and she was on the edge of death because there was no food in this camp out of town that she was in. He came back at the last minute or she would have died. They were confronted by the police more then once but the guy would manipulate and lie to the police saying she was his daughter. He'd threatened her so much that she didn't think she could run away or he'd kill her family. At the end of the book she tells about being with family and things her mom said to her. This is what her mom said the day after she was found: 'He has taken 9 months of your life that you will never get back again. But the best punishment you can ever give him is to be happy. To move forward with your life. To do exactly what you want. Because, yes, this will probably go to trial and some kind of sentencing will be given him and that women. You may not be happy with the results and feel that justice was not served or that true restitution was ever made. But you don't need to worry about that. At the end of the day, God is the ultimate judge. He will make up to you every pain and loss that you have suffered. And if it turns out those wicked people are not punished here on Earth, it doesn't matter. His punishments are just. You don't ever have to worry. You don't ever have to think of them again. Be happy. If you go and feel sorry for yourself, or if you dwell on what has happened, if you hold onto your pain, that is allowing him to steal more of your life away. Don't ever do that! He does not deserve that. Not one  second of your life. Keep every second of your life for yourself and be happy, God will take care of the rest.' -My Story

About a year ago I was in a miserable place, a jerk landlord and several roommates who were bullies if I didn't let them control me. None of those people were honest and proclaimed religion at every turn, as if that would save them in the end. I walked away and got a much better apartment now then that place ever was and I even have a decent landlord now. Well it's tempting to be angry at such horrible people, just like with Elizabeth Smart. That is actually why I'm doing the 100 happy days because I know for a fact that I have a great life, and I'm sure it's a far better life then those miserable people I was forced to live with. So anyway I've decided that I'm doing the same as Elizabeth Smart. The greatest punishment to people who are horrible like that and twist in religion to justify their sinful lives is to be happy. I'm making sure to be happy everyday and honestly my life has been much better since doing that and letting go of those miserable people. In the end God is the ultimate judge!!

100 Happy Days!

Day #4: The gospel makes me happy! Love it!!
I have noticed random views on my blog, not sure where they're coming from. But if you are randomly visiting my page and don't know what I'm talking about here then check out this website: www.mormon.org

Pay it Forward!

I just watched this movie called 'Pay it Forward.' This 11 year old is doing a social studies assignment and decides to do the whole pay it forward. But he decided to help three people and the three people were supposed to help three more people. (until it had gone to tons of people) The first person he helped was this homeless guy and he gave him his allowance, to help him get a job. Turns out the guy started drinking again after getting the job, so it didn't go well for him. Then he decided the next person was the teacher who was making him do the project. He wanted the teacher to marry his mom, but that wasn't happening. So the next person was another boy in his class and these older kids were bullying him. So he tried to stop them one time, but didn't do much since they were bigger. Well he decided that his plan didn't work after all, but the teacher gave him an A for trying. Turns out that the homeless guy hitch hiked it to another town and while in the other town he saw a lady try to jump off a bridge. He stopped the lady from jumping and saved her life. His mom decided to go connect with family that she hadn't talked to in years. Her mom (the 11 year olds grandma) asked why she had come and she explained the pay it forward thing. Later his grandma was driving and saw this guy running, she asked him if he needed a ride. After driving away he asked why she'd done it, so eventually she told him the same thing. Awhile later this guy got in some fight and had to go to the hospital. They were concerned about him and tried to rush him into the ER before a girl who was almost not breathing. He noticed and told the girl to go ahead, it took some persuasion to get the nurse to take the girl before him. Her dad was really surprised and wanted to know why he'd done it. So he told her dad about it and later on the dad saw this random guys car get ran into on the side of the road. (some drinker or something ran into it) So this girls dad told the guy to take his car and he walked away. It turned out the guy who had gotten his car smashed was a news reporter. He wanted to know why the guy had given him the car, and didn't want it back. Well he traced the pay it forward back to the 11 year old boy even though it took a couple of months. He came to the town and finally found the 11 year old, and the 11 year old ended up on tv. Well the same day after the news reporters recorded him talking the teacher decided to get more serious with the mom. And the 11 year old saw the older kids bullying this boy in his class again. That time even though he was smaller he ran into stop them. But the kids had a knife, not sure how that happened at school. The 11 year old got stabbed and died, super sad. But everyone heard about it because it had been on the news and tons of people started doing the pay it forward. This quote reminded me of that, pretty cool and we should all do the pay it forward. There is enough bad in the world that we should change it. :)

100 happy days!

Day #3: Great weather makes me happy, even though it'll probably go cold again due to being January. But it's nice having good weather at least for a short while!! Reminds me of spring. Yay!! :D

100 Happy Days

Day #2: I am happy to have REAL friends. I know that sounds strange but I had some fake friends last year and in general they just wanted stuff from me. (money, someone to give them rides or in some way give them stuff because I'm nice) In the end when I wouldn't follow their every command they got angry and got mean, to the point of being bullies. I've thus learned that you can tell who real friends are, they are people who want to hangout but not to get something off you. If someone wants to be friends, but suddenly wants money from you. (after only being friends a few weeks) Or if after only knowing them a short time they start demanding stupid stuff from you, such as expecting you to drive them around or work for them then don't do it. (work meaning they want you to clean for them or stuff like that) The friends I have now are polar opposites, if I have a problem they're all about making sure they help if they can. They want to hangout, but they don't expect me to hangout if I don't have time. It's great, REAL friends are what make the world keep turning. Thank you to anyone whose been a REAL friend!! Your my pillar!! 

New goal!

I decided that I am going to do a 100 happy days! This formerly was something that people were doing on facebook a few years ago, but it eventually died out. Basically they'd post pictures, videos or whatever they wanted on facebook that made them happy, and they did it for 100 days.

Day #1: I found this youtube video and it made me really happy. A lot of people have been sad in recent weeks because President Monson died. But this was a happy song for the moment and in fact I'm always happy when I hear it at any given time. Something really cool about this song is that it shows the process of wearing white. (representing purity) You wore white at your baby blessing, at baptism and when you go to the temple. All places you need to be pure to enter. (of course as an infant you already are) Pretty cool!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8TNpZOdYA8

A great story that applies to EVERYONE!!

A woman baked chapatti (roti) for members of her family and an extra one for a hungry passerby. She kept the extra chapatti on the window sill, for whosoever would take it away. Every day, a hunchback came and took away the chapatti. Instead of expressing gratitude, he muttered the following words as he went his way: “The evil you do remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!” This went on, day after day. Every day, the hunchback came, picked up the chapatti and uttered the words:

“The evil you do, remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!” The woman felt irritated. “Not a word of gratitude,” she said to herself… “Everyday this hunchback utters this jingle! What does he mean?” One day, exasperated, she decided to do away with him. “I shall get rid of this hunchback,” she said. And what did she do? She added poison to the chapatti she prepared for him!

As she was about to keep it on the window sill, her hands trembled. “What is this I am doing?” she said. Immediately, she threw the chapatti into the fire, prepared another one and kept it on the window sill. As usual, the hunchback came, picked up the chapatti and muttered the words: “The evil you do, remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!”

The hunchback proceeded on his way, blissfully unaware of the war raging in the mind of the woman. Every day, as the woman placed the chapatti on the window sill, she offered a prayer for her son who had gone to a distant place to seek his fortune. For many months, she had no news of him.. She prayed for his safe return.

That evening, there was a knock on the door. As she opened it, she was surprised to find her son standing in the doorway. He had grown thin and lean. His garments were tattered and torn. He was hungry, starved and weak. As he saw his mother, he said, “Mom, it’s a miracle I’m here. While I was but a mile away, I was so famished that I collapsed. I would have died, but just then an old hunchback passed by. I begged of him for a morsel of food, and he was kind enough to give me a whole chapatti. As he gave it to me, he said, “This is what I eat everyday: today, I shall give it to you, for your need is greater than mine!”

” As the mother heard those words, her face turned pale. She leaned against the door for support. She remembered the poisoned chapatti that she had made that morning. Had she not burnt it in the fire, it would have been eaten by her own son, and he would have lost his life!

It was then that she realized the significance of the words: “The evil you do remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!” Do good and Don’t ever stop doing good, even if it is not appreciated at that time.

Interpretation of this story:

I think this story means that if you proclaim religion and say your this great amazing person, but away from church are a bully and mean to innocent people because your angry and miserable at the world then you will breed anger and misery. The mean and evil acts that you do will stay with you and will cause you to have no friends, except those who can be tricked into liking you by your fake face of 'being nice.' But if your out living your religion and helping people because you want to be helpful like President Monson would do then you'll easily make friends. People will want to associate with you and will help you when you end up in a bad situation. I was scrolling down my blog to a post from a few years ago where I talked about getting 2 flat tires in one week and someone helped me fix it the first time. Well what happened was I was about a block from my apartment and my car was making weird noises. A lady from my stake was walking by and then waved me down. She pointed and said that she'd noticed my car had a flat tire. I had to get places so she said that her retired husband could get my car to a shop or he could try to fix it. Well later they met me at the library and told me that I'd had to get two new tires. I thought that I'd have to come up with $200 or $300 for that. Well funny enough the lady told me to not worry about it because they didn't want a refund and had bought the two new tires. I was super surprised, but it made sense because I'd been a counselor in a relief society presidency and this lady was in the stake relief society presidency. So I'd been to trainings with her and I guess she knew that I was still trying to get a better job at the time. (since I was working at DI and Old Gristmill) I still remember that and always try to help people if I can. There is a girl I knew a year ago who I've tried to help repeatedly and in recent months finally cut ties with her. Basically she doesn't want to be helped and lashes out with her anger at the world because she can't get her way and force her opinion on everyone. So I cut ties and in that case I obviously can't help her because she doesn't want to be helped. But it's so true when you breed hate and anger, and lash out at innocent people you'll continue in that miserable state for as long as you continue like that. But you'll be truly happy and having an amazing life/amazing friends and family if you serve and do good in the world. If you don't believe me change your bad behavior and you'll see the difference. 

Graduating from graduate school!!

I noticed that I haven't blogged in a very long time, at least a year anyway. I decided that blogging is a good idea because it's kind of a like a journal. In fact you can actually order a book through a company that is your whole blog from a certain amount of time. They'll go in and print your whole blog for like $20 or $30. So I decided that I am going to blog again and if you want to read it come check it out once in awhile.

I just finished graduate school, which is super great!! Interesting fact is that graduate school sounds very hard. But it actually wasn't to terrible for me because it was a topic I really liked. There were maybe two classes that were really hard only because they were on topics of libraries that I'm not super interested in, such as cataloging.

Here are some pictures from graduation last week!

This is when I was being hooded: 

This is when we were walking in, you can't see me very well. But the girl in front is Heidi, the girl in the middle is Brandilee and in the back is Dhanuski. 

The person up talking is the dean for the Library Science at Emporia State University, it's impressive he came clear from Kansas for a 9 person graduation. The others sitting in the front are librarians from different libraries around Utah, they all graduated from Emporia. The two guys wearing different colors of hoods towards the right are ones connected to the Utah cohort. The guy on the very end on the right is the Utah director for the university and we talked to him all the time. 

There are actually several others in my cohort who weren't at the graduation, so this is just part of us. Several were a semester behind and decided to not attend graduation if they weren't graduating until May. Unfortunately somehow a few shorter people ended up in the back, so I'm not sure if they didn't want to be in the picture or it was by accident.

It's been complicated getting the pictures off this drive the person who took the pictures sent us. So I'll post on here again in the near future. 

New Year Resolutions!

I forgot that I had a blog and just recently came back on. Surprise! 2017 was a hard year, but some good results of 2017 were that I finished graduate school and I'm in a studio apartment now. :D :D You wouldn't think studio would be very good, but after bad times with roommates in 2016-2017 studio is the best thing ever!! I'm now just looking for a full time library job is all and still working at Logan Library.
Some new year resolutions are that I'm going through the hymns and everyday I look at a different one. I'm just did hymn #11, which is Twas Witnessed in the Morning Sky. (pretty cool song) And I am not going onto social media on Sundays, since it is sort of a time waster if you do social media to much. Which is the reason why I remembered to blog today. Yay!!