Smiles :)

Come from CHRISTMAS!!!! 

I love our tree!

And making gingerbread houses!

 

Homemade potato soup on a snowy day! 

And making homemade Yaki-soba in honor of Sister Cami Fish! 

Hanging with new friends! 

Hanging with old friends!

Going to my first UNLV basketball game!! 

Hanging with Sam! 

Hanging with Eli! 

Hanging with my family!

This smile!!!! 

Facetime! 

Dressing like a hippie!

The temple! 

Monday, Monday

Yesterday wasn't the best day...haha. Even though my day didn't go that well I had some tender mercies that really helped to change my mood. One of these tender mercies came as I was doing my scripture study in Mormon. I came across two verses that made me smile. They spoke to me! I had to just shake my head and laugh because it was obvious to me that God was aware of me and loves me. Pretty cool! I know he wanted me to learn a few things, and to remember a few things. Here are the verses: 

 14 And then cometh the judgment of the Holy One upon them; and then cometh the time that he that is filthy shall be filthy still; and he that is righteous shall be righteous still; he that is happy shall be happy still; and he that is unhappy shall be unhappy still.

 15 And now, O all ye that have imagined up unto yourselves a god who can do no miracles, I would ask of you, have all these things passed, of which I have spoken? Has the end come yet? Behold I say unto you, Nay; and God has not ceased to be a God of miracles.

I learned a few things from these verses. I learned that I need to learn to be happy now, and to be better at finding those little nougats of happiness in my day even when things are not going that great. Happiness is found in the here and now, not at some future time or at some future date. 

I was also reminded that with God all things are possible. He is as described by Elder Uchdorf in his talk "Forget Me Not" (which I highly recommend reading) as, "the most majestic, powerful, and glorious Being in the universe! ...the King of infinite space and everlasting time!". He IS a God of miracles! All things are possible WITH him. It is possible for him to help me through even the little worries and challenges and upsets of my life. It is possible to reach your hopes and dreams. He wants to show us those miracles and blessings in our lives and give us all the good things that any loving father would want to give his children. 

I am thankful for the tender mercies my Heavenly Father blesses me with each and every day and for his patience and love. :) I am truly blessed. 

-Carli 

Truth!

Like this Mormon bishop that I met on my study abroad to the UK, I too believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God. It brings me peace and happiness. It brings my closer to my Savior. It helps me to be a better person and maintain perspective. It helps me get through this test of life.

I love this message. It is so powerful!!

Imperfection

I was reading the mission blog of one of my awesome friends in Thailand and she shared something she had learned from a fellow missionary that made me smile. I think it is just too great to not share. She  said:

"It was very much about knowing that we are earthen vessels, 

made to crack and not be perfect. In this life, we won't be perfect.

 But through our cracks, the light within us can shine through to 

be seen. Those who try to cover up what they see as imperfections, 

using paint or whatever other means to hide, aren't letting themselves 

bask in the wonderous opportunity to be molded by the master potter.

So with this, let us all be real with ourselves and with God. Sometimes

 people are afraid of perfect people because they feel they will not be 

understood. Where-as, someone who has been weathered by the storms

 of life, will be a warm beacon of light across the rocky shore: that there's 

hope and peace to be found, because someone else has risen through it before." 

I absolutely love this! Imperfection gives us opportunities to humble ourselves and turn our will over to our Heavenly Father. I know letting people see our imperfections can be scary and we sometimes try so hard to hide them, but our imperfections make us who we are! We should not hide our imperfections and pretend they do not exist, but own our imperfections and use them to our advantage, looking at them as opportunities to overcome, become more, and share that light that is within us to those around us.