No harm can befall with the Comforter near.

I sat in church today, in the back of the room. It was the final meeting with the whole congregation. Sitting in front of me was this beautiful lady named Sandra. I have only talked to her a few times but have come to just adore her. She moved into my ward a few years ago and became best friends with two men, all in their 60's. Sandra fell in love with one of them, Russ. Less than a year ago, they were married for time and all eternity.
This week, he passed away after battling cancer for a month.
If I were her, I feel like I would curse the wind and wonder why he had to be taken away after I finally found him.
But Sandra, she has eternal eyes. This is hard, but she is strong. I want to be like her. I thought about this as I sat behind her and watched every man, woman, and sweet child give her a hug with tears and sympthies and heart-felt words. It is amazing to see the love that we have for each other, but even more the love that our Father in Heaven has for us. I know I don't often talk about my testimony on this blog, but I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. It is the only reason why I can stand. For even greater reasons, it is the only reason why Sandra can stand. Prays in Sandra's behalf would be wonderful. I don't know why certain things happen, but thank goodness my Father does.

Something is in the air...

Something really is in the air. It is like a spirit of conversion. I have had some amazing experiences the past few days. Yesterday, our Young Women took a trip to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple and the Draper Temple. These temples are pretty new, and completely gorgeous. I want nothing else than to be married in the LDS temple, it is amazing there.

So after an afternoon of temples, we came home to go to a baptism of a 17 year old in our ward. It was the most amazing meeting I think I have ever attended. I lead the music, and played the piano when the Young Women sang a special number. I wasn't nervous until President Henry B. Eyring walked in. That's right. The First Counselor of the Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My stomach dropped. Here was a man, ordained of God, standing in my prescence, sitting on the same stand! I about cried when I saw him. This is the second time he has come to one of my ward functions.... its getting to the point where I feel like I know him! Laugh. But I know he is a true leader of our church. I am so grateful for his example.

I cried quite a bit in that meeting. The Spirit was so strong. The part I remember the most is when President Eyring addressed our new convert. I was sitting up on the stand by her, so every time he turned around to talk to her, it was so cool being that close and seeing him.

He told her that he knew she was the start of a great work. That the Lord has his hand in this, and He brought her to the true church. She had so much faith to continue with this process, even though some of her family was against it. She is a great example to me. And he kept saying how many she would bring to the gospel. It was so touching.

Plus later, I got to shake Pres. Eyring's hand and get a picture!

Anyways, I won't tell every moment of the great meeting, but here is another exciting thing. The next day at church, sitting next to a non-member, she told my family she wanted to get baptized. She is 16, and oh my, I admire her! So we get to meet with the missionaries this week! Everyone bore their testimony about missionary work at church. You can tell something is in the air.

Thank you President Eyring.

[i can see a lot of life in you]

Oh, those were some of the photo shoot pictures. Just a nice taste.
I can't believe March is about over.

But that means APRIL is here, and that means General Conference! I love it. A weekend that we can listen to our living prophet and his apostles. It is like a time for renewal for me. They always say something that I want to work on, something that inspires me to be better. I can' wait.

In Seminary today, we had Conference in General. It was the most spiritual meeting we have had all year. I mean, so much that my heart was spilling out of my eyes. I got the play the closing number, an arrangement of If You Could Hie To Kolob. It brought the Spirit in so much stronger. For me, at least. Learning and practicing that song has really been a blessing to me. I love my seminary class.

Andrew gave me all the Star Trek comics on DVD, the Star Trek collectible glasses, and a plush Spock and Kirk! My. It was too much. But I completely love it. Genius.

I love life. I really do. I have the most amazing family. Amazing friends. Education. Dance. Tanning lotion. Music. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Home.

Preach My Gospel

While walking home today, we passed some missionaries. They were in the front yard of a small home, and going unnoticed, were raking all the leaves. They were quick in their work and happy. We were so excited to see them and waved to them. I love seeing missionaries. It was so fun cause I could just picture Kaitlyn out in Oklahoma, maybe not raking leaves, but serving everyone. These men and women are wonderful examples and they are so happy.

Of course we walked away talking about how handsome they were. Go figure.

p.s. The above picture is not them.... but some other guys from google images :)

Sister Grant

My closest sister, Kait, left on an LDS Mission last Wednesday. It was a very exciting time! She is going to make the best missionary. You can really tell how much she loves the gospel and Christ. I love having a missionary out.

Above, we are driving down to the Provo MTC.


We went to IHOP Wednesday morning as our last family thing. We had to leave everyone there to finish eating so we could make it to the MTC =]

Ava. She got the Face Pancakes. Can you believe all that whipped cream?

I think she ate more of that than the actual pancake.

Saying goodbye at the MTC. I cried. A lot. But Kait couldn't cry... she was too excited.

Our family loves Sister Grant.
Doesn't she already look like a missionary?

chickpeas.

Ah trek.

I went on an LDS Pioneer Trek last week. It was probably the greatest experience of my life. It tried me in so many ways. It was very mentally and physically hard to keep pushing every day. But every moment was worth it.

It was very hot. It got up to 102 degrees on the second day, and obviously there is no shade. Anywhere. We drank a lot of water... but it got warm quickly and mixed with little amounts of Gatorade... so it tasted pretty bad. We had plenty of good food, though.

My family was the coolest family in

our stake. The only person my age was Ben Peterson, and we had a blast. [ ;) ] We had the best time together, and really grew as one. We have way too many inside jokes and little things to laugh about.

We were such pioneers. We dressed like them (I hate blooomers) and danced like them, too. The hoedown was the highlight of the week. I gotta dance with some good friends. I loved meeting all these people.... and everyone looked like crap so it didn't matter.

Notice in every picture I took, I only have half of my glasses on. That was totally my trademark. It wasn't bothersome, so I kept wearing the other half of my shades when they broke. Some say I was a pirate. But I was really a pioneer. Silly people.

But people knew me for my glasses. So they deserved this paragraph. Thanks, old $1 shades.

Anyways.

Trek was the most fantastic thing I have ever done. If you get a chance to go someday, please go. You will love it. (People in Pictures from Top to Bottom: Ashley, Mason Sutherland, Erin)

Love and Rockets,

Maddie

The Oquirrh Mountain Temple

We recently visited the beautiful Oquirrh Mountain Temple in South Jordan, from the LDS faith. It is absolutely wonderful.