THE PEACE THAT HE BRINGS

He is my Savior, my Rock. It doesn't matter what is going on in the world, He always brings me peace. when I pray, when I read a verse in the scriptures, or when I just think about Him. He feels my soul with peace. Sadly, I have seen people not just leave the church left and right but stop believing that there is a God and a Savior of the world.
My sister left the church almost a year ago, and she did not go out quiet about it. She made sure that everyone knew that she left and why she left. A few weeks later, she stops believing that there is a God.
This year, I have thought about my own testimony, not only of the church, not only of the Book of Mormon which I love so much, but of my Savior. I have wondered what I know about Him. Of course, there are things that I don't know about Him, or that I don't remember about Him because of the veil, but this I know, that He is the Rock. If you build your foundation upon the Rock, nothing else matters. Really, nothing else matters.

I know it can be difficult for some people to know that there truly is someone out there that knows what you are going through. I want to tell you that there is someone out there that knows and He is Jesus Christ.

The world is a messy place, but Christ said, "I have conquered the world." I feel that this phrase is more than a statement, it's an invitation to trust in Him and to trust in His power.

Sometimes people may say to you, "know that you are never alone." I think sometimes, it's ok to be alone, uncomfortable, or even to feel that the Holy Spirit left us. Even Christ was alone for a moment, He even said, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Please know that if you ever feel alone, or if you feel uncomfortable or even without the Holy Spirit, know that it will only be for a moment. Christ did something so amazing when He was alone; when He felt alone. So, know that we can also experience the most amazing and humbling experiences in our own Gethsemane. Know that at that very moment you are being exalted. This too shall pass and the person that knows how you feel will be there, with His arms extended.

This has been such a great class in this world full of uncertainties.
I have learned a lot about myself and it has made me think of my own goals and dreams.
We all have what it takes to be entrepreneurs, we just have to choose when we are going to start.

I have been reminded of how important our goals are, they can take us from one step to the next one. We have to have a goal in life actually many, but start small and gradually work on something a little bigger.

There is no growth in the comfort zone so, let's get out of our comfort zone.

An Attitude of gratitude was the talk I read for this week's homework. It was given by President Monson many years ago. The first time I remember listening and learning about gratitude was in a Young Women camp. We were learning about the six B's. Since then, I have made a special effort to be grateful not only with God but with the people around me.

Another thing that we learned this week was about recognizing opportunities. I don't know if it's just me, or it's the fact that I lived in a big city for 19 years but I'm always up and down, I have to be doing something, I can't just sit down and do nothing. I remember when I first came to the US and I had a little girl, I was just married and I had this same attitude of "I need to be doing more" so without knowing a lot of English I started to look for a job that I could do from home with my little girl. So, I found one, and I've been with the same company for 12 years now. Although I like many things about my job, I still look for more opportunities to grow and learn more.

I think life will pass us by really fast if we don't take advantage of the many opportunities we have to grow. Not only in the work scope, but also in the family life, church life, everything!!.

When we realize that all things are blessings to us and opportunities God gives to perfect ourselves, I think our view changes and even our priorities may change too.

I think we all have the opportunity to be an entrepreneur.  I think we all have it in us.

Becoming a changer!
How can I become a changer? I think first, you have to believe it. We see all around nature things that evolve and change. We are also beings that change, actually, that's the exact reason as to why we came to earth, to change from one spiritual being to a mortal being (check Plan of Salvation for more info.)

But, while we are at this life quest, trying to change, trying to change our environment, our habits, the most important thing to do is to think about the One that knows everything. The One that knows us and knows our potential. 

Elder Holland said one time, "Come as you are, don't plan to stay as you are." the gospel of Christ is a gospel of change. Elder Maxell said, "Coming unto God is not a negotiation, but a surrender."

How do we change then? One of the videos said, "Apparently, earth has not provided the answers, now shall we try heaven." I can see that we can apply that phrase to everything. While we are here on this earth, let's apply it.

Oh, this week! I think this week's lesson has been another witness of the things that should be more important in my life.

First of all, let me get it out of my mind before anything else. This coronavirus has been messing with my life in every single aspect.
- My son who turned 8 years old was supposed to be baptized yesterday. :(
- I won't be going to the temple this month (like I've been doing for the last almost 2 years.
- No meeting, no gathering, no sacrament tomorrow. This really made me cry when I read it.
- My husband is/was the director of the Joseph Smith program he was doing with the stake chorus, there was even an orchestra ready to go in 3 weeks. Canceled.
- My kids' school is not canceling school... which... it worries me.

Life GETS CRAZY in the weirdest way possible and impossible.
This week's lesson has been connected somehow in my mind with what is going on in the world.

It has made me thankful for the jobs I have that I can do from work (with no interruption from the virus).

I don't really know if everything that I'm writing right now has any meaning or connection with the class, but I promise it's connected in my brain.

Balancing! ha! This week we learned about balancing life... I'm pretty sure millions of people are trying to balancing a ton of things right at this moment.

For sure, it's an uncertain world, right now! More than ever before and... while all this is going on, I'm asking myself, am I ready? ready for more craziness?

Yesterday, I wrote in my journal. It was a happy and hard day.

The pursuit of happiness!!! Can we find happiness? YES!! My kids are here with me, no virus so far, my garden is getting bees, I have enough food to last us a couple of weeks. I have the internet to do work and homework... although... I have to say, "The more I do homework, the more I realize being outside (in the garden) is where I want to be."

Life IS great, we can't deny it, WE HAVE A LIVING PROPHET!, who better than a Doctor!.
I'm thankful for the Home centered church approach that the church has right now! Like President Nelson said, these are exciting times! :)

Let's look for that happiness and joy at this moment, and I know we can find it in Christ. Let's give him his victory acknowledging that He already partook of the cup.

There is a quote I like that says “Life may not be the party we hoped for... but while we're here we may as well dance.” 

For this week, I read and watch videos about our potential, our dreams and our capabilities. We all, have divine potential to be more than we think. We are sons and daughters of the Master Creator and we have the potential to do and create great things.

Sometimes, we belittle ourselves thinking that we can't accomplish something because we don't have the potential, but I think and I believe we can do great things.

I always told the Young Women of my ward, "You have to try everything, because you can accomplish anything and you might surprise yourselves at the things you can do and become."

Also, I watched a video by Kathy Hober (an engineer). In the video they asked her, "Has gender affected your career?" It made me think about my own experiences. I'm a young woman, Latina (with an accent), mother of 4 kids.I've been living in the USA for almost 14 years and I have seen it everywhere, where people think that "you can't do it because you are a Latina" or just because you have an accent, they think you are not capable or smart enough. Then, when I talk about the things I have done and accomplished in my life, people get "surprised."

A few months ago, I was asking my 7-year-old, "who do you think is the boss?" (I wanted to know what he would answer) so he answered, "Daddy" and I asked him, why do you think daddy is the boss?, and I thought he was going to say that daddy was the boss because he was a man, but he replied was, "because he is older." He did not see any gender, it didn't matter to him that daddy was a man or mom a woman.

The culture where we we live can really shape the way we think of others and ourselves. I do believe it is our duty as parents to teach our children than we are all capable, and that we all have what it takes to become what God wants us to become.

This week, I studied about trustworthiness, true leaders and discipleship. It made me think about my leaders I had growing up. Mostly about my Young Woman President. I had many Presidents, but this one in particular really helped me in a way I didn't see before until I grew and realized the impact she has made in my life. Her name is Marisol. I had to say that I always fought with her, most of the time she was right but above all, I loved her and she loved me.
She was a great leader and I believe she still is. Many of the things I do at church are because of her example. She is truly an inspiration and a disciple of Christ.
She was also my seminary teacher for a year, and her scriptures were so old and scratched up. I wanted my scriptures to be just like hers, and I have to say that my scriptures look like hers did.
I pretty much went to church by myself, my parents were divorced, my mother wasn't a member of the church and my father was inactive, so, I only had my leaders to guide me.
I took everything in, absolutely everything. If they would have taught me that the moon was made out of cheese I would have believed them. That's how much I trusted them. There were true disciples of Christ and I trusted them.

We all have big examples of true leaders, I hope my children see me like I saw my young woman president.

The best thing we can do to be a true leader and disciple of Christ is to show up, care and love.