13 hours

It will probably take you 13 hours to read this - heheh
This weekend I was uplifted and edified for about 13 hours. You might be saying "oh my word, kill me" but it was truly a wonderful weekend. I am grateful for opportunities where we can learn how to be better and feel the Spirit teach you that it is actually possible (despite me being...well me).

Friday I went to Time Out for Women with my mom and some truly wonderful ladies in her ward. When I say "her ward" I really mean, my old ward that I just can't seem to let go of. I love the Melba 2nd Ward Relief Society, and I am pretty sure I always will. Anyway... the whole weekend was based on the theme "Hope" pretty simple. That night we listened to Jericho sing their hearts out, and great speakers. I am pretty sure you don't want me to type out all of my notes so I wll try to keep it short. But lets all be honest... I learned some great lessons from Amanda Dickson and Sister Ardeth Kapp. I loved listening to these ladies. They said such great things about being happy, and finding the joy. What I hope sticks with me for a while is that my best is good enough, that if I don't measure up at first all hope isn't lost there is always tomorrow and Heavenly Father will always make up the difference...if I do my best.

Saturday the morning started at 9. Well, its started before that since I had to get up and beautify myself. But the fun started at 9. We had 5 speakers teaching us and Merci Road to sing to us! What a day. Emily Freeman told us to "see good day" not to just have one, but to actually see it. Jill Manning talked about Pornography (eek I know) although that is quit the heavy topic what she said was powerful and should be paid attention to. Look up the Elephants strategy for protecting their young. Its amazing.

We also got to watch Mariama Kallon tell her story...I am not even going to touch that one, but if you ever had a chance to see her speak, read her story, or anything dealing with her DO IT. Amazing!!!

My favorite speaker of the whole weekend was Kris Belcher. Oh, my word I love that woman. I wish she where my neighbor and best friend. Life has hit her HARD. And there she stood before us making us all laugh so hard we were nearly crying. She said "its okay to laugh, it's okay to look for happiness, its okay to look for joy." She also talked about Hope being a principle of power. I think she is right. Hope, like faith, isn't stagnent. It's something that will creat change, in us and around us. I don't know that I have ever heard someone that could have a crowd buckled over in laughter one second and being touched by the Spirit so deeply the next. What a treat it was to hear her testimony.

THEN...(no my Spiritual weekend is NOT over) Stake Conference was also this weekend!

13 hours seems like a lot and it was. Alot of goodness for my heart.

(too cheesey?)