A Great Day

Well, I am in the midst of finals. I took two earlier this week and have a paper and one final left. My paper is on the pardon power/how the President is a sort of god figure. I am still working on it...hopefully can tighten up that thesis a bit! (and note that I mean the office of president - not George Bush - and more so how it was designed as such but now seems to be more of a "fallen god" - either because of greater exposure due to the media or perhaps because of the increased role of the presidency and people worry he has too much power...).

But even in the midst of finals and my car being hit (very sad), I have had a great day. I think mostly it is because I took a few hours today to work on the fireside that I need to give on Sunday (in two days!!). The fireside is all about missionary work. I was asked to focus the fireside on chapter 1 of "Preach My Gospel," a manual the church developed for missionaries to use. I also have a couple talks by Apostles regarding missionary work and doing missionary work just by being yourself and loving God and loving other people.

It reminded me of my one successful time of giving away a copy of the Book of Mormon. It was this summer - and I ended up doing it just by being friends with my co-worker. She would ask me questions about the Church and being a Mormon and I would answer her and it was a very natural thing. That is like what Elder Eyring said about his dad, "He had not even known that he was being brave. He simply said what he knew was true. When he bore testimony, even those who rejected it knew it came not by design but because it was part of him. He was what he was, wherever he was."

It's been a marvelous experience for me to focus during finals on missionary work and the importance of it - and for me to realize that as much as school might seem important sometimes and finals and everything, that there are things of far greater importance and I can never complain because I have a relationship with my Heavenly Father and am so richly blessed.