Date Nights & Sheri Dew

Another week has flown by!  Josh had a wonderful week selling there were a few times where he led the company nationwide in sales.  He's amazing.  I don't think I have ever met someone as good with people & driven as him.  He's something special.  And yet he still takes time after his 12 hour + days to take care of me!  This past saturday we headed to a little "Korea town" for dinner & shopping.  We went to a restaurant called "Kimchi Kitchen."

I'm pretty sure it only exists in Dallas but if you make it up here we totally recommend it!  The food was amazing! Korean food is so much better than I first thought.  And look how pretty they make it! Wow!

This was Josh's - yes in a bowl the shape of a canoe.  As if that
weren't worth it alone it was incredible.  He got what is called "bibimbap" 

This was mine- the "bulgogi"

Right next door was a Korean market.  Perfect!  So of course we had to go explore it & buy all of Josh's favorite snacks (once again I was impressed).  We mostly just got snacks & noodles this time but we have plans in a few weeks to go get Korean meat & spices and Josh is going to cook for us (which he has promised me for years now!) I am very very very excited (:

Right now it is the perfect weather in Dallas.  Overcast & rainy.  So after exploring Korea town for a while we took Skamp with us and window house shopped again, took Skamp on a walk & came home for our favorite TV show marathon - White Collar.  It's on Netflix & if you have not seen it I highly recommend it.  Wonderful night Saturdays with my favorite guy always go by way too quick!

Josh and I are offcially CTR 4 teachers!  Our first week is next Sunday.  Well Josh's first week teaching while I will be teaching relief society after that we will always teach together.  We are excited should be fun!  That's about all that is new here on our end.

My favorite thing to do lately is go back to the old Relief Society talks from the 90s because I was not old enough to attend so they are like brand new material for me & I eat them up they are so wonderful!  I have to share one of my favorites I came upon:

 "Are You the Woman I Think You Are?"

-Sheri Dew Oct. 1997

Link to it on www.lds.org https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1997/10/are-you-the-woman-i-think-you-are?lang=eng 

The focus of this talk is asking yourself "Am I the woman I want to be?  And more importantly "Am I the woman the Savior wants me to be?"  Sheri Dew is such a wonderful speaker.  As I go through the old sessions I always listen to hers first.  

Sister Dew brings up the point that once you have a testimony of Jesus Christ, your life can never be the same again.  The more I thought about this the more I agreed.  The more I learn about our Savior and the plan of happiness the more I feel I could never intentionally do anything besides what is asked.  Not just from guilt (although I would feel extremely guilty) but it just wouldn't feel right and I couldn't go on being happy.  Sister Dew says: "There is a direct relationship between how we feel about Jesus Christ and how we see ourselves.  We cannot increase our devotion to the savior without also obtaining a greater sense of purpose, identity, and conviction."  What a wonderful blessing! 

How close we draw ourselves unto the savior is up to us.  We are the ones who determine whether or not we will come unto Him & how truly we do.  Sister Dew gives us 3 ways to do this:

1. Temple Worship

2. Recommit to meaningful prayer

3. Immerse yourself in the scriptures.  

The more we do these things the better we will know our Savior.  

“Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (D&C 88:63).

When we draw nearer unto Him, He draws nearer unto us.  Elder Benson taught: "When you choose to follow Christ, you choose to be changed."  I have felt this in my life. The more I choose the follow Christ the more it seems to become my desire  as opposed to an item on a to-do list.  The past few weeks have been interesting to me.  I have really been praying & thinking about who I am (what I like, what I want to do - turns out when you graduate college sometimes you still don't know!) & who I want to be.  That is a big part of what the gospel is about, using this time on earth to become who we are meant to be while becoming more like Christ at the same time.  When I do these things I am becoming more of the person I want to be and I know the Savior helps me to see which direction to go.  It's easy to get overwhelmed or want to quit as I have tried to do what I know I would like to in the future.  I love a quote I found the other day "Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly at first."  No matter what it is, changing a bad habit, developing a new skill, teaching primary, anything, the more I try and the more I pray I know the Savior is helping me become who He wants me to be and who I want to be & I know He will for you as well. 

My favorite part of this talk is when Sister Dew talks about Nauvoo.  As I got older I really wanted to go to Nauvoo.  I remember hearing a talk once where a bishop spoke about his experience there. He talked about how he hoped for a big spiritual experience while he was there that would without a doubt confirm the truth of the gospel to him but once he was there he that did not happen and he realized that wasn't what it is all about. 

I know this is true but at the same time I will never forget my feelings while I was in Nauvoo with Josh.  I didn't have huge spiritual experience or anything but in my heart I did feel the truth and the importance of everything that happened there which I am do grateful for.  As I stood at the end of Parley's Street where the saints started their journey west I, as Sheri Dew says in her talk asked myself "Would I have loaded my wagon?  Would my testimony have been strong enough that I would have given up everything and gone anywhere?" As Lehi and his family, "Would I have followed my testimony into the wilderness?"  We may not ever have to face these kind of decisions (I sure as heck hope not!) but as Sister Dew says: "Each day we stand at the end of our own Parley's street.  We need to be the women the savior needs us to be.  He needs us to stand for truth & become who we are meant to be.  In other one of Sheri Dew's talks from Oct. 2001 (yes she is kind of my new hero) she says: "Every one of us has an overarching obligation to model righteous womanhood because our youth may not see it anywhere else..How will our young women learn to live as women of God unless they see what women of God look like, meaning what we wear, watch and read; how we fill our time & minds; how we face temptation and uncertainty; where we find true joy; and why modesty & femininity are hallmarks of righteous women?"  Though some of these things may be simple they are still choices we make to follow our own Parley's Street.  The best way to teach others is by example & that is what we do by becoming women the Savior needs us to be.  I know the Savior will help us.  

The end of Parley's street where the saints crossed the Mississippi

the beautiful Nauvoo temple. 

I hope all of us can become the Women we want to be & Who our Savior need us to be.  I know I am so grateful for my other half here who is so supportive of me following my dreams and who gives me the strength and courage to never give up.  I really feel like I married the best guy around (:  Thanks for reading - if you even make it this far I know I'm good at rambling!  Check back soon!