My Talk

So... as you all know, I've been home from my semester abroad for about a month and a half now. All I can say is that I can't believe it. I can't believe I had the opportunity to study in the Holy Land. I can't believe I met so many awesome people (whom I'm still staying in good contact with), and that I felt so much closer to the Savior there. I'm missing Jerusalem more than ever now. All I can do no though is share my wonderful experiences with those around me. I've already helped my grandmother put together a nice book of all my e-mails I sent while in the Holy Land. I'm still working on a photo book. I flew back to California very unexpectedly in order to help Marie with a fireside she was putting on for the Napa Stake. I think it turned otu to be a success. She and I put together a powerpoint of LOTS of pictures and explained each one. Marie and Mei-Ling also did a musical number which was absolutely beautiful. Marie arranged pictures of Christ on a powerpoint and synched it with a beautiful piano song called: " ." I also gave a "talk" that I had put together WAY last minute. And you can find that talk below. It seems like no matter what we say though, people are hungry for me. Which is so awesome.

I'd like to share with you the talk I gave at the fireside and in the singles ward out here in Californa. It's not very polished, but it's what I have for now:

I want you all to imagine sitting in a big beautiful room. It is the most beautiful room you’ve ever been in. On the opposite side of the room are expansive windows with a vista that goes for miles. A view of the buildings and places are where some of the most important events have transpired. You look at these every single day. For the next four months, you will spend each day visiting and studying the events that made these sacred places. Among these buildings is a beautiful golden edifice, called The Dome of the Rock. Now you’re glancing over to a little town called Bethlehem. And then Gethsemane. Now you’re looking at the spot of the Garden Tomb, just a few miles away. Just imagine what it would be like to live every day for four months in a place where EVERY day would be the best day of your life. You learn something new every day. You meet amazing people every day, and you GROW as a person every day.

As one of our fellow students at the BYU Jerusalem Center mentioned, it was my original thought before I embarked on this amazing “once in a lifetime” trip that I had the expectation for my faith and testimony to suddenly magically blossom “into a big huge beautiful tree.” I expected all this, especially as we visited amazing places (one after the other), such as Gethsemane, Mt. Sinai, the Mt. of Transfiguration, Mt. of Beatitudes, and Bethlehem; but much to my surprise, I was very wrong. As I visited each one of these places, I felt that instead of my testimony instantly growing into a magnificent tree, it was the ROOTS that were deepened more and more with each visit to a sacred place. As you can probably imagine, as I sat at places like the Garden Tomb and the church in Nain in Galilee which commemorates the widow’s son being healed, I tried so hard to grasp the idea that Christ had in fact set foot there, and that I was “walking where Jesus walked.” Yes, I did feel that overwhelming Spirit, but in much different ways than I ever would have imagined or expected. I found that when we sang those special hymns such as “Silent Night” in the Church of the Nativity, or “Master the Tempest is Raging” on a boat on the Sea of Galilee, or “Jesus of Nazareth, Savior and King” right there in Nazareth, or (one of my favorites), when we sang “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” and “Jesus, Once of Humble Birth” at the Garden Tomb, those times when we heard the beautiful hymns were when I felt that wonderful Spirit the strongest and I was able to feel of His love. I also found that in my quietest moments where I would just sit and ponder and LISTEN to the Spirit and picture what sacred event had happened there so long ago, I definitely found that those times were ALSO most sacred to me.

Now, when I first came to the Holy Land, I was definitely ecstatic and excited, but also absolutely terrified at the same time. My parents were feeling that way, that’s for sure. More on the terrified side though… One thing I really came to realize more and more as the trip went on, (and we had the privilege to explore our overwhelmingly beautiful surroundings day by day), was that we as LDS kids were being watched over, without a doubt, AND that it took a great deal of faith to make that journey, on both my parents’ and my end. Although that area was MUCH safer than I imagined it to be, I felt that we as BYU students had an extremely good reputation and (whether it was the nerdy fanny packs or the BYU Jerusalem Center backpacks that gave it all away), as I heard shopkeepers and locals yell out “Mormons! Mormons! I felt that we were being provided with protection from a higher power, and I am so thankful for that.

I am so incredibly thankful for my Savior and all the suffering He did especially for me, to atone for MY sins. As I studied the beautiful life of Christ and went more and more into His amazing miracles and saw and felt where they happened, I saw more and more that Christ was a symbol for GOOD. Of course, I had already known that before and I knew that everything good comes from God and His Son, but I had it confirmed to me that Christ walked those streets and He loved those people. He showed them the correct way to live and provided them with those simple steps to return to our Father in Heaven.

I would like to just close with a couple of quotes that I heard from very special people that came and visited the BYU Jerusalem Center to give talks. I even loved these quotes so much that I included them in my e-mails home to my family while I lived there in the Holy Land.

“Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely; though we are imperfect, He loves us perfectly; though we may feel lost and without compass, God’s love encompasses us completely.”

“Though the memories here in the Holy Land will fade a bit, your testimony does not have to… Your experiences here and the stronger testimony you’ve gained here can bring COLOR to the black and white pages of the scriptures.”

I love my Savior. I am SO thankful for the opportunity I had to live in the Holy Land and to partake of His Spirit. I walked where He walked, I saw where He lived, and I had the privilege to meet SO many amazing people that really showed me what the light of Christ meant. I am so thankful for my family and for this wonderful gospel.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.



“Truth is obeyed when it is LOVED.”
Dress code (not being able to wear any army insignia, having to wear longsleeves

Men yelling out various proposals