July 9, 2008 (Wednesday)
The Lord’s Hand in my Life: Worthy priesthood members who are able to give blessings of peace and comfort.

We had our day trip with Dave today. We went and visited a bunch of monasteries in the countryside of Romania. They were all gorgeous. Most of them were out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by trees and greenery. The monasteries were very peaceful and tranquil. Monks dressed in long black robes were found walking about. I asked Mario what they did all day. She said they had to earn their keep to stay by cleaning, farming, etc. I kept thinking how I’d probably go crazy if I had to live the life of a monk. Who would willingly consign their life to solitude and be celibate their entire lives? I admire their determination and their attempt to get as close to God as possible, but that would be a hard life. I guess it’s simply their way of getting as close as possible to what they believe to be true. Our church believes in other ways of doing that…

On the way to and from the monasteries I rode in the taxi with Mary, Annie and Dave. We all talked about random events in our lives. Dave gave us some advice on dating and relationships. After all he is an MFHD major. He said that marriage requires a lot of work and effort on both sides. He also found a quote that talked about if you aren’t perfectly pleased with your spouse right now – that if you live righteously you will be in the eternities when you see your spouse exalted. I’ve always had a hard time with believing that if your relationship with your spouse is rocky now that it would be better when you die. I asked Dave about it, and he said that it’s like the atonement – you do your absolute best and he will make up the rest. So in essence you have to try your hardest and live righteously, and then when you die your relationship will essentially be perfected. The Lord knows we aren’t perfect. Luckily he doesn’t expect us to be either.

We also discussed how women will often get into groups and rant and rave about their husbands. It can be so damaging to the relationship between a husband and wife. That’s one thing I’m going to have to be really careful about. I’m sure it’s really easy to go off about the little annoyances of your husband when your friends are all in a group venting their frustrations, but it’s not appropriate. I’m going to have to find some way to overcome that when the time comes.

On the way home from the monasteries it rained…as everyone already knows I LOVE the rain. So I slept a bit on the way home which felt nice. Then when I got home I slept for two hours. My body was so exhausted I felt like I had been drugged. It was strange. My entire body felt heavy - like it weighed a thousand pounds, and when I laid on my bed I could feel it sink ever so slightly into the stiff mattress below me. Boy did it feel nice to sleep.

Later on while we ate dinner we all watched the season finale of season two of The Office. Jim confessed his love to Pam. We were all shocked. They are so cute together. The director did an excellent job at filling the role of each character. Who would of ever thought a show about an office would be so entertaining?

Dave came over later to say goodbye and to have a chat with us in order to evaluate the program. We gave him suggestions on what could be improved and what was surprisingly good about our experience here. Both of those areas took a while. Then he asked if any of us would like a blessing. It took us all a minute, but then we quickly decided that we could all use one as the time we are going to be here shortens and we are all starting to become concerned with going back home.

In my blessing he talked about how the Lord knows the concerns of my heart, and that if I pray to him the desires of my heart and prayers will be quickly answered. In all our blessings he mentioned that we were “hand picked” by the Lord to come and work with the children in Romania at this particular time in our lives. It’s so fascinating how the Lord works. He also said that the knowledge I gain here will help prepare me for upcoming choices I will have to make in the near future. It’s been such a privilege to come and work with Heavenly Father’s choicest spirits. I feel so blessed. At times I wonder why he blesses me so much, but I think trying to do what is right has something to do with it. All I know is the church is true, and Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are well aware of the needs of their people.