Letters

Ryan, Kelly, and I with Bridgette at her Jiu-Jitsu Competition!

Dear Bridget, Thanks so super much for inviting me to your Jiu-Jitsu competition. It was so fun to be there with your family and to support you! You are lucky to have so many fans and such an amazing family. Thanks for being number one.

Dear Eric, Good job at running your half marathon under two hours!!! You are crazy/insane/awesome/amazing/super cool!!!

Dear Rachel, Going to WinCo with you on Saturday morning was the best. Let's do it again?

Dear Rachel again, Um, you've got me slightly addicted to Sherlock. And they don't make patches for that like they do for smokers. Help?

Dear Sarah Porter, I really, really, really, really, really liked sitting next to you in church on Sunday.

Dear Anna, Heavens! It took us long enough to finally sit down an talk! It was the best. I like you.

Dear S106, Thanks for letting us come over and talk on Saturday evening. We like talking with you guys.

Dear Holly, Hannah, and Jacqui, I like visiting teaching you/visiting teaching with you. The four of us are pretty cool.

Dear Hannah again, Having you jump up, run over to me, and give me a big hug was pretty much the best 'Welcome back from work!' ever. Thanks for being so excited to see me.

Dear Christopher, 

Really? Why is this not surprising? 

Next time, get your own key lime bar.

Dear Stephen, Right back at 'cha. All of it.

The most amazing girl in the world!!! Oh, and me.

Dear Rachel (yet again), You are one of the most amazing people I have ever met. I mean that with every bit of sincerity in my heart. You. Are. A. Maze. Ing. Trust me, I know. (I kinda' live with you! Lucky me!!!) Thanks for talking and driving and shopping and laughing and being awesome along with me. There's not a soul on the planet that I would have rather spent the past several days with. Keep being you.

Letters

Your welcome for making sure that my calf's were not in the picture. I realize that you would have coveted them along with the Chacos, so I left them out. I know. I'm a saint.

Dear Provo, I forgot to mention this the other day, but can I just say that it's wonderfully amazing to feel just as much as if I'm coming home when I land in Salt Lake as it does when I land in Portland? When I came home here, I was just as emotional to see you all as when I got home in WA and saw my family. That means a lot to me. Thanks for being good enough that I could call you home.

Dear Rachel Wirthlin, All this week at work you talked about how Modern Shoe was having a Chacos sale today and that you wanted to go so bad. You probably didn't know that I have been wanting a pair of Chacos myself for quite some time. I went later this afternoon, not expecting much and thinking that they would probably be out. They were. Almost. They had one pair left in the style I wanted AND IT WAS MY SIZE!!! Someone must have broken the laws of the Universe to make that one happen, and I'm glad they did because it made my day. $110 shoes for $60?! Anyways, what I mean to say is: thanks for the heads up and for letting me know about the sale.

Dear Christopher Pister, Even though the more I talk with you, the more we find to disagree on, I'm very grateful that you volunteered to take me to the store to buy my Chacos so that Amelia wouldn't have to and that you were so excited about it. You really are a very good guy, and I'm glad we're friends.

Dear Eric, Thank you SO MUCH for making spaghetti and talking and watching the Olympics with me. You are such an amazing friend. I love your wit and humor, but even more than that, I love you testimony. When you say a pray, you really mean it. I can tell. Thanks for the example. And good luck with your half marathon tomorrow!!! You are going to do AMAZING! I know it because everything you do is amazing. It's just a habit of yours. Keep it up.

Dear Heavenly Father, I was totally fine with you not coming to the rescue today when I needed some ibuprofen. You do so much for me all the time and I was just laughing and thinking it was so ironic and funny that I'd just given away my bottle just two days before. When I came out of the bathroom and said: "So much for charity," I promise I didn't mean it. Really. I was just laughing at the irony. But do you let me go on in pain for the next several hours? Even just this once do you not come to my aid? No! Two seconds after the words left my mouth Rachel walked into the apartment--in the middle of the day when she's not usually home--and another two seconds after that she'd giving me some of her ibuprofen. I am constantly amazed at how fully and completely You have my back, even with the little things. Thanks for taking the time to notice and care about me in my time of need. You're my hero.

Letters

Dear Kevin Astle, Thanks so much for taking me to get a bite at Chipotle the other day! It was so fun to finally meet you and to have fun talking about your mission and college and life. You're a pretty cool kid.

Dear Me, Really? Several years of preschool, thirteen years of public education, two years of college, you want to become an English Teacher--all of that, and you misspell the word 'college'? And it takes you ten minutes to catch onto the fact? Fall semester's going to be just fantastic.

Isn't the cake GOREGEOUS!? Amelia baked it and Rachel decorated it!

Dear Rachel, Thanks for being born so that we could celebrate your birthday yesterday. It was a pretty awesome party for a pretty awesomer girl. I love you so super amazingly more than a good book on a cold day much!

Chanda and her sister Annie at the Pioneer Day Celebration (Look at their AWESOME outfits!)

Rachel and I making ice cream at the Pioneer Day Party. Isn't she awesome?

Dear Jarrett and Chanda, Putting on a Pioneer Day party was the bestest idea ever! Thanks so much for all your time and effort. You guys are amazing.

Dear Riley, I was so super surprised when I went outside to go running today and you were up as well. It made me happier than I think you realize. Thanks for being an superb friend, and good luck with your 10K in Idaho! You can do it under 50! (And if you don't, you're still just as amazingly super awesome.)

Dear Amelia, You just wanted to be friends? Ha! That's funny.

Dear Hannah Nielson, Thanks so much for setting up Visiting Teaching for today, even though it fell through. Hopefully I'll see you again on Saturday at Bridget's jujitsu competition!

Dear Kessa, Get better ASAP, okay?

Paula's Letter!

Dear Paula, I wrote you a letter today. Hopefully it will get sent off tomorrow and you will get it soon! 

Dear Pister, Thanks for making me smile.

An Instrument in His Hands

"And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work." -Alma 26:3

"The greatest thing in the world is love. And if we keep that always in our hearts, and give it as a message to those about us, we will be blessed and will be instruments in blessing those with whom we associate."  -Clarissa S. Williams, Sixth Relief Society General President, Daughters in My Kingdom page 74

"The sweetest experience I know in life is to feel a prompting and act upon it and later find out that it was the fulfillment of someone’s prayer or someone’s need. And I always want the Lord to know that if He needs an errand run, Tom Monson will run that errand for Him." -President Thomas S. Monson

"Is anyone sitting there?" I asked the lady on the plane. 

"You are!" she exclaimed. She moved the bag and bottle that had been sitting on the seat and I meandered my way down into the seat. The older lady was sitting on my left and to my right, sitting next to the window, was Kim Low--a girl from my home stake whom I happened to see out in the waiting area before we boarded the plane. I was feeling pretty lucky that the seat next to her was still open by the time I got onto the plane. 

Kim and I said hi to each other and started talking. 

"Why were you in Vancouver?"

"How are things at school?"

"You've graduated already, haven't you?"

"Where are you working right now?"

It occurred to me while we were talking that I should maybe take a second to say hi to the lady sitting to my left. I usually try to at least introduce myself to the people I sit next to on planes. But Kim and I were having a good time talking, and I figured I could introduce myself in a bit.

We were still waiting for the plane to take off when there was a brief lull in our conversation.  

"Do you two know each other?" piped up the lady, filling the pause.

Kim and I looked at each other and then back at the lady. We explained to her that we were from the same stake and also both went to BYU.

"I know the tennis coach at BYU," the lady said. "His name is Pierce. The tennis team is really good. You should look him up."

I asked her how she knew the coach.

"My son does tennis.  But he doesn't go to BYU. I'm not Mormon. But Pierce is really nice." 

I was beginning to feel like the lady really wanted to talk. Not about tennis or BYU or Mormons, necessarily, but that she just needed to talk. So I turned myself towards her, leaving Kim to read her Harry Potter book, and Paula and I talked for the next hour and a half while our plane made its way to Salt Lake City. 

The conversation I had with Paula is one of the best conversations I've had my whole life. It wasn't the content that made it so special, but the spirit that attended it. Throughout the conversation she mentioned that the reason she was in Oregon was because her father had just passed away and that she had been taking care of him and then, once he died, she had to take care of her mother. It seemed like she wanted to talk to someone about it, but I thought it would be good to talk about some other things first. So we did. We talked about her time as a nurse. She asked me what I was studying at BYU. We talked about God and serving people. We talked about Methodists (her choice of religion) verses Mormonism and about how sometimes it's hard for her to live in Utah because there are so many Mormons and she's not one of them. We talked about education. We talked about her son who's in Japan serving in the navy and her other son who's starting his senior year of high school and wants to go to NYU to study film. We talked about her involvement with a program her church does called Family Promise where they help single moms and their kids start over again. We talked about how she met her husband and my own dating life. 

In the middle of our conversation, when I felt like we knew one another a little better, I asked her about the experience with her father, and she was so glad to talk about it. She shared how hard of an experience it had been for her. She told me that her mother had althimers and that it was really hard to place her in a home. She told me about how, right after her father passed away, she went in the other room and suddenly felt a great sense of peace and love and knew that Jesus and her father were telling her it was okay and what she needed to do. She said most people thought she was silly for saying that and I told her it was the least silly thing I had ever heard. She really opened up and told me everything, and I had the sweet opportunity to be able to listen. 

"God sent you here to sit next to me," she told me several times during our flight. "You're not a coincidence, you're a God incident. He's always sending angles into my life. You're one of those angels."

At other times she would laugh and say: "I can't believe God sent me a BYU student to help me!" 

Paula and I laughed. We were serious. We hugged each other. When the plane landed I walked with her out to the baggage claim and pick-up area. 

We said goodbye to each other and gave one another one last hug. 

"Thanks again, Lindsey. You're so sweet. I would have cried the whole plane ride home if it hadn't been for you." 

I left, and that was it.

Now. I haven't shared this experience because I want to brag because I helped someone out who was having a bad day (Alma 26:11-12). I hate self-righteousness. I share this experience first of all, because it's something I want to always remember. I also share it because I want to add my testimony to President Monson's and testify that it is a truly humbling and sweet experience to know that the Lord has used you to help someone in need. I followed the Spirit when he prompted me to talk to Paula, and ended up having an incredible experience. I wasn't there to convert Paula or to shove a Book of Mormon down her throat. I was just there to be a friend. Through the experience, I got to feel the Spirit and the love Heavenly Father has for her. I know that she is special and that she is a daughter of God who is doing her best to be her best.  

I want my life to be filled with Paulas. Like President Monson, I want the Lord to be able to trust and rely on me to answer the prays of others. I cannot describe to you how humbling it feels to know that the Lord used me to help someone who was in need. That He trusted me. That I was an instrument in His hands. 

Seek out those promptings of the Spirit and determine to follow them when they do come. I promise you that   you will live with greater peace and joy when you let the Lord use you to do His work. When you do, some of the greatest experiences of your life will follow.

Awesome Backpacking Letters

Dear Backpacking Trip, You are always one of my favoritest parts of the year. Not only do you help me feel like a beast, but you give me time to get away from the world and to spend time with my family. Thanks for the memories.

Kate and I eating ice cream on the way home!

Dear Kate, Thank you for creating a memory that will last for years. I'm sure that from now on, every time we go backpacking we will recall watching you throw your pack on the ground, insist that you're no longer coming, and then run away. Five minutes into the trip. I'm glad that things got better, though, and that you did make it the whole way with us! Also--happy late birthday! How the heck can you already be TWELVE?!?! Our family officially no longer has any primary aged children. That's weird. 

Dear Abby, You are such a super trooper! Thanks for coming and being happy while backpacking with us, even though you more than slightly dislike it. Thanks especially for talking to me out on the log by the lake on Thursday night. You are one really cool kid. And feel free to have a hard time sitting up on a tree any time you want--it made me laugh so hard that I could barely stay standing.

Dear Ka'Ka, I hope that you're not on the verge of cannibalism. I would like my hands to stay attached to my wrists, not in your mouth on the way down to your stomach, but you seem to think otherwise. I'm glad we were able to resolve this difference of opinion, however, and that I arrived home with my body still intact. You know, our family never got a boy, but you do a really good job at filling in the 'annoying brother' position. Spitting, biting, poking, jumping, sitting, screaming, tickling...I'd say you're building yourself quite the fine resume. Feel free to add me on the list of references, though I think Emily might be more able to testify of your abilities.

Dear Emily, You're an awesome running buddy. I'd go on an adventure with you any day. Thanks for your example. I'm so more than extremely super excited to live with you next year. It's gonna' be the best!

Dear Mom, Thanks for always going on day hikes with us and for playing games and being optimistic and awesome. I love you so much!

Dear Dad, You are amazing. Thanks for all your planning and preparing and helping and loving. You're the best dad in the world!

Dear Aunt Janet, Having you along for our trip was the best. Thanks for sleeping in the tent with me and for staying up at night to talk with me. I'm glad you're a part of our family.

Dear Lillies, Thanks, as always, for coming along and sharing the joy. It wouldn't be a backpacking trip without you!

Dear Nuffers, Thanks for stopping in on Wednesday and for bringing us ice cream! It was such a pleasant surprise to see you all!

Dear Weather, Thanks for clouding and thundering and lightening-ing and raining and raining and raining. Plus a little bit of sunning. But mostly raining. We had to cancel backpacking the last 12 miles of our trip, hike it out instead, and then drive the cars up to bring us home, but it was still fun. So even though you altered our plans, I loved seeing you and feeling you and breathing you.

Dear Utah Friends, This is what I mean when I say Washington is green:

Make any more sense?

Dear Family, If the above didn't say it all, this is why I love you:

Letters

Dear Mountain View Ward, It was so good to see so many familiar face and to be welcomed back to such a wonderful place. Thanks for sharing all your wonderful insights and for being just plain amazing. Every single one of you.

Dear Aunt Janet, I'm so super excited that you're coming backpacking with us this week! You're going to LOVE the green, lush scenery!

Dear Kate, Thanks for letting me help you memorize your Article of Faith. You're going to ROCK at Scripture Mastery when you take seminary!

Dear Amazing Family, The best place in the world is wherever you are. Thanks for being the best God could have given me. I'm excited for this week!

Dear Memories, You ready to be in the makin'? 'Cause this backpacking trip is going to be one to remember!

Letters

This is what it's gonna' look like when I go backpacking next week. 

Dear Utah, I love you to death, but I'm more than slightly ecstatic to be heading home to my green, wet, family-and-friends-filled Washington tomorrow. Until the 23rd!

Letters

Serene and I at the party. Not only did she help me plan the amazing event, but she let me borrow her totally legit Harry Potter gear! Needless to say, she's AWESOME!

Dear Utah Weather, I don't know why you insist on making things so difficult. Our relationship could be so much better if you'd just cooperate. Last week, I thought that you might have been finally getting to that point, but then you traded the rain with super hot weather. And muggy-ness. And smoke.

Dear To-Do Lists, I like you. A lot. You make me feel like I have goals and a purpose. Let's make you a daily thing, okay?

Dear Water Bottle, Thanks for helping me through the work day. I feel like I've lost a vital body organ when I misplace you.

Dear Letter Writing, I enjoy you super much. You make me feel witty, entertaining, and clever. Whomever has read any of my letters before might disagree, but that's okay. I'll just go on thinking that I'm pretty great. At letter writing, I mean.

Dear Ward Girls Football Team, I had lots of fun watching you guys play the other night. Have fun tonight at your next game (and Sarah Porter--be careful with those knees of yours!)

Dear Ward Harry Potter Party Going Friends, Thanks for coming and supporting and having fun Wednesday night at our party. Let's do it again, okay? Deal!

Letters

Dear Relief Society Sisters, I have attended few church events that were as cool as us gathering together to read Daughters in My Kingdom on Sunday night. I especially appreciated what Sarah said: that decades ago the sisters met together in a small room to create the Relief Society, and now we were gathered together to learn about it. Every other comment made was equally as insightful and amazing. Keep reading the book. I know that it will help you because of the way it has already begun to help me.

Dear Pister, On Thursday you not only walked all the way up to campus with an umbrella so that I wouldn't have to walk home in the rain, but you also walked up to help Amelia and offered to help Rachel. You are solid proof that chivalry hasn't died.

Pister, Rachel, and I at the Rooftop concert right before the thumb wars began

Dear Rachel, Christopher, Jason, Riley, Pister, Rachel Gains, and Chad, The rooftop concert on Friday night was lots of fun. Having thumb wars in the middle of it made it even more fun. And no, Christopher, I would not make out with you if you smoked like the guy we saw on the side of the street. In fact, I'm not planning on making out with you at all. Even if you claim that dreaming about you makes me healthier. So the question was irrelevant.

Elora, Pister, and I at the top!

Dear Elora and Pister, I promise that I don't usually step into horse manure the last 100 steps away from the trail head at the end of a 13 mile hike. Count yourself lucky to have witnessed such a rare event. Maybe we should count it as a blessing? It is, after all, what led us to lie around in the stream in our clothes for half an hour after the hike. Which was awesome. Just like you guys.

Up and Doing

"I am an old man!... I’m given to meditation and prayer. I would enjoy sitting in a rocker, swallowing prescriptions, listening to soft music, and contemplating the things of the universe. But such activity offers no challenge and makes no contribution. I wish to be up and doing. I wish to face each day with resolution and purpose. I wish to use every waking hour to give encouragement, to bless those whose burdens are heavy, to build faith and strength of testimony."   -President Gordon B. Hinckely

Today's a day to be happy. A day to serve a little more. Be a little more grateful. Look to God a little more frequently than we normally do. I want to help those around me to have a better day. I want people to feel noticed and loved because of the time I take to be with them. I want others to feel that I genuinely care about them--because I do. This life is not meant for easy, idle pursuits. We are meant to work. We are meant to serve. We are meant to give. We are meant to love. That's what I want to do with my time.

Letters

Dear Emily, Thanks for 18 years of amazingness. I wouldn't be where I am today without your example and help. I'm so excited to continue our adventures together next year when you come to live with me! Until then, have the happiest 18th birthday of your life, and know that I love you!!!

Come Listen to a Prophet's Voice

"And the king answered him, and said: Yea, I will believe all thy words. And thus he was caught with guile."   -Alma 18:23

"If we teach by the Spirit and you listen by the Spirit, some one of us will touch on your circumstance, sending a personal prophetic epistle just to you."   -Jeffery R. Holland, "An Ensign to the Nations", April 2011

Where do you and I stand in our willingness and determination to follow today's living prophets? 

I love King Lamoni's attitude in this scripture. He is so willing to be obedient. This is because he has gained a testimony that Ammon is a messenger from God and that the words Ammon speaks are from God. Do we realize this? When we listen to a prophet's voice, do we understand that he is merely there to express the thoughts, feelings, and desires from the Lord?

Last week, I had an experience that testified to me that the words spoken by today's general authorities are true. As my ward's Relief Society president, I had been praying to know what the Lord would have me do to help the sisters in my ward strengthen their testimonies. I received the distinct and strong impression that the sisters in our ward needed to read Daughters in My Kingdom. This is the same council that the General Relief Society Presidency has  been giving to the church across the world over the past year. It shouldn't have been a surprise, yet it was still a very humbling experience to realize that the words spoken to a worldwide audience of sisters weren't just general "this-might-apply-to-your-situation" pieces of advise. When Sister Beck testified that learning about the history of Relief Society would strengthen us sisters, it was meant for every single one of us. It was meant, on a very specific and personal level, for the girls in the Provo YSA 41st Ward. Every one of them. Including me.

Having the spirit bring to mind the council of Sister Beck as a way to answer my question has strengthened my testimony that the prophets and apostles in today's world truly are servants of the Lord. Although they may speak to a worldwide audience, their council is meant to provide very personal and direct answers to our questions. I know that God lives, and that because He loves us He has given us wise, loving, good-hearted leaders to help us make our way through today's challenges. These leaders have dedicated their lives to serving in the church as a testimony of their love for us and for God. I desire to be more like King Lamoni. I desire to listen to and follow all the words of God, spoken through today's living prophets.

Letters

Dear Fellow Freedom Run Runners, Thanks for the awesome/adventurous run yesterday morning. It was an awesome way to start out Independence Day!


Dear Pister, I know you could have run the 5K faster, but you stayed with me till the end. Thanks for being a good friend.

Dear Fellow Pool Friends, Yesterday, a new sport was born. Yea for playing "Keep the Flat Soccer Ball in the Air While in the Pool." I'm sure we could take this one to the Olympics.

Dear Fellow Hike-the-Y-to-Watch-Fireworks-ers, Being at the top of the Y to watch fireworks is fun. Being at the top of the Y to watch fireworks with people as amazing as you guys is better than getting a million dollars to spend at REI. In other words, glow stick wearing, back massage giving, laughing and talking parties with you all is the best.

Letters

Dear Kristin, We missed you today at work, but I hope you're having the funnest time ever in California. See you next week!

Letters

At the BBQ!

Dear Everyone Who's Gone Running with me the Past Several Days, You have no idea how literally you are the answer to weeks of prayer. Thanks for giving up sleep in the morning so that I don't have to feel so lonely when I go. I would do anything for you guys. Even give up ice cream.

Dear Ward Friends, Thanks for coming and eating our food at the BBQ! I absolutely 100% plus more mean it when I say that you--or anyone one else--is ALWAYS invited. Please come have fun with us!

Dear Ward Pool Friends, My arms are still sore from our epic melon ball tournament last night. It's pretty much the greatest.

Dear Heavenly Father, I can't have all this fun without acknowledging you. Thank you.

Letters

Dear Sean, Natalie, and Alex, Going to the concert for the Avett Brothers with you three last Thursday was one of the bestest things I've done in the longest of times. I'm so grateful to get to call you family.

Merrick and Kim (along with some friendly strangers) at the pageant!

Chanda and Jared waiting for the pageant to start!

Dear Ward Groupies, Even though the performance itself was a little cheesy, going to the Manti Pagent with you all on Friday night made me super happy. Thanks for all being awesome friends.

Dear Megan Sterns, Thanks for setting up the temple trip on Saturday morning. It made the rest of the day ten times brighter and better!

Dear Pister, Kat, Spencer, Christopher Pister, Weston, and Merick, I almost died Saturday when we all went running at 2pm. Seriously. Dead, shriveled-up Lindsey on the side of the road. But not quite. So it was worth it. Especially because we jumped right into the swimming pool--running clothes and all--right afterwards. It was the best, but only because you guys are the best. You rock.

Dear Kathleena, You are an amazing example. Don't stop.

Dear Kim and Kelly, I always know that when I ask you to do something that you'll do it plus extra. I've gotten teary-eyed over it before. For reals. Thanks for being amazing.

Dear Christopher Hagman, Thanks for having a birthday so that we could get the old FHE gang together again to celebrate with cake and ice cream, games, and the movie The Artist. Also, congrats on your exciting news! You are AWESOME!

Dear MinhYaht, I like reading at night with you. Let's keep it up!

Dear Relief Society Sisters, I hope you're as extremely super excited to read Daughters in My Kingdom together as I am. I know that it is what Heavenly Father wants us to be doing and that it will help strengthen your testimony of Relief Society and give you the power to live a righteous life. You are all already super amazing; let's read this book and all become super amazinger. I love you!

Dear Amazing Elders Quorm in My Ward, I have had more than one girl say to me that what has encouraged them to read Daughters in My Kingdom more than anything else is your love and support for doing so. You guys are more amazing that chocolate on bad days.

Dear Pister, I've tried five times to type something to say to you, but it's not working. Maybe it's because you're just so awesome? Or the opposite? (Just kidding. About the opposite part, I mean.) Thanks for being the best used-to be-home teacher in the world!