Update

Well everyone, it's been a while since I've blogged. I don't have anything TOO exciting to say, but I figured I'd catch you all up on a few things. #1, I finished winter semester with a 3.81. Woot! As long as I can keep my scholarship, I'm happy. #2, I started spring semester. Not as exciting. I'm taking Humanities201, Music101, and a Foods class (which is really fun) :) The other two classes...not so fun. :/ Oh well...I just need to survive the next six weeks! I'm STILL waiting to hear back about how many weeks I'll be doing EFY (sigh....) but as far as my Jerusalem decision....I AM SET ON GOING!!!!! :) I am stressing big time about having enough money, but it will all work out one way or another. I know it. :) I can't imagine NOT going, and I know it will be worth every penny. I can't wait!
Other than that, still working at Prosper (love it!) and living with my sister's family. Life is good!
I'll try to have more exciting posts from now on....promise.

To go...or not to go....that is the question!

Stress if a funny thing. It seems that every time one stressful thing ends, another one beings. For example: I just finished my finals today. WOOT!!! :) You'd think I'd feel super relaxed and happy, right? It's definitely nice to be done (well...for a week before I start classes again) but...I feel more stressed right now than I did BEFORE I started my finals! The reason?

I got accepted to go to the BYU Jerusalem center for a study abroad for 4 months this fall! Super exciting right? Yes!!!!!....and no. I have been excited about going to Jerusalem for the past year, and super antsy waiting to hear if I got accepted (everyone says it's super hard to get in). The last few weeks, I started thinking about not going (even if I did get accepted). It's a long story but basically I have lots of dreams, and it was a matter of which ones I wanted to give priority to. Plus, money's a huge factor. Jerusalem sure isn't cheap. Anyways, I felt good about staying, and decided I'd go on an LDS 3 week tour with one of my friends to the Holy Land next spring, to make up for not going. But when I heard that I got accepted....I had the gut feeling that "How could you turn this down Kassie?!" And thus the battle continued...and has been going on in my head non-stop for the last two days. It's driving me insane. I've weighed the pros and cons so many times and keep going back and forth. As of RIGHT NOW I'm leaning towards going though :) I don't have to decide right away, so I'll keep thinking and praying about it. And I'll wait and see if I get any financial aid - that'll be a huge factor.

A friend posted on his facebook today something along the lines of: "I miss my childhood where the hardest decision was picking which crayon to use." Couldn't agree more!

Cross your fingers that I'll make the right decision! I'll keep you all posted!

On the other hand - I move out tomorrow, to live with my sister's family again (I lived with them in VA two summers ago and loved it). I'm looking forward to this summer! It'll be fun :) Maybe not so much spring semester (classes and working) but summer will be great. If EFY would ever let us know which weeks we are hired to be counselors...sigh...don't get me started on THAT ;)

Finals!

Well...it's finals week here at BYU! I have 5 finals this semester, and by the end of today will have finished three of them! I like to get them done as soon as possible, and it helps that my classes weren't too hard this semester. Most people dread finals but I actually enjoy it. I like the intense feeling around campus, plus I feel like I have lots of extra time (no classes!) It's the one time out of the semester I really crack down and am motivated to study. I like feeling productive :)

I saw this on face book and if any of you are a college student (or have been) you'll understand how applicable some of these (if not all) are. I think every single one has applied to my life, at least once. Good luck with finals everyone! :) :)

Hot Springs, and a Princess in the temple :)

It's been a good week! Starting to get the hang of my my new job, most final presentations/papers are done (or almost done), and spring is here! (Well...except for the RANDOM blizzard we had today. Thanks Utah).

Wednesday night a group of us from the ward decided to spontaneously go hike to the hot springs up Spanish Fork Canyon. A few of us got lost on the drive there, it was MUCH further than expected, and my rings got ruined, but overall it was a fun adventure!!

Love these girls! Me, Brynn and Alissa :)

Me, Alissa and David (my brother)

The gang!! Good times!

So tonight, my roommate and I went to the temple. It was really empty (which is soo rare) so it was really nice to have it quieter and slower. As we were walking to the back row (to wait for confirmations) there was only one man sitting there. He was an older Islander man, and as we were about to squeeze past him to sit down, he got up quickly, stepped out of the way and motioned for us to sit down, as he said "Here you go princess!" It took me by surprise but was so sweet! Then another girl came to sit in the row as well and he did the same thing for her (and called her princess as well). It made me feel really special. It was even more neat because I later saw that he had a HUGE ziploc bag full of family file names to be done. He was radiating with joy of being in the temple, and he was expressing that through kindness to each of us as well. That is truly being Christ-like :) I love the temple, and I love kind people who compliment strangers! Made my night.

So now I'm having a sleepover with Brynn (my roomie) and Katy (a roomie from last semester), and it's so fun! I love girls nights! :) Music, giggling, chick flicks, food, and even MASH! (Some of you will understand what that is....haha...takes me back to my middle school days) Tomorrow I get to go Easter Dress shopping with my daddy, and then to a BYU dance performance. Should be a good Saturday!

Haircut!

So, I'm too cheap to get my hair done very often, but every once in a while I cave, cuz I love when I do! I'm nervous about going to new places, so I use my sister (Nellie) as a guinea pig. Wherever she gets her hair done, if I like it...I make an appointment. And I've always liked hers, so I've gone to the same places/people, and I've always liked mine! Thanks Nell :) It's fun to change things up. I still want to grow my hair out longer, but decided to put some color in and try some bangs. It's starting to feel like summer!! :)

As far as the rest of my life....crazy! One more week of school, then a week of finals. So school's stressing me out, plus I'm finishing up volunteer hours for the semester (at the Family Support and Treatment Center) as well as working 25-30 hours a week at my new job, that I'm still getting the hang of. But that's okay...life is good! As long as the sun keeps shining, and summer keeps coming, Kassie's a happy girl!

General Conference

I feel like I can understand better the phrase "my heart is full". The past two days I have been blessed to hear 8 hours of words of wisdom and inspiration from prophets and apostles on earth today. I remember when I was younger how difficult it was to pay attention and stay awake during General Conference. In all honesty, part of me dreaded it because I was so easily bored. Yet now...I look forward to General Conference in many ways more than I look forward to Christmas. General Conference always provides the spiritual boost and added measure of the Spirit in my life that I so desperately need. I could write pages and pages about the thoughts and feelings I have experienced during the last two days, but I just wanted to pick a few things for now.

#1. Heavenly Father is aware of me, and he does love me. This is something I've known as long as I could remember, but Satan is so good at making us lose sight of this eternal truth. And when we lose sight of the love and awareness our Father in heaven has for us...our lives begin to crumble. If we have confidence in the worth we hold in our Father's eyes and in our Savior's eyes, we will not lose hope. God sees our goodness and potential. We need to catch the vision of what our Father and our Savior see in us and for us. This includes focusing on the Savior, and the things that matter most. As we do...we will gain a greater understanding of our worth and potential, and we will have greater courage to act.

#2. Life is not easy, and life is not fair. But we also have the promise that because of Christ's atonement, no pain will last. As we strive to live righteously and keep our covenants, our hope can be restored, and blessings will flow. The hardest times in our lives can be blessings. "All things shall give thee experience and shall be for thy good." God never leaves us alone. We must believe that God will never forsake us. It is often us that forsake Him, but He is always there, waiting with outstretched hands, waiting to comfort and heal us. He gives us trials and tests so that we might learn patience and that we may gain faith. We came to earth to learn and grow. God gives us adversity because it provides the opportunity to prove ourselves and to come closer to our Savior. Heavenly Father has given us all of the resources and tools (scriptures, prayer, church leaders, repentance, etc) that we need to continue on this journey, even when things seem hopeless and we feel alone. The way we respond to and endure trials will qualify us to one day return to the presence of God.

#3. It is possible to be active in the church, while being inactive in the gospel. We need to be active in both the church and the gospel. Going through the motions of being a Latter-day Saint is not enough. Being a Latter-day Saint should be at the core of our character, and should determine everything we do. We can make the gospel our foundation by deepening our understanding of the gospel and of Deity. I can strive to have more personal relationships with my Father in Heaven and with my Savior. I can devote more time and energy to studying the words in the scriptures and the words of the modern-day prophets. I can be more willing to sacrifice. It can be easy to become overwhelmed with the huge "to-do" list of improvements we feel we need to make, but the important thing is that we don't become complacent with our progress. I need to constantly be striving to improve myself and become closer to my Savior. I need to be fully converted to the Lord's gospel, and show my commitment to that gospel through my actions.

#4. We are not diminished when someone else is added upon. If the Lord shows compassion to His other children, we should not be envious or resentful because of that kindness. We should be kind, and we should be grateful that our Heavenly Father is kind. God is not "unfair" to any of us. He is merciful. He has a greater purpose than we can comprehend, and He has an infinite amount of love for each of His children. We need to place our trust in Him. Not only do we need to avoid being jealous of other's good fortune, we need to serve and bless the lives of those around us. The race in this life is not against each other...it is against sin! Life is hard enough, we don't need to be trampling each other along the way. With-holding unrighteous judgement is one way we can avoid contention and competition with others. As we love and serve as Christ would serve, we will find our capacity to love increasing, and we will feel an added measure of peace and joy in our lives.

#5. Am I Christian? Neil L. Andersen's talk really touched my heart. It really helped me reflect on my life. Does my life reflect my love and devotion of Christ? We read in the scriptures, "What think ye of Christ?" As I think about that question, I think about the love I have for my Savior, and the appreciation I have for His role in my life. He is my brother, my friend, my Savior. But then Elder Andersen brought up the reverse question..."What thinks Christ of me?" This struck me hard...what does Christ think of me? Does He know I am Christian? Does He know I love Him? Can He count on me to always be one of His valiant disciples? And do I rejoice in being a life-long disciple? What am I doing on a daily basis to show Him my gratitude and my devotion? Do I share the gospel with those around me? Do I act on promptings from the Holy Ghost? Do I sincerely pray to the Lord and act in faith on the answers He gives me?

I am so blessed to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I love the gospel, and I love my Savior. I am grateful for the opportunity I had to listen to General Conference this weekend and to be reminded of the things I need to do to become a better disciple of Christ. As I do, and as I share this love and knowledge with those around me, I know the Lord will bless me and I will find greater joy and peace in my life.