Stories- October 2, A Temple Thursday Adventure.

 I've recently realized that I've got quite a few great stories that should be shared. This is a copy of an email I sent to a few friends on missions this last October. Enjoy!

Dear Temple Enthusiast Elders,

Well Elder Pehrson, as soon as you leave, all the interesting stuff happens. I don't even know where to begin this story. I want to make it clear though, God has been good to us, we saw many miracles that day!

On Wednesday night Dalton Droubay texted me saying we needed another driver and asked me to help him try to find one. We couldn't find one. On Thursday morning I picked up a few people on the way to the seminary and while we were on our way there we heard that Dalton wasn't coming and he had told Savannah Lawson not to come either. We were sad to hear that, Dalton had said that he would stay home if there wasn't enough room but I told him to come anyway because I was hopeful we would have another person to drive. When we got to the seminary building and counted up people, we had exactly 9 people and I have exactly 9 seats in my car. Taylor Avery and I looked at each other and realized, we had nothing to say to Dalton. We couldn't give him a hard time about not coming.  If he and Savannah had come we wouldn't have had enough seats. 

A few weeks ago we had a day where we had 10 people and we took everyone in my car with 9 seats  My mom was MAD. My mom threatened me heavily that if I did that again, I would not be driving to the Temple anymore. If Dalton and Savannah would have come, I don't know what I would have done. I don't want to have to turn anyone away from the Temple. It was a miracle that we had exactly enough seats!

As we were getting out of the car at the temple, we had a girl named Alexis realize that she didn't have her recommend with her. She had gotten it out and checked to make sure she had it, but she still ended up at the Temple without it. 

In preparation for General Conference, the tunnels were all closed so we had to go in the front doors of the Temple. We walked in and asked if they could help Lexi because she forgot her recommend. They said they would be happy to! They called her Bishop and he just happened to be awake at 5 AM! Alexis got to go into the Temple! I was going to wait outside with her and so Lexi getting to go in meant I got to go in too! It was another miracle that everyone got to go in! 

We went through the Temple and talked to the "you are Saviors on mount Zion" Temple worker again, which is always a pleasure. We each did 3 confirmations and 5 baptisms. By my count that's 45 newly baptized members and 27 newly baptized members of this wonderful church. 72 more miracles!

Now is the part where I have to own up to my mistakes.

On the way home, I missed the exit for Tooele. Well that understandably sent us into a bit of a panic. Really quick Taylor pulled out  his phone and figures out that it would take us FORTY MINUTES to make it back! Obviously we panicked some more. And then... We had another miracle and found a police turnaround. Our little de-tour took like 10 minutes tops. God was good to us. 

We got back to Lakepoint and headed toward Stansbury. We were very happy to be on our way to school and we were talking about our little adventure and laughing about how "this is up there with Clark driving through the Airport and Leo yelling "we are late! We are naughty boys" out the window to Rachel on the freeway" We were happy. 

And then I got pulled over. 

I was doing so good. I almost made it a full year of having my license. Seriously, 4 days shy of 17, I got pulled over for the First time. And ticketed for the first time. Which sounds kind of terrible, and it kind of was. But God still blessed us. 

I had my license with me. I had my registration. I had my insurance card. My insurance was fine, but the card was expired. There was only 9 people in the car.  As he took my information and went back to his car, we all prayed that I wouldn't get a ticket and that we would get to school on time. And like we learned in conference today, everything works out. I did get a ticket, but they didn't ticket me for the 20 over that I was going (Elder Clements and Elder Brown, yall drive faster than that on Temple trips)

They only charged me 5 over. My insurance card was correct. Everyone except for me made it to school on time. I had to go home And trade my mom cars. (And also cry) My mom wasn't mad. More miracles. 

The night before, around midnight, when I still wasn't asleep, my mom didn't want me to drive. She was saying how it scares her to have me drive so early in the morning. I promised her that there was no way I could fall asleep with that many people and that we would be protected because we were going to the Temple. But after that conversation and then getting a ticket, I was positive she wasn't gonna let me drive to the temple again. But she wasn't even mad! She said "I'd rather have you walk in and say you got a ticket than not walk in and roll the car." Later she said "you speed all the time you're just lucky you didn't get caught till now" which is true, but I also pointed out that she's the one who taught me to speed. She agreed! What? Both my parents were fine! MORE MIRACLES. 

My mom also pointed out the part about Dalton and Savannah not being there. She said "yes you've been blessed today, but God is also warning you" She is right. Just because we're going to the Temple doesn't mean I should push my luck and speed (I'm looking at you Elder Brown and Elder Clements) and if Dalton and Savannah had been in the car, we definitely wouldn't have made it to school on time and parents DEFINITELY wouldn't have been easy-going about getting a ticket. I can promise you that I will not be taking more people than I have seats for. The Lord gave me a warning and I would be stupid to ignore it. 

We got lucky. We got so lucky. Taylor pointed out that lucky isn't the word, blessed is. While we were waiting for the Officer to come back, Veronica started counting miracles. There were so many tender mercies. God was with us on Thursday morning Elders, I guarantee it. 

Hopefully next week we will have more drivers and less hiccups. Until then, enjoy conference and convert everyone!  

My mom also pointed out the part about Dalton and Savannah not being there. She said "yes you've been blessed today, but God is also warning you" She is right. Just because we're going to the Temple doesn't mean I should push my luck and speed (I'm looking at you Elder Brown and Elder Clements) and if Dalton and Savannah had been in the car, we definitely wouldn't have made it to school on time and parents DEFINITELY wouldn't have been easy-going about getting a ticket. I can promise you that I will not be taking more people than I have seats for. The Lord gave me a warning and I would be stupid to ignore it. 

We got lucky. We got so lucky. Taylor pointed out that lucky isn't the word, blessed is. While we were waiting for the Officer to come back, Veronica started counting miracles. There were so many tender mercies. God was with us on Thursday morning Elders, I guarantee it. 

Hopefully next week we will have more drivers and less hiccups. Until then, enjoy conference and convert everyone! 

-Boston

Becoming the un-perfectionist.

Names have been changed to protect the innocent. (and the not so innocent because I’m a decent human being.)

There once was a little girl who pleased everyone. She was actually pretty good at it too. She was clever, she was cute, she was obedient and she did well in school. She liked to read and she liked to sing and she liked going to school. Her parents thought they were the luckiest. Her teachers adored her. For a long time, she pleased everyone without really trying to. Everyone told her she was good, so she believed that she was. She saw other kids who weren’t quite so adored by teachers and thought it was because they weren’t as good as her. She thought she was perfect. She thought she was doing everything right. She was happy and she thought she was happy because she was perfect.

                The little girl had lots of friends, she was perfect after all, but her closest friends were little girls that were also adored by teachers and also thought they were perfect. People are typically comfortable with people that are like themselves. So there was a group of little girls that thought they were the “bestest” and the smartest of all the kids in their grade. For a while that was fine, they liked the same things and they had the same goals. But little girls have a tendency for cattiness. Girls in general have a tendency for cattiness.

                Perhaps the little girl and her friends would’ve been fine if they hadn’t decided they wanted to be better than each other. The little girl had one friend who particularly got on her nerves, Annie. The two of them acted like friends on the surface, (the way girls often do,) but they would cut into each other and put each other down all the time. One day the little girl made a mistake. She was mean, she was unkind, and she did not act how a friend should act. She ruined Annie’s shoes. She nearly got a white slip for her actions. (White slips were unheard of for this little girl and her friends.) The little girl sat in the hall crying and realized all her mistakes. She felt awful. When her mother found out what she had done she was in BIG trouble and she cried even more. She knew she had to fix it. She personally apologized to Annie and to Annie’s mother and gave her own money to buy new shoes. She did everything she could, but she wasn’t happy with her friends anymore.

At recess she started walking around by herself rather than playing with her “friends.” She was lonely. She didn’t like the feeling of not having any friends. The little girl began to notice another girl who walked around by herself at recess, Jenny. The little girl passed Jenny so often when they were both walking around lonely, that they started walking around lonely together. They became friends. Jenny didn’t try to be better than her. Jenny didn’t put her down. Jenny didn’t make her feel like she had anything to prove. She liked to be around Jenny. This new friend made her happier than the other little girls ever had. Jenny was not perfect. She had a speech problem that made it hard to understand her sometimes. She struggled in school and didn’t always turn in her homework. The little girl realized that those things didn’t really matter, she liked her friend even though she wasn’t perfect.

 The little girl realized that being perfect didn’t bring her happiness. Having friends who were kind to her made her happy.  She liked to read and she liked to sing and she liked going to school not because liking those things made her perfect but because those things made her happy. There were other things that made her happy too. Things she hadn’t realized. With her old friends, they hadn’t ever played “baby games” at recess. With Jenny she imagined an alternate universe where the two of them were Movie Star sisters every day at recess. Recess suddenly was a lot more fun than it used to be.

 The years went on and the little girl made more friends and had more adventures with Jenny by her side. Learning at eight years old that she didn’t have to be perfect to be happy was one of the best things that happened to her. She stopped caring about how others saw her and started caring about how she saw herself. She liked to be goofy, she liked to play pretend. She stopped trying to be so grown up. She still strived to do her best but she learned that it wasn’t the end of the world to fall a little short. Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone has struggles. Being real isn’t bad. Thinking you’re better than others doesn’t mean that you are, it just limits the number of people you can connect with.

Here I am. I’m Seventeen and a half. I’m a Junior in High School and I’ll be voting for the next president. The future is coming at me pretty fast in the next couple of years and it scares me a little bit. I get stressed over homework, friends, boyfriends, college, lots of things. I want to do things right, but I know I’m gonna fall on my face sometimes. I am not perfect and I don’t have to be. There’s more at stake than there was when I first learned that lesson at age eight. I’m grateful I learned it before things got quite so stressful. I am at a stage in my life where I am not afraid to be myself. I do what I want. I’m confident enough to not care what others think of me. I would not be confident if I was trying to be perfect. I would not be able to help others and live life the way I do if I was still trying to be perfect. You have to accept yourself before you can accept anyone else. Here I am. Seventeen and a half. Full of flaws, shortcomings, mistakes, stories and most importantly lessons. I don’t regret any of the choices I’ve made so far, I’ve learned a lot from them. There are some things I definitely won’t be doing again, (a few boys I will not be kissing again.) but I wouldn’t go back and undo them.

Here I am. Seventeen and a half. Annie moved away and Jenny and I have gone to different Jr. Highs and High Schools. Hindsight is 20/20. Looking at where life as taken me and the girls I was friends with in 3^rd grade is quite interesting. Jenny no longer has a speech problem. She gets straight A’s and is on the swim team at her school. I Annie moved to Montana and has since visited a couple of times. There’s no grudges. All is forgiven on both sides. She still drives me nuts but hey, she lives in a different state now rather than down the street. Some of those other “perfect” little girls have since come to learn that being perfect is not important. They are all doing different things, but they are all doing things that make them happy. One of those little girls is still a close friend of mine, not that the road hasn’t been rocky at times. She is still a perfectionist. She still thinks she’s better than others and takes every opportunity to tell me what I’m doing wrong with my life. She takes every opportunity to put me in my place. I just roll my eyes and smile. I love her how she is, even if her judgments sometimes get old. I know she loves me and deep down loves it when I pull out her tiny streak of rebellion and show her how to have some fun. Part of her wants to loosen up. She puts a lot of pressure on herself. I put pressure on myself too, but I’m a little more flexible. I’ve learned to roll with the punches and be happy with what I have. I’m not perfect, but I am happy.