Some amazing stories...

This morning I experienced some tender mercies that reminded me why we're here on this earth. I get so focused on school, and work, and every little thing I have to do every minute that I don't stay close enough to the spirit as I should. But this morning I had two experiences that have brought me back to where I know I need to be all the time.

I have a new student I'm tutoring at the reading center from Ecuador. Normally he comes and we go over his papers and journals for class. We have done this several times. But for some reason, today he started talking about his past. For the next hour he told me stories of growing up in Ecuador Catholic, and then moving to the Baptist church. When he turned 18 he joined a band and did what a normal 18 year old in the world would do-party. His best friend was LDS though, and one day he invited him to church. And he knew the second he walked in the doors the church was different. It took him a year to make it back to church again but that second time he knew he couldn't leave, and he became baptized. He told me about how hard it was though, because his only LDS friend had just moved to another city and his friends were offering him wine every other second. He became inactive but the spirit worked on him and after a time he knew he couldn't live the church with half of his heart. He came back with full force and served a mission in California. After returning home he started a great career in Ecuador. He had his own car, apartment, and lots of money. But, the spirit told him he needed to go to BYU-Idaho, and that's what he did. He sold everything he had to pay to come here and this is his first semester here! He went on and on with his stories, but just seeing how much he has sacrificed for the church, made me even more grateful that I'm surrounded by the church and with faithful members. The church is everything, and I hope if I had to I would sacrifice everything just like he did.

Today I had a huge spiritual experience in my Math class of all places! I have a really really good friend in several of my classes named Ashley Sullenger. We have had classes together for the past few years. Some of you have probably heard of her or know her. If you haven't already looked at her blog, grab a box of tissues and start reading back around July. You can get to it from my blog list. Ashley is right around my age from Rigby. Last year when we had classes together I would have told you she had the perfect life. She loves her husband and he loves her and they had a beautiful daughter named Preslee. But then, Preslee died last summer while Ashley and her husband were on a date, by falling in to a ditch. Her body was found a mile and a half downstream. After a week in intensive care she passed on. I have followed Ashley's blog since before the accident and I have talked to her about it a few times in class. But today our Math teacher was sick and left us with a few tasks we had to accomplish. After about a minute of doing Math Ashley, our friend Rachel and I began talking. After almost an hour of hearing Ashley's experiences, crying, and feeling the spirit, I gained a deep testimony that we are never alone. There are always angels watching over us. I know that God has a plan for each of his children. Her beautiful Preslee was taken at only 18 months old, but in the last week of her life and through Ashley's experiences posted on her blog innumerable amounts of people have felt the spirit and several have gotten baptized. Most of the time it seems unfair when loved ones are taken from us, I feel blessed that up to this point in my life my loved ones have stayed here, but there is a reason we're here on this earth and it's not to get straight A's or have a successful career. It's to live the best we can so someday, just like Preslee, we can make it home to our Heavenly Father and see our Savior's face.