He Can Heal Us

This video touched me as I watched it today, and I just wanted to share it will all of you, and I hope that you feel the same comfort and love and truth that I felt as those prophets, seers, and revelators testified of Jesus Christ.

Seems you’ve got a pink kink in your think

I tried to post the Pixar short film Boundin' but I could only find it in German and Spanish. I figured that most of you probably do not speak those languages, so instead I just found the words to it. If you REALLY REALLY want to watch the video (which you should because it's adorable) then just watch the movie Incredibles! It plays right before it. Anyway, here it is! Enjoy :)

(Pssst, make sure you read the whole thing!)

Here's a story on how strange is life with its changes
And it happened not long ago.
On a high mountain plain, where the sagebrush arranges
A playground south of the snow
Lived a lamb with a coat of remarkable sheen,
It would glint in the sunlight all sparkly and clean,
Such a source of great pride
that it caused him to preen.
And he'd break out in high steppin' dance.
He would dance for his neighbors across the way.
I must say that they found his dancin' enhancin'
For they'd also join in the play. 

Then one day… 

Then a-boundin up the slope
Came a great American jackalope.
This sage of the sage, this rare hare of hope,
Caused to pause and check out the lamb.
“Hey kid, why the mope?” 

“I used to be something all covered with fluff,
And I’d dance in the sunlight and show off my stuff,
Then they hauled me away in a manner quite rough
And sheared me and dropped me back here in the buff.
And if that’s not enough
Now my friends all laugh at me
Cause they think I look ridiculous, funny, and pink.” 

“Pink? Pink? Well, what’s wrong with pink?
Seems you’ve got a pink kink in your think.
Does it matter what color? Well, that gets nope.
Be it pink purple or heliotrope.
Now sometimes you’re up and sometimes you’re down,
When you find that you’re down well just look around:
You still got a body, good legs and fine feet,
Get your head in the right place and hey, you’re complete! 

“Now as for the dancin’, you can do more,
You can reach great heights, in fact you can soar.
You just get a leg up and ya slap it on down,
And you’ll find you’re up in what’s called a bound.
Bound, bound, and rebound.
Bound and you’re up right next to the sky,
And I think you can do it if you give it a try,
First get a leg up, slap it on down…” 

So every year, along about May,
They’d load him up and they’d haul him away,
And they’d shave him and dump him all naked and bare.
He learned to live with it, he didn’t care,
He’d just bound, bound, bound, and rebound. 

Now in this world of ups and downs…
So nice to know there are jackalopes around.

Sharing Sunshine

Have you ever become so engulfed in your problems and sorrows that you just don't know how you're going to feel happy again? We learn in Harry Potter that it means a dementor is near, and in order to remove it, we must use the Patronus charm, or, in other words, create our own sunshine. I have found that one of the best ways to "create your own sunshine" is to share it with others! We all have sunshine in us, and we can all find someone with whom we can share it. What I mean is, to think about something you can do to serve someone. And you know what? It can be as simple as sending a text to someone that says, "Hey, thanks for being my friend," or perhaps, "You have such a beautiful smile! Thanks for sharing it with me!"
Gratitude, as we mentioned in an earlier post, is a great way to lift spirits. Take a minute to ponder the blessings in your life and the things you are grateful to have, and write them down. As you do this, you will find that there is much to be grateful for and it helps you to see that life isn't so bad. Also, if you find that there are any specific people you are thankful for or acts of service people did, no matter how small, be sure to express that gratitude for them and what they did. In a recent LDS General Conference, President Monson stated this quote: "Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it." Expressing your gratitude is sharing sunshine.
Another thing you can do is give someone a phone call, write a nice letter and bake cookies and secretly deliver them to their doorstep(or any one of these individually), or just smile at a passerby, as mentioned in Megan's last post. There are so many things we can do to divert our attention away from ourselves and focus on other people. So, one time, I was finding it difficult to enjoy being around a person. I just found myself not liking them, but it was someone I needed to work closely with. The idea came to me that I should just serve them. So that's what I did. Their birthday was coming up, so I bought them chocolate and made a card and things and delivered them to her house. I did something similar for Christmas, and I would send them simple "hello" texts. As I did these things, I found myself feeling so much love for this person! It came from giving of myself and serving. Sharing our sunshine with others helps us to see that there is light in us, because we all have that light of Christ, the ultimate example of sharing sunshine. He can help us see that light, even in the midst of a thunderstorm.

"Olo?" "No, it's hello." "Oh, hello?"

Hi friends! 

So, I'm at a new school where I know no one and so this next topic is very...applicable. Also, Brenna happens to be a PRO at this, and that is: saying hi to people! It's really easy but really effective. As humans, we are very social creatures and we like to talk and interact with one another, or, you know, we should.

So this one time I was having a not very good day and the girl I was sitting next to in one of my classes turned to me and just said “hi” and introduced herself. It was a really simple thing to do but it really brightened my day.

It's really amazing what a simple smile can do for someone.

My roommate told me a story about this. There was a this guy in high school and he was really popular, but really nice. In a class he had been assigned to sit next to this girl. She was really quiet and never talked to anyone. The guy (I don't remember his name) decided that every day he was going to say hi to her. For the first few weeks she never said hi back to him, but eventually she did, and gave him a short, “hi.” Slowly, he started having short conversations with her. It may have been just small talk, but that didn't matter. One day, the guy didn't really feel like saying hi to her that day because it she was hard to talk to but he felt like he really should. Little did he know that on that day, the girl was having an especially awful day. She felt like no one loved her and she had contemplated taking her life. She later told him that because of his kindness, she is still alive.

You just never know what a simple act of kindness can do for someone.