Weekend

This weekend has been one amazingly spiritual weekend. Two days in a row I was privileged to hear from Elder David A. Bednar, Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And he said not to blog about what he says, so instead, I'm going to blog a bit about what I learned. (It's not the same thing, right? Because we hear what we want to hear, or need to hear.)

Anyways....

There were some things that really struck me. First off, Elder Bednar has a great sense of humour! He's hilarious!

He encouraged us to not take notes, because we miss teaching moments. I took notes anyways, because other wise I would be missing out on really paying attention. There's just something about having a pen in my hand that really makes me want to listen and learn. So, from my notes, I'm pulling out the things that struck me most.

Sis. Bednar answered the question of what quality we (girls) should look for in a partner. The quality she gave was that he honored his priesthood. And I would agree with that. When young men (or men in general) honour their priesthood, everything else they need to do happens, and they have a myriad of other qualities that are important.

I also learned that yes, these are hard times. And yes, we've got lessons to learn from this, but as we put our trust in the Lord, everything will work out okay. Sometimes we have to step out into the dark before the Lord's light will show us a little bit more. So while planning for the future may seem pointless, it's not. There's a reason for everything.

At the end of his question and answer session with the Young Single Adults from the Valley, he asked us what we have observed from the process that he used. There were many great responses, and if I had been in the same room, I would have offered my perspective. My perspective is this: The process we used is the same as the pattern of receiving revelation, and how Joseph Smith got most of his revelations, as found in the Doctrine and Covenants. First, we were to ask a question, and there were some questions that were better than others. Secondly, we waited for an answer, and when we got that answer, it wasn't necessarily just a yes or no answer. It was a principle given to us to help us better ourselves, and then we have a chance to act upon the principles given.


Today, Elder Bednar spoke at a stake conference for us. He said that the last time a general authority from the Quorum of the 12 had been in 1979!!! That's 30 years ago! :O

So he talked to us and repeated a lot of the same information from the YSA meeting, but he went more in-depth about how testimony and conversion have a relationship. From what I learned, Testimony is the beginning of conversion, and it's to have a knowledge. Conversion is when we are consistently true to what we know.

He also talked about the atonement. What really hit me is that although the atonement does provide cleansing from sin, I did not realize that it could also strengthen us once we are. Once we are clean, that doesn't mean we are alone on the straight and narrow path.

One final epiphany that I had was this: Through the son, we have the strength of the atonement to deal with things and trials we have, that teach us in a way that we would not have otherwise learned if it had been a different trial. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but basically, the trials that we have are teaching us in a way that no other situation could, and by applying the atonement, we can be strengthened so that we can do the Lord's will.



So those were just some of my feelings and thoughts about the time spent listening to Elder Bednar. He's an amazing man, and I'm glad he is an Apostle in this day and age.

In the Mood

Here's the mood I'm in right now. This song was originally performed by Bonnie Tyler in 1983, but I like it. (It's based on Wuthering Heights.) But I think it's cool. If you don't know it, youtube it. Or rather, here's the link to "Wuthering Heights two generations" or something.



I don't know why it's my mood currently, but it is. lol

ANYWAYS.... to the point of my post. haha

TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART (Bonnie Tyler )

Turnaround, every now and then I get a
little bit lonely and you're never coming around
Turnaround, Every now and then I get a
little bit tired of listening to the sound of my tears
Turnaround, Every now and then I get a
little bit nervous that the best of all the years have gone by
Turnaround, Every now and then I get a
little bit terrified and then I see the look in your eyes
Turnaround bright eyes, Every now and
then I fall apart
Turnaround bright eyes, Every now and
then I fall apart

Turnaround, Every now and then I get a
little bit restless and I dream of something wild
Turnaround, Every now and then I get a
little bit helpless and I'm lying like a child in your arms
Turnaround, Every now and then I get a
little bit angry and I know I've got to get out and cry
Turnaround, Every now and then I get a
little bit terrified but then I see the look in your eyes
Turnaround bright eyes, Every now and
then I fall apart
Turnaround bright eyes, Every now and
then I fall apart

And I need you now tonight
And I need you more than ever
And if you'll only hold me tight
We'll be holding on forever
And we'll only be making it right
Cause we'll never be wrong together
We can take it to the end of the line
Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time
I don't know what to do and I'm always in the dark
We're living in a powder keg and giving off sparks
I really need you tonight
Forever's gonna start tonight
Forever's gonna start tonight

Once upon a time I was falling in love
But now I'm only falling apart
There's nothing I can do
A total eclipse of the heart
Once upon a time there was light in my life
But now there's only love in the dark
Nothing I can say
A total eclipse of the heart

Turnaround bright eyes
Turnaround bright eyes
Turnaround, every now and then I know
you'll never be the boy you always wanted to be
Turnaround, every now and then I know
you'll always be the only boy who wanted me the way that I am
Turnaround, every now and then I know
there's no one in the universe as magical and wondrous as you
Turnaround, every now and then I know
there's nothing any better and there's nothing that I just wouldn't do
Turnaround bright eyes, Every now and
then I fall apart
Turnaround bright eyes, Every now and
then I fall apart

And I need you now tonight
And I need you more than ever
And if you'll only hold me tight
We'll be holding on forever
And we'll only be making it right
Cause we'll never be wrong together
We can take it to the end of the line
Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time
I don't know what to do and I'm always in the dark
We're living in a powder keg and giving off sparks
I really need you tonight
Forever's gonna start tonight
Forever's gonna start tonight

Once upon a time I was falling in love
But now I'm only falling apart
There's nothing I can do
A total eclipse of the heart
Once upon a time there was light in my life
But now there's only love in the dark
Nothing I can say
A total eclipse of the heart

Amazing!

Alright, so after chilling out (literally and figuratively), I've decided to post about this weekend.


First off, I want everyone who went on the snow trip to know how much it meant to me to have them understand. And secondly about the first off, I want to thank my dearest, most amazingly kind and friendly sister for keeping me company and help me feel a little bit included. Thirdly about the first off, I want to thank the Mortensen's for keeping so upbeat and amusing me! :D And for the idea that they had to go in the first place.

Second, the snow trip was actually kinda fun, even though I hung out with the adults. The few hours we spent at the snow were a blast! (And who knew humans could actually fly? haha)



Thirdly, I got home from the snow trip and found..... in the post box (mail box for all you American people haha)..... a lovely postcard from a certain someone. Alright, in all honesty, it was from Elder Vaterlaus, wishing me Happy Birthday and giving a little info about where he's at and such. He's in a place called Pápa, and he was made ZL, or Zone Leader! (Way exciting, even though he acted nonchalant/humble about it.) And the postcard has a picture of how Hungary looked before WW1 when they split Transylvania from Hungary and put it with Romania. Anyways, so that was the perfect ending to the weekend that started out less than perfect. :D

Happy Birthday to me

It seems like I sure have done a lot of blogging lately. But it is kinda fun, so why not?

Well, here's my birthday blog. Not sure what to say, but here it is. haha I've not really had any experience being 20 yet, so nothing to say about my age. And so far everyone has been nice. :) I've gotten at least 15 birthday wishes. (Most on facebook, but not all.)

As I get older, I think I begin to think more. Doesn't mean I always listen to myself. haha But I think more. I had someone tell me that I still have enthusiasm for birthdays. I'm not sure that's entirely true. (Partly because I have enthusiasm for almost everything, so I could be totally excited about something else.

Anyways, I've kept up with posting every other day, and it happened to fall on my bday, so I thought, "Why not?" Maybe I'll create another post tonight after it's all over and tell how it went. Anyways, I'm off to work!

Google Tag!

Alright, because I find it fun, I'm doing this. hehe

This is how it works: You Google the answers to the questions and post your favorite picture from the first three pages that come up.

First Name: Courtney
This is Courtney from the Twelve dancing Princesses or w/e because every other picture was.... how shall I say it.... inappropriate?

Middle Name: Anne

Anne Boleyn, because everything else was either inappropriate or... stupid?

Last Name: Spencer


Coat of arms. Appropriate, isn't it? hehe

Bad Habit:

Need I say more?

What You're doing right now: (see above) haha
Well, technically, right now, I'm blogging. haha

Grandmother's Name: (Which one? haha)
Millie, Susan, Joanne

(No applicable picture.)

Past Pet: (Too many to count? haha jk)


This is the best picture I could find of the type of dog we had while I was growing up. (And it's the one that looked the most similar that I could see.)

My First job: (Secretary)

That's about how I felt as a receptionist, too. haha

My Age: (20)



Where I grew up: (Mesa, AZ/Lehi, AZ)
This one requires two pictures. One that's recent, and another that's been a part of my life forever. Or at least since I was born. hehe



Past Love: (Playing make believe)



Favorite Place: (My room)

There is no need for a pic to be here. haha

If I went back to school: (Idk)

I honestly don't know. Maybe a costume designer for theatre?

(No decent pics, so maybe I'll edit it)

Place I would like to visit: (England/Whitby)



Favourite Colour: (blue)



Favourite Food: (chocolate)



Now for tagging: I'm gonna copy Kara and say that anyone that wants to do it, can. haha It actually was really fun. :D

Exciting

Alright, so I have some exciting stuff recently.

First off, all the backed up items are back on my laptop, so I can put my laptop back to the normal desktop. (But I like the zebra picture I have now, so it may stay for a while before I put it back.) But I'm pretty happy, even though I don't have the final part of my story on here, I will be emailing it to myself or get it from my sent messages on MobileMe. So it will be on my laptop as soon as I can. Although that presents another problem, since I can't read it without Microsoft Office '08 for Macs, so that will have to be remedied soon. But I'm still pretty happy about it.

Secondly, I found out that my stake will have a conference with a General Authority. Which makes me wonder who it is, because Elder Bednar is speaking the day before to the YSA's and the Bishops and Stake Presidents in the Valley. (I'm probably wrong, but I'm wondering.)

Anyways, that's the little bit of exciting news I have from today. Which has been pretty good after a trip to the snow this afternoon. (And I didn't freeze. YAY!!!) haha Anyways, I had a blast with my family, and snow trip with my youth next weekend. (I'm taking lots of hot cocoa mix. haha) But yeah, all-in-all, everything is pretty good right now. :) (Even with a birthday coming up! =O Dear me, I don't want to get older.)

I also have a list of resolutions, so maybe I'll post them tomorrow or this week. :)

Happy New Year!!!

It's a new year and time for new things and ideas and to change things about ourselves that we don't like.

I have a few exciting things planned for this year.

First, Wicked in July!! Way excited to see it without the British accents. (Even though they don't start selling the tickets until the end of February.)

Second, I am thinking about trying out for Beauty and the Beast put on by Hale Center Theatre.

And one that is not necessarily planned is Elder Vaterlaus coming home in October. I can't believe he's been out for almost 2 years already! It's amazing how fast time flies.

I've been thinking about resolutions, but I haven't come up with any, so when I have a few, I'll post some of them. :)