What a Yoga Ball to the face taught me.

So I broke my glasses tonight...I don't usually wear glasses but because of pink eye they have been my best friend lately.  They broke right down the middle and yes like the title says it was because a yoga ball hit me just right in the face and BAM...goodbye glasses.

So I love playing volleyball. It's my favorite sport...if I get the chance to play it I take it. I went to an activity tonight where we played volleyball with exercise balls which is actually harder then it sounds. Even before I ran to join the game I kept getting that nagging feeling that I shouldn't play because I might break my glasses...and did I listen? Nope. Even after I started to play I kept getting the feeling. Did I listen then? Nope.

It wasn't as if the feeling was being yelled at me...it was a small feeling that I kept brushing aside. And then KABOOM like a ton of bricks I got hit smack dab in the face with a yoga ball. Life would have been much easier if I had simply listened to The Holy Ghost in the first place.

I should be more like President Monson and "never postpone a prompting". I was treating The Holy Ghost's prompting like a nuisance instead of something that was meant to help me. I ignored it because I wanted to do something. I can't imagine how frustrating that must be to Heavenly Father.

Hopefully I only have to learn this lesson once. Being smacked in the face with a yoga ball wasn't the most pleasant thing to happen but it could have been much worse. Hopefully this is a lesson that will always remind me to always listen to the whisperings of The Holy Ghost and that through the Holy Ghost God speaks to us, to help us and to guide us.

Am I NUTS???

I just did something crazy! Maybe it was a dumb thing to do, maybe the other person in this story is just taking advantage of people's good hearts....but even if that is the case I'm glad I did it.

I have been carrying a copy of The Book of Mormon with me for like two whole years. Pretty much wherever I go this Book of Mormon has gone with me. I was supposed to give it away to someone else but I never felt like I should do that until today. This copy of The Book of Mormon means a lot to me. We've been through some pretty rough times together. But that's another story that you could check out by clicking HERE. Anyways onto the something NUTS that I did:

Really today is just a normal day. I didn't go anywhere out of the ordinary, to the garbage dump ( so that one is a little out of the ordinary), the Library ( I could probably live there.), the gas station. See so totally ordinary places to go well maybe not the garbage dump....anyways....

The Gas station was extremely busy today, all of the pumps were full so I had to circle back around. And that's when I noticed the guy with his dog holding  a sign that asked people for help. Every time I see people asking for help it makes me sad....which is probably a normal reaction.

So what was I to do? I awkwardly filled up my car with gas trying to ignore my conscious ( Yes I know I'm a bad person)... after all how many times had I been told not to give money to strangers? How many times had I been told that people like that could be dangerous? Too many to count.

But what could I do? I couldn't just get in my comfy car and drive away my conscience wouldn't let me. So I went inside the gas station and grabbed some Gatorade and some white cheddar popcorn. ( Yes I did just write popcorn.....it was fancy popcorn and it looked delicious.)

As I stood in the gas station wondering if I should really give something to him... I thought about that Book of Mormon in my purse and for the first time in two whole years I felt like someone else needed it more than me. So I bought the Gatorade and the yummy looking popcorn and I did what any sane person would do. I marched over to him and started a conversation.

Was it awkward? YES! Yes it was very awkward...probably for both of us, but at least the dog was nice :). I sheepishly gave him the Gatorade and the popcorn and then apologized for getting him popcorn.....

After about a minute of conversation. I pulled out my Book of Mormon and I gave it to him.

Honestly I don't know if any good will come because I gave a random person a Book of Mormon. That book that I loved and carried with me for so long might end up in the trash... I really hope it doesn't though.

Maybe this story doesn't seem so crazy to you but it does to me. And even if it was nuts of me to do....I don't regret it!

How to be happy on Valentines Day

Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday. That's right I did just write what you think I wrote but just in case you don't believe me I'll write it once more: Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday. I mean what other day of the year can I eat as many pink frosted sugar cookies as I want?

Do you remember being little and working on your Valentine's Day bag/box for school. I loved making them. I loved cutting out paper hearts. I loved getting Valentine's from classmate's. Though teachers should not be allowed to give little toothbrushes as Valentine's day gifts ( Am I the only one that ever happened too?)

And then suddenly you graduate from elementary school and everything changes! Valentine's Day becomes something to dread and not to love. Girls expectantly wait for that special someone to buy/give them roses, chocolate, or a fancy dinner. Suddenly instead of a fun day for everyone to exchange cheesy Valentine's day cards it becomes Singles Awareness Day.

According to legend St. Valentine was martyred for secretly performing marriage ceremonies and for helping Christians. I think so many people get hung up on that first part and make Valentine's Day all about the romantic kind of love but they forget that isn't all that St. Valentine died for. He also was killed for protecting other Christians, which apparently was illegal at that time. So why did he do it why did he put his own life at risk for others.... because he loved them.

Now I really don't know if any of that really happened. Maybe St. Valentine's story got jumbled with others. But his tale has story truth :).  So for me Valentine's Day isn't just about the romantic kind of love but just love in general.

So to all of you people who moan and groan about Valentine's Day I say change your perspective.
-Write corny jokes on paper hearts and heart attack someone's door.
-Give Valentine's to random strangers (Trust me it's really fun)
-Send a card to your parents/a good friend/ someone you haven't seen in a while and tell them how awesome they are!
-And for goodness sakes make some sugar cookies and glob all the pink frosting you can on them :)


Happy Valentine's Day!!
I love you all!

Love Ashley

The Book that was just for me.

Most of you who read this blog know that I'm a Mormon. If you didn't know...well surprise I'm a Mormon. Which probably isn't that surprising. This past Sunday I was asked to team teach a lesson on the Book of Mormon, at the last minute. One thing that people may not know about me is that I actually love teaching, which may surprise some people. I love teaching lessons on Sunday because I learn so much as I prepare to teach and it's always amazing to see how the Holy Ghost moves the lesson to what people in the class need to hear or learn. That's why I like teaching. I don't really like standing up in front of people and having so many sets of eyes staring at me.

I got to teach the last portion of the lesson.  It was based off of an Ensign article for the month of January "The Converting Power of the Book of Mormon." by Kevin S. Hamilton. Right before the lesson started I felt like I should show two Book of Mormon's that I had with me. One I had brought specifically for the lesson the other I usually have with me wherever I go.

A couple of years ago I was given a paperback copy of The Book Of Mormon, told to write my testimony in it and give it away to someone. So I did...well I wrote my testimony in it but I still haven't given it away. For the most part wherever I have gone in the past couple of years this copy of The Book of Mormon has gone with me. To school, to another country, to work. It's been with me pretty much everywhere, but I never felt like I should give it away, I always felt like I needed it. Which seems silly because I have a copy of the Book of Mormon on my phone, which goes with me pretty much everywhere as well.


So I showed the class these two Book of Mormons. They looked different on the outside but on the inside they both taught the same thing. After the lesson one of the Relief Society Sisters (The women's organization in my church) came up to me and said " You know I just got the feeling that the reason you haven't given that book away is because it was meant for you. You needed it."

This lady couldn't have known how many times that exact same thought had come into my mind. She couldn't have known how crazy the past couple of years had been for me. She couldn't have known that throughout the time that I had carried that book that I had begun to doubt the existence of a God.
She couldn't have known any of these things but she had felt that the reason I had never given that Book of Mormon away was because I needed it. Isn't that amazing?

God is truly omniscient. He knows everything. He cared enough about me to have me carry a book around that testified of Him and his Son, even at a time when I wasn't sure if anything I had ever learned about God was true. It was a book meant just for me.  Maybe to some of you this seems silly and not amazing at all, but to me it showed me that God truly loves and cares about me and that he never truly left me. And I know that wherever you are in life God feels the same way about you. He loves you and he wants you to make it back home to Him!