I made a new year's resolution and I am doing exactly the opposite of what I decided to do. I have never been so lazy. I just stay home and watch shows. Streaming is really bad because when you like a show, you can just watch one episode after the other and never stop.
My friend does tabs for English book of Mormons and labels them so that people can find answers to their questions in the book easier. I translated those into Arabic and now I am going to put those on my Arabic Book of Mormons and maybe give some away.
I have an amazing Arabic class this semester. They are interested in learning and are trying hard (well most of them). I feel I may teach them a lot more this semester than I did last semester. Changing the course structure really helped. I added more assignments for them to do to prepare and they are learning a lot faster.
I am enjoying having a lighter semester this time. Last semester was super hard for me, and next semester, I am teaching 5 classes, so I think I deserve a slow semester in between.
My cousin will be coming to visit me next month. I am looking forward to her visit even though she may get bored being stuck in the cold Rexburg Winter. I'll be working every day too. But, I hope to find a few fun things to do while she is here. Skiing? Building a snowman? We'll figure something out. I guess we can just sit by the fire and drink hot chocolate and play games.
You may have seen my post on Facebook about the friend who needed help with her tuition. I managed to find an organization to help her and managed to raise enough money to pay her tuition for one semester. Sadly, her father just passed away. But, she sent me a text telling me how much comfort she feels and how much her faith has grown. She believes more in the power of prayer and that she is not alone. I am so grateful I was able to help her when I could.
I taught Sunday School for the youth for the first time today. I had them draw Lehi's vision and describe the symbolism in it. It was really fun to see their perspective. I loved the lesson this week. Because even though I read Lehi's vision like 50 times now, I was able to find more information in it. Like the 4 groups of people in the vision (those that rebelled, those that believed but didn't read the scriptures at all, those that read every now and then, and those that read every day). The last group is the only one that managed to get to the tree and partake of the fruit.
I love how in 1Nephi 11:24 it talks about people falling down to worship the Savior and also when people get to the tree they 'fall down' which shows that they made it to the Savior. The fruit gave them joy, but it is the Savior that gives us joy. During His atonement he took upon Him all the bitter, so we can taste the sweet.
Sometimes we don't think of dreams as visions but they can be. I had a dream once, similar to Lehi's dream. Where I was partaking of the fruit of a tree. It was so delicious and I invited my brother and his family to come partake of it. My brother and his children came and ate of the fruit, but my sister-in-law was not willing to. I remember how hard I tried in the dream to convince her to just try the delicious fruit, but she refused.
Sometimes we have things in our lives that make us happy and we try to share them, but we can't force people to try things. We can only love and invite them and pray for them. I am so grateful I tasted of the fruit and for the joy it brought me.
Here is a link to a video the church made about the vision:
Click to watch video about Lehi's dream
