Kendrick, Jessica

This week I studied a lot about the importance of covenants and keeping commandments and how that leads to peace and contentment. One of my favorite scriptures is 2 Nephi 4:26-27. "O then, if I have seen so great things, if the Lord in his condescension unto the children of men hath visited men in so much mercy, why should my heart weep and my soul linger in the valley of sorrow, and my flesh waste away, and my strength slacken, because of mine afflictions? And why should I yield to sin, because of my flesh? Yea, why should I give way to temptations, that the evil one have place in my heart to destroy my peace and afflict my soul? Why am I angry because of mine enemy?" I'll just use this scripture to express what I learned this week (I'll list others if you want to read them). The way to have peace is to keep the commandments, we won't feel guilt, and we will abide in the love of Christ. That's it. That's my TED talk. I just love how the gospel is so simpl...

So... I'll tell you the life lesson that I learned this week first. Just to mix things up. Let's get a little bit of a background on my life real quick: I don't really like bugs... or little crawly things. I've gotten kinda used to cockroaches and if they are smaller I can kill them. But nothing prepared me for what happened Friday morning. I walked out the door of our bedroom, to do our work out, walked across the room to turn the light on since the other light still doesn't work... I walk back to get my water bottle and just before I put my hands on floor to attempt a couple push-ups... I see a little white crawly thing... I look further and see another, and another.... I look all over the floor and there are about 100 little white crawly things all over floor. My worst nightmare. I might have even cried a little... but only my companion will know. To make a scary story better... they were maggots and I learned that flies laid eggs in our trash...yay.  This week w...

This week I studied fasting! I didn't learn anything crazy, but I recognized something new! "Hold Fast." It's the same-ish word. So to remain firm is why we fast! I found that I liked 2 Chronicles 20:3 and 1 Corinthians 7:5 from my study! We fast to develop spiritual strength!  But this week I had a couple of fun spiritual experiences!  1) I had a question about why God had to put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden first where they had to sin to keep his other commandment. Why didn't he just make them mortal? I had been thinking about it for a couple days, and I knew that he had to have done it for a reason- because God is all knowing. So I finally read through the story if Adam and Eve... and well at first I didn't find anything. But I still remember thinking that he had to do it for a reason, and if I can't find it... I guess I'm not meant to know. This showed me how trust and faith are important, because right after my mind was drawn to opposition a...

This week I took a pause on studying the different commandments. I focused a lot on faith and "Building our Boat." In 1 Nephi 17, Nephi is commanded to build a boat "after the manner which [God] shall show [him]." I love this chapter, how it uses vocabulary that makes us think about water, like "wade through much affliction." I remembered the saying... I'm gonna butcher it but... the boat won't sink unless you let the water in. And how did Nephi build his boat? By keeping the commandments of God! Our Boat is our relationship ans testimony of Jesus Christ. When we build our boat, we may still be in an oceans worth of affliction, but we will be floating on top. In verse 8 it says, "Thou shalt construct a ship, after the manner which I shall show thee, that I may carry thy people across these waters." When we build our boats... well ships (we don't want a wee fishing boat that a wave can flip over) we will be able to travel through life ...