Digital Dialog

 I had such a good experience in my Book of Mormon class at BYU. It is bittersweet as the semester comes to a end.

For my last Digital Dialog I wanted to shared with you all my favorite scripture which can be found in 


2nd Corinthians 4

6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.



I love this scripture so much because in this short scripture we learn so much about our Heavenly Father and a lot about his Son Jesus Christ. I have come to love them more and understand my own purpose more through this scripture and through this past semester. I am grateful for my Savior and for his sacrifice. I love my Father in Heaven. I am filled with joy by the knowledge that I have the rest of eternity to know them better. 

xoxo 
Han.  

Digital Dialog Week 13

This past week I have felt extremely grateful for my testimony and how much it has developed this past semester.

for my end of the term project I was able to read and study many testimonies of my friends. This week I had the opportunity to read and re-read all of the testimonies. I felt so uplifted to be able to take hours to hear others proclaim their love for Christ and the other things they know to be true.

As I read these testimonies one of my favorite scriptures came to my mind.


3rd Nephi 5:13


 13 Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life. 

I love the how this small scripture has so much power. It inspires me to work harder, be better, and love my Savior more.

May we all share our testimonies with others!

-han.

Digital Dialog Week 12

This past week I have been thinking and pondering about the love the God has for each of us and what the nature of this love is like. I was comforted in these short but powerful scriptures and I wanted to share them with you all. 

1st John 4 

16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

 17 Here in is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

 19 We love him, because he first loved us. 

I am drawn to the scripture that talks about how there is no fear in love. This helps me understand better the plan that my Heavenly Father has for me. If I trust in him there is no reason to worry about what comes next for me. 

I am constantly worried about what major I should pick, what job I will have and what my life will look like in 10 years. After reading these scriptures I was able to comprehend how If I am lead by Christ and truly love him and my Father in Heaven all will work out in the end. 

xoxo, Han. 

Digital Dialog Week 11

As  holidays draw near I am often reminded of my late grandmother. My grandmother suffered with breast cancer for over 21 years of her life. She was a fighter. 

I always looked up to her as a kind and diligent women. She once told me that all she cared about was being a woman of God and not a woman of the world. She was truly exceptional.

Sadly, this will be the first holiday season that she will not be with us. I always think about her but she has been crossing my mind a lot this week as Thanksgiving is coming.  When I am sad and I think of how I wis she was here with my this scripture is always comforting. 

Alma 40:11

 11 Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection—Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life.

I find this scripture so beautiful. Everyone no matter if they were good or evil are taken home to our Heavenly Father. I love how the word home is used in this scripture. It makes me feel that being with my God really is where my grandma will be the happiest. 

I miss her dearly but I know that she is happy and that she is doing some of the most important work on the other side. I am grateful for The Plan of Salvation and the hope that it brings me that one day I will be reunited with my grandma. 

I love the Lord and I know that he loves me

xoxo han. 

Digital Dialog Week 10

This week I had a 6 page research paper due on how media affects eating disorders. I spend countless hours on this project and by the end of the paper I felt so sad. This topic is one that many seem not talk about. I pondered a lot about what the cause of these heartbreaking mental illnesses could be.

There are many factors which lead to eating disorders such as biological, economical, cultural, and social factors. There is not only one reason that someone might struggle with these illnesses.

However, I thought also a lot about how Satan may try to make us feel bad about our bodies. Satan himself does not have a body so it would make sense for him to attack the greatest gift that our Heavenly Father has given us.

After my paper was done I wanted everyone in the whole world to know what it says about our bodies in 1st Corinthians 3: 16-17

 “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? … The temple of God is holy, which temple ye are” 


I am immensely grateful for the gift of the body. Heavenly Father loves us so much that he made a perfect plan. A crucial part of this plan was to come to Heaven obtain a body and learn to become more like him and his son Jesus Christ.

I love them both and I know they love me.

Xoxo Han.

Digital Dialog Week 9

Just yesterday my roommate and I had the opportunity to do our visiting teaching for the month. This time was different for me because for the first  time in a while I felt same spirit that I did as a missionary. My roommate and I had both served full time missions and it meant the world to me that we got to teach two wonderful girls about the importance of the family.

In each lesson we talked about  how we are all apart of God's family and that we have a responsibility here as college students to make our ward a family. Heavenly Father has organized the world in a way that we are grouped not only in biological family but ward families. We told both of our lovely relief society sisters that our goal was to strengthen the love that we have for each other as daughters of a Heavenly Father. We then played this short video about the importance of families. 

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2015-01-1050-what-is-the-purpose-of-family?category=topics/marriage-and-family&lang=eng  

As the short and simple video played the spirit engulfed the room. I could feel the love of our God surrounding all of us. I love the part of the video that says, "he is not only our creator but our father". During this video I felt like I could also better understand the beautiful plan of salvation that we have. The scripture 2nd Nephi 25 came to my mind. 

 25 Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.

This small and simple scripture has such a great impact on me because it testifies of one of the greatest purposes that we have here earth, to have joy! I am so grateful that my Heavenly Father has put me in such a loving earthy and ward family. I am grateful for the plan of salvation and the blessing that I have to one day not only live with my father in heaven but to live like him. 

 

I love my Heavenly Father and I know he loves me. 

xoxo han. 

Digital Dialog Week 8

These past weeks I have been having a lot of pain in my tailbone. The pain became too much to handle so I went to the emergency room. The next day I had emergency surgery to remove an infection in my tailbone.

While I was under anesthesia my mom told me that all I was doing was bearing my testimony in Spanish. At first I thought this was just a funny coincidence. As I thought more deeply about it I was SO grateful that I inside had a desire to share my testimony without consciously thinking about it

After the surgery I watched a video that my mom had taken. My testimony was simple but it really reflected the thoughts of my heart.

I said.

I am grateful to go to Brigham Young University.
I love my teachers and friends.
I know that the Holy Ghost leads us
I know that Jesus Christ lives
I know that our Heavenly Father lives and loves us.

My small testimony reminded me of 1 Nephi 11:17

 17 And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.

This was a very simple and small testimony that I shared while under anesthesia . I know these things to be true. I know that we all have desires to share the truths that we know. Humanly we all desire to be loved and be close to our Heavenly Father. We become closer to him by sharing these truths with others.

xoxo Han.

Digital Dialog Week 7

For many months I have been feeling down but after this week I was able to more fully see the blessings that Heavenly Father has for me. On Tuesday I was sitting in the library and decided to check my email. As I checked my inbox I noticed that I had received an email from the BYU London Study Winter 2017 Program. I had interviewed around 3 weeks ago for the program but they told me that there was little to no chance of me getting in. I opened the email and was pleased to read the words "Congratulations!". 

To my surprise I was accepted to the program. I couldn't have felt happier and was filled with the feeling of accomplishment. I felt like I had finally had a win. 

After being accepted into the program I remembered this scripture in Doctrine & Covenants came to my mind.

Doctrine and Covenants 58: 3-4 

 3 Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation.

 4 For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand.

Through these digital dialogs I have been able to recognize more the way the Lord works to bless me continually and how Satan works to discourage me.

 Satan is able to get me down by making me feel like nothing good is going on in my life. He does this by forcing me look through my " natural eyes". These natural eyes are focused purely on the earthly and temporal highs and lows of life. Whereas, God wants me to focus on the many blessings I have. He also wants me be able to rejoice when "after much tribulations come the blessings". 

After what had seem to be a rough couple of months it was so rewarding to see how my Heavenly Father has an individual plan for me. I felt a strong presence of his reassuring love this week. 

I love God and I know he loves me. 

- han. 

Digital Dialog Week 6

This week my home teachers came over and shared a beautiful message with my roommate and me. They talked about obedience from the talk "The Blessings of Obedience" by Prophet Thomas S. Monson. 

As they shared the message I was surprised when Heath, one of my home teachers asked me, "Hannah why do you keep the commandments?" I quickly responded by saying "It is a way for me to show Heavenly Father how much  I love him.  

After they gave their message I was impressed to go back and read the whole talk by our Prophet. While reading this paragraph stood out to me. 

“God’s commandments are not given to frustrate us or to become obstacles to our happiness. Just the opposite is true. He who created us and who loves us perfectly knows just how we need to live our lives in order to obtain the greatest happiness possible. He has provided us with guidelines which, if we follow them, will see us safely through this often treacherous mortal journey. We remember the words of the familiar hymn: ‘Keep the commandments! In this there is safety; in this there is peace’ [see “Keep the Commandments,” Hymns, no. 303].”3

I feel so grateful to have the knowledge of that sweet him. The words " in this there is safety; in this there is peace" bring such joy to my heart. I feel safe peaceful while I keep the commandments. I know after I keep the commandment Heavenly Father also shows me so much love my blessing my life. I love him and I know he loves me.

Han. 

Digital Dialog Week 5

In 3^rd Nephi 11:29,  It states, “For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.

These past two weeks I have been studying the doctrine of anger. I chose to study this because of a paper I was writing for my Book Of Mormon Class. I would like to share some of my thoughts about this will all of you. 

Often I ponder about how I can come closer to God but rarely do I think about what keeps me from being close to him. I came to the realization that when I am angry I am closer to Satan than I am to my Heavenly Father. 

I've come up with two things that help me calm down when I get angry. First, I think of three blessings in my life and breath three times slowly. Another thing that I have started to do is say a quick prayer.

I am grateful that my Heavenly Father gives me weakness because through my mortal imperfections I can slowly come closer to my Heavenly Father. I love him and I know he loves me.

Digital Dialog Week 4

This week was kind of a harder week for me. I have been feeling that nothing really is going right. In my head I kept telling myself that I still didn't know my major, I hadn't been to the temple in a while, i've been feeling sick and I had so much homework to get done.

 I compared my life to a tree that wasn't producing any fruit. As a tree I was standing there with lot of branches but not really doing any good or growing. I thought that it only made since that I was producing some kind of fruit in ONE aspect of my life.

Feeling discouraged I thought that talking to friends would help me feel better. This helped me keep going for a little but by the weekend as I drove back to my parents home for family dinner I felt sadder than ever. As I pulled into the drive way I got the impression to ask my dad for a blessing. A sudden wave of peace came over me as I felt gratitude for the fact that I had a worthy priesthood holder in my home who use God's power to comfort me.

I walked downstairs and struggled through tears to ask my father if he would he give me a blessing. He told me that of corse he would and then began to ask me about how I was doing in all aspect of my life. Holding back tears I melted into a bear hug from my dad. Moments later after collecting myself my dad placed his hands on my head and gave me the most beautiful blessing.

One thing that struck me about the blessing is it talked about how I should always put others before myself and try to look for opportunities to serve at all times. I thought to myself "one of the reasons i'm so over whelmed is because I keep putting others before me." As soon as that thought passed my mind I instantly felted humbled. How could I have been so selfish? The words of Mosiah came to my mind.

Mosiah 18:9  

 9 Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—


When I was baptized I made a commitment to serve and comfort others. This is a promise that I made with Heavenly Father and I renew ever week in church. I now feel recommitted to serving others and seeing how I end up feeling at the end of the week. When I serve others I hope to find that I will not worry about my own problems but instead get lost in the work of service. I am grateful that through a blessing from my earthly father I was able to receive personal revelation from my Heavenly Father. 

Digital Dialog Week 3

This week having hit my one year mark of returning home from my mission I found myself thinking about the things that I have and haven't accomplished. I felt kind of down on myself for not completing more of my goals and not really applying all the things that I learned on my mission. After feeling kind of off for most of the week I decided to dive into my Spanish scriptures and look to the scriptures that gave me the most strength while I was in the field. I found this one that I love and wanted to share it all with you. 

 28 ¶Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

 29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

 31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

After reading these scriptures I immediately felt the need to recommit myself. to doing the small thing that made me happy as a missionary. Often, when I'm down is an indicator to me that I am not doing my part to sustain my relationship with the Lord. Having read this scripture I felt inspired to allow the Lord to lift me up but how? By Savior the center of my life. I want to look back next year when I hit my two year mark and KNOW that I chose to be closer to the Lord then I was on my mission. Being home from a mission doesn't mean that we all can't be closer to him then ever before. I strive to continuously be more Christ-like year after year.  

xoxo, Han 

Digital Dialog Teachings and Doctrine of The Book of Mormon 

3rd Nephi 11-14

 11 And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning.

 12 And it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words the whole multitude fell to the earth; for they remembered that it had been prophesied among them that Christ should show himself unto them after his ascension into heaven.

 13 And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto them saying:

 14 Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world.

 15 And it came to pass that the multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet; and this they did do, going forth one by one until they had all gone forth, and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he, of whom it was written by the prophets, that should come.

In my Sunday School class this past week best friends taught about when Christ came to America. I have read this chapter many time and often would invite new investigators to read it while serving as a missionary. However, this was the first time that reading these words pierced my soul and brought tears to my eyes. 

When I read about how the Nephites went and felt the prints it really impressed me this time because Christ being a glorified being still chose to keep the marks and to forever remember the selfless sacrifice that he made for all of us. 

Thinking about this sacrifice this week as school starts really got me thinking about even though he might have holes in his hands and feet he makes me whole and because of this sacrifice I get everlasting second chances when I come short. I have a goal this semester as school starts again to be better at showing my love to my savior and allowing him to make me whole. I love him and this week I have felt that love in many ways.

xoxo, Han