You Are My Sunshine: The Positive Three...

Three Meaningful Experiences of My Life That Had a Positive Impact

1. Trek

Before I went on my mission this experience would come to my head every time I thought of something that positively impacted my life, hands down, first one. When I was 16 years old our stake decided that they would do something called trek, in the Mormon community this is not unheard of. Basically you dress up like people from the 1800's (pioneers) and "trek" across the wilderness pulling handcarts just like the Mormon pioneers

did in the late 1840's, only our conditions are considerably more favorable then theirs were, and we only went for a few days rather than a few months. They split the youth up into families that had a "ma and pa". We had 4 boys and 6 girls in my family. Ranging from age 14-18. I think We put our stuff into a handcart and started pulling. I think that the reason this experience was so positive for me is because on the first day the women were separated from the men and read a story about a woman who had to cross the plains without her husband, he had died from something along the way, and she had to pull this handcart by herself, and take care of her children. After being told this inspiring story we were told that we would have to pull the handcart, as women, up this hill without the assistance of the boys in our families. Nevermind that we had already pulled the handcarts several miles that day and the hill in front of us looked formidable at that point. The 6 girls in my family got around the handcart and into the front handholds and started pulling. The family in front of us were struggling and

some of the girls were crying, it was not an easy task. I was pulling as hard as I could as were the other girls in my family, it was not easy and as we came to the top of the hill all of them men were up there lining the hill, it was a touching sight as they took off their hats, some were even crying... we stopped to pray and thank Heavenly Father for his help. We then had to go down the rocky side of the hill which may have been harder than the uphill and I kept slipping. The guys still weren't able to help at this point, but they walked beside us and gave us encouragement and told us we could do it. I was exhausted... it had taken a lot of energy and just when I though it couldn't get harder we were told we had to go up another hill... this one looked steeper than the first and we were already tired, but we started up the hill. About halfway up we started slipping backwards, that was when our "brothers" were allowed to jump in and help us... they were like angels to the rescue and they were just the thing we needed to get the rest of the way up the hill.

-I think the reason that this is a meaningful experience in my life is because it showed me what I am really made of, that I can really do things that seem impossible. It showed me that I have a great inner strength and a determination to do what I must. It helped me realize how important the gospel is to me and that God will a

lways be there to help me up the hills of my life. I know that experiences like this teach us how strong we really are and how much stronger we are when God is there to help us as well. I have never forgotten this experience because it changed my view on life, and changed who I am.

2. A Friend's Death

I guess it's weird to think that a death could have a positive impact on my life, but this one did.

Justin Michael Ure, also known to his friends as "Euro" was the funniest and happiest person I have ever met. He had the uncanny ability to make others always smile, he was just hilarious. I met him when I worked at an amusement park in Utah called Lagoon, since we pretty much worked all day every day I got to know him and a few others really well and we used to do stuff together all the time. Well that summer came to an end and I went back to school in Idaho, but we still kept in really good contact and talked pretty much every day. He was one of my really good friends at that time. It was December 18th, 2006 I had to get up for a final at 6am, I had just sat down to take my test and was turning off my phone just as my friend Ernie called. I couldn't answer because I was taking my test, as soon as I got out I was walking home and listened to the voice-mail he had left... he said that our friend Euro had collapsed in his kitchen the night before and his parents couldn't wake him up... they took him to the hospital but weren't sure what was wrong with him. They thought maybe he'd had a stroke. I couldn't believe it and rushed the hospital as soon as I got back to Utah. I spent the next 5 days at the hospital here and there... He started to get better... breathing on his own, but he still couldn't move the right side of his body... he'd truly had a stroke. I remember December 23, 2006 I went to the hospital in the morning... Euro had gotten worse and I just went to say goodbye to him. I went home and sobbed for three hours, later that afternoon he died. His funeral was the day after Christmas, it was a hard time.

-I think the reason this had a positive impact on my life is because, even though I lost a good friend very suddenly, I found out what I was made of when challenges come along. To be honest I really struggled with this because he was in my life for such a short time, but I came to recognize that everything happens for a reason. People come in and out of our lives for a reason and I learned a lot from my time with Euro. I also found out that my testimony and belief in the gospel was solid. My foundation was shaken a bit when this happened but it stayed strong because I know that God loves us. I know that this experience made me stronger and gave me a greater perspective on life. It made me grateful for the things that I have and for the people that I have known. It has definitely impacted my life positively.

3. Living With Friends

Often times you hear that you shouldn't live with your friends because then you just end up not being friends

after all. In the end it all comes down to the fact that some people are easy to live with and some people are hard to live with. My sophomore year at college I was asked by some friends to live with them and I told them

that I would love to live with them! I was a little worried because I didn't know any of them super well but I was excited for what was to come. All of my life I have struggled with girls as my friends. I had never really had good experiences with friends in general but especially with girls, they have been mean and vicious to me and have never really made me feel like I fit in. I could go on about the tough times I've had, but I won't, it will suffice me to say what I have, it was a struggle. I came to college and met my best friend, Melody Smith and that changed a lot of how I thought about myself and she was a GINORMOUSLY positive thing in my life and still is. There are some other girls I could mention as well along with Melody but she wasn't one of these girls that I went to live with. She moved down to Provo to be closer to

her boyfriend this particular semester of college. So I moved in with Pierina Amadori-Alberoni (Stutz), Shelly Babcock, Carly Walker, Alyssa Lamprecht and Maegan Tracy and had a really good time. We had so much fun together and I loved living with them. We became more like sisters than we did friends and this semester at college made me feel like I really belonged. These girls were great influences on me and just wonderful people in general. I still consider them very close friends and I just love them so much. This was a positive impact on my life because it increased my self esteem and changed my self concept. These girls are some of my favorite people. I guess now that I reflect on it it was a lot of those girls I met on college that really changed my life and have become my life-long friends. Not only those girls I lived with but other friends I had at college as well... friends make a huge difference. Here are some more pictures of my good friends that I made at college who were there for me then and continue to be. I love them.

A Birthday Party We Threw