How Fast?

Whenever I go to write a blogpost, I always put the title of the post first before even writing out my thoughts. Why is this important? I don't know it's just very amusing to me. While I'm writing, I will change the title but I'll always put the title first, not last. Weird. I'll stop rambling now.

Believe it or not, this post has a purpose. My initial ramblings might have mislead you, but believe me, I have a purpose. It is this. How Fast? How fast does our life change? One of the lesson's I've learned these past three months is that our life changes according to how much we listen to the Spirit. Let's rewind to about two years ago, 2014.

April, 2014.
 CCCC Southwest States Tour. I was 12 years old, and touring with my Choir across the Southwest States. Where did I see myself in two years? Finishing up middle school, a excellent musician, popular. Classic 12 year old. I didn't really know what I wanted to do with my life. I just kind of figured whatever was supposed to happen would happen and it would all be good.






It was fun :D.

December 2014
Next stop, Guinness World Live Nativity. Me and a few friends went up to help break the record. We ended up meeting quite a few Youtubers, which was rad. I didn't have many friends. I had started LANV that fall. I was awkward, but what 12 year old isn't? This was by far the highlight of the year. So many memories. Like the Choir Trip in April, I didn't have a sense of direction.





I don't even know that this ^ picture is XD.

Fall, 2015
 Start of Freshman year. I had just skipped a grade that summer. One word to describe me: stressed. I was hoping to get a lot out of the year, since I was starting seminary as well. A month into the year I was bored, tired, lazy, and ungrateful.


My Haiti trip, December 2015.
This trip was undeniably orchestrated by God's hands. Many things happened on this trip that changed my life and the life of my entire family. They are:

1. I developed a sense of overwhelming gratitude, happiness, and fulfilment. These orphans taught me how to be happy, how to serve and love, and they strengthened my testimony in Christ.

2. We met Americans living in Haiti, doing humanitarian work. My mom LOVED the idea. Previously, we had tried applying for jobs in Hawaii, but it never worked out. We needed to be in Vegas. But after this trip, it was very evident to my mom that we needed OUT of Vegas. So after meeting these families, she called my dad that night and said "You should really look into international teaching jobs. I think it would be fun."

3. This was my first taste of being immersed in nature, service, and complete selflessness. I also got my first taste at international travel, and from then on I was HOOKED.

Now, I know what I love. I have a pretty good group of friends, I'm changed. I did pretty good in my first semester of High School.









Late March, 2016
We buy the plane tickets to Costa Rica. It's official, we're going. We start the process of finding rental homes, getting rid of possessions, and figuring out legal documents, etc. There's no turning back no. I tell all my friends, and it's hard. Really hard.

May, 2016
My first Elevation. I'm not going to say much, only that it was life changing and I wouldn't change that experience for anything in the world. So many new friends, so many new experiences. I learn more about myself, the things I love, and about God. I learn more lessons and principles that helped me become the best I could ever be.







June, 2016

We move. We move. To Costa Rica. AHHHHHHH. Just. Life is so different. My way of thinking is so different. My style of life is so different. I don't really know how to explain it. You just have to be immersed in my life to truly understand. If you had asked me two years ago if I thought we were going to Costa Rica, I would've laughed in your face. Lessons I've learned so far:

1. Jesus Christ loves me more than I know.

2. Service is the way to happiness.

3. Nature is my best friend.

4. My family is actual kind of cool and I really enjoy them.

5. Adventure is radical.

6. I am rich, and I am ungrateful for my prosperity.

7. Living life on purpose is so beautiful.

Things that have happened here that have changed me:

1. Spending majority of my Sundays serving.

2. Not having a piano has made me appreciate my talents a lot more.

3. Becoming Class President in two of my classes has given the greatest opportunity to make new friends and practice leadership skills.

4. I have found a second family, my Williamsburg family. My people. They teach me the culture of belonging.

5. I have become completely vulnerable to hurt and pain, but in doing so become abundantly open to happiness and true friendship.

6. Spending excessive amounts of time in nature has allowed me to feel a direct extension of God's love and power.

7. Being covered in mosquito and spider bites has made me appreciate my health.

8. Last but not least, I have come to learn that hard work, faith, perseverance, and a testimony in Christ will bring you unfathomable happiness.

So I have a question for you. How fast? How fast will your life change? Will you listen to the promptings of the spirit as it seeks to guide you? Will you sacrifice for God's kingdom? Will you diligently search the scriptures and pray for an answer to your problems and tribulations? Will you leave yourself open to deep, vulnerable, and loving relationships? Will you lead? Will you expand? Will you live without regrets; will you live on purpose? Will you follow Christ?

Savannah

Epiphany - A Guest Post by Dallin Ward

I used to think that when I had an epiphany or came to a new understanding of truth, I had finally come to the end of a journey and all of my problems regarding that issue would be solved. Now I am learning that such is seldom the case. It is true that one journey has ended - that's what the epiphany was - and it's also true that such an end in thought is a call to greater living. This means that instead of just understanding truth, I am now challenged to apply it to my life.

This can hurt a lot.

I've had this experience with the concept of love for the last few years, and specifically the last few months. Years and years of thinking and searching and trying to understand led me to some fantastic epiphanies and truths about love, and I feel like I understand it really well. Applying it has been quite a struggle. Love hurts sometimes. That's something I might not have been able to tell you a year or two ago. Trust me, it does. The great thing about love though is that it doesn't stop being love even when other people suffer because of loving action. Wrestling taught me about this.

For a long time, I believed that to wrestle with love was to never hurt anybody else. I thought that I couldn't wrestle really aggressively and physically and lay a beating on the guy across from me and still love him. It turns out that this is false. God never said to never hurt other people. In fact, He tells us in Proverbs that the wounds of a friend are faithful (Proverbs 27:6.) Faithful. How can that be?

It took me a long time to understand, and I could explain it to you. I'm not going to, however. I'm getting distracted from my original point. :)

The original point, and what I really want to end on, is this:

Epiphanies are the bugles of war. Once you understand greater truths, there is no turning back to the way things were before. You have something better to live for, and if you don't live for it great calamity will fill your soul. To live truthfully is a fight; a battle that can only be won because Jesus Christ is fighting too. He wants to bring you home.

Will you fight with Him?

Dallin is a friend of mine :). You can find his blog here: http://thoughtsofasimpledreamer.blogspot.com/

Living A Purposeful Life and Harboring Meaningful Relationships

Something I've been thinking a lot about lately. How do you live a purposeful life? How do you develop and harbor meaningful relationships? Well. I didn't know for a while. And I'm still figuring it out. But I think I've got it.

You live a purposeful life and harboring meaningful relationships by leaving yourself vulnerable. Completely, 1000% vulnerable to pain, depression, resent, shame, and anger. You open yourself up and let people see who you really are on the inside, when all your walls are down.

Now hold on a minute before you kill me. In today's society, being genuine and free and raw is so looked down upon, shamed and considered for naught even, that people are afraid to do it. They see those qualities as weaknesses, that we need to be strong and independent, that no one can help us and see us safely home. (NOT. TRUE). To truly defeat your enemy, you have to expose him. But you're not just exposing your pain, and fear, and insecurity, your determination and lack of motivation.  You're also exposing your confidence, your courage, your strengths. You're exposing your usefulness and potential. You expose everything. You expose the good and the bad, because to have a true meaningful relationship, there has to be trust. Trust that they'll support you. Trust that they'll build you up. Trust that they'll take you as you truly are and make you better. Trust that they'll protect you when you can't stand. Trust that they'll support you in your passions and interests. Because without trust, a relationship is nothing.

And ya know a cool thing that happens when you leave yourself vulnerable to this intimate relationship? You become a better person. You're able to find yourself. Think about it. You're opening yourself up to others, but before that happens what does? You have to come to a conclusion with yourself. You say to yourself: "Hey me. Listen up. I want to make meaningful and intimate relationships. But it's gonna be hard. And you've gotta be okay with that. You've gotta push through and be the best friend possible. You gotta be authentic. And it's gonna hurt sometimes. But suck it up and deal with it. I'm going to open myself up completely to pain. But also to possibility and joy. It'll be worth it. Trust me."
And in one move, you just proved to yourself you can do hard things. You discover who you are when you open yourself up to World; because in the process you open yourself up to you.

Let your heart lead you. You know what you really want on the inside. And if you let your heart guide you, not your head, you express your truest and realest emotions, dreams, visions, thoughts and epiphanies, and hidden talents.
"Follow your heart and intuition. Because they somehow already know what you truly want to become."
-Unbroken, Motivational Video

You know what's another word I feel should be brought up in this equation? Empathy. The official definition of empathy is,

1. 1:  the imaginative projection of a subjective state into an object so that the object appears to be infused with it
2. 2:  the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner; also :  the capacity for this

 Powerful, huh. Part of this puzzle is being able to understand others. Be able to mourn with them. Be able to rejoice. Be able to serve from your heart. And oh how powerful empathy is.
"Empathy is really the opposite of spiritual meanness. It's the capacity to understand that every war is both won and lost. And that someone else's pain is as meaningful as your own."
-Barbara Kingsolver

Another thing-be fearless! Don't be ashamed or afraid to mess up. Don't be so worried about staying strong that you close yourself off again. Faith is the antidote to fear. Fear is fatal to faith. I promise you that if you turn to God in your journey for meaningful relationships, he will give you the strength and faith to carry on. He, himself will carry you.
"Fear kills dreams. Fear kills hope. Fear, put people in the hospital. Fear can age you. Can hold you
back from doing something that you know within yourself that you're capable of doing; but it will paralyze you".
-Unbroken, Motivational Video


Now, about living a purposeful life. It's all about finding what you love. And not only finding it. Pursuing it. Making your passions a reality and a solid foundation for you. It's about serving. It's about loving. It's about developing talents. It's about solid education. It's about adventure. It's about getting out of your comfort zone. It's about doing your best. It's about having faith in Christ. It's about humbling yourself before him. Asking for strength. Christ will give you purpose.


That's all I have for you guys today. You'll notice I didn't write nearly as much on 'Living A Purposeful Life', but that's because I honestly believe that finding those intimate and loving relationships will give you a purpose. It'll give you something to live for. To expand for. Gah. I love all of my friends. I love my family. I love every single person I've ever come in contact with. There is not one person I have met that I haven't found at least one thing to love about them. Isn't that so cool? We are all beautiful.

I hope you guys got something out of this. I know I did. I learned a lot about myself, too. Thank you to all of the people who inspired me to write this. I'm so grateful for you and can't imagine where I'd be without your love and support.

I hope you guys have a great day. I hope you are happy.

Love,
Savannah

Your Name

Greetings, fellow humans. It's been an eternity and a half since I've last written, and I apologize. But I'm back again with a cool experience I've had concerning my name, inspired by a brilliant friend of mine.

On Sunday, my friend Emily posted a picture of her name, followed by the meaning of her name underneath. She continued to insert her middle name and last name as well. The question that had been asked was, 'Are you living up to your name?'. Intrigued, I did this on my own name. I was shocked by the results.

Savannah
Create
Expression (public speaking, acting, writing, singing)
Loves and values beauty
Competent
Practical
Often obtains power and wealth
Successful
Achiever of great material dreams
We can focus too much on our business and achievements that we can neglect our personal lives and relationships

Sue
Lead
Organize
Supervise
Achieve status, power, wealth
Passionate
Compassionate
Intuitive
Romantic
Magnetic Personality
Humanitarian
Broadminded and generous
Follows professions that serve humanity
Can be imposed on
Falls in love quickly
Hurt quickly
Quick tempered


I was shocked by the results. They perfectly described me, and I even though they described me I was lacking in some areas. I realized I could more fully live up to my name. I had always somewhat resented my name. It felt weird on my tongue, and I didn't feel like it fit my personality as a child. (I was very strong willed, imaginative, and wild). But now, as I've grown up and molded into my more mature, wise, and strong personality, I see that my name really does fit me. My parents either knew I was going to have this personality, or the name they granted me shaped it. Who knows? All I know is that it was a frickin radical experience and I encourage everyone to do it, to discover themselves more fully and achieve more with the power that their name gives them.

Here is the link to the website I used:
http://www.sheknows.com/baby-names/

Peace out, homies

Savannah

The Hiding Place - Corrie ten Boom

Just a few hours ago, I finished one of the most phenomenal books in existence, in my opinion. The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom. The Hiding Place is the account of Corrie and her sister Betsie during WWII as she joins Holland's underground, assisting and hiding Jews, even in her own house. However, she is found out and she, her sister, her father, her other sister, and her brother in law are taken to prison. There, everyone is released except for Corrie, Betsie (the sister), and her Father. Corrie and Betsie are faced with horrific challenges and trials, plagued with the unimaginable. Yet they still remain human, filled with the Love of Christ as God assists them and strengthens them in this time of need. Again and again, God's tender mercies shine through and allow them to study the Bible without it being reported, spreading the word and love of God throughout the Camp, the message that God's love runs true.

Below are a few of my favorite quotes that struck a chord within me. I hope you too will ponder them and perhaps write them down somewhere, so that in times of need you too may feel the love and hope of Christ.

• “This is what the past is for! Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for the future that only He can see.” 

• “Do you know what hurts so very much? It's love. Love is the strongest force in the world, and when it is blocked that means pain. There are two things we can do when this happens. We can kill that love so that it stops hurting. But then of course part of us dies, too. Or we can ask God to open up another route for that love to travel.”  

• “In darkness God's truth shines most clear.”  

• “Even as the angry vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him....Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me your forgiveness....And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives along with the command, the love itself.”

• “Dear Jesus...how foolish of me to have called for human help when You are here.”

• “If God has shown us bad times ahead, it's enough for me that He knows about them. That's why He sometimes shows us things, you know - to tell us that this too is in His hands.”  

• “Love is larger than the walls which shut it in.”  

• “Perhaps only when human effort had done it's best and failed, would God's power alone be free to work.”  

• “Father sat down on the edge of the narrow bed. "Corrie," he began gently, "when you and I go to Amsterdam-when do I give you your ticket?"
  I sniffed a few times, considering this.
  "Why, just before we get on the train."
  "Exactly. And our wise Father in heaven knows when we're going to need things, too. Don't run out ahead of Him, Corrie. When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need-just in time.”  

• “All through the short afternoon they kept coming, the people who counted themselves Father's friends. Young and old, poor and rich, scholarly gentlemen and illiterate servant girls—only to Father did it seem that they were all alike. That was Father's secret: not that he overlooked the differences in people; that he didn't know they were there.”  

• "No pit is so deep that God is not deeper still”  

• "No hate, Corrie, no hate."

• “If the Gospels were truly the pattern of God’s activity, then defeat was only the beginning.”  

• “One day as Father and I were returning from our walk we found the Grote Markt cordoned off by a double ring of police and soldiers. A truck was parked in front of the fish mart; into the back were climbing men, women, and children, all wearing the yellow star. . . .
  
  "Father! Those poor people!" I cried. . . .
  
  "Those poor people," Father echoed. But to my surprise I saw that he was looking at the solders now forming into ranks to march away. "I pity the poor Germans, Corrie. They have touched the apple of God's eye.”  

• “Worrying is carrying tomorrow's load with today's strength - carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worrying doesn't empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.”

• “Books do not age as you and I do. They will speak still when you and I are gone, to generations we will never see. Yes, the books must survive.”  

• “Corrie, if people can be taught to hate, they can be taught to love! We must find the way, you and I, no matter how long it takes.”

• “The Gestapo chief leaned forward. I'd like to send you home, old fellow," he said. "I'll take your word that you won't cause any more trouble."
  
  I could not see father's face, only the erect carriage of his shoulders and the halo of white hair above them. But I heard his answer.
  
  "If I go home today," he said evenly and clearly, "tomorrow I will open my door again to any man in need who knocks.”  

• “The real sin lay in thinking that any power to help and transform came from me. Of course it was not my wholeness, but Christ’s that made the difference.”

• “Happiness isn’t something that depends on our surroundings, Corrie. It’s something we make inside ourselves.”  

• “Whatever in our life is hardest to bear, love can transform into beauty.”

Savannah

Time is of the Essence // Patience in Eternal Things

So this is my first real 'adventure' post, telling you a little bit about what goes on in our life. But as always, I must put a moral and lesson at the end of it. Typical.

Today was Trenton's 11th Birthday. The plan was to go to the Temple, and then go swimming. So at 8:30, we hopped on a bus and headed to the Coca Cola Bus Station. An hour later, we arrived. We hopped on another bus, headed to Heredia, where the Temple is located. TWO AND A HALF HOURS LATER, we arrived. Throughout that entire three and a half hours (spelled out for emphasis), the thought "Time is of the Essence. Time is of the Essence" pounded through my head, almost obsessively. I was mad, hot, numb from sitting on such a hard surface for so long, and sorry for my brother, as he was spending his birthday inside a public bus. Not fun. I wondered WHY IN THE WORLD THIS WAS TAKING SO LONG. Why, as we are traversing to the House of the Lord, were we having such bad luck? Why was this happening?

When we finally arrived at the Temple, we were famished. Three hours in a bus will do that to you. So we walked around looking for a Soda, a traditional mom and pop restaurant. After a half hour of walking, we couldn't find ANYTHING. So we popped in at a supermarket, got some bread and soda. Nutritional 101. However, that didn't fill us up, so we stopped in a super expensive restaurant, as it was the only other thing around. After an over priced, not so good meal, Dad announced that the Temple closed at 1. And it was 12:45. It didn't open again til 5 in the evening. I wanted to cry. We decided to resort to plan #2. The swimming pool. Unbeknownst to us, there was no swimming pool in Heredia, even though Google Maps said so. So we stopped at the Family History Center to fill up our water bottles. Then we hopped on a bus back home.

We had this plan, to get off before Coca Cola and catch a bus to El Curio, about a mile from our house, so we could save about an hour. But our bus never came. So we caught one to San Antonio, three miles from our house. The entire trip home took about 2 hours. I had no idea why. We tried to go to the Temple and worship the Lord, it didn't work out. We tried to do a wholesome recreational activity. It didn't work out. We ate food to not die at a ridiculously expensive price. We tried to celebrate Trenton's birthday so that way his day didn't completely suck. It took a lot longer than it should have.

As I was sitting in my bed, exhausted, frustrated, and confused, a thought came to my mind. Sometimes, when we try to obey the Lord and follow his commandments, the World tries to defeat us. It beats us down and throws us around like we're nothing. It tries to convince us that it's not worth it. The Gospel isn't true. But it is. And God always wins. And sometimes it's okay to fail doing God's work. Because it tests us. It tests our faith, our love for God. So we have to have patience. Patience in Eternal Things. Because in a eternal perspective, a flop of a day is nothing. A mere blink of an eye. If that.

I thought my day was wasted. I thought I had been unproductive, and not learned a single thing. But I did. I learned that time is only wasted if you let it be wasted. Even if your time does not produce fruits of goodness, you always learn something. The other thing I learned is that you must, you MUST, have patience in Eternal things. When you say a prayer, God doesn't always answer immediately. Sometimes it's okay to fail doing the Lord's work. Because you never really fail. When you are with God, God is always with you. And God. Always. Conquers.

Savannah

Regret

Hi yes, it's me, and I'm back again. Like 5 hours later. BUT I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS SPINNING AROUND IN MY HEAD AND I NEED TO ORGANIZE THEM. NOW.

Today I would like to talk about regret. Regret is a horrible thing. It eats you up from the inside out and makes your heart ache. The regret I've been feeling mostly these past two days is from my first year of Highschool, Freshman year.

For those of you who don't know, I attended Williamsburg Academy in 7th grade, then skipped 8th grade and jumped straight into High School. Ohhhhh man. At first I was excited, and then my stress levels rose, and rose, and rose. In the first two weeks I had 4 mental breakdowns, and 7 emotional breakdowns, approximately. I managed to make it through the first month alive. I was stressed, slightly depressed, and very anxious. I did however, conquer my fears and limitations. I grew to be a better person. But I was so focused on my Education, that I didn't even think about making friends. Not once. Looking back, I didn't want to make friends. I just wanted to survive.

So that's what I did. I merely survived. Before I move on, let me just say, NEVER, EVER, E V E R, MERELY SURVIVE. LIVE. THRIVE. LEARN. GROW. EXPAND. MEET NEW PEOPLE. Thank you. That is all.

Anyways. I studied for midterms and finals. I did my assignments and got A's. I made it into a few class presidencies. I learned, somewhat. But I didn't take full advantage of what I had. Beautiful lessons. Beautiful people. Beautiful opportunities. I wasted it all.

Then, at the very end of the semester, I got an email from Ben Brown, one of my amazing mentors. I owe him so much. He basically said, "hey. This is my last semester teaching debate. I would like you to join."
So I did. I had nothing to lose. No friends. Good grades. A free enough schedule. At the very beginning of the second semester, I vowed to expand, not just survive. So I went to debate class. My first impression was, "Crap." All of the popular kids where in that class. People I had merely heard of, yet never met before. I was so scared. But, I made good of my promise, and thrived. My debate partner, Alyssa, is amazing and we are still good friends. She is the first friend I ever had in Williamsburg Academy. When we had our first debate, she asked a fellow debater if he would help us, as he was more experienced. We were productive for about 20 minutes. Then we just talked. That was a good time. Yet I wanted more friends. But I didn't know how to make them. Then, out of the blue, a certain person from this class added me on Snapchat. (I will not disclose names. Sorry :) ). We started talking. One thing led to another, and we became friends. Then I became friends with the previous mentioned debater helper.

So now I had three friends. I had learned a lot and debate was easily my favorite class. I loved it. Then, three days after the school year ended, I reached out to a fellow debater, who had just graduated, on Instagram. I had a question for her, and we had a zoom call. We hit it off. Immediately. Now she is one of my best friends and my roll model. I love her to death.

Then, I went to Elevation. There I met these amazing friends minus Alyssa in person, plus more people whom I love dearly. But most of these people are older than me and have many, many more friends than I do. They have a good group of their 'people', yet I felt kind of like I had butted my way in there. As I was stalking these people and many others I had met at Elevation on Instagram, (yes, chances are I stalked you. I have no shame) I began to feel sad. I had these good friends, but we aren't super close, and they aren't very many compared to the others. (Minus Lils. I love you).
So I got to thinking. What had happened if I had tried to make friends throughout the year? How could my life have changed? How many lives could I have touched? I could've been the leader. I could've gone first, reached out. I could have changed MY life.
But I didn't. And I don't like to say it, but I'm hating myself for it. I want summer to end, NOW, just so I can redeem myself. Prove to myself and others that I CAN make friends. I CAN focus and invest my energy and time into something other than my education and exclude my potential friends.

Now, I would like to say that I do have very good friends in Williamsburg. But NONE of them are in my graduating class. Half of them are graduating this school year. So I'm promising myself now, and throughout the rest of my High School career, that I will surround myself with good friends, who encourage and lift me up. I will reach out to those in need of a friend. I can be a better leader by being a better friend.

So my message and lesson for you today is, don't look back and feel regret. It's better to say, "oops", than "I wish...". Trust me.
Trust me.

-Savannah