miss emma.

today i woke up in a terrible mood because it was cloudy and early and very much unlike yesterday. one of those days when your hair does not look good and you are still exhausted. the tube is having a lot of work done, so a bunch of stations and lines are closed which makes the working lines even more crowded and made getting to church (which is already an ordeal) an even bigger catastrophe. we ended up taking three trains and one bus to church and it took us over a hour. i hope you all never take for granted how blessed you are to have a 7 minute ride from coto to the rsm stake center, or better yet, a 4 minute drive to campus. really.
so we missed relief society and got there just in time for the lesson. this is actually the first time we've been to sunday school since we all received callings due to travel issues, ward conference, etc and honestly i thought we could just introduce ourselves and breeze through the lesson without me putting much preparation into it, but i was wrong. very wrong. there are four people in the class, they haven't had a teacher in over a year, and they really sincerely want to listen to me. and they are well read in the scriptures and have intelligent things to say and it kind of caught me off guard because i was not prepared enough to teach to the extent that i wanted to and i was in a grouchy mood and it wasn't okay. so i've promised myself that next week, not only will i be on time, but i will be very prepared for my lesson and i will have a positive attitude. because the young single adults i teach deserve that, and i owe that to myself.
after church i came home and watched two hours of gossip girl season 1 and then took a nap. sunday naps are definitely on my list of top ten favorite things. we had dinner, and then an incredible fireside with president phillips who is in the stake presidency of the hyde park stake. it was just incredible. i know that one of the most effective ways that the spirit speaks to me is through people, and i know that his message was specifically intended for my benefit. he taught us about the importance of knowing ourselves, and how the atonement wouldn't of worked if Christ didn't know who He was. i think it's important to remember that although Christ is the son of God, he was also a mortal man, who faced temptations and emotions and hardship like any other human. however, He knew who He was and what He was to accomplish.
in summary, today was one of those days when i recognized how much better i could be. not like i'm beating myself up or anything, because we all know i love myself a little too much to ever be too harsh of a self-critic, but today i am aware that there is plenty of room for me to grow and progress. and that makes me excited for the future.