You Matter to Him

I had the opportunity to teach the lesson this week in Relief Society. This was a new experience for me (I was subbing, it was a one time thing ;)  ) but it was a good experience for me. This week the lesson was based on a talk You Matter to Him by President Uchtdorf an amazing talk if you haven't read it you should! If you get bored or you want an esteem boost look it up. We had a great discussion concerning the points made in this talk and I wanted to share what I learned through the discussion today...

The first point I want to share is the idea of the paradox of man. The idea that "compared to God, man is nothing; yet we are everything to God" I think it is important to recognize the importance of perspective in our lives. I am not so great as I would like to be, I make mistakes, I sin, and there is always something I 'could have done better' but at the same time I am a Daughter of God. Christ performed the infinite atonement for my benefit. He cares about me and that makes me worth it!

According to President Uchtdorf, Satan recognizes the paradox of man and appeals to the extremes of the paradox. Some people he leads to feel prideful, "he tells them that they have transcended the ordinary and that because of ability, birthright, or social status, they are set apart...". Others he leads to feel as though they are insignificant or that they are of not worth. Through appealing to the extremes Satan is manipulating people and they are losing perspective. By recognizing that the paradox of man depends upon God's perspective we are able to recognize the importance of it.

"God knows that some of the greatest souls who have ever lived are those who will never appear in the chronicles of history. They are the blessed, humble souls who emulate the Savior's example and spend the days of their lives doing good". We don't need to be famous, and we don't need to seek for recognition; we only need to trust in God and live by being an example to others. Everything we do will have an effect on someone else! We must not ever get caught in the idea that we are worthless because in reality every second counts. We are always doing something that will effect someone else. Even if it is something as silly as buying a piece of gum every action taken will reach farther than yourself and it is important to keep that in mind and recognize that the way you spend your time, the activities you choose to participate in are effecting people other than yourself!


Okay so this video gets a little corny about halfway through but it is an amazing idea to help us keep perspective!

Did you know...

... that I am part Polynesian?? Truly I am! I know you would never guess it but I am a part Samoan and I believe (maybe too much) that I can dance like a Polynesian. That is why I have performed in BYU's Lu'au pretty consistently while I've been here at school.

For those of you that don't know about the BYU Lu'au here is a background... Every year BYU's Multicultural Student Service's office puts on a Lu'au. The Lu'au is based on volunteers (the choreographers, dancers, ushers, etc.) during the years that I have been at BYU I have volunteered as a dancer in the Lu'au and it is quite the time commitment. The Lu'au takes place at the end of March and practice starts at the beginning of January. The Lu'au has different sections that you can sign up for (Tahiti, Samoa, New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji, and Hawaii).

I have performed in Lu'au before but, this year I decided to do Tahiti and New Zealand sections. It was quite a time commitment starting in January I had practice from 6-8 (in the morning) every Friday for Tahiti, and practice from 10-12 every saturday for New Zealand. Despite the fact that it was a huge time commitment I really enjoyed participating in Lu'au this year. This was the first time that I have done New Zealand and it was exciting to learn the Poi Balls and to be able to learn some songs and have a chance to sing while performing.

I love performing and Lu'au is the only performing I have done at BYU so I always look forward to it!

New Zealand:

Did I mention I was the front row for the single poi dance?

Tahiti:

Thanks to my lovely cousin Jesi for these pictures!

Backstage:

Here is the Tahiti group that I performed with I'm sure we were all glad to get our Friday mornings back!

With Karmila and DeTiare!

And where would we be without a jumping picture!?

We Fiso's need to stick together! I convinced Steph to do Lu'au freshman year and then she was stuck! ;)

Melissa was helping backstage

Sadly DeTiare graduates this year! :( but it was fun to dance with her while we could!

Lexi joined in the fun this year too!

Last picture I promise but this one was inspired, though maybe not as much as we thought, by the other so we needed a comparison somewhere!

Finals

I am officially finished with Winter semester! I kinda failed the essay portion of Management (Well not totally but basically)... But thanks to Zach I went out with a bang for Ballroom!

Annnnnnd I got to be the first with all my final to do's checked off! =P