I'm back! This one is for the ladies~ :)

   How do I even begin this blog post that I've been thinking about for weeks? I guess I could start by trusting in God knowing he has wanted me to do this for a long time, so he'll help me.

   On August 12th through the 16th I went to EFY (Especially For Youth) in Rexburg, Idaho. This program helps youth gain stronger testimonies and really just have fun! I experienced many spiritually building events and I might talk about some of them in later posts but I do want to talk about something that impacted me. 

   As I walked through the BYU store found these stickers for scriptures, I thought they looked rather fun! So I picked up the purple set, I realized this set I was holding was for women in the bible. I loved this! So I decided it would be a good purchase hoping their example could eventually help me be a better missionary and mother one day. Good purchase indeed.
   The week after EFY I invested in going to Education week up at BYU Provo, I was excited for the musical programs mostly and some of the adult classes that sounded interesting. On Tuesday Aug. 20th Elder Ballard gave a devotional, no classes were happening this period everyone was expected to go to his talk. I looked around at the audience and saw that the majority of the people there were in fact women, righteous women. He began his talk right off the bat expressing he would focus on women and their divine roles and responsibilities. I was so excited! In his talk he read a quote saying that women and men have equal yet different responsibilities. He also stated that women need to know the doctrines of Christ and preach at all times! In every way! We need more influential women in the church. 
    Women and men need each other! He talked about how the mission age, which was originally 21 for girls and now 19, was changing everything! For the first time in the LDS history women have exceeded men in serving, 51% women! How exciting! This talk empowered me to find my divine responsibility in life as a women! 
   As education week continued on I remembered a teacher I loved so much last year and made the best effort I could to get to his class! The class Brother Adre was teaching, the only one I could make it to, was about women as well. I dragged two boys to this class as well as my mom and felt a bit guilty knowing it was too about women then I remembered how much we talk about men in the church and realized it was equally as important for them to be there. 
   He began with wonderful examples of women and in a bit I'll talk about four examples that have inspired me! He shared a quote that was also shared at EFY. WOMEN listen up ladies! Do you want to become appealing and completely irresistible?

 "Women should serve others as the handmaidens of God, they must find their diving feminine inner beauty, intuition, quiet strength, genteelness, dignity, charm, graciousness, creativity, sensitivity, radiance and spirituality" -Ballard

   This quote, those qualities, are the ways women will change the world, change families and fulfill their divine responsibility.
   
   Four women that I owe incredible amounts of gratitude towards are firstly:

Sisters and wives of Nephis family. There's a scripture in 1 Nephi 17:2 

"And so great were the blessings of the Lord upon us, that while we did live upon raw meat in the wilderness, our women did give plenty of suck for their children, and were strong, yea, even like unto the men; and they began to bear their journeyings without murmurings." 

Raw meat, I can't even look at raw meat without feeling queasy... "without murmurings". This scripture hangs on my wall in a beautiful poster! It reminds me to not complain in my daily life.

Emma Smith. 
   That name alone brings me to tears and my heart sorrows for her. There is a song by Nashville Tribute band that describes her life to me as perfectly as it can. She is faithful, courageous, loving, kind, prayerful. I'm sure the angles did in fact kneel when she prayed. If I were looking down on Emma, I know I would have kneeled. If you have a little time, close your eyes and think of her life, while you listen to this song. She makes me want to be closer to Christ. 



Al Fox (now Carraway) 
Al is an inspiration to me everything single day! I read her blogs watch her YouTube videos I hope to go to a devotional by her one day and hopefully meet her. She is also known as the tattooed Mormon. She is always standing up for what she believes in and she's also the one who inspired me to blog again! 
--------------------> Modern Pioneer! The Al Fox   In the head of Al Fox   <----------------------------

Last but most defiantly not least Stephanie Nielson.

I'm currently reading her book, Heaven Is Here. What an incredible women. She is the soul reason of my first blog entry and why in writing again today. She describes herself better than I do so please watch her Mormon video. I love her and could never thank her enough for helping me so personally and not evening knowing me. 

I'll end with a short testimony. I know that God lives and he loves me and you. He sent His Son here for us. Jesus Christ is my perfect example. I need him! I love him! I hope you enjoy this little snip of my life and expect more posts to come as the days go on! I'm going to use the internet for good! 

-I am simply Whitney Hall 

After the smoke was gone

     On June our little cove that we live in in Herriman looked like it was going to go up in flames. The smell of smoke filled our homes and I knew we were going to have to evacuate. This is Herriman's second fire, but after living in our home for almost a year, we missed the first one. I knew that we didn't have must time until we had no choice but we had to leave. My dear mom told me to pack up some cloths. We were supposed to leave for the cabin that day, so this task was simple. Next I wanted to help my brothers. My dad was away on a business trip. 


     Cooper, upstairs could see from Skyler's window the mountain in flames. As a ten-year old, this is scary. I heard his cries from downstairs and wanting to provide comfort to my little brother I knew I needed to do something to help him. I held him in my arms and told him he was brave and that he could do this. I reassured him that our home would be safe along with our neighbors homes. We then proceeded to say a prayer of safety and comfort. 

   My trial was that I needed to drive the car without a parent with me. I'm already terrified of driving. Driving through smoke is even more scary. After a pep talk from my mom and our cars packed up with what few things we could grab, we left our home. 

This isn't a photo I took, in the rush of things, I didn't have a chance to take one. But this is was it kind of looked like when we left our house. (taken from: http://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=21052342&nid=460&page=19#1)

     Luckily today we had a home that didn't have smoke damage to return home to, like so many fortunate people in my neighborhood. The lords had was truly evident in this whole emergency. I will forever be grateful to those firemen and police that risked their lives to keep our homes safe along with all of our friends and loved ones. 


    Today we had an extra long sacrament. The spirit in that room was truly amazing. It brought our ward a sense of gratitude and unity. The testimony's that were shared made me stronger, it taught me to listen to promptings, pray for strength and help, and to do all that you can and rely on the Lord. Many homes were spared in the event, I know it was because of our faith and prayers. I learned to have faith that in life when we can't see through the smoke and we don't know what we have or what we have lost, that Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us. We just have to have enough faith to trust in him, and once the smoke has cleared and we can see our trails more clearly we will be able to learn from them. 


Here are some photographs of the fire, I didn't take these but I thought they were pretty amazing. I can see the lords hands in all of this. 

Look at how the houses were saved,
there really is amazing stories from
each of these families

While my dad was in the plane, I can only
imagine the panic he felt when he realized
Herriman was on fire

My house is somewhere in the smoke
we were lucky enough to have
very minor smoke damage

The helicopters took water from the
little pond we have to go fishing in