That Bridge

Last Sunday I graduated from Seminary, and last Wednesday I went to the highschool's graduation ceremony to watch my friends walk and receive diplomas. If I was normal, I would have been right next to them in a cap and gown. Needless to say, I've got some thoughts to write down.





First off, Seminary. I can honestly say that Seminary has been one of the best things in my life. The summer before 9th grade, we were considering doing home-study seminary. I was really scared of Seminary. I had never sat in a class with a bunch of people I didn't know. I had never even really sat in a desk before. I actually didn't want to go to Seminary at all. But I am so, so, so glad that I went. My first trimester I had a phenomenal student teacher who taught in a deeper way than I had ever experienced. It was in his class that my knowledge of the Atonement went from my head to my heart. I can remember that day perfectly. We were studying D&C 19. That first year of Seminary I also got addicted to the scriptures. I read the entire D&C twice. I carried my scriptures around with me and read them all the time. I read while I ate. I read in the car. That also changed my life. My next teacher that year was Brother Russell. He knows everything. No joke. I've never asked him a question that he couldn't answer with a memorized scripture reference or General Authority quote. I still go back and say hi once in a while. Morgan had him as a teacher this year too. He's such a good teacher. I learned a lot from him as well. The next year I had seminary at the highschool (Old Testament year). I learned the most from the older kids in my classes. They bore their testimonies and set excellent examples. New Testament was my favorite year. I love the Gospels and the stories of Jesus. And Junior year is just really fun too.This year I had Book of Mormon from another amazing student teacher who really loved us and knew how to teach. It was so fun and I made some great friends in that class. I learned new things about the Book of Mormon and it absolutely strengthened my testimony. Then I took the first 6 weeks of the next trimester before starting up at BYU-I. My last day of seminary was so sad. I gave thank you cards to all my teachers and cried on the way home. That was kind of a big deal. I usually only cry if I'm angry, not when I'm sad. Overall, Seminary taught me to love the scriptures and make friends.





Looking back at my highschool years, I am so glad that things turned out the way they did. I think I've gotten a fantastic education. So many people asked us, "What about highschool?" We always said, "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it". Well, now we've come to it and crossed it safely to the other side. The best things about the past 3 years: music and Youth Symphony, having the ward split and meeting Tina, Jacob, and Ty, going to Homeschool Prom, working and teaching, learning, dating, being a YCL at Girls' Camp, and making so many new friends. Probably the most significant event of the past years was when our ward split. In our last ward, I liked all the kids and got along with them, but not enough to hang out with them. I really needed some good friends. I had my homeschooling friends, but they all lived at least 10 miles away. This may shock you, but teens really really really need good friends close by. Even weird-nerdy- slightly introverted-homeschooling teens like me. I had been praying for quite awhile for someone new to move in to the ward. I loved our ward, I just needed a good friend. I didn't realize it at the time, but having the ward split was an unexpected answer to my prayer. I never would have met Tina, Ty, and Jacob if that hadn't happened. We all clicked almost immediately. Looking back, they have been a huge influence for me. We've had so many good times together. I'm so incredibly grateful for them. Now we're all going different directions. Tina is moving out in two weeks to live with her sister and go to college in Burley, Jacob leaves in 10 days to work in New Mexico until his mission, and Ty is working here for the summer before he goes back to BYU. I'm sad, but it's ok. We're going out to rock the world.


That was a ridiculously long post. I hope you didn't feel obligated to read it. It was mostly a post that I needed to write for myself. If you made it to the end of this marathon of a post, thanks for reading. Leave a comment telling me that I'm a normal teenager even though I didn't graduate from highschool and dropped out of Seminary. :)