Dear August,

It seems I have already neglected you.  For that I apologize.

This week has been a bit of a whirlwind, but a whirlwind of so much pure joy.

Tonight I got to celebrate the wedding of my dear friend, Emma, to her dear Josh at their reception.  I have known Emma for so long I don't think we've ever not known each other, and we have known Josh since we were fourteen.  It's so weird to think about that, but so beautiful to see.  To be able to witness their love is such a breath of fresh air. It brings light into the world to see them together and just radiating love for one another.

Tonight was filled with getting a million flowers together, cutting nauseatingly juicy meats, and preparing for a speech in only mere seconds, but it was so worth it.

I pretty much said all I have wanted to say about this happily ever after in my impromptu speech, but I cannot say this enough:

I am so happy for the joy of eternity these two have decided to embark on together.

My seventeenth birthday party - 7/30/2011

Their wedding day - 7/29/2014

Love,

Jazmin

P.S.

An intro to my Letters to August project can be found here.

My Temple

Yesterday, I had the blessing and privilege of going to the Orlando temple with the youth of my home stake.  The project for the youth of the stake this year was to do some genealogy work and find a name that has not had their temple work done.  The big sha-bang of a finale was this temple trip, during which the youth who had been working on their genealogy would be able to take those names that they found to the temple and start the temple work for their ancestor.

It was an early start to a morning.  I woke up at the unholy hour of 4:15am to leave at 5:15am.  We got to the stake center across the street from the temple around 7:45am, which is impeccable timing considering Orlando's crazy traffic at every hour of the day.*

There, at the stake center, the temple president gave a talk about symbols of the temple.  After that, we broke off in to three groups.  One went to the temple to do baptisms, one stayed behind to play games related to family history and other church-related things, and the third did a temple grounds tour of sorts.

It was a long day, but it was amazing nonetheless. As awesome as the Provo temple is, the Orlando temple will always hold a special place in my heart.  It is the first temple I ever set foot in.  It is the temple where I have received so many answers to so many prayers.  It is my temple.



For those of you not familiar with the Mormon jargon, temples are sacred places where worthy members of the church, twelve years and older, enter to do work for those who have passed away.**  Work, meaning saving ordinances, such as baptism.  We do not actually go grave-digging and baptize corpses.  That's just nasty.  We believe in the scripture: Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.  We stand in place of those who have passed away, since they no longer have the physical capacity to receive those saving ordinances themselves.  Those who passed away without the gospel deserve the chance to know it and have the opportunity to live eternally with their Heavenly Father, their Savior, and their family, and it is such a blessing to be able to help them on that road to eternal joy.

I love the gospel so much.  It is a gospel of joy, peace, and strength.  It is a gospel of hope.

*Seriously, though.  Once, I was on my way back to Jacksonville at 3am, and I was still stuck in traffic for an hour.

**It is also a place for living worthy members to make sacred covenants and receive sacred ordinances that can only be performed in the temple.

Not Disney

Tomorrow I am going to the happiest place on Earth.  I am so grateful.



I know with absolute assurety that my Redeemer lives and that He loves me and knows me with an exactness.

“Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world. …

“And when they had all gone forth and had witnessed for themselves, they did cry out with one accord, saying:

“Hosanna! Blessed be the name of the Most High God! And they did fall down at the feet of Jesus, and did worship him.” - 3 Nephi 11:7-11, 14, 16-17

"...God our Father has ears with which to hear our prayers. He has eyes with which to see our actions. He has a mouth with which to speak to us. He has a heart with which to feel compassion and love. He is real. He is living. We are his children, made in his image. We look like him, and he looks like us." - President Thomas S. Monson

My lullaby for tonight, reader.