The dreaded packing...

 I can't believe that I'll be flying out of Salt Lake in about 36 hours! Insane. So here's the dilemma. I have to fit all of this:

into these little guys:

Here we go! It'll be an adventure. I might have to leave behind some pants...I'm planning on wearing skirts most of the time anyway. 

To put off packing a little while longer, I'm going to actually think about the fact that I'm going to Jerusalem. Half-way across the world. Where the Savior was born, lived, taught, walked, healed, loved, Atoned, died, and lived again. I feel so blessed. When people ask if I'm excited, I obviously respond yes. But in my mind I'm not really freaking out, which worried me for a while but now I know why: I'm just ready. I'm ready for this new adventure in my life. I know that I need this right now. Not Winter semester, not in a few years, but NOW. I know that working at Brighton LDS Girls Camp this summer, as well as every experience I've had along the way, has led me to this time. My testimony is stronger than it was yesterday, and much stronger than it was at the beginning of the summer. I know that this will be a much-needed change in my life. I need a fresh start, and this is exactly what the BYUJC will provide for me. 

In sacrament meeting today our ward choir sang a beautiful arrangement of "Come Thou Fount." I was especially struck by the last two verses of the song:

"Here I raise my Ebenezer hither by the help I come

And I hope by the good pleasure safely to arrive at home

Jesus sought me when a stranger, wondering from the fold of God

He, to rescue me from danger interposed His precious blood

O to grace how great a debtor, daily I'm constrained to be!

Let thy goodness like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee

Prone to wander Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love

Here's my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for the courts above!"

Every word of those 8 lines applies to me right now. I feel Jerusalem calling to me, as if my Savior is wanting me to go there to draw closer to Him. And that's exactly what I'm going to do.