"Beyond your circle of earthly friends, I urge you to make a friend of your Heavenly Father. He stands ready to answer the prayer of your heart. Being the Father of your spirit and having created you in His own image, knowing the end from the beginning, His wisdom will not fail and His counsel is ever true. Make a friend of Him." -Thomas S. Monson
I am sooooo excited to watch General Conference this weekend! Every time I watch, I end up finding answers to my questions, sometimes questions I didn't even know I had. I always end up learning what I need to do in my own life to strengthen my relationship with Christ. But most of all, I gain a stronger testimony from General Conference. A stronger testimony of living prophets and the power they are given to guide and direct us. A stronger testimony of the plan that God has for all of us, and me individually. And a stronger testimony that living the teachings of Jesus Christ brings greater happiness. I watched (well mostly just listened) to the General Women's Meeting last weekend, just a few days after I got a pretty nasty concussion. It's taken a while for me to be able to look at my computer screen, but I was able to design some graphics of my favorite quotes from the meeting. I love printing out quotes from each General Conference as a way to remind me of the messages long after conference weekend.
In my church, youth have an opportunity to attend a week-long camp centered around coming closer to Christ. It's called Especially for Youth, or EFY. I applied to be an EFY counselor clear back in January. I waited and waited for a hiring decision. I prayed and prayed and ended up dropping my summer classes, even though I didn't know if I would be hired. It was one of those "leap of faith" moments. When I came home 2 weeks ago, I still didn't know if I would get to be one or not. Finally I got a call from the hiring office asking if I could come back to Provo 5 days later. I was ecstatic. I could not stop thinking about it. Everything really fell into place and I know that Heavenly Father heard and answered my prayers.
I never went to EFY as a youth so I was really excited to see what it was all about. I was placed in a trio and each of us were in charge of 10 youth. I knew I would have a lot of teaching opportunities, but I didn't realize just how much they would teach me. I also was not prepared for the steady stream of personal revelation I received from God. While I was there, I was offered a job for 2 more weeks. I could not be more excited! I still cannot believe the fact that it is an actual job to help kids feel the Spirit and come closer to Christ.
Throughout the week, I learned some incredible lessons. The whole last day is dedicated to helping the kids "take it home" and apply and share what they learned so I'm trying to do the same.
1. When you give your best to God, His best comes back to you. This applies to pretty much everything, but I saw specific examples of this with regards to my prayers and my scripture study. The more that I put into making my prayers meaningful, the more inspiration I received, especially for the kids I was in charge of. As I prayed for them by name, thoughts would come to my mind about their specific needs and about God's love for them. As I put effort into my scripture study and made a plan beforehand, the amount of revelation I received was overwhelming.
The EFY schedule is very tight and it was easy to make good use of my time, but when I'm not at EFY, I know that I can use my time better. When I give my best to God with regards to how I spend my time, I know that I will be blessed for it.
2. You can't out-dream God. I went into the week with great goals and grand expectations, but God's plans were so much more than mine. I had ideas of what I wanted the kids to learn and experience, but God's wishes and aspirations for them far exceeded mine. I was shown this several times throughout the week, but especially on Thursday, when the youth bore their testimonies. I was a hot mess minus the hot part. I could not stop crying as the Spirit filled that room because of the truths they proclaimed. All my kiddos were exceptional and so far beyond where I was at their age.
3. When the Spirit confirms eternal truths, there is always something to be done about it, an action to be taken. We don't feel the Spirit just to feel it. We feel it so we can act and change and improve, thereby coming closer to Christ. I think that's why we are prompted to share our testimonies so often.
4. Align your life with God's will. The EFY theme for this year comes from 1 Samuel 3:4 when Samuel answers the Lord's call with the words "Here am I." During one of our scripture study times, I encouraged the youth to place a 'w' before the theme, turning the exclamation into a question, "Where am I?" I encouraged them to have a personal inventory with the Lord to determine what changes they needed to make in order to be able to say to the Lord, "Here am I."
This lesson kind of goes along with not being able to out-dream God. Elder Jeffery R. Holland said, "God is eagerly waiting for the chance to answer your prayers and fulfill your dreams, just as He always has. But He can't if you don't pray and He can't if you don't dream. In short, He can't if you don't believe." We need to constantly be making goals that will bring our lives in greater harmony with God's plan for us.
5. Be a "daddy's little girl." The relationship between a father and daughter is a unique one. A daughter wants to go where he dad goes, do what he does, and be what he is. I want that kind of relationship with my Heavenly Father. I want to go where He goes, do what He does, and be what He is. Making that connection made it easier for me to speak openly when I said my prayers. It also helped me feel of the love He has for all His children.
I am so grateful for this job and all that I learned this week! And I can't wait to do it 2 more times!
Last weekend I was a vendor at Small Shop Roundup in Provo, UT. It was seriously so much fun! For months I have been wanting to make some black and white mini prints and I'm so glad I did! They ended up being a huge hit and I thought I would make them available digitally for all those who couldn't make it to Provo.
Each digital listing comes with a file for printing an A2 card, 5x7 prints, and an 8x10 print! Be sure to tag all your #kensiekate purchases on Instagram so I can see!
Also, be sure to sign up for the Kensie Kate newsletter. The first one is going out the first week of October, so make sure you're subscribed by then. You won't want to miss out on the freebies included! You can sign up with here or with the form on the sidebar.
You may remember seeing TJ and Brandi's engagement pictures here... About an hour before we were supposed to start taking pictures, it started pouring rain. I had my windshield wipers at full speed and just kept praying we would be able to get some decent pictures. We began taking pictures right in front of the Jordan River Temple, the only covered spot available. I kept telling Brandi and TJ that the rain was going to stop and finally, voila!, it did. We rushed out into the open area near the fountain and I started shooting furiously, just in case the rain paid us another visit. I had so much fun taking these pictures. Despite the stress of the rain, there was so much laughter, as you can see in the pictures below. Enjoy!
My mom and I hosted a superhero themed kids craft on Saturday at Pottery Barn Kids in Salt Lake City. We made reversible masks that the kiddos go to decorate and personalize with their first initial. Once they were done, we had a backdrop so their parents could take pictures of their little heroes and then they got a super treat.
