12:00 a.m., today, January 1st, 2010, brought the death of 2009.
Now, not to say that were mourning or anything. I mean, we were counting down and eating chocolate-covered cream puffs and drinking sparkling apple cider. Pshht. Definitely more like celebrating.
But if someone were to say to me, "Hey, you are thirteen years old. You have lived through all the years from 1996 to 2009. Which one was the best?"
Without even a moment's though, I would answer, "2009."
Why? Why was 2009 the best year of my life?
Oh, gosh. I feel like I could cry.
It was just a normal year at first. School, church, family, play, piano, tumbling, writing, life, blah, blah, blah, normal.
Okay, not totally like that. We had that awesome spring break trip to California. Woooh, that was so fun (you can get details if you can find the post from earlier)!!! I also began the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. And the play, Thoroughly Modern Millie, was THE BOMB to be in... so great!!! Cute, fluffy puppies spiced up our busy lives as well. There was also the second half of sixth grade, a really fun grade for me with my awesome friends, class, and teacher (which I almost all had to leave, making me cry like a lot of my friends) and the end of elementary school.
But then... in June, I made the decision to write in my journal and read the scriptures every night before I went to bed. So I did. I mean, sometimes there would be days when I couldn't do it, but then I would get back on track. It was wonderful.
Okay, so it only lasted for a month or two. Or, at least, the journal part did. We went on vacation, which made it a lot harder, though I still was able to do it sometimes. I think I got back on track at Girl's Camp. And then school, which began in August, made it almost impossible, so I stopped.
I didn't stop reading the Book of Mormon.
The experience that changed my life forever was Girls Camp. It was near the end of summer. The theme this year was Believe in Me, with two meanings. One of them was to believe in yourself, and to know that no matter how horrible you think your life is, or how much you think you really don't matter to anyone else, you are a daughter of God, and He always loves you. The second was to believe in the Savior, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and to know that He is always there. The whole camp was filled with such feeling of warmth, love, and spirit that no one could not not notice it. Even though we definitely did get to just mess around and have fun a lot of the time, the feeling was always there. One of the things we got to do was hike. It wasn't really a hard hike, but what we had to do was carry plastic containers of water. Some people had more or less water to carry than others. We couldn't put it down at ANY time (or drink it). No one told us why. Along the way, we would stop and sit down. (We still could not put down the water.) Then, one of the leaders would tell us about one of the trials of their lives and about how they had to deal with it, and how they still had faith. There were tears. After a couple times of walking, doing that, walking, doing that, etc., we stopped again. There was a tree with a picture of Christ. We were told to dump our water at the base of the tree. After we did this, they explained how we always have trials upon us, but Christ is always there to lighten our burdens. It was amazing. Then we got to sit down and rest. We all pulled out a Book of Mormon (we had all brought backpacks with snacks, cameras, and our Book of Mormons). That was the first time I truly had the feeling of the Spirit pouring down on me. For me, that feeling is like a heaviness in my heart. Not a sad heaviness, but a kind that is so filled with feelings, I could go wild. I feel so thankful and blessed and lucky, and know that Heavenly Father really is there. I could cry.
I can't wait till Girls' Camp this summer!
Junior high started in August. That was scary. But it was nice to some change from elementary school. Okay, okay. Danielle moved to California. On my birthday. I am serious, it is like I have a curse so that all my buddies have to go away. (KYLIE BRADY, YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO COPY WHAT EVERYBODY ELSE HAS DONE!!!!)
The rest of the year was so spiritual. I read the Book of Mormon, finishing it on December 31. My testimony grew so strong. I actually bore it in November at church- in front of the whole ward!
I did many, many, fun things in 2009. It was also a time of trial. But I would never give it back.
