Y Serve

Our discussion in class today was centered on Leadership and Change. I learned that change is the most fundamental goal of leadership, and in fact, it is the whole reason for leadership! In order for us to help change others for the better, we must first take care to change ourselves. This is so true because if we are struggling ourselves, how can we expect to help others with their struggles. As Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount, "First cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." What it really comes down to is we, our "natural man" selves, are in opposition to God. But by changing our carnal man ways(ie: Repentance) and striving to love/put God first above all else in our lives, we put ourselves in a position to be led by God's hand to hopefully be a tool for good in his hands. And as we strive to love God above all else, we can be comforted by the promise found in Mark 8:35 that, "whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it." I know this is true and I'm so grateful to have learned about these awesome things in class today!

Tonight I finally got to go to Y Serve again as one of my leadership roles! It was AWESOMENESS hahaha! We walked to the Riviera Apartments and offered to do peoples dishes, take out their trash, talked with them, and more crazy cool acts of service! Tonight was really fun and kinda unique because my friend Jessica and I only got to go to 3 different places compared to our normal 10-20 places. The reason we only got to help out 3 different people was because at our 3rd stop, the 2 boys in that apartment, Steve and Jeremy, kindly offered to make us blueberry pancakes and we couldn't refuse haha! They were delicious! But what was even cooler was we got to know well and talk to these two awesome kids for a while and made new friends. Lots of the time that is all people need is simply someone to be their friend and to sincerely listen to what they have to say. I'm grateful for this opportunity I had to experience this and also to be the recipient of service as well-who doesn't love free food!?! Especially home cooked, warm blueberry pancakes ha! :D

Thanksgiving

I know I often say this about our lectures ha, but I can't help saying it because it is so often true!!! So here it goes, I absolutely loved the lecture today given by BYUSA President Elise May. Wow, it is nearly impossible to hear her speak and not feel of the great and real love that she has not only for service, buy also for the entire populous (the people!) of byu campus! I emphasize the people part because that is really what life is all about. As President Monson said in this past General Conference (and as is sung in highschool musical ha!) "We're all in this together!" How True that is and yet so many people do not realize it or else they get so busy caught up in their own lives that they loose sight of this important Truth.(Myself included I regret to say:( ) However, today I am grateful that I was reminded of this eternal principle and with the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday I am looking forward to expanding my leadership role to further apply this principle of showing sincere Love and appreciation for the amazing people in my life, chiefest among them being my wonderful Family! I hope that the same sincere love and enthusiastic care that I felt from today's lecture can be felt by those around me as I strive to be a better Christlike individual and servant leader.

As for my traditional leadership role(s) that I've been working on, today I made a special effort to be a Good Campus "Cheerer Upper" :D by saying hi, making eye contact and smiling at random strangers as I passed them by on my way around campus! It was great ha! I forgot how fun it was to consciously and consistently do this throughout my day and it ended up making my day so much better seeing the smiles I was able to get from simply being friendly and saying "hello!" It's amazing how simple service can be and yet the results it produces are so much greater! I Love it!

Firstly, I absolutly L-o-v-e-d the lecture given by Dr. Erickson about Home and Community Life. I thought a lot of the statements made about actively making a difference in both Family and community life were such powerful truths. One of the quotes that impressed me the most was the quote of President Kimball which stated, "The time will come when only those who believe deeply and actively in the family will be able to preserve their families in the midst of the gathering evil around us." As we get deeper and deeper into the last days, this becomes truer and truer. Families are the most important units in God's Eternal plan of Hapiness. I am so grateful for my awesome loving family and I'm so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ that provides a way for me to be able to live with them and all those I love forever.

As for my leadership role this week, I focused on trying to be a better friend, sister, daughter and roomate. I had the opportunity to strive to focus on all of these roles this week by spending time with individuals in all of these groups at various times throughout the week. In particular, I did such things as trying to be a good listener, encourager, comforter, and friend. As I had the opportunity to serve these people whom I love, my love and appreciation grew even more for them.

(Random and cool little fact I noticed, even though it has nothing to do with my leadership role, today's entry is my 13th one and it is Friday November 13th!:D Oooooo!)

Unfortunately, I came down very sick this week so I was not able to attend the lecture Monday or class Wednesday or my Y Service Squad group:(.......However! That does not mean I didn't have the opportunity to both take on as well as be the recipient of other Leadership roles.

Firstly, I would like to share the leadership of some of those close around me who served me this past week. My Family is most prominent among these. When they discovered I was sick, they came down and took me home so that I wouldn't be alone sick in my apartment. They did so many kind favors for me and took care of me while I was home with them as well. Also my roomates once they found out I was sick, they checked to make sure I was alright and encouraged me to get better. I had many kind friends who called to see how I was doing and offered to help by doing such things as making me soup and helping me study for a test. There were many other aquaintances and teachers who were very understanding and helpful as well. I can't help but feel grattitude for these Awesome people in my life who I feel sincerely care about me. I see why it is so important that we as leaders (and just as human beings in general) all serve and genuinely care for one another.

Secondly, as for my "leadership role" this week, I took on the responsibility of being a good recipient of service. :) What that means is rather than try and solve all my problems by myself, I let my needs be known and allowed others to serve me. Sometimes that is one of the hardest things for a leader/person to do because naturally we want to feel independent and capable of handling our own situations in life. However, it is humbling and extremely comforting to be able to let others help you out.(of course without abusing that service by requesting it beyond your practical needs.)

Once again, I'm grateful for the wonderful people in my life and for their awesome examples to me! I wouldn't be who I am today without their love, friendship, encouragement, examples and service.

First off, I loved the presentation on Divine Centered Leadership on Monday as well as the reading that went along with it. It is so true that giving selfless service and striving to be Christlike individuals can help us to be great leaders. Also I learned that it's important not only to give service, but to accept it when it is offered to you and when you are in need of it to let that need(s) be made known.

Secondly, I would like to share a cool experience I had this past week in being the recipient of Divine centered-Christ-like Service. On Halloween I ran a half marathon with my awesome Mom and our amazing friend Gail. I ran non-stop at a descent steady pace throughout the entire run until I got to about the 10th mile, when I had to stop because my calf muscles stiffened up so bad. I continued to walk/run(more like a "turtle Jog";) on my own until I yet again got to the point that even walking seemed almost too strenuous. With about a mile and a half left, I was walking pretty slow and feeling pretty down about myself for not being able to continue running. When I was in the point of feeling my deepest despair and could sense the disapointment begin to work its way into tears, I was suddenly and miraculously visited by what I like to call my "Angel" in yellow & spandex!:D A man in spandex and a bright yellow shirt came running up behing me and boomed with a loud, encouraging voice, "Come on PJam0-rama!" (since I was running in footsie pjs:) "Let's do this thing girl! C'mon, I know you can run to the end! It's just as if you were going on a breezy mile and a half jog in the morning!" His words were like magic! He slowed down long enough to get me running, and then we continued onward to the end together! But the magic continued! He didn't stop at me! From then on out he continued encouraging and motivating people to start running till the end! Pretty soon there was a group of us all running together and I found myself encouraging the other people to keep running as well! It was a miraculous chain effect! I felt within me a burst of untapped energy and enthusiasm that I previously didn't think possible. Because of this one man, I and many others were able to brighten up, gain enthusiasm and ultimately finish the race running strong! It truly was amazing and I am so thankful to Heavenly Father for blessing me with this Angel in spandex and yellow who taught me the importance of helping others along the race, and not just in the running races, but in the ultimate Journey of Life. We are all brothers and sisters of a loving and wonderful Heavenly Father who loves us so much. It is so important that we remember this, to keep this Eternal Perspective in mind, and to let this truth be the driving force of all of our actions so that we may be full of the perfect love of Christ and help each other make it back to live with him and each other for eternity!

Conflict

Something really cool that I learned from the lecture and in class this week is that conflict is not only present in all of our lives, which I already knew ha, but that it is Necessary. Whenever I have thought or been taught about conflict, it has usually been focused on how to eliminate it from my life. But as I learned, a little conflict, when used in the right way, can actually be beneficial. Now I'm not talking about the "contentious" type of conflict here, because that is bad, but I am talking about the type of conflict that encourages perfection, creativity and improvement. For example, I learned that in a business situation, conflict between employees can encourage competition which in turn stimulates those "creative-juices" for new ideas which can result in success and improvement within the company. Also, ironically, conflict within the Family can be and is an excellent way for the family to grow closer together. However, again it has to be the right kind of conflict. As I learned in class, the pattern to find this "right" or beneficial kind of conflict is found in D&C 121 (specifically verses 41-46) I won't go into the specifics of these verses (Although I Highly recommend studying them!:) but I will say that if we follow this pattern of constructive criticism within our families and marriages, it can prove to strengthen us and bring us closer together, not only with each other, but with the Lord. And ultimately I learned that in order to have righteous conflict, one must be full of "unfeigned" or unfailing (charity) Love with whomever the person is that they are in conflict with, because that way when the conflict is solved rather than having bitter and harsh feelings towards one another, you will be filled with a greater love, trust, and respect for them and in consequence be closer friends/loved ones with each other. I'm so grateful for this Awesome lesson! It taught me to look at conflict in a whole different light and it makes me excited to try and apply the Right kind of conflict solving into my life.

This week I continued with my leadership role by going to Service Squad on Wednesday night with Y Serve. We went to the Campus Plaza Apartments where we offered to do a variety of acts of service for people such as sweep the floors, take out the trash and do the dishes. It was so fun and we got to meet lots of really cool people! Probably my favorite incident was the first door we knocked on. As we walked by the glass screen door that peered into the kitchen, we saw a big sign above the sink that read, "Everyone make sure to do your dishes PLEASE!" We laughed as we saw the big pile of dishes below the sign because we knew these girls had no excuse not to let us offer our service to them. :) As expected, when the girl, her name was Hillary, answered the door and we told her what we were doing, she was initially shocked and then in the hasty, natural response said, " oh no, you don't have to do anything for us, but that is so nice though..." We gently asked a second time, "Are you sure??? Because we'd L-O-V-E to do it!" I think she thought we were nutty for being so Eager to serve her ha! But to our satisfaction, she graciously consented and let us in to do her dishes for her! As we did so, we had the opportunity to talk to her, to get to know how her day was, and eventually to even get to know a lot more about her personally. As we sincerely chatted with her, it was awesome to see how she opened up to us and eventually we were all talking and joking around as if we were good friends. Before we left, she sincerely thanked us and told us that we had just made her whole night! WOW! I cannot tell ya how GOOD that felt to hear her say that! I am so grateful to have been a tool in the Lord's hands by serving his children-no matter how simple of a way, and specifically one of his precious daughters, Hillary. This is what life is all about! As it says in Moses 1:39, "Behold, this is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." It is my sincere desire, goal, hope and prayer that I can be a worthy servant of the Lord in helping to fulfill this his mission and helping to serve his children throughout my entire Life. I am so grateful for this testimony building experience and the wonderful lessons about the purpose of life that it has taught to me.

6 Thinking Hats & Leadership styles

In my leadership role this week, I tried to incorporate the things we were taught both from the Leadership styles lecture on Monday and the 6 thinking Hats activity on Wednesday.

For my role at serving in "Y Serve" on Wednesday, I noticed that as a group we acted much like the affiliative leadership style. We did this by "emphasizing the importance of teamwork" and thus creating unity within our group. Our leaders were also good Pacesetters. They set a high goal in the number of people we were to serve tonight as well as set a timelimit that required us to work fast and effectively.

As for the Six Thinking Hats, I observed that in general our Y Serve Group tended to be Yellow Hat thinkers or leaders. We were all extremely positive and optimistic in our opportunity to serve others and reach our goal of making a difference in someone's life. Our enthusiasm was reflected in our "Sunny" and eager countenances. It was cool to apply these leadership styles and thinking hats to my leadership role and to see how they effectively worked.

This week for my leadership role I decided to try out the Y Service Squad on Wednesday night. I L-O-V-E-D it! We went around all of the dorms at Helaman halls learning peoples names, getting to know them, and offering to take out people's trash. My group hit up the boys hall at Budge. We met a lot of nice people and it was cool to get to know them. Stephanie, our leader, told us to concentrate specifically on remembering people's names and said that knowing the individual can make a huge difference. She also said it is important to give real and sincere compliaments to people because they can tell the difference. She used me as an example of giving a sincere compliament when she told me that my eyes were some of the prettiest blue eyes she'd ever seen-that was so nice of her! She is a cutie and I really could tell that she meant it and that is awesomeness.

I couldn't help but think this club is perfect for me! I love serving others and helping people to experience the same happiness that I have felt and been the recipient of. It is also funny that this club fits perfectly with my personality type (ESFJ) in that it focus's on the welfare of others and this is how my personality type recieves the greatest personal satisfaction(which is so true!) It is Awesome to feel like you've made a difference, no matter how small or simple, in someone's life.

And as was testified to all of us who attended Y Serve...'What goes around, comes around!' This was brought to light in a very funny coincidence that occurred: One of the groups went on and on in detail about this extremely messy room on the first floor of one of the boys halls. As they continued describing it, one of the boys in our Y serve group asked more about it's description and it turns out it was his room!!! :D hahaha! There really is such a thing as kharma! haha! What goes around, does often come around! Overall, it was such a fun experience and a great way to serve and to get involved as a Christlike leader on campus.

Personality Reflection

Turns out when I checked my paper after I got to my apartment, I wasn't an ENFJ afterall:) sorry to lower the number of ENFJ folk in our class ha!

But it turns out I am an ESFJ(Extroverted, Sensing, Feeling, Judging), which is still pretty close! :) And like many of you who also took the Meyers & Briggs test, I was shocked at how accurate some of the results were for me. Like I said in class today, although these are my results, as Steve Smith said in his lecture Monday, these only represent my preferences, not necessarily what I always exhibit. Yet I found these preferences to be generally very true.

I learned several things about myself. One thing I learned is that as an ESFJ, I am a people person: i love people and I am warmly and sincerely interested in others! I want to like people and I have a special skill(as does my Mom:) of bringing out the best in others. This is so true! I love service and making others feel better! I get the greatest personal satisfaction from the happiness that I can hopefully give to others. This quality reflects my strong view that this life is all about serving other people ultimately and helping each other to return home to our loving Heavenly Father(Moses 1:39).

I also learned a little about my leadership potential from this test. It said that I have a strong desire to be liked and for everything to be pleasant which makes me highly supportive of others. It also said that I like to be in control(not usually the case for me?) and to help things be organized. Also that I take my responsibility very seriously and am thus dependable. It also mentioned that I respect and believe in laws and rules of authority and that I believe others should as well, which is very true of me. I believe that obedience is key to safety and true happiness. These are all very good qualities when it comes to being an effective leader.

Knowing both the weaknesses and the strengths of my personality type can help me better understand others as well. Knowing that being such a people person I am easily susceptible to be hurt from others indiffrence and that I don't understand unkindness, I can recognize when this happens that I should not take it personally or let it dissuade my desire to show kindness. Also I can let my love for others fuel my desire to help them achieve their own successes. Thus I can utilize my gifts and talents for the benefit of those whom I serve.

News Flash!!! :): In my several weeks of exploring, I finally decided on a club to join! Yay! And it happens to be one of the most random, but definately one of the coolest clubs out there-The Vietnamese Club!!! Haha! How it happened, well lets just say one of my good Vietnamese buddies, MyMy, happens to be the President of the Vietnamese club and she invited me to her house for dinner where we all ate a DELICIOUS Vietnamese meal and she told me I should join the club because there would be lots of fun things(such as eating amazing Vietnamese food ;) to do and learn about, so I decided somewhat spontaneously to join the club and I am so excited for it ha! I can't wait to add this as part of my leadership role as well and report back how it goes.....

Other news: My current leadership role in being a good room mate and campus cheerer-upper have been going quite sweetly. I'm learning to love my room mates and I comfortably enjoy spending time with them now. Also I have tried to increase the amount of smiles and friendly "hellos" I have been giving daily to random strangers on campus...it is very fun ha! Smiles truly have a rippling affect and it is awesomeness to be apart of that effect! I hope to continue increasing my number of acts of friendliness at school and everywhere I go, as well as work on being a good servant leader.

Also, I thouroghly enjoyed our class discussion this week as well as our lecture. I love how everything we discuss in this class often ties in with the Savior and his perfect style of leadership and how we can emulate his example. Also King Benjamin is an excellent example in the Book of Mormon of how a righteous leader should act and view himself. I love the statement as well in 1 Cor. 12:9-10"For when I am weak, then am I strong." This statement is so True! I have found in my own life that when I am sincerely striving to be humble, grateful, and filled with more charity and other Christlike attributes, or when I am struggling to repent-to change for the better, to overcome a weakness, challenge, or hard trial, it is during these times of weakness that I come the closest to my Savior, feel his great love for me, and gain testimony of the true and amazing power of his Atonement in my life. Truly as Nephi and many others have said, " All things are possible with the Lord!"

To start off with, I loved the lecture on Monday! I know we've discussed some of the many leadership qualities essential to making a great leader several times, but it seems like each time I re-study them or even study them in further depth, I continue learning so much more and have an even greater desire to apply them in my life! It is awesomeness and I love it!

Specifically the speaker touched on 5 key leadership principles that I would like to share and express my thoughts on:

1. COURAGE Not only does this include physical bravery and mental confidence, but most importantly I believe Moral Courage-to stand up for and speak truth in a day and age where this is not the popular thing to do.

2. INTEGRITY Synonymous with consistency, experience, trust, honesty, respect, and commitment to a clear goal. (I want to possess an unquestionable Integrity!)

3. SACRIFICE John 15:13 & Matt. 25:40-the greatest examples of sacrifice.

4. TAKE ACTION! So important because its the only way by which things get done. Many times it requires acting in faith.

5. VISION Moses 1:39-"Behold, this is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and Eternal life of man."-Our beloved Heavenly Father's ultimate vision for all of us, his beloved children, made possible through the Atonement of his most amazing and beloved son Jesus Christ.

Lastly, I too believe that it is so important not to let fear get in the way of our ability to shine forth and lead out as examples. We must substitute it with its opposite, that is Faith. Sometimes this is not always easy to do, but we must, and as we act in faith we can find comfort in the scripture, "For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."

Also, a little comment on how my leadership roles are going:) I'm continuing to strive to be a good leader among my awesome room mates, by doing such things as taking out the trash, doing the dishes, vaccuming, or other chores when I see it is needed. More importantly, I'm trying to get to know them better personally and to do fun activities with them or have funny/good conversations. It is awesomeness, and the more I am getting to know them, the more I am appreciating them for who they are and what they do.

This week I really enjoyed both the lecture on Monday as well as the Group presentations in class. One thing I thoroughly enjoyed about the lecture was all of the cool quotes on leadership that he explored. Some of my favorites are:

"In History, chance plays a part again and again. Character counts over and over."
-David McCullough

"Live in the Present!"

"The best leaders inspire people to rally around a change, while poor leaders have to push, cajole, or even threaten to accept change."

"We all have the potential to be great leaders and make a difference in our world today."

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly...who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows the triumph of high achievement and who at worst, if he fails, at least he fails fighting for what he believed in."
-Theodore Roosevelt "In the Arena"

Along with these quotes I also liked the idea behind motives. Our motive-what is at our core, what causes us to act in a certain way, to do a certain thing, our incentive-truly is essential to consider, not just in being a good leader, but I believe in general for being a Good Person.
And of course, the closer our motives are to Christlike attributes, such as charity, service, joy, devotion, integrity, happiness, brotherly kindness and love to name a few, the better leader or individual we will be able to be.

I found that as a strived to be a better leader throughout this week, whether it be at school, amongst my roomates, at church or with family or friends, I was happier and felt good that I could perhaps help those around me, whether they be dear loved ones or simply strangers.

In particular I focused harder this week on being a good leader on campus. I've found it's so easy to get focused on things like school work, planning my schedule around homework projects, etc. that distract me from focusing on other people and trying to make a difference on campus. So my goal for this week was to try not to focus on being preoccupied with my own needs by doing small and simple things for people like saying hi, smiling, holding open a door or striking up a conversation with someone I don't know while I'm walking. I've found this to be so uplifting and although it is so simple, it has a very profound effect on my attitude and I hope on the attitude of those I meet as well. It has also given me the opportunity to meet some pretty amazing people that I otherwise wouldn't have had the chance to meet.

So, to all of you my friends I would like to extend the challenge to try one of these simple acts of kindness and then to experience for yourself the happiness and chain effect that it has on both yourself and other people.

Interview

Typically when we think of someone who we view as a good leader our thoughts are drawn to those heroic leaders of our society such as Presidents, government officials, party organizers, service groups, educational instructors, and other position holding individuals.
Although these are all very important and often good leadership roles, as I thought about someone who I view to be a good leader I immediantly thought of both of my parents, and in particular my mom.
She plays one of the most important leadership roles anyone on the face of this earth could do, that is by being a mother and leading out through her example and love in the home, alongside my father.
Some of the qualities she has that make her a good leader is firstly, that she is FULL of Love! The whole world could turn their back on me and yet I'd always know that she would be there for me. Also she is compassionate. I make mistakes, as does everyone who is human, yet she has the ability to look past my weaknesses and help me to realize my strengths. Another leadership quality she has is that she is selfless. She is constantly sacrificing her own time for her family by doing such things as cooking dinner, cleaning the house, helping with homework, working as a full-time no pay limo driver, and much much more.
She is an influence for good in all of these ways. Through her awesome example, she effects me and my siblings to try and do what she teaches us. We want to be better because she wants us to be better and we sincerely feel that. Also we love her, so to show her that we appreciate her, we work hard to follow her example and do what is right.
I can learn so much from her in my leadership roles. Not only in the different accademic and social roles that I've had/have/will have, but also in my role someday as a mother. I hope to apply her qualities in all aspects of my life, but most importantly in my future role as a mother. If I can be even half as awesome as she is at being a mom, best friend, and leader to my children, then I am in good shape! I'm so grateful for her and her example as a good leader.

Blog and Reflection #1:

First of all, I just had to say how happy I am to have set up a blog all by myself! :D haha! It is quite the accomplishment for someone as technology-handicaped as myself!

Secondly, I am very excited for this course and the opportunity we will all have to learn how to be better leaders, in both large and small ways.

From our first lecture on Monday, I was able to see a lot of cool insights about individual and group leadership. I gained these insights from people's comments in class as well as the video clip we saw about the climbers of Mt. Everest.
I was very impressed with Eric's "vision" of climbing Mt. Everest although he was blind. I loved how he didn't let his situation get in the way of him living his life to the fullest. We can learn so much from his example. I also liked the Unity that was involved as well as the genuine care of each of the climbers for each other.
One of the comments made by one of the climbers who summited with Eric has stuck with me. He said that it felt so outstanding for him personally to have made it to the top, yet it felt even more satisfying and enjoyable that others, including Eric, had made it with him. This got me thinking about our "Journey of Life." I believe this statement applies to our lives as well-sure, it's great when we accomplish some huge task before us or experience something amazing individually, but it doesn't even compare to the feeling of gratification and happiness and pure joy we feel when we accomplish, fix, create, build, discover, explore, experience, lift and overcome something with other people; especially when we are serving with or for them.

As for my leadership role that I have decided to work on throughout this semester, well there are so many good ones, I couldn't settle for just one ha! My plan is to join and serve as a member of my ward choir, strive to be a good friend and outgoing roomate, possibly and very awesomely-(don't think that's a word:)-join byu's Karate club, volunteer with byusa, and I'm already a member of Cougar United where I will cheer my heart out and deck out in all blue for the byu football games! I can't wait! :D