Next week will mark my two year anniversary of choosing to go through the temple and I’ve been feeling very sentimental lately. So I thought I’d do a post about where it all began, St. George. I’ve only told a handful of people the actual story and it isn’t something I bring up often. I lived in St. George for about a year and I wasn’t making the best life choices. I’ve been reminiscing about the morning that I had the thought of “I think I’m going to go back to church. It’s the only way I know how I can begin to make better decisions.” Thinking back to that day, the moments leading up to that day, thinking back to sitting in the temple parking lot any time things got hard, it’s all emotional for me.

Before I made the decision that I wanted to come back to church I would sit in the temple parking lot when things got hard. If that isn’t a sign enough I don’t know what is! It was kind of funny, during these times I honestly wanted nothing to do with the church and didn’t really believe in it, but somehow would always end up there. This little college town in southern Utah is where it all started. A spark was set off and I’ve never been the same ever since. Although I chose to move out of St. George it will always hold a special place in my heart. If I had never lived there I may have never stumbled upon the morning where everything ‘clicked’. Thinking back to it now, my life in St. George seems like a dream, like it’s something that never happened. I am a completely different person than I was when I lived there. But I wouldn’t change it for the world. Here’s why: If I didn’t move to St. George and make the choices I did, I would have never realized how I wanted to be a part of this gospel. I am eternally grateful for the St. George temple, for the memories I made in the city and the moment that the gospel ‘clicked’ in my life. If I hadn’t lived there I might’ve never known a life that made the gospel a priority. The word grateful is an understatement. Words cannot express the overwhelming feeling of gratitude I have for that little college town. The gospel had been in my life all along, I just woke up one morning and decided to recognize it. I knew I wanted it to be a part of my life and that it was going to be the hardest and best decision that I could make for my own future.

Not everyone is going to have a moment when it ‘clicks’ they might have to work towards that moment, some may never need a moment like that, everybody is different. But in that moment, it all began.