Dealing With Loss

I saw this post on Facebook this week and it really touched me. Bonnie Parton shared her thoughts on Mary being the ultimate example of God giving and then taking away. I also learned this week in one of my readings for a class of Christ asking one of his disciples to comfort his mother when he was dying on the cross. 

Holidays can be a hard time for people who have lost loved ones. This year I have lost five friends. Two of them I went middle school and high school with, both died by suicide. One I have performed on the Great Wall of China with who passed away by rolling off the freeway. One was a man who taught me all about Native Americans arts and crafts as I sold goods in his gift shop as did my mother. And finally, my dear grandma Johnson passed away after years of dementia.

I think about how social media can assist those in the grieving process. I have seen so many people share memories and reach out to families of those who have lost loved through the Facebook page of the one who passed. 

When I posted about my grandma I received so many mice comments that helped me feel loved. 

I saw Mayra share about her husband and losing him and so many people saying kind words to her. 

Someone also created a go fund me for her. 

https://www.gofundme.com/f/tanner-bradshaw-memorial-fund?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&fbclid=IwAR0RKJfyk_OCZQqJNK_wNtdCOKzCvIf8BKgzEl-f6gLHL_W8ChyRw-4PwSU

This is a picture of Branton and I with a dress he bought me when we were in China. I read many posts about the random kind deeds he did for people all the time. Such a nice person. 

Here is a picture of myself and John Rich on a tour he took me on to see a Hopi Indian dance.

When each of these loved ones passed the social media was a way for people to memorialize those they loved and remember them. 

I am grateful I can across this picture of Christ. We all have suffered loss. This year has been full of a lot of it for me. I read this week how Christ asked his apostle to comfort his mother Mary with the loss of losing him. I know that Christ is sending people to also comfort us in our losses, and social media can help bring awareness to a community about what people are going through.  

Marvel Movies: Captain Marvel

Since my family's phone plan includes Disney+ for a year, I now have access to all sorts of good movies! My husband and I are making our way through all of the Marvel Movies! There are two logical ways to watch them: order of the release date or chronologically. We have chosen chronologically. Last Friday we watched Captain America and just tonight we watched Captain Marvel! 

I really enjoyed watching both of these, but since I watched Captain Marvel today, I will write about that one! 

My husband informed me that in the original comic books Captain Marvel was a man and that when the movie was made and Captain Marvel was a female, there was a lot of negative reactions. In a way I can understand why... If they expected it to be one way, and was not... That could cause some distress... However, I really loved watching a female lead in this movie. I feel like because I am a female I might be more interested in watching the show because it is more relatable. However, I do see how this could through the social learning theory could make women more aggressive. 

There was a sweet message in the movie. When The Commander of "The Cree" sees that Captain Marvel received the powers that he was after, he takes her and takes away all of her memories so he can then make her believe she is one of "The Cree" who is after "The Skrulls." One of "The Skrulls" is able to help Captain Marvel to realize who she is and then she has to fight against and talk back to powers of "The Cree" in order to gain her memories back and to have her powers as her own and not under the influence of "The Cree". 

I compared this to being children of God here on this earth. Satan is doing everything to make us "forget" our true identity. We have bodies and he does not. This is similar to Captain Marvel having powers that The Commander of The Cree does not. Satan hopes to make us forget our true identity so he can control us into doing his satanic purposes... If we do end up on the wrong side, it may take a true disciple of Christ to bring us back, just like it took one of "The Skrulls" to help Captain Marvel realize her true self and purpose. 

Aladin!

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone is having a good break! 

I've been asked to house sit a mansion in my parents stake, which has been awesome! My husband and I have invited our friends over to hot tub and play games last night, and tonight we had his family over. One thing we did was watched the new Aladin with three of his quadruplet younger siblings, and oh my goodness, I love that movie! 

Some things I loved about it: Jasmin's voice was super good, there were lots of humorous things throughout the movie, and the graphics were just very nice, I loved who they got to play Aladin, the dancing was very fun, and I also love the story line. Also, my husband pointed out to us the moment in the movie when the Disney castle was built in the sand! See if you can spot it next time, or maybe you did spot it!

I love the message that Genie tells to Aladin something like, "I can make you a prince on the outside, but I can't change who you are in the inside." This is such a sweet message, thinking about how we are all sons and daughters of a Heavenly King. I think we all have felt pressure to dress a certain way or change our outside appearance for others, but those who we really should care to be friends with should love us for the person we become on the inside. That being said, I still really like cute clothes! 

I've heard people say, "Disney is making money off of recreating movies from our childhood" and I just have to say, I love that! It was fun to watch this movie! Next I want to watch Lion King! 

Hotel Rwanda

After our lecture on Tuesday when Dr. Coyne recommended Hotel Rwanda, I went home and watched this movie. I read a book once when I was younger a true story about the Rwandan genocide and it was so heart-wrenching to read a true story of what a survivor who had to experience such trauma, but at the same time it was so engaging. My experience watching Hotel Rwanda had a similar effect on me. I just could hardly even understand how a society could get to a point where they honestly thought they needed to kill off a group of people like the Hutus did to the Tutsis, killing around 800,000 men, women and children total. Like Dr. Coyne talked about in class, media did play a role in the genocide.

I wanted to learn more about this role that media had, and so I googled it and found the below link that explains more about the potential role the radio(RTLM), newspaper, etc. propaganda, "played in both inciting and prolonging the violence"(The Conversation US, Inc). One interesting fact from this article is that those who had killed in this genocide attributed killing more to the fear of the victims and the conversations they had than they did to the radio... 

Thinking about the movie and if I were a Tutsi or a righteous Hutu trying to save my Tutsi friends, I can not imagine the fear that I would feel if I had turned on the radio inside the hotel to only hear evil people encouraging the genocide. 

http://theconversation.com/debate-continues-about-the-medias-role-in-driving-rwandas-genocide-114512

MedCircle and Grad School

I have been watched quite a few MedCircle videos on different mental illnesses which have been just fascinating. It is incredible to me the experiences that people face in life, and often how the brain responds, as well as how genetics can also play an important role. I have mainly taken interest in videos on Dissociative Identity Disorder(DID) and Borderline Personality Disorder(BPD).  In the MedCircle videos I watched on DID I learned from Encina Severa who has DID, and one of her alters - or different "people" inside her who take over her body who have their own character and likes - came out on camera. To describe what goes on when this happens Encina Severa used an analogy of driving a car and having someone take control of the wheel and throwing her in the back or throwing her in the back with a bag over her head, or into the trunk of the car, to describe the different feelings that happen when different alters take over. These included being able to see and hear, just being able to hear, and not being able to see or hear. This was extremely fascinating to learn about! I think it is so cool how much we can learn on the internet. 

I have become quite fascinated with the mind and how it works which has lead me to decide to apply for grad school. I have spent much media time this week on the internet beginning the process of applying for BYU Clinical Psychology Program. This has meant reading about the professors in the department, signing up to take the GRE, studying for the GRE because it is in less than 2 weeks, and reading more about the program. I also need to apply for other schools graduate programs because I know BYU's is very competitive. Wish me luck on the journey :) 

Here's a link to one of the videos about Encina! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0kLjsY4JlU

Oh Yummy Bread!

About a month or two ago my grandmother gave me her Bosche and since then I have been baking bread about every week. I turned to the internet to find a recipe on wheat bread that is delicious.

Just Monday, I texted the sister I ministered to see how she was doing and the conversation seemed polite, but likely not to go anywhere. So, I told her I was planning on baking bread and asked if I could bring some by to her. I keep my recipes on my phone so I got that out again just yesterday and baked her some bread which opened the door for me to have a great conversation with her in her home and get to know her and her family a little better.

Then, tonight when my husband and I got home, he asked if he should put our browning bananas in the freezer, I instead just said I could make some banana bread and so again I got out my phone and went to the banana bread recipe I like to use (this one I used my Kitchen Aid for). We both look forward to enjoying that yummy bread now as we wait for it to finish cooking. 

Food is a great way to bond us together and make others feel loved, and recipes are the only shot I have at making anything good!

Maybe I could get your input. I feel like recipes are a form of media, whether it be from the internet, a recipe book, etc. Would you agree? 

Here are the recipes I have loved to bake: 

https://www.modernhoney.com/best-homemade-one-hour-whole-wheat-bread/

https://cookieandkate.com/healthy-banana-bread-recipe/

OCD: Scrupulosity

Hello! I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

I have struggled with OCD for quite some time, I saw someone on my mission about it, but did not want to take medication for it or anything. A little while ago, I read a post on Facebook from a sister I used to minister to a while back in a singles ward I was in. She shared about getting help for OCD and how she has and is continuing to overcome it with help. I always respected this girl, I thought she was darling and so sweet. Seeing post about getting help made me also want to get help. Recently my OCD has come in a form that is a little much for me, and so I set up an appointment with Dr. Au from the BYU Student Health Center, and got started on OCD medication

However, thoughts and fears came to me pretty strongly while waiting for my appointment and I found myself at Winco, not being able to focus on finding my groceries because my brain was going a little nuts so I stopped in the aisle way and researched OCD again on my phone and found some things on  religious OCD or scrupulosity. I read about it a bit in there and this helped ease my brain a bit, I have found myself reading a lot about scrupulosity and OCD and found a good youtube video as well. This helped me to realize that I wasn't this terrible person that OCD starts lying to you and makes you think you are, and I also felt more prepared for my appointment with Dr. Au. I also downloaded a book called The OCD Mormon. As I have been reading this book I have been able to relate to the author Kari Freguson who describes many thoughts that I have felt trapped such as her first time going through the temple having a fear of not being good enough, feeling the need to over confess to a bishop and it never being good enough, and then how OCD has changed forms throughout her life. I have seen this, like I will overcome my OCD in one way, and then it manifests it differently another season.

I have turned to a good book in the past called You Are Not Your Brain that has also helped me. It is really cool to me that there is awesome help at the tip of our fingers for medical conditions whether it be OCD, or something else, there is so much written on these things online and it can be so very helpful. If anyone is interested the church has a good article in the September Ensign on Scrupulosity that I found this week. It was helpful for me to read this.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2019/09/young-adults/understanding-scrupulosity-religious-ocd?lang=eng

Literature on Intimacy

This week for the Eternal Families class I am taking from Dr. Coyne I was able to read some really neat literature that have helped me gain a deeper understanding of sexual intimacy. I really loved how Elder Holland described sexual intimacy as a sacrament, thinking of intimacy in such a sacred way was truly eye opening for me. Sister Nelson shared 30 things that couples can do to strengthen and prepare them for their intimate relationship. These 30 activities made me want to be a better wife in all aspects of my relationship with my husband. Laura Brotherson helped me to gain a stronger understanding of the importance of prayer and God in that aspect of my intimate relationship. Busby, Caroll, & Leavitt confirmed my understanding and also gave me new insights into the matter of intimacy and the personal line as opposed to a priesthood line to communicate with God when making persona decisions regarding intimacy- quoting Elder Oaks talk from October 2010 about the difference between personal and priesthood lines, and then expanding on it. Chapter 5 of the Successful Marriages and Families book taught me more about the purposes of intimacy, and the expectations or not so many expectations I should have. 

I think the take away I had from all these readings was just how sacred intimacy is, and how it truly is a God given and amazing experience that we can have on this earth to draw us closer to God. I came to more fully understand how important it is to treasure all aspects of my relationship with my husband. I'm grateful for good literature that we can turn to on this topic that can deepen our understanding and help make that one relationship more God-like. Below is a list of the literature I read for the class this week. I highly recommend these! 

1 Corinthians 6:19-20;  D&C 121:45-46

9.2 - Of Souls, Symbols, and Sacraments, Jeffrey R. Holland

10.1 - Preparing for Intimacy  - Wendy Watson Nelson

10.2 – Strengthening Marriage…, Laura Brotherson

10.3 - The Spiritual Dimension: Sexual Decision Making, Busby, Carroll, & Leavitt

Successful Marriages and Families ~ Chapter 5, pp. 49-54

Some Positives of Women in The Media

Wow these past two class periods have been deep! I really loved everyone’s comments, in class of women in the media and I feel like a lot of what everyone had to say I had been thinking and so I was glad that they could be discussed!

Looking on the more positive way women are portrayed, I thought I would share about a movie I have seen before, but watched again starting Saturday and finished watching Monday- Womder! Julia Roberts played a very strong and powerful mother who only had her thesis left to get her masters degree when her second child Auggie was born with some major facial deformities. She chose to Put aside ontaining her masters degree for a season and care for and soon homeschool Auggie clear through the fourth grade before she would send him to school where he would have to face socializing with others. She then was able to get her masters that year when he was at school, as well as care for him and do her best to care for her daughter Via too. This to me is a strong woman! 

I also rewatched the episode from the Book or Mormon youtube series of Lehi and Sariah’s sons going back to get Ishmaels family. Seeing the part when Laman and Lemuel bound Nephi and were about to bind him again, when Ishmael’s wife and his daughter pleaded with them to stop hurting Neph was very powerful. I loved watching this scene because we see the influence that these good female characters had to cease the angry actions of Laman and Lemuel, and further lead them to plea forgiveness from Nephi. I’m excited to see more of how this series porttays women, I like it thus far. 

Also I wanted to share: my husband and I have started waking up early to study our scriptures,  Come Follow Me, and The Power of the Everyday Missionary. Waking up with this media at the beginning of our day is something we want to continue. We also have started listening to some classical music at night to help get us in the right mood to fall asleep. These have been two positive rituals that are based on media that will surely help us! 

Hope you all have made it to the end of midterms okay! I know it was a fight for me!

Just a report of some other media from my last post until now:

• My sisters first time through the temple! Got to be there for that.
• Readings for classes.
• Essay writing, midterm studying, etc.

The Good Place

I hope everyone had a good General Conference weekend! I ran the St. George Marathon Saturday so ended up recovering/sleeping through a lot of it... I do however plan on going back through and listening to all the talks!

This week I started watching The Good Place. (My husband is re-watching them all with me) It's a humorous show, where this girl dies and mistakingly to "The Good Place." She then convinces her, "soul mate" to teach her how to be good...

As I have been watching that show, I have also thought about the knowledge I have of The Plan of Salvation, and how different The Plan is from this silly TV show. Some comparisons of the shows teaching's vs God's:

Good Place: Every deed we do has a positive and negative effect, and the combinations of our good and bad deeds are calculated to determine whether or not we will make it into The Good Place.
God's teachings: We have a Savior that if we repent, we can rely on the power of His atonement, become clean from our sins, and work to overcome our weaknesses and one day become like him.

Good Place: Each person who makes it to The Good Place is given a Soul Mate.
God's teachings: We each can choose our eternal companion.

How grateful I am to know of God's plan for us!

Below is a short report of some media content from after my last post until now:

• An Office Episode
• A Hoggan's Heros Episode
• Lots of readings on eternal marriage, soul mates, divorce etc. for my eternal families class
• A news article from my husband
• My phone for recipes 
• An audio book, Insights From a Prophet's Life|Russell M Nelson - Sheri Dew  
• My computer
• Learning Suite - videos to review for my Stats midterm 
• Music on my phone
• Texts between me and others
• Book of Mormon chapters
• Book of Mormon Episodes
• Provo's Most Eligible
• Facebook
• General Conference

Hope you have a good week! 

Provo's Most Eligible?

Quick update on my lost iPhone X. Good thing I had insurance on it and a new one came Monday I will say I was pretty stressed about losing info, and good to know the iCloud back up does its job and it looks like everything is there! So yay!

Anyone been watching Provo's Most Eligible? This is Season to Week 2 of Provo's Most Eligible. My husband and I have really enjoyed watching it together, and they have definitely improved since last season. One critique I have, is they could work on their sound quality.

It's fun to have a clean version of The Bachelorette. I definitely got sucked into watching Hannah B. on the last season and my husband and I both decided we did not want to watch it again because it left us feeling crummy every time, and overall just was not super wholesome.

If you have not been watching this season's Provo's Most Eligible, here's the layout for you:

There are 3 girls and 30 guys. At the end of each episode the guys who one or more of the girls want to be on their team get called up one by one. Then one or more girls step forward and if it is just one girl then that is the team the guy is on. If more than one steps forward than the guy chooses which team he wants to be on. Teams compete, there are group dates with one girl and all her guys on her team, or group dates where each girl is paired off, and then the guys in other portions have the chance to talk to whichever girls they want, and at the end of the episode they could possibly switch teams... 3 guys go home each episode is what I understand.

There is still drama on the show like on the Bachelorette, but this for me is a good replacement. I am kind of excited to see how this goes because I can tell that two of the three girls are really there to find someone, and I hope to see it happen for them.

From my last post til now a couple other good media that I have enjoyed include: The Book of Mormon Episodes, Ephraim's Rescue, and of course all the good readings for this class and my Eternal Families class also taught by Dr. Coyne. Then of course, the relief of having my iPhone back... I lasted a full 4 days without it so pretty good, maybe had some withdrawals or at least frustration when the device that I was so used to having on hand was not there. I do want to change some of my habits for my use with my phone... Just things like being more present around others, and not having to look up everything right then when I want to.

Crushed or Stolen iPhone X

Pretty sad day for me when I was singing in my car just driving down the road and realized... I did not have my phone on me... I knew right away that I likely left my phone on my car or something as I was grabbing my keys out of my backpack, and then got in and drove off. I immediately turned around (by then I had been driving for maybe 5 minutes) and I went right back to where I was parked on 300 East a couple blocks south of campus.

I asked a nice lady if I could use her phone, and tried to remember my husbands phone number... But, didn't have it memorized because I always just say, "Hey Siri, call Trevor." So I called my Mom and she looked on find my friends and found where she thought my phone was... (but it was actually just the last spot that her phone tracked mine before mine got crushed (most likely)). So about 20 minutes later I called my husband on my gmail app, and he had already made his way to BYU from Orem because I wasn't home yet and I told him I would be... Then when he went to find me on the Find My Friends app it just said that my location was not available. He told me how he had a very real moment thinking of what he might say at my funeral, and thought that I was kidnapped, and when I finally did call he thought it was my kidnapper calling him to let him know he had me. He was a bit relieved to find out it was just my phone and not me that was missing(Trevor).

We searched some more for my phone, and retraced my steps in my car. He almost left his car keys in my car when we parted ways... And that would have been bad, because he would have had no way to contact me. 

We both got home, and it was dark outside, he was trying to unlock the door to get into our basement apartment, and asked me if I could shine my light on the door, I reminded him, in a very bothered tone that I couldn't because I no longer have a phone to shine the light... 

I was nervous about how much of my things were backed up, and was relieved to find that all my pictures were backed up to my iCloud, and that my last backup was within 24 hours from when I'd lost it... I had been keeping track of what percent of the readings/ participations I was doing for this class on my iPhone's books app, and that is gone at least I think  it is... So I will have to re-think through the semester and hopefully give myself a fair grade, still hoping that maybe it will be on a books app on the iPhone, but it wasn't on the computer, which makes me think its gone. 

I still need to go through a lot of things and talk with an apple specialist to find out if all my voice recordings, journal entries, and other things on apps are there or not...

One thing I will say is I feel bad that I did not right away find away to contact my husband. I feel bad that my worries of finding my phone may have been greater than my worries of his response when I did not come home when I said I would be. 

I also, just want to say it is important that you know where all your data is backed up. It's a little scary to kind of hope that I have backed everything up, but still need to do more investigating to know whether or not it is there. 

This reminded me of when I was on my mission, and my companion downloaded pictures from the week to sent to her family off of my camera, and then they were all lost, I was so mad at her! I also remember being so extremely sad when I got off my mission, and my mission iPad was not backed up properly, and I lost everything on my iPad, which included so many pictures... I'm glad that I at least am learning to not get too worked up over things... Although I am still really bummed. 

EVERYONE JUST BACK UP YOUR THINGS, you never know when you will just do something kind of thoughtlessly that will be costly... Also... Memorize your spouses phone number if your married...

Just thinking through all the things that I used that one piece of media device for... I feel pretty anxious not having it on me, and not knowing where it is... It honestly has thrown me for a bit of a loop. I wouldn't say I am addicted to my phone, but definitely I was attached, and feel really off. 

-Kimberly

We Are Sons and Daughters of Heavenly Parents

This last week I have been impacted by media that the Lord designed to benefit his children. I have been particularly impacted by one message: We are Sons and Daughters of Heavenly Parents.

The topic this week for My SFL 200- Eternal Families class also taught by Dr. Coyne has been our Divine Nature as Sons and Daughters of Heavenly Father and Mother, and I wanted to share in 3 ways how I have especially felt this during this last week and gained a stronger testimony of this through the Lord's use of Media.

The first is attending the temple: I went to do an endowment session at the Provo Utah temple last Saturday. I tried especially hard to pay attention to all the words and the session in its entirety. I love that this is a place where we can come to understand God's plan for us and our divine destiny. It is neat to me that the Lord uses modern day media to help us understand our potential in his Holy House.

The second was on Tuesday. Many of us benefitted from President Nelson coming and teaching us 5 truths. I was one of those sitting outside the room main room, listening to his talk in the hallway and taking notes as he was projected on the TV screens. The first of those truths he taught was that we are, "Son's and Daughters of God." He continued to let us know what that means for us, and what our responsibilities are. It brings me great comfort to know that I have a purpose and that is to help myself and others become like God himself.


Lastly, I continued to gain a testimony of this throughout this past weekend when I started to listen to/read the talks/writings for my SFL 200 class. These included: Becoming Like God, LDS.org essay; The Eternal Family, Robert D. Hales; Our Identity and Destiny, Tad R. Callister; A Mother There - A Survey of Historical  Teachings about Mother in Heaven. As I read and listened to these talks I truly felt my divine potential. One talk that I listened to multiple times was Tad R. Callisters, which spoke of 5 witness that we have potential to become like God. 

As I have used the Lords righteous use of Media to understand my purpose, I have felt more strongly my worth. If I compare this to the times I've used media for maybe less worthy pursuits like watching the Bachelorette, this has been far far better. If we can just learn to use media for purposes that will help us and others come unto Christ then we can surely be instruments in the Lords hands.

- Kimberly

New Baby Boy and More!

One exciting event that happened Saturday 9.7.19 was my sister Holly gave birth to her second child! That day while my sister was in labor my Mom and I watched my sisters 2 year old - Talmage. When we went to the park to play, my Mom used her iphone to film him and I playing at the park. He then wanted to watch the video of us playing together. My husband also that day had cut down a tree, and sent us a video of the tree falling down. Talmage probably watched that video like 10-15 times initially, and then again I showed it to him lots in the car while my husband and I were driving with him just a bit before we went to the hospital to see the newborn. He asked to watch it again and again, and then when I put it away he was sad, but not for long. We then went to see precious baby newborn Bridger, and lots of pictures were taken which I had my sister Makena send me some. Then on our way out Talmgage pointed to the different pictues of baby's on the wall and said, "baby." When we got home he watched Moana and I watched lots of it too, I am sure he got much more media use that day than was probably good for him. I was nearby at my inlaws house when my Mom called and told me she needed me to take Talmage because my sister was about to deliver the baby, and I and my husband would need to take full responsibility of Talmage. I was grateful for my cell-phone so my Mom could just give me a quick call, as well as coordinate when I was to bring Talmage to the hospital to meet his new baby brother.

It has been great for family purposes for other reasons. When I went to bed already, and my husband had a message that I would need to read before I left out the door the next morning, he just texted it to me. My sister Aubrey sent an electronic invite via text to for her baby boys 1 year old birthday party, which we all went to. My husband and I used a navigation app to get us to her house without losing our way. My mom also, was able to let all of us in the family know that our cousins grandpa on the other side of the family passed away. Both mine and my husbands family use group messages to inform eachother about things, or in both there were funny videos sent of the family in the messages. This has helped me to stay connected with both mine and my husbands family. Love it!

This week I have used media for schoolwork! For this class, I used my phone to call and interview my sister-in-law about her media use with her 1 year old. I then used computer devices and word to write up and Learning Suite to submit my assignment. I have also messaged the TA Sarah Petersen for this class. I also used my cell phone to do lots of the readings that were assigned for this class.

I have been grateful for media in my Stats class as it has made it possible for me to take the full 15 credits I needed to take this semester and also fit all of my classes but one in on both Tuesdays and Thursdays so I can then find a job. I have loved watching the videos and doing the online assignments int this class. They are great.

I have used media for every one of my classes in some way or another.

I haven't gone completely electronic... I have read from one physical textbook this week, and my Book of Mormon. I also read a pamphlet about atheists that my husband was given by the atheist club at UVU.

For my ministering assignment I used the app Tools to call the sister I am assigned to minister to as well as to find the Compassionate Service Leaders phone number to give her a call back since she was the one who reached out to me to contact the girl I am assigned to minister to. I also used it to message the sister I am assigned to minister to's husband so I could try and coordinate a time to bring their family dinner, since they also just had a baby. I then used the texting app to text the sister I am assigned to minister with to coordinate as well.

I have been trying to use social media less this week... I don't know that I have gotten on a whole lot, but I have also not been keeping super mental note.

I did use my notes app to make a grocery list, and that was helpful! I use the MACU app all the time, the other day it came in handy to transfer money into my needs card when I went to a store and realized that there was no more money on it. Or I will check and just make sure I have money on it, or my fun money card too.

Here is lots of what I have done with media this last week, I'm sure there's more: billboards, media used in class presentations, etc. But I loved reflecting on the media I have used. It is a constant thing!

From the start of this school week through today I have had so many different types of media that I have used. Some tangible media that I have used or seen include: computer/ laptop, TV, Cell-phone, billboards, clubs outside campus giving away things (is that included as media?), projectors and screens. I have downloaded many of my schoolbooks onto my iphone's kindle or Deseret Bookshelf. I have read from my scriptures both physically, I just a bit ago was reading a little bit for Come Follow Me, online I have read conference talks online. I have used social media cites Facebook-Instagram. I have used Learning Suite, to look at my syllabus for this class and many other things for this and other classes. I have adjusted my class schedule through mybyu website. I have watched tennis a little on TV. I have listened to class lectures (Is this media?) I know their powerpoints likely are. I'm sure I have played music in my car at some point this week, and definitely played it while I was cleaning the other day. There have been online advertisements that have come up while I have been on the internet. Does online shopping count as media? I looked up recipes to make just the other day, and then went to the store to get those ingredients. I am using the internet and I think that is a form of media. Thinking through all the things I have done that potentially are media has made me realize just how much media there is out there and how often I use it. I used MapMyRun app just yesterday to track how many miles I have run (Is that media?). Right now as I type I am using media. I created a blog and now I am posting on it.

As I have reflected just now about all the media in my life, and this just being the past couple of days and I am sure this does not include all of it... I have realized just how much media is around and how much I really do use it. I do also still have questions about defining media. Does it include apps if I am not interacting with other people? Does a personal journal count if I am just keeping it for my use? I guess the scriptures counted and that may not have been written for anyone right now.

All this media has effected me for the most part, for the better. I have been able to read and study and this has helped me to grow. I enjoy knowing what people are doing with their lives when I go onto social media. I have one cute niece with VACTERL and I am always loving to watch the stories my brother posts with her in them. I am excited to make the recipe I found online. I loved being able to listen to a book on Bookshelf as I was on my run just yesterday.

Being more aware of media and how I use it though, is a good thing. I never want media to be a distraction in my life, but rather I want to be sure that I am using media to help me to grow. I am excited to see how this class helps me to do just that!