New Ward

So today was my first day back to church since Arianna was born, and I went to my new ward (since I moved to a new apartment back in January). As soon as I entered the chapel I was greeted by the RS president (who actually came by my apartment a few weeks ago with the rest of the RS presidency) who remembered who I was, even though I had been gone for about two weeks visiting my parents back in VA. Then I met a few more people (including the Bishop and his wife) before Sacrament meeting started. Sis. Fairbanks (one of the RS presidency) invited me to sit with her, her husband, and her brother. It was a nice gesture. The talks were good too. One was a Homecoming speech from a sister missionary who had gotten back over a month ago from her mission to the Phillipines, and the other was from a member of the Stake High Council. I recognized his talk because he used some quotes from a talk Boyd K. Packer gave at the last conference (well I recognized the title anyway). I had pulled up the online version of the Ensign and was reading through it before I went to church. Anyway, after Sacrament meeting was over, instead of going to Gospel Doctrine, I went to the Gospel Essentials class where we talked about obedience. I think this was a lesson I really needed to hear because being obedient to God's will is something that I know I need to work on. The lesson was so good, we all ended up being a little bit late to Relief Society/Priesthood! The lesson in Relief Society came mostly from Sis. Julie Beck's talk "And Upon the Handmaids in Those Days Will I Pour Out My Spirit" from this past conference. This was a good lesson as well, as it talked about how we could receive our own personal blessings and receive guidance from the Spirit. Both the Gospel Essentials lesson and the RS lesson went hand in hand for me, and all in all, I'm really happy that I decided to go to church today. Those lessons were definitely something that I needed :)