gratitude: day 15

today i'm grateful for my church. i belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...perhaps better known as the Mormons.
i'm grateful for this Church for a lot of reasons, but today i'm grateful for it because of the network of wonderful people it has provided me in my life. no matter where i go, no matter how far away from "home," the church seems to be the same.

when we went to hong kong last year, we walked into chapels to go to the bathroom or get some drinkable water...and we ran into people we knew...or who knew people we knew.

when ryan and i moved to california, the first sunday we were here, we saw people we knew. we also met people we didn't know and they've become some of our closest friends. it's almost as if everyone knows that no matter how different we are, we have something in common. we have the same beliefs, the same standards for ourselves, some of the same goals, and oftentimes similar pasts.

i didn't go to church today. instead, i was cheering on my fantastic sister in law in a half marathon in san diego {beautiful today, by the way}. and i missed it. i missed those familiar faces. i missed my beehives. i missed the hymns. i missed nursery. i missed it because it is a blessing in my life each sunday to be able to go and covenant and teach and be taught.

i'm grateful for the Church.