I remember being a freshman and being amazed every day that I was really on BYU campus.
During the prayer in my Living Prophets class, the girl giving it said something along the lines of "we thank Thee for allowing us to be at this prestigious university" and so my teacher
(Matthew O. Richardson, a.k.a. the second counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency, and one of the best and most inspirational teachers I've ever had)
talked about how we don't always remember it, but we would really appreciate it when we were older.
Well, I don't just want to appreciate it when I'm older, I want to remember that feeling from freshman year now. Especially since I've only got 9 more months to enjoy it.
So here's my list of why I love that Heavenly Father has given me one of the greatest blessings in my whole life (probably second only to being born into a wonderful family of faith):
-The Spirit on campus
-I promise, it truly is the Lord's University (along with BYU-I and BYU Hawaii and LDSBC.)
-Prayer before classes
-Using the Book of Mormon as a reference for a paper in a non-religion class, and having it count as a reliable source
-The Board of Directors consists of the Prophet and other General Authorities and Officers of the Church, and meets once a month, when most other college boards meet once a year. Try and tell me they don't care about us.
-It's beautiful here. In so many ways.
-I'm surrounded by people who inspire me - and I'm interacting with future leaders of the Church.
-I couldn't have gotten an education like this anywhere else
-Tithing heavily subsidizes the cost of my education (and is part of my scholarship too I believe) - I will always appreciate the blessing of being able to pay it.
-I've had the greatest experience here. My testimony has been infinitely strengthened. I see the Lord in my life every single day, even when it gets hard. I know that no matter what happens, coming to BYU was one of the most important decisions I've made in my life so far (and probably ever will make besides marriage, even if it was an easy decision).
And this is the short list. I could give you a million and one little details that would probably bore you to death but are still wonderful blessings from my Heavenly Father who has somehow seen fit to give me.
