Application Activity

I would like to make things easier for Mom by looking after the household duties so that she can focus on finishing school and also so she is able to relax when she's home. I have already started that by cooking dinner every night, as Mom stays at the school until it closes each day and is usually too tired to cook supper or do very much housework when she gets home. I also want to help her finish school successfully by running her through typing tests, as she isn't very good at typing and she needs to practice that at home so she can pass the typing test. I hope that by taking care of the house and the dog while Mom is in school, she will be able to relax and not worry when she gets home at the end of each day. I also hope that by running practice typing tests for Mom, she will improve at the typing well enough to pass that portion of her course and be able to graduate.

I will know if the change is coming about by how relaxed Mom is in the evenings because she doesn't have housework to worry about after she gets home from school. As far as actually helping her pass the typing part of her schoolwork, I'll know that the practice tests worked if she happens to pass the program's typing test. Before this fall, Mom had never done any post-secondary or vocational training before, so I want to be supportive of her all I can by making it easier for her to focus on doing well. I will know if my efforts to help have succeeded when Mom passes the course and can enjoy the fact that she was able to focus enough on the work to pass it because I was helping her with everything else that needed to get done.

A challenge that might come up is trying to keep on top of my own schoolwork and also any volunteer commitments or out of the house commitments that I might have along with making sure the house and the dog are taken care of. A challenge I can see when trying to help Mom with her schoolwork is trying to keep Mom motivated and feeling encouraged when she gets frustrated about not being able to do things as perfectly as she would like. Sometimes, she gets very frustrated over her imperfections and when I try to reassure her, she sometimes gets upset because she feels like I don't understand when I actually understand all too well.

This goal fits in with my larger life goals as taking care of several responsibilities at once is helping me to prepare for someday becoming a wife and mother. Helping Mom with her schoolwork is equivalent to giving service to those in need of a helping hand and also practicing my teaching skills, as I have always wanted to teach in some capacity. I hope to someday be of help to my spouse and children in both personal and educational pursuits as I am to my family right now. I know my eternal purpose is to nurture those in need of compassion and love, so any service I can give helps me to fulfill that purpose.

I will start by first doing the housework and cooking when Mom is at school, as well as take care of whatever errands she needs run. When Mom gets home from school and has had time to relax, I will help her by running her through timed practice typing tests so she can not only learn the proper way to type, but also pass the program's typing test. If the housework is done when Mom gets home, she is more likely to want to relax and then practice her typing enough to pass the typing test.

The steps I will accomplish by the end of the next week are running Mom through a few practice typing tests and also making sure the household duties are done when she gets home from school so that she doesn't have to worry about them. I am already taking care of the housework and dinner preparation so Mom can stay at school as long as she needs to, but I know that I need to help Mom with typing so she feels confident about taking her test whenever it comes up. I am good with computers and typing, so I need to use my strengths in order to help Mom get more comfortable working at the computer because she will need to be comfortable working at the computer wherever she finds work after she finishes her program.

My younger brother works a lot and I don't see him very much even though we live in the same city, but I want to make more of an effort to tell him that I love him and make sure he knows that I love him. We don't have a lot of opportunity to get together, so I also want to include him in going out to dinner with Mom when she graduates from her program. I hope that through telling my brother I love him and trying to include him in more things, we will become closer. Because of the alcoholism my dad had when he was alive, we were never really that close as a family unit and even though my dad has been gone for 13 months, we are still not that close.

I will know if there is change coming about if my brother actually calls me on his own or if he just tells me that he loves me back. Our family dynamic is very complicated and always has been, so I will be happy if he just tells me he loves me back. My brother has always had a bit of a self-esteem issue because my dad wasn't very kind to him when he was alive. My hope is that being told he is loved enough will help my brother's self-esteem improve. I will review my progress every day, as I try to communicate with my brother as often as I can even if it is just by phone or texting, as he is very important to me and I love him a lot.

A challenge I am likely to encounter is the fact that my brother doesn't keep in touch with my mother and I very much even though we all live in the same city, but being able to communicate with him by phone and text messages keeps us from from not talking at all, as I don't often see him because of his busy work schedule. I will simply have to make the effort to keep in touch and let him know he is loved. In terms of maintaining the positive changes that may take place as a result of this goal, I can continually remind my brother that he is my brother and that he is loved. Maybe with positive reinforcement from the family members he has left, my brother can someday overcome his self-esteem issues.

This goal does fit in with my larger life goals and my eternal purpose because I want to uplift others and include them in daily things because I was not included in a lot of things when I was younger and I know how it feels to be left out of things. I also make it an effort to let people I care about know they are loved because not everyone I cared about in past days let me know that I was truly cared about. I know that God and Jesus Christ have showed they care about my eternal welfare and that eternal welfare of my family simply by bringing forth the Atonement and the Plan of Salvation to give me hope of being able to become better, so the best way to thank them for that is to help others know that they can become better if they so choose.

The first step I will take is to continually let my brother know he is loved even if it is through a phone call or a text message, since he doesn't come visit the house very much due to his very busy work schedule and the fact that he is very tired when he finishes each day, but Mom and I do get lucky on occasion and see him on the bus, on the weekends, or downtown and that gives us opportunity to chat. The next step will be to have him help take Mom out to dinner when she finishes her program, but we will not know for certain until the end of December if she will finish. I am of the belief that she will finish, however, and so I have made plans with my brother to take her out to dinner when she graduates as a way to celebrate her graduation.

By next week, I will have told my brother at least twice via text message or through conversation that he is loved. We don't see each other a lot because he works, so maybe the best I can do is a text message, but that is better than nothing at all. If I don't get a response, at least I will know that I did tell him I loved him, God will know, and my brother will know I love him. I also hope to perhaps see my brother either on the bus, downtown, or through some sort of visit we might pay to each other.

Discussion Board Posts
 While we cannot choose the family we are born into and whatever may happen in it, we can choose how we will treat our family and how we deal with our circumstances. The Spirit can be present in those who are born into difficult circumstances and can help them be able to endure familial challenges with both grace and a good attitude. Though we may not be shown love by our family, we can show love and through our example, we may encourage our family to break any negative cycles that have caused family relationships to be shaky. Love is of God and if love is shown in a family, even if it is shown only by one, the effects of such an act can benefit present and future generations.

God gave us family that we might learn how to nurture others by benefiting from the nurturing efforts of those around us whether it be family of origin or surrogate family. By having at least one person in our lives who can provide us with love and care, we can come to want to give that which we have received in the way of love and compassion to others who stand in need of it. The Spirit of God gives us courage and ability to love and the Atonement of Christ enables us to look past our imperfections to not only love ourselves, but to also love others if we so choose to utilize such opportunities. Having Christ as the center of all things provides opportunity for families to draw together in temporal and spiritual unity in both good times and in difficult times.

 It is my understanding that children are very close to the veil of life, as are those with disabilities and elderly people, and they have insights and understanding that others often do not because of their closeness to the veil. It is a great joy to serve in callings that involve teaching children and guiding them in the ways of the Lord, as I know that my example of love and compassion will have a positive impact on the direction that each child's life will take even if it takes them a while to realize it. Children can be great teachers for everyone else because they give love very easily and see good in everyone that they encounter, as Christ did during His ministry on the Earth.