The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints corner

[Mystic He/Him]

FSY is great yall, if you didn’t go this year(and assuming you’re within the age requirements), you should definitely go next year.

*Spoiler because I talk a lot*

Spoiler

*Note I’m trying to be as vague as possible with specifics because, as with most things about the gospel, this is personal. And I want to share the experience, but not the why, at least not yet*
 

So. I went into FSY with 4 questions(2 important ones, 2 tangents off of those important 2), and I can absolutely say I got those answered. If I went through and cut out all the promptings and everything that stood out to me that was related to those questions, my handbook would’ve been basically empty. Like, I got so much more out of it because I came in with those questions. One of them wasn’t really even gospel related, and I still got all sorts of inspiration for it. Questions are great, and they lead to answers.

Also, I think it’s better to not have friends there, if that makes sense. I’m a very self-conscious person, and I would not have been able to share as much, and be as vulnerable as I was if the people who’s opinions I really cared about were there. Plus the people I did meet were amazing. All my friends went an earlier week, but somehow I got one of the same counselors they did, and so even though they weren’t there, I was still able to talk to my friends about my counselors because they already knew one.

My counselors were the best btw, if I can, and they’re chill with it, I am for sure gonna put them on my email list. Speaking of which, your counselors are there for you. They don’t judge, or anything like that. They are amazing and if you open up to them they can and will help you as much as they can(they will, I have experience with that). It is scary to open up and talk to them, but it’s worth it, I promise. Also, apparently they’re allowed to give you priesthood blessings too*(You have to ask, and you have to have at least one of your parents permission, but they can do it). So I learned that this week. But they’re there for you, and they care for you. They are your friend.

Okay, yall, He is always listening. No matter what, he hears and answers your prayers. And he absolutely keeps his promises. Over the past month and a half or so I kept getting told that everything would be alright. Now I completely misinterpreted that, but the night of Day 4 I understand what I was actually being promised. My problems/questions did not get better, in fact, one of them definitely got worse, but I felt peace, I sort of still feel it because I am not freaking out like I should. I can still laugh and smile easily, when I probably would be depressed and not talking to people otherwise(I know that from experience too). But it was alright, not because of what was happening, but because I had help.

Also, the Plan really does account for anything and everything. On the Morning of Day 4, when we went through our activity about Joseph Smith, I just let everything out in a prayer, I was crying and everything. And I did not get an answer, and that bugged me, because all week I had been receiving answers, and I wasn’t sure why I wasn’t getting them now. And so as the day went on I got more confused, eventually, I looked at the “His Grace” videos:

(Quick Context)

Spoiler

Basically there’s these videos about how people feel hope in the face of trials and hardship, I’d discovered them recently in one of my searches of the gospel library app(they’re under Library>Life Help>Hope>His Grace) and I had been making my way through them.

The one I was on was about what to do when you feel nothing. And that seemed a bit applicable. Anyways, nothing really stood out to me till the end where the person said something along the lines of that you need to stop putting the Holy Ghost in a box. It tries to speak to you all the time and you miss it because you keep telling yourself that that’s not how you feel the Holy Ghost. And then I went to the next video. And that video was the perfect answer to everything I had prayed about that morning. It was like it was made for me. And I felt known and loved.

But yall, I need you to understand, My prayer was answered because it wasn’t answered. I had to be put into a position where I felt my prayer wasn’t answered so I would watch the video on feeling nothing  to see the next one. Like, if that doesn’t show the intricacies of the plan, I don’t know what does. Heavenly Father accounts for everything.

I had another experience with that as well, but the most I feel comfortable saying about it right now is that it took 5 years for me to get to the moment where I realized. And I still don’t fully understand the magnitude of it all. But somehow the past few years of my life have all lead me to the answer of a problem I hadn’t started having till the week before.

FSY really is For the Strength of Youth. It’s amazing, and I’d stay there if I could. The Heavens were really pouring out knowledge and blessings that week. I guess I’d just like to finish this with the testimony I wrote in my book during testimony meeting in the evening of Day 4:

”I know that Jesus died for me. My sins, my faults, everything. And not only that he suffered for me, and I know he loves me. I know Heavenly Father loves just as much because he sent his son.

I know they answer my prayers. And it’s not always in the way I expect. Sometimes it’s a stranger humming the melody of Come Come Ye Saints in the temple changing stall next to me, and sometimes it’s words coming to my mind. And other times it’s a scripture or Fathers Day Talk that seems specifically for me. But every single time, I know he will answer. His plan accounts for everything. No matter how complicated or improbable it may seem. Heavenly Father and Jesus love each and every one of us and want to be in our lives.

As we trust in god, trust in his timing, his love, and his power, and as we continue to have hope, he will be there for us and bless us. We will never be alone. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen”

There’s so much more I could’ve shared, Especially with the FSY medley. Wow was hearing the YW sing that incredible. 

So yeah. FSY is great, and if you can go you should. It’s an amazing experience. Or if you’re too old, become a counselor, that’s an option too. It’d be a really cool summer job(I’m debating doing it after I return from my mission)

That said, this only really works if you write it all down. I looked through my 2024 FSY Handbook yesterday and there was literally nothing in there other than a few drawings of stick figures.

Go to FSY if you can, I love you all, and have a great week(I got high adventure tomorrow and won’t have my phone)