Author: Wendy Ulrich

Is it okay to forgive ourselves?

I had an interesting conversation the other night with a man in my ward. He is a wonderful human being with a wonderful wife raising a wonderful family… one of those people you are delighted to see called as the Gospel Doctrine teacher because you know things are going to get interesting and real, while staying firmly grounded in the scriptures. He is one of my favorite people.

Mission Transition Center?

Missionaries spend from two weeks to three months in an MTC learning how to be a missionary. Many have also taken missionary preparation classes, or served mini-missions to help them prepare for their new life in the field. Returning missionaries preparing for their new life at home receive a half-sheet of counsel that says, in essence, “be good and good luck.”

“What desirest thou?”

Several years ago I read a delightful book on creativity, The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron. It was full of interesting questions: “List ten tiny changes you’d like to make for yourself.” “What would you do as a career if you had seven more lives to live?” “If I didn’t have to do it perfectly I would try….” “List twenty things you’d like to do before you die.”

Called to leave

My grandmother, mother, and I all served missions, so I was delighted when my firstborn announced her intention to serve, submitted her papers, received her call. Little did I know.

“We lived after the manner of happiness”

The other day somebody sent me a YouTube link for a comedian I’ll call Mrs. Jones. Mrs. Jones was a chubby gramdma with hot flashes – not the kind of person you usually see doing stand-up. Most of the “funny” email forwarded to me makes me sigh and hit the delete button. Mrs. Jones made me laugh out loud. It felt sort of weird. Which made me realize that I don’t laugh nearly enough