YW across the country

Young woman across the country. 

We are currently 6 months and 3 days into our journey across the United States. While we have been traveling we've had some amazing experiences, especially with church. 

For me, personally I have been amazed going from place to place seeing different wards and how they compare to our ward back home. Its incredible to see the major differences depending on where you go. For example, in the last couple of weeks in February, we were right outside of Austin, Texas. We were visiting some friends of my parents, the Law's, who soon became close friends of ours. While we were there, we attended church with them 3 times in our 2 1/2 week stay and got to get to know the ward a little better then the others that we visit. It was an incredibly welcoming and friendly ward, with over 60 youth! 40 of which were the young woman! That was one of our favorite wards. We had some amazing lessons and made many friends. About a week or so later we arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana. I absolutely loved New Orleans! It was amazing to see so much different culture and lifestyles while we were there. When Sunday came, we found the nearest church, which took about 45 minute to get to, probably due to our navigation skills.. But once we arrived, we went through sacrament in some-what aw of just looking around and seeing how different things were. We had just gone from a ward of 60 youth, amazing friendly people, spiritual talks, and heart warming conversations, in a beautiful building.. to a ward that contained around 75 people, 3 youth9one young woman, 2 young men), half of them wearing sunday dress, some of the speakers swearing in the middle of their talks, and in a building that was not as clean, and in the ghetto- not exactly what you would expect. This really opened my eyes and gave me new perspective.
I am extremely grateful for the amazing blessings that we have living in utah. We are constantly surrounded by friends and family- most of whom share the same standards and beliefs that we do. That makes it much easier, especially on us teenagers, for making the right decisions. We are also so blessed to be in walking distance of a temple, let alone having 3 right around us! Im so grateful for this experience to really be able to appreciate what I have. I can't wait to return home to our family-like Founders Park 2nd ward back in Utah.
-Avery :)