Master Teacher.

My Beehive Advisor/Shauna Polatis and my mother/ Monica bracken are two of the greatest teachers I know. Shauna Polatis, my Beehive Advisor, showed me loving direction within and outside of church. In her role as an advisor she applied the characteristics of a great teacher, and in turn was a great example to me of how to be a great teacher. One of these characteristics she taught me was that to become a great teacher one needs to give themselves to the Lord. In those early young women years as a Beehive, when I first was questioning the Church and finding out for myself if it was true, she not only taught but also taught to nourish, like the Lord would have done. She was an example and a disciple of Christ at all times. Elder Holland said, “A true teacher is always in character. She is her pupils’ teacher wherever they see her. Their eyes are upon her as such.” 

The second woman that I want to mention, my everything, is my mother. Monica Bracken has been the one that I have learned the most about selfless service. She’s given everything for her family and inspired her kids to learn and yearn for the gospel of Jesus Christ. My brothers and I have made many mistakes and she has shown endless love and compassion and taught us to learn from our trials. These women are a great influence for the world. The women we should all be looking towards because they have the essence of a master teacher, Jesus Christ.

            In the movie, “Waiting for Superman said, “I was like what do you mean he’s not real. And she thought I was crying because its like Santa Clause is not real and I was crying because there was no one coming with enough power to save us.” When I heard this man say this I couldn’t help but think, “We have something way better than Superman. We have the Savior of the world, the one great master teacher of the world.” Jesus Christ is our advocate. He’s the one who died for our sins. He has enough power to save us, and through his teachings we can learn how to become a disciple of Him and teach the way he taught. The way Christ taught was so loving and so compassionate. That no matter what walk of life you come from you have that, you have His love.

            I have had many master teachers in my life, and it doesn’t stop with the two that I have mentioned. My list is long and continues to grow. What I have learned from each teacher is that the best quality to have is to show love and support no matter what you, as the teacher, might be feeling. When the Lord asked, “Peter, do you love me?” In the recent conference talk given by Elder Holland, he said, “So we have neighbors to bless, children to protect, the poor to lift up, and the truth to defend. We have wrongs to make right, truths to share, and good to do. In short, we have a life of devoted discipleship to give in demonstrating our love of the Lord. We can’t quit and we can’t go back.” That’s what I have learned about being a master teacher. We are obligated to teach, teach everyone, and through that teaching we show the love that our Father in Heaven has for everyone here on this earth, and with that, we can do great things.

My Heroes.

Heroes in my eyes institute change, they go out of their way to help someone in need, sacrificing almost everything for one or more person. They inspire people to become better, they become role models to some and you look up to them like no one before. "A hero is someone who has a special gift that God has given them and uses it."

My heroes may be cliche and maybe not worldly but my heroes are my three older brothers. Ever since I was born they have been by my side fighting every battle I go through right beside me. Each of them have different qualities but make me who I am today. Riley is the oldest, he isn't perfect but in my eyes he is the most courageous man that I know. He's tread through deep waters called life and never lost who he truly is. Jordan, the second oldest. He's the old softy. He's been through much pain but it has never changed his loving personality. Alec, the youngest of the boys. He's the smart one, a little bit of a super genius. He's taught me to never give up when people say I can't go on.

My family has gotten me through almost everything but my brothers. They are the ones I look up to. They drop and sacrifice everything for our family. They are the best thing in my life and I one day wish that I can become the hero that they are today. My life would be different without them. My heroes.

Because you know Him..

I got the great experience to go to girls camp and be a leader to 20 beautiful daughters of God. The theme was "You are the glow." They gave us a talk by Sister Dalton and one thing she said stuck out to me the most.. because you know Him.

"You knew the plan was good, and you knew that the savior would do what He said He would do- because you knew Him! You stood with Him, and you were eager for your opportunity to come to earth. You knew what was going to be required of you. You knew it would be difficult, and yet you were confident not only that you could accomplish your divine mission but that you could make a difference."

When I read this I thought that I need to put more trust in the Lord, just like I did when I first heard His plan. Putting my whole trust in Him can give me the confidence I need to stand alone and stand tall. I think sometimes I forget what he did for me, what he did for all of us. I am a daughter of God who loves me and I love Him. He sent His son to die for my sins. I yearn for that confidence that I once had in Heaven.

"Abide in Me"

I'm reading this fantastic book written by Jeffrey R. Holland called Broken Things to Mend. I'm almost done and its making me a little sad. Chapter 21 is called Abide in Me.

My father gave me great advice today. Something I really needed. He said that we all have afflictions and hardships but that I needed to make the effort to ask for help from my Heavenly Father. Its funny how much we believe but don't take it into action. His hands and Christs hands are always stretched out to us. And that's where I think the abiding comes in.

Jeffrey R. Holland says, "In spanish that familiar phrase is rendered 'permaneced en mi.' Like the English verb 'abide,' permanecer means 'to remain, to stay,' but even gringos like me can recognize the root cognate there of 'permanence.' The sense of this then is 'stay--but stay forever.' That is the call of the gospel message to everyone in the world. Come, but come to remain. Come with conviction and endurance. Come permanently, for your sake and the sake of all the generations who must follow you, and we will help each other be strong to the very end."
"We are to 'abide' in Him permanently, unyieldingly, steadfastly, forever. For the fruit of the gospel to blossom and bless our lives, we must be firmly attached to Him, the Savior of us all, and to this His church, which bears His holy name."

The branch here in Nicaragua don't have much but they do have really strong testimonies. Its amazing. Their faith is so strong. Abide in Him. Today I got to give my testimony in Spanish to them and it was a great feeling. For me to know that the church never changes wherever you go. They believe in what I believe in and they just need the same help as we all do to be strong to the very end.

Buenos dias hermanos y hermanas, les quiero compartir mi peqeno testimonio. Yo creo en Jesus Cristo y en Nuestro Padre Celestial. Creo en el libro de Mormon y en el Profeta Tomas S. Monson y que si segimos sus mandamientos estaremos con el por siempre. En el nombre Jesus Cristo, Amen.

Happy Fathers Day.

Dear Dad,

I'm really sorry for missing fathers day two years in a row. I hope this letter will make up for it. Its hard for me not to be there. I am your little girl and I love you oh so very much. This post might be extremely long but its worth it. I was reading the book Broken Things to Mend by Jeffrey R. Holland and on the section about fathers this poem is there.

Only a dad, with a tired face,

Coming home from the daily race,

Bringing little of gold or fame,

To show how well he has played the game,

But glad in his heart that his own rejoice

To see him come, and to hear his voice.

Only a dad, with a brood of four,

One of ten million men or more.

Plodding along in the daily strife,

Bearing the whips and the scorns of life,

With never a whimper of pain or hate,

For the sake of those who at home await.

Only a dad, neither rich nor proud,

Merely one of the surging crowd

Toiling, striving from day to day,

Facing whatever may come his way,

Silent, whenever the harsh condemn,

And bearing it all for the love of them.

Only a dad, but he gives his all

To smooth the way for his children small,

Doing, with courage stern and grim,

The deeds that his father did for him.

This is the line that for him I pen,

Only a dad, but the best of men.

Now, what you've taught me about love. You love mom so much and your family so much. Everyday you sacrifice a lot of things just so that we can have the things you want us to have. (sorry if I can't find the right way to put this) The Mormon Message "Love her Mother" (http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng#love-her-mother)  is so special to me because you have taught me who to look for in a future husband and who to look for in myself. 

So dad, what I am trying to say is that I love you so much for every little thing you do. I'm a pretty big dork and you accept me for all my sides and weird corks.  I'm so glad that you hold the priesthood. You are a great example for me, our family and many people who see what you do everyday. Its every little girls dream to have a father like you.. my dream came true. 

You'll do great things kid. Love you.

Love, Katie.

Dare to Stand Alone

                      "May we ever be courageous and be prepared to stand for what we believe."

Hello from Nicaragua. I've had a couple experiences where I because of my beliefs and my standards have had to stand alone. I've made it a importance to have my computer with me every movie night when we pick out movies. One night, 3 out of the 12 movies that were picked were not rated R. I sat there thinking to myself, If it is R then I can go do something else. Its no big deal. I've made my standards known to the people around me. One of the volunteers turned to me and asked, "Which movies can you watch?" I stopped for a second and was puzzled, I then quickly told which ones and we voted and the movie we watched was not R and it won by one point. I didn't stand alone but was lucky enough to have someone not of my faith stand with me.

The moral of the story is.. make it known of who you are and never waiver. Dare to stand alone.
"Dare to be a Mormon; Dare to stand alone. Dare to have a purpose firm; Dare to make it known."
Dare to do great things.

President Monson gave a talk the priesthood session of the October 2011 conference. If you haven't read this talk I would urge you to do so. Its amazing. He says, "May we ever be courageous and prepared to stand for what we believe, and if we must stand alone in the process, may we do so courageously, strengthened by the knowledge that in reality we are never alone when we stand with our Father in Heaven."
These last few posts have been really religious but no matter what you believe you should always dare to stand alone. Dare to do great things. Be a source of good in a world where bad is on every headline.

Mormon Message: http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng#dare-to-stand-alone
Talk: http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/dare-to-stand-alone?lang=eng&query=dare+stand+alone

"with faith in ev'ry footstep.."

"God is anxiously waiting for the chance to anser your prayers and fulfill your dreams, just as He always has. But he can't if you don't pray, and He can't if you don't dream. In short, He can't if you don't believe."
                                                                                                -Jeffrey R. Holland

Welp, I'm in Nicaragua.. again. My first week here was more of an evaluation of my life. I've been reading, thinking, praying that I could find some answers about me. Sounds a little selfish but I really needed this. I'm growing up. Yes, I'm 18 years old but a whole lot of things have happened to me. The people of Nicaragua have this way of looking at life. They look at moments that matter most. Wow, I absolutely love it. (http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng#moments-that-matter-most)
While I continue to read, think, and pray I'll just walk with faith in every footstep.

Alright, I've met some beautiful women here. I have a 13 year old sister and I want her and others like her to focus on the women that do good rather then look good. That's what girls need. A women who strives to change the world and not a girl who strives to change their looks. So, I encourage anyone, male or female to be that example for the generation following us.

I love my parents. They are my whole life. They have taught me so much and have raised me to be who I am and I'm so grateful for that. The reason I am telling you this is because even though we might disagree and all the other things we do. They raised me to be this way and I'm so grateful they did. I love them both. (random outburst but it needed to be said.)

Plus they are pretty darn good looking.

Read my story: Outreach360

Charlie Chaplin once said, "We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness not by each other's misery." That's what I would like to share with you today, the message of service. I've always wanted to be more than what my town or what the world offers me. The world around me always seemed to be stuck in the status quo. Being different in my high school wasn't highly encouraged but if I couldn't be myself there where could I in the world? Who was I and what was I going to stand for? I am Kaitlin Bracken and I was seriously confused.

 I was graduating high school not knowing what I wanted to be when I "grew up" or what impact I wanted to make in this world. The struggles and trials of going through life stunt your growth in something bigger than yourself. The Beatles song Blackbird described exactly what I wanted to do and they said, "take these broken wings and learn to fly… you were only waiting for this moment to arise." Not knowing who I was and what I wanted to become I set off to the world unknown to me. Arriving to Nicaragua with Outreach360 I thought that I could truly find all the answers I had in my life. Going in with too much pride I hit the brick wall. I didn't know spanish and I felt that I would never make a difference in a country where that was their main language. I didn't think that I could make a difference and all I wanted to do was return back home to the typical life I had. Pressing forward trying to find my place I found this girl named Joseline who wouldn't even mutter her name or giggle at the silliest things. Soon after I found that she had Leukemia and the world around suddenly didn't matter anymore. She was the only thing that mattered and the thought that I could give her the happiness that the kids around her were having. By the end of the week her face was different, she had the smile that I had been dreaming of each night and when her mom came up to me and sincerely thanked me everything seemed so much more clear. 

I found something in me that I never found before, I found the hero within me. I won't do anything to keep it inside of me anymore and I know that each one of you have the opportunity to release the hero inside of you. The town that I was just staying in became my second home and the people I was just walking beside became a new found love. Go out! Go out to Nicaragua or Dominican Republic with Outreach360 and find who you are in a world where many think its already decided for them and do what the Beatles suggested, take those broken, tattered, weak wings and fly. This is the moment to arise and fly to the endless possibilities that the world doesn't share with you. Don't keep that potential of becoming a hero, somebody's hero inside of you, show what you can do in this world. What you can do in these two countries. The need is there and you can do something about it. 

My life in a nut shell.

I was born into the most crazy but perfect family. My parents Burton and Monica are the perfect combination of fun and serious. I have three older brothers and they are truly the best part of my life. I know that they will always be here for me to talk to or just to simply be there. Riley the oldest is my older twin, the wise brother where you know you can get the best advice. Jordan the softy, the kid you can always count on to cheer you up or just to make you laugh. Alec, my best friend. The one where the phrase "smart alec" was made up. My heroes. Five years younger then me I have a beautiful little sister, inside and out. Gracie is absolutely gorgeous and she has the personality of hundreds. She's so special in my eyes and her Heavenly Fathers eyes. I hope she never forgets that.

Oh, I don't know if you know this yet but yes, I am a Mormon. I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and can I just say that I am so proud that I am? The way I am today and the way my family is, is because of this true and beautiful gospel.

Now, me. My name is Kaitlin Marie Bracken, I'm 18 years old. I have brown hair, chubby checks and the grace of a baby learning to walk. I love a whole lot of things like the smell of rain, classic movies, the Beatles, music, traveling the world, service, my gospel, my family, boys (shh.. don't tell my dad) and life. Some people might say I'm dorky or a nerd but I'm the awesomest nerd and dork that I know. I'm not perfect but I live life day to day trying my best to get back to my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. This isn't just simply a blog about my church but my life and everything that involves it.