About Me

Dear Reader,

Thanks for visiting my blog! I've tried writing blogs before, but something always felt wrong about them. Most popular blogs I've read have a theme, and I could never come up with a theme for my own blog. I have broad interests that are seemingly disconnected and when I wrote I felt like things were thrown together and hard to follow. I would lose interest and I thought blogging wasn't for me. One night I realized that if I was going to keep interest in a blog it would have to have something to do with Jesus Christ, because it was when I turned to Him that I was able to deal with and understand my depression. Depression is something I've dealt with all my life. I am lucky to have a father who also went through the same thing. He was able to show me that you can fight it, and we each did so in our own ways. It's something I learned will never completely go away in this life, but with Christ I can understand how to grow from it, and it's not as bad as it used to be. To learn more about depression from a very eloquent speaker, see this TED talk by Andrew Solomon, "Depression, the secret we share."

When I was younger I kept myself from getting depressed by learning lots of new skills. I learned to play the piano, the guitar, the cello; I learned to draw, to write: stories, songs, poetry, plays; I made music videos. Sadly, many of the things I wrote or learned went unfinished and undeveloped because I couldn't hold my interest long enough before falling into indifference we call depression.

But then something wonderful happened. The Lord called me to go on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I tried to run from the call, but it was undeniable. For the first time, Christ showed me that I can finish things. Hard things. My mission was the hardest thing I have done so far in my life, and I finished the whole thing, and I tried my best every day. That is when I came to know Christ on a more personal level. Now that I'm finished with my mission I still try to be a missionary and live the gospel because I've realized that it's those things that give me strength and understanding.

A few weeks ago I was lying in bed, almost asleep, when I sat up and thought, "I need to do my personal progress again." It was weird. And then I went back to sleep. The next day during scripture study I got my personal progress book and looked for a goal to start working on. As I flipped through the book I thought, "I need to invite Jamie to do this with me." So I texted her (my lovely neighbor and Relief Society President here at BYU-Idaho). She agreed and bought the new Personal Progress books. Right away she began planning all the projects she wanted to complete for each of the 8 values. I came up with the idea to document my journey through personal progress in a blog. It was the perfect thing, I thought, to combine my love of learning and my love for Christ. And I felt inspired, so who can argue that? :)

Personal Progress is something you can do again and again and it is different every time, because you change, you're different every time. I plan on continuing in this program for the rest of my life. Please join me, if you care to :)

Throughout the journey you'll get to know me better, and I hope to get to know you too! Please leave comments and ideas and tell me about the things you've tried.

Finally, I want you, and the world, to know that I know that Christ lives. God sent him here to live, teach, love, and die for us. He suffered for our sins. He was crucified and rose on the third day. Because of this we will all be resurrected. Because he suffered we can all be perfected. Because of Him we can overcome things like depression and whatever it is that you are facing. I know that this same Christ restored His church again on the earth in the year 1830 as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He did it the same way He's always done it: through a prophet that He calls. This time it was Joseph Smith, and today, Thomas S. Monson, a prophet, leads the church under the direction of Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ was translated by the prophet Joseph Smith and contains the words of Christ. I promise that those who read it with real intent will come to know for themselves that Jesus is the Christ, that Joseph Smith was His chosen servant, and that Christ's church indeed has been restored in our day as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with all the authority and rights that were lost some years after Christ's death. I know this because while reading and praying about the Book of Mormon, the spirit communicated to me that it was true. And it will happen for you, too :)

Love, Kellie Hermansen