D is for Denver. Daring, devout, distinguished Denver.

After meeting with my friend Zach, I have the strong desire to express my appreciation for the Denver area--the 9 days I've been here so far!

Just me and my Sub. All I had when I arrived in Denver.

What an amazing place this is! I think that any area can be great if you have the right attitude, but I think Denver is blessed with exceptionally great people. The first night, a local restaurant employee sincerely welcomed me to the area. A lady at the store turned around to me and showed me the clothing items she was buying that day. A couple days later, a man talks with me for 30 min in front of the soup stand at the grocery store. The people are genuinely friendly here. They don't have any other motives other than being a good neighbor. I love that.

Denver. No editing. 

How did I end up here? Well, I had the opportunity to go to a couple of different pharmacy schools, but I chose Regis because they're going to turn me into the pharmacist I want to be! Someone with integrity and compassion along with wisdom and expertise. I'll never forget how much peace and light I felt when asked, "Why Regis?" in my interview.

How did I get here? The help of a friendly bishopric member. I was concerned--or rather my mom was quite concerned--that I needed to find another LDS girl to live with. With that in mind, I contacted 10 different bishops in the Denver area. Within 24 hours, 3 got back to me. THREE! Three busy, working, focused people that already had plenty of people that needed their attention, but they took the time to get back to me. TO ME. Someone they had never met.

And one proved to be a fantastic roommate match! Enter Kjirstin. What are the chances that she and I already have something in common (other than our faith)? Well, we did. And that was a shared roommate. Again, what are the chances that she and I both had the same roommate at different universities? Enter Rachel.

Other events over the last 9 days have proved the Lord is acutely aware of us. Down to the minute details. For example, I met with my Branch President, President Watterson (the leader of my small congregation) last Sunday only to find out...that we also shared a common thread. Enter Shirley Lassen. President Watterson mentioned he only knew two people from Ohio. One of them happened to be Shirley Lassen. Out of the whole state of Ohio, what are the chances that I would know her? Well, I did. My dad went to her home once a month for years and home taught her. Do you see a pattern here? The Lord was acutely aware of Shirley Lassen. And it was another confirmation that this is where I am supposed to be.

I could go on and tell you how cool it has been to connect with my classmates about our faiths, or how I've met an amazing bunch of LDS young single adults, or how I felt inspired to share my testimony about the eternal nature of families (or how this sentence is a run-on), but that will have to be at another time (and maybe a different medium). For now, I'd like to end by saying: hold to the truths that you do know. And I do know that my Heavenly Father loves me.