Grateful

Wow So Conference was AMAZING. There were so many great talks and I love all of our leaders. They are giants among men. There was not one talk that didn't have something specifically for me in it.  But the one that really hit me was Pres. Monson's Talk on Being Grateful. I have been whiny and ungrateful. Whiny, self centered. So as he was giving his amazing talk, I was thinking about everything I have to be grateful for. And I thought about my time in Zambia. And then I was really mad at myself for being whiny. I had nothing there and I was still so much better off than the locals. I need to be more grateful and I need to show it more and I need to be more vocal about it. We have everything here! Everything to be grateful for.
I am grateful for running, clean water. Never had that in Zambia. I had running water that I could bath in but I had to treat it or I got itchy bumps on my skin. And it was hot most of the time which I was really grateful for! But sometimes I didn't have water at all, one time I went almost 2 weeks without running water in the house. I couldn't drink the water, I had to buy bottled water. But the locals didn't have running waters in there homes. They had to wait for hours at spigot or dig wells or I saw children getting water from rain puddles. So I am grateful that I can turn on the faucet in my house at any hour and get clean, pure water at any temperature.
I am grateful for electricity.  I didn't always have that in Zambia. It would go off when ever it felt like it. So I always had to keep candles and matches around. It was pretty funny one day as I was bathing and the power went out. Pitch dark and soaking wet, you imagine what happened next. Ha ha ha. Also with electricity I am grateful for all of the amazing appliances we, like dish washers, washers and dryers (I never thought I would be excited to do my laundry, but after hand washing my clothes and giving myself huge blisters on my hands I was.) and stoves, we had one burner that if you touched it without shoes one you would get electrocuted, I ruined many a dinner because if it, refrigerators, I didn't have one so I couldn't keep any food that would go bad, and those are just the big ones that I missed and am really grateful for. Think about all of the little things that make our everyday lives so easy!
I am grateful for good food in all its abundance and ease of access.
I am grateful for reliable transportation and good roads.
I am grateful for my health. I am grateful for medicine and health care. I am grateful that I don't have to worry about diseases like, malaria, typhoid, TB, HIV, AIDS, Cholera that are all too common in other places of the world.
I am grateful for my education and all the possibilities that the world affords me. I am grateful for the knowledge that "the world is my playground" and that I really can become whatever I dream. I am grateful for books and imagination, dreams and ambitions. I am grateful that I have seen some of the world and experienced something outside of myself. I am so grateful for my experiences and what they have taught me.
I am grateful for my home. For a good bed to sleep in. For blankets and heaters and fans and air-conditioning. For doors, carpet and chairs. For a roof that keeps the rain out. For windows. For window screens. For toilets. For garbage cans. For shoes. For clothes. For Toilet paper. For soap. Toothpaste. Razors. Deodorant. Bug spray. Mirrors. All of those things I just listed, are things mostly foreign to Zambia, but do I even think about them anymore? They are just so common place to me now, but there was a time that I longed for them with all of my heart.
I am so grateful for my family. I missed them everyday, every second. And now I an ungrateful for them. Rude to them, impatient with with them. I am so grateful for them.
I am most grateful for the Gospel. For the Truth that I have and know of and have a undying testimony of. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon. It was the only thing that kept me going while I was in Zambia. I studied it everyday for hours. And now I can barely read a chapter a day. I am grateful for prayer and for the gift of the Holy Ghost. I am grateful that there is a church on every corner, I am grateful that I don't have to choose between food for the week and going to church. I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father and my older brother Jesus Christ.

We have everything! Everything we could ever want or wish for. And we have the True Gospel. Could we be any more blessed?