Thank you for sharing Jessica! We are excited to get to know you.
~Tell us about you and your family.
Ben and I have been married for 4 years and have two "children": Our dogs Sampson and Delilah. Ben and I met in junior high and attended both high school and college together (go Utah State Aggies!). Ben is a 4th year dental student at Midwestern and I am a music therapist. I work at a residential treatment center for eating disorders and addiction, and in the fall and spring I teach and supervise undergraduate music therapy students at ASU.
~If you had an hour of free time, what might we find you doing?
Watching food-related television shows (right now it's MasterChef) or researching local eateries through Phoenix Magazine or Phoenix New Times. I love eating out and have dreams of attending culinary school and one day becoming a food writer.
~Share an experience that strengthened your testimony or why the gospel is important to you.
I had the lucky opportunity to attend EFY (Especially For Youth) 5 times as a youth (I went when they still allowed 12 and 13 year-olds to attend), and had the even luckier opportunity to be a counselor for two years. I had a pretty rough freshmen year of high school and realized for the first time I did not have a testimony of the gospel, and was rather living the gospel simply because that is what my family did. Being the stubborn person I am, I rebelled and decided I didn't want to live the gospel unless I knew it was true. My journey left some scars, but it culminated with an incredibly powerful experience I had at EFY the summer following my freshmen year which absolutely left me with the foundation for my own testimony. I can never deny the feelings I felt that week, and will never be able to deny that I know the church is true, and I am so grateful for that experience. Attending EFY the following few years and serving as a counselor were amazing opportunities where I felt I could attempt to "give back" some of what I was given. I love working with the youth in the gospel, because I realize firsthand how important those teenage years are in determining life-long consequences.
~What are your favorites?
Dessert - Ice cream from Sweet Republic, or Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia
Hobbies - Food: Eating, studying, cooking :)
Season - In states where it gets cooler and the leaves change, definitely Fall. Plus Halloween is the best holiday ever.
Scripture - I have always loved Alma 5:27, "Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins?" I find it always leads me to serious introspection.
Hymn - Lead Kindly Light
