So far this blog has been my mission letters sent to family, and a class assignment. I want to write a little more about myself and maybe help someone in some way. I've had a pretty great life, don't get me wrong, but I have had my struggles here and there, and I want everyone else like me to know that they're not alone. Sometimes I felt like I was the only person struggling with my weight, or the only one with no real talent. I felt like all my friends were great at so many things, and I was just average at a few things. I'm not special in any way. I am a regular girl, with a regular body, with a pretty average style, and normal talents. However, I think that most people are like me, and worry that they're abnormal, or that they're not special or good enough. It doesn't matter who you are or what you look like or what you're good at, you are special and you are important. You have no idea how much good you've done in your life. Maybe you didn't know, but someone else knows and has benefited from your existence. So, i'll try to write some new things on here as a journal to help me figure out who I am, but also has a reference for others to realize who they are too.

Hello! My name is Mary Ann Richardson Pratt. I grew up in California with 5 other fun and rambunctious siblings, and two wonderful parents. There I am in the middle of the first picture when I was a baby. Here we are at one of our many trips to Disneyland, I am the blonde on the left. 

This brings me to my life of magic. Growing up life seemed perfect, and I thought it was that way for everybody. Everything went by wonderfully, and there were many magical days of my childhood life. 

 However, I remember the first time in history class when we learned about the Spanish conquests to South America. I cried all day when I got home from school. I could not believe that so many awful things had happened to those innocent people. That day I wrote a letter to the President of the United States, proclaiming that love must be achieved throughout the world. 

As time went by, I forgot the circumstance and was soon living my life once again in my own little  happy world. However, this all changed again when I decided to serve a mission. I had always wanted to go, and once the age was changed, it was the perfect chance. I soon received my call to Antofagasta, Chile. 

My mission was hard. Really hard. I did not understand anything for so long, so I did not really know what people were going through. When I started to understand, I realized a lot of things about life that I never knew before. Life was rough, and really scary for most people. After a year and a half of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to many Chilean people, I came home and went back to school. Through many closed doors I discovered the Latin American Studies major. However, I still did not have a plan really, just getting through school so I could be a mom. 

Then, this past semester I went to a campaign about women in education. As the speaker laid out the benefits of education, I realized how much education affects societies and people. I realized that maybe that was a way that I could continue to help the people of South America, and in my own way, spread love throughout the world, like I had so wanted to do when I was younger. If I could help girls to have the same magical experiences that I myself had, I could change so many lives. I thought of so many girls I knew that could have a chance to receive higher education if prompted and helped in the right direction. 

There are so many women and girls I know who did not get an education just because it was not really what was done. I want to help more girls receive the benefits and blessings that education brings. If more women are educated, society will progress faster, families will be happier, and life will improve for all. I am still unsure of how I will accomplish this, but through my next years at BYU, I hope that I can learn how to make a small change for at least a few women to make their lives better. 

I'm home!

Well it has been a long time since I have posted on here, I'm thinking I might write some things occasionally more for a journalistic purpose. Sometimes I forget to write in my journal (or I just don't want to) because it takes too long and it hurts my hand. So, I'll try to be more consistent with writing on the blog. All thanks to my News Media project where I needed a web page, I revisited this and thought, well why not do my project, and then keep going with my blog? For posterity's sake. So, please enjoy my life story :)

 My last day in of the mission including going to Santiago and to the temple!

 The group of Elders and Sisters from my mission going of to many different countries.

 Here is me seeing my family for the first time :) Together at last.