Kumusta Diyos!

WEEK 4 - PROVO MTC

You gotta have at least one jumping photo, right??!!

This week has simply flown by. And I think it was more eventful than I remembered, I also think it was more spiritual than I remember, because looking at my notes, it seems like I am just having a party all the time here. Not true. I am working rul rul hard I promise.

So first off, holy packages Batman! I think I got a package every day this week. Props go out to Gma and Mamma D. I laughed so hard when I opened Gma's package and I have, tomatoes, a huge cucumber and a jar of jam. They all arrived in perfect condition, so that good news. I also ate and shared all the fresh stuff (the tomatoes were gone before the hour was out, the were sooooooooo goooooood) and the Sisters and I just bit into that cucumber like it was a giant pickle. We are ladies. As far as the jam goes, I have brought it to breakfast every day this week and have been sharing the home made goodness around. It is so refreshing to eat actual good food.

Homemade and Homegrown goodies. The best!

This brings me to what happened last nigh. So before class I offered my teacher a chocolate chip cookie bar, but he declined because we are not supposed to eat in the class room. Then at the end of class he asked where the chocolate chip cookie bars were and I said "Brother Nicholes, you said that eating was bawal (forbidden)..." and proceeded to give him a hard time about his double standard. So yesterday when I got the fresh box of cookies, I brought them to class and told Bro. N that he could have some at the end of class. Class ends and I get the box out and Bro. N asks me how many he can take, I have a whole box, and I really did not expect what happened, so I said take as many as you want. Home boy peaced out with eight, EIGHT chocolate chip cookie bars. He just like double fisted them and walked out the door. I was so shocked, as was the rest of my district, but I wasn't even mad because I still had an entire box of cookies.

Talking about food also reminds me of when we have "Personal Exercise Time" scheduled. It is supposed to be and hour and a half where you do personal exercise in your room. The other option is to run outside and we all KNOW that aint happenin'. So the first week, when we see this in the schedule, my kasama just says "Personal Exercise Time? Reads like Personal Nap Time" so that is what we have called it, but this week it was extra special because my kasama got the package of all packages. There was DR. PEPPER. With caffeine - which is bawal on the MTC campus. Those who say there is not a need never went to class for six hours a day then had independent study for another three. So with all the goodies from my packages and her Dr. Pepper, we had "Personal Party Time" wherein we lived the Chub Lyife, as Sis. Hagee would say, and played Would You Rather. The laughing that happened during that game was the best work out I have had all week. Minus the attempts at playing volleyball which happen on a regular basis. Have I mentioned that I am not athletic? Because I'm not.

Personal Party Time
Exercise? Who needs exercise?

Another story about food. On Tuesdays and Sundays the MTC has ice-cream from the BYU Creamery and everyone gets pretty pumped over it. So on Sunday Elder Payne was eating a bowl of Coconut Joy and was going crazy about how amazing it was when he just goes "Shut up! Are there almonds in here?!" everyone paused and I was thinking 'shoot, where is his bag? Where is his Epipen?!' because I was convinced that he was going to be allergic and then die in the cafeteria. But then he goes "I LOVE almonds!" The timing and the phrasing was so perfect it was like it was from a movie. And maybe part of it is that you have to know Elder Payne, because he tries to be funny all of the time, but is most funny when he is not trying. The district continues to laugh about it.

So I am a bit of an awkward person, if y'all didn't know. And in one of my lessons this week with our investigator Alex, who is really just Bro. N role playing, I was trying to tell him how prayer does not have to be something that you sit down and take 20 minutes to do, but my Tagalog is not really up to the task so I just say "for example, you can just go 'Kumusta Diyos!'" which is about the equivelent of "Hey God!" and as it came out of my mouth I was like 'No! No! Come back!' but it was too late. My kasama just started to laugh and I could tell that Bro. N was trying so hard not to laugh and I just felt like an idiot. So that is embarasing moment number two with Bro. N front and center. Nailed it.

In other news, Sis. Smith and I had an amazing lesson with our other investigator Nel, who is Brother Roxas doing a role play, we were reading the first twelve verses of First Nephi chapter one with him because he had talked about how hard it is to read the Book of Mormon in our last lesson. It was cool for several reasons. One being I was impressed at Sis. Smith's and my ability to read in in Tagalog in the BOM, and at our ability to explain what was going on in the verses. Two being how strong the Spirit was in the lesson. Three being how, later, Bro. R said that reading with us made him want to read the BOM in Tagalog again. And four is a little good and a little bad. But Bro. R told us about how subtle changes can happen in lessons with investigators and how basically if we had asked Nel to be baptized right then, he would have said yes. But we didn't ask him! Even though Sis. Smith had the impression that she should, she didn't think the timing was right. So that was a bummer and we were both so disappointed that we missed that initial opportunity. But we made the goal of "Do Not Hesitate" to do anything that is good or that can invite someone to come closer to Christ. My logic is that it's never a bad time to ask someone to be baptized. You just have to go for it and pray for the Spirit to help.

Okay, well kapayapaan! I love you all so freaking much that it hurts! 

Sis. Bet

Megan and the Sisters in her District "being awesome!"

Sis. Sarah Yenchik with Megan. They grew up in the same ward.
Sarah is going to the New Mexico, Albuquerque Mission (same as Eric Pincock!)

Die Laughing, I Would

Week 3, Provo MTC

 Elder Pincock, definitely related.

Megan's MTC District Peeps. 

So this week we have been learning about describer/subject and the proper way to use that in Tagalog grammar, so in our attempts to be all Loaogian outside of class, my kasama and I were talking, in English, the way that the sentence would be structured in Tagalog. So we were sitting on a bench, under this massive tree, and we see a mouse. I immediately thoght of Ali Barnes and what her reaction would have been. But then my Sis. Smith and I were talking about where we thought the mouse lived, because we couldnt see it in the bushes, and then I said maybe it lives in the tree and maybe it will fall out of the tree and land in my lap. I looked at her and asked what she would do about it and her response was "die laughing I would." well good to know that my kasama has my back.

 

In other news, I was reading some of the family history that Ma sent me with, the testimony of Silas Clements, and holy moly, bomb dropped on page 12. SILAS CLEMENTS MET JOHN THE REVELATOR?!?!?! How did I not know that? It was so cool to read about that. So now I want to know what other cool things have happend to our family, so if you have (Gma) any other sweet family history tidbits send them my way! Also in the realm of family, I finally talked to Elder Pincock, and we are totes deffs related. He is also a hilarious young man and we get along famously. Just goes to show that family is always family. He watches Doctor Who and Adventure Time, so enough said.

 

Um, shout out to Tyler and Stu! Happy birthday yall. I hope you could imagine what it would have been like if I called and sang happy birthday to you. Because I deffinately did it in my mind.

 

Also, thanks for all the love! After dinner is my favorite part of the day because it is when I get my DearElders. There is kind of a joke in the district that Sister Hagee and I get all the mail, because we do. And I also got two packages this week? What? I dont think there is a luckier Sister in all the land. That is accompanied with a whistful arm wave, just so you can have the whole picture in your mind. Well done on the pranking/Ute supplies. I also laughed way hard at the "Chuck Webb" mints. If I only had pockets I would be doing him proud, but it is a little awkward just walking around with a handful of mints all the time. Ill figure something out though as a method of spreading the love.

 

Also in the way of pranking, the Elders have finally struck back. I accidentally left my cardiagan in the classroom, like and idiot, I should have seen this coming. And the Elders took it back to their residance and tried it on then took pictures of themselves wearing it. They obviously wont let us have said pictures, because, lets face it, its almost as if they pranked themselves with that one. However, we did get Elder Jones to try it on in the classroom when they finally brought it back for me, I bribed him with a cinnamon bear and Sister Hagee was up and ready with some sneaky camera action, so hopefully I will be able to send those pictures later. He looks like Mr. Rogers and it is pretty amazing.

 

Other funny story, we got a new teacher this week and in the first lesson, while we were singing the opening hymn it was pretty aparant that he is pretty talented when it comes to singing. We found out that he is an acting major at the Y, so it makes sense. BUT, in the next lesson the Elders were running late, as usual, so the Sister and and Brother. Nicholes decided to just start and sing without them. So I got kind of self concious because Bro. N is a good singer and Sis. Hagee is a good singer and I am just that weird girl who sings lound, but off key. So I was expressing this quietly to my kasama and all of a sudden Bro. N is right next to me and he just says "God created your voice Sister" and I blushed seven different shades of red. So needless to say I tried extra hard to sing well that round.

 

I also had the most amazing dream last night, George Takei (not spelled right, I dont think) came to play Settlers of Catan with us. Yeah. It was pretty amazing. I was telling my district about it this morning, but none of them knew who George was. So that was disappoining to realize I am the only real nerd in the herd. Oh well, life goes on.

 

So, Tagalog is hard. Freakin' verb tenses and emphases and vocabulary. Holy moly. There is so much to take in. But I keep realizing that I have learned more Tagalog at the MTC in two weeks and a half weeks than I ever did in four years of French in high school. The Spirit is an amazing thing. Kaloob ng mga wika. Sis. Smith and I now have two investigators, who are actually our guros, things are going as well as can be hoped I suppose. It is just super intimidatin to teach Bro. Roxas because he is so strict and his investigator character is so...you can just tell that it is someone super close to him who desperately wants to help his family, but is just not sure how to do that and how The Church can help with that. Our first lesson with him was way rough to say the least. But things have gotten better. Teaching Bro. N is much easier because he is so open and charismatic. We committed him to baptism last night and he said he was not sure yet, but it was not a straight up no, so I am choosing to look on the bright side.

 

I am feeling all the love and support, keep sending those DearElders my way. Also feel free to send pictures of your lives, I'm looking at you Molly Jones.

 

Love,

 

Meggsie

Pananampalataya Is Not A Five Letter Word

WEEK #2 - PROVO MTC 

See that? In the subject line? That is the word for faith. In Tagalog. I think that is is just a little excessive, dont you?

 

Ummm, shout out to my fave Macktilyons! Happy one year you two! Seriously love the ish outta the both of you. Check your pants.

 

So this week, good things. Good things. First off: the Sisters in my district are friggin' hilarious. We are all such good friends and I feel like I have known them for years, dont worry, we estabished that we are all liberals and my life became complete. We spend most of our time laughing at dumb quotes from movies we all know or mildly pranking the Elders. So on Tuesdaywe were going to try out what we were calling "Sister Service Day" where we take our own dirty trays from meals to the tray return and open doors for the Elders and just do things for ourselves to give the Elders a break.  The Elders, beeing the sweet young men that they are, were not having any of it, which really just made us fight them even harder on the issue.  We eventually gave up and when we were back in our residence hall we came up with plan B. Tuesdays are now "Sister Surpise Day" wherein we prank the Elders. MTC appropriate pranks of course.  But you know that box of glow-in-the-dark moustaches that Linda gave me? Well those came in really handy, let me tell you. So we grab these bad boys (the moustaches) and head over to our classroom a little early to head the Elders off at the pass, we get there, don our moustaches, turn out the lights and end up waiting for about 10 minutes in the darkest dark I have ever experienced, watitng for our Elders. They finally get there, open the door and we scare the bageezies out of them. It was so priceless. They keep trying to get us back for our little pranks, but they are just not as sneaky as we are. We will switch their scriptures around, or draw little things in thier notebooks, like cows and cats, they are just too trusting with their stuff. Maybe by week six they will ocme up with something good, but until then, Sister Surprise Day is going to be pretty amazing.

 

Oh! I saw Brant yesterday. I was finishing up lunch with my kasama, I am the slowest eater in my entire zone, dont worry about it, and he comes up, slams his hands down on the table and just shouts "Sister Bettilyon!!!" I drop my cookie into the salad I had been eating and nearly had a heart attack. It was so great to see him and to talk to him, but not great that I couldnt hug him. But it was so nice to see a familiar face.  Speaking of such, I saw Sister Yenchik yesterday too! Or maybeThursday. But that was so great! We hugged and chatted, I asked her how her first few days have been, she is only there for 12 days. Color me jealous. Oh well, Tagalog away!

 

So my kasama and I just keep teaching lesson after lesson. We had our last lesson with our first investigator and now he is one of our teachers, he is so stoked on life all the time, which is good because he teaches in the evenings and it is kind of hard to stay awake after a full day of studying and studying and studying to do more studying.  But now Sis Smith and I have two more investigators that we need to teach, and can I just say that the Spirit is amazing? I do not know Tagalog, like, at all, but when I am teaching and in tune with the Spirit, it is incredible how much more easily the language comes to me. We were teaching in class, just to one of our Elders, and we were supposed to be teaching the first lesson, but it was clear that was not what his investigator self wanted to talk about.  Once Sis Smith and I abandoned our original plan and just started talking to him about his concerns, it was like the Tagalog, really more like Taglsih, just flowed out of our mouths. It was a really cool experience.

 

The last two nights my kasama and I have been doing our planning under this tree at a table right outside our residence and this tree rains little yellow flowers on our heads so we look like fairy missionaries and for the last two nights, at twilight, we have sat under this magical tree and have had strapping young lads come and speak Italian to us. You think I am making this up or embelishing, but Im not and ladies, you know life does not get any better than that. But these Elders are all going to, thats right, MILAN on their missions and so far, three kasamahans have come and born their testimonies to us and I have sent them all with a little note to my dear Katie telling her all about it. I am praying that they all make it to her somehow, dont tell her, I want them to be a surprise.

 

I dont know if you know this, but Tuesdays are kind of a big deal around here, not just because of SSD, but also because of devotional. All the missionaries in the MTC just flood out and stream towards the Marriott Center, I hate that I am in Provo, and it is just kind of cool to see all of them.  I was not blown away by the speakers this week, but when we went back and had a devo. breakdown with our district, things got pretty real. One Elder, Elder Payne, shared a story about his Gpa when he was in the hospital after having this third heartattack.  The doctors came out and told his Gma that her husband was dead and that there was nothing else they could do, so all of the family at the hospital called the rest of their family members and had them stop what they were doing to pray for their Gpa.  When they were done praying, the doctors came out and said that their Gpa was alive and that it was a miracle. When he was telling the story, I just kept thinking about Gpa, and how much I miss him and how much I wish that he could have been here to give me advice and just, ya know, be Gpa.  And I started to feel jealous of the Payne family and the miracle that happend for them and the second I started to question why God did not do this for our family I felt Gpa.  I knew that he was there with me and I was just over come with the feeling that, just like I am where I need to be right now, he is where he needs to be right now too. It was so amazing, I felt so loved in that moment.

 

I love you, Jesus loves you, go UTES!    

 

 

Sis Bet

 

 

Three Days? Don't You Mean Three Weeks?

MEGAN'S FIRST LETTER FROM THE PROVO MTC, RECEIVED JUNE 6, 2013:

Okay, seriously. It is a time warp here, I have been here for three days and it feels like I have been gone for three weeks.  I never knew you could pack so much into one day, but when you have no real life, there is a lot of time to learn Tagalog, read your scrippy scrips and learn more Tagalog.

 

So yesterday, I had been here for two days and me and my kasama Sister Smith had to teach a lesson completely in Tagalog. I talked to Marlee about this before I left and she told me not to worry about it too much, but I still worried because that is what I do, I stress about things.  But Sis Smith and I went in with as much enthusiasm and confidence as possible and as soon as it was my turn to talk, I forgot all my words. But our investigator was really friendly and he talked a lot to fill in the blank spaces where Sis Smith and I were like "uh....shoot....we know this, right?" but I think most of the lesson was just us nodding and saying "opo" (yes) and "salamat" (thank you) when he would talk to us. But I think I relatively successfully bore my testimony and prayed in Tagalog.  The phrase I am most confidant with it "totoo po ang Aklat ni Mormon" or "The Book of Mormon is true" and really, isn't that what is most important?

 

A couple of cool things already happened this week, on the Fourth, we got to watch the movie 17 Miracles and I about lost my ish when one of the actresses came on the screen, it was Natalie Blackman! Or which ever Blackman sister was the actress person. It was funny to me how she is way not LDS and she is playing one of the pioneers in the Martin-Willie handcart company. She made a good performance, but there are some super cheesy scenes in that movie with her and her fiance and I was laughing way hard. The other cool thing was at the end of the movie, it goes back and says what happened to some of the people after the arc of the movie ended and one of the pioneer women saw a man in her dreams while she was trekking, and it turned out that he was one of the rescue party members, they got married, shocker. But the cool part was that it was Thomas E. Ricks! I freaked out again, so I think my district just thinks I am a freak/easily excited, but it was way cool! I didn't know he helped the M-W handcart peeps, family history, bam.  This leads into the other super cool thing that happened, there is an Elder Pincock in my ZONE!!!! The first night we went around and introduced ourselves in a Zone Meeting and he got up and said his name and that he was from Idaho and I got all excited (again) and flailed and was whispering to my kasama "I am probably that Elder's cousin, NBD" I asked him who his parents are and they are George and Dorthy Pincock. So get Gma on that and find out how related we are.

 

Speaking of relatives, I saw Brock Thursday night at dinner! I had been praying all day that I would see him, and when I got up to get a banana, there he was! I got all excited again and was jumping up and down and saying "I cant hug you! I want to hug you!" it was pretty hilarious, but I think he flies out on Tuesday night, so I hope I get to see him again before he goes and that I have my camera with me so I can take a picture with him. No cameras allowed in the cafeteria Ma, so I am not just shirking my picture taking responsibilities. Ill take lots, don't you worry. But Brock looked so good, just like the missionary he is, I love that kid. I also got to see Elder Childs at lunch yesterday, that was neat, he also looks good and he was making fun of me a little bit because he is only here for a week, and I am here for six. I get the feeling like the first part is going to drag like nobody's business.

 

Um, so my district is great, my kasama and I get along so far and I don't see any warning signes in the distance, so that is good. My district is six Elders and four sisters and we are shoved in the little tic tack classroom that everyone else used to use as a study room. After we were all done teaching our lessons yesterday, we just devolved into chatty-bonding time and we feng shued (that's how that is spelled, right?) our room so that is seems bigger. Lets hope it works and was not one of those good-at-night-bad-in-the-morning type ideas. Most of the people in my district are from Utah, but Sister Hagee is from Texas, Elder Liefi is from American Samoa and Elder Lloyd just graduated from Highland. I don't know him, but that is kind of cool, he knows Sam and Cole and Cooper, so we made that connection. But Elder Liefi is so sweet, he is so quite and so is his kasama Elder Glover (they are both wearing lavalavas today and it is so funny to see quiet, white, awkward Elder Glover rocking this bright, floral pink lavalava, so cute) so since he is not from the States, there are little things everyday that we will do and he is like
"I don't know what that is" or "I have never eaten that before" or "I have never seen that before" like on the Fourth, he had never seen fireworks! And he was pretty disappointed because all of the trees on the MTC campus were blocking the view from Stadium of FIRE!!!!!! so as Sis Smith and I were walking back to our room (we don't love fireworks) we happened upon this great, clear view of the fireworks so we RAN back to Elder Liefi to tell him, but he already found a good spot. So we went to bed. He has also never had pizza before. So interesting (as Sandy/Deon would say)

 

I love you as big as the sky times 7 1/2!!!!

 

Meggsie

Putting on my Big Girl Pants

Below is a copy of the talk Megan delivered in church during her meeting formerly known as a farewell on Sunday, JUNE 30, 2013. She did a fabulous job!!

"I am leaving for the Philippines Laoag mission on Wednesday. Yikes. Well here are some fun facts about Laoag, it is currently 90 degrees, there is a 70% chance of precipitation, humidity is at 71% and there is a 100% chance that I will have an afro once I get there. My mission president and his wife are both Filipino and they look adorable in their picture, but other than that, I am really going into the unknown. But Jesus will protect me, right?

So when I was growing up the question of my faith was never something I thought about.  Every Sunday I went to church, and I didn’t really think too much about it. It was not until I was in high school that I really started to question my belief in the gospel.

I was barely fourteen when I realized I first wanted to serve a mission.  It was my first time at EFY and I was sitting in a lecture when the instructor asked “who of you, girls included, want to serve missions?” I had honestly never thought about it before, but I heard a voice in my head say “raise your hand, you’re going to do that” so I raised my hand and was like “I’m gonna do that.”  That was the first time that I had had a prompting from The Lord, and I had understood what he wanted for ME specifically and I have treasured that moment ever since.

For a long time, I was worried that I would fall away from the church. Retrospectively, my worrying about becoming inactive was what kept me from becoming inactive. I was worried and I was stubborn, so I decided to go to church, and go to seminary and keep a current temple recommend because I was going to BE MORMON DANGGIT.

I didn’t necessarily have the testimony to back up my resolution to be a part of this church, but I believed that if I really tried I could gain the strong testimony that I desired. Alma 34:27 gives some great words of wisdom to that effect.

“But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.”

I had the desire to believe and I exercised the small amount of faith that it took to follow the commandments, go to church, actively attend seminary and do the little things The Lord asks us to. As I held onto that small amount of faith, it grew and The Lord has blessed me with a larger portion of understanding.

I wouldn’t deign to compare the trials of my life to those of Joseph Smith, but I think he and I made the same decision to believe in and desire the truth.  It was his desire to pursue the truth that lead him to that grove of trees, and it was his determination to exercise faith that lead to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ to appear to him. Joseph’s resolve to pursue the truth that was revealed to him that day in his first vision and in all the days of his life after is a great example to me in the exercise of faith.

Joseph did not have all the pieces to the puzzle, and neither do we.  And while seeing deity face to face would be a testimony boost of unfathomable proportions, we can still gain full conversion to the gospel by acting on the idea of faith because true conversion does not come through passive contact, it must be something that is truly desired and pursued.  Sometimes it is hard to have this desire, life becomes difficult and the resolve to do the work of The Lord can waiver.

I had already decided to serve a mission when I was 14.  I told people, and it was always on the list of things to do that I kept in the back of my head.  I even made a deal with my best friend Katie when we were still in high school that we would put our papers in at the same time so we would be apart for as little time as possible.  Then we graduated from high school and went to college, and a mission was still lingering in the back of my mind, but it was later, in the future, I didn’t have to worry about that yet.

Then October Conference happened and the possibility became extremely real. Katie started to panic in the good way, the way that leads to prayer and the changing of plans and timing according to the idea of The Lord.  I panicked in the bad way that leads to self absorbed fear.  So Katie put in her mission papers, and I decided that I was probably not going to serve a mission.  My resolve to do the things that were right waivered because I was scared and I was too busy thinking of myself to exercise faith and really ask The Lord what I should do.

About a week after I had told my family that I was not going to do the whole mission thing anymore, I went to a fireside that was held in my Grandma’s ward.  It was the old mission president from the Rome mission and since my aunt and uncle both served there, we all went to hear him speak.  It was a great talk about the miracles that helped in the building of the Rome temple.  Near the end of his talk, I had the feeling of “you are going to be there, helping these people” and my stomach dropped and my heart started to pound.  Then, not one second after the person saying the closing prayer said “amen” I heard a voice say lovingly, but firmly “YOU’RE GOING ON A MISSION” and I was like “Okay!”

I turned to my aunt and said, with tears streaming down my face, “Debbie, I’m going to serve a mission” and as the news traveled down the pew, my mom popped her head out from the end and looked at me with these wide eyes and said “you’re going on a mission!?”

I didn’t know it then, but once I finally put on my big-girl pants and followed the promptings of The Lord I felt like the Lamanites in Third Nephi chapter 6.  There were so many different factions of the church and there were people rebelling against the church, but in spite of it all, they decided to remain true.

 “the church was broken up in all the land save it were among a few of the Lamanites who were converted unto the true faith; and they would not depart from it, for they were firm, and steadfast, and immovable, willing with all diligence to keep the commandments of the Lord.”

I love the vocabulary of this verse, “they would NOT depart,” they were FIRM, steadfast, immovable and diligent in the face of adversity and fear.  Similarly, in spite of my fears, I did what The Lord asked and I put in my mission papers only a couple months after Katie.

Often I get the “oh holy crap what am I getting myself into” feeling, but I just have to power through those feelings to when I can feel the safety and comfort that comes with following God’s plan for me and when those moments of comfort arrive, I am a little more converted to the truth.

I have a testimony that this gospel is true.  It is one of my prized possessions because The Lord and I have worked so hard to put it all together. There are three things that I think hold my testimony together. First is the atonement, it is so real and I know that through its power, anything is possible. Joseph Smith really did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in the Sacred Grove, and the Book of Mormon is true. With a testimony of these three things, there is really no going back for me. I made my decision, and Heavenly Father is helping me stay true to my choice.

I would like to share my favorite scripture with you as a wrap up and it is Doctrine and Covenants 68:6 and it reads:

“wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord and with you, and will stand by you; and ye shall bear record of me, even Jesus Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that I was, that I am, and that I am to come.”

I know that The Lord has stood by me at all times in my life, and that because of this, I do not have need to fear.  I have also been fortunate enough to have so many family and friends who have stood by me and supported me, not just in this upcoming adventure, but in all the ones past and yet to come. Many of you are here today, and that is just more testament to how hard my friends and family rock.  I cannot wait to share the cheerful gospel message with the people of Laoag, they just have no idea how great life can be and I am so pumped to let them know.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

I'm Going to the Temple, and I Have Strep.

Going through the Temple for the first time to take out your own Endowment is a little bit daunting.  The LDS church has a Sunday School class called and devoted to "Temple Preparation," along with a neat little pamphlet called Preparing to Enter the Holy Temple and countless books and articles on the subject all of which have the soul purpose of, as one might imagine, preparing the members of the LDS Church to enter the Holy Temple.  Despite all of this literature on the subject one still goes in relatively blind as to what the experience will provide, other than the idea that it will be deeply meaningful, spiritual and above all, necessary for Salvation.

I attended "Temple Prep" and I read the neat little pamphlet and I read some of Elder Boyd K. Packer's book The Holy Temple, but I was still in the dark about what I should expect when the time came for me to take out my own Endowment.  This is not to say that I was scared of going to the temple, I was excited, but nervous at the idea of the unknown.  Katie, as always, went before me and learned the great mysteries of the Temple.  I asked her questions, but never asked for details, because I honestly didn't want to know what the mysteries of the Temple were until I was there, in that holy place, at the right time, because I knew (thanks to Elder Packer) that the things of the Temple are not secret, but sacred.

From the moment that I decided to put in my mission papers, Katie and I talked about how awesome it would be if she were my Escort through the temple for the first time.  It would have been undeniably adorable, but like all great relationships, the timing was wrong.  Katie left to begin her mission on March 20, 2013 and my Marlee Patrice, the sister I was glad I didn't have until I was old enough to appreciate her, came home from her mission March 21, 2013.  A sweet blessing to me, in losing one dear friend, I got another one back.  I flew out to Philadelphia to welcome Marlee off the plane and in the car ride back to her house, I asked if she would like to be my Escort through the Temple.  There was much squealing of delight.  On both ends.

I set up my appointment at the Temple, and Marlee flew out to Utah to get me all ready.  She helped me buy my Garments, something I would have been completely overwhelmed with on my own what with all the different sizing and fabrics and necklines and lengths--I am exhausted just thinking about it.  Marlee also came with me out to my Gma's house where the three of us poured over patterns and sewing machines and lace until we were cross-eyed making my Temple dress.  All was going smoothly until the night before I was supposed to take that last big step.

That night, I did not sleep. At all.  I was tossing and turning, worrying about the unfinished hem of my dress and if I was going to have enough time to get it done before I went to the Temple.  I was also feverish, cold one moment, hot the next, and my throat hurt something fierce.  In short, I felt like complete and utter crap.  I just wanted to spend all day in bed, but that was not in the cards for me on Wednesday April 17, 2013.

My mom came in and checked my temperature, my fever was mild, but I was surely sick.  There were so many things running through my head that I had to do, I had to finish my dress, I had to get ready, this was my big day and I didn't even want to leave my house.  Marlee made me some breakfast and was a devoted nurse all day.  I was able to get a blessing from my neighbor Nick, and felt noticeably better after a two hour nap.  Gma came all the way down from Bountiful with my dress and her sewing machine and finished my dress.  And I finally went to the doctor's office for the moment of truth.  Did I, or didn't I?

Well, as I am sure you have ascertained from the title of this post, I did.  I had strep on one of the biggest days of my life, up until this point.  My body rebels against me.  In high school, whenever I had an AP test, I woke up with a cold.  Finals week always starts with some kind of illness.  So of course, the day I am going through the Temple, I got strep.

Despite this...minor...set back, I still made it on time to the Temple and the prayer I had been saying all day, kept running though my head as I was tired, hungry and dehydrated sitting through my temple session "please Heavenly Father, please just help me make it through this upright," and he did.  I was in His house, surrounded by friends and family who loved me and I was still walking.

Valentines, Chimichurri and a Big Ole Envelope

Let me take you on a journey, back to when I was 14 years old: awkward, clad in braces and living it up at my first Especially For Youth camp...

I was in one of the lectures when the instructor asked, "who here, including girls, wants to serve a mission?"

I had never thought about it before, but my hand shot straight up in the air.  I wanted to serve a mission, who knew?  I did, after that fateful moment, so I started telling people.  It is not as though I went around from that day on shouting at random people on the street "hey you! I'm going to serve a mission!" But you know, I casually mentioned it to my parents, told some of my friends and would talk about it in seminary over the next several years.  Then in my senior year of high school my best friend Katie and I make the pact that we would put our mission papers in at the same time, so we will be apart from each other for as little time as possible.

All of these things were easy to say and do, it was easy to tell people I was going on a mission when I was 14-20 years old, because it was something that was so far away in the future, the real ramifications of my decision did not really hit me.  Those scarey, reality ridden thoughts were for later.  It was not until that fateful Saturday morning session of Conference October 6, 2012 when the missionary atom bomb was dropped by President Thomas S. Monson.  I could go on a mission, and I could go tomorrow if I got my poop together. I got scared.  Katie didn't.  That announcement rocked her world, she was going on and on about "what should I do?" and "should I finish out the academic school year?" and "should I finish my Italian minor before I go?" and all of these questions that I should have been asking myself, when in reality all I was thinking was "crap crap crap, holy freaking crap."

So Katie talked to her Bishop, got her physical and met with the Stake President and that was that.  I supported her all the way, but told her and my parents that I did not think I was going to do the whole "mission" thing anymore.  My parents were a little relieved, they no longer had to worry about losing their baby for 18 months to heaven knows where and Katie was supportive, but she never gave up the feeling that I would, indeed, follow her into the mission field.

A few weeks passed and my Ma and I went up to my Gma's ward to listen to the former Rome, Italy Mission President speak.  He talked about some of the miracles that happened in the building of the Rome temple and it was lovely. But the moment the person saying the closing prayer said "amen" I had this overwhelming feeling, like that summer day at EFY, that felt like "YOU'RE GOING ON A MISSION!!" and I was like "OKAY!"

I turned to my aunt Debbie and, with tears streaming down my face, said "Deb, I'm going on a mission," then I turned to my cousin Chloe and told her the same thing, I texted Katie to tell her, and by then, the news had reached my mom at the end of the pew and she shot her head out and looked at me with a slightly dazed expression and said "you're going on a mission?"

So like Katie before me, I talked to my Bishop, got my physical and met with the Stake President. My mission became a little more real.

A month or so passed, and Katie got her mission call: Milan, Italy.  If Katie could have chosen the mission she wanted to go to, it would have been Milan.  I was not surprised, I was (if I am honest) really jealous.  Katie was going to go to her first choice mission, something that simply does not happen.  It was the mission of dreams, the heart of Europe and all its culture and food and history.  Where would I go?  If Katie got to go to Italy, I would probably go to Cleveland, Ohio so the mission karma of the universe could be evened out. I kept telling myself that I would go anywhere, and I truly would, but it would be hard to compete with Italy when it came right down to it.

So I waited.  Then on Wednesday February 13, 2013 I came home expecting everything and got nothing.  It was the most disappointing moment of my life.  I had to call excited family members and tell them my call did not come, I called Katie, I prayed.

Then, the day of days. Valentines Day.  I come home and there is a big, white, church issued envelope in the mail with MY name on it.  My two friends Brad and Heather were over at my house because I was hosting a dinner that night for my single besties (Brad, Heather, Katie and my other best friend Josh) consisting of steak and homemade Chimichurri.  I bee-lined for the mail box, pulled out my beautiful white envelope and just started screaming and shaking and running around my house like a fool.  Family was called, Katie rushed over sooner than expected, my brother and his wife were Skyped in from California, my dad and step mom were iChatted in from the LA airport, by 7pm everyone was there and I could not wait any longer.

I was going on a mission, and I was going to the Philippines. Holy ish just got real.