life lessons from Warewolf

Warewolf/mofia. A really fun game that has brought me hours of enjoyment (mostly during the summer...I've been sorta outta the loop the last couple of months...)
tonight was really so fun! I loved it. I love Carson. He is my twin (seperated and birth and only reunited last summer) and he's just the funnest. he made up offical sheets of how to play with all the characters so i didn't have to keep asking. and I love all the people at park plaza, really. or at least #111, #205, and carson and aaron.
tonights game led to a strange epiphany though. I don't know why, but cupid struck me 4 rounds tonight! so i had a lot of lovers. (good thing because I won't have ANY for the next 18 months!!) and what I loved (and i know this is crazy and weird) was that they were on my side. I could trust that even when I was wrong and was the murderer, my lover would stick up for me. And in Carson the witches case he would kill those who dared to accuse me. So this is what I realized: I can't wait to get married! and have someone who trusts me that much. and always has my back. I know, weird thing to get from a game of mofia. but srsly. being married will be fun!

teach us tolerance and love

today i gave my farewell talk!
it went well. some friends came (reps of park plaz and london :) and family! oh and also in attendance were lots of soccer boys. for a slit second i was like, what? they came to my farewell?! but then duh i realized they were there for trent who was giving his homecoming talk. ha but it was still fun to pretend boys would come for me :)

I talked about tolerance and love. I used examples from the life of the Savior who showed us the perfect path of love and tolerance. The examples I told were:
Cleansed the Leper
Woman at the well in Samaria
Dined with publicans and sinners
woman taken in adultery
in all of these instances Christ showed that he looked past differences with love and saw them as children of God. In the case of the adulterous woman, he forgave her, but gave her the strict charge to "go, and sin no more" - though he loves the sinner he cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance.
that's how we can be. don't accept sin. Elder Nelson said that we think that some of something is good, so a lot must be better, but this isn't the case with tolerance. we shouldn't permit, encourage, or partake in sin. He also said that sometimes to truly love means that we will disagree and even confront differences if we can help the other. Of course, that doesn't always work, in which case we still love them. Love is the key.
So, that was teh gist of my talk. it was short, only 11 minutes. but my family had to sing, so since i was doing double duty i hope i'm forgiven.
and BEST PART is that this is one more thing to check off my list before I can go!! One step closer to being a missionary!!!!
10 days!

big news:

well i just got the official news that my visa didn't come. :(
which means that I'll be going to the provo mtc. and I mean, it's not that big of a surprise because i knew that there are lots of visa troubles and nobody is at the mtc down there... but i was praying for a miracle.
it's just a little bit disheartening because i've never prayed for such a specific thing for so long. every single day for 7 months i've prayed that if it was the Lord's will, that my visa would come. So, I guess the Lord wants me here. And if i get sent to Texas after that for the duration of my whole mission (like Tom Jay) then that's the Lord's will too, because I know he could straighten out the visa thing. but that's not the way it worked. but it's so hard when your heart is so set on something, but it doesn't work the way you want it to. and my little heart was so so set on going to brazil.
but like the good book says, "ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith"
heck, i hear the food's better at the provo mtc anyway :)

oh, hi yo

this week i went to OHIO! to say goodbye to katie and meet sam before i leave on my mission. it was quite the trip. not really what i was expecting, but i'm glad that i went!

ohio was a cool place to visit. it's ugly and the weather is awful, the intersections are scary and confusing and i didn't feel safe walking around. BUT there's lots of old building taht were cool. and kirtland is just 1/2 an hour away. and katie's apartment was really nice and big and friendly! oh and the trees get covered in ice and are all sparkely. it's beeautiful!
they had electric blankets at the apt. that I would huddle in, and there were always lots of people in and out of there to say hello to. Katie was really busy with work etc. so honestly i didn't get to see her all that much... so i was glad her friends were so nice to me.
ooh and guess what? i was a total missionary on the plane ride back (thanks to andrew kuo who challenged me to be) I talked the guy sitting next to me's ear off. but he was really interested! i think mostly just intellectually though... he said he always thought he was an intelligent person (college professor) and was embarrassed to admit he thought mormons weren't christians. so i set him straight. and told him alllll about the book of mormon. and bore my testimony. and he asked how he could get a book of mormon! it was cool. i can't wait to be a full time missionary!
kirtland was also cool. so much history there. and the spirit at those sites is powerful.
i'm withholding full judgement on sam - mostly because i didn't really get to know him. but it was obvious that he makes katie really happy... so i guess i like him well enough. he's really tall. and made puzzles in finnish and arabic for me to do during sacrament meeting :)
imma miss katie during my mission. a lot! she always gives me good advice! i love her. and wish i could be at her wedding (if they get married...) but we'll ALWAYS be best friends. she promised!

welcome back to jr high

he told her that he had a crush on me so she told me and then she told him that she told me so he told me he didn't.
and i'm like, uh who cares?? I'm going on a mission in 12 days. duh.

coolest missionaries ever:

yes i'm talking about Alma, Amulek, Ammon, Arron, Sons of Mosiah.
they are incredible!!
I'm reading in Alma and it's blowing my mind! I want to be that kind of missionary!
and think of this: set apart full time missionaries have the exact same authority and power! we should be that bold and selfless and faithful. we can change lives just like that. and God will direct us, just as He did them. Missionary work will go forth!
cool, huh??

perfect valentines day!!

(really old picture of lauren and I. She's wearing her trusty old date shirt in this one. ha it's still in mint condition ;))

my very best friend flew in today to be with me for valentine's day!!!

well....

lauren is heading to the mtc on wednesday... so she got here yesterday! it was great. i picked her up at the airport. we slept over at #111. we ate at pizza pie cafe. i really couldn't have wanted a better valentine :)

also today we went to the SLC temple! it was absolutely incredible! they do live sessions there and it was really different from provo. not even necessarily better... different things really stuck out to me though. and of course the temple is beautifuL! painted rooms etc. wow!

goodbyes are hard.

but like alma was so happy to run into the sons of mosiah after they all had been serving missions and found they were still brothers in the gospel, that's how i think it'll be when we all get back! the most joyous reunion ever.

and i can't wait.

visa stress

pray for it to come, ok?
it would make me really, really happy.
i want to go to brazil.
but i'll serve wherever i'm sent. (i keep telling myself that)

this is stressing me out. I've had a stomach ache about it for weeks.

story borrowed from a really bad chick flick.

what if i made the biggest mistake ever? what if i let the perfect guy slip through my fingers like an idiot? yup this may sound a little over the top dramatic... but for reals!!
once upon a time, this really really great guy liked me! pretty much everything i could ask for: super super funny. thought i was funny. really smart. really spiritual. really thoughtful. whoa!
and it freaked me out because i'm going on a mission. and because it felt really real. and he's not who i pictured. and i didn't know how to handle it. so i handled it really poorly... and i just had this thought:
he'll be married when I get back from my mission. and i don't get another shot!
he hasn't really talked to me in a long time. and we hung out the other day and i remembered: he's a really good guy.
dang it.
dumb me.
too late to do anything now.

oh well, my future husband had better be this cool!

underload

I think it's usually about this time in the semester that I start feeling like I'm about to crack under the pressure of 20.5 credits and 6 papers, 2 tests, work, fun, etc.

here's what I'm realizing -

I don't keep signing up for huge credit loads because I'm an idiot and forgot how much work it was last semester. I LIKE being really busy. I like feeling the pressure and getting it all done. I like working hard! I like feeling accomplished. heck, i even like my job.

but instead, right now I only have one class that i think isn't interesting. tons of time on my hands = b.o.r.e.d.

can't wait to go on a mission! that ought to keep me busy!