So the Blogging Drought Begins

Well, it's here. In less than an hour, I will be set apart as a missionary to the Missouri St Louis Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I will be an ambassador of the Lord. I will be on the Lord's time. I'm very nervous, but so excited. I know that this is where I need to be. Before I go, let me share with you my testimony.

I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer. I know He lives. I know He is the very begotten son of a loving Heavenly Father who knows each of us. I know that His plan is for us to return to Him. This has been made possible by the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I love Them and want to serve Them with all of my heart. I know that these truths which we understand were restored to the earth by the prophet, Joseph Smith. The true priesthood is on the earth today. I have felt its power as I have exercised it worthily. The Book of Mormon is convincing evidence that Joseph Smith was a prophet, that he restored the priesthood keys, and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the Kingdom of God on the earth. By reading the Book of Mormon, we invite the Spirit into our lives.

Most of you know that I am a very logical person. I don't think I'd call myself a skeptic, but I definitely appreciate evidence. Among logical people in the world, religion is not a popular topic. Many believe that you can't "prove" the points of religion. I contend quite the opposite. In Moroni 10, we are promised that if we will ask with a sincere heart, real intent, and faith in Christ, we can know if the Book of Mormon is true. By the very nature of that promise, a witness of the spirit is logical evidence that the Book of Mormon is true. I have read the Book of Mormon, and felt the spirit witness to my heart that it is indeed true.

I love you all so much. I will miss my family and friends so much, and I'm sure there will be tough days when I really miss home, but I have been called by a prophet of God, who communicates directly with my Heavenly Father, to serve the people of St. Louis. I'm not going to let them down. Pray for me, as I will pray for you. May the Lord bless you all as you keep his commandments and the honor covenants you have made.

See you in two!

Pictures

Once upon a time, in the land of mission preparation,

Okay, something kinda ironic about me. I have given thousands of shots to myself. Literally, thousands. The shots that I give now, for my insulin pump, are not that much smaller than the shots you get for an immunization like a flu shot, tetanus, Hep A, whatever. The shots that I give myself do not freak me out. It's not my number one hobby, but it takes me about 3 minutes, and no big deal, doesn't really hurt that bad.

When it comes to doctors/nurses giving me shots, I get freaked out. I don't know what it is. It might be that the vaccine going into you hurts way worse than insulin going into you. It might just be that I'm not in control, that someone else is stabbing me. I don't know, but whatever it is, I don't like getting shots from other people. Kinda weird, I know.

So I need to get my hepatitis A and a tetanus (am I spelling that right?) booster before my mission. So this morning my mom calls our general practice doctor and makes sure that I'm good to come in and get those immunizations. For the reasons stated above, I was not in the least excited about this, but I want to be a missionary, so I agreed to go in.

My mom actually called in twice just because there was a little miscommunication about what records I needed to bring, what immunizations I needed, etc. Anyway, I went in today, checked in at the front desk, let them know what vaccines I needed and everything, and they sent me to the waiting room to fill out a big, long insurance page and sign for my dad. After all of this, the nurse opens the door and calls my name. I had actually just finished saying a prayer asking Heavenly Father to help me to be brave (yep, just like a Kindergartner, you better believe it). And as I stand up to head back, the nurse informs me that they don't have two of the vaccinations that I need.

"Uh...I only need two. Hep A and a tetanus booster."

"Yeah, we don't have either of those."

"Uh...okay."

"When you come in for your appointment on Monday, we should have them, and we won't charge you again."

"Uh...okay."

"Thanks for coming in!"

Seriously? You couldn't have told my mom when she called in? Or maybe the second time she called in? Perhaps when I came to the front desk? Maybe before you had me spend 20 minutes filling out insurance information? The detail that YOU COULDN'T HELP ME didn't seem relevant until then?

That's poor customer service, folks.

Trust me, I was once a customer service rep.

So Here I Sit

So here I sit in a mostly empty dorm room.

I think about the memories I've made and the people I've met.

My ears are still ringing from the roar of the crowd as Jimmer sinks a three.

My butt is still sore from sitting through 5 and a half hours of testimonies (yes, in one day).

My abs still hurt from hours of laughing with FHE sisters and ward members.

My mind is still full from cramming for finals.

My emotions are confused, wondering where the time has gone, unsure whether to be anxious for the future, or sad to leave the past. I've been looking forward to being a freshman at BYU since I was in the womb. Now it's over.

I'm forwarding my mail onto Farmington, my heart on to Missouri.

I'm going to miss this place.

New Playlist!

So if you haven't seen, I just put a new playlist on my blog :) I thought it was time for a change. I tried to pick a variety of songs so that hopefully everyone will find something they like :) Here's what I picked and why:

1.Forever; Chris Brown
This song reminds me of several things. It reminds me of the episode on the office when Jim and Pam get married and they play this at their wedding. Haha I laugh every time I think about it. Plus, it also reminds me of being in the flash mob with Elizabeth at the BYU basketball game that I posted about a little while ago. So fun. It's just a great song, and a clean Chris Brown song (which is rare).

2. Hallelujah; Shrek (not really by Shrek, but it's from the soundtrack)
I've been obsessed with this song lately. It's just a sweet song with sweet lyrics, great vocals, and a seemingly good message, though I haven't really read into the lyrics all that much...

3. Piano Man; the greatest songwriter of our age, in my opinion, Billy Joel
Ah, probably my all time favorite song. I don't even know what to say about it. Classic. Beautiful. Genius.

4. Hotel California; Eagles
This song is just a great acoustic guitar song with thoughtful lyrics, which many think is referring to drug addiction. I've looked into it and the Eagles all swear that it isn't...Who knows. Either way, it's not a bad message, it's saying that you can't escape it once you start. Not promoting drugs. No worries.

5. Tonight; FM Static
Boy-band-ish. Cliche. 90's. Love it. Reminds me of certain people and certain experiences that I've had.

6. All These Things That I've Done; Killers
I pretty much just like this song for the middle part. "I got soul, but I'm not a soldier." That section was on a BYU football video that they played before the 4th quarter to get everyone pumped in the stadium. So sweet. The rest of the song is alright too :)

7. Let It Rain; Living Things
Back in the day, my dad found a song called "Bom Bom Bom" by Living Things. I always loved it and it was just a sweet rock song. I showed it to my friend who liked it so much that he found some more stuff by them, and introduced me to this song, which has become one of my favorite rock(ish) songs.

8. Angel; Shaggy
Haha just a sweet, reggae-type song. It also reminds me of certain people and my senior year. Love this song.

That's all for now, have a good one :)

Not Meant to Embarrass (though it probably will)

This is my dad.

My dad is an amazing man.

I could write for pages about my dad.

I won't.

One interesting thing about my dad, he worked really hard in high school as a wrestler and (as is the case with most wrestlers) got very strong. This strength came from hours in the wrestling room and gym. My dad has broad, strong shoulders. He's just built strong. My dad doesn't go to the gym anymore (sorry dad, secret's out) but he still looks like he does push-ups every night. I wish I had inherited this. I don't show the muscle that I occasionally have when I do buckle down and work out. And I usually just don't have any muscle.

Tonight my roommate (who was a linebacker and wrestler in high school and is built somewhat like a tank. or train.) convinced me to suck it up and do push-ups with him. Needless to say:

I'm a wuss.





(But just wait, in a month, I'm gonna be HUGE.)





(Yeah, right.)

Some pictures and comments and thoughts

This is a ridiculously sweet picture I took of my all-time favorite soccer ball. I broke nearly every juggling record I ever had with it. Then I brought it to one of my games and the opposing team stole it. But hey, it will live in memory forever through this picture. I think it'll be the face of the World Cup someday.

This is me getting tipsy on New Years. With Martinelli's. :)

This is probably my all-time favorite picture. It's just so....us. I love Nate. He cracks me up all the time. It's not a flattering picture of me by any stretch of the imagination, but I just love it.

This is me with Lee Essig, one of my greatest friends. He's in Lima, Peru right now, and by the time I'm in St. Louis, he will have already been out for a year. Lucky dog. I miss him.

As long as we're talking about people that I miss like crazy, this is Adam Barlow. Probably my greatest friend. He leaves the MTC for Mozambique in 3 days.

Little known fact, I'm actually a Death Eater. April Fools. I'm actually Harry Potter.

Waiting in line for the...UNLV (?) game. I think. I'm pretty sure. I slept in a tent on freezing cold concrete in the snow, rain, and sleet. My memory is a little hazy. I'm pretty sure it was UNLV. And don't worry, I've got my loyal cougar shirt on underneath the neon jacket. I was just freezing outside. Also, why am I shrugging my shoulders? Anyone?

Well the underlying theme here seems to be things I will miss on my mission (friends, family, Harry Potter, BYU sports, Martinellis (?)). And it just wouldn't be complete if I didn't include waterskiing. Hopefully I'll get to go at least once before I leave, but I'm going to miss waterskiing. A whole lot.

Well I didn' mean for this to be a downer post. At all. So let me show you how I feel about my life. See this picture? SO happy that it's literally frightening. Are you not legitimately scared that my overenthusiastic self might just jump right through the computer screen and latch onto you, causing sever damage from exposure-to-unbelievable-joy? I know I am.

Have a nice day, everyone. Love ya :)

Experiences I will never forget

Being in the epic flash mob (seen here) with Elizabeth during the Wyoming game.

Spending 3 days with just me and Nate in my apartment over Christmas break. I would have been very lonely without him.

Taking Matt to his soccer game and leading him in warm-ups.

PPIs with my dad.

So many long talks with my mom. And laughing about all of the good times we've had.

Nate being just as excited about me breaking 1000 as I was.

Matt's celebrations. Everything from his TOPS soccer games, to basement football, to the primary program.

Texting Elizabeth. Even if she did get a phone before she was 16 ;) I actually really like texting her :)

Analyzing BYU football, BYU basketball, Nate's soccer, my own soccer, march madness, bowl games, commentators, high school sports, church basketball, USA soccer, and so much more with my dad for literally hundreds of hours.

Getting hot chocolate with my mom after a freezing soccer game. And seeing how excited she was/is for my mission call. And going and getting mission suits with her. And knowing that she'd defend me and stand by me no matter what. (I really love my mom :)

Quotes over the years:

"You'll have to excuse your mother, she thinks she's musical." -Dad

"SORRY GUYS! I JUST TOOTED AND IT'S PRETTY BAD!" -Elizabeth

"Nanuts" -Matt (his version of "Numb Nuts")

"Holy Hail!" -Mom

"I don't want to read scriptures! It's just a book about a bunch of righteous people!" -Nate

So many more, but that will do. And I know you had to be there for most of these, but this post is more for me than for you :)

12.5 Random Thoughts at 12:50 AM

Doesn't Mr. Clean look like a rough and tumble kind of guy? Can you see that muscly, bald, tank on his hands and knees washing the kitchen floor? I sure can't. False advertisement, I say.

It's funny how a mission call can have so many effects on you. One minute, I smile and think, "I can't wait to be a missionary." The next, I think, "Oh my. I better call Mom and Dad right now. I can't do it. What do I know about missionary work? Who am I to preach the gospel? I'm unqualified and unprepared." Luckily, I have a firm testimony of prayer.

I have long, heated conversations. With no one. Just me. Versus myself. I'm pretty good at winning these arguments.

Girls are SO much different than boys. I know this isn't groundbreaking. Just an observation, thank you very much.

Even though one of my roommates is super weird, I feel very blessed to have formed the relationships that I have with my roommates. They are great men of faith. I am very proud to say that I come from Kimball, 209.

Every morning (lately), I wake up with a random song stuck in my head. It's never the same one and varies from Rebecca Black (is that her name? The super annoying "Friday" song on youtube?), to Billy Joel, to Akon, to primary songs.

Blackberries bloom beautifully.

Did you hear that the makers of YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook are all teaming up to create the ultimate social networking site?? Cool, huh!? It's going to be called, YouTwitFace.

I've been listening to Herod the Fink lately. Yep. Christmas songs. I love them. And I'm going to miss them.

Over the summer, I had a job painting a fence for a family in my ward (it was a big fence). I often find myself wishing that I was back in the sun, the smell of paint strong in the air, and music (or Harry Potter 7 hehe) blasting in my ears. I loved that job.

I have dreams on a regular basis that I get to play pick-up basketball with Jimmer Fredette. He's usually impressed by my three-point shooting.

Good friends are the greatest blessing. Man. There are so many good people in this world. It amazes me.

I was just thinking that sunflowers

Of BYU, and not just the basketball team :)

Okay, first of all: that game was outstanding. If we can continue playing like that, we could make a deep run in the tournament. Knock on wood.

Okay, now that that's out of the way.

On facebook, after the game, a kid that I went to high school with (who I have a lot of respect for) posted several things about how much he hates BYU. He attends Utah State and loathes BYU. I just want to address a couple of the things he said he hates about BYU.

One thing he said was that he hates how BYU fans/students are brainwashed. Now, I will be the first person to say that the reason that I am a huge BYU fan is because my parents are. I was dressed in a BYU sweatsuit shortly after birth. I went to my first BYU football games before I had my first birthday. I've grown up with BYU in my blood. I don't believe this is brainwashing. Our parents teach us and as we grow up, we idolize our parents and tend to think like they do. Brainwashing involves things like teaching kids that if you bring down Americans and die in the process, you'll go to heaven. Brainwashing is knowingly taking away an individual's ability to see right from wrong--sports opinions do not fall in that category.  Sports are a lot of things. They are entertainment, a way to teach life lessons, a way to express yourself, and so much more. However, the team you cheer for is not a decision of right and wrong. No matter how die-hard I am, nothing can change that fact.

Second, he said that he "hates BYU's rules."

I looked through his pictures, and he has lots of photos of himself at the BYU-Utah State football game wearing a shirt that switches the first letters of BYU and the most offensive vulgarity. It is very interesting to see his view on rules. I believe that the truth sets us free. I believe that when we live righteously, we are not restricted, but have more freedom. Freedom from addiction, freedom from spiritual death and the loss of the spirit. 

I don't expect everyone to love BYU or to share these viewpoints. Let me just exercise my agency to say things that I love about BYU.

I love that I have a class entitled "Missionary Preperation."

I love that I get to learn about science and controversial topics from a gospel perspective.

I love that a lot of people at BYU are striving to be their best selves and live righteously.

I love so much about BYU, beyond sports. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and I respect his as I hope he respects mine.

Oh, and I love Jimmer Fredette. :)