Hi guys! So, I know a lot of people wanted me to continue blogging after "18 months an angel", or my mission blog. Hopefully this blog will help keep all of you up to date as to my life :) It won't be quite as structured as my mission blog, and will contain pieces of the writing I'm working on as well.
Let's cover just this last weekend to start. For those of you who don't know I'm studying up at BYU in Utah as an English major. I'm taking 18 credit hours/8 classes which keeps me busy! Those 8 classes consist of 3 english classes (shocker, I know;), 1 spanish class, 2 dance classes, and 2 religion classes. I'm also working as a secretary at the Faculty Center in the library here on campus. This last weekend I had the great opportunity to eat at both an Italian and Argentine restaurant (vamos Argentina!), as well as attend a devotional with President Holland and his wife with Lindsey Roberts, go through the Salt Lake Temple, and have dinner at the Roberts house (this doesn't mean just going over and eating. This also implies swinging through their house and almost going through their window, although I was assured that this Doesn't happen, and taking my first go on a hoverboard, no big deal.)
It was such a blessing to be able to see all of the sister missionaries at temple square! We talked to a sister from South America, and the spirit was strong as she thanked "Hermana" Ostler and I for the service and love we had shown the people on our missions, and that we would receive blessings for such. She also thanked us for being an example to all those sisters still in the field. It's moments like this where you get just a taste of the mission, and a sort of longing you can't explain is mixed with the foreign idea that you did it. That the mission is over, and you are now the experienced veteran, giving advice and telling people "it'll be ok".
On fast Sunday one of the girls in my ward bore her testimony in Spanish. She said she didn't know why, but that she felt she needed to do so. As she did I felt the spirit so strongly, stronger than all of the other testimonies given in my native language. Something about Castellano just pulls at me now. It's almost as though the spirit speaks to me louder in Spanish. I don't know why Father had had her give her testimony in Spanish, but it certainly strengthened me, and on a day I was having a pretty rough time, for reasons unknown to me.
While on the mission I had read a lot about fasting coupled with prayer, and realized that I don't fast nearly enough. While on the mission it was almost second nature to fast, but fasting in a "real world" setting was hard. It was hard to focus and hard to remember for what purpose I was fasting. This was a testimony to me that Satan doesn't Want us to fast and pray. He knows just how powerful it is, and doesn't want us to receive the divine knowledge sometimes only available to us through a focused, powerful fast. So, there's an invitation for everyone;) Fast! Not just on fast Sunday, but when you or a loved one needs health, comfort, or answers. It works. We might struggle while fasting, and Satan might try to influence our mood or get us to degrade what we're fasting for, but Father will support us in such righteous endeavors.
Also got to talk to my "daughters" yesterday! Hermana Bekaouche just had a baptism!
Let's cover just this last weekend to start. For those of you who don't know I'm studying up at BYU in Utah as an English major. I'm taking 18 credit hours/8 classes which keeps me busy! Those 8 classes consist of 3 english classes (shocker, I know;), 1 spanish class, 2 dance classes, and 2 religion classes. I'm also working as a secretary at the Faculty Center in the library here on campus. This last weekend I had the great opportunity to eat at both an Italian and Argentine restaurant (vamos Argentina!), as well as attend a devotional with President Holland and his wife with Lindsey Roberts, go through the Salt Lake Temple, and have dinner at the Roberts house (this doesn't mean just going over and eating. This also implies swinging through their house and almost going through their window, although I was assured that this Doesn't happen, and taking my first go on a hoverboard, no big deal.)
It was such a blessing to be able to see all of the sister missionaries at temple square! We talked to a sister from South America, and the spirit was strong as she thanked "Hermana" Ostler and I for the service and love we had shown the people on our missions, and that we would receive blessings for such. She also thanked us for being an example to all those sisters still in the field. It's moments like this where you get just a taste of the mission, and a sort of longing you can't explain is mixed with the foreign idea that you did it. That the mission is over, and you are now the experienced veteran, giving advice and telling people "it'll be ok".
On fast Sunday one of the girls in my ward bore her testimony in Spanish. She said she didn't know why, but that she felt she needed to do so. As she did I felt the spirit so strongly, stronger than all of the other testimonies given in my native language. Something about Castellano just pulls at me now. It's almost as though the spirit speaks to me louder in Spanish. I don't know why Father had had her give her testimony in Spanish, but it certainly strengthened me, and on a day I was having a pretty rough time, for reasons unknown to me.
While on the mission I had read a lot about fasting coupled with prayer, and realized that I don't fast nearly enough. While on the mission it was almost second nature to fast, but fasting in a "real world" setting was hard. It was hard to focus and hard to remember for what purpose I was fasting. This was a testimony to me that Satan doesn't Want us to fast and pray. He knows just how powerful it is, and doesn't want us to receive the divine knowledge sometimes only available to us through a focused, powerful fast. So, there's an invitation for everyone;) Fast! Not just on fast Sunday, but when you or a loved one needs health, comfort, or answers. It works. We might struggle while fasting, and Satan might try to influence our mood or get us to degrade what we're fasting for, but Father will support us in such righteous endeavors.
Also got to talk to my "daughters" yesterday! Hermana Bekaouche just had a baptism!
Hermana Riquelme and Hermana Yancey continue to train my "grandchildren", and Hermana Cuevas is such an example of strength and patience in Palermo :) Couldn't have asked for better kids!
For Family Home Evening last night my FHE family (myself and 5 boys in attendance) played Nerts (which everyone seemed to suffer through but me;) and BS, which I was significantly less skilled at. In the game you have to put down cards, and can bluff, although people can call you out, and if caught bluffing you have to take all of the cards in the middle. One of the guys, McKay, almost always bluffed, but no one really called him out. Kyle, on the other hand, was called out almost every time, which would have been fine expect that he never had what he claimed to have played;) It was a lot of fun!
For those of you who know my little sister, it's Emilie's 10th birthday! Man, love that girl to pieces, although she's pretty upset with me, given that I haven't been to one of her birthdays in three years....
But I love her anyway!
Here are some of the other adventures I've had since returning from the mission:
Ran into Sage and Ashley, old Texas friends, after not seeing them fro almost 12 years!
Became a snow queen in this Utah place:
Took this thing from Idaho to Utah courtesy of my Uncle Shay!
And of course, all of the temple visits:)
More adventures to come!
Comments