Got my endowment...check!

Excited. Nervous. Enlightened. Peace. These words pretty much describe how I felt throughout the whole process.

I learned so much in such a short amount of time. I definitely have a greater eternal perspective. I also have a better perspective on missionary work and marriage. I think the concept of obedience is the principle that really hit home. I never realized how important obedience is. In general, I feel like I gained a better understanding of the importance of a lot of principles in the gospel.

A random thing that I realized is that I have a better understanding of my dreams. After getting my endowment, I feel like I understand why I have been having the dreams I have been having.

After getting my endowment, I also feel like I am new-and-improved. I feel like I can do anything. I have a level of confidence I never had before. I also feel like my analytical skills improved. It's crazy the things I learned and the ways I changed.

The Temple

I will be entering the temple a year to the day I arrived in Israel. I will also be entering the MTC a year to the day I spent my last full day in Israel. I felt like entering Israel was the start of my conversion process to Christ. The day that I left Jerusalem was the day that I determined that I was going to serve the Lord (didn't do a great job at it so far though). Haha foreshadowing.

I'll be going into the Laie, Hawaii temple tonight with my mom to get my endowments. I can't believe this day has come!

Once Upon a Time and Captain America

So I made it safe and sound to Hawaii. I would have gone to the beach and stuff, but it has been rainy and cloudy all last night and today. Instead I watched the most recent episode of Once Upon a Time and Captain America.

Oh my goodness! I finally watched Captain America! I didn't know how awesome the cast was! They had people from The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings, North and South, The Hunger Games, and Once Upon a Time. They had people from my favorite movies (and TV show in the case of Once Upon a Time). I think I mostly enjoyed the movie just because of who was casted.

This most recent episode of Once Upon a Time revolved around Belle from Beauty and the Beast. She was my favorite character in this series until Regina, the Evil Queen from Snow White, made her into a "eat, drink, and be merry" kind of girl. The reason she was my favorite character is that she is the most loving person out of all of the characters. She looks on the heart rather than the appearance. She sees the good in everybody, even in the most wicked people. Now she's a rebellious bad girl that likes to hang out at bars and she's now my least favorite character. It's interesting how as Belle, she fell in love with Rumpelstiltskin because she knew that there was a good side to him. Now this new self, named Lacey, is falling in love with Rumpelstiltskin because of his dark side. It's crazy!

I like Once Upon a Time because of the complexity of the characters. Fairytale characters have typically been portrayed as either good or evil. I like how Once Upon a Time puts a twist in all of the characters. You can actually learn some good morals from Once Upon a Time. I know I have. This TV series is definitely worth watching!

My roommate got me hooked watching this TV show this past Christmas. I was looking through Netflix and they had the whole first season. She suggested that we watch. I pretty much spent half of Christmas break getting caught up to season 2.

Songs of the Heart

So this was my last full day in Provo, UT. The only thing I can think of writing about are songs. Honestly, I can't express how I feel via speaking or even writing. This is worrisome considering I will be preaching the gospel in a couple of months. I think that's why I enjoy listening to music so much. If I can't say how I feel myself, I'll just have a song say it for me. So this is how I feel as of now:

Read My Mind - The Killers
Please Speak Well of Me - The Weepies
Let Her Go - Passenger
Us Against the World - Coldplay
So This is Goodbye - William Fitzsimmons

I might just start writing songs, except I tried that a couple of times and it was super strange writing songs about myself. We'll see if I feel musically inclined enough this summer to pull this off.

See You Later...Not Goodbye

I think the fact that I'm leaving officially kicked in. It wasn't until I said goodbye to the bishopric members after Ward Prayer that I started tearing. It was sad seeing them leaving the breezeway into the dark, but it's reassuring to think that I can see them again. When I get back, I will definitely visit them down in Springville so it's not goodbye.

I feel like it's a lot easier saying "goodbye" if you have the mentality of "see you later." If I'm all like, "Crap! I'm probably never seeing you again," I just get all sad and depressed. If I'm like, "Yeah, see you in two years," I feel a lot more content.

Anyways, I feel like writing a couple highlights of the day:
-I cracked up towards the end of "God Be With You Till We Meet Again." I accidentally sang "smile death's threatening wave before you," instead of "smite death's threatening wave before you." I need to stop using the mini hymn book.
-Me: "Oh hey, my debit card expires in the year 2016. I'll totally be married by then!" All my roommates were like, "What?!?" Honestly, I have a feeling I'll be getting married when I am 24-years-old. Ever since I was a little kid, I was pretty sure that I will be getting married at age 24. The math even works out. I will almost be 23-years-old when I get back from my mission. If I run into my future husband during the Fall semester or something, I'll most likely be getting married that summer. I'll be 24-years-old by then.
-Last Ward Prayer I ever had to conduct.
-Last time seeing the people in my ward (at least for two years).

Stumbling Upon My High School Classes

So BYU accepted my deferment. When they notified me of my deferment, it was attached to my admissions application I filled out over 3 years ago. They still have a record of the AP classes and senior classes. I feel like posting them just because I am already forgetting the classes I took in high school.

AP Classes:

English Language & Comp
US History
Biology
Government & Politics - US
English Literature & Comp

Senior Year Classes:

AP Biology
Spanish 2
Political Processes (aka "We the People")
Chorus 1
AP Government & Politics - US
AP English Literature & Comp
Graphic Communications (aka yearbook)

Haha "We the People." So We the People is a high school competition. It's like in the form of a congressional hearing. There are 6 units (or groups) that each person can be in. I was in Unit 5 so I dealt with issues related to the First Amendment and the judicial system. I had to memorize like a billion Supreme Court cases. During the competition, I did not even throw out any of the court cases I memorized :( Anyways, our high school got first place every year for like 30 years. Only the first place winner from each state could go to Washington D.C. Sadly, it was my senior year that we did not get first. My ego was shot. I started crying when they announced that we got second place. I totally thought we had it in the bag. At least my Unit 5 got a higher score than the Unit 5 that was going to Washington D.C. Now that I think back on it, it was so immature of me to react like that. At least I was able to go to Washington D.C. my junior year of high school and just this past New Year's Eve.

The 411 for the Australia Brisbane Mission

Exciting facts I just realized:
- I should not eat bananas while I'm in Australia, since that attracts mosquitoes. I read this in a booklet of advice at the Sister Missionary Mall. It made me laugh.
- There are a lot of venomous animals in Australia, including the koalas. So I probably shouldn't play with the koalas then.
- I'm in a driving mission (I think). At least that's what my mom told me. I wonder if the problems with my knees affected where I got called on my mission.
- It's a 24 hour flight from Salt Lake City to Brisbane, Australia. I guess I'll just read the Book of Mormon 5 times over on this flight.
- It rains more than half of the year.
- There is such thing as Australian Football. It looks like a super sweet sport. Too bad as a missionary I can't watch this, or rugby, or soccer, or go swimming. I'm definitely coming back to Australia so I can do these things.


I also realized that I will be missing Catching Fire. It comes out this fall. It's my favorite book from the Hunger Games series and I am going to be missing the movie. I was telling my roommate the other day that if I were to break any rule on the mission, it would be to watch Catching Fire right when it comes out in theaters. Hopefully I'll be so preoccupied with preaching the gospel that this won't be a temptation.

...more to come...