A Little While Later...

So it's been a really long time. I spent the summer in WV with my grandma and it was awesome. I'm glad to be back in Idaho though and starting in on my fifth semester. It seems so crazy to me since I only started school last summer! This semester is shaping up to be the best yet! Kristen and I have plans for a little weekly something so keep a look out for that. My new roommates are awesome! And it looks like there will be weekly Latin dancing. My classes should be fairly awesome and I'm hoping to keep busy.

Tomorrows plans are few. They include sleeping in, unpacking, and watching Fried Green Tomatoes with some friends. Awesome, I know.

Mother's Weekend

This past weekend my birth mom came to see me for Mother's Weekend. I am so glad she came and we got to spend some time together. She arrived in Salt Lake City Thursday night at midnight and the drove up to Rexburg so we had a car while she was here. Friday after my early morning class mom and I went shopping in Rexburg. It was a fun and I got some new clothes too!

Then I took her on a tour of the campus before we went to class. It was New Testament and mom seemed to enjoy it a lot. I think she was a bit nervous at first because she thought it was going to be really mormon-y, but then she found out that it's not all that different from what she learned growing up Lutheran. She even knew more than the students because of her religious background.


After class we went to Idaho Falls. We took a ton of pictures at the falls and the park before going to the Idaho Falls Temple Visitor's Center. While we were there we did the kiosk on temples, saw the Books of Mormon in different languages, listened to the Christus, watched some of the testimonies of new members, and watched the Joseph Smith movie. She really enjoyed the movie and learned a lot.

On Saturday we got up bright and early (4am) to go to Yellowstone. We got there so early it was free! We had a blast driving through Yellowstone and the Grand Teton park. Though we were a little disappointed with Old Faithful it was still beautiful.


When we got home we rushed to get ready for dinner with Shane and his mom at Applebees. It was a lot of fun and Shane and I were both glad to be able to meet each other's mom's. (I don't really like the picture but I'll put it up anyway)


Sunday we went to church and had dinner with my roommates. Then she left at 1am to drive back down to Salt lake to catch her plane. It was a really good weekend. I'm glad she decided to come.

Pawpaw

My Pawpaw (grandfather) has been sick since February. His mouth cancer came back and he decided he didn't want to do treatment anymore. At the beginning of April they started him on Hospice. I was able to fly home over the week break between semesters and see him one last time. I am really glad I got to see him, but I will never get used to watching someone die. I've done it more times than I care to remember and it does not get easier. I cannot imagine anything as painful as holding his hand and saying goodbye and knowing that's it.

As a Latter-Day Saint I believe in eternal life and in eternal families. I know what happens to me when I die, what happens to Miriam, Shane, my bishop. But what I didn't really understand was what happened to my pawpaw, my family. I knew part of the gospel was being able to be together forever, but so many people had told me that those who do not recieve the gospel in this life cannot reach the celestial kingdom. This past Sunday I finally asked my Bishop about it. He told me this, "Why would we do temple work if it's not possible for them to be exahalted? You need baptism to enter into the kingdom of God. That's all. To get the celestial kingdom you need to be sealed for eternity. If it wasn't possible for them to reach the celestial kingdom why would we do sealings for the dead? Why not just stop at baptism and confirmation? I have full faith that your grandfather can be exahalted and become a god."

It's amazing to me that seeing how much faith Bishop had could put my fears to rest and give me the faith I needed. It's amazing how someone elses testimony can affect your own. I think that's one of the reasons in everything we do we should emulate Christ because you never know who needs help in their testimony, who feels almost out of faith. We're not supposed to make it alone. We're supposed to hel each other. A testimony isn't meant to be kept hidden, it's meant to be shared.

"Oh, if I could teach you this one principle: a testimony is to be found in the bearing of it!" - Elder Boyd K. Packer

So today my mom texted me to tell me that they had taken pawpaw to the emergency room and it had something to do with his heart. He asked to go home and he's back home now. They've stopped giving him medicine, food, and water, but they upped his pain medication and he can up it as needed. That means it's only a matter of days now. So I texted my mom back and told her to tell him I love him and that he's the best man I know. She did, and I'm really glad he knows now. I really wanted to tell him when I saw him, but I just couldn't. It was too hard.

Since I thought I'd never be able to tell him in person I tried writing him a letter and a poem. I kind of feel like the poem is incomplete, but Miriam said she thought it was just fine and she liked it a lot. So here it is.

You taught me how to fish,
But all the while it was patience.
You taught me how to sit in silence,
But all the while it was thinking for myself.
You taught me how to pick and peel apples,
But all the while it was being self-sufficient.
You built me a cardboard playhouse;
You taught me to laugh.
You built me a green swing that hung from a tree;
You taught me to be free.

Weekend Procrastination

So I had my whole Saturday planned out and it involved lots of quality time at the library doing homework. Too bad that didn't happen.

I woke up took a shower and was getting ready to go to the gym (yes I showered before going to the gym) when Shane texted me. We ended up going to the gym together. Or, well, I went to the gym and he went swimming. I saw Kristen there and we talked the whole time and it was really nice. Then Shane and i came back to the apartment and we were going to have breakfast. I figured we'd call it a day after that and I would go the library and do my homework. But no, Shane had a brilliant plan.

So we rented the first 8 episodes of Prison Break, got pizza, went back to Shane's place, and watched five episodes on the projector.

Absolutely no homework was completed on Saturday. I figured I would just have to do a little bit on Sunday. Not all of it, but like my religion homework and maybe some reading. I got up, went to church, had a meeting with the bishop, went to our FHE brothers' place for lunch, went to Elder Bednar's talk, and came home. Then Shane came over and we made dinner and watched Beauty and the Beast. Then it was time to go to bed.

I got absolutely nothing done this weekend! Now I'm going to feel behind all week and I hate that. I know I have time to do the homework that needs to be done, but I like feeling ahead and not so overwhelemed. It'll be okay though. Maybe instead of reserving Saturday's for homework I should do it Friday during the day since I have so much time in between my two classes and before anything usually going on at night.

Hot Springs

Yesterday I only had one class, American Government, and New Testament was cancelled. I'm trying to go to the temple once a week because our bishop challenged us to and I thought going after my early morning class would be perfect and it was. I think it's the slowest I have ever seen the Rexburg temple. I got there around 9 and then I waited for Shane and we went in around 9:30. We only had to wait a few minutes before we could get dressed. Then it wasn't very long before they called Shane back to help with confirmations. They let him confirm me and then baptize me so I wasn't as scared as I normally am when I get in the water, but I was still pretty scared.

When we were walking back to the car Shane saw an old mission companion and he was getting married so we went over to say hi. Shane had been planning on going to his reception that night, but while we were at the wedding he got asked to go to the luncheon too so he was trying to decide what to get them as a wedding gift. I had one that I hadn't been able to afford shipping and so I said he could have it. We went back to the apartment and I gave it to him and then he left to get ready for the luncheon.


I took a nice long nap and then my roommates, Bekah and Katy, invited me to go to the hot springs with them and a few other people. We had a blast. I am so glad I decided to go. Plus it was a really good workout. When we got home we put in a movie, but I ended up going to bed before it was over. And that was my Friday night.

Schooling

So I have been to all but two classes by now. One because it's only on Thursdays and one because I just added it.

This semester I am taking:

Eng 218 - Creative Writing
Eng 370R - Women Writers on Writing
Rel 211 - New Testament
HFED 140 - Intro to Architecture and Interior Design
POLSC 110 - American Government

I dropped my French class today because I am just not ready for 201 so I am planning on auditing 102 so that I can keep practising and reviewing and then take 201 in the fall when I feel more comfortable in the class. So because I dropped it I had to scramble to find a 3 credit class because I have to have 15 credits for fast grad. Thus, I added American government. Shane said I'm going to have a lot of fun in that class, but I am going to have to study a lot because the tests are hard.

I love my New Testament class! I have Bro. Hammond again and I feel like I've come full circle because he was my first religion teacher when I got here last summer semester. He is such an amazing teacher.

My interior design class is going to be interesting and I am looking forward to it a lot. I know I'm going to learn so much.

I'm excited about my Creative Writing class as well. Today in class we all had to write a line of poetry on a piece of paper and we handed them to Bro. Stewart and he picked 16 and the class constructed a poem from them. I like it a lot. Plus the activity was a lot of fun. Here's the poem. I bolded my line.

Stone-cold Love

There’s a million ways for me to say this

Sands of time are wasteland only in my mind
In a world of allusion, I long to be
In the wily minds of men
The places where we hide

The blonde-headed duck dressed elegantly in plaid
Tickling curls under his lips
“Curses!” she cries as he drives out of sight

Jumping off the bottom stair, I fell among the clouds
Eyes, unpenetrated by darkness, light the way in a vast expanse
The snow gently powdered the flowers
Pastel shades of pink and yellow color the sky
Yesterday will come tomorrow after sunlight fades
Of this I am certain: I will not be mistaking love for anything else

My pet rock died today

Twinsies

So I got to talk to Miri today for almost an hour. I really miss her being here all the time. It's going to be quite an adjustment getting used to it I think. I'm definitely not as sad about it as I thought I would be. Before the end of winter semester every time I thought about Miri leaving I wanted to cry and when we said goodbye I almost got weepy, but I contained myself because I was on a bus. Now that I'm back at school though I just miss her, but I know that we're both doing what we need to be doing. I am so excited for her to go on a mission and I know she's going to be the best missionary ever!




My new roommates are really nice. I think I most click with Cassie (her home life was a lot like mine) and Orchid (she's a convert too!) My room roommate is named Hannah and it's her second semester and she's turning 19 soon. That makes me feel really old.

I've only been to one class so far, most of mine are on Tuesdays and Thursdays so once I've been to all of them I'll post about them.