A Month of Running Around

This past month could definitely be considered as one of the most eventful months in my life (for both me and my friends).

July 28-I opened my mission call-called to serve in the Peru Piura mission.
July 30-Spent all day in a van traveling up to Canada.
July 31-Went through the Cardston Alberta temple to receive my own endowment.
August 2-6-Went camping with my family for a week up in Waterton.  It rained a lot.  But we caught 15 fish.  It was a successful trip.
August 7-Ilarene went through the temple (I was still in Canada though)
August 10-Erin had her second adventure at the hospital and was put on "modified bedrest."
August 11-We came home from Canada.
August 12-I went to the Timpanogos temple with Erin.  It was so good to be in "my" temple with her! Ilarene and Jason also had their dinner thing up in Centerville that night, so my mom drove me up there because our car had died.
August 13-Ilarene and Jason were married.  I got to be in the temple with them when they were sealed.  It was a fabulous experience.
August 14-I moved out of the Colony where I spent both my sophomore and junior years of college.  Once I was all moved in, I finally had a chance to relax.   I also went and saw Inception that night with a friend.  It was a really good movie!
August 15-I had my bishop sign my acceptance letter for my mission.
August 16-I mailed my acceptance and a letter to Ammon telling him that I'm going to Peru.
August 17-Emily (my best friend from home) came home from Philmont, in New Mexico, where she had spent the summer working.  I also went to 7 Peaks with my family.  I also mailed stuff off to the Church so they can try to hopefully get my visa.
August 20-I went and found Erin and finished decorating her baby's room with Beth and Kandis.
August 22-I figured out my farewell is going to be October 31.  At 1 o'clock.  Be there! :)
August 23-I deferred from BYU.  And then I got a call/text from Erin and J.J. telling us that they had decided to induce Erin.
August 24-My best friend Erin is officially a mommy.  She had a beautiful little girl, Allisyn Leila Despain at 3:16 in the morning.

And it hasn't even been a month since I opened my call.  This has been such an eventful month.  It's kind of funny, because I'm going on a mission, Ilarene got married, and Erin had a baby.  3 major stages of life represented in each of us.  It's very exciting!  I'm slightly exhausted though.  Wake me up when September ends?

Shopping Woes

If you know me, you know that I love shopping for shoes.  Especially cute summery strappy heels that I think just look so adorable, and that I love to wear to church and other fun events.  You should also know that I love being crafty, and that Roberts and Michaels are two of my favorite stores (Trent calls them my "other boyfriends").  So when I went to Famous Footwear and Roberts today, (especially when Roberts was having a 50% off your entire purchase between the hours of 9 and 10 am) I should have been absolutely ecstatic.  But I wasn't.

Why?

Well, I attribute it to this small little thing call going on a mission.  All of a sudden, I realize I'm not going to be wearing the cute summery strappy heels for 18 months.  I also am not going to have time to be crafty (at least in the way I am used to).  So when my sisters are shopping for shoes, I glance over at the Skechers and think, well, those might work for Peru, but I don't know.  And when my mom is being all crafty in Roberts, I try to think of what projects I would even be able to do before I leave that would benefit me.  I don't see a point in even looking right now.

Later that afternoon I paid a visit to the Sister Missionary Mall in Orem.  At least then I felt justified in looking at the shoes...

Mission? You want me to do what???

I had the realization that I'm going to be sent to Peru after having only 3 weeks of Spanish.  

Once I get to Peru, I'll spend another 6 weeks in the MTC there (I found out today it's called the CCM or the Centro de Capacitación Misional).  I realize that there will be people there to help me out.  But it still seems kind of crazy to me.  It's a good thing the Lord is on my side, because there is absolutely no way I could do this without Him.  

3 weeks??? Only with the Lord :)

Here's a picture of the Lima Peru temple.  I'll hopefully get to visit it as a missionary in the "CCM".  Apparently it's about a 30-minute walk from the Peruvian MTC.  I think it's very pretty :)

What a week!

I'm up in Canada right now, and I love it :)

Yesterday I had the wonderful opportunity to go through the Cardston Temple to receive my endowment.  It was an amazing experience.  I had my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and a couple of my cousins with me.  It was neat because I hadn't seen hardly any of my family before going to the temple, and the first time I saw most of them was in the chapel, waiting to start the session.  I thought it was really neat too to see my cousin Robbie who just got home from the California Arcadia mission, and to have him be there with me and the rest of my family as I went through for the first time.

Afterwards, my family went over to my Aunt Carol's house where she had some ice cream cake from Dairy Queen.  It was yummy!  Robbie and I were able to talk some more about missions and Spanish and about how awesome they both are.  Life is just great!   

I have had many amazing experiences this week, from opening my mission call to going through the temple.  The Lord is real, and he loves me.  Isn't that awesome?!?