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?

Prayer

Prayer is such an amazing thing. The more I pray, the stronger my testimony grows. Last night, Ilarene was looking for some star stickers that she had bought to put on her students' tests once she was done grading them. She was looking all over her room, and she just could not find them. I was helping her look for them as well, but neither of us were having much success. Finally, I just said a little prayer in my heart, pleading for Heavenly Father to help us find them. I thought to look by her planner in her backpack, and there they were.

The stars were not that big of a deal. Her students would have gotten the same grade with or without the stars. Heavenly Father knew this. He could have just said "You know what? It's not that important. Life will go on." But he knew how important they were to Ilarene, as did I, and He decided to answer my prayer. I think, in times like these, he answers my prayers just so I will know that he answers prayers. When I really need a prayer answered, I will know that just because I don't feel like I am getting a response doesn't mean that I am not, because I will have learned that He answers even the prayers about trivial matters.

The Smell of Chocolate

I just opened up one of my Valentine's Day presents. It is a tin of Hershey's kisses. And the tin is in the shape of a heart. A beautiful, wonderful heart. The moment I removed the plastic wrapping, I could smell the chocolate. The beautiful, wonderful chocolate. The smell made me want some, so I picked one up. The little piece of paper inside said "Happy Valentine's Day". I unwrapped the rest of the small little chocolate and popped it in my mouth. It began to melt, the wonderful yummy goodness of chocolate. Without chocolate, I'm not sure how exactly my life would be.

Ilarene got a book while she was in London about chocolate. I can't remember the name of it, but it tells me why I need to eat chocolate. I am doing it a favor. And I would eat it again.

Have I mentioned that it smells incredible?

My life is great. That is all.

So the past couple of days have been ridiculously insane. I've really been in the weirdest moods lately. Ironically enough, on Wednesday (the day I posted about hating crying) I almost started crying for no reason. Yesterday I was being really crazy and sassy (I think Ilarene and I were feeding off of each other's energies). Today, I feel like my life is just great.

I don't know where my life is going to be at beginning of July, but that's okay. I'm just going to keep moving on with my life. Right now, I am just going to enjoy where I am. Sometimes I think I get too involved in thinking about what is going to happen in the future that I forget to love my life right now. I really do have a great life right now.

I have such wonderful friends who love me and support me. They are all just a part of my extended family, and I love them all!

Trent

Michelle and Ilarene

Ammon and Emily

Erin

Beth

My family loves me and are willing to support me in my decisions, which is so important to me.

And even though I've moved out, my siblings still talk to me and keep me posted about what is going on in their lives (like dates, Prom, and other exciting things). They value my opinion, which is really important to me.

Emily and I

Laura and Cameron

My actual extended family is also amazing. I love going up to Canada and to our family reunions. I just love the support I get from them.

Jason, Chasey, Kristalyn, me, and Jen

Mark, Aunt Carol, Sariah, Mom, Laura, Cameron, Dad, and then Abby's sitting next to me.

My life is so good. I couldn't ask for a better life. I may not know exactly where I am going in my life, but I am so excited for it, and I know it will be wonderful.

The Rest of the BYU -The Soap Opera Chapter

We last left off with Jamie and Trent, liking each other and deciding to date. They had a lot of fun as Christmas time came around. They would visit Temple Square with their friends and play outside in the snow. As finals drew nearer they learned how to juggle school and spending time with each other. It was a big relief for both of them once finals were over.

After the fall semester was over, Jamie went home to her family. And so did Trent. For the first time, Trent was able to meet all of Jamie's family. He met them at the ward Christmas party, where, for a skit, he was encouraged by her parents to flirt and hold hands with their daughter. Jamie was sure Trent would start running in the opposite direction, but he stuck it out.

Trent spent the rest of the weekend with Jamie's family as well, which meant going to her ward on Sunday. As he was being introduced by Jamie's father in Priesthood, one of the men that loved to tease Jamie yelled from the back "Is that your future son-in-law?" Trent turned around to see who had spoken it, when Jamie's friend Ammon said "I see you've met my dad." Trent had heard stories from Jamie about Ammon's dad, Max, and he realized that he was kidding.

Eventually though, the weekend had to come to an end, and Trent went back to Provo where he would continue to work for two days before flying back home to Oregon. The day before Christmas Eve, Trent hopped on a plane (for free) and flew back to his home where he would spend Christmas with his family for the first time in two years. Jamie and Trent talked over the computer many times throughout the break, and they both counted down the days until Trent would be back in Provo.

Finally, Trent was able to come back a few days after Christmas. Jamie's family picked him up from the airport and took him back to their house where he would spend the rest of the break. Trent went sledding with Jamie's family and celebrated New Years and Emily's (Jamie's little sister) birthday. Jamie and Trent had so much fun together.

Soon though, it was time to head back to Provo to begin the Winter Semester. Jamie was beginning her classes as an Elementary Education major and Trent was trying to figure out if he wanted to major in Linguistics. Life went back to normal, for a little while at least. You see, Trent's best friend from home, Jason, had just returned from his mission to Chile in October, and was coming down to BYU. He would live just two stories above Trent's apartment. Jamie was concerned about how Trent would manage to find time to juggle school, work, Church responsibilities, being a boyfriend, and having Jason here. But she was patient, and expected that things would work out for the best.

The first Saturday after classes had started, Jason asked Trent if he would be willing to show him around Provo, since Jason didn't know where very many things were. Trent said he would try the best he could, but since Jamie's car had died over Christmas break, no one had a car. Meanwhile, Jamie was over talking to Ilarene, one of her best friends. Ilarene wanted to go shopping and maybe do some other things. Jamie asked her if she would mind bringing Trent and his friend along, just so that Jason could try to figure out where everything was. Ilarene said that was fine.

Jamie and Ilarene headed out, over to go pick up the boys. They went to the mall, ate lunch, and did other random things until midnight, when the boys were kicked out of Ilarene's apartment. This was the first time that Ilarene met Jason. The next day, Jamie and Ilarene went with Trent and Jason to a fireside given by Elder Neil L. Andersen at the Marriott Center. By this point, Jamie and Trent were joking around about how fun it would be if Jason and Ilarene started dating, and Jamie and Ilarene were talking about just how cute Jason was for Ilarene. They exchanged numbers and started talking to each other a lot. They went on a date on Thursday night (Trent did not know about it until Jamie told him). It lasted for 5 hours.

On Saturday, the four of them went to go watch the BYU Basketball game against Colorado State. Jamie knew that Ilarene liked Jason, and had encouraged Trent to not say anything to either of them. If they were going to get in a relationship, they could work that out for themselves. After basketball game, the four of them went back to Jason's apartment where the boys made the girls a fantastic dinner of chicken cordon bleu, pasta, and vegetables (this is a quick plug for preheating the oven. If you don't, your food will not be completely cooked by the time you want it to be!) Regardless, it was still really good.

Once dinner was over, they decided to go and see the movie Avatar. People had been talking about it for months. At this point in their relationship, Jamie and Trent were completely comfortable being around each other, and holding hands was nothing new to them. Ilarene and Jason, on the other hand, spent almost the whole movie trying to figure out how to hold hands. By the end of the three-hour long epic journey though, Ilarene and Jason were finally holding hands.

Who would have thought that two people meeting each other at FHE could influence so many other people? It has been known to be called a soap opera, although everyone is content with where they are. Sometimes, the four of them will joke around, wondering if Jamie is dating both Trent and Jason, or if Trent has a secret connection with Ilarene, or if red is Jason's real hair color, simply in an attempt to laugh about living in a BYU Soap Opera.

To Be Continued....

Farewell Sister Parker

So Michelle decided to go on a mission. Which means going into the MTC. She got her call back in September to go to the Bulgaria Sofia mission. She would be speaking in Bulgarian!! I don't think anyone ever thought she was going to go to Bulgaria. She entered the MTC on Wednesday, and she'll be there for two months. On Tuesday, she decided to come and say goodbye to Ilarene and me. Ilarene was her companion for a little bit, as she had already had been set apart. It was so good to see her and to get to say goodbye for the next 18 months. I just love Chelle!

I love these girls. Chelle will be incredible!

Chelle and her temporary companion/friend/old roommate, Ilarene

Good luck Michelle! She'll be the greatest missionary though!!