18 Months???? Seriously?

It doesn't feel like it's been 18 months.  Yet I have a whole 18 months worth of memories that don't really seem to fit into my life.  It was INCREDIBLE, hard, AMAZING, challenging, TEARS OF JOY, and tears of sadness.  But at the end of it all, was it worth it?  Definitely.

Perú.  Chiclayo, to be exact.  As ugly as some people say that city is, I love it.  And I would go back in a second.  But now it is on to the rest of my life.  To see the results of everything I learned there.

It will be incredible.  Hard.  Amazing, challenging, with tears of joy and tears of sadness.  But at the end of all of this, will it be worth it?  Definitely.

Gah!!!

Tidbits from my life:
-I go into the MTC in one week.
-My younger siblings just spilled apple juice all over my pants.
-I'm playing the musical number in church next week.
-Next week is also my farewell.
-I need to pack.
-I turn 22 tomorrow.
Is my life crazy? Yes.  Is it about to become ridiculous?  Absolutely.
Bring it on.

Concerns of a 2-year-old

Recently I've been helping out my old young women leader with her little 2-year-old daughter Natalie and 1-month old twin boys.  I was outside playing with Natalie the other day, when she turned and looked at me with her big blue eyes and a rather concerned look on her face.  When I asked her what was wrong, she said "Jamie, when is my Prince Charming coming?"  

My reply? "I don't know sweetie.  The only thing I do know is that you're going to be asking that question for a very long time."

  

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?!?

Oh yeah.

I'm only going to the PERU PIURA MISSION!!!!

On November 3rd, I will report to Provo MTC for 3 weeks, and then I'll go down to the Peruvian MTC for the remainder of my stay in the Missionary Training Center.

I'll write more about the whole thing later.  It's been a rather emotionally exhausting day.  But I know that this is where I'm supposed to go.  And I absolutely cannot wait!

Um...

MY MISSION CALL IS HERE!!!!!!!

Things are so close!

This whole experience of waiting for a mission call/getting ready to go through the temple has been a roller coaster.  Some days I feel like everything's gonna work out the way I want it to, but other times I get scared.  It really is quite the growing opportunity.  It's been interesting to see though, that as I end this period of waiting for my mission call, how things have slowly fallen into place.  I kind of wish I could just show you how my life has gone up and down since I decided to serve a mission, but unfortunately, that technology has yet to be invented.  It has been an awesome experience though, and I am excited for the adventure to continue.

P.S.-hopefully the next post will reveal where I'm going!!!

Waiting...and waiting...and wishing....and waiting...

This morning, I woke up thinking it was Sunday.  Yes! I thought.  I have my appointment with my stake president today and then my papers will be turned in!!! I was very happy...until I remembered it was only Saturday...

I feel as if I will have a much better idea of what I need to plan for and when I need to plan for it once I get my call.  Until then, it's kind of been an "Oh, I think I might be around for that, but I'm not sure," or a "Well, I might need that for my mission...but I don't know yet."  

I hope to have my call before the end of the month.  I'm kind of thinking wishfully and hoping I will have it in 2 weeks.  Well, here's to waiting, and waiting, and wishing, and waiting some more...

Harry Potter and the Longest Wait of My Life!!!

I am seriously wishing right now that I could change my availability date!

Okay, not really. But I do think that watching Harry Potter is going to be one of the first things I do when I get back from my mission. In fact, I think I will have a Harry Potter marathon, and watch all 8 movies (hopefully they are out on DVD by April/May 2012) in a row.

If I am supposed to enter the MTC November 24 or later, I will get to see the first one. I highly doubt that will be the case though.

The trailer is fantastic. I can't wait to see the movies, even if it won't be for another 2 years!

I Hope They Call Me on a Mission!!

Yep.  That's right!  I'm going on a mission!!

I've been thinking about going on a mission for a while now.  I took mission prep during Winter 2009 and was getting really excited for the day when I could submit my papers.  As time got closer and closer though for that moment, I began to wonder if going on a mission was really the right thing for me.  I had just started dating an amazing guy.  Maybe I wasn't supposed to go on a mission.  Maybe I should just stay home and get married.  Or what if I'm not supposed to do either, but just continue on with school?  I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do.  I decided back in January, that if I really was supposed to go on a mission, the Lord would let me know. Because of this, I signed up for housing in the fall and signed up for classes; I figured if I did end up feeling like I needed to go on a mission, I could just cancel the housing and drop the classes.  I think, deep down, I knew that I would end up serving a mission.  It was difficult to discern though what were my thoughts and what was the Spirit.  Once I began to think of the possibility of going on a mission, I began to felt a comfort and peace that I have not felt for a while.  I know that this is what the Lord wants me to do with my life right now.  I am scared, but I know that with the Lord's help, I can do anything.

This was the picture I used for my papers.  The picture that an apostle of the Lord is going to see when he makes my mission assignment.  

On May 16, I made the actual decision to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It is anticipated that I will serve for a period of 18 months.

On May 17, I told my parents and Trent of my decision to serve.

I set up my first appointment with my bishop on May 18.

On May 23, I had my first meeting with my bishop.  Because he had just been called as my bishop the previous Sunday, he really had no idea how to start my papers, so he told me to come back the next week, and he would tell me what I needed to do then.

On May 27, I told my siblings of my plans to serve.  Laura and Emily were sad, and Laura cried a little bit.  Cameron didn't care all that much that I would be gone because we will both be on our missions about the same time.

On May 30, I started my papers.

I counted down the days until June 16, when I had my doctor's appointment.  I had never been more excited to go to the doctor's in my life.

This afternoon, I am going to call my bishop and see if he has done everything he needs to so that I can meet with my Stake President.

My availability date is September 15, but I don't think I'll leave until October.

I'm hoping to have my call in about 2 weeks.

Until then, I continue to wait....

According to Trent, this is my "I'm so excited to go on a mission!" face.  He thinks it's cute.

I have always heard that a missionary's family receives so many blessing because of their children's willingness to put their life on hold and serve the Lord for 18-24 months.  Even though I have not yet left, I feel as if my family is currently being blessed because of both Cameron's and my decision to serve missions (Cameron just started his papers...I'm further ahead in the process then he is, but not by much).  On the first day of Spring term, my mom called me and informed me that my dad had just found out that he was going to be laid off at the end of June.  I wasn't sure what to think.  My dad has had his job for 11, maybe 12 years now.  I felt secure in the fact that my dad had a job.  And now, my mom would be the sole provider until my dad could find work.  It was going to be a struggle for my family.  Yay for trials.  

A little less than a month later, I decided to serve a mission.  I knew my dad would probably not have a job, and I knew that missions were expensive.  I had no idea how we were going to pay for it, but I knew that I needed to go and that the Lord would provide.  As time got closer for my dad to be laid off, he said that things at work had started to change.  I guess they were moving the budget around, and there were rumors that my dad would be able to keep his job.  About 2 weeks ago, he texted me and told me that his position was officially retained.  I felt like this was a huge weight lifted off of the shoulders of our family.  My family has been so blessed lately; whether or not that has anything to do with my decision to serve, I don't know.  I do know that the Lord is looking out for me and my family though.

I just like this picture; I had Trent take a bunch of pictures of me, and I thought this one looked cool.

I am so excited to serve a mission! I know this is what the Lord wants me to do.  I have had wonderful support from my family and friends, and I value that a lot.  Trent has been a huge blessing to me as I am preparing to go as well.  He has helped me learn more about myself and more about how things are going to be out on my mission.  Ever since we started dating 7 months ago, he's always told me that if I feel like going on a mission is the right thing for me to do, he'll support me 100%.  Well, I do feel like it is the right thing, and he giving me the support that I need, especially when I doubt my abilities to be a good missionary.  I don't know where things will end up between us, but I do know that he will always be my friend.  

I am so excited to share the Gospel wherever I get called.  At the end of Mosiah, the sons of Mosiah are asking for permission to preach the Gospel to the Lamanites because "...they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even he very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble" (Mosiah 28:3).  This is how I feel about the Gospel, or at least, how I want to feel.  

I have a feeling that this is going to be the hardest thing I've done in my life so far, yet it will be the most rewarding.  I can't wait!!  

Utencil Love

Fork.

There's been one sitting in my car since September.

On the dash, to be specific.

It is not mine.

It's David Knell's.

I keep meaning to get it for him, but I forget.

Until Trent runs out to my car and grabs it.

It's new home is my guitar case.

Maybe one day, David Knell will get his fork back.

And the token of our friendship will no longer be in my possession.

It's just a fork.

Complete

It's done :)

Puzzling...

So Trent's birthday was this last Saturday. (He's 22 now! Man, he's old!) We had many conversations about his birthday, and most of them sounded like this:

Jamie: So what do you want for your birthday?

Trent: It's not my birthday.

Jamie: It will be soon. So what do you want?

Trent: Nothing.

Jamie: No seriously. What can I get you?

Trent: Tell you what. You can go out, find the latest CD from the Fray, and then use that money to buy yourself something that you want.

Jamie: TRENT! No! Fine. So what do you want to do for your birthday?

Trent: I don't really care. I just want to be with you.

Jamie: Ugh! That's cute and all, but isn't there anything you want to do?

Trent: Nope.

Jamie: Fine.

The conversations changed a bit, but that's generally what they sounded like. After much deliberation, I decided that I would get him a puzzle for his birthday, and then we could spend the afternoon putting it together. I found a 3D-ish puzzle of sharks at the Creamery, and since there is absolutely nothing on Trent's walls in his apt, I figured he could hang that up and it would be cool and everything.

However, since then, I have learned a couple of things.

1-Putting together a puzzle of blue sharks in blue water is hard.

2-A 500 piece puzzle takes about a week to put together.

While we're not quite finished, we are almost done. If we had another hour or two, I'm sure we could finish it. Trent is going home this weekend though for his little sister Angela's high school graduation, so it probably won't get done until Sunday or Monday. Oh well. It has been really fun though!

This is what the puzzle looked like after we worked on it for a couple of hours on Tuesday night.

This was the result of Wednesday:

And then Thursday...we spent about 3 hours on it...only a little but further and we'll be done!

Ker-Splat!!!

Random post:

1-I like tulips. I am sad that their season is almost done.

2-If you paint your nails bright red and then take it off, your nails still have a reddish tint to them, making people wonder if you have recently murdered someone.

3-New Couches are the best!!

4-Keeping a secret is hard.

5-Families are awesome. Especially my family.

6-I have a love/hate relationship with season finales.

7-Does anyone watch American Idol anymore?

8-My hair is wet right now, due to the fact that I got back from the temple about an hour and a half ago.

9-Someday soon I will be able to go to the temple without getting my hair wet!

10-I hate shaving my legs. I swear I'm going to become European (except that's gross too).

11-Skyping with someone else in the same room as you is great fun, especially when one of you is trying to avoid a paper.

12-As of tomorrow evening, half of the children in my family will have graduated from high school.

13-People sound funny when they yawn.

14-Twilight sounds even funnier when you try to explain the storyline to a boy.

15-Flowers made out of pipe cleaners are awesome.

16-Have I mentioned new couches?

17-Getting up at 7:45 isn't quite as bad as I thought. I'm still getting used to it though.

18-I love Psych.

19-I want to color in a coloring book.

20-I get Ilarene and Jason's first baby.

21-Trent turns 22 on Saturday. He's going to be a palindrome!! (I think someone should invent a word that is a palindrome that means palindrome)

There you go-21 random thoughts going through my head.

Now back to my paper...

The Book of Mormon/YouTube Challenge

There was a challenge sent out to a bunch of members of the Church on facebook to watch this movie on May 3rd in an attempt to get it featured on the home page of YouTube, hopefully inspiring those not of our faith to witness the power behind the testimony of Elder Holland about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. When I first heard about it, I was slightly skeptical, but as time drew nearer, I could see the impact that this could have. Elder Holland's testimony is unwavering and strong. I know that my testimony has been strengthened as a result of his. I invite anyone who has not watched it to take a few moments, and witness the power behind the testimony of an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Cupcake #2

Banana Cream

Today, Trent and I were able to meet up earlier then usual, due to the odd schedules of finals/work and everything. We decided to make macaroni and cheese for lunch. Just as we reached the stage where you put the milk in, we realized that we were out of milk. So Trent offered to ride his bike to Smith's and grab a gallon or two. I decided to just wait at his apartment. While I was there though, I decided to mix up the batter for the next kind of cupcake I had decided to make. It didn't take very long, and the cupcakes were in the oven and I had all the dishes cleaned before Trent got home. We were in the middle of eating out delectable mac & cheese when my alarm went off, signaling the end of the cupcake cooking process. Trent was slightly confused as to what I was doing. He didn't realize that during the time he was gone, I had had time to make a small batch of cupcakes. They actually turned out okay!

I give them a 7.4 on the cupcakeometer :)

Cupcake #1

Strawberry Cheesecake:

So the first cupcake we ended up making was the strawberry cheesecake one. It was Jordan's (Trent's roommate) request. They turned out pretty good.

Everyone's Ratings (10 being the best):

Jordan-8

Trent-7.5

Jamie-6.38

I put vanilla butter cream frosting on them. I think if I were to do them again, I would put a whipped cream frosting on it instead. They were exceptionally sugary. I would also put more cream cheese filling in the middle. Overall though, they are very good :)