WEEK #5 - I have no concept of time anymore

Um have I seriously been a missionary for a whole MONTH?!?!?! What the. Today is my one month mark! I can't believe how much I have changed in just one month. Like my title says, I no longer know what day of the week it is. Unless it is Sunday, Tuesday, or Wednesday because those are all special days. Sundays: church, a really good activity called Go and Do where we spend time on our own reading in the scriptures centered around different topics, and of course, the devotional. Tuesday: another amazing devotional where an important figure in our church comes and gives a talk. Wednesday: PDAYYYYY aka prep day where I can talk to my family, do my laundry, and most importantly go to the temple!!

One of the 30 goofy pics I have

P.S Two emails for today bc I didn't have time to send this last week

Also I totally forgot to mention but in our room, there are two other sister missionaries. Their names are Sister Rivera and Sister Villacres. They are both from Ecuador and going somewhere in the states (I totally forgot where they are going - my bad). The cool thing about them is that they are actually learning English. They are pretty good, but in the beginning we had to communicate mainly through google translate. As they have gone to classes, like me with Slovene, they have gotten better and better. We have the funniest conversations. Here are some of my favorite quotes from them:

"Me and English have a toxic relationship" - Sis Rivera

"Why English why" - Sis Villacres

"Who was your first love?" - Sis Rivera (said completely out of nowhere at 10:23 pm)

"That boy is horrible. If I see him, I will kick him hard." - Sis Rivera

"Mahtters?" - Sis Villacres "No, it is pronounced 'maaaatters'. With an aaaaa" - Me "Ohhhh okay yeah, mahtters?" - Sis Villacres 

"The food hurt me" - Sis Rivera

"I love Shrek so much. I had a dream that he was kidnapped! When I woke up I am so sad. I almost cry!" - Sis Villacres

There are many many more that I forgot to write down, but this will become a weekly event until they leave. 

Wednesday 2/9:

Temple time!!!! My district and I went to the temple in the morning and it was so beautiful. 

Temple time with district!!

The weather was SO amazing! It felt like spring!!! Yayyyy!! I got to call my family today!! It was so good to hear from them. 

Call with fam 

I did laundry and worked out as well. I'm pretty sure we played volleyball. I forgot to write down what I did today which is sad. I just know that it was a good day today. 

Thursday 2/10:

A boy I knew from my hometown in Monticello arrived today. I'm not sure where he is going, but I made sure to say hi. I don't think he recognized me though which was sad. At breakfast, I ripped an apple apart with my fingers. I felt very cool tbh. 

The apple I ripped apart 

Morning class was with Sestra Kralj today. We learned how to tell time. She tested us on how well we knew how to count by making us count in Slovene as we went from the first floor all the way to our classroom on the sixth floor. Apparently there are 147 steps. We also started learning cases! I honestly have no idea how to explain what cases are. I honestly don't know. I just know I like learning the case endings because the sentences come together like a puzzle. Yesterday Sestra Voigt left something at the temple and so we were allowed to leave the MTC to go get it. Usually you aren't allowed to leave the MTC unless you are going to the temple on your p-day or leaving for your mission haha. We took pictures to celebrate our wonderful moment of freedom. 

Freedooommmm

On my way to night class, I saw one of my dear friends from Massachusetts, Maddy Winder (now Bennett because she is MARRIED - WHAT). When I first saw her I literally could not believe it was her. It was so good to see and hug her. In our night class we had Brat Kunzler. He taught us a bunch of random things. I can't remember exactly what but it was fun. There are times when Brat Kunzler will just sit there and look at Sestra Voigt and I. I think it's because he is trying to figure out what to do with us haha. It is the funniest thing ever. Overall, today was a great day. 

Maddy <3

Friday 2/11:

Today was pretty good! Slightly overwhelming and I felt a little down but IT IS OKAY. We played volleyball again which was lovely. Then we had tutoring. Sestra Voigt and I tried to speak only in Slovene for TWO HOURS. It was so funny. I don't think we have ever talked less than during these two hours. We kept taking forever to piece together our sentences and then would end up forgetting what we originally wanted to say. We did learn a couple new words though!

idiot - idiot (pronounced ee dee yoht) - came up when I couldn't figure out how to word something so I grabbed a dictionary and found this lovely word to call myself haha

so so - tako tako (pronounced like taco taco) we checked this phrase with Sestra Kralj and apparently "so so" is not a Slovene phrase :( big bummer

cute - ljubek (pronounced lyuu behk) 

stop - čakaj (pronounced cha kai) 

A casual mid-class bloody nose

Sestra Tuckett taught our night class. I cried in class when Sestra Voigt shared the story of Enoch in Moses 6:31-32. God asks Enoch to talk and guide the people which is a very big task. This is what Enoch says back:

31. And when Enoch had heard these words, he bowed himself to the earth, before the Lord, and spake before the Lord, saying: Why is it that I have found favor in thy sight, and am but a lad, and all the people hate me; for I am slow of speech; wherefore am I thy servant?

I certainly relate to the "I am slow of speech" thing. We had been asked to recite something that we needed to have memorized and I still hadn't gotten it down. I felt very stupid, or as we say in Slovene like an idiot hahaha. It was so frustrating to have tried to memorize this paragraph for such a long time, yet still not have it down. I truly felt like Enoch. "Why have you asked me to learn such a hard language? I am not that great at memorizing and am slow of speech." But this is God's reply to Enoch:
32. And the Lord said unto Enoch: Go forth and do as I have commanded thee, and no man shall pierce thee. Open thy mouth, and it shall be filled, and I will give thee utterance, for all flesh is in my hands, and I will do as seemeth me good.

I know that I am not alone. I know that when I put forth my best effort, God will magnify it beyond anything I would ever be capable of alone. I know that God will help me as I put forth my effort into learning Slovene. It is not an easy language. Life is not easy and it is not meant to be. I know that we can do hard things through God's comforting and guiding hands. 

On a different note, I have had this hair wrap thing this entire mtc time and have yet to figure it out. I don't even know how to explain it, but it is really nice because you just put your hair in it, do a little twist, put the loop around the button, and boom you're good. Except I can't figure out how to do that. Thankfully the wonderful Croatian sisters helped me. I was so proud and happy, hence the celebratory picture.

My head wrap thingy that I finally mastered

Unfortunately, I was immediately graced with the presence of a bloody nose :( but don't worry, my Aunt Mishaun gave me great advice on how to prevent them and vaseline is being amazoned my way. 

3 seconds later... 

Saturday 2/12:

Morning class with Sestra Kralj. I totally can't remember what we did. I met up with Keldon again for lunch. We laughed for a solid 6 minutes straight about the most random things. I just remember sitting across from him with tears in my eyes from laughing so hard thinking about how grateful I am for him and my family. It is such a tender mercy to have him around. 

Keldon at lunch 

Then we had class with Brat Kunzler. I also don't remember what we did. I really need to get better at writing down what I learn every day haha. 

Sunday 2/13:

Forgot to write stuff down for this day too which sucks. I just know that today was filled to the brim with spiritual thoughts and moments!! The weather was absolutely beautiful today. We also crammed 23 people into the elevator, breaking our previous record of 20. We stayed up later tonight to write cute Valentine's day letters to stick on the doors of the girls in our district.

23 people in the elevator 

Monday 2/14: 

VALENTINES DAY!!!

Today was a pretty fun day! My brother came and surprised me in the middle of class with a bag of treats and some heart stickers. In our family we have a tradition where our parents will put stickers on our faces. I don't know how or why it started but we've kept it going. 

Valentine's tradition

Sestra Voigt and I messed around and did a fun photo shoot. I have at least 30 pictures on my phone of various poses and funny faces. The Croatian sisters got us back with the Valentines notes by sticking hearts with cute messages on our door.

Hearts on the door ft. Sis Rivera doing situps in the background 

 We did forgot we had a lesson 45 mins before it was supposed to start so we had to run straight from the gym, changed, run to the store, buy a Book of Mormon to give to our friend, run to the building all of our study material was in, run to the building our lesson was in, and plan our lesson in less than 15 minutes. It ended up being one of the best lessons we have ever given. 

Tuesday 2/15:

I didn't write anything down for today and I don't have any pictures so I have next to no recollection of what we did today :( I do know based on my class notes we learned how to say countries in Slovene. We also had a big devotional tonight! The coolest thing about this was that choir was reinstated now that covid numbers have gone down, so nearly my whole district and I sang in it. We sang Lead, Kindly Light.

Highlights:

- I finally confronted an Elder in my district for never saying hi or waving back to me - turns out he just had absolutely no clue I was there - he said he will make sure to acknowledge me every time - this became a funny inside joke between my district where we say hi and wave obnoxiously to each other. 

- I have gotten hit in the face by a volleyball twice and both times it helped us get the point so I am slowly becoming more and more like Scott Sterling (for context go to YouTube and search Scott Sterling Studio C - there's a soccer and volleyball version)

- I walked directly into the "bathroom closed for cleaning" sign and fell 

WEEK 4 - A Whole New World ft. Several Tears

It has started. Holy moly. I AM IN PERSON AHHHHHHH. So much has happened this week. I think at this point we need to ditch the idea that any of my weekly emails will be short hahaha. Also sorry this email is going out late, today has been SO BUSY!!!

Wednesday:

I hate goodbyes!!! If you get the Dumb and Dumber reference go ahead and give yourself a high five (daj mi pet - the equivalent of high five in Slovene) haha. After driving all the way up to Provo, I ate lunch at Kneaders with the rest of my family. Oh I forgot, we also stopped at Iceberg (one of the best shake places EVER) for a shake on the way.

Lunch with fam

 After eating lunch we headed to the temple to say goodbye and hug. I actually genuinely don't like goodbyes. They can be so awkward haha. I said goodbye to my family which was very sad. 

Goodbye fam :(

My parents and I headed over to the mtc where they dropped me off. 

Goodbye parents :(

I went through the whole process of checking in, getting my rental phone (an android which has definitely been an adjustment from an iPhone - I am very sad about the android picture quality), getting my key, etc. I saw Rachel in line, but couldn't stay long to catch up. A kind missionary helped me bring my stuff to my room where SESTRA VOIGT WAS WAITING!!!! WOOOOOO!!!! It was so nice to finally meet her in person.

Sestra Voigt and I :) (even our district says we look alike)

I also saw all of the Croatian sisters and that was such a fun reunion. I got to meet the sisters that Sestra Voigt had stayed with while I was online. They are all so kind and amazing. They are all going to Germany and leave on Monday :( So it's sad that they are leaving so soon but I am excited for them. We spent a couple hours unpacking and then ate dinner. GUESS WHO I SAW AT DINNEEERRR!!!! My slimes!!! Natalie, Rachel, Hannah, and I had a glorious reunion. I am pretty sure we scared everyone in the room because of how loud we were being haha. 

REUNIONNNNNNN

After dinner we had our Welcome to the MTC devotional. So I think I need to explain the concept of districts better because I can say district three separate times and mean three different groups of people. So the 1st form of district is just Sestra Voigt and I because we are going to the same mission speaking the same language. This means we will have classes together. If anyone else was going to the Adriatic North mission speaking Slovene, they would be in our district. 

Sestra Voigt and I :)

The 2nd form of district is Sestra Voigt, the Croatian missionaries, and I. This is more in the terms of we are all going to the same mission even if we aren't speaking the same language. This was my district online. I would meet with them after devotionals to share thoughts and impressions. 

District!!!!

Now that I am in person, my district gets bigger from six people to thirteen people. This version of district will probably be the one I refer to the most. It is the group of people that I know meet with for all of my meals, sit with at devotionals, do activities with, and other group stuff. Usually this form of district has multiple different missions in it so we have people going to Slovenia, Croatia, and all around RuSsia. At some point we had dutch Elders but they were moved to a different district. Anyways, this Welcome to the MTC devotional was where we met our district. 

District pic #2

The devotional itself was very moving. It was all about the true characteristics of Jesus Christ. He is someone that turns outwards when others turn inwards. The speaker who was the President of the MTC shared a really beautiful story of a woman who showed characteristics of Christ. I won't share the whole story but here is the link to the story and then the video if you would rather watch and listen to it:

https://www2.byui.edu/presentations/transcripts/religionsymposium/2003_01_25_bednar.htm 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWOVwycSor0 

If you have any questions on certain terms used in this feel free to shoot me an email or check our church website https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/?lang=eng

Either way it was such a beautiful fireside and I definitely cried a couple times. I want to become more like Jesus Christ by thinking less of myself and more of others. I know that when I do that, I will be able to feel more love for the people around me. 

Thursday:

I forgot to write down what I did today so that's sad. We had our first class in person which was super fun and exciting. Sestra Kralj AND Brat Kunzler taught the morning class. It went very well. We had to pick up a bunch of materials all throughout the day so we were running around everywhere. Oh and after our morning class, out of nowhere my brother Keldon shows up. He works at the mtc so we can see each other basically every day if we wanted to. We planned to eat together at least once every week. So fun!!

Hello Keldon haha

Friday:

Today was an absolute rollercoaster. It was Sestra Voigt's birthday so that was super fun! The German sisters had a cute little celebration for her where they came to our dorm and sang happy birthday in German while I sang in French. Thank you Madame Snow for ingraining that into our brains in High School. During the first half of the morning class with Brat Kunzler I almost cried at least 2 or three times but I resisted. I knew none of the vocab and felt SO DUMB. Then we went on our break and it got better. When we got back we started doing conjugation which it turns out I am very good at. Confidence boosteeeeeddddddd!!!!! My district and I had to go get covid tested. We were all negative. After getting tested we went to lunch where MY BROTHER SHOWED UPPPP. It is so weird to see him around the MTC haha. 

Lunch with Keldon 

After lunch Sestra Voigt and I absolutely dominated in volleyball. I kept it a secret that I had played volleyball for around 7 years so the other team had no clue what they were up against. Unfortunately we had to leave early to go to language tutoring so I don't know if my team won or not. Sestra Voigt and I simultaneously got a nosebleed. Gotta love dry dry Utah. 

Twin nose bleeds

For our night class with Sestra Tuckett we learned how to speak in past tense so more conjugation!! Confidence, once again, boosted. There was a really cool moment where Sestra Tuckett did a mock lesson in Slovene where she was teaching us about Jesus Christ and how to find joy BUT IN SLOVENE. She would ask us questions and we would have to answer. The coolest part was I understood nearly everything she said and was able to answer back. Wow. After our class I had a one-on-one with Sestra Tuckett to do a check in on how I am doing. Did I cry? Yes. When we got back to our dorm, Sestra Voigt and I once again got nosebleeds at the same time.

I went to go show Natalie my nosebleed (it is an inside joke because of how frequent I get nosebleeds) and then we ended up doing a check in. Did we cry? Yes.

Nose bleed #3 (sadly I don't have a pic of number 2)

It was so nice to talk to her and give each other advice. We are both struggling with nearly the exact same things. It was great to have her there as "a comfort from home" kind of a thing. I love how close we are (5 doors away). After our talk I went and talked to my companion too. Did I cry? I got really really close but I didn't. So go me. 

Saturday:

Another busy and long day. I was very tired and the language is very hard. We did learn to count in our morning class with Brat Kunzler. He had us go up and down the stairs by counting. At one point we had to race while counting in Slovene. I didn't win because I had to go allll the way down when I was one step away. I did feel less stupid in this class though which was really good.

Sestra Voigt's ideal napping position 

It was one of the German sister's birthdays today so we celebrated that. We went to the gym and played volleyball again. I dove and got a nasty floor burn but still won the point so I'll take it. Our Saturday night class was with Sestra Kralj and Sestra Voigt and I were so confused that we ended up confusing her which then confused us more and we had to spend at least 30 minutes trying to figure everything out haha. I almost cried in this class. There was a point where I was trying to say "I asked...." but somehow ended up saying "I'm pooping myself" so there's that :| Haha. 

View from our classroom

Sunday:

Today was a wonderful day. It was fast Sunday (on the first Sunday of every month we fast for two meals) which means that during church, instead of assigned people speaking, anyone is welcome to come up and share their thoughts or their testimony. Very last minute I was asked to lead the music which was very stressful because I tripped almost every time I had to get up to lead. But I did it and didn't fail so woo! I went up and bore my testimony on Matthew 28:20. It says, "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." This scripture has been especially helpful this week because of how hard it has been. I know that God is always with me, especially in my darkest and hardest moments. I had another nose bleed today. It happened while I was praying hahaha. SO fun. 

Sestra King (Croatian) and I's attempt at a picture where we are jumping but every single picture our feet have not left the ground 

We had a lot of devotionals and scripture studies today. I truly felt closer to Jesus Christ. I also learned and gained a new perspective on my Father in Heaven. I feel like my relationship with Him has improved and I truly see how much He loves me individually. I truly felt God's comforting presence today. Tomorrow morning the German sisters leave so we said our goodbyes. It was sad to see them go but I know they will all be fantastic. They did accidentally lock themselves out of the room so I attempted to use bobby pins to pick the lock. Sadly, it didn't work and we had to wait for security. 

Lock picking at its finest 

Monday:

Another roller coaster day. The morning class with Brat Kunzler was pretty good or at least very fun. We had to walk around the mtc and find random people to share a scripture and message with. The first one could be in English but the other ones had to be in Slovene. We would talk in Slovene and he would translate it into English. We only had time to do three but it went way better than I expected. I had to cheat and look at my notes a couple of times but it went pretty well! Night class :( Not fun. I had absolutely no clue what was going on. The first part of class was okay but then a supervisor came in and started watching our class and I SWEAR. I SWEAR. He could not have picked a WORSE time to come in. It was one of those moments where you are asked to write something on the board but you have no clue what to write. So you stand there just staring at the board with your marker in hand hoping that someone will write it for you. So bad. My teacher, Sestra Kralj was trying to give me hints but I had no clue what she was saying. My eyes started welling up so thankfully she changed the subject but yikes. So bad. I cried at the end of class. Then I cried in the one-on-one session with Sestra Kralj. Then I cried again while talking to one of the Croatian sisters in my district. Then I cried again when talking to Natalie. I cried so much. I just felt very dumb and overall having a hard time. BUT I was reminded of a very important principle about missionary work and just life in general from my teacher. She asked a very simple and powerful question. Was it easy for Jesus? Ooooooo I have the chills haha. No it was not. Missionary work and life itself is not easy. It is not supposed to be. Because if it were easy how would we know the joy that comes after suffering? How would we know the peace and comfort that comes after sorrow. We wouldn't. Even though today was very hard and I cried multiple multiple multiple times, I know that these struggles will only make my future successes more sweet. 

Another district pic minus 5 people 

Tuesday:

Today wasn't that bad actually. It was kind of an off day where you just feel weird haha. Today we gave our very first lesson in Slovene to a complete stranger. His name is Kaden and we met with him online. When I tell you it went bad, it went bad. Not in an "he was rude and terrible to us" way but in an "I have no clue what you are saying and I have no clue what to say back to you" way. It was terrifying. The lesson was only 15 minutes but I had absolutely no clue what was going on the entire time. At one point we asked him if he believed in God and Jesus Christ and he just started talking for three minutes straight. Literally the only thing I could understand from it was "I don't know" and "yeah". Go me. I didn't cry afterwards though! I just feel more determined to improve for next time. We had a devotional today where one of the leaders of our church came and spoke to us. So cool!!!!!!!! His name is Elder (different meaning than that of a missionary Elder) D. Todd Christofferson. When he entered the room you could just feel the spirit pouring off of him. It was amazing. Him and his wife gave beautiful messages on repentance and Jesus Christ's atonement. 

My wall of name tags (and yet I still somehow forget to put one on sometimes - don't worry I make sure to have extras on me just in case)

Wednesday:

I think I will just leave Wednesdays to be talked about in the next week's letter so I don't have to split the day in half. 

Have a wonderful week everyone! If you have any questions you can always just shoot me an email! I love you all!

I just realized how massive my emails are. I am so sorry haha. They will be shorter next week I promise (maybe).

Week 3!!!! Almost There!

Hellooooooo!!!

Today I get to go in PERSON!!! So this email is going to be on the short side. SO MUCH HAPPENED THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!!! So maybe ditch the short email idea haha. (Also ps from future me - you are getting two emails this week because I didn't have time to send one last week). 

Thursday 1/27:

Lunch with Grandma and Grandpa

We met up with my grandparents for a goodbye lunch today at Steamed (sooooooo goooodddd!!! If you’re ever in the area pls get the pork soup dumplings they are the BOMB). It was nice to eat and chat with them. The coolest part about today was that we were able to meet our branch and branch President. A branch is essentially the group of people you go to church with. There are 23 (?) people in our branch. It usually consists of people in your district. When I got on the call I saw my companion Sestra Voigt and the Croatian sisters so that was cool to see them and have them in my branch. I also recognized a couple people from past zoom meetings BUT GUESS WHAT. As I was looking through the rest of the people on zoom, my phone started blowing up with text messages. Natalie (my roommate from college who is also in the MTC and going to Ukraine) is sending me a million texts because WE ARE IN THE SAME BRANCH AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! NO WAY!! This means I get to see her at the very least EVERY SINGLE SUNDAY!!! What a miracle!

Sister Chaggares!!! (aka college roommate Natalie)

Friday:

LAST DAY IN CT!!!!
We had plans to fly out to Utah on Saturday but there was rumors of a HUGE nor’easter coming from Friday night - all day Saturday so when we got the email saying “hey you can change your flight to an earlier date” we change it to Friday at 4:44 (what a cool time). Today was bittersweet because I had to say goodbye to my dog :( and essentially the entire house.

Willow :)

I don’t even know if I’ll come back to CT because my parents might move back to Utah while I’m on my mission. So it was a little tough saying goodbye. We were flying out of JFK in New York which is a 1 hr 43 mins - 3hr trip depending on the traffic (gotta love NY traffic ). We parked in long term parking, took the tram/shuttle/train thing to our terminal, which was then under construction so we had to walk forever to get to it. It was kinda sketch tbh. Anyways after walking for years we finally got all checked in, made it through security and got to our gate. We sat down and just chilled for a little bit BUT THEN the person at the desk started announcing that our flight HAD BEEN CANCELLED because of the weather. 

Flight cancellation

Now CT has always been known to over exaggerate and freak out over weather but what. in. the. world. Every single flight after that until MONDAY afternoon had been cancelled or had at least 3 layovers. So we grabbed our stuff and went aaaaallllllll the way back to our car and then drove home. The traffic was HORRIBLE because everyone was trying to rush home before the snow came. 

The horrible snow storm that cancelled our flight

I barely made it in time for my evening class. It was really nice to see Willow again though haha. P.S there was barely any snow on the ground.

Last stalker moment

Saturday:

Extra party day!! I only had my morning and night class for today. Everything else was cancelled because today was the original travel day. I had nearly a whole day with my parents. It was so fun! We did a puzzle (if you don’t already know I’m a master at puzzles - an expert to say the least). 

Puzzle masters 

We actually ended up getting a good amount of snow overnight. Probably about 8-12inches. I decided it would be fun to grab our boogie-boards and go sledding down our driveway. I didn’t realize just how slippery or steep our driveway was until barreling down the hill haha. No injuries thankfully. 

The actual snow haha

Willow came out and played with us but then when we tried to get her to sled with us, her nail snapped off!!! What?!? It started bleeding everywhere. So bad. My mom and I had to play nurse and take care of it. She’s all good now though.

 I am a professional nurse now

Sunday:

Another relaxing day because I had no classes. My parents and I watched a couple church movies about missionary work. They are called The Best Two Years and The RM. Very applicable to what I am about to do haha. I had my very last cuddle with Willow. I actually didn't have an allergic reaction this time so that was a blessing. 

Last cuddle (ignore the marvel pjs - I was cold)

Monday:

ACTUAL LAST DAY IN CT!!!!

It was sad to say the actual official goodbye to CT and Willow today. I did cry. But I had strawberries and nutella for comfort. 

Two really really cool things happened today. It was a literal miracle. Kamilla is one of my best friends in the entire world. We have been best friends since middle school and suffered through numerous french classes together. Kamilla and I have been trying to plan a time to meet and say goodbye. I have not seen her since I left for college in the summer. She went to her home country, Uzbekistan, for winter break and was supposed to come back January 15th, but she got covid and had to wait another two weeks to come home. Her next date to come back was this past Thursday but her flight was ALSO cancelled because of the weather. All prospects of us being able to meet and say goodbye were thrown out the window. I was sooo sad because that meant I wouldn't be able to see her for a year and a half. BUT she was able to get a flight home on Sunday and her house was on the way to the airport. Everything worked out perfectly. We were able to meet and say hi/goodbye. Such a blessing.

Kamilla!!!!!!

The second cool thing that happened was when we got on the airplane, the seat directly behind us had another sister missionary who was going HOME from her mission. Her name is Sister Morris. She served in the New York, New York mission speaking Mandarin. So cool. She and I talked for at least thirty minutes. We made each other cry haha. It was such an amazing experience to have because she will be me in 18 months. She gave me so much advice and shared all of the stories she had. She wrote me a cute letter to read when I get to the mtc. When we landed we got to see the reunion between her and her family. What a wonderful moment. 

Us on the airplane with Sister Morris in the background

Sister Morris

The flight itself was soooooo long. I have flown from Connecticut to Utah numerous times but it has never felt as long as it felt today. When we landed my brother Keldon picked us up. We went straight to our friend's house to get haircuts. I just got a simple trim but it was great to catch up with them and tell them funny stories from college. We stayed over at my Aunt Mishaun's house. So good to see her.

Tuesday:

We went straight from her house over to my uncle's grave. He passed away this past August and this was my family's first time seeing his tombstone. It was a very sad moment. Make sure you listen to the song Bad Bad Leroy Brown in honor of him. 

From here we went to Provo so say another hi/bye to another one of my best friends. Her name is Nattacia and she is a beast. We have an inside joke that she is my family's "milk boy" aka errand boy because we would always send her downstairs to get our milk or whatever else we needed. So I just had to get her milk carton socks as a goodbye gift haha. 

Nattacia and the milk boy socks

After seeing her and saying goodbye, we dropped Keldon off at class and headed straight to my brother Kyler's house. It was a 2 and a half hour trip. When we arrived my sister in law Shaylee and nephew Paxton were waiting for us. We just hung out the whole rest of the day. Some of you might know the story behind the ice cream picture below, but for those that don't get ready. My all time favorite ice cream in the world is either called Superman or Playdough and I can only find it in Utah. I'm sure other places have it but the East Coast doesn't so I have been severely deprived of my favorite ice cream for years. Severely. Every time I go to Utah I HAVE to get it. If I don't it is SO SAD. 

I C E  C R E A M 

Wednesday:

I am currently driving to go to the MTC right now!!! Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!! I will see you all next week!!!!

Goodbye cuddle with Paxton :(

Goodbye with Shaylee :(

Goodbye with Kyler :(