Monday, April 29, 2013

Mission Call

On Friday my long awaited mission call for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints finally came in the mail!  I had to wait until 10pm to open it! Lets just say it was the longest day of my life.  All day long I had been preparing myself to be okay with wherever the Lord needed to send me. I was so nervous.  When I opened my call and read that I would be serving in the Philippines Legaspi Mission I was in complete shock! I went on a humanitarian trip there about a year ago and fell in love with it! When people asked me my dream mission I always replied "I know I won't go there, but I would love more than anything to go to the Philippines." I never thought I would get called there! As I read on, I saw that I would be leaving June 5th.  I was expecting to leave in July or August...Nope I leave in a month! It's going to be a crazy one! I will prepare to preach the gospel in Tagalog! I can't wait to learn the language!  I could not be happier and more humbled with my call! I know that I am being sent there for a reason and I can't wait to leave! The Philippines already hold such a special place in my heart and I can't wait to serve the Lord and his people there for 18 months. I can't wait for mangoes, jeepneys, bucket-showers, spider fights, and pouring rain...but mostly I can't wait to return and serve the people of the Philippines in a much more meaningful way.  I can't wait to teach them about the gospel- the thing that has brought my life so much joy and purpose. 

Click below to watch a video of me opening my mission call:
https://vimeo.com/65019632

Click below to watch a video I made of my previous trip to the Philippines.  Oh the memories! Can't wait to make more in the Philippines!!!
https://vimeo.com/60399524

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Philadelphia Adventure

So... I leave New York in less than a month to head home to Utah! I can't believe it! This year has gone by WAY too fast.  I have been trying to fit everything I want to do in New York in a short period of time.  Along with cramming for finals, I am cramming in mass amounts of adventures.  This past weekend me and my friend Zoe spontaneously decided to take the bus (sketchy China town bus that doesn't even check the date of your ticket... yeah I got on a day earlier than my ticket said) to Philadelphia for a night.  Philadelphia is an AMAZING city! Zoe and I absolutely loved it! It is so full of history and all the people are so nice! A lady went out of her way to walk us to a restaurant to find Philly Cheese Steak's (even though it was closed).  Despite being up for 20 hours straight and having extremely sore feet, we had such a fun time!