marisajay.

wallet!!

2012-02-12T19:36:00.003-07:00

Can you believe it!? I have made something other than a headband! (although I did make one...I just have to get a good picture of it)

It's a business card holder, but I don't carry a lot of stuff in my wallet so it is perfect.

Pretty simple. I have to add a button to keep it closed, but I can't find my needles right now. I'm very excited to use this!

fleece headband

2012-02-06T11:54:00.000-07:00

I have finally crafted this semester. I just couldn't take any more books so I pulled out my machine! The headband didn't come out exactly the way I wanted. It could be due to my poor craftsmanship, or the color choice...I don't know. I just think it's too wide. And of course taking the picture is half the battle....so here it is!Seriously, I took so many pictures and this is the best I got. Also. Apparently all I make is headbands. I have another one half made too. Oh well! I got the tutorial here. I made mine 5 inches wide and like I said, it was too wide. If I ever get around to fixing it, I'll be sure to update. Happy Monday!!

old headband

2012-01-25T17:37:00.003-07:00

I made this in the summer, but I still love it and made it. The color is great. The fit is great. I just really love it. I've made about 10 more. I made 3 for my sister and her two daughters for Christmas..the little ones were pretty cute!

Here is the pattern...as you can see I made minor adjustments. It's perfect for this cold Utah winter!

pencil case

2011-12-12T23:28:00.001-07:00

i was in desperate need of a pencil case. i had some scrap pieces of fabric. so i whipped it up real fast. it totally does the job!! it fits exactly what i need. i love it! i even made a matching one for my friend too =]

pleated headband

2011-12-04T19:14:00.004-07:00

I haven't been crafty in a while so I decided to make a simple headband today. It took about 20 minutes before church today.

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I'm also pretty sure it's supposed to be for children, but I like it!! You can find the tutorial I used here. Good luck!

coming to a blog near you...

2011-11-24T22:54:00.003-07:00

to help me be more crafty in my life, i am (semi) committing myself to updating...more often of my crafts! I will probably start after the New Year as my crafts are going to be pressies so I can't ruin the surprise. Perhaps I will go back in time and add some...like this picture....I made that headband! You can't tell what it is at all. I guess I'll just have to make another one and take a better picture! But I did make the wall hanging with my mom hace muchos años. (the picture was taken to show my friend that I was eating cereal at midnight. I NEVER do this. had to document it!)

A good start? i think so.

Happy crafting!

August 31

2010-09-25T08:46:00.001-06:00

I love being a missionary. It is hard hard work but it is so completely worth it! Of course the most exciting news first-Cristina got baptised! About half of our little rama (branch) showed up and showed her their support. It was so great. The spirit was there and she is going to be so blessed for it. We also spake in sacrament! It was my first time speaking as a missionary, and it was in spanish. We were both pretty nervous but the Spirit helped us out a lot with our language and our message. We just had such a great week in our area and I am so so so blessed with all of these miracles. I have been studying a lot from the past general conference and just hearing what our profeta has to say to us is so simple. Just love and teach our children. The battalion is also great. SO many people come in prepared. I love giving tours and seeing them think and ponder these things, even if they are subtle. Gracias por su ayuda como siempre. me encanta servir mi redentor y aprender mas acerca de el cada dia. Todos estamos bien bendecidos.

pictures (hopefully in the right order...) (backwards order)
1. a bridge we made at the battalion.
2. the creators =]
3. Cristina's baptismmm!!!
4. proselyting at the air and space museum.

August 24

2010-09-24T08:45:00.001-06:00

my new apartment in location to the battalion.

August 17

2010-09-23T08:44:00.000-06:00

This week has been such a week of miracles I don't even know where to begin. Since we're starting from scratch, it's really hard to find investigators really fast and get things going. But Heavenly Father sees our faith and diligence and is providing us with these people! I won't bore you with the details (right now) but gah. We are so blessed. We walked two days in our area. I think that's why we're recieving so many blessings. But it was fun. =] Being a missionary is the best. One of our investigators has a baptismal date and is just awesome. Her desire is big. And this branch loves doing missionary work and is excited to have us here. On Sunday I went to my old branch to play piano for them for their branch conference. It was exciting to see everyone again-even though it had only been a week! It seemed like a lifetime! We had our first branch activity and the picture of their cake is attatched. I love serving with these people. They are so amazing and so loving. My spanish is improving-thanks to Heavenly Father. But it's neat to see the Holy Ghost at work!

August 10

2010-09-22T08:40:00.001-06:00

It's true. I got transferred AGAIN! My time was very short in the Logan Heights branch but Heavenly Father knows where I'm needed. As you might remember, I "whitewashed" into Logan Heights-which means both of us were new to the area. Well, I'm whitewashing AGAIN! This time into the Sweetwater 3rd Branch. It's also a spanish branch and it's only about 3 months old so they're still building it up-I gues that's my job! And the best part of all of this is...that I'm training again! My new companion is Sister Lee from Idaho and she just came from the mtc. Everyone in the branch is calling her "verde". I am so blessed to be able to train another sister-they really have so much to offer and our spanish should explode! It's hard starting at scratch again in a new area, but we are excited about the possibilites that lay ahead and everything. It is so neat to see Heavenly Father bless me with the ability to speak spanish. I couldn't understand half of what was going on a week ago, but now that I have to, it's possible!
And now a miracle for the week.
Last preparation day, at the end of the day, I couldn't find my wallet. I wasn't really worried. I just figured it was in one of the cars I had been in. I went in one of the cars on Thursday, not there. Sunday I was in the other car. Not there. I hadn't been worrying up until that point, and even then I was still not freaking out but kind of starting to. That night I was saying my nightly prayer and asking that I would find my wallet and a thought came to my mind to call the hair place that we went to last week. I called the next day and they had it! And everything was in it! Heavenly Father is really looking out for his missionaries, and all of us for that matter.
And in other news: Sister Zaldivar came to visit! It was SO good seeing her and meeting her family! I have been so blessed on my mission and am so glad I have so much time left. I love you all!

July 27

2010-09-21T08:39:00.001-06:00

This week has been a really good week. We are finally really seeing the fruits of our labors and are finally figuring out how to work at the battalion and build up our new area. It only took 5 weeks! And we've had more success at the battalion this week than any other week. Heavenly Father provides in so many ways. President had a meeting with all of the spanish speaking missionaries and he gave us a new way to contact people on the street. He told us to ask them if they have famous ancestors and then tell them that they do and that we have a record of their antepasados! Of course it's the book of mormon. He promised us success and we have seen it. We have new investigators because of it. I love being a missionary. We also had so many people who are just so ready come into the battalion. They can feel of the Spirit which is here. Gracias por su apoya y sus oraciones. mucho amor!

July 6

2010-09-20T08:37:00.000-06:00

This week was so crazy and I have never been so tired on my mission! I'll start with the finale.....The Flores family got baptised! yay! They are so so so happy. It's amazing how fast these changes happen in a person when they have the gospel. SO. To get them baptised....They had to get married first so they got their marriage license on Thursday so we planned the whole wedding in three days. On Friday they got kicked out of their house so we had to move them super fast! In about 2 hours. But again. The ward members stepped in and they did it! So Saturday was the wedding. It was really cute at the church. And all of the church members stepped in again and brought food and decorated. Huge blessing and miracle. So the wedding was at four. And the baptism was at 530! So they quick got changed and we started their baptism. It was so great. They were all so excited and ready to go! And then afterwards we had a party! They then got the Holy Ghost on Sunday and are just ridiculously happy. I am so grateful to be a missionary and help people truly become better every single day. The church is true. The Gospel blesses families. Truly. Thank you all for your support! Have great weeks!

June 29

2010-09-19T08:35:00.001-06:00

I don’t know what is more exciting…that I am finally in a SPANISH AREA!!!!!!!!!!! or that WE DON'T HAVE TO WEAR NYLONS ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i guess i'll talk about that one first....at the mission president seminar they announced that we don't have to wear nylons anymore! Best day ever! 9 months is quite enough for me!
Ok but getting on to the real excitment! I am in a spanish are! La Rama Logan Heights. It's pretty much downtown San Diego. A different world from home, and my old area even. We meet in a school building. But the work is SO GREAT. Our branch President is SO INTO missionary work. It's so good to have his support. He wants us to baptise 4 people in the month of July. And 20 by the end of the year. There are 4 sets of missionaries in the rama. So that will be 80 baptisms by the end of the year. It's going to happen. I completely have the faith. Did i mention my companion and I are whitewashing into the area? That means that both missionaries who were there before got taken out so neither of us know anyone or the area. It's quite an adventure! It is so awesome though. We went to visit this member the other day and she's on the road talking to this lady that she just met and she invited us both over on Wednesday-what a great missionary!
My companion is awesome too! Her name is Sister Monarrez and she's from Chicago. I am so blessed with such great companions. She is an awesome missionary and she can speak spanish. What more could I ask for!? We are teaching this great family who are going to be baptised this Sunday. They saw their nephew change after his baptism and they want it for themselves. Awesome. The church is true. I love being apart of it. And this great work. I love you all.

June 22

2010-09-18T08:26:00.000-06:00

transfers are tomorrow. I think I mentioned this last time but President doesn't tell the Battalion sisters about transfers until we are all there Wednesday morning so none of us know! Even though the rest of the mission knows about theirs. So that is just on everyone's minds right now. I love being in Chula Vista though. This ward is so awesome and are trying so hard to be missionaries! They helped us find a few part member families and we started meeting with one of them. Super cute and humble family. The dad has a huge testimony but doesn't go to church. I have met so many people on my mission who have testimonies but just don't go to church. I don't understand it. But they have a little boy who hasn't been baptised and really wants to be. (Their last name is Woody and the first time we went over they were watching toy story. awesome). On Sunday we didn't have a car so we were legit missionaries on foot! It was really fun. We talked to a bunch of people that we saw and it's just a whole different experience when you're on foot! Well I guess that's the updates for this week; I'll let you know next week about transfers! bum bum! If you get a picture of me with another sister tomorrow....you'll know! mucho amor! La iglesia es verdadera!

June 15

2010-09-17T08:24:00.001-06:00

Great week in Chula Vista.
Charity got baptised! The little girl in the middle with her two sisters. She is so cute and was excited all week for her baptism. We went over on Sunday after her confirmation and you could already tell she was different. She is such an example for her whole entire family. Her mom, at the end of the baptism, said "i'm glad we did this" which is a huge step for her to say that. So we're just so excited for the potential of that little family =] We are meeting with a lot of other part member families in the ward and every week I love being a missionary more and more. It is so cool to think that the Lord is working through me to help his children. I love you!

June 8

2010-09-16T08:22:00.000-06:00

Great great week. As usual. Heavenly Father loves to bless his missionaries; especially when we are patient and hard working! Charity is going to be baptised this week! We've been working with her for a while but due to some circumstances, she is finally being baptised! We are super excited for her; it'll be good for the whole family. The ward council in the ward is really stepping up their game as well. They gave us a lot of great part member families to work with and we're super excited to work with them. Maria, our recent convert, is so awesome. Some people are so sensitive to the Spirit and she is one of them. We can say about 3 words in a lesson and the spirit just teaches her. It's so so so neat to see how much people use the holy ghost in their lives and how much ofa difference it makes so fast. We're still teaching a few families and going at a pace for them. I've been thinking a lot lately how this is all planned out and at the beginning of my mission I just figured I was just kinda put into this ward. But after being here for over 6 months, I'm finally seeing that this is where Heavenly Father needs me. I need to do something in this ward and He knew I would do it. And I don't need to be in a spanish ward to learn spanish! Todo es posible con Dios. Estoy tan bendecido aqui en Chula Vista y me encanta servir my Redentor. La iglesia es verdadera y las ensenanzas son verdaderas y realmente nos ayudan en nuestras vidas cada dia. les quiero!!!!!

June 1

2010-09-15T08:19:00.001-06:00

Good good week. It's so hard writing about the full week because I really just base it off of what happened yesterday. But that amazing family who is a part member family and the mom came in and referred herself at the battalion. Well we visited wtih all of them on Saturday and they are just good good kids (12,14, and 15 year olds) and they all came to church the next day! We are so excited for them. They said they actually enjoyed it and I just know good things are coming =] It's amazing how much you grow to love someone so fast. We have such a love for this family, even after one time meeting with them. We also met with this less active family and her 9 year old daughter now has a baptismal date. We know how good this will be for the whole family and are so excited to prepare her for baptism. We met with Maria yesterday as well and she is a rockstar. She is taught by the spirit so strong every time we visit with her. And she realized the importance for baptism for her children so we are going to start teaching them. Our hard work is paying off and I know that these miracles really do come because of the faith that we have and the effort that we show to our Father in Heaven. The Mormon Battalion will really start picking up because schools are starting to get out and we've just had so many prepared people come in lately. This place is awesome. I love you ALL!

May 25

2010-09-14T08:18:00.000-06:00

we're kind of in a slump right now. not many investigators, and def not solid ones. it's discouraging. but we're working so hard. so so hard. and i've been feeling sick every single day. bad stomach aches and head aches. itgets in the way of work! gah! but we did have a pretty cool miracle week and I know we'll have more of those because of our hard work. on sunday we were at the battalion and a sister asks me what ward i'm serving in and i tell her and she says "there's someone here frmo that ward who wants to go back to church". uhh AWESOME! she didnt have her name so i just went and did my own thing. so i come back and she's holding a referral card and it has the name julie anderson. ok. julie anderson-we have been trying to contact her for like 2 months now. she has non member children so yeah. but she CAME to the battalion~ and left her informatioN!!! holy miracle! so we went over yesterday and she is so awesome. a kook. she talked for over an hour. but her daughter is interested in going to church. hello. she's gonna be baptised so soon! so i guess that's all the news for this week. i love being a missionary. it is so hard jess. so hard. but i know it's worth it. i am so happy. this is deciding my future and i know the type of person i want to marry more and more everyday. i met this RM at the battalion and he was just stupid. talking about the stupid experiences he had had on his mission. i do not want to marry some one like that. ok. i'm done. i miss you.

May 18

2010-09-13T08:18:00.000-06:00

Obviously we had transfers this last week. obvious because Sister Zaldivar went home. But I am now a mother in the mission! I am training. Which means she just came out of the MTC. But she is a way solid missionary. She loves teaching and is way good at it too! I am so blessed to be training such an amazing missionary! She's from Utah. I guess Heavenly Father is trying to teach me something because all of my companions have been from Utah! We found this awesome lady this week who is super interested and has a lot of family who is LDS as well. We're really excited to teach her. We are also starting to work with members more because we know that that is the BEST way to find! We know we are going to see so many miracles this week because of our hard work. We also had a lot of cool people come to the battalion. This was our best week referrals wise so that was pretty exciting. And as for a small miracle story: I can speak spanish! We are working with a family who primarily speaks spanish but we went in speaking english, but by the end we were making jokes in spanish and laughing and set up another appointment. It was so cool for me because up until this point, I couldn't speak that much. I know it was my own fear keeping me back or maybe because I had to speak spanish! I didn't have a companion who could talk for me. It was really really neat and it built up my confidence a ton to speak spanish. Well I guess that is all! Keep working hard. The Lord lifts us up right when we need to be. I have seen it so much this week. As I open my mouth to speak more than I have so far on my mission, I feel like it's not even me talking. A great feeling.

May 11

2010-09-12T08:15:00.001-06:00

Transfers are tomorrow! And President is being so sneaky and not telling anyone at the battalion if they are getting transferred until tomorrow! So no early packing or anything! Pretty crazy. And Sister Zaldivar left today =[[ After four transfers I don't know what I'm going to do with out her! It's going to be hard to live up to her legacy here in the 2nd ward, but Heavenly Father trusts me! But this past week was way good. Maria got baptised! After 2 planned baptisms, she finally came through with this one =] It just goes to show that this is in the Lord's time. Not ours! She is so solid and is just so great. The Spirit was so strong at her baptism and it was small-exactly what she wanted. And she has the Holy Ghost now which will make such a difference for sure. We're already talking about teaching her children and she's talking about how she's going to try to get them for Sundays. Delia-who got baptised in March, disappeared right after her baptism. BUT. She called last night and told us she's in New York! The Bronx! We are so glad that she is alive and doing well. We sent missionaries right over =] Saturday we helped with the church's service program "helping hands". We pulled weeds from a state partk on the border and it was just so great doing service in such a different way and seeing so many people helping as well. That's it for this week! Stay tuned to see who my companion is. You won't know for another week! But I have full confidence that she will be super great. I love this gospel. I love how much I can feel God's love for me and can see the blessings as well. Find something to do this week to get you closer to God. Whether it's praying more, or reading a little more in the Book of Mormon every day, whatever you need. And I know that you will see a difference. You will feel such peace in your soul. I love you!
Funny story; we had a group from Calexico come in to the Battalion and we made them sit on the crates that shake in the campfire room. And they got so freaked out because they thought it was another earthquake! They have had aftershocks every day since Easter. We asked what they thought it was (cattle, the war etc.) and they were saying 5.0! IT was pretty funny =]
Ok that's all!

May 4

2010-09-11T08:11:00.000-06:00

Awesome awesome week. We had an amazing opportunity to have 4 firesides this week by Gladys Knight and Saints Unified Voices. She joined the church about ten years ago. And formed a choir where they sing all about Jesus Christ and the gospel and she bears her testimony and it is a great referral opportunity as well. She offers a free gift of a sampler CD, a Book of Mormon, and The Restoration DVD so we deliver those to the people who wanted them and they have already felt the spirit super strong and then we teach them and help them be baptised! I think we got about 600 referrals from this. Sister Zaldivar and I "worked" at it and were at the VIP entrance and we let very important people in! But that is also where the choir lined up before the fireside so we got to talk to all of them! One of them was a sister who served in Laconia for 9 months! in 1996. (I got her name and phone number but I forgot to grab it so i'll give it to you this week for Bishop Stephenson) It was so uplifting to see such an influential woman bear her testimony about our Father in Heaven. That was definitely the highlight of the week. Our area is still great. Our ward is so awesome and loves doing missionary work. I'm definitely going to be here for another transfer as Sister Zaldivar is leaving this transfer! Nooo! I dont know what it's like to be a missionary with out her! But she has trained me so well and I am ready to do it! OK well that's all! Talk to you on SUNDAY!

April 26

2010-09-10T08:10:00.002-06:00

you are all on vacation! how fun! First things first, before I forget, preparation day is moving to TUESDAY! So I will no longer email you on Mondays. Tuesdays. OK
And now a word from this week! Life is great here in Chula Vista. We are in the greatest ward on earth. The members love doing missionary work and have the strongest testimonies. A lot of the young women love doing missionary work as well. And love coming out with us. Nothing too eventful happened this week. But we want to start working even harder with the members. It's amazing how much more ready people's friends are than people we find. This week was really slow at the battalion but it gave us a great chance to catch up on studying! And other things like that. But even the people that came were prepared! Sister Zaldivar and I also went to the temple this week. There is an amazing peace found in there that really cannot be found anywhere else. I wish I could go everyday! WE are just working so hard in this area for her last two weeks (shh don't tell her I told you!) I'm sad there's not more to report! We got a new senior couple at the Battalion. They are so sweet and so eager to learn. I love serving here in San Diego. This is where Heavenly Father needs me to be. And although sometimes I'm not quite sure why He picked me! I sure am glad He did. Have a great week! I'm excited to hear all about your trips! Talk to you next TUESDAY!

April 19

2010-09-09T08:02:00.002-06:00

This week has been a good week. We found 2 amazing families this week and we've been trying to find these two specific families for some time now. It was great to see how they saw the importance of the gospel straight away. They are both part member families. I love being a missionary! The Mormon Battalion is still amazing and hard work too! It's still important to find their needs and teach to their needs to help them out and strengthen their faith as well. It is so rewarding when you can feel the spirit in the tour. And I have the best mission President in the world. He always knows the answers for us and our investigators. We are pretty blessed to have him! Well I think that's all the great updates for this week. I'm doing well and so is the work. I love you!

April 5

2010-09-08T07:56:00.001-06:00

We had transfers this past week. I'm still in Chula Vista. Still with Sister Zaldivar! 4 transfers together! That is very rare so we are very excited! But we did lose Sister Story =[ Luckily we see all the sisters everyday at the Mormon Battalion! We also moved to Old Town! Now all the sisters live there as well! Right across the street from the Mormon Battalion. I've never not lived with other companionships so this is weird! But it's been good.
Well the most exciting news of all from me is Maria is getting baptised this Saturday! We have been working with her since I've been here and we had a great lesson and Spirit was so strong and she got her answer. We are so excited for her!
Our Easter was uneventful except for the Earthquake! But because it was in Mexicali we barely got anything here. and I was in old town which is north of San Diego so we were just in the apartment and suddenly I said "is there an earthquake?" and Sister Zaldivar said "yeah i think so" and it just felt like we were on a boat and the only thing that moved was on the blinds-the thing that turns the blinds. But apparently in Chula (our area) houses were swaying and stuff. No damage though. We were talking to one of our investigators who was in Mexicali and he said he was scared and that some pretty serious damage happened. Our mission goes out that far (but not across the border) and all the missionaries are OK. So nothing compared to the earthquake in Chile.
I have finally figured out a good way to get referrals in the Mormon Battalion. I had really been struggling with that but it is just a matter of me opening my mouth and then the Holy Ghost will put the right words out there. I did my first tour in spanish all by myself last week too! Thank goodness for the Spirit- I could not have done it with out it!
General Conference was amazing. There were so many talks on how important the family is and how we need to be teaching the gospel in the home because that really is the only place that they can truely learn. Satan knows how important families are too and that's why there's such an attack! And it's just doing the little things to keep him out. Praying as a family, bearing testimony, reading scriptures together. Just amazing and simple things.
Well I think that's all for this week! I hope you all had an amazing Easter! We are so blessed to have Jesus Christ in our lives and the hope that He gives us.

22 today!

2010-09-07T14:58:00.002-06:00

MARISA IS 22 YEARS OLD TODAY! THIS MEANS SHE ONLY HAS 6 MONTHS LEFT ON HER MISSION! JOIN ME IN WISHING MY FAVE LITTLE SIS A HAPPY HAPPY MISSIONARY BIRTHDAY!!

March 29

2010-09-07T07:56:00.001-06:00

Amazing week yet again at the mormon battalion historic site. It got dedicated finally and we had the great privilage of Elder Holland come and dedicate it! What's even better is that we got to have a mission conference with him as well. He is so passionate about missionary work and he really whipped us into shape. He did his pulpit pounding and everything. He reminded us of the power that we have and the authority we have as well because we have been set apart. It gave us a lot more confidence. And that we need to be converted ourselves and that's why Preach My Gospel is here! So we can convert ourselves first and then help others come unto Christ as well. And President Donaldson asked if I could play the piano for the meeting. Quite an honor! We all got to shake his hand as well. Elder Hinckely and Elder Jensen of the 70 were there too. And then the dedication was that afternoon. Where my companion Sister Zaldivar and I played the musical number! The spirit was definitely with us because we played it perfectly. It was so great to be in the presense of an apostle of the Lord. The work has been going well too. We are still finding new investigators to work with which is a long process but we know that Heavenly Father will bless us for our dilligence. maria is so close to baptism as well! SanDiego is an awesome place to be right now.

March 22

2010-03-30T21:09:00.000-06:00

So many great things happened this week! I have been finally keeping a decent journal, but I don't have it with me so sorry about that. I'll do my best to mention everything.
The Mormon Battalion is still Amazing. We really get to meet amazing people there. And give them the Spirit. As I have said a few times, we're still learning how to really get referrals, but I get to bear my testimony so much there and it's so good for me and I hope that they are all touched by it. On Tuesday we were having a meeting and then we stayed in the room for a few more minutes and then one of the sisters comes up and says I have a visitor. I can't lie- I was a little apprehensive. But it was Marinda and Tasha! Some of my besties at utah state! They were there on spring break. It was SO GOOD to see them. And weird at the same time. Almost like a dream. I forgot about real people's lives. And that they have no idea what I'm really doing. My companions and I discussed this a lot. No one knows what a mission is really like until they go on one. So sorry if I don't describe everything very well! But I was just really glad to see them. Then on Friday, we had another special visitor at the Mormon Battalion Historic Site. L. Tom Perry. You might have heard of him. We knew he was coming and we were all there and he was shaking our hands and asking where we were from. When he got to me i said New Hampshire and then he said "what?" and I thought he was mocking me! So I started describing it and then he is taking his hearing aid out and saying that he can't hear me and that his hearing aid was dead! Funny guy! But then he asked what part and I said Lakes Region and he loves it up there. The Spirit of the place changed while he was there. It was really special. Then we were outside and I saw someone else that I knew from school....Lis! My roommate! It was so weird to see so many people I know in one week! But again, really good. I told her she had to go on a mission. I can't imagine not going on a mission. It is the most rewarding thing in the world. I say this every time. But it's so true. Well that's all I suppose. I can't believe this is the last week in March! Crazy! I love you all.
PS We met with Delia this week too and had a really neat moment. In the middle of the lesson she gets up and starts looking for this number that will help her move her court date. It was completely the Holy Ghost helping her remember that number and it was super great to see her act on the promptings as well. ok that's all.

March 15

2010-03-29T21:09:00.000-06:00

This week went by so quick. Actually this whole transfer has. It is incredible when you literally lose yourself in the work how much happier you are and how fast the time goes. Fantastic.
Well. First things first! Our baptism! Deliaaaa. She is originally from the Bronx so she has a big accent and it's fantastic. And she has a great smokers voice as well. She used to go to the spanish ward and right before christmas she started going to ours and we began teaching her. She had to overcome smoking but is great and loves the church. She bore her testimony at her baptism and said "I know the church is true. And I'll fight anyone who tells me otherwise...again". And she would. And has. She is so solid and recognises God's hand in everything. She's also the best missionary ever. She talks to everyone in her complex and we're teaching quite a few people because of her!
Because we are visitor center sisters, we get to go to the temple one day a week. Because there is no visitor center at the temple, we sit outside and talk to people who are curious about this big white building! We have pictures of inside the temple and everything so it's a great experience. We met all sorts of people and I'm excited to go back! And because we were outside for 6 hours, I got a nice big sunburn! My favorite!
Oh did I mention our stake had 13 baptisms this weekend? The Elders in the spanish ward baptised a family of 9 but I'm glad to be part of that 13! Go Chula Vista!
Well that's all I can think of this week. But I just love being a missionary more and more everyday. I have the best companionship in the world! Time is going too fast! I am so blessed and my testimony is growing so much and if any of you are ever feeling blue, go help with missionary work! I promise it will make you feel better! I love you all!

March 8

2010-03-28T21:08:00.000-06:00

It seems like I have nothing to say after reading Abby's email. My companion who was in the mtc with Abby just said "she and I have very different missions". It's so true. We barely even heard about it let alone feel anything. It shows how much Heavenly Father does love us though. That all the missionaries are OK and that we are protected here by not knowing anything about the world.
This week went by very very fast. This week was MTE (missionary training exchange) where President trains us on things for the mission. This transfer's theme was having a vision of the work. Not just from day to day or hour by hour, but for the future of our wards and for our lives and the lives of our investigators. He told us to DOUBT NOT. Which is very hard! We are such a doubting people but it's made me think about what I'm saying and how I'm feeling about things. When we doubt we are putting a limit on the Lord. How dare we! So we've been working on that a lot.
Along with that, my companions and I have been working very hard on how we can make the tours more spiritual and not just oh that was a fun tour. Missionaries don't give tours like that! So we studied a lot on asking questions, listening, leave something behind....aka chapter 10 in preach my gospel. It was so helpful and we already feel the difference in the tours. We've also been trying to relate everything back to the gospel esp in the outfitting room where before it was a history lesson: here's a belt. it had to be white the whole time. but now we say that but also add something maybe like this: we too need to remain white and in this world it's hard and we have the desert around us where it is hard to remain white but with effort we can do that. It's been a lot of fun figuring out how to do it and people are noticing as well.
Well it looks like our friend Delia is actually getting baptised this week! We are SO excited for her! She bore her testimony yesterday and thanked the sisters for coming over all the time. and only mentioned my name. I love being a Johnson! Easiest last name ever! But our trio has been on fire this week. We have been going on a lot of splits which is so fun. We get to do double the work which is especially good because we only have half a day to do it!
Well I think that is all for this week. There is no where else I would rather be right now. That is for sure

March 1

2010-03-27T20:42:00.000-06:00

This week has been great. We are so busy all the time. But we have figured out a way to fit everything in! Splits! Since there's three of us we can just get one member and then teach two lessons in one hour. And also better yet! Get three members and we can all split up! We're going to really start that this week since we have no proselyting time this week. We already have three members lined up for Tuesday (where we literally have one hour to visit people). We are doing MTE again. Which is training in the morning from President and then all theother missionaries go on exchanges with other missionaries but because we're in the historic site, we aren't doing that part. It's going to be a good week.
But for this past week. Saturday was miracle day. We had one of the laurels come teaching with us. And we knew that the day before so we made plans to visit two different people at onece (trying to implement splits) but no one could make the appointment so we were kind bummed and all went to the lesson. Then we get a phone call that there's a baptism and Sister Story really wanted to go because she taught him most of the lessons and then got transferred. And we were able to go to that because we had Tiera! And just all of the cancelled appointments that day were all OK. And he was so happy to see her at the baptism. Then that afternoon at the MOBATT Sister Zaldivar was starting a tour with about 6 people in it. And one fo the senior couples really wanted to put more people in the tour but for some reason both Sister Story and I felt that no one else should go in the tour. So we really made sure that he didn't put anyone else in the tour! And it turned out to be the best thing ever because the Spirit was so strong in that tour and 2 people self referred and the other person referred her brother. These may seem like small miracles but it is so evident to us that Heavenly Father's hand is in His work. It build my testimony so much on following the Spirit and being OK with how things turn out-because Heavely Father won't let us mess up. We have been trying so hard this week to be more like missionaries in the battalion rather than just tour guides. We've been trying to find their needs and testify more and help them see how much we care about them and it really has made such a difference. The Spirit is in the tour when we do that. And on another exciting note...Sister Story and I gave a tour in Spanish by ourselves twice last week! She knows about as much Spanish as I did. But we managed! It was exciting and built our confidence levels up. Well I think that is all the excitement this week. Pray for missionary opportunities. It works. I love you all!

February 22

2010-03-26T20:32:00.000-06:00

This week was transfers! Sister Zaldivar and I were pretty nervous but we made it through...and we got a new companion! So we're in a trio. Her name is Sister Story and she is AWESOME. We were in the MTC together and all three of us are so similar so we get along great. We are still in Chula Vista and it was a pretty great week! This lady named Sister Hammond just moved into her ward so we went to visit her and it turns out her parents are staying with her and they are very interested in the church! We've met with them a few times and they are just awesome and really want to make sure they believe before they join. We are so excited for them and for Sister Hammond too! After all, it was her example that they saw and got them interested initially! We taught Maria Ramos this week at the battalion and it was so awesome. She is really progressing and is now working towards March 6 as her baptismal date! We are very very excited for her. Delia is still doing great and awesome as usual. She has the biggest heart ever.
In not so missionary news...with us getting Sister Story, that made five of us sisters in an apt...with one bathroom! Pretty crazy! So we moved apartments today with two bathrooms. We're excited =p
The MBHS is still amazing. I love being there. I met an amazing family from Vermont yesterday. We are finally managing our time better with proselyting time and we are seeing the difference in our investigators and everything. I love being a missionary. It does not get better. It's hard work but I wouldn't trade these experiences for anything!

February 15

2010-03-25T20:25:00.001-06:00

Well another fabulous great week here in Sunny San Diego! I really can't brag enough about this weather. Everyone that comes into the battalion is always commenting on this weather; especially after they find out I'm from New Hampshire! The MBHS is the most amazing place in the world. I cannon say that enough. Nothing new has happened this week so I'm just going to keep braggin about the battalion. This week we met someone from Iran. He spoke about two words in English and we were standing there for a while with him and then we realized that his wife and son had left! We start searchin for them and he doesn't really understand that they left left and he starts walking down the raod and it's the saddest thing on earth. But then we see his wife and son! Because he had shown us a picture of them that they took at the battalion! Thank goodness for becoming an honorary member! It was so glorious to see them reunite. I also met a man from Italy who tried kissing me. I didn't let him. Last night we met with one of our investigators who is the best missionary in the world and she's not even a member! She ahd a few friends over to listen to our lesson. She is still planning on being baptized on the 26th! We've been working with this less active family for the past few weeks and the mom and one of the sons came to church yesterday. We were very excited to see them. I think that's all for this week! Being at the battalion is just the best mission ever. Heavenly Father knows each of us and knows our needs! One of the lines in the battalion movie is "sometimes we need faith to make a decision. Other times, we need it after." and "despite our circumstances, we chose to be happy". I just love those two lines and know how truthful they are. We can choose to be happy. And we need faith all the time to really help ourselves even in the worst and best of times. I love you all!

February 8

2010-03-24T20:18:00.002-06:00

This week has been another most excellent week. Working at the "mobatt" (just what me and my comp call it) mormon battalion historic site is just so amazing. We are going to start making a list of all the places we meet people from. Here's the start for you; England, Brasil, Taiwan, Argentina, Israel, Ukraine, and I think that's all for now. Just cool cool people who have no idea about the battalion (ok I didn't either before this let's be honest) and we also get to strengthen their faith in such a different way. I love it. I am so excited I get to do this for the rest of my mission. We're planting so many seeds there it's great. As for proselyting...We have no time for that anymore! Between travel and extra meetings, the time in Chula Vista seems so short. This is good though; it gets us to plan better and make better goals and more of an effort in achieving them. Our investigators are doing well. We think. because of our schedule, it's hard to fit everyone in that we want to see! But we have a new investigator named Keith. And he is awesome. He is searching for something and we know it's the Church! He's in the navy like everyone else down here is. Pamela and Gary are doing great. Even after a slip up, she's right back where she needs to be. I love being a missionary. It's hard work. But it's worth it.

Some things never change...

2010-03-04T08:15:00.001-07:00

February 1

2010-03-01T07:10:00.003-07:00

There is no doubt in my mind that Heavenly Father loves all of us and knows us individually. He of course sent me here because He knows this is what I love! The Mormon Battalion Historic Site is the most amazing place ever! I don't even know where to begin. So on Tuesday we all went to the Site and got training from my old bishop, Bishop Lusvardi. And Brother Rasmussen. They're both from the mission department and are in charge of all the visitor centers. So they know what they're doing. They gave us a tour which is AWESOME. OK, I'll talk about it right now. You start in the same room and there are about 8 photos of battalion members. We start talking and then one of the pictures sneezes! And they start talking! About their story! So they stop and we ask the people if they wanna hear the rest of the story and of course they do so we go into the next room and it's like we're at ab ig camp. They sit on logs and watch an amzing movie about the battalion. (We also got the whole narration on CD so we can listen to it all the time. don't be too jealous) Then we move to Fort Leavenworth and get them outfitted! We give them guns and belts and canteens to put on and it's a lot of fun. Then we move onto the trail to Santa Fe where they are in a campfire room and watch more of the movie. That scene ends with them fighting...something. So we ask them if they want to know what it was and we move to another room where they find out what it was and finish the movie. We tell them about the battalion going and being among the first to find gold and ivite them to the gold panning station outside and the aftifact room where there's a statiion to find battalion members, have your picture taken (as you saw) and play games. It is the most amazing place ever. I can't even tell you. You all much come. Right now! Friday night we had all the stake presidents come, area 70, and other important figures which those were our first tours. Elder Hinkley was there and Brother Holland (ELder Holland's brother) too. Saturday was INSANE. Over 1000 people came through tours and not everyone got ot go on a tour! And we got to meet Brigham Young! (the actor of course =]) And we're just already meeting people from around the world. The opportunities are amazing here and I'm excited to continue with this amazing place.

As for proselyting...Maria is doing great! We had a great FHE with her las week and whe was just so confused and not convinced on the Book of Mormon. Because we were so busy this week we didn't get to see her and she called us Saturday and said she wanted to meet with us! She came to church and said she had been reading in the 3 Nephi and likes all the similarities between the two. She's praying about being baptized on the 13th so I'll let you know next week!

The church is TRUE!

January 25

2010-02-17T08:54:00.002-07:00

This has been a short week! Due to P-Day being late last week. I feel like not much has happened since then either! So this will be a short email with the hightlights. Delia has a baptismal date! Feb 26! she picked it herself=] It's her sister's birthday snd she KNOWS she can not be smoking by then. We're very excited for her. Except the chances that both of us will still be here are slim. Stupid transfers! IN a few weeks.
We've been meeting with Marisa Ramos a lot (we have to say her last name because we teach quite a few marisa) and lupes tambien! She is so curious and wants to know what's right for her children! We've also been teaching her in Spanish lately because we bring a sister in the ward over who only speaks spanish. It's been a good chance for me to pranctice but sometimes I still don't know what's going on. We spent lots of time again just going through our area book and searching for former investigatores etc. and we have a few appoitmenets set up for next week! Our days are cut in half next week due to training! Finally! This week will be most excellent. At church the talks were all on the HOly Ghost and I've been studying a lot about it as well. He is always with us and we just need to listen to hear what we need to do. It's amazing how much the Holy Ghost helps us in even the little things in life. Take time every day to hear what he has to say to you I LOVE you all!

January 11

2010-02-17T08:48:00.002-07:00

Sister Zaldivar and I made it through transfers=] Still in Chula Vista in the English Ward at the Stake Center. This ward is incredible. I'll start with highlights and then low lights.
Pamela got baptized yesterday! It was an amazing baptism. She had a ton of family there and a lot of the ward was there to support her. She is an incredible and strong woman. And Gary baptized her! We had an FHE with them on Monday to practice the baptism and it was really cute. And she got the Holy Ghost right after the baptism because Stake Conference is next week. I'm so glad that I could meet her and be part of her life.
OK so now onto the low lights.
Two of our investigators go their 3 day notices last week=[ (eviction) One of which was Vanessa who was a star! She moved to Santee with her mom for a little bit and is still being baptized next week. This strengthened her faith and she is being so optimistic about everything. The other investigator is Delia. Who has been going to church for forever now but has never been asked if she wanted to be baptized. But she has to move out by Tuesday, I believe. Times are tough down her in Chula! But the people are strong and optimistic. I don't know if I could handle it! I'm still doing great. I love being a missionary. I don't think there is anything better! (and on a side note. we went to the zoo today!) I love you all! Continue to pray-Heavenly Father hears our prayers and he answers them as well.

December 28

2010-02-17T08:38:00.002-07:00

My companion keeps telling me that transfers aren't this crazy and that I'm lucky I'm learning all of these lessons in my first transfer rather than later on! I t makes for a very interesting first transfer.
I know I talked to you 3 days ago, but it already feels like a lifetime. So much happens. Most importantly, Gary got baptized yesterday! His wife did not but is still planning on Jan 31 for her baptism. This week will be SO HARD on him because he has to wait a WHOLE week without receiving the Holy Ghost. The baptism itself was awesome. Yesterday we played our flute/piano duet in sacrament and it was also great.
I don't know if I said this the other day but we got to pick our colors for our dresses for the Mormon Battalion. I picked green and blue. It is so close! This is our last week of the transfer! On Christmas day President asked us to know dorrs. This was the first time I had done this. He said we would find 2 types of people at home; families who are happy, and people who are alone. We found a third type, Jehovah Witness. We spoke with her for quite a while and hopefully we'll be meeting with her next week. My mind goes blank during email time and I think That's all that happened this week. Christmas was great. Our investigatores are doing great. What mroe is there to say!

December 21

2010-02-08T06:37:00.002-07:00

It's hard to believe that Christmas is in four days. It is just oo beautiful! We have our mission Christmas party on Wednesday so maybe that's when it will feel like Christmas...
This week has been good, like always. We are still preparing Pamela and Gary for baptism next Sunday. Pamela came down with pneumonia yesterday but is still gung-ho. The bought their quads last week and are showing them off to everyone. They are going to be awesome members. They already sacrifice so much time and effort to the church!
We're meeting with a young mom with 2 children as well. She does everything for her children and wants them to have faith and hope so that's where we come in. She took her children to the primary activity on Saturday after we had met with her 2 times. We're excited about her progress. Her children are going to Chile for 2 weeks (who isn't in Chile!) so hopefull we can really work with her. It's amazing how fast people's lives change when they accept Christ and let Him into their lives.
This may be selfish of me but ever since I've been on my mission my life has gotten so much better and all I've done is started praying a whole lot more and reading from the Book of Mormon. It really is the little things that build us up.
We're also meeting with a less active named Shannon. She moved from Tennessee after husband died to here and has 3 little girls and a 17 year old son. She is struggling so much and we knwo thtat if she is doing those little things that her life will get better. Her children are so cute. We gave them a Christmas basket with all of our goodies that we got in the last week because we are not eating chocolate still! (Marisa and her companion gave up chocolate to support some investigators who were giving up drinking) She was so grateful for it.
In other news: we got fitted for our pioneer costumes this week. Training is the last week of Jan and we start tours Jan 30th! I'm so excited. It's six hours in the visitor center and 6 hours proselyting in our areas.
The members of Chula Vista are just fantastic. On Thursday I will have been out in the field for a MONTh. craziness. Time is going fast on this end.
I love you all and I'll speak to you on Christmas!

December 14

2010-02-03T07:13:00.004-07:00

This week was a real challenge for me because I was "senior companion for 3 days with another sister who had been out the same amount of time. I saw why this had to happen for many reasons. I needed to see that I could do it. That I do have things worthwhile to say and that when I follow the Lord, I do get things done. I was so worried about planning and filling the day but when it came down to it, it was fine. I need to put my trust in the Lord so much more than I am now. It is so critical as a missionary. I was also driving which stresses me out the most. These are not New Hampshire roads!

On tuesday we committed 2 peopel to baptism. I think I told you about them last week. Husband and wife-the husband left her because he didn't like the thought of her joining the church but here they both are now being baptized on Dec 27. They have been fantastic and essentially "golden" investigators. There are so many miracles happening in this mission and this is one of them. The husband read the 1st book of Nephi in one night. The biggest difference that convinced him that this was the church was that we had dinner with some other members that night. And they said some things to him which made him realize that this HAD to be the only true church on the earth. IMPORTANCE OF MEMBERS, RIGHT THERE. Well that was the highlight of my week and I can't get my mind off of it!

San Diego is fanTASTIC. I love being here. It's tough sometimes, but it's the only way to grow!

I love you!

December 7

2010-02-03T05:45:00.002-07:00

It has been an insane week. I guess I shouldn't have expected anything to be normal here because my MTC was so crazy and my first week here was crazy. But this past week we had MTE-missionary training exchange. We went to different areas and trained them to be better "preach my gospel" missionaries. We had training in the morning and then told our people in the afternoons with them. So I was way up north (haha, our mission is so small north to south) and I can't think of what the area is called right now. So I was with two other Sisters. It was really neat to go to their appointments to see how they did everything (begin teaching, material, commitments, working with members, etc) and I probably learned more than they did. We are really just focusing on reviewing our work with the question "did we fulfill our purpose" and with that we become better missionaries.
OH OH OH OH. But on the way there the first day it was at 8am so it was really heavy traffic and we go rear-ended! Yup. First full week in the mission and an accident already. We were all OK just our back bumper go hurt. And the bik. Which meant that I didn't have to bike last week! Like I thought I was going to have to. It was a blessing in disguise for me =] So that was Tues-Thurs.
We're doing it again this week but only my companion is training. So I'm still in our area with another companion for the week. AKA I am senior companion! After two weeks! heavely Father trusts me a lot! I am really nervous and then realize it's selfish to be nervous and that He will take care of it if I put my trust in Him. I have learned how important it is to pray and kneel every morning. He blesses us so much more when we are doing the little things.
we met an awesome lady this week who has so much potential and has the desire. We're excited to teach her more. I would like to say my Spanish is improving but I don't think it is! But my understanding is improving which is half the battle.
We also had a cool experience with a newly convert family. We were going to teach her neighbor and she wasn't home so we just went to their house. It was in Spanish so I didn't understand much and just played with the 2 year old. But apparently they had been fighting and were not planning on coming to church the next day so it was not by chance that we were there that night to tell them how important it is to go to church and to fast for peace in the hom the next day. The Lord put us there for sure.
Oh, and another cool thing. My companion, Sister Zaldivar, was in Abby's district in the MTC! Small world huh! Well that is all I think! Thank you for your prayers and support. It makes a huge difference knowing I have those things with me all the time =]
love love.
Hermana Johnson

November 30- I'M IN SAN DIEGO!

2010-02-02T05:35:00.002-07:00

I honestly don't even know where to begin. I can't believe I haven't been here even a week; it seems like a lifetime! So I'll try to start from the beginning. After the letter I wrote to you.
Wednesday another sister and I went with two other sisters just for the holidays. Transfers were on Friday this week so they could still be with their wards for the holiday season. Wednesday we taught quite a few lessons and about half are in spanish. I understood enough to know what was happening but not enough that I felt like I could respond. They had 2 children getting baptized that Saturday so it was just doing last minute things that whole week.
Thursday was Thanksgiving! two people in the ward asked to have us over so we split 2 and 2 and so we covered both grounds without getting too full =] We still taught and visited people that day. Never a break!
And then Friday was transfers! And it turned out that the other sister and I were staying with these 2 sisters...but now we had our own companions.
SO! My companion's name is Sister Zaldivar. She is originally from Argentina, but has lived in Utah since she was 6. But her Spanish is perfect because her parents speak it all the time. You know how I was telling you how they just made new PMG (Preach My Gospel) videos? Well these 2 sisters were the only sisters in the whole thing! They stopped filming last week. So they have a lot of experience with missionary work. I am in very good hands and I'm so glad President put me with them!
We all live in the same aparment (Sister Voyles and Sister Ruiz) and it's great fun. Oh, and I'm in Chula Vista (my first area!!) There are 4 wards and a branch in this area but we cover the ward. It's English speaking but still a lot of Spanish people go. There's a whole Gospel Doctrine class just in Spanish. So about half of my appointments are in Spanish. It's Good. Easing into it=]
So already I have 2 baptisms! haha. Mark (9) and Jenny (12) their mom is not a member so we're going to start working with her a lot more now that the kids are baptized. The ward is amazing at missionary work; always giving referrals and stuff. Maybe you should start thinking of some people so I can talk about my home ward being just as good at missionary work. It really is so important. they know the people in the area better than we do obviously so their referrals are more promising and such. So we're busy all day with appts and it is awesome. And it RAINED the other day, which is quite rare for San Diego so I was very happy. We are right on the border pretty much. I see TJ everday (Tijuana). The work is great here. I am happy every single day. I LOVE YOU!

Letter 12

2010-01-29T11:54:00.003-07:00

Hermanitaaaa
I love when oliver reads my letters. He says my name differently now though...
I am so excited to call you in 11 days! So much to say probably yet why can't I write letters. And yessss more pictures coming!
I got my FLIGHT PLANSSS! Yesterday. Nov 24 830am. But my Elders leave mon/tues. But I'm way stoked for VC training . And I get to see my T.S. friends too!!!
I've really been working on my virtue. Thoughts are so hard to control and it's not just not thinking about others but keeping my thoughts focused on our task! Kind of like me with this letter!
So my biggest fears for the field are understanding what they're saying to me. I just can't do it! I talk to natives all the time and gah.
In other news, I love talking to ppl though. I had no idea I was such a talker! I can see it helping at the MB though for sure.
Oh I met 4 elders going to NH! 2 are spanish speaking! Weird, huh! But I was thinking that I'll be home and they might be in my ward still! I'm sad I don't get to talk to my elders for 6 months after I get back!
I have Lobster Magnet in my head. Wue en el mundo! OK. I'm talking nonsense. I love you. I pray for you (my spanish prayers are much better!)Your life is so blessed. I use your Shane job paying tithing story cuz I feel like I don't have any tithing stories of my own
OK BYE
Love
Auntie RahRah Hermana Jay

letter 11/6 Nov 09 (I think 10 was supposed to go after this one)

2010-01-29T11:44:00.002-07:00

How in the dickens are you. I feel like being weird right now. Lo siento. I LOVED the vids on my camera. I miss that boy SO MUCH! And porker jr! I want to eat her up!
So we took these language assessments where we talk and answer questions in spanish and I got a 5.22/7. My pronounciation hurt me. I'm not surprised. It was wicked stressful though. We had a minute-ish to think of an answer but it doesn't count for anything but it was good learning. I'm pretty good friends with 2 Hnas de Peru who are learning English. They are so darn cute! I'll make a video when I send my other camera card in spanish k? We get to talk so soon! It'll be a weird day. HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLIVER! Ahh! I can't believe he's 2!
I am so happy about your referral! How's it going! I should have known he was ready. I love that the Lord is preparing people to accept the gospel everyday. This week I got EXTRA pumped to visitor center it. I can do that. I've already come out of my shell a little here. I say Hi to everybody. And I just love getting to know people. And I also got psyched to teach in Spanish. I can do it. I know I can. Not well at this point, but very soon. The field is WHITE. Well keep praying. Don't be shy about it! I always am! Basta de eso! We got new Hnas in the zone this week -remember, I'm in charge!-and I feel close to them already. One of them came to me crying last night :( And me being me started tearing up too. Well I don't know where the PDays go. I looked for something for Ollie in the bookstore but nothing. Don't think I don't love him!
So Elder Cooper has a 4 year old bro and he had a pic of him and Elder Cooper and he says "I just wanna kiss that Riley boy!" I think it's the cutest thing ever.
Ok that's all. You're great. I love you a lot. And your chillins. It was good to hear your voice in the vid.
Hermana Johnson

letter 10 11/20/09

2010-01-27T20:49:00.002-07:00

My sister.
This week has been the best and worst of being here. It's been the worst only because I have lost my elders. They are in the field. Which I am happy about, but it's hard being here without them. I'll start with Sun.
I decided to fast to see how god sees me because I just forget sometimes how special I am. So I go to RS and Kristen Oaks came (Elder Oak's wife) and it was just amazing because she talked about testimony and that part of our testimony needs to be how much our Heavely Father loves us. So OK. Perfect. And she gave all of us testimony gloves. Sweet. So the day goes on and we have distric meeting which I usually hate and did hate at the beginning but we then decided to go around and say our favorite things about eachother. And after every person it just got more serious and mroe personal and I was lucky enough to go last. And it was as if they knew what I was fasting for or something because it was exactly what I needed to hear.
Some highlights... Elder Soffe said he really considered me a sister and they all said that they loved how I was always happy and smiley. elder Cooper, whose opinion I value more thatn anyone here, said something touching and started tearing up chich of course got me going. And my fave was E barker who said that the first time he saw me in the Temple he knew that I was an angel. And I know that that was christ talking and not E Barker. It was just so perfect. We were all in tears by the end and tried singing "god Be with you..." but yikes. It was painfully touching and hilaruious.
Then we had the fireside (which everyone in the MTC attends) and THATS where I played the special music with Elder Lim. Hie to Kolob. It went really well. Like srsly. People have been coming up to me all week. And guess who spoke. Your favorite, Sheri Dew. Uh huh. And she spoke about how important it is to know who we are listen to our personal revelation. It was PERFECT. I then got a blessing from E Cooper and it was touching to get a blessiong from him. We went to the movie and just kind of bore our testimonies via not passing. And of course started crying. Because he was leaving that night and he was my BEST friend here. And I still miss him so much. He went to Dakin's mish. But he's amazing. OK. Enough of him.
The next day was very...unproductive. It was the rest of the Elders last day so we jsut kinda stuck together. And I had to say goodby to them which was still hard. Jess. They are like my family. It was almost harder or just as hard saying goodby to them than saying goodbye to you. I spent EVERYday with them for the past 2 months. And because I was the only Hna, I got extra close with them. Mah. And every day since then they have given me little notes of inspiration (kind of like PS I Love You) and I Cry everytime I get one.
So anyway. My training. OH PS. I'm sad, I'll be talking to you probs before you get this. Oh well. Don't throw this away.
My training! It's different. 25 hnas. Yikes. NOT 7 elders et moi. ha. But I'm still so happy with my call. I can do this stuff. I love getting to know ppl and meeting ppl. Last night I had TRC and it went really well. I have 2 companions de Peru y Ecuador. It has been SO HELPFUL with random frases and accents and gah. It's been so great. And I go to Temple Square manana!
But srsly Jess. My testimony grows everyday and my fears and doubts are leaving everyday. I learn more about the Savior and Atonement everyday and it gives me such strength. I encourage you to strengthen your testimonyh everyday. It's easy to sit back and be satisfied but it's so much better to be active!
Ohmygoodness. go to lds.org. media. LDS videos. Scripture stries. Watch them. Esp man with evil spirits in NT and David and Goliath in OT. awesome. hahaha.
OK I think I've done a pretty good job here. And my pen is dying. You're so great. You're still and example to me everyday.
Sometimes I remember that Shane was baptised by Hnas. I would love th ehear his conversion story. cough cough.
Ok LOVE infinity haha. Talk to you...in San Diego...boyyyy!
Hna RahRah
ps love the hand turkeys :):):)

week 8

2010-01-27T20:41:00.004-07:00

Hermana my love.
Bojour to you too. Har Har. HOw are you? I hope you are so happy. You have a great life. I really look up to you. El Evangelio bendice la familia. Hay mas paz y amor y gozo cuando el evangelio es en el hogar. Una dia enere una familia tambien.
Yay baby blessing! I think she's actually my child. What does she look like? Can I be her godmother? Can we be Catholic? Can I be mroe ridiculous?
It's been said that the more you learn about the atonement, the more you want to share your testimonyetc. And I'm finding that to be true. Because my friends of highschoolness know/knew nothing about the Church. But I want to tell them. My testimony grows so much every day. I can't even tell you. I always find things to work on-dilligence, obedience, spelling, haha. I've really been working on peace in my life. I just need to CALM down sometimes. So many comforting scriptures. And songs. Will you listen to Animal Collective for me? I miss them the most right now. BOO colds. I get morning sickness I swear. Maybe it's my brekkie food choices. Oatmeal and grapefruit? Deadly. Apparently.
Perry Pie was here on Tues. He kinda reminds me of grandpa.
Not much uplifting for you tis week. But know I'm happy this week. The challenges are still here, but I can't learn these things anywhere else but here. I was put in this distric for obvious reasons. OH! I had two roommates from Japan this week. They are so cute :) And I learned a few words... doy dash ee mash day=you're welcome. And I talked to Peruvians last night. Muy helpful. I am really happy right now! Elevangelio trae felicidad. We're teaching the 2nd lesson en espanol this week.
Tell Denisse I say hello.
Keep talking about me to Oliver. Does Lily know me yet? Get on that:)
Much amor. besos. USted sabe te quiero!
Hermana Johnson

week 7

2010-01-27T20:34:00.002-07:00

Mi hermana favorita!
I'm not writing in Spanish today. Too lazy. boo. And sorry for overloading you. Even I feel overwhelmed. There is so much good literature! But good about FHE. And that you're having it.
We're not thinking about letters in the future. That is SO FAR AWAY! over a month, actually a month from manana! Woooo!
I miss Cape Cod potato chips. Send me some.
This week has been hard. I forgot how emotional I get. You know exactly what Imean. but. I know all of these experiences here are preparing me for something either during the mission or in my life. It's hard being the only hermana. Yes my comp left so I'm the only mna in the classroom/distric. My roomies are in my zone so I do a lot with them and technically they're my companions. But I teach with Elders. An experience I will only have here so I have to take advantage, right?
Hooray for double stroller! I can't. nevermind. Maybe let Oliver type to me next time, huh? boo colds. How have I not gotten sick yet?
Well this week I've really been working on calming myself. I realized why I'm a little unhappy here and its cuz I don't have music OR a guitar to play. I feel emotionally stuck. So I decided to write a song. With Psalm 46 in ti. It's a work in progress.
Evertime I wanna quote something, I sa "cod wod" and it's becoming less and less each day. I guess I based my life a little too much around quoting movies! OK I guess that's all we really ever say to eachother.
OK out of time. LOVE.

week 6

2010-01-27T20:21:00.002-07:00

Mi Hermanita-
I feel like you get the shaft letters so I'm writing you first so I'm not just writing stuff.
Again. gracias por sus cartas. Son muy apreciado (?)
Gracias por los fotos en facebook; y padre en FB!? Quen en el mundo! Diga Michael Worseman que estoy haciendo. Y su uh...address...
This week has been busy busy. And loca. I don't have any companions! I live with girls and walk around with girls in my zone, but I teach with Elders. I was with 2 new ones this week wich was MUCHO MEJOR (much better). They actually care about what they're doing. So things are going much better. The Elders are much better tambien. No hay problemas. I was just way too overwhelmed with losing a companion and just everything. It won't happen again. So yeah. I have a problem. Since I only have Elders I have no one to really talk t. because we're not allowed to have any kind of relationship (Meaning even friendship) with them. So it sucks. And I get along with this one elder SO WELL. And I struggle not talking to him. Who knew that woudl be the hardest thing for me.
I gave my first lesson in spanish AYER (Yesterday.)Just the first 3 principios though. It's not bad. I know I know the stuff, I just neeed to relax and believe in myself. OH Hay (there are) 12 sealing room s in the Provo Templo. Thought you'd like that.
I enjoyed the FB comments. Do I look like a missionary? Baha.
My roomates left this week and I'm still sad. I really enjoyed them. but when I do my VC training I get to go to Temple Square and hopefully I'll see them!!!
Lily is a fatty! Mom sent me a pic of her NOT in the hospital and she has eyes! LOL what does she look like now? Oliver looks so different already. I've been here exactly a month today:) Over a month to go still :\ Weird challenges here, I tell ya.
Well here's something maybe uplifting. At Devo the other night he talked about the importance of using the BOM all the time and starting the investigatiors from the beginning and not some random chapter. The Spirit is here all the time. All devos, class lectures, district meetings, etc are for ME directed for me! It's way good. Its prob just the spiriting telling me though. I'm glad I'm also a dino (Oliver's word for Marisa and Dinosaur is the same)I miss those days. And SO SAD about Friendlys [burning down]!
Well I'm praying for you. And I have a challenge for you. I want you to bear your testimony to 3 of your non member friends. You will help the missionaries out and you'll be supporting me, and the Lord will bless you with an answer to a question you've been pondering over. I hope you're still reading and praying! Feast upon the words too! Muchos besos para mis sobrinos. Quiere mas espanol en sus cartas? Es muas rapido para escribir en ingles. jaja.
The pic is how they know that I'm a solo lamer sister. muy triste. (she sent me a pic of herself frowning and poiniting to the word SOLO on her nametag!)
Love you!
LOVE your fam!
Hermana Jay

week 5

2010-01-27T20:11:00.002-07:00

Dear Seester,
Como esta? Estoy asi asi. La pasada semana fue dificil. No me gusta estar la solomente hermana en el districto! Los elderes no son amable. Mis nuevos "companeros" son Elder Cooper y elder Gorrell. Es muy muy dificil. Pero se que si trabajo mucho, bedecire. El Plan de salvacion es dificil ensenar ye Elder Gorell habla MUCHO. Entonces, no hablo mucho en la leccion y Elder Cooper no habla nunca. Hahaha. Jajaja. OK done. My elders were so mean and rude this week that I stomped out of class the other night and cried. Things have been better since then.
I wish I had slept through conference! Ok, not really at all. But it's hard work taking all of that in at once! Did you watch Music and The Spoken Word on Sunday? It made me want to learn organ. Again.
I'm learning lessons. And lessons in Spanish. I can teach the 1st 5 principles in Spanish but it takes me a while to get my thoughts and sentences together. I encourage you to read Preach My Gospel. There really is so much helpful knowledge in there and not just about missionary work. I know if you read from it and study, your testimony will grow and you'll have a desire to share the gospel too.
Some girls going to SD English are in the traingin right now and they said it's OK. Just a diff way to teach lessons. But yeah. Just at the end of my trainging will I get that week. And I'll get a field trip to Temple Square! Woo!
You really are a great mom. Oliver is so polite and smart and fun. Keep it up.
YOU ARE LAME NO SANDWICH FAIR! OH baby. I say Oh Kakee a lot (Oliver's word for yucky) and I go OH gracias a lot too (OK, Oliver starts everything with "Oh") Hnstly. necesito fotos pronto! Well keep praying for me. I need them already. Also you should read in the Bible more. There's some good stuff in there! And read Jusus the Christ! Not enough time to read it all! OK, I love you! I miss talking to you all the time! I hate that my mind is everywhere on PDay and my letters suck. I hope you enjoyed my pics. So yeah, I'm up to 5 companions already. 4 more next week. Oh, to be a solo sister! OK, I love you of course.
Hna Johnson

week 4

2010-01-27T19:31:00.004-07:00

Hello my sister-

I hope you ask M&D-Mom and dad, not MikeyDi- what my letters say because I just can't repeat everything! So I'll just respond to what you've said. Also. I love your letters. I love the rambling. I need it. OK! I've started making a list of things I want to write so I'll actually remember by the end of the week.

My teacher is preggo and she's been married since May. She said it wasn't planned.

I miss Where's Waldo. Just say it next time so then you could post it. And add that you got funny looks. It makes it more MLIA (my life is average-its a website, very funny)

Well Oliver, Yoo Yoo (I love you) back. Mwahhh. Yo necesito picturas! (I need pictures)

Keep up the moving talk Shane! Of course I'll move in! When UNH gets my program!

And way to go Oliver and his naps! He is wicked smart. No denying it.

Oh my pictures!

Cliche map picture.

And my district, who I will describe now.

From L: Elder Chang-district leader and then elder Soffe who is awesome but does teh missionary thumbs up. I hate it haha. I want to be paired with them. Then Elder Cooper and Elder Gorrell. Polar opposites and obvious. If I wasn't on a mission, I would be in love with Elder Cooper. He's going to Dakin's Mission. (Osorno, Chile) Yo y mi companera. Then elder read and Elder Whitehead. Elder Whitehead is so bad at Spanish. But he wants it so it's great. And Elder Read is my other fave. But they're going to Guate. on Tues too. :( Elder Barker and Elder Lim. Elder Barker is from Maine, a theatre major, and looks like the guy from Rattatouille. Look it up. They are besties. It's cute.

So that's that. I love them. They take our trays at lunch and stand up everytime we walk in the room. All of them are goign to Anneheim.

Sorry if I repeat myself. Who knows what I write about!

Love

Hermana Johnson

week 3/ 25 Sept 2009

2010-01-27T19:20:00.003-07:00

Hello H.S. (Hermana Sangria)
My email was lame. It's so stressful emailing!
That's crazy aobut Harry Potter! (a Harry Potter look alike in my ward who got called to the same mission as his brother) Thats when you're like "I know this call is inspired and not random."
If I was home, I would play with Oliver. We taught "investigators" the other day and we had a lady and she brought her three kids. GOOD learning experience for sure! (investigators is in quotes because the MTC has church members come in and pretend to be investigating the church so that the missionaries can practice their lessons/new language/social skills)
I don't think I've learned any new Spanish. Except balar. haha. and awesombrero.
I told Shane I want you guys moved by the time I get back. Let's see if he follows through...! Sorry about my handwriting. I'm tired. Provo Temple is so nice inside, but def has a 70s retro look.
Did I say something about Alma? My letters aren't very uplifting-my notes aren't with me. But it's like we're at a leadership conference-lots of inspiring talks :)
Omner-no. Himni-no. (I suggested these as baby names, I guess she didn't approve :))
I straighten my hair all the time. I'm becoming quite the lady! Or hermana I guess.
I feel so boring! We do the same things everyday-except in a different order.
I hope my teaching goes better today! Well I can't really think of anything else. I'm still in Helaman haha. we only get 1/2 hour of reading a day. And we have personal study but that's used for PMG! (Preach My Gospel) Y espanol!
Maybe one day I'll learn about my visiting Center protion. Or meet someone going SD Spanish speaking. Una dia...
OK DONE DOOOOONE! (Her best Oliver impression)
Tiene una buenisima semana! (Have a great week!)
da mis sobrinos muchos besos!(Give my niece and nephew lots of kisses!)
ADIOSSSSSS
Hermana Johnson

week 2/ 19 September 2009

2010-01-27T19:04:00.004-07:00

Mi Hermanaaaaaaaaa Sangriaaaaaaaaaaa,
tengo muchas hermanas aqui pero no hermanas sangrias! ja ja. (I have many sisters here, but no blood sisters! ha ha.) Thank you for your letter. I would like one once a day. Not too much to ask right? haha. I told mom a lot of stuff so I guess just ask her. But I still know nothing about the mormon battalion. awesome. leave me in the dark. I met a few english sisters going there but it was in brief so I still didn't find out anything. My compy is going to Nicaragua. fun fun. Food is alright. Edible. Choices. But I'm a boring eater is what it comes down to. I really just love a bagel for breaky and pb&j for lunch and somthing easy for dinner. I WOULD LIKE MORE TEE SHIRTSSS. srsly. Hnas wear them all the time. What we thought wouldn't be allowed. Maybe that was mom. I need a simple dress. Look online for "jody" dresses. and laugh. and then realize how easy they are to slip on and not worry sabout matching.
How is little Lily? How was Aaron's visit? Is he gone? Time moves so slowly here and everyone says it's cuz I'm still new. I hope so! I'm learning a lot. I can pray and bear testimony in Spanish and meet people and lead into a tesitmony or whatever. And we start teaching on Wednesday. But en ingles. My companion is so strong which is what I needed so it's good good very good. And she likes Sufjan [Stevens]. I mean come on! haha.
I miss Oliver, but try not to think about him cuz it's still hard. haha. see me tearing up right now.
My prayers are so lame because they told us to pray only in spanish and I can't go into detail so it takes me like 10 minutes to say a prayer. boo. My district is good. We will be good. We're the only girls.
I really don't have much more. We get to nap on P days AND Sundays. Love it. I'm still thinking in french a lot but I'm working on NOT doing that.
I think I saw david Carlson today. I yelled his name but he didn't look so I don't really know.
The other girls in my room are going to Temple Square.
Ok, I'm going to email dad real fast so have a great day. Give the little ones lovies para mi! Miss you love you and I am praying for you eve if its "mi familia" in general haha.
ok. write soon!
love

week 1

2010-01-27T18:56:00.004-07:00

Hola mi hermana-
Tienes un email y una lettra! (made up?)
I had things to say but I remember nothing now...Querido Padre Celestial is Dear Heavenly Father! Hey! I'm learning!
Oh! My residence hall (not dorm so we don't go wild like we would in dorms...ha) smells like piano camp. I go back to it evertime I walk upstairs. I'm on the top floor. DT [Deseret Towers] anyone? Tell dad I will have this companera for the whole time. When I read mom's letter I though she had put Jakey down. Then I re-read and got alittle happier.
It is awesome that I get to wear this nametag. With Christ's name right below mine. Pressure!
Oh! I got like nice Spanish scriptures. I'm getting "Hermana Johnson" engraved on them
Haha, Lily's initials are lbs as in pounds. I bet she already looks so different! Es bueno. Es bueno [Marisa was present for Lily's birth but had to leave the next day for her mission]
In one of our Spanish books there are jokes in there which apparently are wicked lame. But what jokes aren't lame? And still appropriate.
Well my time has come. Hasta proxima(?) semana. Oh! Mi companera conoce Natania! [Natania was Marisa's first roomate at BYU] [conoce means knows] They went to Eastern Europe together of course!! on tour. OKKK. Tell Oliver I miss him in a way he'll understnad. Did he love Aaron?
My handwriting is wicked neat, ya jerk!
Tell Mike Cameron I'm loving it. All is well. Send me mints! No gum. Tell mom.
OK farewell for realz.
I looooooove you!
Hermana Johnson

MTC

2010-01-27T18:50:00.002-07:00

Okay, now that I have Marisa's password, I can update the blog so that you can all read about her wonderful mission in San Diego. I will update with the week or date (some of the letters aren't dated) After this will be dated letters that I get from her every Monday. I will try to include pictures when I can, but she has a bad habit of sending her pictures to Mom instead of me!! These MTC ones are a little more personal but when she gets out to her mission, she starts sending letters that are more of an overview, so bare with these and their personal nature.

Camera fun

2009-09-12T14:28:00.005-06:00

As I said in a previous post, I got a new camera for my birthday! It has all of these fun settings on it and I was walking inside when I noticed my mom's beautiful garden so I decided to fiddle a little bit with the flowers.

Here are some flowers in normal color:
I put it on the sunset setting which adds a little red:
This also has the sunset setting on it.

Here are these flowers normal. I have a setting where I can make things skinnier or fatter.Skinny.....
and FAAATTT.
And then just me playing with the focus.

I am really excited for more pictures with this!

Steamboat!

2009-09-12T14:02:00.005-06:00

My work friend Kevin LOVES steamboats. Once a year there is a Steamboat Show right on Winnipesaukee! My other two work friends and I went down and took a ride!

The boat I went in on the left and the boat his Grandpa built on the right.Side of Grandpa's.
A sweet steamboat. This whole time I was picturing the boat from Willy Wonka and everyone dressed in Mary Poppins attire.
I also got a new camera! It has a ton of fun settings and this one is film grain.
It was Hannah's birthday! And my camera had a birthday setting!
Sarah's daughter Sadie.
Another steamboat.
This reminded me of the scene in On A Golden Pond even though it's the wrong lake.
The engine.
Sarah looking at the water. She got to steer the boat too!
We got SUPER close to these loons! We heard them do their call too.
The front of the boat.
I got to blow the whistle! I was probably way too excited but I suppose that's not a shock.
Kevin. He's actually building his own steamboat right now!
Me Sadie and Hannah.
I am so glad I went! It was so fun and a great way to end my stay here in New Hampshire.

Hiking

2009-09-12T13:26:00.005-06:00

I didn't do as much hiking as I would have liked this summer but I did get some great shots!
First I went hiking with my friend Autumn somewhere on Chemung.

Chipmunk! And our trail?
We were supposed to see 4 ponds on the trail. this is the only one we saw.The top! Lake Wickwas.

I then went hiking with my mom up Rattlesnake. My camera died right at the top (of course) so I got one good shot! I love Rattlesnake because it's only a half hour hike and this is the view:

About a week later I went hiking across the street on Mount Morgan with Seth. He did not feel the need to take pictures of me so I have a few of him.
At the top there are ladders to climb and you have to squeeze through the cave! The only reason I wanted to do this hike.
The top! And sideways picture.
I am IN LOVE with New Hampshire!

The past forever

2009-06-08T20:03:00.003-06:00

Here are a few photos of the last month of school and since I've been home!

For easter I went to my roommate's house and played on her trampoline. SO much fun.
Bring it on!
This is 2nd dam. When the weather got nice we went there all the time and had BBQs. And yes. I climbed that tree!
Jesi and Katie. My two music therapy buds!
Two more music therapy friends. Abi and Caitlin.
Wind caves hike.
HOME. Well. Vermont! My friend Kayla is staying in Burlington so my high school friends and I took a trip up there.
Megan, Me, Autumn, and Kayla
I am so happy to be home!

Capilano Suspension Bridge

2009-03-30T15:22:00.008-06:00

After Vancouver we went to a suspension bridge about 20 minutes away. It was nice seeing a little bit of Canada and not just a city.

Old tiAn Aaron and Marisa totem!
Totems!
At the beginning they give us these maps and if you get 6 stamps around the park, you get a certificate at the end. This is Aaron and me getting our first stamp!
Us and another tourist.

Don't fall in!
Maddy and Aaron
I always know how to ruin a picture.

Excited to get into the treetops
That is sideways.

BIg tree

Duckys on ice. We tried to get a video but it didn't work.

ooooooh boy!
Weather station
Caught in the act
Owlsie!Loooong bridge!

TREEEEES.Our finished maps with a totem.

just blending inMaddy and Aaron with their certificates!

THE border.
Home again home again..

Vancouver

2009-03-29T18:08:00.004-06:00

The Canadian border.
Vancouver city!
I don't really know why I took this...or decided to post it...
2010 OLYMPICS!!!
cool building.

The steam clock. Vancouver icon.
City from the pier.
Again.
Window shot!
Worst nightmare...bridge into and out of vancouver.

Seattle

2009-03-19T16:34:00.006-06:00

On Wednesday Lis and I went to Seattle! (why does that keep coming up as a link? anyone know?) This is Pike Place! Where they throw the fish! I was quite disappointed; they only threw one fish while we were there and we didn't get a picture!

Random artwork in the middle of town. It's an umbrella if you couldn't tell. We got so lucky to get there on a sunny blue sky day and didn't need an umbrella!

This is Seattle Center. This is where all the museums are, a fairground, and of course the Space Needle. This tube sculpture provided me and Lis an awesome photo shoot! (Pirate anyone?)

Jumping pix. Always a requirement. This was Lis' first. Way to go!

We were lame and didn't want to pay a ridiculous price to go to the top, so these are the best pictures we got. (gahh! why the link!)

Spring time flowers!
Peace Garden. It says "may peace prevail on earth"
Experience Music Project. It is also a SciFi museum which was actually pretty fascinating.
We LOVED the experience music project! We almost didn't go but it was only12 bucks to go! They had some of the first guitars in there and the history of the guitar and bass. So neat!! They also have guitars, basses, keyboards, mixing tables, and percussion instruments to play. It taught you how to play too (I got bored with the teaching really fast!!) My favorite part was creating a band! You go on a mini stage and they play the music but you have the instrument in front of you so it looks like you're really performing. They give you a ticket to your concert after and you could by a DVD of you playing. A lot of fun! The guy working let me keep the pick so I didn't even need to buy a souvenir at the end! At one point I put my phone down walked away and "lost" it. I have never heard of anywhere else doing this but they texted my brother to try to find the owner and called my house! Thank you EMP!
I am in love with this picture. And this building.

Lis and me on the monorail. Not as exciting as I was expecting.
Mini space needle!

Hammering man of course!

First Starbucks!

I really enjoyed Seattle. It is a nice city with lots to do! I recommend it!

RAP

2009-03-18T11:33:00.003-06:00

I'm going to put more Washington pictures up but I needed to share this. I had a quiz in music therapy a few weeks ago and on the quiz we had to write about our experience of the class in a rap! I didn't think too much about it because i got full points and what else matters right?? ha. So today our teacher walks in and hands us our raps!!! We were all quite embarrassed and THEN she had us all sing them out loud! We all laughed and enjoyed it and then our teacher says we're going on a little field trip. oh. no. We go to the lobby of the concert hall in the music building and we see a boy with a microphone and a little amp. He is her son and he's a beat boxer! She had us sing our raps again with him beatboxing in the background. But this time people were watching from the hall. Ah the life of a music therapist! It ended up being really fun and here is my rap:

Music therapy rocks my world
I feel like I could use it on a squirrel
It's fun to drum and strum the guitar
I know I am awesome and I will go far.
Yes, music therapy is my thing.
We go together like yang and ying.

hike around bellingham

2009-03-13T12:26:00.003-06:00

We did a bit of a hike the other day on a trail to Teddy Bear Cove (cuuute!) Gorgeous day! Something Bellingham is not used to.
Aaron's friend said there would be starfish there. We saw none but it wasn't low tide.

Aaron and me.

The trail.

driving to washington.

2009-03-13T11:23:00.004-06:00

I am in Washington with my spring break and have a few extra minutes right now. The drive was not the best scenery but I did get to drive through Oregon so that was exciting for me! The state signs were LAME so we didn't get those pictures. We only had 3 snowy spots, one of which was Sardine Canyon (right outside logan)! Here are a few pictures.

Boise Temple. I thought it was very unique looking..

A pretty lake which we just couldn't capture!

Zion's

2009-03-02T14:53:00.006-07:00

I have finally been to Southern Utah and seen Zion's National Park!

delicious snow =]
The canyon.
The drop. We dropped snow balls down it and raced them. And see who could make it into the creek. It was so far down that we couldn't really tell!
See that road down there? Not fun to drive on!
My new friend Katie Hawkes.

All the girls that went.

Me attempting the hug the rock. The photographer didn't really understand.
Everyone.

Everyone again.
St George temple. Not in Zion's.

Hello and goodbye

2009-02-19T22:52:00.002-07:00

OK This week's assignment was to write a hello and goodbye song. Harder than you think! I was making them up left and right during the week but when I actually had to write it down, it was really tricky! This time I'm giving the chords too in case you wanted to play ;]

Hello Song

G D G
Hello Hello Hello
C G D
How are you today?
D
Hello hello hello
D G
I'm glad you came to play

G
My name's Marisa
C G
Tell me what's your name
G
(My name is)
D G
Now let's play some games

G D G
Hello Hello Hello
C G D
How are you today?
D
Hello hello hello
D G
I'm glad you came to play

Goodbye Song

Gsus4 Em7
It's time to say good bye.
Gsus4 Em7
It's time to say good bye
Gsus4 Em7 Gsus4 Em7
We laughed a lot what was your favorite part?
Gsus4 Em7 Gsus4 G
We've had some fun We sang some songs goodbye.

Ugh.

music therapy

2009-02-13T00:08:00.002-07:00

In my music therapy class, we have to write a lot of songs that relate to our clients and that we can use one day. This week's assignment was to create a song that encourages movement and motor skills to a 12 bar blues. I'm pretty proud of mine; I have trouble coming up with lyrics, even if they aren't deep and thoughtful feelings. Anyway. Here it is.

I like to go swimming
I like to do the front crawl
The breaststroke is fun too
And the butterfly
Swimming swimming swimming
And maybe a dive or two
Yeah

I like to play soccer
I like to kick the ball
I pass it with my head
They pass it back
Dribble dribble dribble
I score a goal

I like to play volleyball
I like to bump it
I set it high high high
I spike it down low
Pass set crush
I win the game

I like to do ballet
I like to arabesque
First position, second position
I do a plie
Then I twirl twirl twirl
I'm doing ballet

--That's it. They'll do the actions. They may even come up with their own verses. My future career is awesome.

Flying!!!

2009-02-03T22:06:00.006-07:00

As you know, I have an obsession for jumping pictures. Tonight we went a little overboard.

Colby and me levitating.

The Superman!

Sarah, Kiley and me.

Katie....

Sarah flying at almost the speed of light.

I haven't even had my fill of flying pictures, but I believe I can fly!

NEPHI

2009-01-29T13:11:00.007-07:00

I've lived in Utah for 2 1/2 years now and I still chuckle at the mormon town names. My friend Michael, her boyfriend Michael, and I decided to go to Nephi last week...to say we've been there. Not a happening town. At all. But we found our own fun! They had found some cameras at DI and we took lots of "old looking" pictures with them. Unfortunately, I only had my digital so that's what you get =]Fair grounds..a bit different from Sandwich Fair.!

OOOOH yes.
A random tractor.
We were trying to find the visitor's center. We ended up finding this log cabin.

I fell in...
The only motel in Nephi. Closed down.

Loose cow!!! It came right next to us.

Oh yes. Oh OH Oh yes.
Death.

The result.
The end.

Covered Bridge!

2009-01-29T12:57:00.005-07:00

Meg and I went for a drive one day and came across this covered bridge around Tamworth. Naturally we had to play on it!
Climbing up..

The river underneath us.
She climbed the whole thing!

Surprise surprise..jumping pictures. There's about 50 of these, all looking like the 2 I posted. We didn't get one good shot. Bummer!

Can someone tell me what a bear dog is?

I love NH!

Rattlesnake Mountain

2009-01-29T12:29:00.007-07:00

After being away from New Hampshire for 8 months, I was very eager to see the outdoors again with all the lakes and trees everywhere. My friend Meg and I decided to hike Rattlesnake Mountain and ski down it! It was the night after a big storm so we were the first ones to touch the new snow.At the bottom of the trail.

Waist deep pow! That did not make it easy to walk up in though!

OK-we didn't make it to the top; it was so much work even getting to the first ledge! But you can still see the lake and I love the fact that trees are in the way.

I can't resist!

Our big downhill slope!
Meg decided she wanted to climb this ledge and ski down it.. Right after I took this, she did a HUGE tumble down the rest of that. It was pretty funny, and even better, she didn't get hurt!

I probably wouldn't ski down Rattlesnake again, but possibly another mountain next time I'm home!

California..again

2009-01-28T17:42:00.004-07:00

Forever ago I went to California with my friend Jessie. These are just some pictures from the journey. She was asleep for most of the journey, so sorry about the crooked pictures!These mountains are my favorite mountains along the Wasatch Front. They are just north of Ogden.

I love the Salt Flats!

Welcome to Wendover!
Sunset on I-80. And a very dirty windshield!
My favorite part of the journey! On the way back we took a detour to Lake Tahoe! Jessie was asleep so there was no stopping me.! I was really thrown off by the trees! I had forgotten what they looked like!

Ahhh! I love it!
Don't mock my outfit; I was driving for 13 hours!

Back through the Sierra Mountains..

Idaho adventures

2008-10-30T11:18:00.008-06:00

We went bouldering in Idaho! It was a lot harder than rock climbing, I was terrible. But as we were getting out of the car they said "just listen for a rattle and stop and look around" FOR RATTLESNAKES!!!!! I was freaking out, but didn't see any luckily.

Bre is a pro though!

She got stuck right at the top.Massacre Rocks! With the Snake River in between

Tick!

It wouldn't be a tick without a jumping picture! This is my friend Felisa.
And me
Bre.
And Michael

This is along the Oregon Trail!
Quality band pic.

The next day we went slack lining! Which is like tight rope walking except there's a bounce so it's harder to balance.

Again, Bre is pro.

We thought this man looked silly.

Knit tagging! We're rebels, what can we say?

california!

2008-10-30T10:37:00.007-06:00

After Australia, I spent a few days days in California with my friend Michael. Since I'm going to be turning my blog into a 'tick' blog, most of these pictures were in fact ticks!!!
This first one is Santa Cruz, a big beach town near San Francisco.

Sea lions hanging out in Santa Cruz.

The next day Michael and I went on an adventure to Monterey Bay and Marine Sanctuary!More sea lions hanging out.

We did see an otter but it was too far away to capture. (in a picture of course!)

That was for you Jess.

We then made our way to Carmel to see the Carmel Mission.

Michael told me that there was a Redwood forest around so we HAD to go to that! The worst part of that forest was that I saw a SNAKE! I got very scared and Michael didn't even see it. Poor me.

I had a very good time in California and got quite a few ticks. No picture of the San Andreas Fault even though I was on a train along the fault line. Next time!

Twelve Apostles

2008-08-12T02:50:00.012-06:00

Tasmania seems a bit bombarding to blog but it will be done!!!
The start of our journey.

Koala in action! This is at Kennett River. If you go up the road (which we did) you'll see more koalas than anywhere else basically. We saw about 20 (koalas are not as common as you think!) Mel, Mandy, and I were standing out of the sunroof of the car to get the best view.
Apollo Bay.
Cuuute.
Maits Rest in the Otway Forest

Yes this cow was this close. They were all along the road. A lot of them were pregnant as well! A funny image. Scariest sign on earth.
Cape Otway Lighthouse from far away
Mikey trying to eat it. Clearly not trying too hard.

Bass Strait!Southern Ocean!
Cape Otway Lighthouse
The last animal to see in the wild!!! Echidna!

The rainbow wasn't lasting for too long and other tourists were taking too long!!!
Tada!

My favourite apostle.
Sunday morning Leslea, Melody and I got up at 6 to see the sunrise at the 12 apostles. Not much of a sunrise but more of a lighting of the sky, but it was still neat to be there with no one else. On the way, though, Leslea had her first experience with ice on the road. She and her subaru handled it well. A kangaroo also jumped in front of the car! Luckily Les was going 60kmph rather than the suggested 100kmph so we didn't hit the poor thing.
Sooo much rain the night before created this waterspout!
It was SO COLD on Sunday. Wind and rain is not a good combo. So the stops were run out. Picture. Run back to the car. SO here is The Arch.
London Bridge.

Loch Ard Gorge. The only 2 survivors of the Loch Ard got married afterwards, according to Di. This is incorrect though.
We do love our jumping pics.

A cave.
Mandy all rugged up.

Melbourne Tourist

2008-07-30T06:24:00.005-06:00

Last Saturday Di and I played tourist for the day and went around Melbourne!
This picture is for you Jessie. Victoria Market.
Trams.
Gog. And. Magog. They ring their bells on the hour. We missed it by a minute.
I love yarn!
Flinders St Station..one of the stops on the city loop.

Baha. Police car. Federation Square in the background. Fed Square is where the art museum is. Melody wants to have a scavenger hunt here for her birthday. I wish I could go!
Those Australians are so witty. But they do know how to make a mean fry!
Yarra River. The silver building on the left is the Eureka Tower.
MCG in the background. (where they play footy!)
I liked this tree.
About to go up!!

Phillip Bay
Yarra River. Looks clean eh?
The MCG and where they have the Australian Open!!!
The city, Fed Sq, Flinders St,
On a train. It says Melbourne Central. I like saying it with an Australian accent. Well, I like saying all the stations with her accent.
The longest escalator in the Southern Hemisphere!!!!

We helped find a cure.

That night we went to a show. Mark Kozelek was singing (from Sun Kil Moon and other bands as well) He was very good but I started feeling very sick about half way through and am still suffering from that cold!

Judah's birthday!

2008-07-29T05:42:00.004-06:00

Judah's birthday present was this camera!!!
Miranda surfing.
Melody surfing (and can I just add that this reminded me way too much of last summer when I pulled little girls around on a surf board on the back of my kayak?)
1...2...3...jump!

The lot!

phillip island

2008-07-26T23:42:00.006-06:00

Well first things first, I got a haircut. Without planning it, I get the same haircut every time I come to Australia. Port Phillip Bay. (In the bay we gettin' hyphy?)
Walking around on Phillip Island. Melody stole my camera. She takes some good pictures though so I did not complain!

Wallaby!
Mangrove.

Black swans. Right after this, an old lady had pulled over and asked us if we wanted to see a kookaburra! She had rescued it and the vets said that she could take it home to help it get better (clearly this was not the first kookaburra she had saved) and so she let us pet it. So soft!
What we thought was the blow hole

Seal Rocks.
Blow hole before...
Almost there...
!!!
We weren't allowed to take pictures of the penguins but they were very cute! They would come up in groups and walk half way up the beach and then run back into the ocean. Twice though a penguin would be too apprehensive and not make it to the other side of the beach with the group! One went on his own and I think the other found another group.

Bike Riding

2008-07-18T00:25:00.003-06:00

I went for a bike ride today. I wish I went everyday but working does take priority. The last time I went bike riding I found this place called "The Quay" with all new housing. But when you turn in there's this little pond and a boardwalk. I absolutely loved it wished I had had my camera and maybe a book so I could just sit there and hang out. Well when I went bike riding today I was determined to find that place again! After lots of wrong streets I finally found it again! It was so pretty yet again, but did I think to bring my camera or book this time?! Of course not. I will go back though and take pictures.

Nothing too much else to report here. Time is going too fast and i'm trying to fit everything in while I still can!

Byron Bay

2008-06-29T05:29:00.010-06:00

Here is my trip to Byron Bay. These are the pictures off of my camera but I did not capture every moment so I'll be doing another Byron entry with the others' photos. Also. I've become obsessed with "ticking" things. As in, tick, I've done that! Leslea has a book called 1001 Natural Wonders and we've been going through it trying to see what we could tick on this trip. Potholes?
Natural Bridge

tick!

We stopped at this place to eat lunch. It also had a miniature animals tour. Apparently everything else was miniature. Needless to say, we did not take the tour.
Melody got my camera some how...
Our backyard.
Our front yard

Vacation wouldn't be complete without a little Asian Tourist!
We snorkeled at those rocks. Julian Rocks.
Making an E for Easterly of course!
Mikey being weird. He was trying to hold the Lighthouse. Clearly didn't turn out.
I love being a tourist.
We were being an arch...not too clear now, but during the photo it was brilliant.

Byron Bay sunset. Mount Warning is the point.

A little door.
Mel and me trying to get it open!!!
Showing off the necklace she made. Beads courtesy to Bangalow Market ( Also the best town in the whole entire world. Craftiness everywhere!!!)
Di in Miranda's vest.

Some of Miranda's collection of natural goodies.Miranda clearly loves the hat I made her.

Blingin' in Byron.

We can't get enough jumping pictures.

We decided to go to a National Forest called Nightcap. It's in the ticking book so we obviously had to go! Well we were going to drive to it but...
some water was in the way. We walked across it barefoot (finally I was glad to be wearing sandals!) We finally got to the trail. I don't think any of us realised that this was a legit rainforest. This is no Otways. Once you were in, there was no getting out, unless you followed the trail. Even that was hard though. Trees had come down blocking the path. But we managed. Below is part of the stinging tree. If you touched it, you were stuck to it. Nooot so fun.
Nature is so clever. Making a rope out of roots!!! Half way through we heard a noise that was not an owl or singing birds. In fact, it was a bit like Gollum. So scary. We couldn't see it, but we could tell it was close. Near the exit we found a freshly dead animal. Hoooly scary!
Minyon Falls in the Nightcap National Forest

My camera died after this but plenty more are to come, don't worry!!

picturesss

2008-06-13T23:38:00.006-06:00

This is Miranda's birthday cake! It had barbie and her friend sitting in it as well. She had a pool party so it was more than appropriate =P

Foooooty!!!!
Warming up... we had really good seats!
AusKick at half time!! (little kids playing. so cute!)
Richmond won!
Rock climbing with MelMel

Geelong
Black Swans

Photo shoot with Delilah
She apparently didn't enjoy it...
Miranda's first tooth lost!
Healesville Sanctuary

Awkward kangaroooo

We came at the right time! We got to pet them...
And feed them!!!!!

Action shot!

The dingo ate my baby!
He would wack the egg with a rock and it broke open. Very cool!
Tasi devil!!!!!
That emu was too friendly. I got scared.
I was also scared of these bats.
That's it for now...Byron Bay this week!

Church and Work

2008-06-03T01:14:00.003-06:00

I finally went to the Geelong Ward on Sunday and it reminded me how much I miss family wards! This old couple and their friend took me to church and they were very nice people. They said their fast sundays are usually very eventful but the most eventful thing that happened was that a women bore her testimony about Geelong winning the footy that week (I'm pretty sure she has some mental problems but it was still a little funny). There were about 20 girls that came in late and it turned out they were from BYU! Small world. They were nurses studying and playing here for a month. It was so nice seeing people my age and that I can relate to. They invited me over for dinner last night too! It was so much fun! The sister missionaries were there as well and I had a chat with one of them. After dinner they decided to make a video of all the adventures they had while being here, I left before it happened but their hair and makeup was silly enough!

In other news: I've been working in the office with Norma. I was only supposed to work 2 days but it's rapidly turned into full time for this month. Although I'm very tired (I have to wake up at 6!) it's worth it. Tomorrow I'm working at their other site and I'm a little nervous about answering phones all day long! Just because I was born here, I still have a hard time deciphering some of their accents!

I have lots of pictures to put up with stories to go along with them, I just need internet on my computer to do so, so have patience!

photo shoot!

2008-05-18T03:24:00.000-06:00

We've been taking pictures of Delilah to show mom and dad the outfits that they bought her and the outcome was some pretty funny pictures!

After that picture was taken, they realized how I suddenly become asian while taking pictures so I had to do a full on one.. We had her run to the camera to get the full shot. So she's not really crying.
And because LaLa loves me so much, she thought she would be Asian too :]]

On a side note, the second day I was here, we came down to Torquay and they drank blue water and this was the outcome.

moving

2008-05-15T07:12:00.000-06:00

I'm officially moved down to Torquay, although not officially unpacked. That'll be never. I never know how to pack for 4 months. It's hard. Looking back at my blog though...I realized that I completely missed talking about Thursday!! Me, Les, and Rob went into the city again to get my birth certificate and to just see what was going on. We got off the train at the new and improved Southern Cross Station (formerly Spencer St Station) so here I am under the new roof:We got my birth certificate (boring...but didn't take too long). We then walked around a few blocks and they took me to their favourite alley way (a lot of alley ways in Melbourne have cute little clothing stores and cafes) so here I am there:We THEN went over to the Art Museum right next to the Yarra River and saw an exhibition of Sidney Nolan. He is from St Kilda and is most famous for his "Kelly" paintings. Very Picassoish but his later stuff is beeeutiful in a very different way. Simply amazing! We also went into the Top Arts exhibition. This is grade 12 students' artwork. Ohmygoodness. It is unbelievable. It's so not my medium so I think that just adds to the amazingness. But my favorite was Leo Bagus Purnomo's, who made a human out of bark with way deep meaning. Just fan.tastic. All of were kind of pooped after that so Les and I headed back and made some more food for the trip. A wonderful little day trip into the city which will be repeated when I go back!

The past 2 days I have been in Toquay. It has been very relaxing and just catching up with this family and trying to organize myself. I need to look for a job soon but I think a little relax time is good. Oh! So I've been meaning to work out and get fit for a while now but have been too lazy. But I am motivated now! I've told Bek all about my plan and she's in on it too. We're going to cycling, swimming, or running (ok ok power walking) everyday. AND they have Wii Fit which is amazing. So a mix of those two things and although I won't be coming back tan this summer, I will be coming back fit!!!

Delilah is adoooorable. She calls me mummy. But then again she calls Rob dada too soooo...She loves giving kisses and being held and I'm OK with both of those things! Today she puked all over me. I should have been expecting it sooner or later. Judah and I bond over Wii. He was helping me today with Galaxy and loves doing WiiFit as well. (We all know how much I love watching people play vid games!). Josh took me downtown today and to an overlook over the ocean. It is beautiful. I almost went swimming today the air was so warm. But everyone says the water is way cold, and I didn't have my bathers anyway. Maybe tomorrow.!

wilson's prom

2008-05-12T19:36:00.000-06:00

This past weekend, Les' family and I went camping down at Wilson's Prom! Some friends of their friends came as well so there was 9 of us all together. I took tons of photos of all the natural beauty which will now be posted.

Here is me, Mel, and Mandy in the back seat waiting to head off the 4 hour trek to the Prom! We made one bathroom break and stopped at Fish[y] Creek for lunch. We ate at and everything inside was cows, and flying ones at that! I felt like I was at Megan's house again. The food was great and half way through our meal, a goat tried joining us! Rob told the workers that a goat was trying to come in and they said it happens all the time and returned the goat to his owner.
We finally arrived and the weather was a bit overcast but still a comfortable temperature.

We decided to go down to Tidal River which goes right into the ocean. All of the water that the camp uses comes from this river, so we had to use it sparingly!We were surrounded by jellyfish!They didn't mind chilling on the shore waiting for high tide. Luckily you could still walk barefoot and not get stung!

That is one of my favorite pictures. Miranda begging Melody for the binocs. Pretty much defines their relationship.

Miranda wrote my name in the sand and then that became the trend. We eventually made a crossword of all of our names together. I would have needed an aeroplane to take a picture of the whole thing!

That night we went on a little nighttime walk around. And we came across lots of Australian wildlife! We saw 3 or 4 wombats and I even almost tripped over one! I was so scared, even though they look very harmless!!! We also saw a possum (which also scared me half to death- they're creepy in the dark!)

That night after we had gone to bed, I was suddenly woken up by 2 big THUDS. It was poor Melody falling off the top bunk! She didn't hurt anything luckily but it was really scary!

The next day we went on a little bush walk called Lilly Pilly Gully. It was one big loop with a boardwalk towards the end.

Tree Brush!

That's Luca. He is HILARIOUS. And also BRILLIANT. He wanted me to take a picture of the hole but then got distracted while I took the picture.
Luca took this picture. I unfortunately forget the real name, but the girls used them in their hair as brushes and curlers. At one point it even became a bum curler. I don't really know how that happened..
Here is a huge tree that has fallen down and we are standing on the roots! How cool!
This is a big tree hollowed out. And now here comes the highlight of Lilly Pilly Gully!

Here's the boardwalk that we walked around. A s we began walking on this, some people who had just finished the loop told us to look up when we got to the middle, we kept our eyes pealed only to find...A real live koala in the wild!!!! Unfortunately it was very shy and hurriedly scooted backwards to get into a part of the tree where we couldn't bother him. But for those brief moments, we saw something that you really don't see everyday!

We then drove about half way up Mt Oberon and even from there it was a beautiful view of Wilson's Prom.

This day's scare was Miranda getting lost. None of us knew she was lost until she came crying back to the hut. There was a misunderstanding about where she was supposed to go so she started walking around by herself and finally found her way back.

The next day me, Mel, Les, and Rob took a little hike to Squeaky Beach! Before that, we went to Tidal River again and having a good time. Luca was crossing in a little bit of water and we look away for one second and then we look back and he's up to his knees! Oh wait! His waist! Oh no! His chest!! Leslea jumped in and saved him at that point. It was happening so fast we didn't really know what to do! He was fine, just a little frightened. On our hike to Squeaky Beach, we saw lots of birds including kookaburras.

Here it is! Squeaky Beach is not named that for no reason. It actually squeeks! It sounds like sneakers on a basketball court. Very strange. And the reason is because all of the sand is the same size and shape so when they rub together it's like marbles rubbing together. COOL!
Our last day started with crimson rosellas on our porch! I should mention that the night before we had a possum on our porch too!

Mel had some fish but he was only interested in human food!

While we were eating lunch outside, birds were SWARMING all over us! We were wacking them left and right to protect our delicious potato cakes and chips. A few birds made it to the table but the best part was when on landed on Les' head and she was screaming "get it off get it off get it off!" and we just watched and laughed.

We tried leaving, but this darn bird was not having any of that. He was not going to move from that mirror.

We even reversed out of the parking lot and he stayed on! Finally he flew away. It was one of the funniest things all weekend. (Sorry the video is sideways!)

2008-05-07T07:30:00.000-06:00

Well Oh My Gosh. Tonight we went to Toff in Town- a restaurant/bar in Melbourne. Pretty fancy. Delicious food, even better dessert. But then in another part of the bar a few bands were playing. First were The Sly Hats. A guitar and a keyboard. The keyboardest could be best friends with Bill Gates and the guitarist looked like he stepped out of 1990. But he could sing. And play guitar. And keyboard. They rocked. They even had a beat machine for the drums. And their bass player was missing because he was at someone's first communion. Presh.

The next band was The Motifs. I had checked them out before to see if they were any good and quite enjoyed them. So the curtain opens and there are literally 4 teenagers standing in front of us. They were all very nervous and their stage presence was not that good. 2 keyboardists, a guitar player, and a drummer. You know I can't resist me some keyboard! So they played. Each song was about 45 seconds long. Each song had clapping. But I loved their oooh's and aaah's. AND they had light up tamborines. I need to get one!

All in all, what I got out of this experience was that there is still hope for me! That if these nerds can make it, so can I! We just need to get some lyrics going and we'll be awesome! And listening to beginner bands gives me ideas as to where I want to go with my band? Or just musical pursuits.

2008-05-07T00:50:00.000-06:00

Well yesterday the big excitment was going bowling! It was a lot of fun and I finally bowled over 100! (I got 101) but Melody was a close second (99). Miranda did well with 73 (better than I usually bowl) so I was very proud. I worked again and I am getting pro at the movie shop. It rained wicked hard yesterday and Les is trying to tell me there's a dought here! Today I was finally allowed to take a nap! Because we're going out tonight and I didn't want to fall asleep! We're going to this restaurant and bands play there all the time and tonight the Motifs are playing. I'm very excited! Les and I went to the supermarket today to buy food for this weekend.

We've been playing mad libs lately. Why is this the funniest game ever! The girls got their school pictures today-so cute! I think that's all for now.

2008-05-05T17:29:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was quite an eventful day! Woke up at 645 (booo) and got ready normally. Went over to Les' and had breaky. (man i love meusli) and was thinking about relaxing. But nooo! I worked! Rob asked if I wanted to spend a few hours at the video shop and I said sure!! So if I don't find a job in Torquay I always have this to lean back on. Excellent!

After that we were going to MikeyDi's for dinner and Rob let me drive!!! It was pretty much a straight shot there-not many turns to think about what side of the road I should stay on. But Rob said everytime I turn on the windshield wipers instead of the turning indicator that I owe him a dollar. And so far it's stayed at that-one dollar. Not so bad!

Dinner at Mikey's was deeelicious! And I had tim tams. mmMMMmmm!

Don't really know what I'm doing today. We shall see what the day brings! Also, I started singing flaming lips the other day and Miranda chimes right in. I love this girl.

first days here

2008-05-04T17:02:00.000-06:00

So I'm in Australia and figured this would be the easiest way to document my every move. I've been here for a few days and I've just missed being somewhere else. The little things I notice are what makes this so cool. The light switches are different. How you flush a toilet is different. Obviously a big one, but driving on the opposite side of the road. The road signs. It's just wonderful!

Being with family is wonderful as well. My nieces haven't changed a bit, which makes me feel a little better-like I haven't missed 2 years of their lives.

Yesterday I went to Torquay and saw Josh and his family. I'm excited to be living there this summer. I saw the house they are building; it's pretty fantastic. Delilah is adorrrable and Judah is Judah.

All in all, this will be an amazing summer even if I'm not getting tan and I'm not going to make any money (ALTHOUGH if I DO get a job, minimum wage is something like 15 dollars/ hour and exchange rate is about equal right now..woohoo!) We all know I'm about experiences and not the money though (cough*camp lokanda*cough)