{20} The Start to a Lifetime Adventure

12 Lions holding up a fountain. Look familiar to any Mormons?

It's March. Spring break of 2013. Walking into the airport, my classmates and I realize that our teacher is missing. How could he have wandered off when we were together? He's supposed to be the chaperone, not us. After multiple attempts to recover him by retracing steps and calling his phone, he is finally found. Near the front of the line to check in for our flight, our teacher was the one that left US behind. 

Even with a rough start, my trip to Spain was amazing. Though it was only 10 days, that week and a half long trip opened my eyes to so much. We went to the Valley of the Fallen, Segovia, Madrid, Cordoba, Toledo, and many other cities on our way. Seeing the beautiful architecture and designs that don't exist in United States allowed me to see the influences that religion and history have had on cultures throughout time. My group toured cathedrals, mosques and castles. We walked the cobbled streets of ancient cities and bought souvenirs from gypsies. Spain instilled in me a longing to travel. Not just to see places, but to see people and cultures. It inspired me to learn more about the people that inhabit the earth around us and learn what makes them tick. I love the differences that make up the human race. I love the pasts and experiences that make each of us different. I love the creations that come from within us hearts. 

{19} 4 Things I Bet You Didn't Know About Arizona

Born and raised in Arizona, I like to pretend that I know everything about it. It is a part of who I am and I like to think that I know who I am, and therefore, know Arizona. 

1. Arizona has mountains. Not like the mountains that surround our 
valley here in Provo, or even the mountains that surround the valley that contains Mesa, Phoenix and Gilbert. My mountains are bigger. Standing at the highest point, you don't feel like you are on the peak and could fall off onto one side of the mountain or the other. You feel like you're still on flat, solid ground, but floating in the sky.

2. It snows. At 7,200 feet, my town receives a dusting of snow every year. In fact, we have a ski resort only 45 minutes away. With every new snow form, half of the school is up at Sunrise, spending the day on the slopes.


3. Native Americans. Being close to Mexico, you would think that we would have a high percentage of Mexicans. And we do. But Arizona has the largest amount of land designated as reservations for Native Americans. With 21 recognized tribes, it's no surprise that my school was probably 30% Native. That's saying a lot when there's only 400 kids in the high school. 

 4. There's nothing like an Arizona sunset. Until you have seen a sunset in Arizona, you've never seen a real sunset. 

{18} Why Blog? - Conclusion

      I never aspired to be a blogger. Why on earth would I want the world reading about my life and thoughts? Having to write this blog as a Writing 150 project, I realized that it isn't only about letting the world see me. Instead, it is about letting ME see me. It has allowed me to look back at who I was at the beginning of the class, as well as in my past. I've seen the changes and growth that I've experienced and been able find ways to improve myself in the future. 
      I want to continue blogging. If not for the entertaining of others, then for my own record. Writing down my stories has helped me to learn lessons in retrospect and remember my stories better than if I'd simply tried to keep the memories in my own head. I forget things easily unless someone reminds me of them. I don't want someone to have to remind me about certain aspects of my life and my past that made me who I am. I want to be able to remember those stories and be able to share them with my grandchildren when I'm 97 years old and still kicking. 

{17} "A Christmas Miracle" - Love of Friends

After receiving my December issue of the Ensign, I was flipping through it and found the article "A Christmas Miracle". In it, the author, Lindsay Alder, speaks of the miracle that is her husband's life after a heart attack. She goes on to say how grateful she is for the love and help that they received from friends while Lindsay's husband was stuck in the hospital on Christmas Eve. They cared for her kids, made sure the house was clean for their return, wrapped presents, gave gifts of money and decorations, and even stayed to help decorate the hospital room. Having the support of their friends made all the difference during the Christmas season. Reading her story, Lindsay made me realize how important people are in our lives. I've taken time to look back at my own life and recognize the people that have impacted me for both good and bad. It forced me to reevaluate the effort that I put into relationships and the people in my life. Am I the friend to others that I would want them to be for me? I'll sure try to be.

{16} Interference

I'm sure that I'm not the only one that hasn't been on a date since moving to Provo. It's frustrating and annoying if you're not avoiding the dating scene completely. People are disconnected and don't bother to try reconnecting (or even connecting in the first place). Coming here, I felt like no one cared to really get to know me. Every conversation went as far as "Hi, what's your name and major" and ended at that before they moved on to the next person. Everyone was so involved in trying to meet everyone and have a solid base of people that they know. What I wonder about that is how many of those people do they really know? It's like a real life friends or followers list. Half the people on that list you may not even know on a personal basis but it makes you feel better to add another person to that number doesn't it? Carrying this over into relationships, technology has become a problem in our generation. BYU recently featured a study on the "technoference." The study shoed that being "dialed in" to your phones and technology leads to lower life satisfaction and relationship quality. Personally, that scares me. I've always dreamed of having the cute, 60's relationship where couples go out and spend time together, just having fun with one another. That vision never included either of us having to update Instagram on our latest venture and hoping for 50+ likes. I'm not saying that technology or social media is bad by any means, simply that it is overused and abused. Today, a group of friends can barely be together without each of them ending up on their phones and not even paying attention to each other. The other night at dinner a friend, after updating himself on everything going on throughout his social media, mentioned a video that I shared on Facebook about putting down your phone and not missing life around you and commented that it was "funny, coming from the one with the iPhone 6." But do you see me on it? No, I didn't think so. So.. put your phone down. Ask someone on a date. Go out with friends and don't look at your phone unless it's an emergency. Disconnect from the cloud world and reconnect to what's right in front of you.

{15} The Real Meaning of Christmas

I hate to admit it, but I'm a little bit of a Grinch. It's a rule in my house that my mom isn't allowed to play Christmas music of any kind until after Thanksgiving. Usually she pushes it and starts playing Amy Grant's Christmas album the second we leave from Thanksgiving dinner. This year, I was blessed to have a roommate that loves Christmas. At first, I was annoyed with the constant Christmas music and references since September, but I soon learned why she loves Christmas so much. For years I have been caught up in the worldly idea of Christmas. The presents and Christmas candy and decorating. What I was missing was the true spirit of Christmas. I came to see where the real excitement of Christmas comes from. It isn't the tinsel and wrapping paper that make Christmas a holiday. It is the celebration of Christ and the time spent with people that we love that makes Christmas such a wonderful time. Why wouldn't anyone want that? In the end, even the Grinch grows to love Christmas and the feeling that comes with it. After watching the Church's new video,"He Is The Gift," is when this realization finally hit me. So now, I'd like to share it with you.

{14} Playing Savior

A few weeks ago my roommate received her mission call. By that Thursday afternoon, her call had still not come in the mail and she had to leave to catch a plane to go home. She had planned on flying home to open her call with her family but had to left empty-handed. She flew home in anger and confusion, wondering why her call hadn't come yet. Friday afternoon, the call came. Being the amazing people that we are, a few of us decided to help her out. One friend went to the mail room to pick up the oversized envelope and delivered it to me and another roommate after we had gotten out of class. At that point, it was 5:00 and FedEx was supposed to close at 5:30. Thirty minutes to get the call to FedEx and overnight it to my roommate. No problem right? Wrong. Neither I or the other roommate have a car. 5:00 on a Friday is a really bad time to find a ride since everyone is already gone and enjoying their weekend. After frantic searching, calling, and knocking on doors, a girl in our ward in the possession of a vehicle was home and willing to drive us. In our haste to arrive at FedEx on time, we went to the wrong place and lost even more time. Finally, arriving at 5:20, we pulled into the FedEx parking lot. $50, a hectic search for a ride and only twenty minutes later, our task was done and the bulky envelope was mailed. The next day, I listened as my ecstatic roommate opened her call in front of her family and close friends. But to where you ask? I'll tell you. FINLAND!! And so it is, a happy ending to an almost tragic story.

And of course we had to take pictures with the prized envelope before mailing it, just to further torment my already antsy roommate

{13} Mentored Research Adventures

Right before Thanksgiving break I was in the lab trying to get last minute work done before I left for home. I'd already worked for my allotted 3 hours for the day and was minutes from preparing to go home when Dr. Belk came barging in. "Run downstairs and grab some waders, then meet me outside in two minutes" and with that he was gone. Umm.. What? Not knowing what we were doing, my lab partner and I got waders and met Dr. Belk and another student by the truck and inquired after our task. "Electroshocking," he answered. NO WAY!! This is going to be awesome. Electroshocking is when you have a metal rod that you put in the water and drag back and forth, temporarily shocking the fish into immobility so that they can be caught in a net without their resistance. We raced down to the Spanish Fork river and jumped right in. With mud up past my knees in parts of the river, the going was slow and slippery. With one leg freed from the mud and the other still buried, falling into the water was a serious concern. Only one of us ever fell and one took on some water because of the high water level in parts of the river, but that was the extent of our disasters. With our nets and buckets, we caught the fish that we needed. Racing back to campus, we were 45 minutes late for a parasitology class, the one we were collecting fish for. It was amazing to think that while I was out having fun shocking and catching fish, it was actually for a purpose. Those little fish would be dissected in class and the parasites they contained would be examined in the hopes that they can be removed from the river. Science, it turns out, is actually a lot of fun.

{12} How Will You Serve?

Mission oh Mission

Recently I've been reading over some blogs and emails of friends that are on their missions. Every LDS friend I ever had throughout high school is currently in the mission field and I couldn't be happier for each of them. But it puts a lot of pressure on me. With the missionary age change, there was a huge influx of youth deciding to serve and leaving on their missions. In that pack of rabid Mormons were all of my friends. I've never been against serving a mission myself, but I've never had the desire to either. It simply wasn't something that I ever felt I needed to do. Recently, the pressure at BYU to serve a mission has come full force and hit me like a brick wall to the face. I've started feeling like I need to serve a mission and that everyone is doing it so that means that I need to as well.  After praying about it, I realized what was going on. A mission is not in my life plan, at least not right now. While it is always a good thing to serve, it may not be the best for me at this moment. Before I came to this realization, I scanned my brain for everything I knew to be true about serving an LDS mission. So here goes.

1. It is not easy by any means

Everyone tells you how great the mission is, but how often do they tell you the downfalls? Of course, the mission overall is an amazing experience and one that everyone should get a taste of somehow and sometime in their life. However, it is in no way easy mentally, spiritually, physically or emotionally. This would never have been a sole reason to keep me from serving but keeping in mind that whole picture of a mission was important to me. It isn't all dandelions and snowflakes. Investigators often don't show up to church, cancel appointments, and sometimes bail on their own baptism. Sometimes they struggle to keep commandments that are foreign to them and fail to live the gospel standards at all times. It is hard to watch as people that you have taught fall away just as they were starting to grow. Does that make the mission any less worth it? HECK NO.  In many ways, the trials that are experienced on missions make them that much MORE worth it. 

2. It's going to be the best experience of your life

To me, experiencing another person's way of life is one of the most beautiful of experiences. You get to see why they are the way that they are. What made them the person that they are today. It can be an entirely different culture from your own or only a different living situation that makes them different from you. To grow to respect those differences is what makes a real human being. We are all different but we are the same in that we are all children of God. We have to accept each others's differences and that we aren't all going to learn the same way or experience the same things. That, to me, is one of the most important lessons that comes from serving a mission. 

While I don't believe that I myself will be a missionary in the near future, I have the utmost respect for those that do decide to serve. There are few things equal to giving your life to the service of your God and fellow men. My only hope is that I can find another way to be the servant that God needs me to be. 

{11} The Race Against Stupidity

This last week was a little hectic. I felt like I was constantly running from place to place, doing errands for myself or my parents. Saturday was no different. That morning was spent running errands and the afternoon was consumed by last minute wedding preparations. Saturday, my cousin was married until death do they part. I, being dubbed the photographer and being the retard that I am, remembered to take my camera home with me, but forgot the battery charger. Upon arriving in Arizona, I realized my mistake and spent the following days trying to fix it. I asked everyone I knew if they had a charger (or knew someone else with one) that matched mine. With no such luck, I changed my tactics. My past young women's leader in my home ward had cameras. Maybe I could borrow one of hers. I called her Friday morning and learned that she was out of town, but she gave me the code to get into her garage. I found one of her cameras, some lenses that I could use, and one memory card. This card, however, was full. Full of pictures that she had not yet downloaded. Normally it wouldn't be a problem and I would simply use one of my own memory cards. The problem with this thought is that my camera takes different memory cards than hers. Hers are the kind that cost $40 and Walmart doesn't carry. To solve the dilemma, my young women's president called a friend and asked to borrow a memory card. He agreed so I had to call him and find out where he lived so that I could pick it up. My young women's president saved me this weekend. You could say I owe her my life at this point. With a borrowed camera and a borrowed SD card, I went to that wedding. And to think all my problems wouldn't have even existed if I'd remembered my own camera charger.