January.... lump sum

Ok, so the first few weeks of school.... have been.... wierd??

First, I was supposed to start work at this new restaurant which is absolutely amazing, but we had some staffing problems and some equiptment malfunctions, and so we've been closed. We have a company meeting on Saturday to find out more details. But I did get the Team Leader position that I was going for so that helps a lot. Starting next week I should be working about 35 hours/week. So, everyone ... come visit me!!!

Next, the classes.... wow..... all i have to say is WOW!!! I still absolutely love my major. I've never doubted that, but I am finding which areas I excel in. So far I've been involved in 2 broadcasts and they've gone ok. I've felt that my personal packages have gone well. I haven't had any camera time yet because of lack of time, but I'm not too worried. In fact, I'm a little relieved to not have to be on camera. I'm finding that I'm REALLY liking the behind-the-scenes stuff. I love using the editing programs and writing the stories and then sitting in the production booth and watching everything come together. As of right now, I think I'm leaning a little more towards that part of broadcast, but I'm only a semester into the program, so I have a few more to figure out what I want to do.

Well folks, January is almost over. My 2009 goals are set. And Hudson has 162 days to go. February is going to be a good month!!!

"Stand together and lift where you stand"

Usually I tune out during high council sacrament meeting, but I've been trying to keep a weekly Sunday journal where I just reflect on things that are said in church. Well this week, my quote is the title of this post....

"Stand together and lift where you stand."

It is so hard to do things by yourself. It is near impossible .... and I don't EVER want one of my friends to feel alone. One in particular is going through some really hard times right now and I need to do all I can to help her. Sometimes I feel like I'm the wupport for everyone in my life right now, but the I realize I'm not alone and I, myself, have one of the greatest supports systems ever.... the Lord and my parents. I could not ask for anything better to turn to and I'm so grateful for that.

As an afterthought, I was thinking that not only do we need to lift others, but we must also allow our Heavenly Father to lift us in return. It's the only way we'll end up where we need to end up.

The Real Messages from Moscow

Warning... a bit long, but by far one of my favorite letters from him so far. I can't believe how much my best friend has grown over the last year and a half....

The beginning of the week was awesome!!!! As I had talked about in my letter last week we had a baptism planned for Saturday for Margarita and her son Paul. I am happy to report that the baptism was great. It was also awesome because the zone leaders had come down on splits the day before and they where able to come to the baptism with us. I have to say the one thing wrong that happened is that Elder Cannon and I forgot to bring a white tie for our branch president as he helped with the baptism. He was kind of upset about it but he forgave us. We has just been so busy trying to get everything else ready that we forgot. Sometimes it is a little hard because the members expect perfection out of us and we are so far from perfect. The baptism and planning was left up to the missionaries entirely to execute and make sure everything happened. God blessed us and it ended up being a great one!

We arrived in the city that we were going to do the baptism in at about 1:15 p.m. It was a little more than two hours to drive there. Fortunately the elders that were serving there had gotten everything prepared. We had to make sure to get everything finished quickly because we had English Club at 6 that night back in Tver. We helped Vladimir, husband of Margarita, get ready in his jumpsuit and we also help Paul. Then we got everything underway and had two great talks by President Sergay, our branch president, and by Elder Cannon. Then we started the baptisms. Margarita was first. I don’t know if I already told you but it was a special occasion because Vladimir got to baptize them. He can’t really move his arms so he couldn’t actually dunk them under the water but he got to say the baptismal prayer and then President Sergay dunked them into the water. Margarita got a little scared and President Sergay had to force her under the water to get her all the way under. After about drowning she finally totally submerged and came back up. Paul went a lot easier. Then we say hymns until they were all finished. Then everyone who wanted had the opportunity to bare their testimony. Margarita was the first one to bare her testimony and it was awesome. The spirit was so strong and I loved hearing her testimony and how she felt cleansed from her sins. It was so rewarding to be able to see all of this and to hear all of it. After we hurried and rushed back to English Club and made it just in time. The Lord truly blessed us.

Then on Sunday it was a busy day for me! I had to talk in church and then do a musical number and teach priesthood. And I thought that when I had to give a talk at home was a lot lol. I don’t think I will ever complain again when I get home about having to talk in church lol. But the best part is that on Saturday night President Sergay called and told me that he had talked to Paul and he had chosen me to give him the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was really an honor and I felt great that I would be able to do that. So we can add that on the list of things I had to do on Sunday. It was really cool as we laid our hands on his head to give him the Holy Ghost. And it was so cool to think that the opportunity we now have to give that precious gift to people all came because of a 14 year old boy who prayed to know with which church he should join. I know that the priesthood was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith and that those keys are on the Earth today and there are many many people that hold those keys but President Monson being the person who holds all the keys of the priesthood. I’m so thankful for the priesthood and the great role it has played in my life especially buy having a father who holds some of those keys and has been able to bless me through them so many times in my life!

Well as the scripture says, “there must needs be opposition in all things” the second half of this week we have come up against some opposition. On Monday after we had deposited tithing in the bank we went to a lady’s house that Elder Cannon and Elder Jones had found when we were on splits. The lady seemed nice but said that her neighbors that take care of her didn’t like that she talked to us. Little did we know that she was trying to hint something to us. Well we went to the apartment building and like usual there is a phone type thing that we have to use to ring up to her apartment for her to open the door. As we rang we called the wrong door but asked if they knew what apartment number this lady lived in. Well she didn’t tell us which apartment number. Then this fatter guy came up and said something to us. We didn’t understand what he said. He had his wife with him and he was maybe in his forties. Then he grabbed Elder Cannon, because he was the one who had said the lady’s name we were looking for, and shoved him into the wall. Now this took me for a surprise cause I hadn’t had any hostility for a while. The he grabbed Elder Cannon by the coat and hit him a crossed the head. That really ticked me off but I swear the spirit just restrains me in these moments that I have had on the mission to stop me from retaliating. I started yelling at the guy as he is yelling at my companion telling us that we shouldn’t have come back. And then his wife started telling us, “you better leave or we’ll call the cops.” And Elder Cannon and I are thinking, “oh please call the cops and we aren’t the ones that will be into trouble for starting a fight.” Well Elder Cannon is still pinned against the wall and has been hit a couple of more times. I just wanted to run and jump on him but I knew that would make matters worse. So I started to grab the guys coat and finally he turned his attention on me and went after me a little bit just enough for Elder Cannon to get away. After the guy saw that Elder Cannon got away he started yelling at us again be we just quickly left. Well to say the least we were a little flustered from what had happened and I was a little angry and myself that I couldn’t have done more to help or in other words flatten the guy on his back and give him a few words of how I felt. But I knew that wasn’t what the spirit had wanted me to do in this case and had restrained me. Fortunately Elder cannon and been protected and wasn’t hurt at all even though he had been hit a couple of times in the head. But I will always remember that Elder Cannon was smiling the whole time. He is awesome.

Well we had a meeting planned after all that for three o-clock with Demetree. We contacted around the area until our meeting. And then unfortunately our meeting with Demetree wasn’t the greatest because he just wanted to kind of argue that God didn’t have a body. At this point we have decided that Demetree does not have a baptismal date. He just isn’t ready. So Monday just wasn’t the greatest. We had only had one meeting wear as the last 3 Mondays we have had 5 meetings on Monday. Well then Tuesday came. We had a good meeting with Roman at 12:30 but then the rest of the day we were on the streets and door contacting. That was hard for both of us because it was really cold. But the Lord blessed us and we found some new good people but it wasn’t without a lot of hard work. We actually met with one of the people we found on the street. His name is also Paul. He knows English very well and is 21. We met with him last night and it was a good first lesson and he said a very good thanksgiving prayer at the end on our knees. Then to top of the hardness of the day on Tuesday night we talked to Ray and he decided that for the time being he wasn’t going to meet with us anymore. Therefore he also doesn’t have a baptismal date. That was sad too but all is well.

I tell you all these things because I learned a lot those two days. Even though I was happy during those times I realized that I needed to do better. I felt that yes the Lord had blessed us through our trials but I felt like a little bit I had failed. It comes down to a scripture in D&C 78:17-19, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are alittle children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you; And ye cannot abear all things now; nevertheless, be of good bcheer, for I will clead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the driches of eeternity are yours. And he who receiveth all things with athankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an bhundred fold, yea, more.” The last verse is what I want to focus on. I realized that I had not gone through all those things with thankfulness as it says and if I had it would have been even better. So I have committed myself to do everything in thankfulness so that I can be even more blessed than by just enduring with a smile.

We still have Roman’s baptism and he is for sure getting baptized. He is awesome and so happy and optimistic even though life is hard for him right now. We love meeting with him! I am happy to say that yesterday was also a better day than the last two. I am so grateful for my Father in Heaven and His love for me and blessings He gives me.

There was so much more I wanted to write and say about what I have learned this week but it will have to wait for another time because I don’t have a lot of time.

Too long....

Hypocrite.... I know I am. I get on my friends' backs about not updating there blogs and then I go WEEKS without touching mine. To my defense, I have been pretty busy! Since I got back from Florida, life has just whirled right by.

OH!! FLORIDA!!!! I never talked about florida. We flew out Christmas morning and got into Orlando around 3 or 4 I think. It was so fun to see Adam and Andrea. By far my favorite part was seeing their play. It was so fun and Andrea was the best Dory I've ever seen!!! I can't describe all the fun we had and so I'll let the pictures do that :)

Ok.... I do have to explain this. I had to wear a mask on the airplane, because since simply BREATHING peanut air sent me overboard last time. The mask has a special filter in it to take the allergens out of the air. I think everyone thought I was like terminally ill, even though I just wore it to make myself look like a big DWEEB!!!!

Pirate of the Carriebean.... got to love it!!!

OK, I guess this is a family joke, but if you think about me... and my medical conditions.... you'll get it!

And here is some video of Andrea in here show... she's just so amazing!!!

Moving right along... Becca came down with her twins last week. It was so good to see her and to finally meet the little angels. I can call them angels because I don't have to wake up with them 2 and 3 times a night for feedings. They really are the sweetest little things and while they look very similar, I can tell them apart pretty easily. One night, Becca and Kylee and I all went out to dinner and it was so good to sit and talk and laugh about everything. I love those girls and I really hope that we all keep in touch for a very long time. If you want to see Becca's little angels, click here.

Now let's see, what else did I do recently..... OH YA... I started school again, along with a new job. School is going great. I have 4 communications classes and then an AWESOME D&C class. The class I'm most nervous about??? No question: comms 325- broadcast reporting. In fact, i start shooting video for my first package on TUESDAY! I'm so nervous. But it will be good and I'm prepared. SO, if you aren't doing anything on Wednesday's at NOON, turn on KBYU and watch the Daily News at Noon..... You might see someone you recognize.

About the new job, there are have beena few hang-ups because it's a brand new restaurant and everyone is new with what's happening, but it's a great place. We're opening on monday and EVERYONE should come try it. I'm a shift leader there and so I'll be there at night a lot. But I'm working full time and so you should be able to find me there!!! Check it out here!!!

Well I think that's about it for now.... Oh and if any of you needed a little pick-me up.... here's a picture of Jon that always puts a little smile on my face. Thanks for being such a great supportive little brother Jon! You always make me laugh!!!