My Missionary Website

I broke down today and gave in to peer pressure. I signed up for DearElder.com.

I really REALLY want people to write me letters by hand so to avoid getting emails all the time I figured having this blog would be the best way to keep people updated without providing an easy way to send me notes. I really REALLY want people to write me though haha, so I made an account for my mission and honestly I'm kind of excited about it! You'll be able to see all my letters in one spot, view all my pictures together, write on my mission board (kind of like a facebook wall) and see the blogs of other people in my mission.

It'll be a lot easier for my mom to keep track of too, I think. She's the best. Please write to my house and tell her what a good mom she is. One, she'll smile and think "how nice and thoughtful!" and two, you'll get majjjoorrrr mom points.

Go check it out. It won't really be updated till I leave but it's up and running. The link is posted to the right and is the first one under "WWW". Enjoy!

just click here and ill make it easy for you

EL TEMPLO!!!!

Sooo I'm at the SLC airport for the last time before heading back here for the MTC. It really isn't a huge deal especially because I feel like I know this place like the back of my hand. Flights to and from Phoenix area always in Gate B and the Arizona people are all over this joint. It isn't hard to tell who is from AZ. It's just a feeling. And the outfit of course. Haha usually the girls aren't too modest and the boys are in cut offs and vans so catching a non-mormon in this area is pretty easy.

I'm here because one of my good friends just had her wedding in Idaho Falls so I flew here to take the shuttle up there and have spent the weekend in Provo with my old roommates. They are such good people! I love Provo and the college atmosphere. It almost makes me want to stay for Junior year with my girls and live with them but I know that a mission is what I need to do. BYU will still be here when I get back even if all my friends are married... I hope they do get married though because after this month it's pretty much all I think about haha. How can I not think about it when I've been to three weddings this month?! I was able sit in on two of them and the ceremony is BEAUTIFUL. It's definitely a sweet spirit in those rooms, for sure.

I went to the Mesa temple for the first time on Friday, August 5 and I honestly don't know how to describe it. You'll just have to do what you need to do and get in there to experience it for yourself! My Stake President helped me to understand the temple a little more while he interviewed me for my recommend. He explained that the temple is for everyone. It's for you and for me and for anyone who wants to go! Before you can go inside though, you have to be willing to make certain sacrifices - things you promise to do and things you promise not to do. Honestly, it's that simple. I'm glad I've done what I needed to and that I havn't done what I'm not supposed to do so that I can be worthy to go in the temple. =D I've only been once but I'm anxious to get back.

Another thing that makes me happy about this whole temple thing is that I don't have to buy any new clothes! I'm proud of myself for being modest enough that my old clothes are still wearable even after going through the temple. It's a good feeling.

Keeping Up w/ Pen Pals

I've noticed something in my pen-pal letters to friends serving missions. It seems like the first few months they're cool and normal, loving their mission but more in the mind set of 'HOLY COW, WHAT AM I DOING?!! THIS IS SWEEEET!!' After the 9-12 month mark however, the letters start to change. They become spiritual manifestations of how true the gospel is, expressions on the beauty of the atonement, testimonies of faith and prayer, witnesses of miracles.

If I could link every missionary letter to my mission blog I would. Most of them are emails though and have no link so I can't share them. P-day is the day I can be spiritually fed by my friends; how many people do you know that lift your spirits on a weekly basis? I look forward to Mondays becuase that's the day when moms all over the world post the weekly email of their little missionary to the WWW for anyone and everyone to read. They are so great! Both the moms and the missionaries.

When I first started college and the boys started leaving for the MTC I was totally naiive and of course, completely boy crazy. I promised to write every boy I knew every week! That was dumb haha. While that would have been nice and all, I definitely didn't keep it up. I'm lucky if I send one letter every few months to one of my freshman buddies. It isn't from a lack of time though. Some of these missionaries are so full of the gospel that I don't know what to say that wouldn't be a waste of time or just plain silly. It's a tough job being a pen pal. My guess is that for all those Elders and Sisters out there who wonder why their friends stop writing mid-mission is that it isn't becuase their friends have forgotten them but because their friends aren't on the same level, thats all.

So, why write about this on my mission blog? I want you to know that no matter what I will always be myself no matter what stage of MissionaryMode I'm in. When I hit that switch where my letters become super churchy instead of/including "oh my goshhh! this is awesome!!!" then tell me!! I want to know. I think it'll be cool to become someone who writes uplifting letters like so many of my friends have become. I anticipate 'the switch' but I hope you'll still write me even and especially when it happens. =D