The Where of Missionary Work

422 missions worldwide. 15 Missionary Training Centers. 0.24% chance of guessing right. 

354 days from decision to packet. 19 days between submitted and received. 5 hours from mailbox to open. 

Add anticipation, subtract fear, and the result? 

One very, very excited missionary! 

Before opening my mission call, I had family, friends, and random strangers guess where I was going to serve. Interestingly, most of the guesses were within the United States and Europe. 

Eight people guessed Salt Lake Temple Square alone, while another 3 or 4 guessed Utah in general. Hawaii had 6 guesses, and New York ASL speaking had quite a few guesses as well. The U.K.'s guessers lined up all the way into the Atlantic ocean, and the rest of Europe was equally crowded.

In contrast, other parts of the world were pretty empty. The Pacific islands had a few notes, Asia had some sparse sprinkles, and Africa had four. For the entire CONTINENT of South America, there were only 13 guesses, with 5 guesses tagged in Brazil. 

And yet, I've been called to serve in the Argentina Posadas Mission, of all places! Who would have ever thought?

On paper, it may seem that the mission doesn't fit. I speak only "California Spanish", a term my family uses to describe the minimal amount of Spanish comprehension one gains from growing up in SoCal. I've never lived outside of the country and only traveled outside the country for like 45 minutes on a cruise (If I had sneezed I'd have missed Ensenada). I'm slightly germophobic and don't like bugs, and I have almost no experience with humid head (I'll say it again: SoCal). I'm your classic millennial hippie eater who shops at Sprouts and loves two-ingredient peanut butter, veggie burgers, and kale quinoa salad (Stonefire grill has the best version!!!!). And despite all this, they've decided to send this naive, tall blonde white girl to the heart of South America.

...and I couldn't be happier!!! I know this is where my Father in Heaven would have me be. He'll help me do what I need to do and make up for what I lack. And as for the lack of peanut butter in Argentina, I'll just have to suck it up and eat more alfajores instead. 

I honestly really didn't care where I was called to serve. After all, I knew I'd be assigned to labor in a specific area but called to serve as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The assignment may be intriguing, but the calling is divine. 

So, dear readers, I set forth to prepare to embark on the adventure of a lifetime. I am armed with the scriptures, Google translate, and spoonfuls of peanut butter. With God on my side, how can I fail?

A Story About Soles

I'm serving a mission because the gospel of Jesus Christ makes me so, so happy, I can't help but want to share it! I want everyone to have a chance to experience the joy that comes from knowing that families are forever, that our Heavenly Father loves us, and that Jesus Christ has made a way for us to repent. 

So, enjoy my little poem I wrote about why I want to serve a mission. :) 

A Story About Soles 

I'm made of shiny black leather,

Not quite cute, but functional

Flat with no heel

(For any sister missionary shoe worth her tag

Knows heels aren't for hiking)

I am straight-out-of-the-box, new, SO ready 

To tread on foreign soil 

through foreign territory.

Each day at 6:30, my day begins, I

Seek out fellow soles with a vigor 

That hides my clunkiness, that disguises

My shoe's awkward fit.

I follow a well-marked path, a path

Trailblazer by the Master Shoemaker

I know the destination, but only He

Can show me the way

So I follow in His footsteps, each of my steps

Not quite fitting into His, but that's '

Okay, because the Master Shoemaker 

Can always fix the size difference. 

Every day on the path

I pass soles and shoes of every shape and size. 

I see shoes in a hurry, shoes

Running, racing for an unmarked finish line. 

A nonexistent finished line 

I point out a better running trail, but they 

Aren't interested. So I move on

I see sharp soles, pointed soles

That have purposeful, no-nonsense steps

That don't have time for little old me

And my well-worn path

I see worn soles, smooth soles

That have seen places the world over

I stop to talk to them 

Before going on my way 

I see humble soles, ragged soles,

Riddled with holes, wanting some new feet

To follow

They join me on the path

And together, we talk to every sole we meet 

Day by day, we tread, 

Treading wear and tear into 

Our flimsy soles. 

At the end of our path, we stop

Examine ourselves

We realize that we're torn and broken 

And kind of smelly

Maybe not worth keeping...

But then

We come to the Master Shoemaker 

He smiles and says,

"I can fix you, for every shoe is worth keeping

And every soul is worth saving."

A Fellow Sunshine Scatterer

Hey, y'all! Haven't been on here for awhile because I've been working on my BYU Brigade blog. But I'm back, giving you a short little review on one of my new favorite books and movies. You can also find it on Goodreads! 

Love, Kennedy.
Really, that's all you can do after reading the book Kennedy's Hugs: love the girl the book is all about. Love her for loving people, loving the world, and loving life in a way that many of us will never experience. 
I never knew Kennedy, never heard of her story until I floated across her movie, Love, Kennedy, on Facebook. As soon as I heard the premise of it, as soon as I saw the trailer, I knew I had to see the movie. I just knew. 
But life got in the way. Work, school, and busy schedules prevented me from heading down to the theaters and buying myself a ticket. On the very last day it was in theaters in Provo, though, with no transportation available to me and no one to go with, I strapped on my track shoes and ran the 3.2 miles to the nearest theater. And boy, was it worth it. The movie was spectacular in every way, just like Kennedy was. 
Once I found out there was a book, I knew I needed it to read it. Crying, laughing, pondering, marveling were in store for me within its pages. Some of the stories in it were in the movie, while many others were brand new glimpses into the life of the Hansen family. All of it was raw, emotional, honest truth from the mouth of Kennedy's father about his little girl. 
Just read it. Kennedy's promises haven't proven false yet, and I'm sure you'll be touched by her story just as the rest of the world has been.

Boots to Fill

I think I'm turning into my mother.

Wow. I never thought those words would come out of my mouth. 

I remember that as a sloppily dressed, messy and quirky ten year old, I vowed to never be exactly like my mother, to never take naps, a to never like guacamole, and to never, ever, fall asleep during the opening credits of a movie. Famous. Last. Words.

My experience of being away at college has changed me. It started when I realized that I eat like my mom. Over the course of my mortal existence, my mom has become more and more of a health nut. The Early Days of Healthy Eating were rough (Pro Tip: don't put broccoli in smoothies), but over time, my mom became the master healthy eating chef she is today. Here at college, I found that I couldn't gain the (full) freshman fifteen because I couldn't escape the good habits I developed as teenager. My mom's voice was constantly reminding me to "go put some quinoa on your salad" or "do an egg white omelet instead," and I couldn't help but listen to these instructions. Turns out, I actually enjoy eating healthy and enjoy how healthy food makes me feel, both physically and mentally. I think I'm addicted. 

Speaking of addiction, I've also picked up my mom's love of running. We went and bought me new running clothes over Christmas break. My mother must've known that if anything could guilt me into exercising more, it would be her buying me new workout gear. So come second semester, I took to the road with my tunes and my track shoes and found that running relieved stress and boosted my self-confidence like nothing else could. 

I am also guilty of stealing my mom's fashion. I blame seven years of attending a uniformed elementary school for my disastrous fashion sense. I literally have no idea what matches, and I actually... kind of don't care. My mom is the one who does the shopping for jeans, new school clothes, new churches dresses, and even my senior prom wear. I have always been content with whatever she clothes me in. 

Sometimes, while at college, I catch little glimmers of my mom in everyday life. I hear something she says, like "fo what" or "baby doll", and I whip my head around to see her only to realize that those words came out of my mouth, not hers. Sometimes, I glance in the mirror and see her neatly plaited dutch braids and floral patterned dresses, but when I reach out to try and hug her, all I get is air. 

And sometimes, when I pull on my mom's pair of worn cowboy boots for church, I feel like I'm back in Bellflower, getting ready for 9:00 church, just like every Sunday. I think back to when I was a little kid and I vowed to never turn out like my mother, and I just laugh at my naivety. Looks like I'm bound to end up being just like her. My perspective now, however, has changed; I actually want people to see me and say, wow, you're just like your mom. You sound the same, act the same; same mannerism, same smile, same Basso party genes. And, oh, are those her cowboy boots that you're wearing? 

And I want to smile and say, yeah. It's some big boots to fill. 

Light the World Part Two

So I just wanted to give you guys some more ideas with my advent calendar set up.

If you haven't read Part One of this post, go back and read it first!
Originally, I had my advent calendar on the back of my wardrobe (see the picture on the right), but I ended up moving it to my front door so all the girls in my dorm could participate too!! (left picture) I left a note on my door that said "#lighttheworld Treat under each! Feel free to participate." I've had lots of the girls in my hall show interest in participating, so I was really excited to make the calendar available to them.
Here are the very simple steps for creating your own calendar:
1.) Print out all of the cards: In my last post, I posted a link to the place where you can find them. I printed these out in color for about $2.00 at my school's library, but if you're feeling like being extra cheap, you can print them out in black and white too
2.)Write out on sticky notes your gift for each day: You can see my last post for some ideas.
3.) Tape or sticky tack the cards to your door: Under each card, put one of your sticky note rewards. That way, each day you can lift up the card and see what your surprise for the day is! Personally, I liked using sticky tack to hold down the cards because that way, it is really easy to lift up them up and see what is under them.
And that's it! My roommate and I have been doing the challenges on the cards for the past couple days, and we've been having a lot of fun lighting the world. I wish you all the best of luck in lighting up the world too!

Light the World Part One

Hello guys!
So, I've got something super cool to share with you all today.
For those of you who don't know, there's a new social media Christmas challenge for this year to #lighttheworld! If you don't yet know anything about this yet, watch this sweet video to learn more.
People all across the world have taken this idea of lighting up the world and ran with it. If you just search #lighttheworld on social media, you'll find thousands of examples of people doing just that.
Well, I wanted to hop on that service bandwagon. As a college kid, however, my life is a lot different than other people's lives. I pretty much fit the stereotype of an ordinary college student. I am consistently dead broke and dead tired (but I haven't died yet!), I eat cereal for dinner sometimes (because why not?) and I walk in the snow in flip flops (hey, I was too lazy for boots). Although I love being at college, its sometimes hard to get into the true Christmas spirit when I am so far away from home. When I watched the video on lighting the world, however, I was inspired and knew I wanted to get involved in lighting the world in my own little way.
One blog that has some great ideas on how to light up the world this Christmas season is the blog Brightly Street. Please check out her AMAZING ideas here. She made a cool advent calendar to keep track of the daily themes for the Light the World challenge. I was inspired by the idea and have tweaked it to fit into my crazy college kid life. So today, I'm going to give my appropriately cheap, easy, and lazy college version of her wonderful idea.
First off, I printed out all of her advent calendar's cards (you can get them here). There are cards for each day of December, and each card has a song, scripture, video, and challenge associated with it. I then wanted to think of some way to have treats to go with my calendar. Most advent calendars come with a little piece of almost edible chocolate for each day. Instead of this, I wrote a "college" style treat for each day on sticky notes and then stuck the sticky notes under each card.
Here's the list of my treats, but feel free to get creative and make your own!
Day 1: Make a snowman
Day 2: Go Christmas shopping
Day 3: Netflix time!
Day 4: Watch the LDS Christmas Devotional in your pjs
Day 5: Vending Machine Snack
Day 6: 10 minute break for Facebook or Instagram
Day 7: Eat dessert today!
Day 8: Eat ice cream today (for me, I specified BYU Creamery ice cream because that stuff is LIFE)
Day 9: Make a blanket fort and study in it
Day 10: Movie Night!
Day 11: Call one of your little siblings or cousins
Day 12: Go for a walk and watch the sunset
Day 13: Pamper yourself! Dress up, do your nails or hair, whatever you like.
Day 14: Vending Machine Snack (you can never have too many)
Day 15: Music Jam session
Day 16: Temple Trip
I stopped here, because we all start going home for Christmas around the 17th, and for me, that's gift enough. You may want to extend or change your daily gifts, depending on your Christmas break plans. Other ideas include going out to eat with friends, Skyping people from home, going to sleep early or waking up late (which, I think, is the best gift in the world!), or go off campus exploring.
More ideas on a college Christmas coming soon!

My Magical BYU Origin Story

I just started a brand new blog giving out advice on college! We'll see how it goes. Here's the link if you're interested, and here's my first post on my new blog:
It was destined to be the best day of my entire high school career right from the start.
For my eighteenth birthday, my parents had bought me a Universal Studios pass, and my friends Lina and Elyse had bought one as well. This was incredibly life-changing and earth shattering for us because Universal Studios had recently acquired the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The three of us are the ultimate fans; we take Potterheading to a whole new level of seriousness. It was literally a dream come true to be able to visit.
So on this obviously fairly normal day, the three of us clamored into my mom's van and drove to Universal Studios. Technically, Harry Potter land itself wasn't opened yet, but Lina had heard rumors on Twitter that the park was undergoing a soft opening. That meant that for a few random hours each day, Harry Potter World would open to visitors, allowing the workers to test run the rides and visitors to get a sneak peak. We were crossing our fingers and hoping that we would get lucky and be there for the soft opening.
One of us must've drank Felix Felicis in the morning, because as luck would have it, Harry Potter World was open in all of its gloriousness. We were literally having mental breakdowns being in the real Harry Potter World. I think we cried (well, I know Lina cried, but that's another story for another day). We excitedly went on the Hippogriff ride two times. We then headed to the Forbidden Journey ride, pretty much melting from excitement and pure joy. The ride's line alone was a dream come true, like the Harry Potter books in the flesh, and the ride itself exceeded any possible expectations. We ate at the Three Broomsticks... browsed products in Honeydukes... shared butterbeer... conversed with wizards... died of happiness.
The three of us were in line for Ollivander's when I got a text from my mom asking if I had heard if I'd gotten into BYU yet, since other people already had. My heart literally stopped. I battled between curiosity and fear as my fingers hovered over my mother's text, but curiosity won over. I shakingly scrolled through my phone and opened the mail app. After refreshing the screen about fifty times, I found a BYU email sitting innocently and sweetly in my inbox. Fantastic. Hesitantly opening it, I found a link with some instructions. At this point, I was practically hyperventilating, and despite Lina and Elyse's attempts to figure out what was going on, I was too nervous to say anything coherent. I just willed my spotty data service to work faster. Finally, finally, I saw the words, "Congratulations on your acceptance into BYU!" and I was filled with unspeakable joy. Here I was, in the land of my dreams, holding an acceptance letter to the school of my dreams, surrounded by the two best friends who are better than any dream. It was literally the best day ever.
I can honestly think of no better way to find out I got into BYU. It was magical. It was particularly special to share the moment with my two best friends. I took my first step into the future with Lina and Elyse, and I knew that that meant they were going to be my forever friends, no matter the miles or the years between us.
P.S. At Ollivanders, I was later picked to choose a wand. There was no ka oi, nothing better.