FACE TIME





So... Last night I began to get bumps on the back of my neck.  My eyes started to itch, and I thought, "Am I having an allergic reaction?"  That, I knew was impossible.  I'm not allergic to anything!  But when we got home, I looked down at my legs, and saw red hives all over them.  I went to bed, but when I got up in the morning, my face looked like this...



What's the first thing I did when I looked in the mirror today?  Well, I laughed.  REALLY HARD.  It was so funny!  I looked like Quasimodo or something.  The entire morning I continued to laugh and laugh and laugh.  Sister Jensen and I took this picture, and I tried to be as serious as possible, but it was just too funny.



I have a testimony of funny moments.  I'm pretty sure the only reason I had this bizarre allergic reaction was because Heavenly Father wanted to give me something to laugh about.  I needed a little face time with myself.  It gave me a greater perspective.  When I'd look in the mirror, I would just crack up.  It reminded me that it's the little things in life that make us who we are.  If we stress over the little things, then we become a stressful person.  If we laugh at the little things, we become a happy person.  

I want to always be able to laugh at myself.  So this post is dedicated to all the pictures that make me laugh at myself.  I hope you enjoy!

 


My Blanche Glasses ($1.00 Folks!)



The squirrel named "Tub" that lives outside our apartment in Nashville

 



 

Moustaches

Bacon Bandaids

So remember, if you ever need a good laugh, make time for face time.  One on One with yourself, and just laugh about all the absurdities in life! 

Day #25: Merry Christmas

Christmas Morning came and went.  The day started out with an early phone call to my folks.  I woke my mom up...

Mom:  "Helllooo?"

Me:  "Merry Christmas!!"

Mom:  "Good morning...?"

     "Ah!  JOY!!!!!"

Me:  "Hi Mom!"

Mom:  "It's you!!"

We talked for a few minutes and scheduled a time for me to call back to visit with the entire family.  It was a wonderful way to wake up.  Sister Jensen and I opened our presents and went to two sacrament meetings.  It was eventful!  At the end of the day we had dinner with the Tolk family.  Marilynn Tolk is an amazing Concert Pianist.  There home has 4 gorgeous Grand Pianos.  I was able to accompany them on a violin I borrowed from my friend Chantel as we sang some Christmas Carols.  Our great Friend Rita was able to join us for all the festivities. 

I had a wonderful Christmas.  It was sacred.  It was beautiful.  It was the perfect Christmas.  I wouldn't have wanted to have it any where else. 

My thanks goes out to all those who take the missionaries in on Christmas and allow them to be part of their family for a day.  Thank you!

Day #24: Christmas Eve

My Christmas Eve was incredible.  I had the opportunity to see someone who I love VERY much enter into the covenant of Baptism. 

Russell M. Nelson, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles had this to say about covenants:

"One of the most important concepts of revealed religion is that of a sacred covenant. In legal language, a covenant generally denotes an agreement between two or more parties. But in a religious context, a covenant is much more significant. It is a sacred promise with God. He fixes the terms. Each person may choose to accept those terms. If one accepts the terms of the covenant and obeys God’s law, he or she receives the blessings associated with the covenant. We know that 'when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.'⁴ " 

(Emphasis added)

I'm so grateful for our dear friend who was baptized.  She chose to follow the example of Jesus Christ.  She is an example to her family.  Here she is pictured at her baptism with her sister.  I am so grateful for the opportunity I have had to get to know this amazing woman. 

It was a testimony to me that I am not alone.  Watching her courageous attitude reminded me that the Lord will always go with me.  I have made covenants and promises with him.  This Christmas I thought a lot about those promises.  I know that I have to choose to be with God again.  So I am choosing to follow Him.  My resolve to work hard, and do all I can has never been greater!  I hope I can keep this strength with me, because I know it is strength from Heaven. 

Day #23: Gratitude

As Sister Jensen and I were driving the other day, I realized all of the great and wonderful things I had been given.  My Christmas this year has been my favorite.  Heavenly Father is watching over me so closely, and I can feel him near.  He has blessed me with so much to make this Christmas sacred to me-though I am so far from home.

During the car ride, I was overwhelmed with emotion as I realized all the small things the Lord had done for me to make my Christmas perfect.  I was so overwhelmed with Love for my Savior, Jesus Christ.  I love him.  I know He is my brother, my teacher, and my friend.  He is the Master. 

As I said in the last post, there are two songs that I fell in love with this Christmas season from Josh Groban.  The first is "I'll Be Home for Christmas".  The second is called "Thankful". 

Somedays we forget
To look around us
Somedays we can't see
The joy that surrounds us
So caught up inside ourselves
We take when we should give.

Look beyond ourselves
There's so much sorrow
It's way too late to say
I'll cry tomorrow
Each of us must find our truth
It's so long overdue

Even with our differences
There is a place we're all connected
Each of us can find each other's light

So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be
And on this day we hope for
What we still can't see
It's up to us to be the change
And even though this world needs so much more

There's so much to be thankful for.

I am thankful today for the life and love of Jesus Christ. 

I'm thankful to my Mission President.  He is wonderful.  He is such an example to me of Christlike love and patience.  I am grateful to have his family here in Nashville.  His wife has become my second mother.  Their children are some of my closest friends.  I feel like family here.  I love their love for music. 

I am thankful that I have had the opportunity to play the violin a lot the last month.  I am thankful for ward members who have lent me music, instruments, and the opportunity to rekindle my love for the violin. 

I am thankful to my Singles ward back at home who put together a "Merry Christmas" video for me to watch.  I'm thankful for their love, prayers and support.  Thank you to the Lone Peak Singles Ward!  I love you and miss you.  I'm grateful to my bishop there who lovingly helped me to prepare for a mission.

I'm grateful to the bishop in my homeward-my Father, who has prepared me to serve a mission since the day I was born.  I am thankful for the Priesthood he holds and righteously exercises.  I'm thankful that he chose to serve a mission. 

I'm thankful for my sweet mother and other family members.  I'm thankful that I was able to spend time visiting with them over the phone on Christmas Day. 

I'm thankful for the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints right here in Nashville.  I'm thankful for their hospitality.  I'm thankful that they have taken Sister Jensen and I in to care for, love, and watch over during this Holiday Season. 

I'm thankful for my Heavenly Father.  Everything has fallen into place the way it should.  I know that there will always be challenges ahead.  But in the words of Nephi...

 "My God hath been my support."

Merry Christmas!!!

Day #22: Home is Where the Heart Is

Sister Jensen and I are having a wonderful Christmas season.  We have loved listening to Josh Groban's Christmas Album.

I have two songs on that album which I love.  The first I will talk about in this post.  The second will come in tomorrow's...  My feelings about the first song are tender, and I think they are best expressed by President Henry B. Eyring in this touching Christmas Story: 

"There was a song I heard first when I was a little boy—a song about Christmas and home. Those were days of war when many people were away from their homes and family—a dark time for those who feared that they might not be reunited with loved ones in this life. I remember my feelings for home and family when I walked by one house on the way to school at Christmastime and saw a little flag with a gold star on it hung in the window. It was the home of a girl I knew in school. Her brother, not much older than I, had been killed in the war. I knew his parents and felt some of what they did. On the way home after school, I would feel grateful anticipation for the glad welcome I knew awaited me.

When I turned on the radio in our living room during the Christmas season, I would hear words and music that still echo in my mind. A few lines of that song touched my heart with a yearning to be with family. I was living with my parents and my brothers in a happy home, so I knew somehow that the yearning I felt was for more than to be in a house or in the family life I then enjoyed. It was about some future place and life, even better than I knew or had yet imagined.

The line of the song that I remember best is...

'I’ll be home for Christmas 

 If only in my dreams.'

The house in which I decorated Christmas trees with my mother and father in those happy days of my childhood still stands, largely unchanged. A few years ago I went back and knocked on the door. Strangers answered. They allowed me to step into the rooms where the radio had been and where our family had gathered around the Christmas tree.



President Eyring's childhood home



I realized then that the desire of my heart was not about being in a house. It was about being with my family, and it was a desire to feel enveloped in the love and the Light of Christ, even more than our little family had felt in the home of my childhood.

We can with confidence set a goal to make this Christmas brighter than the last and each year that follows brighter still. The trials of mortality may increase in intensity, yet for us, darkness need not increase if we focus our eyes more singly on the light that streams down on us as we follow the Master. He will lead us and help us along the path that leads upward to the home for which we yearn.

I testify that because of Him, you may have an assurance that you can go home not only at Christmastime but also to live forever with a family whom you love and who love each other."

(Taken from an article in the December 2009 Liahona.)

Day #21: Good Tidings

My favorite things about this Christmas so far...

1.  The opportunity to focus on the Savior

2.  The cheerful attitudes around me

                     3.  Sharing my favorite gift- the Book of Mormon

4.  Having a colorfully lit 2 foot tall Christmas tree

5.  Celebrating Christmas with one of my best friends-Sister Jensen

6.  Not only celebrating Christ, but wearing His name next to mine every day when I put my badge on

7.  Singing praises and hymns to commemorate the birth of the Messiah

8.  Learning about Mary and her psalm to the Lord (Luke 1)

9.  The opportunity to talk to my family on Christmas

10.  Spending my Christmas with Christ.



Day #20: Zone Conference

Today we had Zone Conference in Nashville Tennessee.  It was one of my favorite days.  Ever. 

Like one of the best days of my life!

I feel in a daze... I'm so happy.  I feel the spirit.  I know this Church is True.  I love the Bible.  I loved learning about our Savior Jesus Christ today.  I love the Book of Mormon.  I love that it testifies of the Messiah.

I learned so many wonderful things, but today I only want to share one of them.

(A special thanks to an amazing Mission President-President McKee for teaching us such great ways to cope with trial and pain)

This box has a bandaid in it.  This bandaid represents the pain, heartache, frustrations, and all the unfair things in life.  Some days, when we get out of bed in the morning, this is all we see...

the pain!

When we focus on the pain, that's all we see.

But if we take a broader view and look at the things we can accomplish and the blessings we have, then our perspective is changed.

We see a bigger picture.  Once we look for things we CAN change and we begin to look at the blessings we have, then it's easier for us to find even more blessings.

The trials we have are not diminished.  The pain is still there.  But we are focused on the good things in life.  We are focused on our blessings. 

We have the gift of choice.  Each day, we can choose whether to act to situations, or react.

This Christmas is a time to ACT!  Choose to act.  Avoid the tendencies we all have to look at the "down-side" of things.

"Just because you are in pain doesn't mean you need to be a pain." 

-President and Sister McKee