Friday, February 20, 2009

Mission Call


My best friend Brian got his mission call yesterday... He will be serving in the Ukraine Dnepropetrovsk Mission! (It's pronounced Neenya-propa-trovsk. The D is silent!) He will be speaking Russian and he goes into the MTC on June 3. I am excited for him to serve! He will be the best missionary.




Congratulations Brian! I am so proud of you!

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Family History, I am doing it!



I had the best Valentine's day ever. I felt went to the temple with Brian, and it was so wonderful! When we were walking there it was snowing harder than I've ever seen before, but it worked out well because it took us only 1 1/2 hours instead of the usual 3 hours it is on Saturdays. And when we were done, the sun was out! Brian said that Satan must have been trying to stop us from getting to the temple, but once we got inside he just gave up. hah :]

But the really awesome part was that Brian was baptized and confirmed for his great-grandfather. I'm not related to John Adolf Anderson, but I felt the Spirit so powerfully and peacefully as Brian did his work. There was also a sweet, humble Mexican couple ahead of us doing baptisms for his grandparents. There was just so much love in there - perfect for Valentine's day! What better way to show love for our ancestors and our Heavenly Father than to serve in the Holy Temple?

Brian is such an example to me. He decided this week that he was wasting too much time on things that don't matter, and that now he's going to give those things up for things that are productive. So Friday afternoon I was hanging out in their apartment, and while Brian's roommates were playing games on facebook, Brian found 4 generations of his ancestors online! And let me tell you, Brian had a lot more joy than his roommates did! I'm going to try to do the same thing. As a ward family history consultant, I am developing a deep love for genealogy and hope to be able to do much good. I'm still learning the ropes, but that's what eternity is for, right? I've found 7 names on my dad's side and hope to do the baptisms for them this week. Next, I want to work on my mom's side, especially the ancestors from Lithuania. There is a lot of work to be done with them. Oh, how the Spirit of Elijah is burning inside me!

Thursday, February 5, 2009

What do I want to be when I grow up?




A BYU folk dancer.

I went to folk dance rec night last night, and had the TIME OF MY LIFE!!! I didn't know all of the dances, but it was so fun just to try to pick them up. I don't know if I've ever seen so much joy collected in one room before!

It was also really inspiring. I feel like this is something the Lord wants me to spend my time on, something that would be fun and good exercise and would help me make some really good, lasting friendships. And I have a passion to learn it. So I'm going to try out for the Folk Dance team next year, and we'll see what happens!

Opa!

Sunday, February 1, 2009

What's new in life?



Hello to anyone that reads this, or just to the void.

Life is officially getting busy. I've been doing schoolwork, working extra hours, going to the temple once a week, and I got a new calling! I'm a family history consultant for my ward! I am team teaching a FH class and am just supposed to help whoever needs it. I taught the first lesson today and it went pretty well...other than running out of material 20 minutes before church let out. Oops! It went well though, and lots of people came to the class, which made really pleased. I have such good and supportive friends.

We are continuing to practice for our stake performance "From Cumorah's Hill" which will be put on on Feb 22. It is awesome material, and it will be fantastic! I love the songs and getting to sing with others in my stake.

So I put that picture up there on my blog because 1. It's beautiful and I love it and 2. I wanted to brag about how awesome my best friend is. I've been freaking out this week with all the stuff I've had to do, and Brian is always there to bring peace back into my life. It is such a blessing to have him to remind me of the eternal perspective, but also for me to be able to help him when he needs it. I will miss him when he goes on his mission in the summer, but I am mostly excited because he's gonna be the best missionary EVER!!!

Well, as they say in You've Got Mail, "Goodnight, dear void."