Constant Companions

So all Y'all know I'm goin on a mission right? Something kinda cool about being a missionary (aside from teaching the gospel, having the spirit 24/7 and bringing people unto salvation) is that you get to spend a lot of quality time with your missionary companion. One of the mission rules is that you have to be within sight and sound of your mission companion at all times, so in 6 weeks you get to know someone REALLY well!
I leave in October for my mission, (which I am rather excited about) and even though that's a few months away, I have acquired my very first mission companion:

OGIO!!! :) 

No matter how many transfers I go through, Ogio will stick with me. It's nice to have that consistency when so many things change over an 18 month period.

Not only is Ogio an attractive companion but she comes fully equipped to meet my needs. She's the perfect size for scriptures, missionary pamphlets and all other mission type things I might need. Plus her many pockets are labeled so I know exactly what to put in them! Totally saves me time and energy because without these useful labels I would have to come up the purposes of these pockets all on my own!

Theres a pocket for my camera

A pocket for my pens

AND a pocket for my Diamond Rings!

What other purse do you know of that has a pocket specifically designed for all those diamond rings you have lying around?

Okay, so maybe that pocket is actually for sweets or mints, but it looks an awful lot like a diamond ring to me! 

Thanks Mom for being amazing and purchasing this lovely bag for me for my mission! :) It's AWESOME!! :) 

~Keep Smiling!~ :) 

Brunch With Bronte

Have you read the novel Jane Eyre? It was written by this incredibly talented woman name Charlotte Bronte and it is truly one of my favorite classics. It's a great story with excellent conflict, strong characters, and lots of romantic tension. Let me give you a brief synopsis:

• Young girl named Jane (yes the novel is named after her) is an orphan, her aunt doesn't love her and sends her away to school
• Jane has a friend named Helen who helps her become a better person. 
• Helen dies
• Jane stays at the school (which is an awful school by the way) for about 8 years
• She leaves and goes to Thornfield Hall to be a governess to a little girl named Adele
• Adele is the ward of Mr. Rochester, a dark and brooding man (who doesn't love a man who knows how to brood) 
• The house is full of mystery (i.e. maniacle laughter at night, bed curtains randomly catching fire and some very suspicious comments from Mr. Rochester)
• Inevitably Jane falls in love with Mr. Rochester but she is just a plain governess so of course that union would never work out 
• Mr. Rochester invites a bunch of rich people over to stay, one of them being a very attractive lady named Blanche Ingram
• Everyone is certain that Blanche and Mr. Rochester will get married
• Jane is upset
• Jane decides to leave
• Mr. Rochester reveals that he only invited Blanche over to make Jane jealous and that he loves her and he wants her to marry him
• Jane agrees
• a few weeks bliss ensue
• The wedding day rolls around 
• And then everything is revealed

Not gonna tell you the end, or what the whole mystery of the house is because that would totally ruin it if you ever decided you wanted to read it. 

Anyway, there are several movies made of the novel (my favorite is the one starring Timothy Dalton as Mr. Rochester, boy does he know how to be brooding and passionate!)

Isn't he attractive? He also played James Bond once upon a time. Mmmmhmmmm!!! :) What a guy!

So, we discovered a few years ago that there was a musical adaption of the book! We bought the CD, fell in love with the music and then were horrified to discover that it's a musical that no one does anymore. I guess it hit theatre's at the wrong time, a time when people weren't interested in watching plays with amazing music and talented actors, so it had a very short run. I resigned myself to the fact that I would never get to see it and live out the rest of my life comforting my aching soul by listening to and memorizing the soundtrack.

But then one fateful day, we got the mail! Well we get the mail almost everyday, but on this fateful day there happened to be a flyer inviting us to come watch a musical version of Jane Eyre! My Dad almost threw the flyer out but my sister Rachel convinced my father to save it and show it to Mom.

Once we established that it WAS the same musical that we were so in love with Mom secured tickets and I got work off!

And today, Rachel, Natalie, Mom and I drove to Seattle to watch this play!

My Lovely Mother in the Drivers seat 

Natalie and Mom walking the Streets of Seattle

We then stopped for lunch at the Cafe in the theatre. It was DELICIOUS!! Such good food!

I had wedding soup 

and an English Chicken Mushroom Pie. I don't like mushrooms but I ate around them and enjoyed the authentic European Dish

 Mom had Berry Pie

And Soup and Salad 

And Poor Natalie had no food at all :(

 Actually she did get food eventually but for a few minutes we were worried that she had been forgotten about. 

 We completely cleared our plates and bowls! It was seriously delicious food! 

 Then we watched the play! This is what the theatre looked like before the show began. We were up in the balcony looking down on the actors. 

Overall the show was awesome! I loved the music and the acting. Mr. Rochester was a little bit too passionate for me (but then again he's marrying Jane not me, so I don't have to worry about it :) 

Me and my lovely sisters waiting for the show to start

 Then we drove back home 

And Rachel Fell Asleep... Like she always does

Oh and we saw this random knight in shining armor on someone's apartment balcony :)

That's not something you see everyday :) 

~Keep Smiling!~ :) 

Happily Ever After....

The other night I lovingly helped my little sister Elizabeth into her jammies and then tucked her into bed. Rather then read her a story, I snuggled up next to her and regaled her with a tale of my own creation featuring a princess, a prince and an evil witch (all the necessary characters to make any good blockbuster movie :)
There was rising action, conflict, self discovery, misunderstanding, and as the story came to a close, I finished it off with a flourish:

"And they All Lived Happily Ever After"

Elizabeth, who had sat quietly listening for the duration of the story, quickly sat up out of bed and declared:

"They can't get married yet! She still has to go on a mission!!!!"

This is very much what her face looked like at the time

Yep, we have officially brainwashed the six year old :) My work as an older sister is done! :) I am so proud!

In all seriousness though, if we really stopped to think about the impact our decision had on those around us, I believe we might be a little more careful of what we do and say. Reviewing this small experience in my head, one simple statement from a little 6 year old, has allowed me a great deal of self reflection. 

I have been incredibly blessed with wonderful older siblings who have set a good example for me and I know this has impacted me. Elizabeth has seen the example of her older siblings which has defined the way she views the world. Like it or not, we all are instrumental influences in the lives of those we know. Everyday interactions impact and impress more then we realize. That's a lot of pressure actually if you think about it! So, how do we ensure those impressions and those interactions are positive? 

In Alma 56, the 2000 stripling warriors have incredible faith which they attribute to the strength of their parents, saying "We do not doubt our mothers knew it." 

This statement actually kinda threw me for a loop for awhile because personal conversion is something emphasized a great deal in the church. We are told time and time again that we can't "lean on our parents testimony" and we have to get our own.

But these 2000 stripling warriors didn't say:

"We do not doubt, we had to figure it out all by ourselves and BOY it was a rough go for awhile!" 

Not only would such a statement probably irritate their mothers who worked hard to help them out of those rebellious teenage years, but it would also not be true. What these young men understood and what I just didn't get is that it is not bad at all to have support. It is not bad at all to be humble and acknowledge that support. 

Yes we should not lean on other people's testimonies, we should springboard off of them! Take advantage of the goodness that surrounds us and use it to shoot ourselves forward to our own personal conversion. Then, as we begin to grow and grasp basic truths, we can be that springboard for someone else. God does not put us on earth to be alone and flounder about helplessly, he gives us each other that we might uplift and inspire and edify one another.

There is a ripple effect: The people we influence for good will then go and influence others for good and then those people will go and influence other people for good. If just doesn't stop! So that being said, I believe we have a moral obligation to do what we know is right, not just for ourselves but for those around us. 

We are as the Army of Helamen, 

We have been taught in our youth 

And we will be the Lord's Missionaries 

To bring the world His truth. 

~Keep Smiling!~ :)

Sorry Mister... Date My Sister...

Cuz I'm gonna be gone for 18 months!
To all of you men out there I am happy to report myself completely and 100% unavailable! I have a date with France, so you might try looking into another Haws girl (there are PLENTY to go around:). But I will be back in Spring 2016, so mark your calendars!

When I was at school (oh heavens that feels like it was soooooo long ago!) I did date quite a bit and I enjoyed every second of it! If you want to take me out, buy me dinner or even just ice cream I am all over that! Yeah I like dating (who doesn't) but after you've eaten up your hamburger or scraped the last little bit of chocolate ice cream from the bowl, things can sometimes take a turn for the worst.

Well on the first date, you are usually pretty safe. No one wants to bring "IT" up on the first date (unless he's truly desperate) but after date 2 or 3 you better be careful when he walks you home and the conversation starts to veer from "schoolwork" and "church callings" to "hopes" "dreams" and "aspirations."

After he's regaled you with his grand ideas and where he sees himself in 5 or 10 years, you experience a lull in the conversation. It's then that he turns to you and either directly or indirectly asks you what your plans are.

Well, I personally have all kinds of plans. I plan on getting all A's. I plan on eventually writing a musical. I plan on making it to English 201 on TIME tomorrow. I plan on cleaning up my room before the floor disappears completely. I plan on not staying up till 2 so I can be awake for church on Sunday.

(Yeah, this picture pretty much sums up every college student's life...)

(Going to bed before two just doesn't happen in college...)

I plan all the time, but he isn't asking about these plans. No, what he really wants to know is: Are you going on a mission?

Yes! Yes I am going on a mission! Yes that's my plan, and I've talked it over with Heavenly Father and I'm fairly certain it's His plan too.
When I would tell this to boys, I would get one of two responses:

Pre Mission Boy: Oh Really?! Sweet! Let me know when you get your papers in! I want to know where you are going!

Returned Missionary: Ummmm....Are you sure? (cue apprehensive look)

Now obviously these are both stereotypes. I didn't receive the exact same response every time. Sometimes the men in question used different wording :)

At first I was excited to share this fact because I myself was so excited about it but then I realized that as soon as this announcement was made, those returned missionaries wouldn't ask me out again.

So this led me to this question:

Is it possible to plan to serve a mission and still be worth dating?

Well, is it? Boys would stop asking me out as soon as they knew I wasn't "marriage material" so I just stopped telling them about my "plan." I wanted to date! I didn't have my mission call yet and I had a good 6 months before I could even leave on a mission!

I kept dating and having a grand time, but then after a few dates, boys would want to get a little more serious and I wasn't ready (or interested) in that. If I told them my plan they wouldn't want to date me seriously, they wouldn't want to date me at all! But I wanted to date, I wanted to have fun, I just didn't want to worry about putting a ring on it!

This is when I realized the greater question I was asking myself:

Is it possible to date just for fun at college?

After thinking this over, I came to discover a few truths:

1) In the long run, the purpose of dating IS to find your eternal companion and then get married in the temple and live happily ever after

2) After we reach a certain point in our life (this point is different for each person) We need to not only be anxiously engaged in doing good, but just plain old anxiously engaged!
3) My worth is not measured by how many dates I go on
4) After a certain age, single guys aren't going to spend a lot of one on one time with a single girl if there isn't potential there.
5) It isn't bad for young men to be focused on finding an eternal companion
6) I don't want to be a girl who wastes anyones time
7)If I never went on another date, I wouldn't die (I might feel like I was going to die, but it very likely wouldn't kill me)
8) If I have had revelation from God about what I'm supposed to do (in this case, yes I have had serious revelation that a mission is EXACTLY what I need to be doing) then I should definitely stick to that plan.
9) (This is the MOST important one) Heavenly Father has got it ALL worked out.

So no, for the most part dating in college really isn't just to have fun. That was what high school was about. For many people, college is an opportunity to date to find their eternal companion and since I'm not really on the market for eternal companionship at the moment, I might not get asked out as much. Now you definitely can go on dates just for fun! There is nothing in the laws of this land that say "If you go on one date, or even two or three, it's practically a marriage proposal" No, we go on dates to figure things out. To figure out if we are compatible with someone, what we like about someone, what we like about ourselves, what we dislike. We date to KNOW and DISCOVER. But we don't go on exclusive dates with one person over and over and over again just to have "fun." So if he finds out you are mission bound, yeah, he might not ask you out again and that is A-Okay

That all being said, everyone has different paths. I know plenty of girls that have felt like they were supposed to go on a mission, had their calls and everything and then met the guy of their dreams and felt prompted to stay behind and marry him. This isn't a bad thing at all! That's why I said the most important thing is Heavenly Father has got it ALL worked out! Many of them were so dead set on going on a mission they only went on a date with the guy to be nice or to have a little fun on a friday night, and then things just worked out differently. We have got to be flexible and go with the flow and realize that we don't get the bigger picture right now.

Ladies and Gentleman, you better believe hindsight is 20/20 but in the here and now, we sometimes may feel very much like we are walking around like Velma in Scooby Doo when her glasses fall off her face. That's okay though :)

 Walking by faith means you might have to take a step into the darkness, just slightly out of the light and wait for Heavenly Father to light the way and show you where he wants you to go next.

Now I'm home, out of the dating scene and even though I haven't been on a date in months, I AM STILL ALIVE!!!! :) I am grateful for the opportunities I had to date in college, and I am grateful for my completely nonexistent social life now because it allows me to focus on other, more important things.

I love dating
But
I love the Gospel more.
I am so excited for my mission
I know that Heavenly Father has it all worked out and if we are faithful and try to do the things that we know are right, we will be blessed!

~Keep Smiling!~ :)

HAPPY SUNDAY!!!

This is what I do on Sunday:

I write letters to all my missionary friends and family. It's quite a job actually because I have so very many righteous missionaries that I know and love! The list of letters I have to write is rather long and after awhile my hand starts to hurt... but I'm not complaining :) I think a lot of missionary letters to write is a good problem to have! And if my hand falls off from overuse then I guess I will just have to learn how to play the piano with my toes :) haha

So, since it is Sunday (and a FAST Sunday at that), here's a little Spiritual Food for thought (Since we can't eat real food till dinner :)

In Matthew  6:21 it says: 

"Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also"

In order to be fully converted to the gospel, we must experience a mighty change of heart. Our hearts don't just change by themselves. For our hearts to change, our priorities must change. For where our treasures are, that's where our heart is. We must let go of earthly things and make Christ our priority so that we can experience a mighty change of heart and become truly converted.

Christ loves us! :) His Church is true and He is the only way to find true happiness!

~Keep Smiling!~ :)

We've Got Eloquence

For my 16th birthday my dear friends gave me a journal. Now I've always loved to write but this particular journal woke within me a certain level of eloquence never before seen in any of my previous work. For you see, this was a Jane Austen Journal. That being said, I thought it only fitting to imitate the sarcastic witty style of Miss Austen in my daily entries in order to fully utilize the potential of this new diary.

 The eloquence did not last long. Practicality won out in the end for such superfluous sentiments were too exhausting too keep up with. It seemed like I was writing so very little with ever so many words. Howesomever (yes I know that is not a real word :) I find that looking back on my 16 pages of absolute nonsense is rather fun. I was such a drama queen! :) (I still kinda am... but I digress) Here are some of my favorite quotes

August 26th 2011
After detailing my weakness for sweets I wrote:
"That is all I have to confess at the present, except for the shocking disarray of the drawers under my bed and my slight irritation with my siblings throughout the day"
The funny thing is, my drawers were always messy so it was hardly a shocking situation. :)

August 28th 2011
After discussing a love triangle in one of my friendship circles I wrote:
"When it comes to affection and matters of the heart, sharing is quite out of the question."

August 30th 2011
There is no preface to this comment, it's slightly random so I don't know what made me think to write it:
"It would seem you are never related to the individuals you prefer and if you were, it is almost guaranteed that you would like them a lot less"
Let me set the record straight: I LOVE my relatives :) I must have been having an off moment haha :)

September 2nd, 2011
After exercising:
"Fresh air is not for the faint of heart."

September 5th, 2011
"A state of perfect bliss is easily acquired and maintained if a suitable and slightly perfect young man offers his attention. However it is important to take such refreshment in small doses. It would be unhealthy and impractical to be blissfully happy at all times."



I was a weird 16 year old! :)
~Keep Smiling!~ :)

Something "Note"able

I was going through some of my stuff today and stumbled across some folded up pieces of notebook paper that I had saved. Upon closer inspection, I realized the incoherent scribbles and badly drawn pictures was an exchange between myself and my older sister that happened three years ago as we were sitting in voice lessons passing notes to one another.

I tried to take some pictures with the camera on my computer, but it flipped the writing so you would have to read it with a mirror (plus my handwriting is hard to read anyway and the notes are all out of order since we were just writing all over the page). However this minor setback won't stop me from sharing some of my favorite parts of our exchange:

Notice the lovely person with glasses in this picture? Well this is what we were writing about:

Alina: You smell nice
Jessica:Really?
Alina: Yeah. what perfume are you wearing?
Jessica: Dental office (She had just gotten done working at my dad's dental office)
Alina:You are strange
Jessica: No you are strange
Alina: but I'm cute when I'm strange
Jessica: Ummm..... no
Alina: You are a dweeb (draws picture of man with glasses)
Jessica: I don't wear glasses so.... nope
Alina: You wear the hypothetical glasses of dweebhood
Jessica: Well.... you wear the hypothetical chicken suit of strangeness

This next picture, I decided to change the topic:
Alina: I shaved my legs today (Draws a picture of a "before"leg with spiky hair and an "after" leg with blood gushing out of a wound, you can kinda see it in the picture below)
Jessica: That's nice. Thought it said "shared" my legs today and I was like "WHAT?" Good thing you draw pictures becuz your handwriting is not readable
Alina: Well you spelled "because" "becuz" BAD SPELLING
Jessica: It's called short hand or text lingo. Get with it girl! It's 2011!

 We flipped the page over to continue our important conversation:
Alina: Yeah, next year is 2012 and we are all going to DIE!!!!
Jessica: Well you might, that's not in my planner. I'm getting married before I let any calendar kill me/destroy the world- no matter what ancient culture that calendar belongs to!

I sure got a chuckle out of reading this today! I am so very glad I kept it! :) I don't know if you found it funny or not, but I DID!! :) I am also grateful that my sister has such a great sense of humor and is someone I can always laugh with! I would say our greatest joy can be found in our relationships with our families and I am thankful for the opportunity I have had to explore and develop those wonderful and meaningful relationships.

~Keep Smiling!~ :)