My Satisfaction

While I was on my mission I had very little baptisms. The United States is I think one of the hardest places to get baptisms. So our focus was mostly part member families and less active members.

In the area I spent most of my mission we were teaching this one less active named Shawn. How we met him was kind of the most amazing thing to think back on. Every single thing had to fall exactly into place how it did in order for us to meet him. My companion Sister Nolin and I were going to meet with a potential investigator with a member who had just recently gotten back from her mission to Argentina. We went to the potentials house and she wasn't there, but we decided that because the member was with us that we would go walk around the trailer park that we were at and try to street contact that way.

After we had been walking around for about 30 minutes we decided to go back to our cars. While we were on our way back to our car the member stopped and started talking to this guy. And she was talking to him about how we (my companion and myself) would come over to his house and teach him and his wife and we'd give them a family home evening lesson and that it'll bring their family closer together.

The only way we would have met Shawn was because the spirit guided us to a place we knew, the trailer park, and then the spirit guided us to the person that needed us most.

Sister Nolin and I taught him on and off for about 2 months. Because most of the time he seemed semi interested in what we were teaching but then other times he would just think that it was repetitious.

In October Sister Nolin was transferred and I got a new companion Sister Taliulu. And we kept on teaching Shawn. One night we were going over to his house and Sister Taliulu said "Lets invite him to go to church." At this point I had been teaching him for a while so I kind of knew that he wouldn't come to church because he had too many issues. But wanting a positive attitude I said "Okay, we can try, but just be warned that he probably wont say yes." But we said a prayer and then went into the appointment.

What happened in that appointment was nothing more than a miracle. We went into the appointment with the direction from the spirit that we needed to not leave that house until we got the answer that he was going to come to church with us.

When we got to the point in the lesson where we extended him the invitation to come to church with us. He, as I knew he would, declined, but we weren't leaving without a yes. So we said everything we could to get him to come to church with us. A couple of times I thought we were going to get kicked out of his house. The most significant things that were said when we weren't taking no for an answer was my comp saying, "Don't bull crap us Shawn! If you say you're going to come to church with us you have to, otherwise we'll come bang down your door and drag you to church."
Also I said "You don't go to church for other people Shawn (because he had said that he doesn't want to go because of all the hypocrites there) you go to church for YOU, you take the sacrament for YOU not anyone else. Everyone else is just there to do the exact same thing."
One more "Can I call you guys on Friday to let you know if I'm going to come or not?" -Shawn
"No because you're just going to call us and tell us you're not coming."

That Sunday we were sitting in the chapel waiting for church to start and then realized Shawn wasn't there so we ran out to the foyer and we saw Shawn walk up to the doors. I was jumping up and down. Because I was so happy. Shawn had such a hard time with church in general and I was just so happy that he had made the decision to come to church.
That was pretty much the best moment of my mission. That is my favorite story to tell because Shawn could be anyone you know. Your coworker, your neighbor, even a family member. And they might just need a little nudge.

My Story......The Reason I Came Home From My Mission

Going on a mission was never part of my plan that I had for my life. When I thought about it I always thought that I would be married by 21 and that it just wasn’t in the cards for me at all. That all changed when President Monson made the announcement. I was at work so I didn’t know anything about it until I went home and got onto Facebook and all of my friends who I’d graduated high school with said they were going on missions. I had no idea what was going on but I finally found out that President Monson had changed the age. I felt the Spirit so strongly, but I felt like at the time that I was just overcome with the emotion because of the big change.

In February I kept getting that same feeling, like I needed to go on a mission. I met with my bishop at that time just to see what it would take to start my papers, because I didn’t know, and I ended up starting them right then. Everything worked out so fast and amazingly that it seemed like the Lord wanted me to go really badly.

I got my call April 11^th. That was the longest day of my life because I had to wait till 10:30 pm to open my call. And I was called to serve in the Colorado Fort Collins Mission and I was to report on June 26^th 2013. That was the craziest moment of my life so far because I had no idea how I’d gotten there really, it all seems like such a blur.

After that two month wait into the MTC it was finally my turn to go into the big, scary, MTC. The first day was a big blur because so much has happened in a short amount of time. Now I’m not sure when it exactly started, but I know that my time in the MTC was not the best time because I had a migraine almost the entire time. At one point I had to go to the health center because I had a blinding migraine (something I’ve never experienced before) and I had to get shots in my hips and because of that I had to miss a whole day of classes. I felt like part of it was because I was going through caffeine withdrawals, but I didn’t think that it would be that bad.

When I left for my mission I still had a migraine, but for whatever reason I’m pretty sure that my first day in the field I had no migraine whatsoever. It was gone. That was the most amazing feeling. I thought that I would be able to continue, that I wouldn’t deal with it again for the rest of my mission.

That was very short lived. I got moved to another area my first three weeks out and so in my new area with my new companion I got a migraine one Sunday. I basically just slept that day because I thought that it would go away the next day. Because that’s how it was when I was home and I got a migraine. I’d get it, I’d sleep it off and then it’d be gone. Well this migraine I got on my mission has never gone away.

I dealt with the migraine on my mission from August until January. I did everything that I could on my mission. I tried to be the missionary that the Lord had called, but some days were harder than others. For months I had the question in the back of my mind about whether I should go home or not. I wanted to so I could just deal with all my medical stuff there, but at the same time I wanted to stay on my mission and serve. Finally I called my mission president and just kind of cried to him on the phone that I was sick of being on a mission because of how much pain I was in.

Then finally in January I had an interview with my mission president and I just basically was sobbing because I couldn’t take being there anymore. And he told me to make a decision and then pray about it and see if that’s what the Lord wants me to do.

I was lucky enough that my companion got a temple trip so I was able to pray about it there. And the feeling that I got in one of the rooms of the temple was the most powerful feeling I’ve gotten. I talked to the Lord that day and the Spirit let me know that going home was what I needed to do. So the next Monday I called my mission president and told him that I had prayed about it and I knew for a fact that going home was the right thing to do. I thought that he was going to have me wait till the end of the transfer, because it was a week later, but I went home on Thursday. So less than a week after I told my mission president I was on a plane home.

Yes being home is hard but I know that it’s the best thing that I could have done. I don’t know that I will return to my mission but I miss it every single day and I know that even if those amazing 7 months are all I serve I know that I was accomplishing my purpose.

Reading 2012

In the year of our Lord 2012 I made a goal with myself and Goodreads to read 65 books last year. I exceeded that goal, only by one, but I still surpassed it which I was surprised I did.

Here are the books I read last year.

1. The Holy Temple by Boyd K. Paker
2. Lament by Maggie Stiefvater
3. The Magicians Nephew by C.S. Lewis
4. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
5. A Horse and his Boy by C.S. Lewis
6. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
7. Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks
8. At First Sight by Nicholas Sparks
9. Maze Runner by James Dashner
10. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
11. Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone by J.K. Rowling 
12. The Scorch Trials by James Dashner
13. First Love and Forever by Anita Stansfield 
14. First Love, Second Chances by Anita Stansfield
15. The Good Girl by Kerry Cohen
16. The Broken Road by Shannon Guymon
17. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
18. Someone to Hold by Anita Stansfield
19. Forgotten by Cat Patrick
20. Waiting for You by Susane Colasanti
21. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
22. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
23. The Death Cure by James Dashner
24. The Future of Us by Jay Asher
25. Across the Universe by Beth Revis 
26. Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick
27. Crossed by Ally Condie
28. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan 
29. The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
30. A Million Suns by Beth Revis
31. Insurgent by Veronica Roth
32. Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
33. Hometown Girl by Michele Ashman Bell
34. The Perfect Fit by Michele Ashman Bell
35. The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
36. The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
37. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
38. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (Favorite Book of the Year)
39. Amy and Rogers Epic Detour by Morgan Matson
40. The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
41. The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan
42. All American Girl by Meg Cabot
43. Paper Towns by John Green
44. Where She Went by Gayle Forman
45. I'd Love to Tell you I Love you, But then I'd have to kill you by Ally Carter 
46. Ready or Not by Meg Cabot
47. Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen
48. Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins
49. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
50. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
51. This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen
52. Perfect Timing by Michele Ashman Bell
53. The Truth about Forever by Sarah Dessen
54. Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
55. Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen
56. Before I fall by Lauren Oliver
57. What happened to goodbye by Sarah Dessen
58. Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
59. Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick
60. The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan 
61. Looking for Alaska by John Green
62. The List by Siobran Vivian 
63. Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle
64. How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr
65. The Selection by Kiera Cass
66. Reached by Ally Condie
67. The Vow by Kim and Kricket Carpenter
68. 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson

Apparently Goodreads didn't take into account that all the C.S. Lewis books were different and not just one, but oh well. Anyways I hope that everyone continues to read and read lots of good books this year. 

Long Time No Post

Yes I know. I'm the worst blogger ever. My last post was almost a year ago.
Well a lot of things have happened since then.

1. I finished my first year of college
2. I got a job at.........McDonald's. I know that its the worst job in the world, but I've kept at it and kept the job for the longest I've ever held a job.
3. I started my second year of college and I got all A's and B's fall semester and I'm so happy about it. 
4. The most exciting thing is I've decided to go on a mission!

 I'm almost done with it all! I just have to go to the Dentist (which hopefully will be soon) and then I need to call my Stake President and then I'll have my mission call soon! You cannot believe how excited I am that I'm going to go on a mission and serve the Lord.
Now I know I'm not one to preach my religion, but if anyone has any questions about the LDS church you can go to lds.org and you'll be able to have all of your questions answered.
I'm going to try to be better and update my blog more often. I've been reading one blog and she just talks about her normal life and it makes me just want to post more often.
Make good choices!
Carolin

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

After a break up there is a winner and a loser. Meaning what one person does after the break up is way bigger and better than the other person. This is what they say on How I Met Your Mother. I didn't really believe it till last Monday.

Last Monday I went on a date to go see the Hunger Games again (I'll try to remember to make a post about my opinion). Anyways because my date doesn't have a car I decided to drive. While I was driving to my date's apartment I was just driving along and then I saw this guy that sort of had a jacket that looked like my ex boyfriend Kyle's. Turns out it was him! He looked like a hobo and I'm not even joking, he had longer hair it looked like it was getting close to his shoulders. He had a long beard and he was carrying a backpack.......yeah he looked like a hobo.

Anyways as I was driving I started laughing my head off because he looked SO ridiculous and then I started figuring out the things that I've done in my life that he hasn't.

1. I graduated from high school. As far as I know he hasn't even gotten his GED and he's turning 21 this year.
   
2. I'm going to college and this time next year I'll be graduating with my Associates.
3. I haven't been engaged to 3 girls in the last 3 years. He has been with countless girls since me and he has been engaged at LEAST twice and has never gotten married.
   

I'm just so grateful that I got out of that relationship when I did, but all in all I have to say that I'm SO happy that I didn't drop out of high school like him, and that I"m in college and doing really well. I am the winner of this break up!

Long Time No Blog

Wow its been a really long time since I've blogged at all. Last time I blogged Missionary Boy had just gotten home from his mission and it didn't work out. Which sucked, there were a lot of long nights where I just cried and cried because I didn't want it to be over, but things work out the way they're supposed too.

Biggest things that have happened in the last two months:

• I bought my Hunger Games Tickets!!! We're going at 12:13AM Friday. We meaning Tedi, Chase, David, and me.
• I kind of got written off by Cory " I have my 'soul mate' narrowed down to 2 girls: one you might know the second you definitely don't know" Yeah he forgot about our deal we made over two years ago. How's that for awesome?
  
• I saw Ryan on the bus and he acted as though he didn't tell me in January that he didn't want to be my friend anymore.

Those are the biggest things that have happened.

I am still writing my friends who are on missions, and also writing this guy who's on his mission in Canada. It takes like 3 weeks for the letter to get there and then about a week or so to get here. Its a long process and I've only gotten 2 letters and I started writing him in December. I can't read the crazy Canadian mail system ink on my letter otherwise I'd be able to tell when I got my last letter, but its just been a really long time.

I love the show Grey's Anatomy, I've watched all I can on Netflix and I'm dying to watch the next season but I can't find it anywhere! I need to know what happens! The season finale was a killer! Anyways that's all I've been up to lately.

Home

Well the missionary i was waiting for came home before Christmas. We hung out and he kissed me and then decided it would be best if we just stayed friends. Then the next day told me we can't even be that. Happy Christmas to me......not.

He then told me like a couple days later that we could be friends. Then after I asked for my pictures back he told me I was being too dramatic and couldn't be friends with me anymore and that our personalities were too different.

I should have known it was going to be the same when he got home. That he wouldn't be the man he was in my letters. That him "signing" himself over to me would be real. I was so naive to think that he would have changed in the last year since I'd seen him.

I'm just glad I figured out that he wasn't for me before I got way too attached, that I didn't end up in a relationship with him that wasn't a healthy one. Don't worry I'm not upset or anything i'm perfectly fine. I'm just happy I still get to go out there and look for men!