6 Month Update

So - true to form - it has been over 6 months since my last blog.  I consider this a product of my rather boring, unexciting life.  I really haven't done that much worth blogging over, work - eat - shower - sleep.  Repeat.  Almost every day of every week.  The rest of my time is consumed with responsibilities for Relief Society, doing visits to our sisters, organizing visiting teaching (a task that is more never-ending than doing laundry) and also indexing.  Our stake has challenged us to index 1 million names this year, that's a lot of names!!  But we are surely and steadily plugging away.  A little behind right now perhaps, but there's still 3 months left :)

Drill Team was so much fun this year!! I got to compete with the team at Districts and at State...I loved every minute of it!!  I won't post a full video of our routine because I don't have a great copy, but here are some pictures from both the games and the drill.

 I promise I am riding in this picture...A little bit like 'Where's Waldo'.  If you're having trouble finding me, try looking between the 2 horses on the far left.  See that little white leg sticking out of the brown horse's belly? Yup, that's me :)

 Yee-haw! 

 10-bucket race, we finished first in this leg of the race!

 

The Rescue Race 

At districts I competed in the Clover leaf (barrel race) the 10-buckets, potato race, and rescue race.  By far my favorite was the 10-buckets and the rescue race.  My horse loves to do the 10-buckets, and we totally rocked it!  The rescue race was a hoot, but I thought I was gonna die!! It works like a relay race, so one person rides to the other end of the arena, gets off the horse, picks up a passenger, both get on the horse race across the finish line.  There are 3 pairs that do this.  I was the last passenger to get picked up, and was nearly falling off the whole way!! Such a rush! haha

Now, I know that there's only about 3 people who read this blog...namely my mother and two sisters.  And they already know all about this next part...but I'm putting it in anyway because I like to feel like I'm talking to people that I don't already talk to on a daily basis.  :)  

I am so excited to embark on my latest (and probably greatest) adventure of my LIFE!!  As I was going over some things today, and starting to 'dot my i's' and 'cross a few t's' - it really hit me....I am going to the Cook Islands in less than 6 weeks!!  A little bit scary, somewhat daunting thought, but I can't help but get the jitters.  For those of you that don't know what I'm doing (if there are any) I am going to volunteer for 6 weeks at a non-profit veterinary clinic based on the island Rarotonga, the largest of the Cook Islands.  I will be working 5 days a week, with 2 days all to myself to do whatever I want to!  I will be working with the Esther Honey Foundation to provide free veterinary care for the animals on the island.  I believe that a large portion of what I will be doing is spay/neuters for dogs and cats, but we have a fully functioning veterinary clinic to perform most surgeries and treatments.  This is going to be such a wonderful learning experience, to grow in my career - not to mention taking a 6 week holiday to a tropical island.  It doesn't get much better than that!!  Here are some pictures for your jealousy- I mean...enjoyment :)

 

 

 

These are pictures of Rarotonga, the Island where I will be staying.  I don't know how big it is exactly, but they say that it takes roughly an hour bus ride to make a full circle around the island, to give an idea.  There is even an LDS branch there, it's so good to know that wherever you go in the world, the Church is there!!  And now here are some pictures of what I will be doing and seeing.

 

little bit 'a this...

 

little bit 'a that...

 

I've heard the shopping is great too...

 

and a whole lot of this - 

 

quite a bit of that...

 

Hopefully a fair amount of this...

 

and a bit less of that..

All-in-all, it will definitely be a life changing experience, and I am already hoping that I get to go back! 

Eating some Humble Pie

So I was asked to speak in church on Sunday, and as I was talking with Carissa about my topic, and brainstorming a bit, I decided that I want to share a story with you all.  I had thought about posting it a few days after it happened, but procrastinated and then never did it.  I typed this up earlier in my notes for my talk as a possibility for sharing, so here it is.

 Just two weeks ago, as I was getting ready to head out of town, I had the car packed and everything ready to go except for just one thing.  My keys, and they were gone.  Unexplainably, they had disappeared to the Land of Lost Things – a place with which my belongings are familiar.  For 45 minutes I tore my house apart, looking in the bathroom, my car, even the refrigerator and cupboards.  I had multiple thoughts to myself throughout this process that I should stop and say a prayer for help.  Out of a combination of pride, and feeling silly about doing something so cliché I refused, and still I searched.  Finally, at my wits end, about ready to call my sister and tell her I wasn’t coming to see her after all, I humbled myself and dropped to my knees in my bedroom.  I didn’t say anything particularly profound, just apologized for my stubbornness and asked for help in finding what I sought.  As I closed my prayer and looked up, I could see – and from where I was kneeling I could even reach – the keys I had so frantically looked for.  All the while, within my reach.  A hint of “I told you so” came floating through my mind, and as my face flushed and my humiliation because to rise, the softness of the Spirit came over me and I realized that I had learned a valuable lesson.  No problem is too small or too trivial, and most importantly - if ye ask in faith, ye shall receive!  It is an accumulation of these small, but profound experiences that has built my testimony to where it is now.  

Obviously, I'm not perfect in my faith, but by using experiences like this, I can strengthen my faith, and increase my conviction to keep myself humble and respond to promptings when I receive them.  If I can't be trusted to respond to a prompting so trivial as a prayer for help, how can I expect to be trusted with promptings regarding the spiritual or temporal welfare of the sisters with which I have now been entrusted?  This has been some food for thought for me the last couple weeks, and I have sincerely committed myself to recognizing and responding to the promptings I am given.  I am very grateful for the tender lessons I learn in life, for by small and simple things are great things brought to pass.