Coming Full Circle

When I left Arizona, I was done. I thought a chapter of my life had closed and a new one began. I've done that a lot since high school graduation. Never stayed in one place too long. Took advantage of opportunities to see the world, meeting new people, and disappear into the unknown. After high school, I found a new beginning in Arizona. However, the thing with beginnings is a middle and end follows. And my middle was not always the best story. Looking back I see that everything I went through, the good and the bad, especially the bad, I appreciate now more than ever. I also made two of the most amazing friends in the world during my time in az. they are my heroes, and i still wonder why they like me sometimes. So after six months post-graduation, it was time to return.

the first time i met little lia

The week of Oct 29-Nov 2 was INSANE! It was time for Lindsay's Kaizen, and there was a lot of physical labor involved. Now, this for me was strenuous, but fun; i was able to get in touch with my inner tom-boy and enjoy myself. It was super busy and Nov 1, 2012 was my first 14 hour workday. Crazy, I know. But the best part was that on Nov 2, I would be catching a flight to Arizona, to see my newly born niece. Little Miss Lia. The other best part, is it was a surprise for my bff, Stine, who just gave birth that morning. Me, Erica, and Stine's husband had been keeping it a secret for about a month. I was really excited to pull off such an elaborate surprise. I was kicked out of the office so I wouldnt miss my flight by Terrance, and I got there with time to spare. I was anxious/excited the entire plane ride, because I just wanted to be around my besties. Erica picked me up at the airport. I dropped my stuff off at her place and we went to get some dinner because I forgot to eat beforehand. Chipotle time! Then we headed to the hospital. Stine's husband texted and said that Stine suspected something was up. uh oh. So I got my disguise and put it on in the hospital bathroom as Erica went in alone. I waited 5 minutes before entering...and when I did, the brilliant script I had written in my head evaporated, and my mind went blank. Stine saw right through my disguise and  we spent the evening there with my little baby niece! Then it was bedtime for mommy and baby, so Erica and I made one last stop before our bedtime...to Bahama Bucks. It was fun and then we stayed up super late chatting.

Saturday (11/3) was brilliant, I accidentally woke up too early for Erica (2 hour time difference jet lag and all). Took a shower and read a book. Then when she got up we went and got mani/pedis. It was glorious. After weeks of being in the factory practically daily on my project, it was nice to be girlie and get pink glittery nail polish, and a nice autumn color on my toes. Oh the joys of womanhood :) Then, we went to see our new fav movie together...Pitch Perfect. Once again...funniest movie of the year. We went back to hang out for a bit before meeting Ben for dinner. I was so excited because Ben is the best and we went out to eat Ethiopian food, one of my fav cuisines!!!! Can I just say, that my friends are seriously the best. I dont know how I get so lucky because when it's right, it's right. The friendship chemistry we have is through the roof. I have been trying to make erica and ben hang out for too long and i think they finally see what i see....awesomeness. We went to the AZ State Fair that night...it was ben's first time going. It was soooo much fun! We rode rides, screamed like we were going to die, and enjoyed it all. We even bought deep fried food. It was my first time. Deep friend twinkie, deep fried snickers, and a deep fried pop tart. Heart attack, get ready to meet your new friend, me! It was a night to remember. Especially when erica and ben started prancing a being super silly and i though oh no, maxed out on sillyness. (This is due to having to control my crazy around Lindsay so she doesn't kill me). And then I laughed because my az friends are just as crazy as i am and i never have to tone it down around them. I had sooo much energy after being around them, I didnt want to head to bed. Sadly, my friends were ready to call it a night.

Sunday we had early morning church and I got to sit in between Ben and Erica and have too much fun for my own good. Then we got to go to sunday school together! #spoiled After church I went to see Stine one last time before heading out. They spoiled me by letting me hold Lia the entire time we were there, except for a few minutes when they have other visitors and i had to give her up, but i got her quickly back. She is really the prettiest baby EVER! The three amigas got a 4th added to their crew. Spend the afternoon with the new family and then went back to Erica's for some R&R before my flight. Erica made me spaghetti for dinner...yum  yum. and Ben came over as we were watching YouTube videos. This is the best one. We chatted and watched more YouTube videos because it is better to laugh than say goodbyes. I really wasn't ready to go, but they told me I needed to head out or I would be late. I said my goodbyes and went to the airport, where I checked in 27 mins before take off...3 minutes too late. They would not let me check in and I had to reschedule my flight for the next day #badluck I felt super dumb and had to call Erica to come pick me up again. I was in such a bad mood because I couldnt believe that I missed my flight because I got there too late. So we drove over to Ben's where we watched the CES Fireside. I feel bad with how crabby I was. Ben was really nice and made Erica and I a sandwhich, and they both didnt tease me because they knew how upset I was with myself. We had a nice time which ended with me feeling very angsty. I went to bed feeling hopeful because the good thing about missing my flight was that I would be able to go to the Bro Richardson's 7:30 institute class.

Monday morning started super early, but Erica and I went to the institute building for her 6am meeting, and I went to hide in a corner and read Jesus the Christ by Talmage. I chose one of my fave chairs to curl into. It was glorious. After reading a bit, I decided to walk on campus to get some breakfast. Yum Yum. It was weird being on campus, but practiced my Alias abilities and stepped back into my college student persona, where I plugged into my iPod and walked down to the MU. I felt that I was pretty convincing as a college student :)  I then went up to learn more about the scriptures. can i just say, I LOVE BRO RICHARDSON'S CLASSES!!!!!!!!! Seriously, life changing, everytime. I love his "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" moments. I love learning about the scriptures and it's like he teaches in the exact way that I need to get the most out of my scripture study. It was a moment of sunshine during a day of feeling bad about missing a plane. I got a taxi to the airport since everyone was in class and made sure I had plenty of time to spare. Even then...bad luck followed me like the plague. (this following part is more accurate as i wrote it as a rant the day of the event) so i was directed to the wrong gate entrance  because i had my boarding pass emailed to my phone so i would have it with me and the one on my phone doesnt say which gate, so i trusted some guy who worked there. but even then, i dont know what happened, but i ended going to another wrong gate, where i had a panic attack because my driver's license was not in my wallet. somehow it had gotten loose in my purse. then i had time to spare, so i wanted a hot chocolate, but the line was so long, i needed to leave it to get to my plane in time. when i tried to go to my plane, there was a TSA emergency and they wouldnt let us leave the area of the airport we were in. i barely made it onto the plane, and it left late. then i got to missouri where i needed to change out our rental because it needs an oil change. they tried to downgrad me to a ford fiesta from a ford escape because technically we should have never gotten it in the first place, i managed to convince them to just let me keep the car anyways, even though it needs an oil change. i got to Kansas City and it was rainy and super cold. The drive home lasted forever, but I managed to finally make it back without having to use GPS. #alittletoolate The day seem to go on forever, but it was nice to finally get to bed and go back to normalcy. 

Wed (11/7) I couldnt concentrate at work. I found out where in Houston I'm going to live. I started looking for all the goodies around me. I found an indoor swimming pool to go swimming, the closest B&N, public library, and Target. I told Becca about it and she thought it was funny that I see civilization as synonomous with commercialism. Maybe maybe. I also started looking up institute classes and where I will be going to church. It turns out i'm heading to the YSA ward i should have been going to whenever im at home but never did because i wanted to hang out with the parentals #irony. I got shot at work as well and there was pain all in my arm because of it, so i didnt go to dodgeball, instead Cody came over after work and we hung out and ate Nutella. #goodtimes

Thursday (11/8) I talked to Petra on IM and she says she just had a 5 day weekend due to German holidays. Why am I not there?!?!?! She asked what I did this past weekend, so I told her I was able to take a short trip to AZ for the weekend and she said "I can´t believe that you can live there :D"  My thoughts we along the same.  Later at work, Lindsay and I were working on our arts and crafts and I said "guess what?...nevermind" and lindsay said "what".  i said "nothing"and she said, "i know when you say that it's going to be something i dont want to hear. what is it?" lol. Im pretty sure it was really relevant and had to do with work too. lol.

Friday (11/9) after work, i didnt move from my couch all night. I wanted to go to a YSA bonfire in Columbia, but it was too cold to go out. plus i had no motivation since lindsay went to st. louis and sage was in rolla all weekend. #nofriends

Saturday (11/10), I drove with Sofia and Cody to the YSA conference up in Columbia. The classes were good and i got some really good investment advice from a personal investment major guy. Then I went to go on my blind date/double date. Sadly...it didnt really happen because They got lost on the way to Columbia. So I thought that meant I was homefree. I was remembering why I hated YSA dances and wanting to leave, when I started talking to a girl sitting next to me. It turns out she is an RM and was an ASL missionary! How cool is that?!?!? Of course, missionary work is one of my most favorite things to talk about so we were having a blast when Rachel arrives and introduced me to my date. #sarcasticgreat but we started talking and it turns out he's much cuter in person (because sage and i already facebook found and stalked him, with only a first name to go on during the commerical break on our thursday night social time) and he was soooo sweet and really funny. We had so much fun. He even got me to swing dance, which i normally do not do. We practiced dips and the really cool dip that you dip and then untwist your arms so you fall a little further to the ground and it looks epic. I felt pretty cool. But we had a lot of fun. Best date comeback ever.

On Sunday, my last sunday here, I went to mission prep. WHY HAVEN'T I BEEN DOING THAT THE ENTIRE TIME!?!?!?!!? I LOVED IT. And thus began my last week in Sedalia. Finalmente. It's been slow just tying up loose ends and finishing up things from work.

The Evolution of Lindsay:
Taco Tuesday (11/13) was eventful as it was the day of Lindsay's Evolution. For those Pokemon fans, (this is for you Lindsay) it's like a pokemon evolution. Like Pikachu evolving into Raichu or Mew evolving into MewTwo.  It was epic. It started with us leaving The EndZone after taco tuesday. We decided to get some festive drinks from starbucks (hot chocolate addition season commences). Lindsay said something...in a silly voice!!! I laughed soooo hard! Then we were turning into the parking lot and she made a funny noise to express emotion!!! I looked at her and she said "you did this to me" I couldnt contain myself any longer. I died laughing. it was epic. momentous. words cannot describe how glorious this moment was in my life

Tuesday night ended with my last institute class in sedalia, and i was sad. i learned so much in that class. Wednesday Lindsay and I had our final presentation and a giant training session. Thursday we had another training session and paperwork to finish up along with eat the monthly company hosted lunch (it was thanksgiving food!)

Now, my time in Missouri is coming to a close, and once again, it is time to return. It's time to go home. I am excited; I cannot wait. Life always comes full circle.

2012 Boy Advice Awards:
Best Advice goes to Marijn! "if he doesn't like you, he's an idiot" sometimes, you just got to hear that from someone you trust
Funniest Advice goes to Lindsay! Lindsay said: This is why you need to get drunk, then you can call him and tell him how you feel and you wont care if he doesn't like you back!
lolz. i love my friends.

Poem of the Week:

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

"Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas

life y la muerte

This had been a crazy past week. Truth.
First off, I woke up in a boy's bed on Saturday morning after a crazy night of dancing and drinking fruity drinks. (I spent about 2 days thinking about that opening line. Truth.)

This drink made me OD with sugar

Real Version of events: After shopping Friday afternoon after wook.  I went to a YSA dance in Rosenheim with some of my new English speaking friends from church. We were going to get back to Munich super late and some of the metros weren't working this past weekend and we all live super far apart, so one of the Erik's parents suggested me and Jaime (my new galpal who i just clicked with) sleep over. So we got in super late and Jamie and I slept in Erik's room and Erik slept in a different room. Then Erik's mom fed us fruit and croissants and yummy things for breakfast. Then Erik drove us to a metro station and I had to do the Walk of Shame...aka I didn't bring a change of clothes for the sleepover. It was a funny.



Then I went home showered and woke up Lindsay who gotten in this morning from a week in Italy. It was soooo lonely at work this week because her and Petra didn't come in at all. :( But we went and got Lindsay some groceries and then had a late lunch. It was the most amazing salad of my LIFE!  There was steak on top of my salad. More proof that God loves me.

After eating the most delicious salads of our lives, at a place across the street from our flat, we went to the Tollwood Festival in the Olympic Park. SOOOOO LEGIT!!!!!!!!!!!! Saryah would LOVE it. It's like a outdoor market with music and lots of food.

On Sunday, I was late for the metro to go to my bus, so I decided to take the next metro for the next bus. On that bus, a car hit the bus, so we were stuck waiting for the police, only for me to realize that my metro pass expired the day before. Dang. I didn't realize that what had happened because no one felt the bus get hit and there was no damage done. I saw a guy get off the bus, so after a few moments of building my courage, I asked if I could get off the bus. He didn't really speak English, but this lady nearby asked if I was going to church. I said yes, and she proceeded to translate for me and explain what was going. We ended up crossing the highway to get to a different bus station. We were luckily only 20 minutes late for church. Milagro. Then later that night Lindsay came with me and we went to the YSA Sunday dinner. One of the guys made food. And I found out there were the Colombian guys who were YSA! So I got to sit next to one of them and we were chatting in Spanish all night. I love speaking Spanish and we had a lot of fun, even though he told me Mexicans weren't Latinos. Puh-leez. 

So I was talking to my boss, Betsy, today to clarify one of my assignments; she was saying that she felt bad because I'm in the waiting phase of the project and as soon as I leave it's probably going to pick up quickly. I said jokingly, "well, if you need me, you can just ask Michael to extend my say so I skip my USA rotation" She responded, "would you really be okay with that?" I said yes. She said that it had been brought up before and it would be allowed if she needed me and she would keep me posted. I quickly told Lindsay and then said "dang...I would need a coat cuz it'll get cold" and she said "really?!? that's the big deal here?" So the good news is that I may be able to have a 6 month stay in Germany and go to Brazil from here. The bad news is I would not be able to do my USA visits to see everyone that I have already planned. But I'm trying not to take that talk seriously until they tell me officially. 

On a more somber note. 
Hoy recibí los noticias que una mujer muy especial en mi vida se falleció. Mi Mama Aguila, después una lucha contra leucemia por dos años. Me recordó una conversación que tuve con el presidente de mi misión después del fallecimiento de un miembro de mi familia dos años pasados. "Es los momentos como así cuando nuestros testimonios del plan de salvación son tan importante." Sé que voy a verla una otra vez. Sé que familias son eternas y hay vida después de esta vida. Sé que Jesucristo murió y se resucitó el tercer día para vencer la muerte para que podamos vivir una otra vez con Él. Yo sé que vive mi Señor y que el nos ama. Ella cambió mi vida y la ama para siempre. 

Esta es para ti, hermana:

1. Placentero nos es trabajar en la viña del gran Rey Jesús, y honroso nos es predicar a Su pueblo, Su ley y Su Luz. Por Su luz, por Su luz, placentero nos es trabajar. Por Su luz, por Su luz, moriremos en El sin pesar.

2. La palabra de Dios escuchad con ahínco, lealtad, y fervor. Para siempre jamás recordad Su pureza, verdad, y amor. Con amor, con amor, la palabra de Dios escuchad. Con amor, con amor, la bandera de Dios empuñad.

3. ¡Oh [hermana], adiós, pues, adiós! El momento de ir vino ya. Si guardamos la fe en el gran Dios, nos veremos aun más allá, Más allá, más allá, ¡Oh [hermana], adios, pues adios! Más allá, más allá, moraremos con Dios en amor. 

mein Leben in Deutschland

Hey world. I'm finally in Germany.

Last week aka "Bootcamp" was fun. Michael (my boss) was hysterical. He took us mini-golfing, bowling, go-kart racing, and it was awesome...all as "team building" exercises. It was a fun week, and I really like Lindsay, my co-worker that I'll be travelling with for the next year. She's awesome.

We flew in yesterday. We took 3 flights to get here. On our connection with Lufthansa in Newark, I sat next to a guy from Serbia. I think his name was Ben, and he was awesome! He kept on giving me his food. He gave my his salad for dinner. I thought it was rude to say no, so I ate it. Lolz. Then for breakfast he was offering me his fruit and muffin. I declined only because the thought of eating was not appetizing at the moment.  He rolled his eyes every time the PA interrupted our movies. We had a nice chat over dinner. Also, when he slept, he was really getting into my zone so I had to lean on the left side on my chair to get some sleep. I was half considering leaning on him since he was in my area, but I figured that could get weird.

So we had a taxi waiting for us with our names on a sign when we arrived. He took me to my new home, which is super close to the metro. (yay). I took my luggage upstairs with much difficulty because the elevator is TINY! I took a shower and attempted to find the church. Surprisingly enough, I found it quite quickly. I made it only a little late, I missed the opening prayer. But it was nice aka. they had English translation going on for us. Afterwards, I approached the guy, and he's a YSA here and gave me the info. He said they have a little YSA dinner every Sunday evening and invited me. On the metro back to my flat, I ran into the Sister Missionaries!!!! YAY! we chatted and they were wonderful and serve in the congregation that I'm going to go to. So i went back to my flat to unpack, I managed to get one suitcase unpacked and then I decided to lay down for a few minutes and woke up at 7:20, when dinner was at 7. AHHHHH!!! So I jumped on the metro and got to church only to find the front door was locked. Saddened, I looked around to see an intercom and pushed the button. Nothing happened. So I pushed the button again, and someone said something in German and I said, "I'm here for dinner" and they responded in English. Yay. Since I was late, everyone was done eating and were in clean-up mode, but they served me some food. I ate with a lady there who were visiting her in-laws (the senior missionary couple). Then met some people and really enjoyed the spiritual thought.

I'm excited for the YSA FHE tonight.  Work so far is nice. Petra picked me up from my flat this morning to make sure I got to work alright. One of the heads of the project I'm working on is here giving us more details. It sounds AWESOME! Especially since they're sending me to England for the next week and a half for stuff. I have to option of flying back here for the weekend or staying there. I think I might get a hotel (on the company) in london and say there for the weekend. WOOT!!! Lindsay heads to Italy tomorrow for work. But I'm excited.

I have a lot to do today when I get home. I need to get a wifi thing and a SIM card to get a Germany number. I forgot i was going to make friends and want to contact them. Plus, there is a family the sister missionaries are teaching that I can go visit them with, so i need a number so they can contact me. (SUPER excited about going out with the sisters). And I need groceries, well to find a supermarket.  "Wo ist der Supermarkt?" Petra taught me that this morning to help me out.

All in all, it's lovely and I'm excited. I'll post pics of my flat later this week. It's so Europe-tiny. I forgot how small things are in Europe. Oh well. It will help me learn to work with less.

p.s. my US cell phone is disconnected till I get back in September. I'm going to hopefully get my new Germany SIM card tonight so I will have a German number