I love being a Love

Auckland was great. I loved being there. I was told that people usually love it or hate it there, but it is said people only hate Auckland because they're small town people. Truth. I'm a city girl, and I loved it.
I loved the bakery bread we ate with meals. And Uncle Malcolm making sure I had my toast and butter with my breakfast every morning. I loved how Aunt Mary was so sassy with everything she said and did. It was a great time to go there and get to know more of my family. The Loves, my gran's family, moved away from each other a while ago. It was a 6 week boat ride for Uncle Malcolm and Aunt Mary to come from Scotland to New Zealand. Crazy. So I love it when I meet a fellow Love and get to know my dad's aunts and uncles because they are sassy Scottish. It's defiantly where I get some of my more stubborn personality traits. Plus, there's always that nagging feeling wishing that we got to get the last name Love too. So cool! But one of my Love cousins told me one time that a lot of people don't believe that's really her last name. Oh well.

Anyways, it was great to be there and meet my family in New Zealand. It was sad leaving. But Saryah will be there for a bit longer and enjoy it for me as I go to Germany for the summer.
And the pic above is of me, Aunt Mary, and Uncle Malcolm making hearts. I think Uncle Malcolm had the most difficult time doing it :) but I wanted to do it because we're Loves.

New Zealand: South Island

The South Island was beautiful!!!!! We ended up flying between cities because it was cheaper and faster than renting a car and driving. to fill up a tank of gas here for a tiny compact car was at least $60. no thank you. so we flew from Wellington to Christchurch. Honestly: Christchurch was not worth it. It was a bunch of bad luck too on my part. Only on mine because I decided to go do something on my own for one of the days...which was a bad choice. After that...the new rule was: Saryah makes all the decisions. Good rule indeed. The coolest think about Christchurch was we watch LOTR: Two Towers. Woot. and i played chess with a German guy named Tom who was drinking a bottle of wine while eathing chips with sour cream dip. Classy.

We then flew to Queenstown. IT IS BREATHTAKING!!! The scenery was amazing. We took a taxi from the airport to church only to discover that it was conference weekend and church was not in the building. (this only reinforces the new rule of Saryah making all the decisions).

After taking the gondola ride up Bob's Peak

We had the famous Fergburger, which was big and yummy, and we had also found a British shop earlier, so I bought an Irn Bru to go with lunch. AMAZING!!!

In a little store I saw a little stuffed lamb that I wanted to buy for Baby Spice but I decided that it wasn't uni-sex enought to buy. Plus Erica wasn't emailing me back about her opinion (only for me to realize that my email was never sent but saved as a draft :/ )

I went to Milford Sound the second day. It was wonderful. I made friends with a guy from San Diego, Eli and a girl from NYC, Lindsay. We were picture taking buddies since we were all traveling alone. It was great. We were really lucky. Dolphins swam toward and under our boat and we saw little baby seals who were just swiming in twirls. it was adorable!!!!

Then to Dunedin. One regret: We didnt do an extra day there. It has a strong Scottish influence there and they kept all their old buildings there, so it was really pretty to look at. Loved the South Island. It was fun.
We're in Auckland right now. Saryah and I just got back from the Mercer's. We went to Kelly Tarlton's this morning. Best part of our bus ride back home: Saryah and I were just listening to our iPods and we looked at each other. I think signed the Hot Rod "I'm too legit to quit" signs without saying anything and at first she looked confused and then understood and we started laughing. life is great!

Work Update: I have a lot of paper work to do when I get back home that I need to get sent in. Also, they're working on getting me a studio apartment in Munich, while Lindsay (my future partner in crime for the next year) will have to live in a hotel in the little suburb we're going to be working in. All because she's on a visa and i'm a EU citizen. WIN! But until the papers are finalized, I'm not getting too excited.

New Zealand: North Island

Truth: this may be the most difficult blog post I have ever written. It took me forever to figure out how to access my blog and let's not get started with how tempermental the writing on a phone part is getting.

Weta Cave in Wellington. I'm with an Orici :)

Anyways, I have pretty limited internet access. Right now we're sitting in the Te Papa museum in Wellington. We just returned our rental car because it is terrible to try and find parking here. Too much effort. Anyways, lack of internet means a lack of connection and communication to the real world. For someone transitioning into a new job and trying to get details still figured out, this is kinda frustrating because I don't know what's really going on right now. But I did get an email saying we're going to be getting a rosetta stone language thing for the country we are living in and it will be passed around depending on whichever country we are living with. Woot!

I'm glad im doing this trip now because I feel like a novice traveller. I keep forgetting basic things that I used to know about travelling. Plus, I didn't fin. some leather boots before I came so my shoes keep on getting wet over and over again. So cold feet with the rainy weather. Oh well. But I talked to a Sister Missionary at the Hamilton temple from Italy and she said Munich has great leather boots. So I may just wait and deal with the wet shoes and cold feet. It's been pretty rainy here but it's been fun.

Two of my dreams have come true these past 2 days.
1. I bottle fed a baby lamb.
2. I saw maori people do the haka. Legit.

We head to the south island tomorrow, starting off in Christchurch. It should be loverly.

Oh, and i've also discovered the secret to waking up early in the morning really well rested. You go to sleep early! :) no really. I've been getting up at 7 or 8 am bc I got to bed at 8 or 9 pm each night. It's brilliant.

Funny sign

Oh goodness...my phone is being mean so im going to post this.

Photos added at a later date:

New Zealand Hamilton LDS Temple

BFFs

I was talking to a lady a while back; she spoke of how people come and go from our lives and how we never see them again. She thinks that people move on from friendships, forget about each other, and stop caring. I asked her how she know someone hasn't forgotten about her, and she said she would receive at least 2 cards or phone calls from them each year. I would like to contradict her, something I had tried to do to her face, but she would not accept my premise. I have been thinking a lot about friends and friendships recently. Let me being with a "Natasha Story", which means I will give you a crazy amount of background before I get to the point of the whole story.
This week has been pretty crazy cool for two reasons.

1. I literally woke up Friday morning to an email from my boss, Michael, saying that my first location for work will be Germany for 3 months. (Instead of the previously discussed Birmingham, England and Czech Republic)
2. I talk to 3 of my high school BFFs. All in the same week. Trust me, that alone is a miracle.

In high school, there was four of us who were just always hanging out together. (we seriously need to think of a cool name for our group). It was me, Holly, Naomi, and Christina. I have known Nay since the 5th grade and have been friends ever since. She's amazing. I love how we haven't talked on the phone really in (dare I admit it) years! But we were chatting on the phone and it felt like it always has, just an easy friendship of love with years of crazy history backing it up. We even mentioned a couple of times how impressed we are with ourselves because we are AWESOME! She's 23 and working on her PhD. I am 24 and am getting paid to go travel the world. Legit? We think so. Holly, I met back in 6th grade when she had just moved to Texas. She is one of the kindest people I know. She's doing quite well and is thinking of moving. We're both in a transitional part of life right now. Then Christina, who I met back in Geometry class in 9th grade, who hated me because I was loud and obnoxious (still true....about me being loud and obnoxious...not the hate, even though our chosen theme song is We Used To Be Friends by The Dandy Worhols...long story). I'm still not sure how it happened but we're friends now. She can walk again! Yay! (Canada broke her leg) She's a crazy kid because she left Texas to live in Canada. Why someone would do that, I'm not sure, hence, she must be crazy. 

Anyways, I'm graduating and leaving AZ (which means leaving Christine and Erica *sadness*) in less than 2 weeks. Only 5 finals, 1 discussion board post, 1 online lecture and 1 group presentation left to go. Then I will be on a plane back home to Texas. Then to New Zealand for vacation, Missouri for training, and Germany for work. I thought I was okay with leaving Arizona, but now that it's really happening, I'm going to miss it. And I really suck at goodbyes. Really. You'd think I'd be better at them. I had to to it when leaving Spain. I had to do it when leaving my mission. I will have to do it when I leave AZ.  

2008- Saryah's Costume Party 

But with all the goodbyes that are on my mind, I keep on remembering something my Spain program director told us during orientation our first few days in Spain.  He told us that saying "adios" is not really the norm there; everyone usually says "hasta luego". They do this because "adios" means "goodbye" and that's too final, as if you're never going to see each other again. Instead they say "see you later" because you'll part for now, but it's not the end. I think of my friendships a lot like that. For realz, Holly, Christina, Naomi, and I haven't been all together since December 2008. I don't know when the next time we'll all be together again (I proposed back in 2009 that we have a 25th birthday group party/celebration cruise where we get to wear matching shirts that say "25 years of *insert something clever here*" but that idea has yet to be really thought out...even though we only have 1.5 years to figure out details.) I'm not planning on coming back to Arizona until November, and only just to see a special someone. I haven't seen the my guy friends from Spain in three years, but we're making plans to hang out when I get to Europe this summer. I know that friendships last; it doesn't matter how often you see or talk to each other. I don't worry about whether or not my real friends will forget me, because even if they're the worst at calling regularly or responding to letters, we're friends and it's something that doesn't easily disappear. My friends are important to me, and I still don't believe in goodbyes. I believe in "Hasta Luego"s. 

Best Letter Ever Received!

News: My friend Terrence got his mission call to the England Manchester Mission.

Terrence got his mission call earlier today and posted it on facebook. He said he would open it at the Institute building at 6pm. Honestly I don't know how he could wait soooooo long. When I got my call...well, I tell you about that in a bit. But at 6, I was there. Too bad Terrence wasn't. :) But seriously, he showed up and we waited for some more close friends who were running late. He brought a map and we all put little tabs on where we thought he would go. When everyone arrived, he opened his letter. The foyer became quiet as the spirit grew stronger and Terrence read his letter. When he read "you have been called to serve in the England Manchester Mission..." everyone went nuts with cheering and clapping. He continued to read his report date when he will arrive at the Preston England Mission Center and continued to read the mission call from the prophet, Thomas S. Monson. I was just brought back to the time when I got my mission call and how wonderful that was. I remembered the feelings of joy I had. Everyone cheered for and hugged Terrence. Then someone started singing "Called to Serve" and I almost lost it. I wanted to sing along but the sight of all these Returned Missionaries gathered around singing:

"Called to serve Him, heavenly King of Glory,
Chosen e'er to witness for his name,
Far and wide we tell the Father's story,
Far and wide his love proclaim"

It was so beautiful and the Spirit testified to me of how the message the missionaries teach is true. It reminded me of the joy I felt as a missionary to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Terrence is going to be amazing. I remember meeting him and talking to him about going on a mission. My thoughts have not changed; it will be the most amazing, wonderful, beautiful, life-changing experience ever. Terrence is a man of faith and inner strength who helps me be a better person.

As I left I started remembering the day I received my mission call. It was 17 October 2009. I just had gotten back home from Ottawa, Canada a few days before, where I was visiting Christina and we both caught the swine flu. It had progressed to bronchitis by the time I got to the doctor back in the US, so I was sick and on antibiotics. It was a Saturday, and for some reason my dad didn't go to the ranch to ride horses and rope cattle (which is a miracle in and of itself). For some reason, I went to the to check the mail, which is not something I normally do. I got the mail, and as I was walking back to the house, I was flipping through the letters and saw it. The Letter. My mission call. I went home and called out for everyone to come down so I could read my letter. I called my brother to see if he could come home, but he wasn't answering the phone. I called a couple of times, and no one picked up, so I left a couple of messages. Then I made the wonderful decision to just open the call! I remember reading the mission call to go to the California Santa Rosa Mission-Spanish Speaking and was so excited along with my parents and little sister. After the excitement wore off, we all looked at each other and asked, "Where is Santa Rosa?" True story. We google-mapped it (it's in northern California), and I was excited. I was excited to serve a mission and to learn Spanish, a language that alluded me for years!

I look back at the 18 months I served as a missionary on behalf of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, teaching people His gospel, and it brings me such joy. I think of the answers I would hear when I asked people who had just received a testimony from God that there was a living prophet on the earth, "What does that mean to you?" I think of people who had a desire to know for themselves if the Book of Mormon is scripture from God and prayed; the happiness and clarity that was in their countenance after they received the confirmation of the Holy Ghost was life-changing. I remember talking to a boy who had never prayed in his life, and we taught him how to pray; the next time he talked to us he told us of his experience and how he felt a comforting presence he had never felt before in his life. I love my mission. I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know it has been restored to the earth and is found, in its fullness, in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I know that God still talks to the world through a living prophet, Thomas S. Monson. I know that the Book of Mormon is Another Testament of Jesus Christ and tells of Gods dealings with His people on the American continents. I know God loves us and will never leave us without guidance.  I know it, and I cannot deny it.

"Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

To be honest, my mind has been blown and my heart is full of awe and love. Really, I feel unworthy of how amazing my Heavenly Father has been to me. Seriously. I feel like he is just giving me things and giving me things and I think my friend, Ben, said it best when he quoted Malachi 3:10, when the Lord says, "Prove me now herewith...if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." At times, I feel uncomfortable when people give me gifts of compliments, so I don't know how to react right now. Let me explain...

1. I have been given this dream job, where I was told a few weeks ago that during the first year of employment, I would be sent to live in Missouri, Italy, Brazil, and China. I know, right? I'm still waiting for them to call me back and yell "Gottcha!" (Yes. Being offered a chance to travel the world is exciting, and I cannot wait for the many adventures that await. But I'm still looking forward to settling down in a year to more permanent location)
2. I went to visit my mission this past week. Words cannot describe how amazing that was. Literally. I'm not even going to try right now. All I can really verbalize is it was exactly what I needed and wanted. I love the people of Northern California. 
3. I got a call from my boss yesterday and he say, "Natasha, there is this great project going on and I want you to be a part of it. We're going to have to change your plan around. I want you to not go to Missouri right now, but go to the UK and the Czech Republic." It was a little funny, because I got an email from him earlier to call him when I have time, and my immediate thought was, "Oh no. What did I do?" Silly me. I didn't do anything. So when I heard the news, I was so excited; I couldn't believe it. So now, I'm going to be sent to England for a bit and then the Czech Republic and then to Missouri. Seria una fiesta.
4. I walked into institute 5 minutes late and sat down between two people I haven't really talked to before. Then I hear a girl behind me announce that she is from Sacramento, so I turned to say that I served in Woodland. When I turned around, the girl looked really familiar. I realized that I was looking at Jessica, a girl I knew when I was 16 for one week and have had of-and-on communication with over the past decade(ish). After class we just hugged and I was super excited. She invited me to go to lunch with her and her brother, and we just headed off into the sunset. (hyperbole. it was around 3pm.) So I went over to hang out with her for a few hours. It's amazing how after around 7-8 years of not seeing each other, it was as if no time had passed. It was a real life Alma and the sons of Mosiah experience. It was really to my astonishment, I met Jessica...and I did rejoice exceedinglye to see her, and what added more to my joy, she was still my sister in the Lord (see Alma 17:1-2). She's amazing and wonderful. We shared mission stories and life stories, and it was a great reunion.

Really. I feel so spoiled with how much the Lord is opening the windows of heaven and pouring out blessings. I am so happy right now, even if I still have 40 pages of textbook reading to do tonight, along with some PowerPoint slides I need to create and an essay to edit. I am so happy right now. 

My Future Home

After years of being a nomadic soul, travelling, and living out of suitcases with most of my belonging is Texas (where I spent my childhood) and a bit of stuff following me wherever I go, the time has come for me to start to look towards permanency. I love to travel and go everywhere, but I'm starting to feel ready to settle down. It's funny because for my background check for my job, I had to write down every city I've lived in the past seven years. I've lived at 10 different addresses in the last seven years. It's been an amazing adventure with every single place. Even then, settling down will have to wait because my future job requires me to relocate four times within the first 12 months I'm working there.

However, I'm starting to look to look towards the future in my old age (age is relative). The *future*...I know. I'm soon going to be living on my own, something I use to love, but now, the idea makes me nervous after 2+ years of having someone sharing a room with me. (after my mission, I chose to have a roomie to share a room and ease the transition back to the real world)  I've even been thinking about what art I want on the walls; I've been thinking a lot about what I want my future home/flat/wherever-I'm-going-to-be-place to be like. So far I've come up with two rules:

1. No alcohol, cigarettes (if you smell like cigarettes, you have to go), or coffee (gross!) allowed
2. If you stay with me, you come to church with me on Sunday

I want to have a place with an open door policy of: if I like you, you can stay with me if you can respect my rules. Everyone is invited to visit.

Home. I think of where and how I was reared. When I think of the how I grew up, I think of happiness. I think of peace; it was a place where I learned about Jesus Christ. It was a place where I could always talk to my parents about anything and everything that was going on  in my life. To others, they were always to welcoming and gracious. I want wherever I live to be a place where people can feel welcome and feel the Spirit of our Lord. I think of Joshua 24:15. I want my home to have a firm foundation in Christ, no matter where I'm located in the upcoming first 12 months of work.