Driven to a Mission

So there was this one time when I put in my papers to serve an LDS mission. It was a very LOOONG and tedious journey waiting and waiting until I was finally old enough to put them in, and knowing what I was doing, but not realizing the intensity of the {very small part of the big} journey of a mission, I submitted my paper on October 9, 2010 waited for an extrememly long period of time until October 13, 2010.

Here is the guessing wall... Also, Jennica was about to find out the gender of her baby, so that is also up there too.

The night of October 12, I knew my call was coming, so I went to bed a little early (nothing can really hold me back from sleep once I'm all "done down" and in bed, in my quitters!) so I could be bright and shining in the morning. In my dream that night, I opened up my call and this is what it said on the letter:

Dear Sister @G2I&7+:

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. You are assigned to serve in the $KV>(9!Z HJKI#%KO70BVF1?P*N>HXZ Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 18 months.

You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on HYUBNGYUKU@ J87HNI9763E4. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the HK674FHFTYG2096NJ language.

It was probably the biggest kill-hilarity dream ever. Not kill, but punch. I laughed when I woke up, despite being disappointed while I was in REM.

Thankfully, the good part of my dream did come true. I got my letter, and hallelujah! it was not in code.

That morning, I woke up, went to work, and while driving I thought to myself, "I need to prep myself JUST in CASE it doesn't come. Man, that would really blow if it didn't, having to wait on my tippy toes for a whole 'nother week. bleh."

My adorable old grandpa is the person who gets the mail DAILY, and he said the mail usually comes about 11. So naturally, 11:01 I'm texting my mother: ANYTHING?!?!?

I was in agony for the next while, checking my phone every free chance I got, Then FINALLY

"Sister Mallory Castle, You HAVE a LETTER!!!"

I screamed, and my other co-workers in the warehouse all knew that I'd got the letter.

A few hours later, I got a picture message from Jennica of her Holding my call entitled:

"Now you see it!"

Then another with her hands and shoulders shrugging:

"Now you don't!"

She was so lovingly thoughtful and kind to my anxious emotions because she thought it would be funny to HIDE my CALL and make me go on a TREASURE HUNT!!! eiishhaaaa.

I got a big white envelope from here that was previously opened and was addressed to "Randall Burr" but crossed out and said "Sister Mallory Castle" and it was from "Those That Love You"

I really thought it was my call... I kept on asking, "IS THIS MY LETTER?" (sort of furious that they had opened it...) until I realized it was a faux letter.

All I really had to do was read a scripture to find out where it was (it was the "tight like unto a dish" scrip.) So I just went to the plates and got it there! The picture bellow is the first time I'm holding my call:

All my emotions are shown on my face:

Hey, it may not be cute, but its honest.

I was so stinking nervous!

HERE I COME!!!!

Heres the stats:

Richmond Virginia

Spanish Speaking

February 2, 2011 I walk out of my home for the last time for the next 18 months.

What's happening to my emotions? The emotions are all waking up and beating inside me. Every last one of them. So those q's like, "Are you excited? Nervous? Tormented? Negligent? Scared? Happy? Anxious? Fearful? Surprised? Joyful? Contempt? Optimistic? Expectant? Irritated? Cheerful?" all have an answer of yes. To every single one.

Folks, a smorgasbord of emotions is not fun to deal with.

For better, this is what is happening to me.

Oh, and when I read my call in sacrament meeting, I was the most nervous thing ever. I was shaking like a leaf, and my voice SOUNDED like I was on the verge of tears, and I could NOT stop shaking. I announced to everyone that I felt like I was reading my call for the first time (reality hadn't quite hit yet that I'd actually opened it). It was slightly embarrassing, because normally, I'm okay with getting up in front of people, especially knowing its coming. But not that time no, no, no.

7 A days and counting!!!

Ps, you know, you could always come to my farewell. I will be speaking on my BIRTHDAY! (Jan 30 to be exact).... Come say goodbye and Happy Birthday!

Since this is the never ending post, I will posty some pictures that mrs. Chelsey did for me...Went up to the SLC Library, and I am very happy with how they turned out. Thank you Chels!

I'm going to shove a BOM in your face if you don't read it. Take this picture as proof.

Oh I'm that kind of missionary that knocks on golden doors... ;)

Anyway, I hope to blog about Mexico, but we all know how great I am at keeping up to date....

Oh also, here is a little bit of the Video of when I opened it. You could probably stop at 1:05

You can also see the surprise on my face because I read ahead to the language part...

On second thought, just go this link below, and watch the video. I'm having a rough time uploading it.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=489786487530&saved

Juvenile

This past weekend, I went with 2 of my roomates Stacey and Mallory (and her two little sisters) to the David Archuleta concert hosted by the school. But of course, I had very little expectations going to the concert (because I wanted to be surprised when he sang!) and also because the majority of the concert goers were still in Young Women.

So having the low expectations, I was extremely surprised that my voice was scratchy the following week, because of my screaming throughout the majority of the concert. As I told people who I talked to it about, "I lost all my maturity at that concert! I may even have a pop singer crush!" I turned to Stacey at least 15 times and told her, "oh my gosh. I love him! He's so cute! I love him! AHHHHHHHHH!!!! (me screaming)" So juvenile, but so true.

So before Lil' Archie came on, David Osmond was the pre-show. He has a voice, I will give him credit. But most of his songs were boring, because I WANTED TO SEE ARCHIE. But regardless, he was a good singer (and I didn't get any videos of Osmond, because I wanted to save my memory card for Archie).

Yes, this does go on for about a minute, but you don't (and I'd be embarrassed for you if you did) have to watch all of it. Even after I stopped recording, the screaming probably went on for another good thirty seconds. And you can hear me screaming. ha ha ha. What can I say?

There were several other songs that I partly recorded (not entertaining enough to publish on my blog) but there were entertaining people in front of us. They were a family of 4. Mom, and Dad were probably around their late 40's, and Daughter and Son were pre-teen age. At the very beginning of the concert, the Dad and Son looked like they were having a MISERABLE time because they were both sitting in their seats (whilst everyone was standing and clapping and screaming) with their heads down, and fingers jammed in their ears. Stacey and I were laughing so hard. But by the end of the concert the Dad at least lightened up and was dancing with his daughter (SOOO cute!)

Archie sang most of the songs from his album and was so surprised to know that some of his songs people actually used his song "To Be With You" as their wedding song. It amazed us how nonchalant he is about his career. He takes it seriously, but is surprised to find out that mature adults listen to his music. He has got such a humble attitude about it, as you will see in the next video.

So after Archie's last song, he went off the stage, and there was more screaming and shouting and hollering and hooting and yelling. He came back on and sang "Crush" and "Imagine" AND a Hymn (which you will see in this video). I started recording a little late in his speech, but what he said was, "I don't do this very often, but since this is BYU-Idaho, I think its okay. I'm going to sing a hymn, and its my favorite. It really has helped me in my trials, and during American Idol..(thats when I started recording)"

He sang "Be still my soul" But I'm having troubles uploading it...I'll have to work on it later.

So to all you people who are rolling your eyes at Archie:

HOW COULD YOU NOT LOVE HIM?!?!?!? Esp. after hearing his testimony and hearing him sing that song!!!!!!

Overall Concert greatness: 100/100

Just Call Me Grandma!

Mostly call me grandma because after EVERY soccer practice or game, I come home with something hurting or sore. I think I need to toughen up...hey that's why I'm doing soccer OKAY?

This may make some peoples stomach's churn, and others may want to pick at it, but just remember that I have to live with this nasty....

(p.s. that's on BOTH my heels...stupid cleets)

some of the many bruises. (notice my anatomy book...?)

and this is how I am getting around...

Just Kidding.

Then my arms would be sore, and then I'd be even MORE of a mess.
We "borrowed" the chair from the boys in our ward. None of them use it. We just had a fun adventure (aka Joy Ride) taking it out for a bit. Not even thirty minutes went by until we got texts and phone calls inquiring if we had taken the wheel chair. Whoops!

...and I got a surprise this weekend! Carly came up and visited me! Her mom and her drove up from Yuma to go to a wedding in Salt Lake and figured, "What's four more hours when you've been driving for fourteen?" I thought their logic was completely flawless as I got to see Carly for a little bit!

Us, at Applebee's, reminiscing of the delicious deserts we just ate.

So besides having fun, I am working those little neurons in my brain to fire more to make me smarter (blah blah..continuing on with the fun stuff)!

Summer semester up in Rexburg is fantastic, because it's warm and there is so so much I can do up here!

Like, go to the dunes with cute boys, and cling on for dear life because they are so crazy, and you feel like your going to fall off at any moment and break your back (sorry, Grammie Molly is coming out again) It really was fun! As you can tell by my wave in the picture.

Rexburg also have a farmers market and we went. Stacey, Laura, and I were freezing, mostly because it was raining. The market was a little weak sauce, but we decided it was because there wasn't a lot of fresh foods--can't wait until June or July when it's nice and warm and there will be plenty of fresh produce!

Have a happy week!

Mothers Day

This is a Mormon Message about NieNie (aka Stephanie Nielson). Enjoy!
Thanks for sharing that lil' Trace. LOVE YA!

Week in (>>)

Okay, so My week in fast forward went as follows

school work (mundane, but important)

this KFC campaign kept on popping up into my life:

Random, right? Well, as I was staring at this ad while eating dinner, I told my roomate Laura that if she went to KFC for dinner, she could eat a breast while saving one.

So, next on my week, I tried out for competitive soccer! Of course that only means that I will only be playing against other BYU-Idaho students, but that is Okay with me!

And ever since try-outs (which were friday) I have been severely incapable of doing most normal things. Come on, if you haven't played soccer in a really long time (lets say like 7 years, or so) and you ran around a field for 2 hours, trying to look good, you'd glue your butt to a soft surface too!!

anyway, have a good week!

Happy belated B*day

I totally missed blogging about Heidi's and Nicole's birthday...but since I was conveniently there over their birthday, this late post must be forgiven.

It was funny when I walked over to their house, I totally surprised them. Christian came up to me, and was kind of freaking out and excitedly whisped to me, "Oh my goodness Molly! Your here! Heidi and Nicole are going to be so surprised!"

I think Christian may have been more excited for the surprise than I was.

and this is the only picture I have of them together, them decorating MY birthday cake! Ironic, isn't it?

HAPPY {belated} BIRTHDAY GIRLS! LOVE YOU!

New Spring Semester

So, before I pour my life out into this blog, I am going to give a shout-out to Miss Nicola-Tiara-Elysse-Elliana-Graf (emphasis on the Tiara). She was in the Days of 47 Pioneer Pageant and won the incredible honor of Second Attendant to the Queen!

She is on the Right. Isn't she so awesome? Good job Coley!

I'm sure she Is probably sick of me commenting on ANYTHING that is posted on Facebook about her achievement. Sorry!

My 10 day break in between semesters was great. I got to see a lot of my best friends that I haven't seen in a while (Ambo--Love ya!) and got to talk with them too (Heidi, Nicole, Michal, and Mersadee)

I missed you all the first day I was up here. And I still do.

Any who, School is going fantastico! well to start things off...

I went and talked to a counselor at Weber State to talk to him about all the nitty gritty details. And he made me super excited. He said that they are one of the few schools in the area that allows you to minor in what you want to get your baccalaureate in while getting you AA. He also said that they offer most/all of the areas that you could specialize in with a BS in Radiology. I am so very looking forward to spending my time at that school.

So with the great motivation and determination to get better grades, I am now getting more serious about my classes and education (not like I didn't take them seriously before).

I am looking forward to a great semester full of fun and hard classes and a social life that may be rare!!!