Status Update

Over the last couple of months I have been having a good time :) Christmas was wonderful so was New Years. I had an awesome birthday (although I am not a fan of getting older...) I decided that I am now going to start celebrating the anniversary of my 25th birthday...at least for a while... :) I bought my tickets to go to Hawaii! I am super duper excited about that.

I moved to Richland in December. It is so nice to have my own space. I remember now that I hate paying rent but I suppose that is one of the necessary parts of life. :)
In moving I have changed to a new YSA branch. That was exciting. I was called to be a branch missionary and relief society pianist. I love the branch missionary calling. It is amazing how much you can forget so fast. I remember on my mission setting goals to be an awesome member missionary... looking back on the past couple of years I have not really been living up to those goals. It is nice to have the calling to kind of keep me thinking about it so that I am better about it. The pianist calling kills me. I don't know if it is just a mental block but playing hymns while people sing is super hard for me. I can practice and practice (not saying that I do but I can...) and still the second people start singing I start fumbling all over the place. Luckily though I know that the Lord will bless me for my willingness to serve in this calling. I saw that time and time again on my mission when I had to play in sacrament meeting every single week. As long as I am humble and am ok with making a mistake here and there I can usually get through the hymns.

This last week I was asked to teach RS. The lesson was on service. I love teaching lessons on "easy" subjects. Honestly I learned way more from the comments from the girls in class than from the prep that I did. It amazes me how many acts of service people do. The other thing that amazes me is that even if it was something small or somewhat "unconventional" those are some of the things that touch people the most. I was thinking about it last night and was reminded of the example of one of the sisters in Houston. She was awesome! She was not hispanic. She didn't grow up speaking spanish but her husband was called to be the branch president of the houston spanish branch. So she rose to the challenge. She learned spanish and did pretty much any calling that they threw her way. Oh did I mention that she taught herself how to read music and play the piano too... I remember asking her once if she ever considered just going to church on Sundays and not trying to learn the language (she said it took a good 10 years before she felt comfortable speaking) and her response was awesome...she quoted Matt 25:40 and said that she couldn't not serve. The members in that area needed her to teach the gospel so she would learn. Last I knew she was the spanish stake primary president, she played the piano for her ward (in sacrament, primary and relief society) and she also went out with the missionaries at least once a week.

Work is going well. I am liking my job more and more. Getting up at 4:45 in the morning kills me though...who would have thought that I would actually choose to do something that required me to be not only awake but functioning before 8:00 AM...not me! :)