A Temple

A part of preparing to going on a mission is the temple endowment. I am humbled and thrilled that I will receive the temple endowment next week in St. George, the temple that my ancestors helped build when they moved to Utah.
I've been thinking about how important the endowment is for missionaries and why missionaries get it before they go. The more I read, the more I understand how amazing the endowment is and how much missionaries need the blessings that come from it!
Here are a few of my favorite scriptures on the topic:
D&C 109: 22-23 (really, all of D&C 109 - the dedication of the Kirtland Temple - is amazing)

22 And we ask thee, Holy Father, that thy servants may go forth from this house armed with they power, and thy name may be upon them, and thy glory be round about them, and thine angels have charge over them;
23 And from this place they may bear exceedingly great and glorious tidings, truth, unto the ends of the earth...

then Isaiah 2:3

And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord , to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

And lastly Revelations 7:13-17

13 And one of them elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes: and whence came they"
14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, no any heat.
17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

I just love these scriptures!! I can leave his house armed with power, with His name and glory around me. His angels will have charge over me! I will learn of the gospel, and learn the law. I will be one of those that have "come out of tribulation" and "washed my robes", and in return I will hunger and thirst no more and God shall wipe away all tears from my eyes.
A mission is a really hard thing. Going for long days in all kinds of weather, facing daily rejection of something so important to who I am, working with people I am struggling to understand and love all will be things I have to face. It's really scary. But what a comfort it will be to be endowed and carry those promises of protection and power if I live worthy of them. It is wonderful.
Recently I found out that a temple is currently being built in the Missouri Independence Mission in Kansas City. It will be dedicated next Spring, about 6 months into my mission! I'm so excited! As a missionary there (especially as a Visitor's Center missionary) I will most definitely get to be a part of the open house and dedication. Researching it is my new distraction for when I should be doing something else. :)
It also means that there will be a temple in my mission, so I will get to go while I'm out! Yay!

This is a picture of what it will look like when it is done. Beautiful.

Calamity Update

Remember my sadness about my oven yesterday? Well I tried it again this morning, to see what would happen, and discovered that the bottom coil in my oven is entirely broken. I turned on the oven for a few minutes, and I could safely touch the bottom coil, even as hot air billowed out of the oven at me (from the top coil).
So my oven really is broken, and it is nearly in the same way as last time. Hopefully they replace it sooner this time (it took over a month last time).
Here is my totally sad face: :(.
I am going to be making good friends with my neighbors.

Calamity!

This morning I made biscuits. My particular biscuits bake at 425. I turned on the oven nice and early so it would have time to preheat.
As I went to put in the biscuits a good15 or 20 minutes later, the air coming out of the door at me didn't seem very warm. I looked up at the dial, and noticed that the little light hadn't turned off yet. The oven wasn't finished preheating yet. How strange. Well, it wouldn't take much longer to preheat, so I put in the biscuits anyway.
10 minutes later I checked the biscuits to see their progress, expecting big, puffy, browning mounds of deliciousness.
Nope.
I checked the dial again.The oven still wasn't preheated!! And I'm sitting here in my kitchen with my sad face on and with an oven that won't heat higher than 350 (and that took a good half an hour!).
What am I going to do?? Cruelty - of all people, this had to happen to me. And I was so hoping to be able to finish my 25 lb bag of flour by the end of the summer. Bummer.
And I think my biscuits may be ruined. :(

Just for the Day

Some days I just don't like the same things that I do other days.
Some days I wake up, and Physics just has no appeal to me anymore, and I am simply not a physicist. I am an artist. :)
Today was like that. I can do physics fine, so my job still is fine, but it isn't as exciting as it is most the time. It is almost like my brain is rebelling and going on holiday. I guess that means that the left side of my brain just quits and lets the right side take over completely for a day. I probably shouldn't enjoy those days as much as I do, but as I sit typing in my chaos of a kitchen (paints and all the rest of the junk that goes with painting strewn everywhere, pain on chin and thumb) I am very happy about it. These days could happen more often and it would be okay.
Sometimes on these days I am a dancer. That's fun, too. My pianist days don't happen very often anymore. I wonder if all scientists go through sudden day career changes. Or maybe I am just not a real scientist. That's okay too. What about real artists? Do they have scientist or scholar or writer days? Do professional musicians have random days when all they want to do is build things? Or do doctors suddenly have a longing to be a professional chef? Or do chefs suddenly desire the life of librarian?
I would like to think they do.

Weird Songs

This week I have been introduced to two very strange songs. The problem is that weird songs have a tendency to be very memorable - they have been stuck in my head allll week.
The first was a friend in my ward. Apparently some people hadn't believed her that it was a real song, so she found it to show to us.
"Happiness Runs" by Donovan (skip in about a minute or so - the intro is boring)


The next one is one that my sister claims was popular when she was in high school (the '90s). I can't seem to believe it for some reason. It probably is one of the weirdest songs I have ever heard.
"Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by Crash Test Dummies


What do you think? Yeah, that's what I thought.