The Send Off

President Israelsen came to our home to set April apart.

April packing. "I hope I didn't forget anything!"

A pretty place for good-byes.

Almost there. "Is this real?"

One last hug.

Off she goes!

See you in 18 months!

Farewell

Yesterday was a wonderful, difficult, perfect day.
It was my farewell talk at church with an open house afterwards. As soon as I sat on the stand (actually did you know it is called the rostrum? I didn't) before the meeting started and looked out over all of the people that had come out to support me, I started to cry. I felt so overwhelmed by all the love. I had no idea so many people cared! I was also bursting with the love I felt for them. I was having a hard time holding myself together and I hadn't even stood up to give my talk yet.
Then I gave my talk. I feel very good about it. My subject was "restoration", which is vague enough that I really could do whatever I wanted to with it. First, I talked about the miracle of the restoration of the true gospel in its fullness to the earth. Then I told the story of the restoration of the gospel to my family in little Iola, Kansas, and the miracles involved there. What a blessing it is to have Iola in my mission! Then I talked about having a personal restoration--letting the gospel be restored to you, personally, and ultimately for us all to be restored to our loving Heavenly Father. I took a brief moment at the end to encourage everyone to spread the message of the restoration to the living, dead, inactive, and really just everyone so that we can all be restored to our Father. I ended with the words to the hymn, The Morning Breaks, which is all about the joy of the restoration.
I felt really good about my talk until I sat down and looked at the clock. I had spoken for just over twenty minutes. We sang a congregational hymn, and then the high counsel speaker took only five minutes, leaving five minutes for the stake president. Oops. I probably should have cut something, but no use fretting about it now.
After Sunday School and Relief Society, we headed back to my house for some food. Again, I was amazed by how many people came. Later we did the math, and my mom figures we fed around fifty people. If you know the women of my family at all, you know they were fed well. :)
Then it was time for everyone to leave. I hadn't thought about how hard it would be to say goodbye to my twenty closest friends all in one afternoon. I have been given the gift of weeping, if that is a gift, so when the faucet is on, it is on. I cried a lot. I was sad, but it was a happy sad. I'm doing the right thing. Knowing that gives me the strength to say goodbye and leave, trusting that I will have some friends when I get back. Some goodbyes were harder than others. One of the hardest was my best friend Erilyn, who has been my rock, my strength, my voice of reason, my safe place, my confidante, and my companion on many silly adventures. But she will write me, and this new adventure will be worth it.
What an absolutely exhausting day. I had my final stake president interview and it felt so good to be able to say without a single doubt that I know that I am worthy to go on a mission. There is no question, and that brings me peace. I am so glad.
It was such long, hard day. But it was perfect. I wouldn't change a thing about it. When I am having a hard day on my mission, I will just remember all of those people back at home that are supporting me, praying for me, and that love me. Their love yesterday was overwhelming, but very strengthening. Thanks to all of you. I think it will carry me through my mission. :)
After all that, it was too late to take a nap. So I tried to stay awake until ten to go to bed, but I crashed on the couch at 8:30. I stumbled to bed around 9:30, and slept until 7:30.
I really think that yesterday was the hardest day. Now I am just looking forward to Wednesday, at 12:40. It will be hard to say goodbye to my family, but at that point I won't have a chance to sit and cry like I did yesterday. They will write me, and we are sealed forever in the temple, which is a huge comfort.
I am handing over control of my blog to my sister Amy. She will publish my emails home every week, so keep checking to hear how I'm doing. Letters would be great. Rachel will put my address on my facebook account. I'm in the United States, so it really wouldn't be hard for you to write to me.
"Shall we not go on in so great a cause?"
Yes I shall!!!

Afraid

Sometimes I am filled with the irrational fear that by leaving on a mission, I am giving up all of my friends forever. And that I will never be a part of a fun group ever again.
I am often--usually--much more afraid of coming home from a mission than I am of going on one. It sounds waaaaaaay harder.
I just need to remember to take things one day at a time, and that God won't punish me for serving him. I'll handle it when I get there. No good worrying about it today.
There. I got it out. Now I can stop worrying.

Counting Down

Today is September 20th.
I leave on my mission September 28th.
Do the math--that is 8 days left. Yesterday I realized I was into the single digits, and it really is just unreal.
I am so thrilled, and excited, and nervous. I have no idea what to expect.
I was talking to a friend, and I realized that one of the things I am most nervous about is having everything live up to my dreams. I want so badly to love my mission that I am afraid that I won't love it as much as I want to. I know it is going to be extremely hard and that it won't be what I expect and all that, but I want to love it. I want to love it with my whole heart, and what if I don't?
I try not to think about that too much.
I'm gonna love it.
Then yesterday, out of the blue, I had a missionary experience. It was amazing. I think Heavenly Father saw me worrying a little bit about my inadequacies, abilities, and about whether or not I will like being a missionary and decided to give me a small, teeny, tiny glimpse.
I was sitting at a table in the LDS institute building on USU campus (yeah, I know--missionary experiences don't usually happen in dedicated buildings) and this girl came and sat at my table to eat lunch. I was reading in the Book of Mormon preparing for my farewell talk that is this Sunday.
I politely acknowledged her sitting at my table and went back to reading. Then she said, "Excuse me, but how do you know?" She was staring pointedly at my scriptures. "How do you know they are true?"
After the half second pause I had to take to soak in that, yes, this was happening to me, and yes, a person had just asked me a golden question, I threw together an answer about how happy it makes me feel, how it makes me a better person, and some other stuff. I'm sure I could have come up with a better answer, but I was surprised. Give me a break.
It started an awesome discussion. I asked her questions and listened, and she asked me questions and listened. I learned a little about her background. She was raised in a part member home, and was officially still a member, even though she had been practicing Islam for the past few years. She had never read the Book of Mormon, so she didn't know it was true, and didn't understand the significance of Jesus Christ.
However, talking to her, I think that she does know that the church is true. She's had a hard life, but she remembers how she felt in Primary and in her bishop's home. She's starting to go back to her Single's Ward.
We ended up talking for around 40 minutes until she had to go, and I really felt like we had a connection. It was amazing.
God really had a plan. Often He is in the details. He knew that she was on the brink of coming back and remembering what she knew, and that she just needed to talk to someone about it to remember and recommit. She promised me to give the Book of Mormon a one month try, to see if she could know, too. He also knew that I needed the confidence that came from testifying of the Book of Mormon to a stranger. Not only did it show me that I can, in fact, do it, it also showed me that I loved it. I felt full of joy as I was telling her what I knew. It was awesome. I guess I am ready to go next week.

Doppler Shift

I was chatting with my mom today and realized that I hadn't posted videos of me creating the doppler shift yet! How that happened, I have no idea. These videos are something the world really needs to see. Really.
It all started with me taking a Technology in the Classroom class for my major. One of the assignments was to make an instructional video. I decided to do mine on the Doppler Shift (also known as the Doppler Effect) because it would be easy.
It just so happened that my family came down to Provo to visit me the very weekend that I needed to film. So they got roped into helping me (although honestly they loved it).
So, for those of you who don't know what the doppler shift is, let me explain it to you.
First of all, sound (although this happens with light too, you probably won't really see that if you are an astronomer). Sound is a wave. So it has peaks and valleys, or crests and troughs, or whatever. The distance between peaks (also known as wavelength) determines the pitch we hear. The closer together the peaks are, the higher the pitch.
The doppler shift happens when either the source of a sound is moving, or the person hearing the sound is moving. Let's chose the first case, where the source is moving. So imagine an object producing a sound--a wave--that is radiating all around it, with peaks evenly spaced. If that object starts to move, by the time it releases the next peak, it has caught up a little bit with the peak it had already created in front of it. This effectively makes the distance between those two peaks shorter, meaning the wavelength is shorter, making the pitch higher.
The reverse effect happens behind the object because it is moving away from the peaks it had already created, making the pitch sound lower.
A very similar thing happens when the person hearing the sound is moving toward or away from the source of sound for the same reasons.
I'm sure you are all at least slightly familiar with this effect because you hear it all the time. Make the sound of a car speeding quickly past you. What does it sound like? VAAA-roooommm (higher pitch while it is heading toward you, lower pitch while it is heading away from you).
Anyway, now that you have had your physics lesson of the day, my videos.
We tried to create the Doppler shift several ways (admittedly, some of them just for fun). The last video is of when it actually worked.
Enjoy my silly family. :)
(oh, by the way, yes, that is a kazoo. Also yes, that is a Creamery on 9th shopping cart.)

Losing Wisdom

One last post for the day, I promise.
Yesterday I got out my wisdom teeth! I've never had any kind of surgery before, so I was a little nervous, but it went well. I am very swollen today (much more than yesterday), but it doesn't hurt too badly, so we're good.
Isn't it weird to think about how major surgery--digging under bones to pull out extra teeth--has become so normal? Everyone gets out their wisdom teeth. How strange.
I will give you one picture to laugh about, and that is all.

Don't you think I'm nearly as cute as a Precious Moments picture?

Or maybe Alfalfa?

Perhaps not. Oh, well.

Eastern Escapades: Day 6--Homeward Bound

We were all sad when we reached our sixth and final day. We had had so much fun! It was such an amazing trip and we didn't want it to be over.
The first thing we did was visit the beach of Lake Erie at Fairport Harbor. It was a beautiful morning, and the beach had a lot of perfectly white, beautiful, little rocks. We had fun being barefoot in the sand. There is a lighthouse there that is also pretty cool. This is a Harbor where a lot of saints sailed in on their way to Utah, or out from to their missions, so it is a church history site, too.

Then we drove to finish up Kirtland. First we visited the Morely farm, and then the Johnson farm in Hiram. Joseph lived on both farms at different point in time, and received revelations in both places. Between the two of them, they lay claim to a large portion f the Doctrine and Covenants, and quite a few important revelations. It was neat because the Johnson home is mostly original. It is the site where Joseph was tarred and feathered and still taught a sermon on the front steps the next day. It was amazing to be standing on the very floors that witnessed such strong emotions--here, Emma lost another child, Joseph saw God the Father and Jesus Christ, mobs attacked, many important, amazing revelations were received, and so on. If only floors could speak.

Morely farm. Rachel biffed it right after this picture.

Johnson farm. Probably the room where Joseph had revelations.

A cute farm on the hill in Hiram.

Then we drove to the airport to head home. On our way we grabbed lunch in a chic Mexican restaurant (yes, that is possible). We flew from Cleveland, Ohio to Denver, Colorado and had a short layover. Then we flew to Salt Lake City. We all got to sit next to each other on these flights, which was nice.

On our last flight we rode in a tiny plane. It only had 13 rows, and only 4 people per row. That is less than half of the other planes we rode in. We had to put tags on our carry-ons because they didn't fit in the overheads.

The flight was beautiful. We flew straight into the sunset. Everything glowed orange. There was the perfect number of clouds to make it even prettier.

The best I could do out of a plane window.

We landed around twilight. We swooped over Provo on our way in, and I could see campus, and even could pinpoint my old apartment! I waved hello to all of my friends down there, and got a weird feeling in my stomach about not going back for two years. It is very strange to think about.
We got home around 11. It is nice to be home.
(whew! We made it through all six posts! I hope you skimmed most of that, because that is a lot of reading. But now I have it all recorded! Yay!)