Step Three! Opening the mission call!!!!!!!

Well, last night I had a magnificent time watching the stars and sleeping under them even though I was bit by a zillion mosquitoes!

This morning, we water skied and wake boarded for a good three hours and hen we headed home to the white envelope which held my future! :)

The Mission Call!

What the Mission Call Said

Dear Sister Ralph, 

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ or Latter- Day- Saints, you are assigned to labor in the Alabama Birmingham mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 18 months.

You should report to the Provo Missionary Center on Wednesday, January 7, 2015. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the English language. Your assignment may be modified according to the needs of the mission president.

SO YEAH! THAT'S THAT!!! I'M GOING TO ALABAMA Y'ALL!

I can really see myself serving in the south. that is where my sister served. Not in Alabama but in Kentucky. But she has been Southern Training me :) haha. In addition, a really good family friend is Serving in the same area and she is extremely excited for me. in her words its, "The best mission ever!" and she said that I have an awesome mission president. President Hanks. 

I gave my testimony in church when I announced my call, but here it is again. 

I know this church is true. I am so ready to be able to serve the Lord for the next year and a half. I know that President Thomas S. Monson is the true prophet and that we are able to receive revelation through him. I know that Jesus is the Christ and that he lives. I know he loves me, and each and every one of us. I know that he knows us better than we know ourselves, and that he is waiting for us with open arms. I love this Gospel, and I am so happy to be able to share it with the world. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

Step TWO! The mission call!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my goodness! It came it came it came it came it came it came!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so super duper excited I really just cannot hide it! haha I wont be able to open it up until tomorrow because I have decided to go on a lake trip with my family, but tomorrow is the day that I will be opening my mission call! Oh my gosh I am so Excited!

Here's a little game called FAQ!!!

FAQ #1) Where do you want to serve on your mission

ANS #1) Well, I am kind of in the mindset of "I'll go where the Lord wants me to go." With that said, I want to go wherever the Lord needs me. I am sure the place that I am assigned to go has people there that will benefit from my knowledge of the gospel and that is all that I am really aiming for. I just want to serve the Lord by helping others come unto Christ. Also, the place that I am assigned to has been thought about and pondered by one of the apostles, so even if i went to Boise Idaho, or SLC temple square, I know that this is where the Lord really needs me. I know for surety that he wouldn't put me in a place where i don't belong. With that said, i guess I will have some fun and contribute to some guesses. If I were to guess where I would go it would be either Boston, or Norway. Just some places that first popped up in my brain :)

FAQ #2) What are some things you are doing now to prepare for your mission

ANS #2) I am doing a lot to prepare for my mission. To start, I am taking Mission Prep classes at 6:30 am in the morning. I know this is super early and I used to hate to go. In fact, I would complain that "Real missionaries only have to wake up at 6:30 am and that they didn't have to be dressed and ready to go at 630 am." But after some thought and prayer, I finally understand that in order to be prepared for a mission, I have got to be able to be flexible and sacrifice some of my precious sleeping time in order to become a better teacher, leader, and missionary. Another thing I am doing to help me prepare for my mission was suggested to me by my brother in law. He told me that reading through "Preach my gospel" will be beneficial for me. So, what I do, for every topic in preach my gospel, I just have an outline of a 10 minute talk ready to go so if I needed to do a last minute lesson or talk, I would be able to be prepared. "Preach my gospel" has a bunch of great scriptures in it so I am able to pick some and memorize them. Thank you Jon for the suggestion! It's been working! The last thing I am doing to get ready for a mission, believe it or not, is doing the every day things we are told to do. Study the scriptures, pray every night, go to church, fast, and serve others. I made a promise and goal that everyday I would at least take 30 minutes to pray and read my scriptures. I also prayed that the Lord would help me be able to remember that promise and so far it has worked like a charm. Before that goal, I often found myself skipping Scripture study. But now, before I even think of getting into my pajamas, I'm reminded that  "I made a promise to Read the Scriptures every day and that I am going to be a better person if I do"

FAQ #3) Do you have any cooking experience or know any recipes?

ANS #3) To be completely honest, I know how to make a lot of things, however, I am not the best at cooking nor is it my favorite thing to do. So, as I have been getting ready for a mission, I am learning how to budget for groceries, and cook so I will be able to cook stuff when I am gone. I feel it is important to know some basic meals, and I have been trying to like cooking more. I feel as though I am getting better at it, and cooking is not as bad as I thought. 

FAQ#4) Are you excited to go?

ANS #4) I am totally excited to go! However, there is always some nervousness that comes along with excitement. I am nervous of living away from home and away from friends and family. But the thought of serving the Lord and helping others receive the true gospel reminds me to be excited again! This is something that is important to me and I am glad that I have the opportunity to do so at such an early age :) 

FAQ #5) What made you want to serve a mission?

ANS #5) I don't think anything MADE me want to serve a mission. This thing that INSPIRED me to go on a mission, however, was my attitude toward going. 2 of my siblings went on missions and at first it was like "Oh cool, maybe I should go on one because they went." But then, I just got this feeling as though I was being forced to go because that is what other people wanted me to do. I came to a realization that this decision to go on a mission was not up to them. This decision was up to me and the Lord. So I prayed about it and I asked for the desire to serve a mission. My prayer was answered and I have been wanting to serve a mission ever since. My attitude changed from "I am being forced to serve" to "Okay. I want to serve," and that is how I felt I needed to go on a mission.

Those are my answers to those questions! I am so excited to see where I am going!!!!!!

Step One is Complete!

WOW! I FINALLY turned in my papers! It seemed like this was the hardest part out of everything! I had to do all the medical stuff, dental stuff, and insurance stuff and oh goodness, it took forever! I am glad that process is over. Now I am just getting prepared for my mission call! I've got to talk to the Stake President first but after that, it gets sent to SALT LAKE!!!! YAY!

Trip to UT

So! Shortly after Jaden got home, way shortly, we decided to make a trip to Utah since all of our family lived there. We drove all the way there so I got to spend a lot of time with Jaden in the car. We played a couple games of Boggle, Flow Free, Piano Tiles, and he even "Taught" me some Romanian. He brought a book with him that was written in Romanian and I was reading it out loud with him making sure I said things right. We had our own sides of the car as well. Mine was the left side and his was the right side. Don't know why that matters I just thought it was kinda funny. Jaden was able to drive some of the way too. He said it was nice to drive after 2 years of walking and walking and walking. We left at 4 pm so we traveled all night and got to my Aunt Emily's and Uncle Toby's house at 2 am! Holy Moly that's EARLY! I was so tired and wanted to go to bed, however my "Ready to stay up all night" dog was too hyper to let me go to bed. It was a long, sleepless, night. Good thing I slept in the car for a little bit.

When we woke up the next day, I was able to spend time with my wonderful cousins and second cousins. My cousin was living in Toby and Emily's basement and so her kids were able to spend time with us. It was really neat because I don't get to see them very often. Me and Gabi, one of my second cousins, became instant BFF'S. :) Her and Audrey are both 6 years old and they wanted me to spend the whole day with them. So, the first thing I did with them is show them all of Bo's tricks. He just LOVES to show off for treats. We continued to go outside with the boys and swam in the above ground swim pool they have. It was freezing! Bo surprised us by running and Jumping into the pool! We were not expecting that. :) Then after that I took the girls upstairs and did their hair. I did a waterfall braid in Audrey's Hair and I did a bun with Gabi's hair. They proceeded further and wanted me to paint their nails. So, since they don't get to see me very often, I gave in and painted their nails for them. I told them that I was going to play a game with my siblings and play else where so they did so I got a little break. The four of us siblings, and my uncle Toby, played spoons. If you have never seen us play spoons, you should. It is very entertaining and intense. We totally get into it. Later that night, Audrey and Gabi wanted to play with me again, so we went outside and played, dead man dead man, school, and gymnastics. They are such cute sweethearts. I love them. That is pretty much it for that day.

The next day was Sunday, so I got a dress on and went to my sisters ward in Utah. I just went for Sacrament meeting, but even that was amazing. I love going to church. :) After hanging out for a while some of us decided to enjoy the nice weather and sit outside on the lawn to talk. Well, the girls found me and they wanted to play with me. Since I didn't want to get off the ground, I decided that they could make my hair look pretty. After a few braids, clips, and hair ties later, they finished and my hair was Beautiful!

My Beautiful Hair Style

Audrey absolutely LOVES Bo! It doesn't look like it in this picture, but he likes her as well. He will jump on her lap and stuff. It is cute.

This is Jaden with Gabi and Audrey. When I didn't want to play anymore, they went to Jaden as backup. They sure do love their cousins. I remember loving my older cousins when I was little as well, so I could see how they would look up to us. 

Tessa made some cupcakes for Jocelyn's first birthday! She couldn't get them to turn out though, which is weird because they are really yummy! I guess it wasn't a cupcake making day. She re tried them a different day and they turned out better.

After those two days at Toby's house, we decided that we would spend some time over at my dads side of the family. So we packed up, and headed out. We got over at my Grandma and Grandpa Ralph's house and the first thing we did was get ready for Jocelyn's 1st birthday celebration. Everyone was going to be there. It was a really special day because, after we had prepared everything, the whole family got together and we got a full family photo with all the grand kids and all the adults. It will be the only full photo for a while since I will be leaving for a year and a half. I was the photographer, so in order to get into the pictures, we bought a tripod, I set my camera timer, and I raced to get into the pictures. I am glad they turned out. 

The next day, my family went to the Lagoon. If you don't know what that is, it is an amusement park in Utah that we like to go to every year. There are a bunch of fun rides there and it was fun to go as a full family again. I absolutely love my family and our traditions! I am glad that all four of us got to spend all day together just like old times. 

After the Lagoon, we said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa and headed back to Toby's. Once there, me and Audrey took a bunch of selfies. :) Surprised faces, normal faces, sad faces, mad, faces, cool faces, funny faces, you name it. It was fun to get to spend time with this little girl :) Gabi as well. And all my other cousins, and aunts, and uncles, and siblings, and gandparents, and well EVERYBODY. This was a really really good trip. Too bad we had to go home the next day.

This was Jocelyn's first birthday cake which mom let me decorate :) Grandma helped me with it too.

I hope that I will be able to see all of them gain. For now, I am home in AZ and enjoying the warm weather and spending time with the After School Program kids at work :) Life just keeps getting better.

Mission Accomplished!

I am happy to announce that my brother came home from his mission! It has been so nice having him back, especially because the house isn't so vacant and quiet all the time :)

I had this countdown on my phone that allowed me to track how many days, hours, minutes, and seconds he was going to land in phoenix and it has been pretty exciting as the time just gets smaller and smaller! When the timer finally got to the last day I was so happy :) I could not hold in my excitement at all. My mom made a beautiful banner to hang on the garage for when he came home and I was in charge of the posters. Thankfully my best friend Emily came over and helped out with the posters because I was able to rant to her about all of my excitement.

This is the welcome home banner Mom made for Jaden. I thought this was pretty clever!

The day he came home was so weird for some reason. I remember that that day just flew by so fast. Every time I looked at the clock, time whizzed by. His plane didn't land until 5 pm and so me, Tessa, Mom, and Dad kept ourselves busy with work, babysitting, chores, and going to the temple with friends. For some reason, while I was babysitting, I became way nervous! I could not understand why I was so nervous though. My mom told me that she was nervous too. I guess I just wanted me and Jaden to have a good fresh start. We both argued in the past so I guess I was nervous that we would fight again, haha :)So far, we have been good friends.

Besides the nervousness, it finally came time to go to the airport. All of the welcoming crew loaded the car and headed out towards the airport. However, we got there super early so we had to wait for a long time for him to get off the plane. During that time of waiting, we took a few pictures!

This is us, dad was taking the picture, waiting impatiently for Jaden. Look at the signs I made :) 

When his plane FINALLY landed me and Tessa tried guessing how many people it would take to get off before he actually appeared. We said something along the lines of, " I bet that he will step off the plane in the next 16 people." We had to keep betting different numbers because we were both wrong the whole time. Why did he have to sit at the back of the plane!?


Then, he finally appeared! And we screamed and cried and hugged him and caught him up on a few things. He was even able to meet sweet baby Jocelyn. He had never seen her before so that was cool.

Here is him when he got off. He was way tired and you could see Jocelyn wasn't too thrilled either.

That night, we went to dinner at Cafe Rio. Jaden said that he didn't have Mexican Food at all there and he was craving it so that's where we went for dinner. Yummy! Later, we went to go set him apart and he gave his testimony in Romanian! So COOL! and after that we went home :)

He was able to give us gifts and he gave me this BEAUTIFUL painted egg shell. I don't have  picture of it but it is white and blue and just beautiful. I have always wanted one so YAY! Thank you Jay :) After that, Jon and Tessa and the baby headed home while I watched Frozen with Jaden. We had to stop the movie halfway though because he was so tired. Overall, it was a really great day and I know that seeing my family after a year and a half will be an amazing experience as well. :) This was great missionary preparation for when I am off and away Serving the Lord!

New Begginings

I got this blog when I was 15 years old, but I have barely written anything!  Now that I have graduated from high school, I will be updating everyone on some exciting things that are happening in the near future! For starters, I am going to go on a mission!!!!!! So I will be posting many things that led up to that point such as my mission call, going through the temple for my first time, departure, and MISSION LETTERS! :) haha. And who knows. I might be keeping this for later events following my mission. Like the big "I Do" day. Or just college fun. Or both! :)