Church

I get excited for Sundays. I enjoy seeing the people there and feeling the Spirit. Today my new bishop called me into his office. We sat down and chatted for a few minutes. He wanted to get to know me a little bit. So we chatted and then as he was wrapping up the conversation he asked me if there was anything he could do for me. I don't think i have ever answered this question with anything but "no", "i don't know", "i don't think so", or "i think i am good" before. You know, home teachers ask it, VT ask it, bishops before have asked it. i never have anything, or want to bother them. Today i said "yes." Today i asked my bishop for a calling. He smiled at me and said "in fact we do have a calling for you." And he gave me a calling. I am not officially called or sustained, so i don't think i am supposed to say what it is, right? So get excited for a post next week.
I also knew that he was going to give me the calling he gave me. I was not surprised at all. I was thinking today about why i thought to ask my bishop for a calling. Usually i shy away from the bishop cornering me with that "calling" look in his eye. I think it is because i am nervous he is going to give me a calling that is going to be super hard for me like teaching Sunday school or something. With all those people starring at me for like 40 minutes. Yeah, it scares the trash out of me. But today i wanted a calling. Do you ever have those moments in your life where you know you need something in your life to challenge you spiritually? Or to make you better at something? Or to force you to get involved? (i don't know if that even makes sense.) I knew the calling he would give me. I knew it would be hard. But i knew that i would be better for it. And i am totally drawn to anything that can take the focus off my life. Off the struggles, and the worry that i am completely stupid for moving to TX all together. I need something good and uplifting and happy in my life to escape everything else. Maybe this calling will be it.

A Christmas Event

Yesterday I hung out with the fam (the people i live with...that is what i call them). We went to (the husband) Tom's brother's house which is north of Dallas. Tom is one of 11 children so there was going to be a ton of people there. I had been warned that Tom's family (like Tom) are a little bit out of control. So i thought since they don't know me, and it is Christmas i should wear my mistletoe headband. For those of you who haven't seen it...it is a headband that i got when i was a kid with a tall, skinny spring on it that sticks strait up in the air over my head (about a foot above my head). It has a plastic mistletoe on the top. So no matter where i go, i am always under the mistletoe *wink* *wink*. I thought it would be funny. So i bust into these people's house that i don't know with mistletoe on my head. I got some strange looks, and some kisses. Mostly on the cheek, but once on the lips. It surprised me a bit. I haven't been kissed on the lips in quite some time. lol.
But it was a really good time. there was good food, and since Tom's family is originally from Ohio, they all know how to play Euchre. It's not Christmas without Euchre. So got my euchre on, in a tournament. It was a good time. Tom and i won a couple of games.

Updates

A few things i have been meaning to blog about...
1. I did end up cutting my hair. I talked about doing it on my facebook and got a large response from it. I cut it like a week and a half ago and just haven't got around to blogging about it yet. i do have a picture and I will post it soon. Promise.
2. I will be back in IN in a week. I am so excited! My mom and I are going to go Christmas shopping in Indy. Should be fun.
3. I might be running in a 5k when I am home (in Indy). It is still up in the air. I love that I have been training inside or in 65 degree weather and it is expected to be about 35 degrees in IN next weekend. I might die.
4. I loved loved loved New Moon. I saw it twice last weekend. One of those times was the opening showing at 12:01 am on 11/20. I am a dork. I know.
5. I am probably going to be playing some football tomorrow for Thanksgiving. I happen to mention this to my manager today and he raised one eyebrow and asked if I knew how to play. Of course my response was "So just b/c I am a girl, I don't know how to play football?" He fumbled thru some words about that is not what he meant, that he was just surprised. lol it was fun to make him squirm.
6. I started reading the book "the host" a couple of weeks ago. i had been taking it to work and reading it on my lunch breaks. Everyone kept asking me what i was reading. Once i told them it was about aliens (in a nutshell) they all looked at me like i was weird. it was really fun to read it again. I didnt really cry in the book. I almost did a few times. I feel a little heartless since other people (who shall remain nameless) cry so much in this book and everytime they read it. Normally i feel like i cry more than anyone else, so i feel weird that i didnt. oh well.

Frosh

I have been meaning to write this post for a couple of days now. Some 10 years ago Amy and I drank this soda called Frosh. It is an off brand and is trying to copy something like the soda Squirt. Not quite Sprite, but still a lemon lime flavor. It was pretty gross, although I think we drank it the whole night. But my life was never the same after. The frosh probably had little to do with that, but i still associate the two together. :)

Eight years ago (tuesday, Nov 17) I was baptized and made a member of my church. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It has been a crazy whirlwind ever since, but 8 years!!! wow! I am so blessed and so thankful! Happy Birthday to me!!!!!

Out Sick

I am out of work today...Sick! Mostly i just have a cold and have almost lost my voice. Since all i do at work is talk on the phone, it doesnt work out so well to go to work. i feel pretty good though. So i thought today i would take some time to get some things done that i dont usually get time for during the week.

I won a $150 gift card to Walmart at work the other day. I feel a shopping spree coming on. What to buy though.....Should i be responsible and buy much needed groceries and gas, or splurge and buy something fun? (that i shouldnt really have to feel guilty about since it is free money)...like a digital camera to replace my 4 1/2 year old one? Or buy some DVDs that i have been wanting for a long time? Or more work clothes to replace the ones with holes in them?

I am also teaching the RS lesson at church on Sunday. So today i need to dig through endless unopened boxes to try and find my JS manual to work on the lesson. I should also clean my room and call the credit card company.

Speaking of the credit card company. I have a credit card through Citi and they sent me a letter saying that as of Nov. 30, 2009 my interest rate is going from 13.99% to 29.99%!!!! not because i paid late, or didnt pay, just because they can. I can opt out but they will have to close my card. I am totally fine with that! i need to call and see if this letter is legit! it doesnt seem like they can really do that, but i dont know that for a fact. I might have this credit card paid off by then anyways, but i am not going to take my chances. You can bet if that is where all their credit cards are headed, they are going to lose not only my business, but a lot of business all over. So dumb.

I might go to the gym today too. Today is my day to use the leg weight machines. I have been using weights at the gym lately. I am always sore the next day, so i feel like that is good, right? I do cardio too, but i have been trying to focus on building muscle. It burns fat, or so i hear. I do arms one day, legs the next, abs the third day, and all cardio the last. 4 days a week. not bad. I do a little cardio on the days i lift weights too, but not too much.

Those are my plans for the day. Fascinating!! (i'm sure)

Fears

After reading Amy and Mimi's blog entries about fears...here are mine.

1. Horses- They are so big and strong and they scare me. They can buck you off, step on you and you are done. I rode a pony once when i was a kid. It scared me too.

2. Snakes and slugs- Mostly i just think slugs are the most disgusting things alive, but they scare me a little too. Snakes on the other hand scare me enough that just seeing one on TV makes my stomach tie up in knots. The people i live with just so happen to tell me the other day that they have a lot of garden snakes in their front yard. Now every time i walk to or from my car i jump at twigs. It's not good.

3. Heights- I would love to skydive and bungee jump just to say that i did it, but i am pretty sure i would never make it out of the plane or off the ledge. Did you know there are people who skydive without parachutes!?!?! On purpose! They don't die. And they are so causal about it. Look it up on YouTube.com. i promise. it is crazy!

4. Scary movies- I cannot handle them. I have dreams about them later and then refuse to get out of bed at night to go to the bathroom. I am convinced that there is some murderer out there waiting for me to flip on the light in the bathroom and kill me. There is definitely something to be said for feeling comfort under your bed sheets. (I am totally serious.)

I have other fears but they are more realistic. These, i guess, are my irrational fears.

Pray like a prophet

I was reading through my journal the other day. That is always amusing. But a couple of years ago when I was at the Purdue Singles Branch we had an FHE lesson by Matt Christiansen. It was a great lesson that has stuck with me for a long time. It was how to pray like a prophet. Elder Bednar had spoken to him and a bunch of other missionaries when he was on his mission and had told them a story. (Unfortunately I don't remember all the details, but the point will come across) He was talking about an early prophet in the church who was with a group of men and they were away from their homes. At the time they couldn't get back home and they were starving from lack of resources in the area. They had finally found something edible in area to eat but it was making the men sick and not sustaining them like they had thought. At first the prophet prayed to find better things to eat that would not be so hard on their bodies. He prayed for a while for this but nothing seemed to be coming along. It finally occurred to him to pray that their bodies would learn to digest the food and would give them nourishment. After that the men got better and regained their strength.

As Matt was telling us this story it occurred to me that his prayer worked because he was praying not for the world to change, or for God to change, but that he could change. We are not on this earth to conform the will of the Lord to our situation, but to be more like Christ and to fit ourselves to the will of God.

I was thinking about this on my drive home last night. I was wondering if i have ever prayed like a prophet. And if i have, if i have ever been changed to fit my circumstance. It came into my mind a time when i was with Amy. It was about 10 (or so) years ago. (Amy, you will love this story.) We were in Muncie and locked out of Amy's house. We both had to go to the bathroom really bad. I think we were both dancing on her porch. No one was home, and i am pretty sure Amy was laughing hysterically. (Which often occurs when she has to pee.) Cell phones were not a popular thing at the time and neither one of us had one. We were trying to figure out what to do. We decided on saying a prayer. I think Amy said it. And at some point she prayed that we wouldn't have to go to the bathroom anymore. We said Amen and both looked up at each other, neither one of us having to use that bathroom anymore. It was the early days of my (LDS) church going experience and i remember it made a huge impression on me. It still does. It showed me that the Lord loves us so much that he cares about even the little things like when we have to go to the bathroom. Amy's mom pulled up shortly after and Amy and I called dibs on which bathroom we would take.

So i have decided i am going to start praying more like a prophet.