It has been much longer than I intended it to be since I last posted. I am down to 15 days until I leave for England! I received an e-mail today from the UK Border Patrol saying my UK visa has been issued, so I am all set to go!
It has been an interesting last few months...
I always made fun of the people that started dating someone new and were engaged six weeks later (or less) and married within like three months of meeting each other. But, as is a common saying, something is most likely to happen when you least expect it to. That has been so true for me.
Four months ago I went on a date with this boy. We had so much fun together, and it was a great date, but nothing happened right after. About a month later we went out again, and the exact same thing happened. A month later we went out for a third time. This brought us to May. Then he took me out for dinner the day before my birthday at the beginning of June; we saw each other once a week until I left for Peru for 10 days. Since I came home from Peru, I have seen him every day except this past week while I have been out of town.
I get it now. I understand the falling in love and wanting to get married within six weeks. And honestly, if I weren't going on a mission, I might be at that point. I love him. I really do. And I would marry him very soon if I weren't leaving, but he and I have both prayed about it and know that it is the right thing for me to do...that I need to go on my mission. The plan is he'll wait for me with the hope that we'll get married when I get home.
He's amazing. Everything I have ever wanted. Plus so much more. I am so thankful for him in my life.
But one of the reasons I love him is because he prayed about me going on a mission and received confirmation that I need to go. And he is supportive of that. Though we're both sad I leave in 15 days, we know it's the right thing. As much as I will miss him, I can't wait to get to England! Two weeks left!
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Monday, May 27, 2013
The Mission Bucket List
I like lists, what can I say? That feeling of crossing off something because you've accomplished it? It's a feeling like none other -- a vital part of how I function.
So I made a bucket list of things I want to do before I leave for England in August.
So I made a bucket list of things I want to do before I leave for England in August.
- Ride the Alpine Slide
- Lagoon
- Make homemade ice cream
- Hike Angel's Landing
- Skydiving (done)
- Camping
- Dog Lake
- S'mores up the canyon
- Zoo
- Take some ballet classes
- Go to a Bee's game (done)
- Hike the Living Room (done)
- Go to a drive-in movie
I don't know if all of them will get done, but that's the start of the list.
Monday, April 15, 2013
ELM
I didn't want to make my last post too long, so I saved some extra information for a second post.
Let me tell you a little about this future home of mine: London, England.
My mother was born and raised in a little fishing town on the east coast of England.
This little fishing town is in the
England London Mission.
England London Mission.
My mom's entire side of the family lives in England.
Every single British relative of mine lives in the
England London Mission.
England London Mission.
My grandpa was in charge of the building of the fishing town's first chapel.
Again, this fishing town is the
England London Mission.
England London Mission.
England is, I would say, my second home. I've always wanted to live there.
I'm going to live in the
England London Mission.
England London Mission.
Brother 1 and my grandparents served in the England Leeds Mission.
I'll be serving in the
England London Mission.
Last summer I spent two weeks in England with my mom and fell in love, feeling right at home.
All of my time spent there was in the
England London Mission.
In fact, just a couple weeks ago I said to my mom that if I got sent to England, I probably wouldn't get as homesick because I really feel like it is my second home. Though she did warn me that if I went to England, I wouldn't be able to live on Cadbury's milk chocolate. That could be a struggle.
England London Mission.
Last summer I spent two weeks in England with my mom and fell in love, feeling right at home.
All of my time spent there was in the
England London Mission.
In fact, just a couple weeks ago I said to my mom that if I got sent to England, I probably wouldn't get as homesick because I really feel like it is my second home. Though she did warn me that if I went to England, I wouldn't be able to live on Cadbury's milk chocolate. That could be a struggle.
Me and England are clearly meant to be.
Let's just say that Grandpa Coleby and Great-Granddad Coleby had a hand in that one.
I can't wait to serve in the England London Mission.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Called to Serve
I decided on November 18, 2012 that I wanted to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I graduate from the college this May (yes, that's next month!), and for a long time I had no idea what to do next. I like to plan ahead and having no idea of what to do after May frightened me to death. I spent a lot of time praying and going to the temple asking for Heavenly Father to help me figure out what to do. And when I say a lot of time, I mean I started doing that in August. Three months later, it hit me like a ton of bricks one day in sacrament.
"Go on a mission."
After that, there was no question in my mind. My mom commented multiple times that I seemed so relaxed and pleased with my decision, and I have felt that way since day one.
The Lord told me, "Go on a mission." So I am.
The Lord told me, "Go on a mission." So I am.
Brother 2 gets married July 27th, and there is no way on earth I was going to miss his wedding, so I listed my availability date for August 1, which meant my papers couldn't go in until April 1. November 18 to April 1 was a long four and a half months of waiting. It made me extra eager and anxious when my stake president called last Thursday and told me it would be here Wednesday.
My intention was to open it on my own and get comfortable with where I'm going before I shared it with my family, but my sister-in-law (yes, that's you, Alison) did not appreciate that idea. So all my siblings and their families came over, and I'm so glad they were there to rejoice when I opened my big white envelope.
So today...
I had Mission Prep this morning, then went straight to work, then picking the nephews up from school and then straight to teaching piano. As I took my nephews from school to Great-Grandma's, we drove past my house to see if the mail had come yet. Brother 2 was standing on the front lawn waiting for the mailman whose truck was parked in front of the house next door, but he was a few houses away. I hurried my little boys to Great-Grandma's and hurried back just as the mailman walked up the driveway. I ran in through the back door, through the house to the front door, but Brother 2 beat me there, grabbed MY white envelope and HELD IT HOSTAGE FROM ME! I mean it! He wouldn't give it to me! I had to go teach piano, so I left with threats that he would open it and read it first.
Meanie.
Mom and Dad hurried home from Zions to be home by 5:00; Brother 2 asked permission from work to go in an hour late; sister and husband left work early to get there; little sorority sister, Brother 1 and wife came straight from work. Everyone, including the pizza man, was there when I got home. I was too anxious; I couldn't wait very long to open it. I sat on the piano bench and unsealed it, yelling for everyone to hurry into the living room.
I pulled the papers out, glanced at the last line of the first paragraph (I knew that's where it was) and totally jaw-dropped, bug eyes open.
Brother 1: "Did you read it?"
Me: "Of course I did!"
This time out loud...
ENGLAND LONDON MISSION
WHAT???!!!
I mean...how appropriate. Look at my background. It's been that way for months.
I mean...how appropriate. Look at my background. It's been that way for months.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Bible Bash
In my last post I wrote about my weekend trip to New York to visit Neeners, a friend I hadn't seen in two and a half years. It was a great weekend, but what I didn't include was the oh so interesting plane ride home.
There's always that moment when you're about to board a plane by yourself that you can't help but think, "I hope I don't have to sit next to someone crazy. I hope the person next to me is really nice and doesn't snore or fidget too much." I have it almost every time I fly (because more often than not I fly by myself). I had this daunting thought as I boarded the plane after my layover in Detroit. When I saw my seat I noticed the couple sitting next to me looked quite normal -- late 20s, maybe early 30s, conservative, well-dressed, etc. "This will be a peaceful flight home," I thought. I took my seat next to the wife in the couple, Jenny. She did not snore, did not fidget too much and was not crazy. However, how someone as kind and sane as her is married to the man that sat next to her, I still don't understand.
Jenny and her husband are from Orem, but they had been in Michigan visiting family. I told her where I was from and where I had been. She asked about my England sweatshirt and phone case, and I explained that my mom lived in England until her family moved to Utah for the church. I stupidly assumed that a young, conservative, out-of-state couple now living in Orem, Utah was probably Mormon, but I didn't say anything. As soon as the plane was in the air, the man, Tom, pulled out his Bible, which looked like it was in a different language from my seat. Again, maybe he served a foreign-speaking mission and was reading the Bible in that language. I asked him about his Bible. If I had known what that question would bring about, I probably would not have asked.
Keep in mind that I have been working on my LDS mission papers since January (look out for an announcement of my future home in about a month) and had just spent the day at Palmyra where the Book of Mormon was found by the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Tom asked if I was Mormon and when I said yes, he asked why we don't use the cross as a symbol in our church. I honestly believe this was a sincere question he didn't know the answer to, but it was probably the only sincere question of the flight. Thankfully, we had just discussed this in my Mission Prep class a couple weeks ago, and I told him our church prefers to focus on the resurrection of Christ rather than the crucifixion. He couldn't wrap his mind around that; without the crucifixion the atonement would not exist. True, but without the resurrection the Atonement also would not exist. Moving on.
Next he asked what we believe the Gospel to be. I told him we believe the Gospel to be the events and teachings of Jesus Christ's life. He didn't like that. He referred me to 1 Corinthians 15, which, as he interprets it, says that the Gospel is the crucifixion and resurrection, and that's it -- nothing more -- and that because we believe differently we are not Christian. I have definitely heard people protest that the Mormon church is not Christian, but usually it's because we believe the Godhead is three individual people. Yes, 1 Corinthians does say the Gospel is the Atonement, but nowhere does it say that is it and nothing else. I asked him if he calls Matthew, Mark, Luke and John "The Gospels." He said yes, so I said that they teach the teachings of Jesus Christ, not just about the Atonement and that without the teachings, we wouldn't have sins to be forgiven of. Thankfully I had my Preach the Gospel (missionaries' manual) on me, so I read him the definition of Gospel out of there, which says: "God's plan of salvation made possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The gospel includes the eternal truths or laws, covenants and ordinances needed for mankind to return to the presence of God." This debate continued for a while, and finally I said, "It's just different interpretations," to which he chastisingly replied, "Yes, very different, I'd say." I told him it was fine if he didn't agree with our interpretation.
Then he asked about the period we believe exists between death and judgment. I told him we did believe that after death you could be forgiven of sins before judgment because you can't repent 24/7, and of course you are going to have some sins between the time you repent last and the time you die. This was also not okay with him. He referred me to another scripture that says something like, "There is death, and then there is judgment." He said he didn't see any space in between those two events. I wish I had thought of this while I was sitting next to him, but I should have said, "When I tell my friends I'm going out of town for the weekend, I say I'm going to New York, not that I'm going from my house to the airport, stopping in Detroit, then going to New York. I just said I was going from Salt Lake to New York." I said that, again, it was just a different interpretation, and it was okay if he didn't agree; you can't teach someone who doesn't want to be taught.
He asked if I had served a mission, and I said I was preparing to go so this was good practice, thanks. He kind of smirked and shut up for a minute. I fully admitted to him that I didn't know the Bible as well as he did (he knew it really well, but he is a Baptist Bible teacher), but that I was only 21 and hadn't really had that much time to learn it so well since I had figured out for myself that I believed the church to be true and realized how important it was to me. He made some comment about how that was good that I had taken the time to figure it out for myself instead of just believing what my parents had taught me while growing up. I told him that our church encourages that people figure it out for themselves and that's why we baptize at eight when kids are more accountable for their actions and know the different between right and wrong better. That answer shut him up for a bit, too.
He was very narrow-minded and definitely wanted to try to prove to me and the kid on the other side of him that our church was wrong, but neither of us were going to let him convince us of that. I bet he didn't think that when he started that conversation that he would be sandwiched between a BYU student and a future missionary. He really wanted to Bible Bash, and I'm sure he does it a lot as a Baptist Bible teacher in Orem, Utah, but I didn't want to get into that, so I told him it was fine if he didn't agree with our beliefs. But trust me, I wanted to bash so bad. Though it took me a while to get my grounding and stop feeling flustered, it was good missionary practice.
And his sane wife sat in between us with her eyes closed not saying a word the whole time. I'm sure she was thinking, "Oh boy, here he goes again."
There's always that moment when you're about to board a plane by yourself that you can't help but think, "I hope I don't have to sit next to someone crazy. I hope the person next to me is really nice and doesn't snore or fidget too much." I have it almost every time I fly (because more often than not I fly by myself). I had this daunting thought as I boarded the plane after my layover in Detroit. When I saw my seat I noticed the couple sitting next to me looked quite normal -- late 20s, maybe early 30s, conservative, well-dressed, etc. "This will be a peaceful flight home," I thought. I took my seat next to the wife in the couple, Jenny. She did not snore, did not fidget too much and was not crazy. However, how someone as kind and sane as her is married to the man that sat next to her, I still don't understand.
Jenny and her husband are from Orem, but they had been in Michigan visiting family. I told her where I was from and where I had been. She asked about my England sweatshirt and phone case, and I explained that my mom lived in England until her family moved to Utah for the church. I stupidly assumed that a young, conservative, out-of-state couple now living in Orem, Utah was probably Mormon, but I didn't say anything. As soon as the plane was in the air, the man, Tom, pulled out his Bible, which looked like it was in a different language from my seat. Again, maybe he served a foreign-speaking mission and was reading the Bible in that language. I asked him about his Bible. If I had known what that question would bring about, I probably would not have asked.
Keep in mind that I have been working on my LDS mission papers since January (look out for an announcement of my future home in about a month) and had just spent the day at Palmyra where the Book of Mormon was found by the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Tom asked if I was Mormon and when I said yes, he asked why we don't use the cross as a symbol in our church. I honestly believe this was a sincere question he didn't know the answer to, but it was probably the only sincere question of the flight. Thankfully, we had just discussed this in my Mission Prep class a couple weeks ago, and I told him our church prefers to focus on the resurrection of Christ rather than the crucifixion. He couldn't wrap his mind around that; without the crucifixion the atonement would not exist. True, but without the resurrection the Atonement also would not exist. Moving on.
Next he asked what we believe the Gospel to be. I told him we believe the Gospel to be the events and teachings of Jesus Christ's life. He didn't like that. He referred me to 1 Corinthians 15, which, as he interprets it, says that the Gospel is the crucifixion and resurrection, and that's it -- nothing more -- and that because we believe differently we are not Christian. I have definitely heard people protest that the Mormon church is not Christian, but usually it's because we believe the Godhead is three individual people. Yes, 1 Corinthians does say the Gospel is the Atonement, but nowhere does it say that is it and nothing else. I asked him if he calls Matthew, Mark, Luke and John "The Gospels." He said yes, so I said that they teach the teachings of Jesus Christ, not just about the Atonement and that without the teachings, we wouldn't have sins to be forgiven of. Thankfully I had my Preach the Gospel (missionaries' manual) on me, so I read him the definition of Gospel out of there, which says: "God's plan of salvation made possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The gospel includes the eternal truths or laws, covenants and ordinances needed for mankind to return to the presence of God." This debate continued for a while, and finally I said, "It's just different interpretations," to which he chastisingly replied, "Yes, very different, I'd say." I told him it was fine if he didn't agree with our interpretation.
Then he asked about the period we believe exists between death and judgment. I told him we did believe that after death you could be forgiven of sins before judgment because you can't repent 24/7, and of course you are going to have some sins between the time you repent last and the time you die. This was also not okay with him. He referred me to another scripture that says something like, "There is death, and then there is judgment." He said he didn't see any space in between those two events. I wish I had thought of this while I was sitting next to him, but I should have said, "When I tell my friends I'm going out of town for the weekend, I say I'm going to New York, not that I'm going from my house to the airport, stopping in Detroit, then going to New York. I just said I was going from Salt Lake to New York." I said that, again, it was just a different interpretation, and it was okay if he didn't agree; you can't teach someone who doesn't want to be taught.
He asked if I had served a mission, and I said I was preparing to go so this was good practice, thanks. He kind of smirked and shut up for a minute. I fully admitted to him that I didn't know the Bible as well as he did (he knew it really well, but he is a Baptist Bible teacher), but that I was only 21 and hadn't really had that much time to learn it so well since I had figured out for myself that I believed the church to be true and realized how important it was to me. He made some comment about how that was good that I had taken the time to figure it out for myself instead of just believing what my parents had taught me while growing up. I told him that our church encourages that people figure it out for themselves and that's why we baptize at eight when kids are more accountable for their actions and know the different between right and wrong better. That answer shut him up for a bit, too.
He was very narrow-minded and definitely wanted to try to prove to me and the kid on the other side of him that our church was wrong, but neither of us were going to let him convince us of that. I bet he didn't think that when he started that conversation that he would be sandwiched between a BYU student and a future missionary. He really wanted to Bible Bash, and I'm sure he does it a lot as a Baptist Bible teacher in Orem, Utah, but I didn't want to get into that, so I told him it was fine if he didn't agree with our beliefs. But trust me, I wanted to bash so bad. Though it took me a while to get my grounding and stop feeling flustered, it was good missionary practice.
And his sane wife sat in between us with her eyes closed not saying a word the whole time. I'm sure she was thinking, "Oh boy, here he goes again."
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
The Empire Strikes
Two and a half years ago we ran down the concourse at the Sydney International Airport because we were about to miss our flight to Canberra. That was the first day we met each other, and there was an immediate bond between Nina and I. We spent four weeks in Australia and a week in Fiji having adventure after adventure!
Then we went two and a half years without seeing each other, and I missed her! So when her boyfriend called to say I should come out and visit in New York, I immediately said yes! So this past weekend I flew to western New York: Thursday to Monday.
Day 1: Rochester, RIT (where Nina went to school), Fingerlakes District and Silver Linings Playbook
Day 2: Slept in, grocery shopping and lunch, then a jewelry party at Nina's with some friends & family
Day 3: Niagara Falls and Buffalo, including the original home of buffalo wings
Day 4: Palmyra and Hill Cumorah and then saying goodbye :(
Day 1: Rochester, RIT (where Nina went to school), Fingerlakes District and Silver Linings Playbook
Day 2: Slept in, grocery shopping and lunch, then a jewelry party at Nina's with some friends & family
Day 3: Niagara Falls and Buffalo, including the original home of buffalo wings
Day 4: Palmyra and Hill Cumorah and then saying goodbye :(
Garbage Plate of Man vs. Food--so much better than it looks and sounds!
Freezing cold at Niagara Falls!
New York Palmyra LDS Temple
Anchor Bar: Home of the Original Buffalo Chicken Wings
Monday, January 28, 2013
Shopping Secrets ;)
I have decided to share my knowledge (albeit limited knowledge) of shopping.
I am no fashionista (I asked my mother to put together my outfit for church today). But I do like to try to save a pretty penny.
1. uvshopping.com
I am no fashionista (I asked my mother to put together my outfit for church today). But I do like to try to save a pretty penny.
1. uvshopping.com
- Designer clothing straight from China. I still don't know for sure if they're fake or legit, but it people have to ask me, then who cares? Obviously they can't tell. I've bought so many pairs of True Religions from them, and they're only $20 each at the most. It's so cheap...just beware that when you make an order, Western Union does charge like another $14 for the money transfer.
2. factory.jcrew.com
- This one is cheaper than the JCrew outlet. And let's be real, who doesn't love a good price on JCrew. It doesn't have everything, but it has most things...definitely all the basics. Love JCrew.
3. modcloth.com
- Hundreds of everything, from skirts to blouses to swimsuits to coats. The options here are endless. Some of the stuff is really expensive, but some of it is reasonable, if not cheap. And it's good quality. They have some really funky things and some really conservative things. But really...no matter your budget, taste or occasion, you can find something that works and that you like here. But do beware that items change quickly here, so your favorite item may not last too long!
Happy shopping!
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