Portland Day 20 - Some Sun

Key word is some....

I've decided that I'm going to go to Institute, no matter who or how many people show up. There may have been some social pressure to go in Utah, but there's definitely not any here. Regardless, I need to make it a priority. The only catch is it's 2 hrs. long, straight. No breaks.

Afterwards my friends Erin and Aubrey and I checked out the dudes playing basketball at the church. Bahaha, I mean we checked out basketball, which only dudes were playing. We'll start playing with them next week. I played every week with peeps in my Provo ward and will start playing here now. Except there was about 20 guys who showed up to play...... I'll just have to be on the winning team is all. Simple as that.

Portland Day 16 - EVEN MORE SUNSHINE!

This post is going to be about church. I'm not quite sure how I feel about the Singles' scene out here yet. I've heard it's supposed to be pretty good. Until I showed up to church the first day here and everyone was like 18. Ok, that's stretching it. I've been to church 3 times now and each time it gets better. I met some really great quality people today and am getting to know more and more people. The ward is actually an older ward, but there are a lot of kids that come home for the summer.

Here's the thing though. I'm not used to being in a ward of 18 - 30+ yr. olds. My last ward back in Provo was FAB. Everyone was mostly older, around the same age as me and mostly going through the same life experiences. Here, however, there is such a different mix of people. You have people making comments in class about their high school days, about college, about work experience, etc. I just feel like the quality of church here isn't where I would like it to be. Not anywhere near my last ward in Provo. Ok, near, yes. But that's about it. I guess it's my time to SHINE!! I'll show 'em how it's done..... At least it's a very social ward/stake and there is always tons to do and opportunities to meet new people. That's the good aspect of it. Very social.

The Gila Valley Temple Dedication

Yep, there's now a temple in my hometown. The desert of the Gila Valley now boasts gorgeous temple walls surrounded by fields and fields of equally beautiful white as snow cotton (well, only in the Fall that is, but who's telling?) Elise and I flew home for the dedication.

Saturday night was the TCC, or Temple Cultural Celebration, which they apparently have for each temple dedication. We unfortunately didn't get to go to it live at the football field, but watched a broadcast of it at the Stake Center. It was fun and entertaining, but also a bit cheesy. Lots of song and dance to tell the history of the Gila Valley - cotton farming, coal mining, Gila Valley Academy (now EAC), Spencer W. Kimball, the mormon battalion, etc. Pres. Monson opened with a few words and he and President Eyring actually sang a Spanish song. They are quite the pair!

Sunday was the actual dedication and I'm super glad that we were there for it. My mom, dad, and Elise got be inside the temple for it and Sonya, Tyler, and I just watched the broadcast from the Stake Center. It was really nice. Elder Holland gave a fantastic talk among others. President Monson is quite the character! He was outside for the cornerstone sealing and just chattin it up with everyone. He said they were expecting him inside, but he was having too much fun outside :) Unfortunately, we never got to see him in person, but nevertheless it was a lovely weekend.

In addition Elise and I threw Sonya yet another bridal shower (her third one to be exact).

In the Salt Lake Airport on the way home we saw Elder Bednar, Elder Cook, and Elder Gonzalez. They were on the escalators just in front of us. That was my first Apostle sighting! Closer than the Conference Center that is. Perfect ending to a perfect weekend with perfect weather - 90 degrees and sunny! (Might I just add it snowed all day in Utah the following day. Yuck!)

General Conference

General Conference is always one of my favorite weekends. You get to just relax and listen to hours and hours of the prophets and apostles speak words of wisdom. What more can you hope for? It was the weekend right before Lisi's wedding so my Mom was already up. What a better way to spend with the girlies! Snowb's bf also accompanied us :) It was a chilly weekend, but when has it not been rainy for General Conference?

Draper Utah Temple

Today I was able to enjoy the Draper Utah Temple Dedication. It was a lovely service with lots of great talks. Don't tell, but I actually didn't have a white handkercheif so I used a Kleenex instead! Hey, it worked just fine....

The sad part is that I never actually got to go through the Open House like everybody else. I had two chances to go with my ward, but I didn't go since my dad was coming into town and we all had tickets to go together as a family. Well, when it got down to it, the day we were going to go, I got really sick. I had a 103 degree fever among other symptons. My sister was kind enough to take me to the doctor, but there wasn't much he could do. I spent all of 3 days in bed and missed the Open House, which I had been waiting for for weeks. Moral of the story - Don't wait until the last opportunity to do something!!

Related to the temple, I've been thinking about my family a lot lately and how important they are to me. All my siblings live here in Utah and I got to see both my Mom and Dad in the last couple of weeks. I don't know what I'd do without them, that's for sure! I love you guys!!

Gila Valley Arizona Temple

Well here it is! I was in Spain at the time I found out there was going to be a new temple in my hometown for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I was shocked! The Gila Valley (Thatcher, Safford, Pima) is such a small community but we are ready for it! For those of you who know the area, the temple will be built where the ball fields currently are. At first I felt bad for the ball fields, but they don't even compare! The South fields will stay there however. Work begins in January to begin building it. I'm so excited!