Goals

Well, last week was weird. And it's over. :) I had my latest chemo last Tuesday. I've made a friend that gets chemo every 3 weeks like I do. She's from Beaver, she's super awesome. Her name is Jodi. She's one of those ladies that always brings food. I got lemon-heads last week haha. I expected the week to go fairly smooth, since the first week after chemo #1 did. But this week, I felt bloated and had swollen legs, super exhausted. Ya know, just compare me to whoever you know might be pregnant right now. Hahaha. I'm feeling much better this week. I definitely feel the lack of energy, but I'm doing well. My white-blood-cell count is down, which is expected, but that means I need to be careful that I'm not around anyone sick or that I try to do too much. Yeah, big challenge for me. I consider myself a hugely social person, so this social recluse-ness is definitely testing me. Along with that, I won't be serving at the temple this Friday. Bummer, but especially with the numbers that come into the baptistry, that puts me in close proximity with a lot of people. It sucks. But Heavenly Father knows what He's doing. I just got to sit back and really let him take charge. I've also been going a little crazy. Already. I had a chat with my mom last night, and realized that I need to set some goals for myself. I haven't been doing too great with some things, like scripture reading for example, so I need to pick it up. I'm setting goals like finishing D&C in two weeks, reading more, learning the violin (which, cool story, the family of a girl I went to HS with is letting me borrow a violin for free.), learning more on the piano; you know, stuff like that. I've realized that I've kind of been coasting lately, and I'm not going to become any better by just coasting. Even though I can't physically do certain things, I need to do something. So here we go. Did I tell you my plans for after the mish? I'm getting ready to go to UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY! Woot woot! I applied, got accepted, and am planning a trip soon to meet with my advisor, possibly start apartment hunting, and all that good stuff. That is one great thing about all this time off from the temple; I get to prepare for my fall plans. I'm wanting to go into Speech Therapy, and USU's got a really good program for that. I'm excited for the next step (but all in good time). In other news, I had a crazy dream last night. I don't remember most of it, but it had a shocking twist at the end. Maybe I should dig subconsciously and write a book out of it. That's all for this week. Elder G

Good/bad Week

Sup!

This week has both been bad and good. Monday of last week, my hair started falling out. And that was kind of hard to deal with. Check out my blog for more on that.

After that hard part of the week, I saw so many instances in which I see I've been blessed. It's like for how hard the first part of the week was, the rest of the week was the exact opposite. I had such a good experience at the temple; I got to go through a session with my friend Connor, and had a good experience at the baptistry. It was so busy this weekend!

There are so many things you can learn from the temple. I read, well skimmed, through a book that a couple who used to be a temple president and matron of the Salt Lake Temple wrote. In that book, they gave one example: Heavenly Father loves us each individually. In doing baptisms, it would really be much more efficient to name 50 or even 100 names, and then be immersed for those people, but no, each person for whom we are being baptized for is baptized individually. That is true of all the ordinances of the temple! Each ordinance is done separately. How cool is that? It really shows that we are all unique and loved individually to our Heavenly Father; he loves each and EVERY one of us!

I met with Stake President this Sunday, and he is such a great man! This is my last interview with him; it's no secret that he's getting released this coming Stake Conference in two weeks. So I'll be serving under two mission presidents. He said something really cool... he has loved being a Stake Pres and working with all the YSAs, and he has really improved his relationship with the Savior from serving. He's a great example!

I still have a hard time sometimes, it's hard to be a missionary and only serve once a week, not work, do this chemo; ya know. A mission is the hardest thing I've ever done, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I'm still learning every day in aspects that will help me through the rest of my life and through the eternities. This life really is the time to prepare to meet God.

Well, that's all for this week.

Elder G

Interesting Week

Hello all!

What an interesting week it's been. First of all, I've still felt great. I have felt pretty much normal. Starting yesterday, though, my hair started falling out. So guess that means the chemo is working. (Just a cool little medical note, cause I think it's kind of interesting- if you pull out a piece of your hair right now, you'll notice that the follicle is white. When u pull mine out the follicle is black. So yeah the chemo is killing the fast growing cells... cancer cells, hair cells, and some blood cells. That's a shortened version of how chemo works.) We shaved my head this morning, and I just decided I'm going to start telling people that I need to start looking the part of a temple worker ;) hahaha.

I am a Gospel Doctrine teacher in my ward. I used to really despise teaching, I would much rather just give a talk, but I am really loving it. So hopefully I won't be released from being a teacher now. It's been so so cool to see how I recognize the Spirit more in my life, especially as I teach, and see how the Spirit really is the master teacher. Ether 12:27, your witnesses will become strengths. The gospel is amazing.

Not much else is going on: I'm still doing the temple once a week, I'm still doing indexing and family history. I'm learning more and more to try and find joy in the journey. It's a challenge; being a missionary and everything that comes with it, but going to the temple only once a week and doing chemo... I can honestly agree with those that say that the mission is the hardest [year] of my life. Hard, but SO WORTH IT. I've learned so much.

Have a great week!!

Elder G

Good Week

Sup!

This last week has been great. I felt sick Monday night and Wednesday night, and a little bit on Sunday, but overall have felt great. From what the doctor said, the first week is the worst. I'm surprising myself with how good I've been feeling. This is going to be a breeze. I've been trying to stay busy and at least have something going on, and I think I'm doing good. I've been doing lots of reading, indexing and watching tv. :/ I'm not going to lose my mind and I assure you, life is good!

I have been thinking, I've been praying for missionary experiences, but haven't seen any as in sharing the gospel in person. I think my biggest impact as a missionary has been online, like my blog, and through Family History. I've been blessed with a number of experiences in that aspect.

I didn't go to the temple last week, but I'm going to go on Friday! Woo!! Life is good.

Have a great week.
Elder G