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

Chemo and indexing

Hey!

I started chemo yesterday. I feel like it went well, I was able to have food from the hospital cafeteria, and life is swell. Well, as swell as chemo can get. :) I felt a little sick last night, but today haven't felt too bad.

I started something last week, I decided to index every single day. It's been a goal I've been able to stay true to so far. I didn't really get how indexing helped in the grand scheme of things until I started to go through my FamilySearch. When you index something, say a marriage record or an obituary, you can attach that to a person on FamilySearch. I found a family last week that had only a father, mother, and two kids on the record. There was a record suggestion in the mother's file of a census, and on that census there were three more children that were not on FamilySearch. SO based on that, I found three children! I'm not saying this to brag, but it just shows how useful indexing really is. So if you're not ready to jump into your family tree yet, at least do some indexing. When you are able to find family names and people who have not had their ordinance work done yet, it makes each temple trip that much more special! :)

One of my good friends, Connor, just got home last week! I didn't think that I'd be in Cedar for both my friends leaving AND coming home, but it is so awesome. Missions are amazing- NO MATTER WHERE YOU SERVE! I'm so glad I get to serve my mission, even if it's just once a week right now. Once again, I'm learning patience. Hope you all have a great week!!!

Elder G

4 weeks later...

Hello! It's a good thing I'm a service missionary, because if I had been in a different country and not emailed for 4 weeks my mom would probably chop off my head. :) So let me tell you pretty much how the last 4 weeks went down. I'd get past my p-day, Tuesday, and forget to send out my email. Then Friday would come around and I figured I'd just wait til the next week. Repeat. And now I'm jumping the gun... happy Monday! Guess what?? My birthday is on Wednesday. Big bad 21. :) :) :) This Christmas break has been really great. Guess what Chris and Allie (my brother and sister-in-law) got this year? A baby. Haha! My niece Renae is doing so good, and especially for being 6 weeks early! I loved Christmas this year, and this year I really focused on paying more attention to Christ and his life and how it relates to Christmas, more than just his birth. It made Christmas that much more AWESOME. I'm so grateful for our Savior. How blessed are we?? Health update: I finished my 6 weeks of treatment. BOO FREAKING YAH!!!! So happy that it's over. Radiation wasn't near as bad at all this time. Chemo was the B. The last week I pretty much felt like crap the whole week. But it's gotten so much better and the only thing I really feel now is tired. :) We are meeting with the doctors in Cedar on the 19th and will talk about more chemo. It's not a yes, but not a no. "We'll see" is all I can tell you right now. MISSION UPDATE: when I met with Pres Crankshaw last month, he said I could start going back to the temple as soon as I felt good enough to, but start slow. I still need to talk to Present Arnold, like TOMORROW, but I'm hoping to go on Friday of this week, and just go once a week for a little bit and work back into it. The 19th will kind of tell me how things will go as far as my mission too. I'm so glad I can serve a mission where I'm able to play it by ear and it's easy to work around my health. A lady I work with in the cafeteria sent me a really neat Christmas present. She drew it herself and captioned it "Gray Matters". It is a picture of the Savior Jesus Christ. The best part about it is that it's so true. We all matter to Christ. Every single one of us. And he loves us all SO much! Don't forget it. :) Anyway, have a great week. Thanks for all your love and prayers! Elder G

Treatment Week 6

Treatment Week 6

DONE!!!

I finished my six weeks. The last week, just about every day was a nauseous day. I didn't have too much energy, and I noticed how tired this has made me.

I've been just relaxing and getting back into somewhat of a routine. One of the hobbies I've had lately is finding things for cheap and selling them for more. For example, I got a nice film camera with a good lens, five various lenses, and a smaller film camera all for $70. Everything works, and so far I've sold the big camera for $120, the smaller camera for $25, and two lenses so far for $25 total. So far I've made $100 profit. Boo yah.

HEALTH UPDATE:
As I am finished with treatment, I get to rest up now. I'm still able to do just about anything but find myself with less energy. My neck is pretty red (like a sunburn) from the radiation, but oh man, SO MUCH better than last time.

We will meet again with the doctors on January 19th, about 5 weeks. At that time, we will see where we are at, and discuss the possibly of more chemo (but not radiation- fist pump!). More chemo is not a definite yes, but its not a no.

MISSION UPDATE:
After talking with President Crankshaw last week, he said that whenever I felt good enough, I could start going back again. Wait until I think I could last a whole day down there. He suggested to start off maybe just one or two days a week and work back into it. He said to just work with the temple on talk those details.

I don't know what the future holds, I feel like I have some big decisions to make, but I'm learning more every day to rely on the Lord. It feels like every day has been a challenge lately, especially trying to improve myself at home and being a better family member! I think that's something we could all work on, right?

Spiritual note... I just hit the book of Moroni. It maybe have taken me almost a year, but I'm just about finished with the Book of Mormon. My deadline is Dec 31st.

If you have an extra minute, look up the "40 Days and 40 Nights Challenge"... They have some charts that can help you read the entire Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and New Testament in 40 days each- or the Old Testament in 80 days.

That's all, folks. Keep running.