Australia Adelaide Mission (AAM)

Well, it certainly doesn’t seem right for me not to have written anything about my mission call on my blog, so I’ll have to rectify this inequity. Friday the 13th (oOo) of February I got a call around 10:30am from the head resident telling me that my mission papers had just arrived, and, despite the fact that I was in the library, I loudly told her that I’d be right over. Once I received my papers I ran up to my dorm and locked the door, because I wanted to open my papers alone. I then propped my camera on my chair, said a prayer, turned on the camera, and started to open my papers.


Beforehand I had decided I wanted to read the paper word for word and slowly make my way to the location I would be serving, so I used one piece of paper to cover up the lines. This only cover the paper vertically, so I ended up reading the word Australia before I even got there. Anyway, it was humorous when I got to the name of my mission because I didn’t know how to pronounce Adelaide. I’ll post the video up soon enough.


According to the Adelaide mission site “the mission is mostly focused on the Adelaide city and country areas surrounding it (about 3 hours drive each way)” and that makes up about “90% of the mission”. So, despite the AAM’s immense size I’ll probably don’t have that great of a chance going into the heart of Australia.


Um, more facts I guess. 90 Elders are currently serving in the AAM. General Conferences are held in Australia one month AFTER they're held in America… When I leave from Salt Lake it’ll arrive 2 days later than when I left and I’ll be way tired. Um, so I thought I’d just say a little about where I’m going. I can’t wait!!!

I wanna know

My papers still haven’t arrived and I’m getting more anxious to see where I’ll be serving for two years. For goodness sakes I almost feel like a little kid the eve before Christmas. I had trouble quieting my thoughts down enough to fall asleep last night, which is what used to happen around birthdays and Christmas time when I was a kid. Then I go throughout today and the time mail arrives comes and goes and I don’t get a call from my head resident. Oh well, it’ll come soon enough.

Horror

I’ve didn’t watch many horror films before I came to college and now it’s become a fun thing to do with my dorm friends during the weekend. Often we’ll make the experience even better by ordering four medium sixed pizzas that come relatively cheap due to some special. Then we’ll pop some popcorn, get some drinks and settle down to a movie most of my friends have seen, but I haven’t. And on occasion we’ll finish around 1:00am or 2:00am and decided to watch another one, because the first reminded one of my friends of another good movie.


I can’t say really love horror and it’s not all we watch, but I think it’s nice to have been able to delve into the genre a little. That and it’s totally a good guys experience in the dorms, in college.

Beginning of semester two

It isn't quite the same this semester as it was last semester. For one the weather is much colder and snow abounds. For another I miss many of my Fall semester friends that aren't here this semester. Our group of eight guys has shrunken down to four. And it is more like three when Colin spends all his time in classes, studying, and visiting tons of girls. Oh well, more power to him. =) oh, how rude of me. Nate's friend is here this semester and is his roommate. He's pretty cool and he's incorporated into the group. But still it feels small in comparison to last semester.

This isn't a bad semester though. I've gotten a fairly good start on much harder classes and the snow does add a new element of fun. When the snow is good Nate, Tyler, Chris (Nate's roommate), and I go snow skating and sledding. I'll never be good at snow skating and neither will my friends, but it is rather enjoyable to try. Here's hoping I don't break my leg the semester.

Emily is also here this semester and she is in my Book of Mormon class, which is fairly entertaining. And after class I get to walk her to her next class, which I do enjoy. We also have started to workout at the gym together and have gone on several double dates with the help of her roommate Amy. But finding date ideas here in Rexburg is very difficult, especially when you have no access to a car.

Anyway, I'll try to post more blogs more often.

facial hair

Since I can't have facial hair at BYU-I and I'll be going on my mission after that I decided to grow mine out for a week. I know it isn't much and I didn't let it grow for very long, but I thought I should at least take some pictures of the results.

It seems like my hair grows like my dad's. I have patches of hair that really doesn't grow and it's the same with dad's. Oh well, it's not like I would ever seriously want facial hair.

Home

It’s good to be back in Austin again and it’s nice to eat free food again too. Oh how I’ve looked forward to home cooked meals, because ramen and pop tarts can only satisfy one so much.
Since I’ve gotten back I’ve had the chance to see some of my high school friends again and surprisingly enough none of them changed much appearance wise. I expected them to all dress differently, have beards, and have their ears pierced. Not that I want them to look weird like that, but I just kind of thought they would. Anyway, it was nice to see them again and go rock climbing with them.
I’ve also seen some of my church friends again this week. On Sunday I was able to finally see Emily and Jarom again. And later that night I went to a game night dealy with them and had fun being around them again. Then Tuesday night I took Emily to the trial of lights and we’ve decided to get back together. Woot, woot!
This break is also a break in which I started working on my mission papers. I’ve finished almost all the paperwork on my end and have finished with the medical side of things. All I need to do now is go to my dentist today and take a picture of me in a suit. After that the paperwork on my end is about done.

Two more weeks!

Well, I only have two more weeks of school left and then I'm finished with my first Fall semester here at BYU-I. I sat down this morning and plotted and scheduled out my last few weeks here. I now know what I need to study and how much time I need to spend on each class. It's a daunting task, but the grade report of a 90.8 in my Humanities class has given me enough positive pressure to push through this last stretch.

I can't wait till I come home and eat some home cooked meals. As of right now I eat basically eat the same thing every day. It varies a little, but the selection I have is limited. I also can't wait to see Emily and Jarom. I'm looking forward to seeing them the most.