This Wednesday marks the half point of winter semester! This is wonderful, since it means I am closer to being done for a while....but it also means midterms...fun stuff. It's been a great, but very busy past few weeks since I last posted on here. I work a lot, I go to class a lot, I sleep...when I can. But I also try to find time to have some fun in there as well :) Over the holiday weekend I went up to Draper and spent some time with my family up there. That was wonderful to see them, get some wedding preparations done with Aaron and Bethany, and just get a break from school! Just this past weekend I had a movie night with a few of my roommates on Friday. Then on Saturday I went in to work to work on getting some certification training done, ate lunch with some friends, and then went into SLC for the BYU men's tennis match.
My Sunday was freakishly busy, but with lots of good things! My favorite was going to the Provo Rehabilitation Center with BYU's service program (Y-Serve), Adopt a Grandparent. I went with my roommate Brooke and several other girls from our ward. Brooke and I met one woman who has had polio since she was only three years old. She was a remarkable woman who, despite all of her life challenges, she was still so bright and happy. The next person we met was this nice man who we talked with for about an hour (the rest of the time we were there). He has this remarkable story, and has been in nursing homes for about 14 years. He went through a time when he was inactive from the Church and was an alcoholic. Because of this he didn't have the best of experiences with his family and he hasn't seen most of them for several years. But he had these amazing viewpoints on life. He recognized that once an addict, you'll always be an addict, but you have to learn to push past that and not give in. He has such a strong love for his family. He remains so happy about where he's at, even though he's had so many injuries through the years that he has back issues and now memory issues. He notices things about people that others don't always. We were quizzing him to see if he remembered our names. When he got to me he remembered with no problem. I asked him how come he remembered my name so easily, yet struggled with some of the others. He told me it was because of my eyes and the way I look at people when they talk, among other things, that helped make an impression on him and to remember me. I was just so amazed at these people, that have been through so much, but are just making the best of where they're at. It was an extremely humbling experience for me. I realized that sometimes I get upset or frustrated about simple little things like having to take several tests in one week, working an extra shift, or whatever it is. I look up to these people that I met on Sunday, and look forward to seeing them again next week.
Quick update on my friends on Missions: Rachel made it to Finland!! She's been there for a week now and seems to be doing great! I got some emails from her today and loved it! Rhett is in the Mexico MTC and doing well also! I have several friends that are all getting their mission calls now or have in the past couple weeks too. Brooke is going to California May 14th! And there are several more friends who are going to be spread out all over the place! I am very excited for them all!
I'm looking forward to these next several weeks. They're going to contain a lot of stuff (tests, visits from friends/family, work--the usual life of Natalie) but then I will be done and heading back to WA in May! I hope you are all doing well with what you're doing!
My Sunday was freakishly busy, but with lots of good things! My favorite was going to the Provo Rehabilitation Center with BYU's service program (Y-Serve), Adopt a Grandparent. I went with my roommate Brooke and several other girls from our ward. Brooke and I met one woman who has had polio since she was only three years old. She was a remarkable woman who, despite all of her life challenges, she was still so bright and happy. The next person we met was this nice man who we talked with for about an hour (the rest of the time we were there). He has this remarkable story, and has been in nursing homes for about 14 years. He went through a time when he was inactive from the Church and was an alcoholic. Because of this he didn't have the best of experiences with his family and he hasn't seen most of them for several years. But he had these amazing viewpoints on life. He recognized that once an addict, you'll always be an addict, but you have to learn to push past that and not give in. He has such a strong love for his family. He remains so happy about where he's at, even though he's had so many injuries through the years that he has back issues and now memory issues. He notices things about people that others don't always. We were quizzing him to see if he remembered our names. When he got to me he remembered with no problem. I asked him how come he remembered my name so easily, yet struggled with some of the others. He told me it was because of my eyes and the way I look at people when they talk, among other things, that helped make an impression on him and to remember me. I was just so amazed at these people, that have been through so much, but are just making the best of where they're at. It was an extremely humbling experience for me. I realized that sometimes I get upset or frustrated about simple little things like having to take several tests in one week, working an extra shift, or whatever it is. I look up to these people that I met on Sunday, and look forward to seeing them again next week.
Quick update on my friends on Missions: Rachel made it to Finland!! She's been there for a week now and seems to be doing great! I got some emails from her today and loved it! Rhett is in the Mexico MTC and doing well also! I have several friends that are all getting their mission calls now or have in the past couple weeks too. Brooke is going to California May 14th! And there are several more friends who are going to be spread out all over the place! I am very excited for them all!
I'm looking forward to these next several weeks. They're going to contain a lot of stuff (tests, visits from friends/family, work--the usual life of Natalie) but then I will be done and heading back to WA in May! I hope you are all doing well with what you're doing!