Time is a dear friend also...

So as I mentioned in my previous post, on June 24th I hit my year mark of being home from my mission. Can I just say that I LOVED my mission!! I did! It was fantastic. I learned so much and I can't imagine my life without my experiences there and the lessons that I learned.

One of the greatest lessons that I learned was that there is nothing as constant as change. :) I had the great opportunity to serve with A LOT of missionary companions! :) The MTC should've been a good indicator of how many companions I was going to have on my mission (I had 4 companions in the MTC…most missionaries usually have one, two at the most.) I'm just SO hard to get along with. ;)

I am so grateful for all of the lessons that I learned with each one.

1) Hermana Barnhurst (MTC):

She taught me about having charity. She is such a sweetheart and cares so much about people. I really appreciated her and what she taught me about seeing others as Christ would see them. Love this girl and she is just my little Starburst! :) More to come about her…she's great!

2) Hermana Wilder (MTC):

She taught me about teaching by the Spirit and following the Spirit in all that I do. She had such a passion for teaching and I just truly respect her. She cracked me up as well. Such an optimistic spirit and I just adored her to pieces.

3) Hermana Roberts

(MTC):

Holy Cow! This girl killed me! We had such a blast together. She just cracked me up all the time. We would eat a lot of bread (like good Dominican bread) together and always promise each other that we would cut down because we were starting to pack on the weight…haha…we never did though. The bread was just too dang good! On the serious side though, Hermana Roberts taught me SO much about faith and trusting in the Lord. I was so grateful for her example to me.

See that loaf of bread above…that's what I'm talking about…SWEET bread! SO good…oh good Dominican food…I miss it.

4) Hermana Altan (MTC):

She is probably one of the sweetest people that I know. She taught me about quiet humility and respect for everyone. She was such a great companion and I learned so much from her. She was convicted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I just adore her for it. She was an anchor to all those around her. What a great person. Love that girl!

5) Hermana Santos (Trainer-1st transfer:Aguas Buenas):

She taught people by the Spirit and she just was rockin' awesome. She taught me the importance of obedience and taking time to serve others. She also taught me how to plan with a purpose. I was SO grateful that she taught me those things. She had a rock solid testimony and she was hilarious! Very passionate about missionary work! :)

6) Hermana Fuentes (2nd companion-2nd transfer:Aguas Buenas):

She was such a good teacher. She taught me about finding balance in the mission life and how to serve others with love and compassion. She was such a good example to me about the importance of order, organization and cleanliness in all that we do. She is just such a sweetheart and good friend.

7) Hermana Lespin (3rd companion-3rd transfer:Aguas Buenas):

She is a rockstar! Just so full of the Spirit and knew how to help the people that we were teaching! We had a lot of fun together and became such good friends. It was fun to teach with her and we just had so many great experiences together. We taught a lot of interesting people together, especially one man who looked like Santa Claus. He was great…

8) Hermana Archila (4th companion-4th transfer:Aguas Buenas):

LOVED this girl! She is so smart and just SO hardworking. We were able to see a lot of miracles together. She taught me a lot about humility, forgiveness, charity, patience, virtue and strength. She was always full of great ideas and of ways that we could improve our teaching and serving those around us. I learned SO much from her. She is AMAZING! :)

9) Hermana Lucas (5th companion-5th transfer: St. Thomas)

I ADORE THIS GIRL!!! We had a BLAST together. It was such a great experience to work with one another. We shared so many amazing experiences together serving people on the island of St. Thomas. She is such an amazing teacher and friend to everyone that she meets. Her sense of humor kills me. She's married now and is pregnant…which is CRAZY to me…but she deserves every good thing that's possible. :)

10) Hermana Mijangos (6th companion-6th & 7th transfer: St. Thomas)

She is AMAZING! Not only is she a master chef…BUT just a master teacher and loved to serve everyone that we met. I cherish the time that we spent together as companions. She taught me a lot about teaching, learning and growing from my mistakes. She was always so encouraging and strived for her best effort to serve. She helped so many people in ways that I don't think she realized. She's fantastic!

11) Hermana Calderon (7th companion-8th & 9th transfer: San Lorenzo y Gurabo)

LOVED this girl! She is just such a powerful teacher and good friend. I loved to watch her teach because she had such conviction, power and love when she taught others. She was also a kick in the pants, very fun and funny. I loved all of our in-depth conversations that we had and how we were able to see many miracles together as well.

12) Hermana Castillo (8th companion-10th transfer: San Lorenzo y Gurabo)

This girl is SO crazy fun!! She is so energetic, passionate, talkative, happy and caring to other people! She taught me a lot about enthusiasm, energy, goodness and charity. She was always so much fun to talk to and I just learned something new from her each day. I am grateful for her example in humility, patience and diligence. She is fantastic!

13) Hermana Barnhurst (9th companion-11th and last transfer: Barbados) Yep we got the opportunity to serve twice together!

It was fun to serve with her a little bit longer than I did in the MTC. She taught me about having a lot of love for other people. Honestly, she is such a sweetheart and is always looking for opportunities to show her love to others and serve them. She is a champ, through and through and I was SO glad that I had an opportunity to serve with her twice.

14) Hermana Guzman (10th companion-11th and last transfer: Barbados)

I LOVE this girl. We were in the MTC together and we just bonded from the first day. We wrote each other a lot on the mission and were each other's confidants and friends throughout the whole mission. She taught me a lot about humility, patience, faith and putting complete trust in the Lord. She is a ROCKSTAR because she taught me about the simple things in life: like serving and loving other people.

Honestly the BEST part of my mission was developing relationships with people. Most importantly, I am so grateful for the relationship that I developed with my Father in Heaven, the Savior and the Holy Ghost. I am grateful for the things that They taught me and for Their patience, love, understanding and that the fact that They never give up on me. I am SO grateful for the wonderful people that I taught and served. I adore them. I love and miss the people of the Caribbean. They are a loving people who serve constantly. I am grateful for my companions and a Mission President and his wife who taught me SO much. I just adore them.

Every important mission in our lives involves developing quality and loving relationships with people. I am so grateful for the amazing people in my life and especially for the relationships and lessons I learned on my mission.

It kills me that it's been a year…but I've learned that time is a dear friend also.

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

EM

An Embem Summer...

The past couple of weeks have been fantastic! Okay, so parts of the past couple of weeks have been fantastic. But when I reflect upon my life…how can I not think that my life is fantastic? Sure, there definitely are moments in life where we freak out and think, "Oh my goodness…what am I doing with my life?" This has been my thought process for the past two months! :) BUT…I love how talking with certain people, mainly my Mom, helps me put things into perspective.

This lady right here, the one in the green…is my inspiration.

She has a way of helping every person feel that they are special, loved

and

honestly the most important person in the world. When I think of who I have learned the most from in my life, I think ofmy wonderful parents, and especially my mother. Both of my parents have taught me wonderful principles and been fabulous examples, but my Mom and I share a special bond…probably because I'm very similar to her and how she was when she was my age. Yep, she's crazy, fun-loving, outgoing and at times a little too enthusiastic for some… ;). (When my mom was an early morning seminary teacher (this is a church scripture class for 14-18 yr. olds that meets M-F at 6 a.m.), she would have her students sing this upbeat song to get them excited for the class…let's just say that were some who weren't as enthusiastic to sing at 6 a.m.

She is a woman of great faith, courage and wisdom. I ADORE this woman and pray that one day…I can be almost as good as her.

So my Mom is the best. So is my Dad. And I adore my siblings and nieces and nephews. One thing that was a blast last week, was my brother and sister-in-law and their kids came down to visit. SO great! We ended up chatting 'til 1 a.m. and it was just such a delight. I LOVE my family! A couple of Sundays ago, I was over at my sister's house and we ended up "Facetiming" with my Dad (for Father's Day) and the rest of the family. We all talked for about 4 hours…it was FANTASTIC! I think I've used fantastic at leas

t 10 times in this blog post, but that's how honestly I feel right now. :)

So…there really isn't a point to this blog post, or at least a theme per se…I'm just rambling…as usual, BUT can I just say that life is good? LIFE IS GOOD! :)

Oh…I got a haircut! I was so tired of having longish hair and it's so stinking hot…so I chopped it…and I LOVE it! :) So here it is:

OH! Also…on June 24th…I hit my year mark of being home from a mission…more to come later.

Life is Great, Outstanding, Optimisticly Dang GOOD!

Life is GOOD! This is what I've decided. :) Well, actually I decided that a long time ago...but I think it's important to have a daily reminder that life is SO good! So...if you're in doubt...just remember that everyday is good, because

1) you're alive and breathing and 2) Jack Black is too. This past month has been an interesting one. Full of fun, frightening and fantastic decisions to make. Can I get a job? Where to find a job? Where to live after August? Go to grad school? Yay for decisions! But honestly, the first month of being 25 has been a good one. Here are three reasons why:

3 Reasons

Why My Life is SO GOOD

#3: Jack Black exists...I have seen him...well kind of...

Two weekends ago I got together with some of my dearest friends in the world. We ate at the fantastic restaurant of Zupas. :) I have a confession, I have a not-so-secret crush on Jack Black. Yes, at times, he is inappropriate...BUT he is so hilarious. Judge me. Hate me. I can take it. But I adore him. I don't know what it is, but if a guy can make me laugh...I'm a goner.

Do I care if he wears his hair in a nasty part? No.

Do I love that he plays a sweet electric guitar? Yes.

Do I think that Jack Black can pull off the "blond" look? Yes.

Do I think that Jack Black can pull off any hairstyle? Yes.

Is Jack Black sensitive? Of course! How could he not be? He cares for de orphans.

Can men look good wearing "stretchy pants"? If you're Jack Black, yes.

Anyways...SO we were sitting in the Zupas, chattin' it up as girls do AND then this guy sits down, who looks exactly like Jack Black. I think my heart stopped. I looked at him and had a moment of silence to commemorate the experience, then I told the girlies to look over. Not gonna lie, there was a spark, but then he was with a girl and I thought better of it. But for one moment, one short moment, I saw Jack Black...well kind of. :)

#2: Coldplay released their new single, "Every Teardrop is A Waterfall."

Before my mission, I went to see Coldplay in Salt Lake. It was AMAZING!

Best concert of my life!

Click on the link. It'll change your life.

#1: Two weeks ago, one of my best friends, Sarah, made a surprise visit from AZ!

A couple of days before Sarah came into town, I was talking to Miss Chris and told her that I was wishing that Sarah was there so the 3 Amigos could be together again...and Miss Chris knew that Sarah was coming and kept it a secret. Then on Saturday, someone knocked on the door, Chris answered it...and let's just say that I was in shock! It was a fantastic weekend!! Life is SO good when you have great friends who are ALWAYS there to stand by you!

So this post is really long, which is usual for me...but these are three fantastic ways why my life is SO GOOD and why I feel so blessed! Life is good. The Gospel is True. I love my fam and friends. What more can I ask for?

LOVE LOVE LOVE!

EM

Memorial Day Thoughts...

So I've had the great opportunity this weekend to relax and be SUPER productive! Amazing, how that works out...ANYWAY...but since this has been a quiet weekend, I've had a great opportunity to think and ponder a lot about, well, a lot of things. First off: my weekendhas been full of watching, "Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman" (DQ). For my birthday present, I bought myself the complete series set...obsessed?...just a little bit. My good friends and I during my freshman-junior year of college would get together and watch episodes together and bond. :) One year, we were SO consistent with it, that we would have weekly, if not daily, times where we would watch it. We decided to call them, "Sully's Nights In." Me, being the ever-so bright person and dyslexic at times person,said, "Hey, let's call them S.N.I. nights...SINnights!" (Oh my dyslexic brain at its finest ;)...but the name stuck...so we would call them sin nights. One might say that we were a little ridiculous or purely evil, especially at church when we would ask each other if we wanted to sin that night and people would look at us weirdly...probably wasn't the wisest thing to say, but I digress...

Why do I love DQ? It could be because of my small ounce of feminist spirit that loves to see it when women prove to themselves that they can do anything, no matter what others say. It could be because of my love for Sully (some Twilight girls would hate me for saying this, but Sully could TOTALLY take Edward...I mean really? A vampire vs. rugged mountain man...no comparison). But let's get serious here...so my lo

ve for DQ began when I was a little girl and would go over to my best friend's house, who lived next door, and we would watch it with her family, every Saturday night. Her parents are like my second parents and we would just have a blast. I'm so grateful for family...not only my family, but people in my life who have become like family!

Secondly...I've been thinking a lot about Memorial Day and how grateful I am for war heroes and veterans. I love America!! God Bless America!! I am so grateful to live in a country where I have the right to live and have religious freedom. This country was divinely founded and established.

I love the Constitution. I truly believe that it was inspired by God. I pray that as Americans, we can remember the Constitution and what it says. I think too many times, we forget about it and the rights that it gives us. We are blessed and I feel at times that we take it for granted. At least, I do. So I am grateful for my ancestors who fought for my freedom and for the freedom of my family. I've been thinking a lot lately about my grandpa who served in WWII. He didn't have the easiest of jobs, not that any military service is easy. He was an ambulance driver and after a battle, he was the one that needed to pick up the battle remains. I can't imagine what that would do to a person. It's no wonder to me that for a long time he didn't believe in God, he couldn't imagine why God would allow those things to happen. But in time, he came to know that God does live and that He loves us and that He loved him.

So...not wanting this to be a novel, although it is, I just want to thank our military for their service and for our veterans and let them know that I appreciate it. God Bless America! We are so fortunate...and truly God Bless the World! We all need it.

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

EM

What Am I Grateful for? : LIFE!!

Okay so I promised myself that I was going to be good at this whole "blogging" thing because I am trying to become more of a social media guru and understand what the rave is about these blogs! SOO here we go!

The past week and a half I've been thinking a lot about a lot of things (shocker, I know...sometimes this little brain can think...it's an amazing thing) ANYWAY...so I've been thinking a lot about life and how grateful I am for it. I've had the great opportunity to be home with my family the past couple of days and I when I am with them, I can't help but count my blessings and realize how blessed I am. Here are some blessings to name a few:

1) My Mom and Dad are the greatest parents on earth. They care SO much about me and want the best for me and everyone around them. For my birthday, they took me to go see WICKED, which I've been dying to see for the past 6.5 years. It was amazing and it was such a great blessing to go with the two people that I love most on this earth.

2) I have AMAZING siblings. The other day I was talking to my brother and sister and they just knew exactly what I needed to hear. Isn't that the best? I mean, I know that Heavenly Father loves us because He provides for us people in our lives who can buoy us up and be great friends to us. My sibs are my best friends and for that I am really grateful. They teach me SO much about life and how to be happy. They are my heroes in so many ways. LOVE them!!

3) LIFE: Really life is so great! I miss the NW SO much!! It is so great and beautiful and SUNNY!! It's interesting to see how much a place can bring a person so much joy. Heavenly Father's creations are gorgeous and when you think about it, if He had wanted to, He could've created just a sphere that was ugly and plain, but no, He loved us SO much, He created mountains, valleys, trees, grass, beaches (Caribbean beaches-LOVE THEM!) and such great people and animals. Hmm...life is GREAT! I am a fan!!

Okay...well these are just some of my thoughts today. Life is GREAT! I am SO grateful for it and I am amazed at how much the Lord loves me and all of us!

So what am I especially grateful for today? LIFE!!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

EM

P.S. Yesterday, in the WICKED program, the cast member who played Elphaba said in her bio: LOVE LOVE LOVE...I turned to my parents and was like...HEY! I was meant to see her perform because we say the same things!! She was incredible! SO TALENTED!! :)

Emmanzaa Day #7: FiNaLe

Okay so I'm a little slow at posting this last one...SOOO my 25th Birthday was FANTASTIC!! I am grateful to have lived this short...and I'm grateful for the next 75 years that I have left! So in order to celebrate the final day of Emmanzaa...I thought that I would spread the love by passing on some goodness to others that I had received from another. I have great friends, they are the best and I am just so grateful for them!

So I had this delectable goodness called, "BYU Mint Brownies," if you've had them, you know what I'm talking about. I had a little box of them and I was going to go home and share them with my roommates, but as I was walking home, I walked past the bus stop and I just felt really strongly that I needed to give them to this girl that was sitting there.



It was like one of those things, I'm sure you've all had them...where you just get this feeling or thought that pops in your head and you're like..."Wait, a minute...I need to do something for this person." I've learned that it's always a good thing to listen to this little voice in your head, some people call this your conscience or an inner voice or their personal Jiminy Cricket...but whatever you think, believe, feel about it, I feel like it's always a great thing to listen to. So I stopped mid-step and stood by the people in the bus stop. Then I was like...okay this is weird because she's probably going to think, "Who's this crazy chick that's giving me brownies?" So, I just waited there awkwardly there for a little bit, and stared at my phone, pretending that I was looking up something...then I got up the courage and gave the box to a girl. She was taken aback at first when I asked her if she liked brownies, but then she just got this HUGE smile on her face and thanked me.



Lesson learned through this experience: a lot of the times when we think that people won't like something that we do for them, we're wrong and they're very appreciative for the things that we do for them...so as Steve Urkel would say, "Don't fret, my pet!" I think a lot of the time, we worry about what other people think and really, they don't care, and if they do care, then who cares! :) When you feel like you need to help someone or do something for them, DO IT! Don't worry about what they're going to think, say, etc. But just follow those feelings. You'll be blessed for it...and more importantly THEY will be blessed for it. (Stepping off the soap box now...)

I have loved my Emmanzaa experience and although I might not blog about my experiences everyday from now on about how I was able to look out of my selfish self and help people around me, I hope and plan to have these little "Emmanzaa" experiences everyday.

Life is great. Heavenly Father is so good to His children and I know that I need to treat others as such, Children of God, my brothers and sisters. It kills me when I think about how many world problems we could solve, if every person understood this concept. :)

OK..so here's the end of Emmanzaa....I'm super excited for my 30th birthday because there will definitely be a HUGE celebration!!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

EM

Emmanzaa Day #6: I Love to See the Temple!!!

So today was a different type of service which is honestly, mostly a service to myself. Today I went to the temple and feel of the goodness of life and the love of our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ. Whenever I go into this beautiful and sacred place, I can't help but feel completely floored by the love that my Heavenly Father has for me and for everyone that has ever lived, lives and will ever live! We are SO SO SO blessed.



I am grateful for so many things. The greatest thing about the temple is that it is a place where families can enter into covenants or promises with God that last for not only this life, but for the eternities. I know that is true. This life is just a step to greater blessings and happiness that I can't comprehend!! I love the scripture in the Book of Mormon, where King Benjamin talks about how if we keep the commandments of God, we will receive EVERLASTING happiness! I often marvel at that concept because at times in this world of darkness, gloom and destruction, it is hard for people to feel joy and hope. That is the power of the temple, because in there we can feel of that everlasting happiness that King Benjamin was talking about! I love it. I don't deserve it many times, but I'm grateful for a loving Father in Heaven and Savior who love me so much that They have provided a way for me and all of mankind to receive that happiness.

Every commandment that God gives His children is for our benefit. I know that's true. I love the temple. I love eternal families. I love the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, because they all testify of Jesus Christ.

Life is great. Tomorrow is the big day...WOO HOO!! Get excited!!

Lots of LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

EM