Emma

My sister Emma just spent the last year and a half of her life teaching people about God and The Book of Mormon in England. This weekend I hopped on a plane to Oregon (after spending a couple days in California for Debbie's wedding, more on that later) to hear her speak in church and spend some time with her. I only took one picture, the picture at the airport when they dropped me off to fly back to my real life, but I thought I'd share some of the lovely pictures our family friend Greg took at the airport as she greeted our family for the first time in 18 months.

And finally the only picture I took, an instagram:

We're so happy to have her home! I just wish I was in Utah this week with the rest of the family for Cami's BYU graduation, more family time, and obviously more vacation.

Emma

My sister Emma goes into the MTC today. Well, she was supposed to board a plane tomorrow so that she'd get to the Preston England MTC on Friday but her visa didn't come so she's going to Provo today. Emma is going to the England London Mission. Not South, not North, not East or West, just London. Emma loves England. She's an English Major. It's very fitting. So, after her year of traveling all over the world (England, France, Middle East) she's finally going to be somewhat stagnant and sitting tight for a few weeks. I think she's going to be a fabulous missionary, just like Cami and Jess. I'm excited to get missionary letters every week again. I've missed them, and it's only been a month!

Look how cute Emma is:

And now she's going to be a cute little missionary! Hooray! And, sadly, this is the first time I haven't been in Utah to take my sisters to the MTC! It's actually really sad.

Taking Jess to the MTC Oct 2008

Taking Cami to the MTC March 2009

You know what else is exciting about her going into the MTC today?
That it is 5 years after I went into the MTC.
Me: September 28, 2005.
Emma: September 29, 2010. Awesome.

Vacation!

I am about to spend the next week in California. It's fantastic so far: sleeping in; beach; baseball game tonight; Newport Beach Temple tomorrow and Yosemite Sunday.

But so far the highlights are:

Emma opening her mission call to the England London Mission!

and playing with my cousin's kids at the beach, including getting to hold their new baby

Now a close up of that baby. Check out her hair, and those chubby cheeks!
(If only you could see her little chubby arms and legs and tummy in her little pink bathing suit. So cute!)

Remind me why I live so far away again?

5:00 in Singapore

And my parents are with Jess! They're eating dinner at the Mission Home! 

And she'll be home in a little over a week!

Missionary Update

I had a fantastic snow day, thanks for asking. No, I didn't go play in the snow. I didn't even leave the house. Ha! I love having an excuse to stay inside. Although, it would have been fun to leave, I just couldn't bring myself to put on snow clothes.

Aside from it being the week of Christmas and I have to work, I get to talk to Jess and Cami! Yay!

Jess is currently in Sibu/Mukah East Malaysia.

We went to Mukah again this past weekend, and I have to say, those 2 days were probably 2 of the best days of my entire mission. The bus on the way was pretty good, actually managed to sleep on it. When we got there, we checked into the hotel, ate, then went straight out to the long house, and it was pretty crazy. We finished teaching the 10 commandments and the Baptism Interview Questions in about 30 minutes, then the got their baptism clothes on and had their interviews WHILE already dressed in white (never had that happen before), but the family passed (a mother, father and daughter), and then we had a parade of people walk out of the long house down the street towards the ocean. Their long house is right on the beach, but there's a river that runs right by it and feeds into the ocean. So we had the baptisms right there, and we all gathered in a circle next to the water. their clothes were so white they literally looked like angels on the sand, so beautiful. And we took pictures (which I'll send later), then just had a prayer together, Elder Spanos said some words, and we proceeded to have the baptism. It was the most beautiful setting, and by far the most spiritual baptism I've had on my mission, despite the fact that the water was SUPEr muddy haha. When they came out and dried off, we all stood there, and I just felt like we needed to sing a song, so me and Sister Clark sang Familes Can be Together Forever and I am a Child of God as everyone just stood there so quietly and listening and the waves were rolling in the background. Elder Spanos bore testimony and welcomed them, then asked if they had any words to say. The mom, Bunsi, all the sudden put her face in her towel and just started crying because she was so happy for her family. The first baptisms in Mukah EVER. Oh, it was so wonderful, and then we all walked back along the beach to the long house. So good!

Unfortunately the bus ride back after that was pretty bad again—maybe the worst, I'm not kidding. We were in the back seats, right on top of the wheels, so we were literally FLYING out of our seats, I felt like I was being tossed like a rag doll, and at one point I almost got thrown out of my seat and had to grab onto Sister Clark's skirt. Then one time I got tossed practically on top of her. Ridiculous! But we just cracked up every time anyway, because it's kind of hilarious.

Cami is currently in Helsinki Finland

The other teach was with Milla. We brought Minna along, and it was good. The actual teach wasn't that great. I find that my Finnish is a lot worse when a member is there because I don't NEED to speak really well. It’s kind of weird. Anyway, we taught about the word of wisdom. She doesn't have any problems. Let me say that again, she doesn't have any problems with the word of wisdom. Incredible. Then her and Minna talked for about an hour afterwards about different stuff, Minna's conversion story (she went to the temple open house. That's how she got introduced to the church.), they laughed and I kind of sat there trying to hold onto the words I knew and laughing even when I had no idea what they were saying. Haha! And they knew I didn't understand too. Cool. Anyway, after that Milla was driving us home and she had a HUGE stuffed bear in the back that she bought in Estonia. I was like cuddling with it in the back. It was funny. Then no one knew how to get to our house because I only know on the trains, and it was rush hour (which isn't even that bad compared to rush hour in America, goodness), and they were like screaming in the front and laughing. Milla was hilarious. Actually we went to the elders' apartment to drop off a package I picked up at the office (where we had our teach) and then we, the elders, Milla, and Minna all sat and ate candy (that was what was in the package for Heelis, of course) for a while. It was really fun. Yep. Really fun. We’re going to look at the temple with Milla on Saturday. She’s driving. Minna’s coming, so we'll have a little temple lesson. Kind of cool, huh? She wants to get baptized, but the whole law of chastity thing is a problem. She doesn't want to hurt her boyfriend by moving out, but she says that once they're married, she's going to get baptized. Does it work like that?

So, I like my sisters, and can't WAIT to talk to them this week! Hopefully everything will go according to plan and I won't get stranded somewhere due to bad weather! Cross you fingers!

Christmas Miracle

So I mentioned casually that we almost died on Friday night. Yep, it's true. Here's the story:

We went up to a our friends' apartment over in Maryland for a special screening of Elf, hot chocolate and treats on Friday. Shortly after the movie finished Amy got a call from her sister wondering what was going on at our house. We didn't know! We weren't there! But all Andrea knew was that there were firetrucks there. So we basically ran out to the car knowing that there were firetrucks were at our little house in Virginia. What happens usually when firetrucks are at your house? They're putting out a fire! I had the following thoughts (in this order) running through my head: "It's my fault! I have my bookbinding stuff too close to my heater!" "Oh no! How much is this going to cost us? What's The General going to do?" "My computer!"

When we finally turn down our street we can see lots of emergency lights flashing. We get to the house and are greeted by two firetrucks with their floodlights shining across our lawn. The house is in tact. No flames. Whew!

Turns out, though, that when our roommate got home at 10:00 that night the house smelled like gas. Really bad. She, along with the neighbors who had seen some eerie gassy smelling smoke billowing out of our chimney and out of our furnace room called 911. Turns out that something was seriously wrong with our heating.

Here's where our story gets confusing. Since only one roommate was there at the beginning and talking with the firefighters, we aren't totally sure the exact details of the rest of the story, and when she recited it she said, "I think..." When the firefighters entered the house they tested the air. They either said our CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) levels were really high, OR our Carbon Monoxide (CO) levels were really high. Either way, they told us we could have died. They aired out the house for us and left when it was safe for us to enter. They told us we needed to make sure we had carbon monoxide testers and new fire alarms.

So the debate of the weekend was if it was CO2 poisoning we almost got, or CO poisoning we could have had, and no one can really remember what the firefighters said. (I didn't even talk to them.) But, what I do know is that it's a Christmas Miracle that no one was in the house that Friday night, because it's a frequent occurrence that someone is usually home. I don't really care what could have killed me, all I care about is that I am alive. I will be going to Utah this weekend for Cousin Ashley's wedding. I will be going home for Christmas next week. I will be talking to Jess and Cami when they call from Sibu, Malaysia and Helsinki, Finland. I will be skiing on Mt. Bachelor after Christmas. And I will be watching the Ducks win the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day.

It feels a little like Thanksgiving again because I AM GRATEFUL TO BE ALIVE!

And, because I'm lazy and haven't transferred the pictures from camera to computer yet I stole the pictures that were posted on Amy and Andrea's blogs. (Thanks guys!)

Missionaries!

I said I was going to give updates of “my missionaries” I forgot until today. I need to do something to keep my mind off my ensuing bad grade in Calligraphy. I’m going to get a B in Calligraphy I know it. How ridiculous is that? Very I think. And now I only have one more real final and a few bookbinding projects to do! Hooray! And I have four days to do it! Double hooray! Usually I’m doing this the night before! I suppose I should feel grateful then that my hardest finals were yesterday and today. They weren’t even that hard because it wasn’t like I was trying to salvage a grade or bring up a B+ to an A- by doing well. I’ll just do my thing and be happy with my B+ or B or B-. It’s not like I’m trying to get into Medical School or something. Nope, they will still give me a diploma even if I get a B in Impressionism and the Arts or in Southern Baroque Art or in Calligraphy for that matter (I just thought my countless hours in front of the TV practicing my letters would at least get me an A- no matter how bad my letter slope is). Ok! Back to the missionaries!

JESS has been transferred to Kuala Lumpur which is the capital of Malaysia. But she had a really dramatic experience in Miri last week. Here it is:

The biggest news of the week is concerning our most recent convert, Langu. We went to her house on Saturday night because we're starting to teach her 10 year old daughter who is so cute and loves church. it was a random stop in, because another appointment fell through. Well, we walk up to her ghetto house, her creepy husband is sitting by the door smoking and drinking and we ask if Langu is home and we look back, and she's sitting in the back room by candlelight just crying. So we go in and find out that they had a big fight about him drinking and she hates it that he's always drinking. So then both of us tried to have a go at him, try to get him to realize that his wife is good and beautiful and all this stuff. She said he threatened to kill her and all this stuff. He was just drunk though and everything we said he didn't care about it, and I was SO MAD at him, I had to hold myself back from just like yelling his head off. Eventually we just had to leave though even though we didn't want to, so we said a prayer with her and she ended up smiling when we left.

We found out Langu's husband had hit her after we left the night before, and we knew she didn't want to go home. So we told the RS president, then talked the branch president and tried to figure out what to do. Basically, we ended up taking her home to pack up all of her stuff and get her last kid. Elder Dean drove us over there with her. We walked into the kampung, her husband came out and started making ridiculous comments to us, and then their neighbor, this totally independent Iban woman came out and started yelling at him to get away from us. So he slunk back inside to drink more. Then Langu just packed up all her stuff, Sister Clark stood guarding the door so he couldn't get in. Once he found out that his wife was walking out on him, he came out and started asking her for all of her money, and Langu went ballistic. She started hitting the door and yelling at him in Iban, like, "I don't have any money! You have it all!" I asked her neighbor what goes on, and she said every single night they fight, he hits her, sometimes doesn’t let her eat, throws the kids around, spends all the money on alcohol and cigarettes, etc. I just couldn't even believe it. Here we didn’t' even know, because she won't ever talk, but all we knew was that she liked church, and kept coming and liked us and had the biggest smile when we came over. So before we knew it, every single woman in the kampung was sticking their heads through the windows and doors yelling at him to get away, telling us that the "orang putihs" (white people) where coming to take her away from her evil husband. It was the craziest thing. So we left with her 3 kids, her stuff in probably only like 4 little bags, and got into the Deans car and drove her away.”

CAMI has now been in the MTC for a month. Here’s what she has to say,

“It has been 3 weeks, and I still can hardly say anything in Finnish. ha ha. Ridiculous language. There’s a new sister from Finland who just came in last night and she's going to Croatia, and she looked at all the charts in our room and was like "I don't know how to read those, and I have no idea what they mean." English just doesn't translate to Finnish very well, but it's fun when we get the sentences completely right, which hardly ever happens. We watched "the testaments" in Finnish on Friday with English subtitles, and it sounds really cool. Like there's a lot of "l's" and "k's" and rolled "r's" and they say they're vowel sounds kind of in the back of the throat. It’s just cool. I’m excited to be able to really speak it. Right now it's fun to try and pronounce everything correctly. Oh, by the way, all of the eastern Europe country missionaries like hate the Spanish-speaking missionaries because they always walk by us and are like "holla, hermanas" and then they start trying to say sentences in Spanish that end up being like "voy a cafeteria" and we're like "hm, wonder what that means." ridiculous. Basically we're all like if I went Spanish-speaking, I would only have to be in the MTC for like a week it's so easy. And the mama Finns get offended when they're called "hermanas." (I remember feeling the exact same way. But people are needed to serve everywhere, and thanks to the Tower of Babel we have lots of languages to learn. Some easier than others.)

April and a pathetic attempt at an apology

April seems to be a life changing month for me. Two years ago I was finishing my mission and coming home. Coming home to two sisters in college, one about to graduate from high school, and a third who was no longer a little girl. Now two of those sisters are on their own missions, another is getting ready to follow in my footsteps of multiple study abroads, and the third will be finishing her sophomore year of high school soon. I'm finishing up college this month with graduation in 22 days and attempting to get my life sorted out.

A few days ago I was thinking about my mission. (I think about it a lot because Cami and Jess are gone on theirs.) I was realizing that the highlight of my mission was two days and two years ago. Ewa's baptism. As I was thinking about this I was thinking about how God does not make worthwhile things easy for us. (That's why I haven't had some fabulous revelation telling me what to do with my life.) I wanted so badly for Ewa to get a knowledge that the church was true but I obviously couldn't make that decision for her. But when she did make that decision, I have never felt happier and I don't think I've been that happy since. It doesn't seem like it was as long ago as it was but I thought I'd share a couple pictures of Ewa and the wonderful person she is:

These pictures are from her baptismal day (duh); our last lesson; and saying goodbye at the train station.
And yes, the polaroid-esque pictures make it seem like my mission was in the 70s or something. I told you I'd been home for a long time!

Ewa is great. She is the kindest person I know (even if she says she isn't, she really is). She is so thoughtful. She sent Jess a package in the MTC and I know she's already planning a summer trip up to Finland to visit Cami (even though Cami will be in the MTC until June 9th. Yep, she still has two months just down the street in Provo). She's like our sister, and I know she thinks of us as her family too. I am a bad sister. She wants to skype with me. I didn't send her a birthday present and so for her birthday present from me she wanted to skype. I never responded to the email. Yep I know, me, jerk. I can't speak Polish. I've been home for two years. And now a note for her: Ewa, I have a confession. I'm proud. (My dad lets me know all the time.) And I'm embarrassed of my Polish. I'm embarrassed that I don't always understand the conversation. I don't like feeling stupid. (Pride) I know you wouldn't want me to feel dumb, but I do. I feel terrible. So Ewa, this is my pathetic attempt to apologize for no birthday present and to let you know that I still love you and think of you often. I hope you are having a wonderful day and that all is going well. Love, Lauren

Last day with Cami

Cami went into the MTC today. I could hardly handle being in the little orientation meeting with all the crying moms around. I couldn't hold it in. But there is always something about when Cami cries that makes it hard to stay emotionally in control. But we had a really good morning before we took her.

Adventures from Miri

"And now, my beloved brethren, seeing that our merciful God has given us so great knowledge concerning these things, let us remember him, and lay aside our sins, and not hang down our heads, for we are not cast off; nevertheless, we have been driven out of the land of our inheritance; but we have been led to a better land, for the Lord has made the sea our path, and we are upon an isle of the sea." 2 Nephi 10:20

That is Jess's scripture that she chose for her missionary plaque. She's doing so good! She's in Miri, Malaysia right now and they teach the people in Malay or Iban (the indigenous tribe there). I thought I'd post my favorite stories of hers this week. The pictures are actually old and have nothing to do with the stories, but pictures make everything better right?

"The best news of this week was Jarau and Yvonne's baptism! Yay!! everything went really well, me and Sister Clark sang a song in Malay a cappella and it was really nice, we watched Finding Faith in Christ after their baptisms while waiting and everyone really liked it. They were really happy, and me and Sister Clark went home and celebrated with cute little bottles of Fanta and Cadbury chocolate we'd been holding onto it for the occasion for like 2 weeks. But it was really good, Jarau had to be baptized twice because the guy baptizing him forgot to say his name at the beginning...whoops!...and then he left his change of clothes out in the room, and Sister Clark went and took it back to him and he was like half naked standing in the door of the men's bathroom (a lot of Ibans just don't really have a problem with not being fully covered...), and their kids were running around so I broke the rules of the "white handbook" and picked them up and carried them back into the room. On Sunday they got confirmed and they were all dressed up, and Jarau had on a white shirt and tie from one of the members. They are such a great family. We’ve gone and seen them a couple times since then, and they already gave us some family referrals, he hasn't gotten paid for like 3 months and he literally told us that he's IMPATIENT to pay tithing! What the heck? Yvonne almost finished the Book of Mormon (already the D&C), and they are going strong. We have such a hard time leaving their house every time we go over. Oh, and yesterday we went and walked up and looked into their little one room house and they were all laying on the ground reading this English book together and we just couldn't disturb them so we sat watching them for a little bit, and when they didn't know one of the words they were like, "later you can ask Sistah" and it was SO cute! Also, their 3 little girls play "Sistah" after we leave, like instead of playing "school" or "house" two of them sit on the ground cross-legged like we always do in the same spot (leaning against their mattress propped up against the wall because they only have a one-room house), and pretend like they're sister missionaries."

Jess is so cute and doing so good. She makes me remember the good times of my mission and about all the happy things that happened. And even when she writes about bad things that happen I just laugh and nod my head.

Some shorter Jess stories:

"Here’s the best excuse we've gotten for not coming to church from an investigator so far, "My kidneys are heavy..." Whaaaaaat? Seriously, these people make up the weirdest excuses. We were laughing so hard about it when he told us that though."

"Yesterday we were playing UNO with a family after having read the story about Nephi in Helaman when they are standing in the fire (because it's a 15 year old boy we're teaching), and I leaned over to get something, and all the sudden the little girl in the family was like fondling my boobs! What the heck? Yeah, I was like in shock, and then Sister Clark and I started laughing so hard. She’s like 4 years old and I was like, 'I just got groped on my mission.' Wow."

Jess is so cute and I like her.

Cutie Cami

Cami's 21st birthday was Thursday. I remember when I turned 21 I was just turning in my mission papers and wondering where I was going to get called to. I didn't have a party because I have a summer birthday and I never get one. I was working at the Dermatology Clinic of Springfield trying to save up money that I desperately needed after having completely depleted my bank account after four months in Vienna, a semester of school and a month in England where I knew that one pound was more like $2 but I still had a hard time with the calculations. (I almost bought a really cute pair of shoes that were totally on sale for 25 pounds but I had to remind myself that that was $50 and they weren't worth $50.) But my insane money spending problems are not the purpose of this post. This is a post for Cami. She's in town this weekend to visit for her birthday and before she leaves for Finland next month (well, just the MTC really). But I like Cami. Actually, I love Cami. She does her own thing. She's really goofy and doesn't care if she looks retarded in a picture or doing something weird. Examples:

But she's also so beautiful. When she was a baby her nickname was Pret which was short for Pretty. I know, my nickname for a while there was Different. Jess's nickname was Special. And Emma's was Toot and Rachel's was Chub. How did Cami get the best nickname? Luckily my nickname didn't stick. But anyway, back to pretty Cami:

Not only is Cami pretty but she's good at lots of different things. She's talented athletically (she was our QB) and she's so talented musically. She's really good at playing and writing music and she's smart.

Cami does her own thing and I admire her so much for doing what she wants and being her own person. She went to Jerusalem last year at when I went I looked to her for a lot of advice on the best things to do, where to shop, what and where to eat.

Cami is fabulous. She is a wonderful example to me of staying calm in the heat of emotion and is able to focus intently on what she wants and what she's doing. I am proud of her for going on a mission and I'm glad she's in town for her birthday weekend.