Masquerade!

Hey all, sorry for the delay in posting. This week has been a pretty crazy one. First off, 3 of my classes were cancelled and the school was closed on Tuesday because of a sewage back-up (ew!). My weekend started on Thursday around noon. I went shopping that night, with my friend Kaylee, for the Masquerade on Saturday. We both got super cool dresses and were totally stoked.

Friday I went to Friday Forum at the institute building. Our lesson was on the King Follett Discourse. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a 2 hour talk that was given by Joseph Smith at General Conference on April 7th 1844. Only about 45 minutes was recorded between four scribes. The general topic was knowing God and how to obtain eternal life. It was a really great lesson and I recommend everyone to read this if you can find it.

Friday afternoon, my friend Brad came over and we (like any productive and studious adults) played nintendo all afternoon. We're that cool. I then went visiting teaching (woo!) and later on headed to a dance at the church. The music was lame, but the company was good :)

Saturday was devoted to preparing for the Masquerade. We (Kaylee and I) went out and bought supplies to make masks and then headed to Karen and Sera's to put them all together. This is how mine turned out.

The Masquerade was lots of fun! There was a live band for about 45 minutes at the beginning. They weren't that great, and all they played were slow songs, but we didn't really care. There was an appetizer 'buffet' and a drink 'bar' (non-alchoholic of course!) too. Once the DJ started, things got so much better. He played really great music and he knew how to mix tracks and get everyone dancing the whole time. We (me and 2 friends) left around midnight, but apparently the party went on well past 2am.

Sunday was church, and lots of people weren't there (presumably still recovering from the dance). We had a really great lesson in Relief Society about the Second Coming and I was greatful for it, since I realized I have been focusing lately on what's right in front of me instead of the big picture. This lesson made me realize that and I felt a little ashamed that I've been so self-absorbed.

Sunday evening I went to Emily's house and we made paper snowflakes and paper chains, just because we could (and also because they needed stuff to decorate their place for winter/christmas). Then off to Institute choir and back home around 10:15pm. Long weekend for sure.

Until next time,

-J

Halloween and Callings

So this week we had Halloween!! I went as a super scary vampire (Volturi-esque you could say). I freaked out a few people and it was awesome.

I went to the dance at the church where there were so many people it was practially a mosh pit. Totally awesome though. The people who won the best costume contest were these two guys who were robots (Iron Man style) on stilts painted silver. They were amazing! I only wish I had gotten pictures.

In other news, I had another miraculous answer to my prayers. I've been getting a litte frustrated with being here since nothing big had happened yet. SO, today being fast Sunday, I got on my knees this morning and started my fast asking for a calling at church or something to reassure me that being here was right. Not ten minutes later, I got a phone call from the bishop's secretary asking me if I could meet with him today.

I almost cried right then and there because it was so fast! I was so grateful. Then meeting with the bishop, my call was unexpected. I thought maybe I'd be a teacher in Relief Society or Sunday School (since they desperately need them), but instead, I was called as Enrichment leader! I'm actually really excited for this calling and I look forward to getting started! I basically get to organize fun stuff for the women of our ward to do, and it can be as often as I want it to be! Super awesome. I never would have expected this calling, but I'm so grateful to my Heavenly Father for giving me a calling.

Personally, I never turn down a calling, no matter what it is. I believe that you're called to do something in the church because it's what the Lord wants you to do. Even if you don't like it, or don't have any idea what to do, you still take it and learn from it. That being said, I'm going to try really hard to make this calling work for me and I hope that I can help a few people along the way.

Until next time,

-J