FUN weekend! :)

This weekend was really a blast!  I had so much fun!  We (Janika, Zach, Sam, Shayla, her roommate, some friends from home, and more) went to a BYU football ball game in Provo.  We stayed with some family of my friend Janika and then went off to a busy Saturday!  :)  ...including a birthday breakfast for Janika's brother and grandma, a sesh of family pictures, finding a bank with little knowledge of navigating downtown Salt Lake City (quite an adventure-"never a dull moment" as Janika would say), discovering some "finds" at the City Creek Mall, attending an AWESOME session of General Relief Society Women's Conference and going to visit my aunt.  We played some classic Candyland with a friend and then went off to bed.  Sunday brought sunshine, a long car ride, and seeing some friends from the Mormon American Travel Studies Tour that I went on this summer!  The weekend was great and I was able to bond with some friends which was needed!  :)  Thanks friends for a good weekend! :) 

 Some pictures:  

 Shayla & Heidi regular face! :) 

 

Silly Face! :)

Zach, Heidi, & Shaye at the football game! :)  

Janika, Heidi, Shaye, & Clara at the Salt Lake City Temple at Temple Square! :) ...FUN times!! :) 

Pakistan and Patriotism

I went to a class called Global Hotspot: Pakistan yesterday and it was AWESOME! :)

I'll tell you why! 

Brother Hammond, a teacher that was on the Mormon American Travel Studies Program that I attended this summer, and his daughter-one of my friends also, is in the class! :)

But, I also just felt something different.  We're studying Pakistan right?! You may ask why? 

Well, my brother asked too and it's okay.  

I'm studying Pakistan, honestly because I received a very strong recommendation from a good friend who I trusted.  He said to take this class with this teacher so I am!  It helps that I was on a tour with him this summer and liked him, so here I am!  :) 

Some things that caught my attention are:  

1. WOW!  I am SO lucky to be here, to be blessed with a family, and to be HERE: as in the where I am  right now in class at BYU-Idaho!  I felt hope and love.  (Ihe helped that we had just attended a great devotional given by the President of our school and his wife!) and then I felt overwhelming joy.

2.  We watched a video on You Tube of a collection of video footage from many different countries.  A boy named Matt went to each of them and did a very simple, funny dance at the different major cities in countries all over the world.  In some of them, people from that country -or other tourists, I suppose) came in the picture and danced with him.  Yeah, it was funny, but also chilling-literally.  I felt   the desire to travel more and the sense of global connection that you get when you see other people acting just like you all over the world-we all can and like to dance! 

3.  We learned that people like to dance everywhere! 

4.  I also learned that Heavenly Father wants us to study these things: (D&C 88:78-80) bolded added

78 Teach ye diligently and my ^agrace shall attend you, that you may be ^binstructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand;

 79 Of things both in ^aheaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must^bshortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the ^cnations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a ^dknowledge also of countries and of kingdoms—

 80 That ye may be prepared in all things when I shall send you again to ^amagnify the calling whereunto I have called you, and the^bmission with which I have commissioned you.

He debriefed this with saying, yeah, we're suppose to study this stuff because it will help us connect with people better! and ultimately share the gospel with them! :)  I'm SO excited to take this class.  

5. We are all connected and should just embrace it!  I'll let you know how the class goes! :)

In memory of 9/11

  To end, I'll paraphrase a quote from a Brazilian in my class.  Just because you feel so patriotic about your own country doesn't mean you think you're better, but it helps you appreciate it and then want to go learn about others so you can appreciate them too! :)

Utah

We made it to grandpa's safely! I am so excited to go to school and also to finish the summer session that is over Friday! Janika will be up in Rexburg and I am very happy to see her when we get there! :) Whoo-hoo!

My Last Sunday at Home:)

Hey guys!  So I have one last post before I leave for college!  :) 

Today was a great! day!  

First of all, my family had our pictures taken together in a nearby town that has lots of cool scenery.  It's quieter, small, and historic looking/feeling, so it was refreshing to the fast pace life I've been living most all of this past week! :)  It was nice to have pictures taken and seeing as it was likely the last photo shoot that we will have before Sam leaves for his 2 year mission next year, it was important! :)

Also, I went to church.  :)  I was talking to my dental hygienist this week as I got my teeth cleaned and she asked me about my summer.  I told her I found great friends and had a lot of fun going to a "young single adult" ward (YSA) or "Singles Ward" at church, where you can meet a lot of young, energetic people going through a lot of the same situations, challenges, and phases that you are.  She noted that she thought this was really important for youth of my age, so they can meet people, and I thought, "Yeah, I'm so lucky!" 

 It really has been a blessing to have fun, similar-minded, youthful people to be around while I was at home this summer, and if it weren't that the ones I was most close to already left for school, I might not want to leave! :)  Thanks friends!

...But, alas I am off to another GREAT! semester at BYU-Idaho to be spent with many, youthful, like-minded people who I can adore in Rexburg too! I'm excited to reconnect with friends, new and old there ...as well as visit my BYU friends in Utah every once in a while!  

For all of my local college friends who are headed back (or have already started new college adventures for 2012-13), I wish you the best and hope we can reconnect at Christmas!  ...or sometime!  Cheers!  :) -Heidi