Big Gigantic News!!

Sooooooo.... I GOT MY MISSION CALL!!!!!!!! Lemme tell you the story first though. I turned my mission papers in at the end of April.  Two weeks later my stake president called me and told me that Salt Lake City called and told him to tell me that I had to go get my depression checked out before they could assign my mission to me.  I went and got it checked out by a counselor, and he told me I have really mild depression and that it won't affect my work in my mission too much.  So after that he told me that he would have my mission papers in by that next Tuesday.... well two more weeks passed.  By now it had been a month.  So my bishop made a couple calls and he found out that my counselor didn't turn them in until that previous Friday.  So now I was playing the waiting game yet again.  Another month passed and I had stopped waiting around for it to show up. My bishop then called again and told me that it had been delayed in Salt Lake because the lady who received my call had a heart attack and emergency surgery the next day so my mission papers had been sitting on her desk for a month.  So two weeks later I got my call.  I am going to the California Bakersfield Mission.  I report to the MTC September 17, 2014!  That's 73 days away! I got lots to do!!!

Pretty momentous day!

Here's the recap since April 27 (my birthday): I drew pictures all of that afternoon with my brother, my roommate, and my sweet boyfriend.  We ate a beef roast dinner and it was delicious! My parents gave me an envelope with my present inside.  They bought me a super fancy scripture case for my mission that can hold waaaaaaaaaay more than scriptures!!! Oh boy will I need that!  I'm excited for it to get here so I can play with it and see what all it does.  Anyways, then we all went downstairs and watched my baby videos.  Since my mom loved to take videos of me in the bathtub when I was little, I was trying to get my dad to fast forward the movie so my man wouldn't see..... but then on the video, my dad said "This movie will embarrass you on your 19th birthday!" We all busted out laughing!!! How on earth did we manage to get such a coincidence??!! Who would've thought that I would be watching baby movies on my 19th birthday sitting next to my boyfriend!!!! Surely not my father!  Haha! It was so funny!

I don't remember doing anything on Monday....... yup. Nothing interesting happened at all.

But today was Tuesday, and it was a fantastic day!  I got out of bed and I got ready for my day.  Then I met the sister missionaries in town and I went with them to teach their investigators!! It was sooo soooooooo cool! We taught two older men and they were really friendly and they were very receptive to the Spirit and would often comment on our testimonies.  I have much to learn, but I am so eager to go! I'm chomping at the bit to get out to the mission field and teach!

When I got home, I took my roommate into town and we just hung out and ate a cheeseburger (I've been wanting one for two weeks!!).  I really enjoyed being with her.  She's a fantastic roommate.  So afterwards, we went home and basked in the sunlight in my front yard.  It was nice and it was fantastically warm.  Then we made dinner and sent my sister off to go to the temple with her mutual group.  My sweetheart got off work and came to spend some time at my house with me.  I also got to finish my visiting teaching for the month.  It was fantastic!  After that, we all went for a walk and I got to hold hands with my honey and skip down the road. I love him so much!  When we got back to the house, I had to go to my interview with my stake president for my missionary recommendation...... AND HE SUBMITTED MY PAPERS!!!!!!!! So I should be getting my mission call in the next week to two weeks.

When I got home from my interview, I talked with my mom for a good hour and a half about everything that's been going on.  She's the best listener in the world! I'm going to miss her while I'm on my mission.  A lot.  But after that, my roommate decided she wanted to convince me to watch, "Woman in Black." Uh yeah.......... never again. That stupid movie scared the crap out of me!  Now I kinda want to turn on all the lights in my room and never fall asleep. BAAAAAD idea!! I have no idea how she convinced me to watch it.  Silly me.  So now I'm going to somewhat attempt not to have nightmares.  But it's soooooo her fault if I do.

~Hannah

Details in simple things

So nothing really happened that was completely exciting to me today.... except that I got to see my sweetheart after work... and that was awesome.  But honestly, today was just another average day in the life of Hannah.  No, my real reason for writing tonight was to express what true happiness is.

As I've been sitting here, surfing the web (wow is that a 90's expression or what??), I have been all over the place.  Since midnight I've browsed Facebook, Pinterest, Youtube, my email, Facebook, even more Pinterest, and a Disney blogs page... as I'm sitting here I have to ask myself, "Why on earth is this entertaining??"  I've decided it's because I'm bored.  But that's beside the point.  As I've looked back on my internet browsing history, I've noticed that I am ALWAYS on "Oh My Disney" blogs.  One thing that definitely makes me happy is the Disney movie, "Tangled."  Anything and everything that has to do with Tangled is my happy place.  I am a little more than just addicted to that movie and I think it's because of the insurmountable detail in the movie.  I mean, they have a plot line and characters.  They have a story and a true romance, but honestly, none of that matters to me anymore.  It's the facial expressions throughout the movie.  It's the words each character says.  It just sucks me in! It's more than just a fairy-tale; it's a beautiful, romantic, fantastic love story!!!

Now that is only one thing that makes me incredibly happy.  I also love reading my scriptures and reading murder/suspense/crime/romance novels (if that doesn't make sense to you, just look up Clair M. Poulsen).  I love roses and lilies and weddings.  I love spending time with the love of my life.  I love taking pictures and talking to my mom.  I love decorating and I love eating pizza.  Honestly, when you think about all the things and little details in your life that make it beautiful you really come to appreciate all you've been given.  You start to appreciate the quirks and little details about yourself and you start to do things more often that make you happy.  I mean, c'mon, life is beautiful! We've been given this life to find the happy things and the happy moments and treasure them. 

One thing my mom always tells me is that its the small things that really count, and that so many small things that everyone else takes for granted are the most beautiful.  She gives me the example of her personal sunset.  My mom loooooooves sunsets.  She'll be outside taking pictures all the time in the summer.  But she doesn't just love sunsets for being sunsets; she loves the colors and the fluffy clouds and the gradual fading of the colors... she knows how to pick out that true beauty.  She's definitely taught me how to love things collectively and very specifically.  She has taught me how to look into the details and love it even more because we can start to see the whole picture.  It's really a beautiful concept.

We all do stupid things in this life, but there's always a way back from it.  That's what Christ's Atonement is for! That subject and concept in of itself is absolutely beautiful; but add the beauty you find in your life and you have a perfect life.  You have everything you've ever wanted because you can love things so deeply and you can find happiness in those simple things. 

I encourage anyone who reads this blog to find something that truly makes you happy and to recognize that feeling of true love for yourself.  You'll find that you aren't so hard on yourself.

~Hannah