The Triangle of Faith

It's the first Sunday of May. Traditionally in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the first Sunday of every month is fast and testimony meeting.

For the fasting part, church members are basically invited to skip two meals and donate what they would have spent to the poor and needy. It's a good opportunity to pray for divine inspiration or help. It's also a private, personal experience and nobody is going to ask you if you did it.

Conversely, testimony meeting is public. During the first hour of church, members are invited to share their thoughts and feelings, or "testimonies," of Jesus Christ. Anyone can walk up to the microphone at the front of the room and share.

Recently, all church meetings have been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Clayton and I hold our own meetings at home.

I felt the desire to share my testimony today. It's different writing it down instead of talking about it, but that's okay. I've sometimes thought it's easier to express myself in writing anyway.

This week I was reading an article in Ensign magazine that mentioned the "triangle of faith." The author explains the points in the triangle as 1) the Spirit, 2) the scriptures, and 3) the prophets, "especially living ones." A triangle is a strong shape, and working on our personal triangle of faith helps keep us spiritually strong. (Benjamin Hyrum White, "Sherem's Skepticism: The Tactics of a Faith Shaker," Ensign, April 2020)

The triangle of faith imagery appealed to me. But I adapted it a little because I feel the scriptures and the prophets are sort of the same. After all, what are scriptures but the words of prophets written down? To me, it makes more sense for the points in the triangle to be prayer, scriptures (including the words of living prophets), and the Spirit.

As I thought about my personal triangle of faith, I realized that each point has played a significant role in my own relationship with God.

Prayer
I first began to be aware of God at a young age. My parents taught me to pray and took me to Church. I had numerous experiences as a child praying for God's help. Sometimes I was praying for help finding something I'd lost; other times I prayed for help going back to sleep after a bad dream. One time when I was 12 or 13, I remember my bishop asking me how often I prayed and I replied, "Pretty much all the time. I need a lot of help." (If only 12-year-old me knew how much help 27-year-old me was going to need. Nothing has changed, haha.)

These experiences going to a loving Heavenly Father in prayer became a crucial part of the foundation of my relationship with Him.

Scriptures (words of God's prophets, including living ones)
The scriptures, particularly the Book of Mormon, also played a huge role in helping me form a relationship with God. I read it by myself for the first time in 2005, when President Gordon B. Hinckley challenged all church members to read it all the way through by the end of the year.

I've had questions and doubts over the years about certain aspects of the gospel, but there's always one thing I cannot deny: I know the Book of Mormon came from God. I've read it numerous times and prayed to know the truth about its origins. Every time I read it, I feel the Spirit. And the Book of Mormon played such a central role in the formation of my particular religion that if it's true, so is everything else: Joseph Smith was actually a prophet of God, and this is Jesus Christ's New Testament church restored to Earth.

That thought has brought me a lot of peace. I may not understand everything perfectly, but I do know the Book of Mormon is true, which means at least I'm looking for answers in the right place.

The Spirit
Of course, the Spirit is the key to anyone's relationship with God. He often acts as a messenger from God, and one of his many responsibilities is to testify of truth.

The Spirit is sort of like the glue that holds my testimony together; it's how I know the Book of Mormon is true and there is a living prophet of God today. When I pray, the answers or comfort I seek typically come from the Spirit.

I've written about how my testimony has been fundamentally shaped by the Spirit before, and I don't plan to go into it all again. Suffice it to say, I agree with President Harold B. Lee when he said the witness of the Holy Spirit is more powerful than any physical witness humankind could have that there is a loving God in heaven; a Heavenly Father who cares about us and wants us to be happy.

Everyone feels the Spirit differently. For me, I know something is true when it just makes sense; there's just a feeling that it's right. I sometimes also get a tingling warm feeling confirming that it's right.

One of the best things about God is He is no respecter of persons. That means that no matter who you are, He loves you and He will make Himself and His will known to you if you sincerely seek for it. It doesn't always come right away---actually in my experience, it almost never comes right away. God likes it when we take a few actions on our own because that demonstrates our willingness to believe in Him and trust Him. But in His perfect timing, He will eventually answer you. I know because it happened to me.

Because life is hard and inevitably wears me down, I have to continually seek Him through prayer, the scriptures, and the Spirit. I have to remember the experiences I've had with Him in the past as well as have new ones. I think that's the key to keeping our triangle of faith---and our relationship with God---strong.

My friend Casey

It was one of the first days of January 2018 when I found out that my childhood friend Casey passed away on December 31, 2017. I couldn't bring myself to blog about it then, but I always meant to write a post about him someday.

Casey was a great friend. We grew up across the street from each other. He was five months older than me, but we were in the same grade at school. He was a Christmas baby---his birthday is December 25.

We played together a lot as kids. One of our favorite things to do was make believe we were characters from Star Wars. I was usually the voice, narrating the story as we jumped on his trampoline. We built snow forts together in winter and rode bikes together in summer. He invited me to go fishing and four-wheeling with his family several times. He wanted to be a chef when he grew up, and we cooked together a few times. I still remember the look on his face when I showed him he could bake a potato in the microwave. We were in a few community plays together, took a drawing class together, and played together in the junior high school band for one year.

I have so many good memories of us when we were younger. In junior high school, we started to hang out with different people and began drifting apart. We still hung out occasionally, but not nearly as often. Casey had ADHD, and he struggled in school more than I did. Since I was taking as many honors classes as I could, that meant we weren't in the same classes at school anymore. Pretty soon, the only time I knew I could count on seeing him was on our walk to and from the bus stop.

I don't like losing touch with people, and I remember being upset that we were growing apart but not really knowing what to do about it. It was so much easier to just hang out with my other friends. It seemed like we had more in common and they were more available. I still tried to hang out with Casey sometimes, but we'd grown out of make-believe and it felt harder to find things to do.

Going to high school made it even harder to maintain our friendship. He went to the local high school. I went to a public charter school that gave me an opportunity to earn my associate's degree and my high school diploma simultaneously. Our schedules were radically different, and we lost that precious time walking to and from the bus stop. I still cared about him, but we rarely spent time together.

Finally, I came up with what seemed like the perfect excuse to hang out, and in our junior year, I asked him if he would take me to my school prom. He said yes.

I looked forward to that night so much. We went out to dinner and then got on the freeway to go to the dance. He asked if I'd ever broken 100 mph in a car before. I said no, and with a wide smile, he gave me that experience. When we arrived at the dance, however, he started to feel sick to his stomach. We never even went in; we had to turn around and go home. As he stopped in my driveway, he turned to me and said regretfully, "Let's do this again sometime---but next time, let's maybe not go to prom."

We never did go on another date. That was the year Casey dropped out of school. The next years of his life included a pattern of drug abuse. He'd be drug-free for a while, then relapse. He was booked into the county jail a few times on charges of possession of illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia. The first time he was incarcerated, he tried to call me. At the time, I was on my way to a college class. When I heard that an inmate wanted to talk to me, I got kind of freaked out and hung up before the voice recording could tell me who it was. I didn't realize until later that the call was probably from Casey.

He never tried to call me again, but we wrote letters. My roommates were a little alarmed the first time I got a letter postmarked from the county jail, but they got used to it.

I wanted to help Casey, but I didn't know how. His mom was already sending him to rehab. The only thing I could think of to do was share my beliefs with him. He grew up Catholic, so we had a lot of beliefs in common. The most important one was a belief in Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world.

When Casey's older brother Jake died, my heart broke for him. Casey worshipped Jake, and because he was in jail at the time I don't think he was allowed to go to Jake's funeral.

Casey came to visit me once after he got out of jail. We talked for a few minutes about life. He told me about his girlfriend at the time. We promised each other we'd stay in touch, but it was hard to follow through on that promise when I went on my mission.

We didn't talk at all while I was in El Salvador. I don't think I had his email address, and he probably didn't have mine. After my mission, I wrote him a couple times when he was in jail. I watched his house, hoping he would come home. I asked his mom how he was doing whenever I saw her outside. Once, I ran joyfully across the street, only to realize I had mistaken his younger brother Ryan for him.

By December 2017, it had been a long time since I'd talked with Casey, or even any of his family members. Clayton and I had just had our first wedding anniversary. Life was busy, and I no longer lived near Casey's house. I regret that we grew so far apart during junior high school, but find some comfort in knowing how I tried to keep our friendship alive. At the very least, Casey knew I cared.

I think about him often. He was a wonderful person who faced devastating challenges in life. I blame addiction for the overdose that took his life. My heart goes out to anyone who struggles with addiction or who loves someone struggling with addiction.

I don't believe this life is the end. I'll see Casey again. And when I see him, I believe he'll be free from his addiction. Jesus Christ is his Savior, just like He is mine. And just like He is yours.

I love the Drapers

Whitney and I arrived safely in Sacramento on Saturday, and the first thing we did (after dinner) was meet my Draper family at a church family dance. :)

The Sabbath this week was wonderful. The Drapers don't have church until 2pm. I spent the morning looking at all the cool new toys Matthew and Nathaniel got for Christmas in the years it's been since I've got to play with them. We all also made Valentines and went on a walk.

Church was special. My favorite part was when a young boy, who Scott said was from a recently converted family, bore his testimony of the Book of Mormon. The kid even shared his favorite scripture.

After dinner later that day, we played Telestrations as a family and we were laughing so hard, our stomachs hurt.

Sorry I don't have pictures to share.

Serving the people of Bayaguana, Dominican Republic

On Nov. 6, I left for a humanitarian mission organized by the nonprofit Lift A Life with my brother Tyler and Sarah, a family friend. Lift A Life has brought groups of doctors, nurses and dentists to provide free health care for children in Bayaguana about 2-3 times per year for several years. Each trip lasts about 10 days; the volunteers set up a temporary medical clinic and work for five days, followed by a few days of relaxation at a beach resort.

Source: www.weather-forecast.com

Last year, Lift a Life raised money to build a permanent medical clinic. It is spacious, with at least two rooms dedicated as classrooms and about 12 more rooms designated for medical exams and dental care. The clinic also includes a pharmacy and a few rooms for storage.

Nov. 8: Tyler and I stand outside Lift A Life's new medical clinic

When Tyler and I arrived with 50-plus other volunteers (including doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists and an optometrist), the outside of the building was done and beautiful. Inside, however, workers had to put in long hours to finish hooking up the plumbing and electricity. Each team also worked hard to prepare their rooms to serve the people from the village Nov. 9-12. Tyler and I worked as Spanish/English translators for the pharmacy and dental teams.

Nataly is from Bayaguana and studies English in school. She came to help me translate on the first day the clinic opened. She was a big help with crowd control!

The new Space Center

The Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center (CMSEC) that I came to love in elementary school inspired three additional centers in Utah, two of which are practically brand-new. One is under construction at the Renaissance Academy in Lehi. The other is located at Stonehenge Center for the Arts in Pleasant Grove- to my knowledge, the first for-profit center to branch off from the CMSEC.

(In case you're interested, the third Utah center is located in Logan. These three centers are affiliated with the CMSEC, but each is managed and run as separate entities. For more information on the CMSEC's history, visit spacecamputah.org.)

Graig and I gave the for-profit Discovery Space Center a try recently. We booked a mission for our family the first Saturday in July in addition to reserving a friend mission last Saturday. From what we saw, the DSC is definitely still working out some bugs in its computer programs (but that was often true at the CMSEC too). Most important, the feeling was there- the feeling of excitement, of magic. The pressure to save the day. The euphoria that comes from just barely evading certain death. The deep satisfaction when each member of the crew plays an important role in completing the mission.

The DSC captured it, all of it. If you were willing to surrender yourself to the power of imagination, it was magic.

Flying on the UCS Endeavor

Brandon (chief engineer), Jennifer (tactical officer), Beth (communications officer), Graig (pilot), me (operations officer), Ashley (sensors officer), Sara (captain!) and Whitney (first officer)

Denver

Wow, did I have a good time in Denver! The journalism program I was there for was very small, only 14 participants and six staff members from the Society of Professional Journalists.

There were three of us from BYU: Emma, Grace and me, so it was nice to have a de facto group to hang out with if needed, but the truth is I hardly needed it at all. I made friends not only with the five other student journalists, all three of us made friends with the six pros!

I made a lot of great memories and have tons of stories from the weekend, but in the interest of keeping your interest I'll stick with my favorite story.

Classes on Saturday ended at 5:30 p.m. The SPJ gave us the evening off to venture through Denver. As Tara (one of the teachers) prepared to release us, she asked if anyone had any plans. I thought to myself, Emma and Grace and I have plans, and stood up.

"We're going to go to Writers Square, a candy shop and a Vietnamese restaurant for dinner. You're welcome to come with us."

Everyone stared at me. You could have heard crickets chirping in the silence. Wow, now everyone thinks we're lame, I thought as I sat back down.

Tara glanced around. "Anyone else? No? Well, we are ready to unleash you on Denver."

As soon as she said that, a bunch of people came over to us and asked when and where we were meeting to go to Writers Square and the candy store. I was amazed and flattered. All the pros (except the staff) wanted to hang out with us! We ended up with almost everyone at the program.

I had a blast!

Curse of the old computer

With less than five minutes left on the clock, tensions were high in the newsroom of the small weekly newspaper.

The printer called just as John's computer program crashed. The paper layout he and the other staff members had worked on all day and several hours yesterday was halted in the export process.

Teri referred the call to Suzanne, who talked with the printer for a few minutes, hung up and announced in a resigned tone,

"He says he'll have to get to it tomorrow."

Bryon and John protested.

"It's all laid out. All we have to do is distill and send it!" John said.

"I bet we could have it to them by five," Bryon said.

"He has guys who have to leave right at five," Suzanne said, and left briefly to arrange for the paper to be picked up and delivered first thing in the morning.

There was a moment of silence, and then Bryon leaned back in his chair and looked at me. "I want you to know, Jessica, I think we've been very restrained in our comments today."

Meaning, if I wasn't here, there would've been much more swearing in the newsroom today as John wrestled with his glitchy computer and Bryon scrambled to get last-minute information.

I looked at John. "Thank you, John." He smirked.

"Not just from John," Bryon said. "Me, too."

I looked at Bryon. "Thank you, Bryon."

... and so the small paper saga continues... I told you my coworkers were thoughtful. Haha

Seriously, it sucks that we missed our deadline because of things out of our control, but hopefully the county keeps spinning until the Messenger hits the stands later than usual.

A perfect day in California

I got to see my Draper family a couple weeks ago when Mom, sister Mel, super awesome friend Jennifer and I took a road trip over Memorial Day weekend. Jennifer's parents let us stay with them for a few days and treated us really well. I love Jen's family!

My "perfect day" was Saturday. It started with biscuits and gravy, continued with a trip to the Sacramento LDS temple and Nathaniel's baptism, and finished with fun at the park by the Drapers' and homemade Mexican food. (Jennifer's mom and dad are THE BEST cooks!)

Keeping busy in Manti

I have two months before my mission. Looking for a temporary job was never in my plan. But a couple weeks ago, an opportunity landed in my lap that was too good to pass up.

I've always wanted to be part of a small-town newspaper staff. I guess I thought working on a small staff in a small town would be as close, professionally, as I could get to the old feeling of working on the UCAS Ascent, my high school newspaper. The Ascent is where I really caught the journalism bug. I loved watching the staff come together and create something tangible. I loved being involved in every step of the creative process. I loved that the all the members of the staff were friends. Man, we had some good times.

The Sanpete Messenger has turned out to be sort of like that, but with a constant cloud of stress and busyness hanging over us that comes from having too many things we want to cover and too few hands to do it. Counting me, we have four regular writers. Sanpete County has 13 cities and two school districts.

I'll only be here for a month, and although I like Manti well enough, I find myself counting down the days. The first paper I helped put out gets delivered tomorrow, and I can't wait. Getting published is really one of the biggest things that draws me to this job, and to boot, one of my stories will be on the front page!

I like my coworkers. I especially look up to the grumpiest and most inappropriately humorous one of the lot- John. He's a drama king, has a colorful vocabulary, and drinks too much coffee, but he's never unkind, has a quick wit and is a darn good reporter. I don't think anything scares him.

The other writer, Bryon, is also the managing editor. He's a much softer kind of nice and less loud than John.

Terri, our receptionist/advertising biller, is like a female version of John. She's very entertaining, to say the least. Nikki, who keeps the phone book updated, is typically pretty quiet, but has a dry humor that plays well with John and Terri. Out of everyone, I'm probably best friends with her. Alison is an intern from Snow College who's very quiet and keeps to herself. I'm not sure what she does- I think she might work with Terri.

Suzanne, the publisher/reporter/advertising seller, is talkative, easily distracted, very quality-driven, generous and thoughtful. She's letting me stay in one of her townhouses for free, and has been giving me rides to and from work.

Yesterday was what John calls Newspaper Day, when all four writers (John, Bryon, me and Suzanne) work writing, editing and laying out the paper. I started work at 9, took a two-hour break at 5 and then helped out in the office until 10:30. It was the first time I saw the amazing view Manti has of the stars. I was TIRED, though. On the way home that night, Suzanne told me stories about staying in the office as late as 3 am- and then getting up at 7 the next day! Thank heaven Monday only comes around once a week.

Discovery of my birth Day

Have you ever flipped through a calendar at the store to check what picture is on your birth month before you decide to buy it? Well, when you work at the Chemistry Department and one of your jobs is to update a "Did you know?" slide daily, you get the added bonus of having a picture specifically for your birth DAY. My bosses really bent over backward to give me today off, and I appreciate it. But I realized Friday morning that because I won't be at work, there might not be anyone to update the digital signage. Soooo as my birthday present to myself, I'm posting the May 13 Discovery of the Day slide on here.

Happy birthday to me!

"Hey, Jessica? NPR is on the phone."

National Public Radio called the Chemistry Department today! (Just now, actually.) They talked to Stacy, one of the student secretaries in the front office, wanting a picture of one of the professors to post online with their article. Apparently the migraine paper Dr. Emily Bates just published is a big deal.

Anyway... Stacy came back to the corner office where I work (it has the best view in the whole building, if I do say so myself) and said, "Hey, Jessica? NPR is on the phone. I know Bryce usually has the best pictures of faculty, but do you have a picture of Dr. Bates?"

For NPR? Yes, yes I do. ... I'm a little starstruck right now.

----added later----
Check out NPR's stellar article about Dr. Bates' research. It's really interesting!

A Sleep Gene Has A Surprising Role In Migraines

Tyler's failed cooking attempt

Breaking news- I'm not the only "challenged" cook in the family!

Tyler obviously enjoying his "cookies and gravy"

It was a simple mistake, but HILARIOUS. He added WAY too much milk when making buttercream frosting and ended up with soup instead of frosting. We didn't have any more powdered sugar, so he decided to experiment and put melted marshmallows in it instead, but the marshmallows hardened as soon as he got them out of the microwave and after trying to add the two together, he was afraid he'd break Mom's mixer if he kept going. Next he tried mixing them in the blender until Mom came into the kitchen after a walk with Dad and said, "You're making frosting in my blender?!"... So he settled for pouring his sugar soup and cookies into a bowl and eating it with a fork.

When our Italian exchange student Agnese saw that, she freaked out. "That's gross, Tyler! Get away from me while you're eating that!"

Brilliant. hahaha

The great passport adventure

After much trial and tribulation, Graig and I turned in our passport applications yesterday! Here's the story...

I don't know why Ridge Publishing shows up way in the boonies; I typed in the address three times and it still didn't fix it. It should be MUCH closer to the other green points, just west of the Provo post office.

Monday. 2 p.m. Graig calls me wanting to go to the travel office in the basement of the administration building and get passport pictures. I tell him I'm busy studying and I'd rather do it all after we get out of class at 4. He argues a little but not very hard. I see him in Mission Prep at 3, and as soon as class lets out we walk to the building and get our photos.

Graig filling out some last-minute details on his passport application

After we pay for our pictures, we gather our things and head to the post office in the basement of the Wilkinson Student Center. The lady at the desk says, "I'm sorry, we don't accept passport applications here. You'll have to go to the Provo post office on 95 West 100 South." We thank the lady and step outside.

I check my watch. It's about 4:10. I know that most government offices close at 5 and start trying to calculate whether Graig and I could get to the Provo post office before it closes.

"Isn't 100 South near the library?" Graig asks, apparently thinking along the same lines. "How far away is the Provo Library?"

"Not too far. It's only a few blocks away from campus," I tell him. "We might as well try to make it to the post office."

... Long story short, the Provo Library is NOT "only a few blocks away from campus," it's about THIRTEEN blocks away from campus. (Or, at least, it was via the route we took that day.) And the Provo Post Office is about seven blocks beyond that, right by the construction on the Provo Tabernacle. By the time we made it to the post office, it was around 5:10. I told Graig to pray that the post office would close late that day as we walked up to the door.

OPEN UNTIL 5:30 MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY, the sign on the door read. Graig and I high-fived and went in. A second sign said, PASSPORTS: GO TO ROOM 2. We found Room 2, but on the door was yet another sign: PASSPORT APPLICATIONS NOT ACCEPTED AFTER 4:00.

Well. I hadn't just dragged my brother one hour and twenty city blocks to take "no" for an answer. I decided to see how serious the post office was about this rule, so I opened the door to Room 2. Immediately, the woman behind the desk yelled at me, "We closed an hour ago!" so I quickly shut the door and turned around with Graig on my heels.

We became more and more hungry as we began the long walk home. I remembered there was a Denny's Diner right next to Wyview on Freedom Boulevard, and we determined to stop and eat when we got there. Graigry had been doing all this walking in the hot sun in his black suit (we had to be in missionary attire for our photos), and he got really tired about three quarters of the way home. Whenever he thought he couldn't take another step, he would say aloud, "There are unlimited pancakes at Denny's. Think of Denny's. We're going to Denny's."

By the time we got to Denny's at 5:50ish, Graig was so happy he paid for both of our meals. I paid for dessert. The delicious food restored our good humor and we decided to go back to the post office the next morning when neither of us had class. Then we returned to our respective apartment complexes for the night.

Tuesday. 10 a.m. Graig and I meet on campus and begin walking to the Provo post office again. (This time, we left campus via the BYU tennis courts and Brick Oven, which was MUCH faster than the way we went before.) We make it to the post office at 10:50ish, well before the 4:00 deadline, and get in line. We then proceed to amuse ourselves for the next 20 minutes by playing games on our phones. When we're second and third in line, we stop that and start looking around, reading the posters on the walls. One poster happens to be a list of required materials for a passport application, and Graig and I realize...

We forgot to bring photocopies of our IDs! We have everything else: proof of U.S. citizenship, our filled-out applications, our original IDs, money - everything! Everything EXCEPT the PHOTOCOPIES of our IDs. Graig glances around the room and says, "I don't see a copy machine in here. Maybe there's one in the main area."

So we leave the line and wander out into the small lobby, looking for any indication that we might be able to get photocopies at the post office. There is none, so Graig pulls out his phone and Googles copy places.

"I've got one. Ridge Printing. It's only two blocks away," he said, and we left the post office, expecting to be back with our photocopies in 30 minutes tops. Unfortunately, when we got to Ridge Printing, we realized that's all it was - a print publishing shop. No photocopies. Graig got back on his phone.

"I found another one. We ought to be able to get photocopies from it. It's about three blocks from here."

Again, Graig led the way. We followed his Google Maps app to a slew of different auto shops, where we discovered that the copy place listed on Google didn't actually exist anymore. Again, Graig turned to his phone.

"Finally, here's a good one! There's an OfficeMax about five blocks from here. We can be 99 percent sure it exists and we can get copies from it!"

So we walked until we reached the freeway overpass, where a sign reading SIDEWALK CLOSED prompted me to stop. "I'm going to ask the people in one of these auto places where the nearest copy place is. I don't want to go over that," I said. So we stopped at one of the three auto places on that street corner and asked a man for directions.

"There's an OfficeMax and a Staples just over the overpass. You can't miss it," he said. I don't think he realized we were walking.

SO. It seemed there was nothing for it. Graig and I ignored the SIDEWALK CLOSED sign and hurried across that bridge, walking as close to the railing as we could while cars whizzed by us at 40 miles per hour. I've never been so happy to see an OfficeMax in my life. We went in, got our copies, walked out and decided we were NOT going to cross that overpass again if we could help it. Luckily, an alternative in the form of a UTA bus appeared in the distance and we spotted a stop right across the street. Graig paid for us both (I don't carry cash) and we got transfer tickets so we could catch the bus back to campus after we turned in our applications.

Five minutes later, we got off the bus and walked back to the Provo post office. It was about 11:40 at this point, and I said to Graig as we neared the front doors, "You know, it'd be just our luck if the passport guy took his lunch break right now."

I should have found some wood to knock on before we walked back to Room 2, because as soon as we opened the door to Room 2, the passport guy called to us, "Sorry, I'm about to go on lunch break. I'm only going to help the rest of the people that are in line right now. Come back at 1:30."

I don't think either of us even replied. We just turned and walked away. I started verbally complaining. "I can't believe this. We can't come back at 1:30; I have work and you have class. I guess we're going to have to come back here again, and I really don't want to."

The good thing about this public rant is one of the post people working at the main desk overheard me and called to us, "You know you can turn in passport applications at the county building on 100 East Center Street, right?"

No. No, we had not known that. I saw a faint glimmer of hope. "Thank you!"

The county building was only about three blocks from the post office. We quickly found the place we needed to go and the person we needed to talk to. We didn't even have to wait in line! Graig gave her all his application materials first, and the county lady said it looked good.

"That'll be $170 with the expedite fee," she said, but as Graig pulled out his card, she added, "I'm sorry, I can only accept checks."

IT'S A DANG GOOD THING I HAD BROUGHT MY CHECKBOOK, OR WE WOULD HAVE HAD TO COME BACK FOR PASSPORTS: TAKE THREE! (Thank you, still small voice that told me I might need it!)

I paid for Graig just as Graig's phone rang. He answered. "Hi Mom. No, we haven't turned in our applications yet. Long story. We're actually turning them in right now. Can I call you back?"

I turned in my application and fee and we left, feeling accomplished. Graig called Mom back just as we walked out into the sunshine. "Hi Mom - Oh! We're running!"

(I had just spotted the bus bearing down on a nearby stop and was booking it. I really wanted to be on this bus; by now it was 12:30ish and I was late for work.) We made it onto the bus and rode it back to campus. Graig called Mom again on the bus and told her the whole story.

I sure hope turning in my visa application won't be this crazy, although looking back on it, it was fun to wander the streets of Provo for hours with my brother and everything worked out. I think the buses in particular was God's way of cutting us a bit of a break. :)

Graig and I saw these fun signs while on our walking tour of Provo.

Scare of the day

"One moment," she says.

"Turn around," she says.

"Don't scream," she says.

Then Sara proceeds to pull a sticker off the back of my neck. From what she said, I was expecting something a little hairier, with about eight more legs.

Thanks, Sara, for saving me from sticker embarrassment. And for the well-intentioned but vague warning that was supposed to let me know what you were about to pull off me might take some hairs with it- possibly painfully. (Hence the "Don't scream.") My heart has stopped pounding now. ;)

In which K.T. gets married

K.T. got married today. :)

 I was so happy to wake up to a white world this morning. K.T. was hoping for snow.

How many people does it take to build a cake?

 Spencer places the second layer while Brian holds the third and Josh (left) and Garrett (far right) supervise.

 Garrett looks kind of seductive in this picture, but really I just caught him right before he hit the camera with a full glare. "How could you let Natasha dress me up in these itchy feather boas?"

Master Chef

It takes six people to build a wedding cake! Josh, Spencer, Garrett, Brian, Natasha and Kim

Being bridesmaids

I've been friends with K.T., Mikayla and Sara for 10 years now. I'm sure glad to have met them.

K.T. and Jamie asked several of their close friends to be bridesmaids and groomsmen. I was glad they made me feel included in their special day. :)

Service from roommates

 I took these first two pictures the same day it snowed. I came home to find Sara had stacked everything from our kitchen in the living room so she could strip and wax the floor single-handedly! She is wonderful. :)

Later on this same night, the power went out for several hours. We celebrated by playing games and watching movies by flashlight.

Ary, Sketti, Sara and Jennifer gave me these flowers when I came home from my University Chorale concert they couldn't attend. They gave Katelyn some too. I super appreciate their thoughtfulness. The flowers are now in a makeshift vase on the table.

GET MILK! GET MILK! GET MILK!

Here's today's story:

My International Media group was in the middle of giving a presentation. We were the 7th of 10 to present this evening, so it's actually quite amazing my phone chose the moment my group got up to present to go off.

I thought I'd turned my phone off before class, but obviously I forgot, because just as one of my group members was talking to the class about how much social media is used in Taiwan (the answer is, quite a lot), my phone went off. Of course, it was my most annoying ringtone- the one I set for calendar events. This particular event wasn't even important, it was just a reminder to buy some milk at the Creamery on my way home from class.

As soon as it went off, I suspected my phone was at fault, but I hesitated going all the way to the back of the room when here I was standing at the very front of the room giving a presentation. I settled on hoping A) it was coming from someone else's phone, or B) the sound would turn off after a few rings. After a minute passed and neither happened, I leaned over to my friend Carmen (who was in my group) and whispered, "I think that's mine, but I swear I turned it off."

The whole time, my classmate Sarah was pushing through her shpeal like a trooper, but by the time she finished, I just couldn't take it anymore. Before my third group member could go to her part, I said quickly, "Excuse me, I think that's my phone. I thought I turned it off," ran back and shut it up.

We resumed our presentation after I returned to the front, but THEN, just when it was my turn to give my shpeal about Taiwanese media professionalism (*cough**cough*), my phone went off again. I really thought I'd turned it off, but again, I'd quite obviously failed to do so.

This time I didn't wait for me to finish my shpeal, I went immediately to my phone, made sure I turned it off, and brought it up with me just in case it decided to reincarnate once more. (It didn't dare.)

After the presentation, I apologized to my group members and told them the silliest part was, it was only supposed to remind me to get milk. Carmen walked me to the edge of campus (she was headed to the library) and we talked a bit. Before we parted ways, she called, "Good night! Don't forget your milk!"

I froze. It had been less than five minutes since the end of class, and I'd already forgotten the milk. If Carmen hadn't said that, I would have walked in the door to my apartment only to realize I'd forgotten what I'd just humiliated my group for. (Actually, I think "humiliated" is too strong of a word, but I can't think of any other that means the same thing, just to a lesser degree. Personally, while it was embarrassing in the moment, I think my phone screaming, "GET MILK! GET MILK! GET MILK!" at me twice in the middle of a presentation is kind of funny.)

Birthday dinner for K.T.

After we graduated from high school, Sara, Mikayla, K.T. and I started a new tradition that we would treat one another to a meal for our birthdays. This year, Sara, Mikayla and I wanted to celebrate K.T.'s birthday at an extra special place because we figured it could be the last time we were all together before K.T. gets married in December. So it was sort of a "happy birthday/congratulations on getting married" dinner. We went to Olive Garden, which was delicious.

Mikayla made dessert, but immediately after dinner none of us had room to eat it. So we took a quick walk up to the Provo Temple. The sun was starting to go down and it was beautiful.

We also had fun playing with our shadows.

Wonderful roommates... and "the new Party Rock" song

I sit here in a familiar living room- the same apartment as the one I stayed in last year- but three of the faces here were unknown until Jen and I returned from our trip to Cali the evening before classes started.

Their names: Sketti, Katelyn and Ary.

Sketti is very athletic. She's taking a lot of student activity classes this semester, is on the BYU women's rugby team and co-chairs the sports committee for our LDS ward. She's super fun and always game to fill needs around our apartment as she sees them. (She's especially diligent about loading the dishwasher. So far, I think it's almost always been her who's started it when it gets full.)

Katelyn is very kind. So far this semester, she and Sketti (they're buddies who met in Helaman Halls last year- kinda like how Jen and I are buddies who met in January of this year) have made us cookies and a couple signs with compliments for each roommate that they put up in the kitchen and on our bedroom doors. She helped me study for a jazz quiz and is tutoring Sketti in physical science. She was called to be our family home evening group "mom" and takes it very seriously. In terms of personality, she and I are pretty much as opposite as you can get: she's boy crazy, loves dressing up, doing hair and painting fingernails. Jen and I have gotten her to like City Hunter, so that's good. I'm excited for her. :)

Ary was the odd one out. The one who moved in without knowing ANYONE beforehand. Basically, she. Is. Awesome! Sara is her roommate, which I think she enjoys very much. Ary is majoring in German teaching, and since Sara loves German, they had some common ground to build on. Ary is not a shy person. She's the type that draws in everyone around her, with her wide smile and inclusive attitude. The-life-of-the-party sort of person. She's also a killer dancer.

This post is about how lucky I got with roommates this semester. Again!

These were waiting on the kitchen table when I woke up this morning. The note isn't signed, but I suspect Katelyn was behind this wonderful surprise. (I should add that we all agreed if we leave something on the table, that means it's fair game for anyone to eat.) The note says:

"My Dearest Roomies, I just wanted to tell you guys how much I love and appreciate you. It has been so great getting to know you guys over the last month. All of you are so incredibly talented and I have already learned so much from you! You guys are definitely very blessed individuals and are such strong examples of Christ and His gospel. You all astound every day with all the things you guys can pull off on a daily basis. I hope you guys understand how wonderful you are and please never forget it! You guys have shown me what it means to truly be considerate, how to really love your neighbor, how to laugh your way through life (I suspect this one may be directly inspired by me), that you can have a life and still do well in school, the importance of having a personal testimony and a firm faith in Christ, and how to be such a great example of service and pure unique talent. I really want each of you to know how much I really love you and how much I care about you! Please know how much I want to help you in any way possible and that I will be there for you no matter what! I hope that you have such a super fantastic day and that everything goes well for you. You really are talented and amazing! With love."

Yup, it has Katelyn written all over it. She's great. :)

Jennifer drew this picture to depict an idiotic YouTube video that went viral in about two days- it set a record for shortest time a YouTube video has scored a million views. It's a Korean pop song called "Gangnam Style" (pronounced gahng-nahm). I first saw it last Friday at my Book Club meeting, where I heard it described as "the new Party Rock" (you know it, the song that goes "everyday I'm shufflin', shufflin', shufflin'") because of how fast it became popular. It features a Korean man, probably in his thirties, dancing hilariously in a bunch of random places. If you look it up, be warned- there's a fair bit of suggestive dancing mixed in with the silliness.

Anyway, Jen only had to show Ary the video once for Ary to get the guy's moves down pat. I told you she's a killer dancer.

Chicken pizza, yeah

Jennifer and I made some delicious chicken pizzas yesterday using some of the dough my mother sent with me at the beginning of the year (it's been going to good use, thank you, Mom!). We bought a rotisserie chicken, green onions, bbq sauce and tomatoes (we already had garlic and ranch dressing) and made two kinds: BBQ chicken and garlic ranch. They turned out so well we used the rest of the chicken for two more pizzas after church today.

Our friend Travis in our ward came over for pizza yesterday. (He, Jen and Sara went to Avengers at the BYU Varsity Theatre. I went to a party hosted by the writing/book club I belong to.)

 Three thumbs up!

 Jen slicing pizza for our roommates today. They loved them.

Admit it. You're jealous. :)

I love it when my cooking attempts turn out well! There were no leftovers.