The Joys of Missionary Service

This Sunday I drove down to Springville to listen to my cousin share his homecoming talk. It was wonderful to hear about how he worked with such good and valiant members of the church, and how he was able to share and strength the faith and testimonies of the people where he served and of himself. I'm looking forward to hearing my other cousin in Malad speak this coming Sunday. Missionary work is a deeply rewarding experience, and like so many other gospel principles, it's the gift that keeps on giving. I returned from New Jersey 2 years and 4 months ago, but I still feel I'm being blessed for that year and a half that I set aside to serve the Lord.


About three months ago I received a phone call from some members in New Jersey to whom I had taught the gospel lessons. The couple I worked with were married and baptized while I was serving as a missionary, and a year later I was able to fly out to New Jersey and see them sealed in the temple for time and all eternity. I love this family dearly. Each time I talk to them I feel blessed that we have been able to develop a friendship and a bond through the sharing of the gospel. When they phoned, they announced that their family had a new little addition, a sweet little girl. I was excited to speak with them, and to know that they were still strong members of the church (he is a member of the branch presidency and she is a counselor in the Relief Society), and so happy!


I ended the phone conversation and told my mom how thrilled I was that they are still such a faithful little family and how they now had a new little girl. Knowing how excited and happy I was for them, my mom offered to help me make a baby quilt for the little tyke. I pieced it, Mom machine quilted it and sewed the binding on, and I just finished the binding on it. It turned out beautifully! (The pictures just can't do it justice). I'm going to send it off today.

Witty

This summer I enjoyed visits from two of my sisters. We had a great time and made some wonderful memories. My little niece and nephews are adorable and it was fun to get to know them and play with them.

Apparently, though, my first name can be quite a mouthful for a little kid. Growing up, my twin referred to me as Kissy because she couldn't get my full name out. This summer, as Bardo valiantly tried to coordinate his developing articulators (sorry I couldn't resist), I was known as Kwity, Wisty, and my personal favorite and his most frequent title: Witty. So in honor of Bardo (and because I've always wanted to be Witty :)), I've decided to change my screen to Witty.

The Dog Days of Summer

It's finally starting to warm up and feel like summer time here. A couple of weeks ago Mom and I headed out to Crow Creek falls with a friend, and had a great time. I did not, however, appreciate our dog Max panting on my neck the entire trip up to the trail head. It's easy to forgive a face like that, though.

We braved a horrible hike through dead-fall last week, and this week we're finally going to hike along the one of the trails above Eagle Guard Station, if the 100 degree temperature doesn't keeps us from the trail.

The rest of my week has been spent completing my internship. I've been working at St. Pete's Hospital. The area that I work in doesn't have any windows, but this week I've been enjoying plenty of sunshine and warm weather. I've been biking to and from work. With the newly paved back roads, riding has become decidedly easier. The first day it took me 35 minutes to get to St. Pete's from Montana City and about the same to get back. My speed is progressively improving, though. The next day it took 25 minutes to get there and 30 to get back, and the next couple of days I've cruised through in under 25 minutes both ways. It is so refreshing (although, I do get a bit sweaty) getting a bit of exercise before I start out, not to mention saving on those ridiculous gas prices!

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Free-spirited and wise. You have a strong passionate spirit that touches and changes all who know you. The wisdom and common sense that you have is really what guides you through life. Even so, you also have a very playful side that loves adventure and excitement.

Mas de Mexico

The Gabriel house is located about 20 minutes outside of Ensenada in Baja, Mexico. The houses we stayed at were in between Ensenada and a little tourist attraction called La Bufadora, or as we affectionately called it, "La Buf".

This is the first house where we stayed

And this is La Bufadora: One of nature's many wonders. As the tide comes in, the waves crash into the crevice of a rock, and the water spews out and up like Old Faithful.
It's mostly just an excuse for vendors to set up shop and barter with the cruise ship tourists that come through this way. The bartering was a lot of fun. We went up to La Bufadora three times, and on the last trip I had a lot of "friends" in the shops who would yell "Kristy, como esta?!"
I was one of the few people who came from Utah State who spoke Spanish, so I was very popular with the Mexican Vendors.
This was the only sight-seeing we did. The majority of our time was spent with the kids.
Oh yeah, and I can't forget to tell you about the Taco Stand...I'm not sure I'll ever be able to eat a taco in the USA ever again, they just can't compare to the deliciousness of the Tacos we ate every day at lunch.
Mmm...now that's one delicious memory!

Falling in Love in Mexico

I’ve just come home from a terrific trip to Mexico. I came with a group from the Utah State University Communication Disorders department to work in an orphanage called The Gabriel House. It was developed for orphaned children with severe disabilities. I was there for a week and a half. We came down with a group of Engineers who helped develop and install a more efficient septic tank for the orphanage, while we delivered an abundance of Spanish books (and some English ones that I spent a good while translating before we headed to Mexico), lesson plans, and activities. While there, we worked with children who had disabilities that ranged from cerebral palsy to preschoolers who are HIV positive.

These kids were so wonderful! I can’t believe how attached I became them in just a week and a half.

Antonio was my favorite.

Alex is Antonio's brother, they (along with their older brother José) have cerebral palsy.

Chloe is 2 1/2, she's HIV positive.

Rosalinda and her four sisters have a degenerative disease. I've never known people with as good a sense of humor as these girls.

Irene is HIV positive and (obviously) as cute as a button.

The Down Hill Slope

Hurray! I finished my midterms last week, and so far the results have been encouraging. If I can just keep it up for another month, I'll have survived my first year of Graduate School. That means one more semester of course work, another semester of an Externship after that, and I'll graduate. I'll then just have to do my 1 year for a CFY (a year of supervised practice), and I'll be a tried and true certified, ASHA accredited Speech Language Pathologist! (Fortunately the last year is paid.)

I'm also on the downhill slope for Relief Society. The Bishop asked me to speak in church on April 13th, and one of his counselor's said that they're trying to get new people called to the Relief Society Presidency by the time we speak. I finished up this month with a bang, though. We had our Relief Society Birthday Celebration, and it was awesome! We held it in the big beautiful home of one of the counselors in the Bishopric, it was catered by this yummy Mexican restaurant (that everyone in Logan loves) called Cafe Sabor, and we had an awesome speaker who spoke on the theme 'The Power to Change'.

The setup was quick and easy, and I didn't even have to help with taking things down. Even better, we had a record breaking number of sisters attend: 45 of them! We usually get about 45 to 50 sisters who attend Relief Society, and usually only about 2-5 who come to Enrichment, but we must have done something right this time, because they all came. . .