Hurricane Irene and Washington, D.C.

Much has happened in the last week which I hope will be interesting to those that care to hear. In my two week break from school I enjoyed spending time with family in Phoenix. I got to see my niece Lyla for the first time and absolutely fell in love with her. She is adorable! When I wasn't getting ready to leave I was going to the movies with my parents, reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows among other fun things. Unfortunately my time went by too fast and it was time to leave. The interesting thing is that we almost changed my flight to leave on Friday to avoid the hurricane that was ripping through the eastern coast but in the end decided not to. This proved to be a bad decision as my flight from Memphis to D.C. was cancelled and I had to spend the night in Memphis, Tennessee.

Unfortunately, the flight that they rebooked me on did not leave until over twenty-four hours later! Despite the fact that I new it was a possibility I was slightly upset, shed a tear or two, and called my parents before I pulled myself together and acted like an adult. I found a hotel with a shuttle service and proceeded to spend the rest of the day there in solitude. I've been stranded alone in a foreign city before. While I could have spent some time in the city viewing the historical sites I opted for staying in my hotel room watching TV and eating pizza. It wasn't too bad overall. The next morning I cleaned up as best I could without my luggage and went to the airport to hang out. Arriving at the airport at ten when your flight doesn't leave until 6:51 PM equates to a rather long day. Apparently Delta wanted to make up for my cancelled flight by getting us in 24 minutes early and providing speedy bag service. When I arrived at the carousel I barely had time to grab my bags off before they went in again! I grabbed a taxi and no later than fifteen minutes after landing was on my way to my new home.

Shaylyn, Heather, and Joyce in front of the National Archives

Shaylyn and I at the mall in front of the Washington Monument

Located in a nice area of Arlington, our three bedroom apartment is situated on the eighth floor with a view of the Pentagon from our balcony! There are six BYU students that share an apartment. Our first night was spent getting to know each other. On Monday we had a busy day running errands and seeing some of the Mall. First order of business was to get our smartrip passes for the metro. I already had one thanks to my wonderful hometeacher Jason. Once we had them the city became our playground! The second item of business was to get some food. We had to walk a ways to the grocery store which I guess really isn't that far but we struggled to get home. Joyce, Heather, Shaylyn, and I had bags on our arms and in our bags. We chose to take the metro home which saved us. Today my arms hurt and my wrist is bruised because of it. Since then we have found a ride to the store in one of the married student teachers. After our expedition we went to the mall (where all the museums are). As we were waiting in the metro  we heard a commotion on the upper level. A young African-American boy came running down the escalator followed a minute later by a woman yelling "ROBBER!" and looking very angry. A few seconds later some police officers trailed after. Our second metro experience was a forceful reminder to watch your possessions when traveling. We enjoyed looking around the museums and spent a few hours looking at the paintings in the National Gallery!!! I loved it. The building itself is incredible and the museum is full of famous artists. Our viewing experience included John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler, John Singleton Copely, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Rembrandt, Jan Steen, Johannes Vermeer and the Capitoline Venus. It was amazing. We had time to unpack and have dinner before we went to FHE to meet some of the other ward members. It was pretty fun but definitely different than Provo. It is easy to feel insecure around people who are older and more accomplished. I look forward to overcoming that feeling as I get to know everyone better! Thus far it has been the beginning of a fun adventure!

In front of the National Gallery

Change

I feel like I am stuck in a weird place. Change has never been easy for me and waiting for change is even harder. In exactly a week I will be across the country in Washington, D.C. about to embark on a new adventure. All summer I have been waiting for this and now I find myself full of mixed emotions. This year is a year of change and it comes whether we are ready or not. 

I recently walked in BYU's graduation ceremony and it was a strange feeling. Since we are five years old we are in school. We move from elementary school to middle school, from high school to college. We look at the future and we see more semesters of classes and life is constant. We understand that we keep going to school until one day it ends. The distant future becomes today. There is no more school to rely on. The future is hazy and uncertain. 

Why this is unsettling is easy to understand but in the back of my mind I question why it unsettles me so. Instead of seeing a maze of uncertainty before me I should see a myriad of opportunity. I know that worrying about the future is ridiculous. Heavenly Father has always taken care of me and He is not about to abandon me now. On my mission I came to notice a pattern. Whenever I would get comfortable in an area or with a companion something would change. A transfer would lead to a new companion or a new area, a beloved progressing investigator would drop us, or some other challenge would occur to end the feelings of comfort or complacency. I refer to this concept as the taffy principle. Just as taffy is stretched and pulled so too are we. Just as we begin to develop elasticity and feel comfortable with in our stretching the candy maker pulls us in another direction. Although this process can be painful it is necessary in the creation of taffy. The stretching is also necessary to us in our physical and spiritual development. Apparently I need a lot of stretching right now. As painful as it is I know that it is necessary for the development of my character. 

Change is inevitable and good. I am interested to see where this next phase of life leads me. Will I have a job in January? Hopefully. Where that job will be and what that job will be are unknown but it for sure will be a great adventure getting there.