Howdy Y'all!

Well today I opened my mission call! I am going to be serving in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission, and I report to the Prove MTC on July 20! I am so excited and absolutely cannot wait! July seems so far away! I know it will go fast, but it still seems like forever!

I couldn't be more thrilled with where I am going to be serving! I have always wanted to be a southern belle, and now i will be able to even if it is only for a year and a half. There is just something about the south that I am drawn too. I hope that I come home with an accent, because I LOVE southern accents!

As I thought about where I might possibly be called, I never thought I would serve in Tennessee, but I am SOO excited. I cannot put into words the feelings that I have felt today. I cannot wait to get in the midst of the people of Tennessee and start serving the Lord. I have never been there, but I am super excited, and have heard it's beautiful.

3 months and one week from now.. But who's counting right?

Sunshine!

Can I just say how much I LOVE the sunshine? i can't even express how happy I was to see the sun today! It has been several days since the sun has really been out, and I can't believe how much different it makes things. People are so much happier when the sun is out, and the world just feels alive!!! I absolutely love this time of year and the world begins to come out of winter, there is so much color and life! It just makes me so happy! I have been sad that we have had so much snow and rain and that we have gotten such a late start of spring, but it just makes me appreciate the sunshine that much more!! I am so grateful that I live in a state that has seasons and that i can enjoy many types of weather, but my favorite is Spring!

I Love to See the Temple!!

"I love to see the Temple,

I am going there someday.

To feel the Holy Spirit,

To Listen and to pray.

For the temple is a house of God,

a place of love and beauty

I'll prepare myself while I am young.

It is my sacred duty."

On Thursday night I was able to go to the temple and do baptisms for the dead with one of my really good friends. I was very excited to go to the temple because it had been quite sometime since I had been, and the Bountiful temple is one of my favorites! I am very grateful to have the opportunity to have so many temples close by. My visit to the temple on Thursday night was short, but exactly what i needed. I have had a rough couple weeks and my head was on overload with so many different things, that I was struggling to really get any clear direction or really anything from my thoughts. After leaving the temple, my mind was very clear and at peace. I didn't receive any big answers to my prayers or have any miraculous experiences, but I got exactly what I needed.. Peace.

I am so very grateful for the temple in my life, and I am so excited for the opportunity I will have shortly, to receive my endowments as I prepare to serve a mission. I am grateful for the peace, comfort, direction, and love that i feel every time I go to the temple. I love that as soon as you enter the grounds, you can feel the change of atmosphere. The temple is truly a very sacred place, and I cannot wait until the day that I will be able to be sealed for time and all eternity in the temple!