Impatience!

14 days left!!! 

I am 90% done with my wait time!!! :) It's been 126 days since I got my call. And I think I might be going crazy. I kind of feel the way I do when I go to an amusement park. When I first get in line for a roller coaster, I am very excited, and I love watching everyone else riding as I wait. But as I get closer and closer to the front, I get more and more nervous and scared. When I'm at the front of the line, I feel like I might throw up, and climbing in is even worse. But as soon as the ride begins, I LOVE it. And right now, I'm getting up to the front of the line. I might puke outside the MTC when I get dropped off.

So since I'm freaking out, I am going to do like the hymn says and count my blessings, and hopefully "every doubt will fly"*.

I am grateful for... 

1. Heavenly Father and the Saviour.
2. The gospel.
3. My family. They're pretty great. My little sisters keep me laughing and my parents do such much for me. And my brother tolerates me, which is pretty impressive for a 16-year-old.
4. The chance to serve a mission!
5. The chance to serve in beautiful Lisbon. I thought I wanted to go stateside, but I am so grateful that the Lord doesn't listen to what I think I want when He knows better.
6. So many amazing friends who are either also serving missions or are supporting me on mine.
7. My best friend! Without Kalen, I don't know where I would be. Probably somewhere with a bunch of cats... 
8. My other best friend who is serving a mission and is such a great example to me. 
9. Priesthood blessings. I know that if given and received with pure intent, the words of blessings are God's words to us. That is amazing.
10. Comfy shoes - I FINALLY found some shoes for my mission and guess what - I don't even hate them! (Now I'm just hoping they arrive before I leave...)
11. Online shopping. I pretty much bought everything for my mission online. And some things not for my mission... (Oops.)
12. My job. I was able to work between the time fall semester ended and a couple weeks ago. Without that, I don't know how I would have afforded anything for my mission. It was such a blessing. And it kept me off the streets of the 'hood.
13. The mission prep class I took last spring, and the amazing teacher I had. Brother Goodman taught us the doctrine, better than probably any teacher I've ever had. And he was so supportive of all his students, even that 19-year-old punk girl who thought she should take mission prep two years before she thought she could serve a mission.  
14. Blogs and Pinterest. Not to be creepy, but if you are a sister missionary and have a non-private blog, I have probably read a few, if not all, of your posts. The advice I found helped me figure out where to buy clothes, what to pack, etc. So... thanks (creeper status). 
15. Letters! I absolutely love getting letters from my missionary friends. I love all of them so much and it is so great to hear how they are changing lives. (And also to know they haven't forgotten me, haha.)
16. The fact that I'm not going to Africa. I'm sure a mission is amazing anywhere, but seriously, I need a toilet and to not eat bugs. I know I'm really spoiled, but thankfully the Lord puts up with some of my flaws (for now).
17. My calling as primary chorister. I moved home after fall semester and went to my home ward. I really didn't want to be the primary chorister, because I didn't know how, and there were only like 7 kids, and they never listened to me, and never sang so I was basically just singing to them, and a lot of other reasons... but I LOVE it. The little sunbeams especially are freaking angels and I love how they try so hard even when they only know two words. And they're SO CUTE. 
18. The scriptures. They are the word of God!
19. The temple.  I love attending the temple -there is so much peace there. The rest of the world just floats away for a few hours. Plus the food in the cafeteria is mighty tasy...
20. Dance and music. It's amazing how music has such power, and can invite the Spirit.
21. Prayer. It's so crazy that you can speak directly to the most Supreme Being in the UNIVERSE... and He will listen. It's mind-boggling how important we are, even though we're not at all. (See President Uchtdorf's talk from October 2011). 
22. The patience I have (somewhat) gained over the past few months. I am not the most patient person in the world and so I might have been a tiny bit upset that I had to wait so long to report to the MTC.... But I am trying to have faith that there is a reason for this ridiculous amount of time. Because without that, I will explode. And it will be messy. 
23. Silly things like socks and scarves. I just love them. And I'm really glad they were invented.
24. The age requirement change for missions. Last year I was SO upset that I couldn't serve as a 19-year-old (more upset than I should have been). I guess Heavenly Father might have heard my complaints. And probably the faithful prayers of many sisters that are far more spiritual than I may ever hope to be. But this change is amazing, and it's really cool that we got to witness it. 
25. The Atonement of Jesus Christ. I do a lot of stupid things and I'm reeeeaaaally glad I can be forgiven. 
26. A lot more things that are probably kind of dumb, like indoor plumbing, and chocolate, and hugs.  Life is just really great. This world is so beautiful. We really have been given so much by our Heavenly Father. 

*Guess what, it worked.