Mesa, Arizona.

If it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!

D&C 18:15-16

I have received my mission call to serve in the Mesa, Arizona mission, Spanish speaking, with part of my assignment in the Mesa Temple Visitor's Center. This has been a much anticipated moment in my life, and this post is an attempt to explain both the purpose of a mission and my emotions regarding this unique experience.

Perhaps the best way to describe the purpose of a missionary is by quoting the letter that informed me of my assignment. One paragraph reads, "Your purpose will be to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentence, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. As you serve with all your heart, might, and strength, the Lord will lead you to those who are prepared to be baptized."

Mom, Sam and I outside the Mesa Temple in 2008.

And so, starting July 25, I will spend 18 months either in Provo, Utah learning how to teach the gospel in Spanish (for three to six weeks, depending on how quickly I pick up the language) or in Mesa, Arizona and the surrounding towns actually teaching the gospel. Some of my time will be spent at the visitor's center, where I can help members and nonmembers alike understand the purpose of the temple and the principles of the gospel better through various resources they have there.

The picture submitted with
my papers and the reason why
I didn't think I would get called
to a visitor's center. 

The process of determining where young men and women will serve their missions may be foreign to some of you. I'm taking a Missionary Preparation course this spring, and the teacher shared with us this explanation from one of the leaders of the church, Elder Ronald Rasband. Here is the video and text of his explanation. Start at 3:54, or thereabouts. The whole thing is great and more clearly explains the process by which I was called to serve in Mesa, Arizona. I am glad this call is from God and not man.

So those are the technicalities. I'll blog later about more specific things I'll be doing on my mission, as far as I can know that, and more about Arizona in general since I'm automatically a big fan of it now. When a couple friends and I were driving to California last weekend, I got a little too excited when we drove through the northwest corner of Arizona for a few miles. I'm not sure if I was born like this or what, but I don't get excited, or emotional in general, too easily; it's been really interesting to see the intensity of emotions I've felt both while I was preparing, waiting, and receiving my call. At this point, I'm just so excited. I wish there was a better word. I never would've imagined myself serving state-side, in a desert, at a visitor's center, but that's what's happening and I am just unbelievably excited. I've had trouble balancing life between school and church and friends and all the components of each of those, so I'm looking forward to only having one thing to focus on: missionary work. Bettering myself so that I can be a better conduit for the spirit so that I can find people who are ready to accept the blessings of the gospel. How liberating is that! My only hesitation with saying it like that is that it sounds selfish. I'm going on a mission so that I can become better. And hopefully, by bettering my life, I can be an instrument in God's hands and better others' lives. I'm so excited.

Going Vegan.

For the next 21 days, Ellen and I are going vegan. Call me crazy, but I'd like to think of it as a way to show self-discipline and be healthy. I'm still trying to figure out why I'm exercising so much and eating well just before the mission when I'm going to gain it all back (and more) anyways, but I try not to think about that :)

When I was home for Corinne's wedding, my mom showed me this site that had recipes for 21 days of going vegan. I was disgusted, honestly. I don't like vegetables. And I love meat. And ice cream and cheese. But I like doing hard things, and this would definitely be hard, and I've always wanted to see if eating right for an extended period of time would actually make my body perform better and my mind think more clearly. So here we are. I've been blessed with a stuffy nose so I can't really taste anything that Ellen has prepared so far (balsamic zucchini sandwich and curried lentil soup), but I'm sure I'll get really good at ignoring my gag reflex when I get well again. It's going to be a longggg 21 days. I'll post some pictures and recipes I like as we go along.

Soon-to-be blog posts: the mission (I want this one to be really good so I'm writing it in steps. It's important to me). spring term (lots of changes means I need to blog about them. Or something like that). Norway (I'm going on a cruise there this June/July, so I figure if I blog about it, that's like a mini-research project.)

Asking me out just got that much easier.

Ellen and I have been talking about all these sweet things to do in Provo, but we think they would be so fun as dates! I mean, they would be fun with just us as well, but dating is fun. Usually. I've been on some pretty good dates lately (Stars and Stripez[why the z?], Final Cut Film Festival, planetarium), so I'm not complaining, but there are a lot of really fun and interesting things that I (and probably a lot of girls) want to get asked out to do.

 

1) Museums

• Paleontology Museum: I love learning about dinosaurs. BYU's Paleontology Museum is nice because it's free, but it needs remodeling badly. I heard University of Utah's museum is the bomb, so I would be so down for that. It's in Salt Lake and it costs money though :(
• Bean Museum: I also love learning about animals. I could spend (and have spent)  hours in the Bean Museum.

2) Restaurants in Provo

• Guru's: I first went here when my good friend Jordan Rose was performing with a group; the cafe has live music every Wednesday night. Ellen and I just got sweet potato fries and enjoyed the music. So fun.
• Spicy Corea: I love their website. My friend Herbie (now serving in Bulgaria) took me here freshman year and while I'm one of the pickiest eaters I know and therefore feel tentative of trying ethnic foods, I loved this place. Mmmm.
• Any place with hamburgers: Call me American (or unrefined), but I love hamburgers. Any kind, anywhere. I want to try all the hamburger joints in the world.
• Surprise me: I don't like surprises very often, but I'd rather be surprised with a restaurant being chosen for me than have my date be like, "So where do you want to go to eat!" implying he hasn't really thought this through.

3) Friday's Kids: Ellen introduced me to this; you sign up for a Friday and watch a kid with some kind of disability while his or her parents' get a date night. I've done it once and it's a really good experience. Helps you realize how good you got it, you know? Plus the kids are super sweet.

4) Anything outdoors: This includes things like hiking (I haven't hiked Bridal Veil Falls or Mt. Nebo yet), sports (favorites are ultimate and tennis), hot springs or rope swings, Just Dance, etc. I'm game for most things.

5) Miscellaneous

• BYU events: This includes plays, concerts, you name it. The freer the better.
• Games: Coming from a family where the only entertainment during my entire childhood was board and card games, I've become pretty adept at most of them. Favorites are nerts, bananagrams, Ticket to Ride, Up the River, Boggle, and Five Crowns. I'll try not to get too competitive.

 

I tried to give a good mix of free and not-free things. Don't think money is necessary to have a good time,  because it's not (it'sn't?). Also, don't try to combine a bunch of these into one long marathon date unless I really like you. That could get messy. I trust your judgment. Happy dating!

 

PS: I thought for .2 seconds of including a list of guys who I want to ask me out, but decided against it. Maybe next time.

First World Problems.

Over Christmas break, I went to Caitlin's lake house in Fairlee, VT and she introduced me to a youtube video called "First World Problems." It's stuck with me, partly because it's hilarious and partly because it's completely true. I've found that I can classify the majority of my problems as first world only. I don't say that as like, "Oh, I can't believe my problems are all first world, I wish I had some third world problems." It's more like a reality check: maybe I should stop being annoyed that my blind is making that tapping sound as the wind blows it through my open window; at least I don't have to scavenge for food in a dumpster in order to feed my family.

As it is, though, it can be pretty funny to say "first world problem" when either you or someone around you is freaking out about something. Some recent examples:

Kraft mac'n'cheese tastes horrible the next day.

Pencil doesn't have an eraser.

Butter doesn't go to the bottom layers of my movie popcorn.

Tupperware lid isn't airtight (or rather, liquid-tight).

One square of toilet paper left on the roll.

Hand sanitizer smell burns.

Lexis-Nexis doesn't search Wall Street Journal.

Sherlock only has two seasons.

And those were only the ones I thought of in five minutes! Now that I'm in a sufficiently pessimistic mood after searching for all the things I'm frustrated with to turn them into FWPs, let's end this on a happy note. Instead of calling problems FWPs, President Monson gives some alternate advice:

"When we encounter challenges and problems in our lives, it is often difficult for us to focus on our blessings. However, if we reach deep enough and look hard enough, we will be able to feel and recognize just how much we have been given." The Divine Gift of Gratitude

Add your own FWPs, but think about how to recognize your blessings. Peace.

Submitted.

I had my final interview with my stake president, so my papers are officially in. It was so liberating to know that my worthiness was validated by two representatives of the Lord; I was almost crying as I drove because I was just so joy-filled. I wish I had finished them earlier so that I would have had my call by the time I went home for Corinne’s wedding this past weekend; alas, it was not to be. I’ve never understood the hype about having all of everyone and their grandma around when the mission call is opened. How can anyone possibly wait to see where he or she will spend the next many months so that other people can also hear where the call is? It’s you who’s going; you can just tell them later.

Well, wait, I pride myself—yes, humility comes hard to me—on being open minded, which is honestly just the nice way to say indecisive. But really, I am open minded and have very few opinions on anything. I see this as both a good thing and a bad thing. But let me apply it to this situation.

Pros of opening mission call with friends/family: I don’t have to call everyone afterwards to tell them individually because they’re all there to open it with me! I feel loved because everyone wants to know where I’m going and made an effort to be there at the opening of my call. Friends/family feel loved by me because I’m including them in my life. It’s a good excuse for a party.

Cons of opening mission call with friends/family: I have to wait for them to gather. I have to be the center of attention. If I get called somewhere deemed unexciting by people, I have to accept their fake pity. I’d have to host a party.

You can add your own pros and cons; as for me, I actually did feel a little bad while writing the pros that my family won’t hear at the exact same second that I do where I’m going. But not bad enough to wait for them. It’s not really feasible for me anyways; the time change and the various schedules of my family would mean I would have to wait weeks for all of us to be in one place. Besides, I want to be just like Corinne, and I read her call out loud to her over the phone while she was in Ecuador.

At the end of the day, I’m just really excited to serve. People ask where I would want to go if I could pick, and due to my international interests, I would love to learn Mandarin (not a place, I’m aware), but I just want to GO. Anywhere. Perhaps initial disappointment with a Utah call, but only because I live here most of the year. People also ask (mostly close friends) how I decided to go, and God’s pattern in my life has been to let me pick. Helaman 14:30. But now that it’s so close, I only feel happy about it, so I think that’s a good indication that the mission field is where God wants me to be. 

Some people get married. Corinne and Mario get married.

There are a lot of different tones in which I could write this post, mostly because this is such a big change from the status quo of the Earnshaw family and I haven't sorted out my feelings about it. So instead of coherence, this may just be an amalgamation of a lot of thoughts. Get ready.

I love  Mario's family. My family isn't the emotional type; we say "I love you," but we're better at written expressions of affection. Mario's dad (Mario Sr.) made sure that we fulfilled a tradition of his family before we ate lunch the day before the wedding (aka the day of the reception). We all gathered in the living room and he expressed his love for Mario and Corinne and his happiness for having another daughter. I felt a little awkward because I was sitting next to them on the couch and so I felt like he was looking at me when he was talking to Corinne because we were all upons; sorry, Corinne. Mario Sr. then asked my dad for permission for Mario to marry Corinne, and of course my dad said yes, and then Mario asked my dad, and he said yes again. And then Mario's parents said things they liked about Corinne and my parents said things they liked about Mario. It was really nice. Obviously the details are escaping me, like what exactly was said, but after my initial awkwardness at the open display of affection, I was really glad the Garcias initiated that public and spoken acceptance of each Mario and Corinne into the other's family.


The reception that night was so fun and relaxed (for me at least). Mom curled my hair (girl-fail), so I felt beautiful which is always nice. Corinne's colors were black, white and gold. Camille made her cake; it was her first one and it turned out beautifully and it was delicious. I ate more of that cake than anything else this weekend... I wish I was kidding when I say that. The fried coconut shrimp were amazing, as were the rolls. But besides the delectable food, I saw so many people who I hadn't connected with in a long time, and it made me feel very loved.
 They were so good at coming up to me and initiating conversation, for which I was grateful due to my social-skills struggle. Nothing of great importance was said, but I felt like in two seconds of talking I connected heart to heart with these people, which doesn't always happen easily to me. I blushed as they said I had grown up beyond their expectations, and I was happy to tell them about my upcoming mission call. That night, all the girls (except Camille who has her own home) were up talking and I realized for the millionth time why I love my family so much.

Table outside reception hall. Grandpa Earnshaw painted that
 Boston Temple picture for their wedding present.

Camille's masterpiece

The moment when it really hit me that Corinne was married was when they walked out of the temple. Just family and Abbey were gathered outside; it was a group of about 25 people. The instant the doors opened and Corinne and Mario walked out this happiness just hit me, straight from them to me. It wasn't my own happiness, it was their's spilling over to fill everyone who saw them. I don't cry often, but I was so full of joy at this eternal bond that had been forged in the Lord's house that I couldn't hold it back. I quickly restrained it (we still had pictures to take), but that first moment of feeling and seeing Corinne as married to such a good man as Mario will not be forgotten.

In the spirit of a Conference that talked so much about families, I just want to say how grateful I am for the examples of my family for living their covenants and always showing me that the gospel is the way to happiness. I can't think of people I would rather be sealed to for eternity. I love you all more than you know.

My whole fam damily outside the temple

Just the immediate family at the reception hall

P.S. - If you aren't familiar with where the title of this post comes from, then I'm sorry for you. Also, please ask any other questions about the wedding or reception or anything else. I didn't want to make this a marathon post, although it seems to have turned out that way anyways.