WOW!!!

Alright, well WAY to much has happened in the past month to really get an overview, but i'll try my best!!!

-MARCH MADNESS!!!!- Gotta love it, one of the best times of the year! March madness is like nothing else, the upsets, the last second shots, and just craziness! The past couple of years I have been doing really well with my bracket, but this year, I guess just wasn't my year at all. I don't think i'm going to get ANY of the final fours right...can't believe it!! But you know what, March Madness is still incredible, and I just love the feeling of it, even though it can bring me down SO much, as some of the family saw when Duke beat Butler, and when BYU lost!!!

-WORK- Nate and I worked at A.M. Equipment for about a month building windshield wipers! It was actually one of the best jobs i've had (not saying much because I havn't had many), but it was really interesting to feel how unified the employers were there and actually see how it affects them in such a positive way. Everyone just wants to get things done there and works so hard because of the attitude, and I guess it just is a really great and fun job. Anyways, it was awesome working with Nate and having a lot of great talks with him and other workers there. I am grateful I had the opportunity to work there and hope that I can find another great job for another month before I leave.

-Vacation- Well, I don't really know where to begin on this one. For spring break, the fam decided to get together down in St. George at our condo in Green Valley Resort(I think that's the name). Well, first off, nature is truly beautiful, and I love Utah and the beauty it has, especially the mountains and canyons, it is SOO pleasing to the eye, it just makes you feel happy looking at them. So, at the condo, we have a great view of the canyons in the "backyard" and I loved going out there everynight to watch the sunset....One of the best things about the trip though, was that the WHOLE family was there....EVERYONE including in laws and nieces from Oregon to Texas, which came to 15 people, it was so great to feel there love and to be around such amazing people. Family is really something else. You can always count on your family for anything, and always look to them for everything...especially when you have so many of them. At the resort, there was a bunch of swimming pools, basketball hoops, tennis courts, volleyball, and a bunch of other fun activities. We basically did all of them, and it was a blast. Mckay and I played a game in the pool where we would see how many times we could hit the volleyball back and forth with our heads, I think I still have a headache from doing it...ha, I think our high was 36. We also had some intense family volleyball games, and tennis games. I love how competetive my family is, and that it just gets crazy sometimes, expecially when Sara acts cocky when were losing by 10 in volleyball!! I really don't know what else to say, I mean, being around family, just lets me realize that everything is ok, and that I am truly loved. It lets me know that I really have someone to turn to when things are difficult. Than seeing my three little nieces with such GREAT loving spirits makes me want to cry. They are so beautiful, and I really can't not smile when I see them. I love the example that my family is to me, and the wise advice they have given me in almost every circumstance i've been in. I love them so much, and I think our wednesday night conversation can almost not be written because of how amazing it was, I really think I cried so much that my eyes were seriously dry....So much love in that conversation, and just so much love from family. Anyways, St. george was really hot, and the weather was amazing all week, so that means sunburns for everyone in the family basically...I got it pretty bad, well I thought I did, until I saw my dads...WOW, I didn't know you could get that sun burnt. Well, I'm now in Fresno, California, with my moms side of the family, and wow, family keeps on getting more amazing to me. We're heading home tomorrow morning at 5, well at least that is the plan, and I will be back to good old Lebanon Oregon tomorrow night!!! What a great trip to be with the ones I love, and feel the spirit they possess and try to understand one another!!!

Well, I don't have another headline because I'm getting kicked off the computer for now. Life is great, I basically have one more month until the mission, and I am getting more excited than ever, and temptations keep on building on me, but than the protection just gets that more intense. As I kind of said in the conversation we had on Wednesday, it really is like a war between good and evil, and there battling for my soul, and i'm almost not doing anything, and can feel the power of good just take over the evil temptations I have!!! It's something else. I still have to get my suits, and actually just do a bunch of stuff to get prepared. I've been doing a lot of reading and searching and getting so intrigued with the scriptures, and the word of God. Sometimes I feel very unprepared for the mission, but than I just realize that if I put my faith and trust in God, I will be fine as long as I try my hardest and work my hardest. It's time to serve the Lord and do as he said in Matthew 28:19-20, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen." It's God's work, and we are all involved in it at all times, as we are all missionaries, but I am so excited to be set apart as a missionary of the Lords and to be his servant at ALL TIMES and in ALL places, and truly living so I can be directed by the spirit in everyway. It's almost like a vacation to me. To be able to search the scriptures, and to teach the people the gospel of Jesus Christ, it's almost like that's all I REALLY want to do, and that's what brings joy to my life. I just can't wait for this great opportunity I have, and all the experiences I am going to have to help me learn and grow, and be able to better recognize the spirit. I can't believe it is here, and i'm actually leaving...but it is, and it's time, and I LOVE IT!! I love the gospel, and all the joy and blessings that comes to my life because of it, and I can't wait to share that with the great people in Florida and Georgia. What a wonderous time in my life right now, and how blessed I am with such great examples and such an amazing family. I just hope that I can truly seek charity out in my life and let the savior lead and guide me in the right direction wherever I go. I know that I am supposed to go on a mission at this time, not because I want to, or because my family told me to, but because of my testimony of the true and living gospel, and because it is a commandment of God to teach ALL nations, and baptize. I am going to serve the people in Jacksonville, Florida, but most importantly, I am going there to Serve my true and living Heavenly Father. I guess by serving the people in Florida, I am serving my Heavenly Father as said in Mosiah 2:17 "When Ye Are in the Serviceof Your Fellow Beings Ye Are Only in theService of Your God". Man, I just feel so great right now, and want to keep writing. Man, it's time, once again, the gospel is here in it's fulness and people are waiting for it to come into there lives and to feel the joy and happiness that comes from it. I have had some talks with my brother Nate, and just overheard some of the things he has said, but we had a talk about contention, and how that is really satans tool to sway away from the spirit. Really NOONE I teach will ever know anything through me, but through the spirit the will testify to them through the faith the have. I know as I go down to Florida, and the "bible belt" that many people will want to bible bash with me and try to prove things right or wrong by the interpretations they have, when really I know that doesn't get anywhere, and you can try to prove anything right or wrong, but what it really comes down to is true and sincere prayer in finding the truth, not by trying to prove or using the words of man, but by using the kind and gentle spirit that teaches ALL things as talked about in 1 corinthians 2...wow as I am reading that chapter it just makes me realize more and more that everything is taught through the spirit and faith in that spirit. If your reading this, you should just open up to that chapter and read it, and than you'll know that i'm not the ones teaching the people in Florida, but the spirit that is in me teacheth. I think my favorite verses out of that chapter is verse 4 and 5"And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power. 5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." Oh man, that just gives me strength to go out and teach with that same spirit and power. I'm not one of those people to really persuade people anyways with enticing words, so I kind of only have one choice, and that is to teach by the power of the spirit. Well, I could go on and on all night on how excited I am for my mission, and the things I am doing to prepare myself, but I won't. I will just say once again that it is time, and I can't wait. I will miss my family so much, and a lot of close friends, and it will be really hard for me, but I know that as I put my strength in the Lord he will help me focus on the work he has me set forth to do. I love you all....until next time!!