hermanas {part 1}

I know so many sweet sweet girls that already have their calls or are putting in their papers to serve a mission  and I am absolutely so so so EXCITED for them.  I wouldn't change those eighteen months of my life for anything and because I absolutely loved my mission and will take up any chance I can get to gush about my mission I'll take it.  This post is dedicated to the things I wish I knew before I left.

• Read and KNOW Preach My Gospel!! Every mission is a Preach my Gospel mission and you will be such a wonderful missionary if you are already, at least familiar with the book!   If you are worried about not knowing your scriptures or the lessons I would suggest looking up the scriptures in the boxes under each section of a lesson.  Those made all the difference for me, I tabbed my scriptures and by the end I was so grateful that when I needed a scripture on the three kingdoms of glory I could know exactly where it was. 
• The month or so leading up to when you leave I would suggest starting to live the mission life... integrate more spiritual music into your ipod, try and get to bed earlier and wake up earlier.  Especially for those of you coming from apartments with cute roommates that gab (ha this is totally me) ten thirty seems incredibly early.  Make time in this last month before you leave to visit friends and family.
• Depending where you serve I would say some clothing must haves are cardigans and scarfs.  You can dress up any skirt with a cute cardi and a floral scarf!  And currently sisters and can wear pretty much anything.  It kind of ages me but when I got my call we still had to wear skirts that were plain colors mid calf or longer... do you know how hard those are to find?!  But thankfully all you beautiful sisters can wear patterns galore and the cutest skirts.  
• If you serve where it is cold I would invest in warm cute coats.  I served in Western New York and for a big chunk of my mission all I did was wear a coat.  It was too cold to really worry about what was worn underneath.  So I was grateful to have a cute coat! 
• SHOES: hmmm...  I wish someone told me that it was okay to bring a lot of cute flats... Some of the shoes I ended up wearing the most were flats from H&M (cheap and cute) and some a sister gave me from Target.  We definitely did our tracking but for the most part we didn't need heavy clunky scary looking shoes.



here I am with her at the Hill Cumorah Pageant
Love you Hermana Garcia

• CONFESSION!! I had some pretty stylish companions especially my baby!! She is from San Diego and seriously a babe! I trained her my last two transfers (well she came trained...) and I was so frumpy by the end that she was definitely  a princess to my plain jane style.  She knew how to be modest and cute with bright blue skirts, cute belts, my favorite flats from FOREVER21, and cute cute scarfs.  Anyways I learned a lot about style from her. Love that sister!! 

Changes

Oh goodness.  I've been gone for a bit... A good eight months... Well I'm back! I'm trying to be better at this whole blogging thing not because I'm good at it but because I feel that it is some sort of journal and a healthy way to put my feelings out there.  Also one of my bestest friends, Alyssa, started a new blog and I realized that I haven't posted for ages.

Well all I can say is that life in all its ups and downs is beautiful.  I can't believe how incredible it all is.  I was just driving to school this morning and started giggling, I couldn't help but smile at the beautiful world we live in. The last few months have been trying ones for sure but ya know what? Everything ALWAYS works out. Thankfully we don't even have to go through it alone, I'm so grateful for friends and family that have helped me go through some odd transitions in my life that were very unexpected.  I am most grateful though, for my Father in Heaven.  He has blessed me with extra goodness lately! I was thinking how great the works of our God are! How magnificent is He who created us?! This is why I have been able to feel so happy the past few months even with a broken heart and uncertainty about my life in the next few months.  

So guess what?! I'm 24 yep the big two four! Weird.  I secretly love it and any chance I get I find myself saying, 'yeah well I'm 24...' What a great age to graduate from college and to start on my many adventures.  Having said that though,  my life is full of adventures, NOW!! Such a fun life.  My advice of the day is to look for opportunities to just exclaim how much you love life.  Try it right now.  No matter where you are, whisper it, shout it, sing it; I LOVE LIFE!! I promise you will feel better.  Well anyways I'm back and am committing to be a more faithful writer. 

P.S.  I got a new, beautiful camera for Christmas so hopefully I will be able to share in my learning how to use such a incredible piece of technology.  Look how happy I look!!!