one year.

i sat down to write this post on july 1st, wrote one sentence, and haven't been back. it has been a long week!

well, we have been out for one year! we celebrated an anniversary. :) even though we are one-third of the way done, it still feels like we have a long way to go. the thought keeps going through my head, "not next summer, but the next." i'm thinking next year will feel different, closer, over the hump. having said all of that, it is sweet to have one year behind us! i am so grateful for the things i have learned over the last year. i am very happy i am not starting at day one again!

a few things i have learned this year.

*it is a great feeling to share the gospel! it is a great feeling to bear your testimony about a principle of the gospel. (while you're doing it, the spirit testifies to you again that what you are saying is true and you are strengthened in the process of trying to help another.) i hope the more i do it the easier it will become for me. maybe that is something i can report on next year. (my missionaries are really trying to make a missionary out of me.)

*it is easy to love people. all kinds of people. (even crazy, odd, sad, adhd investigators and missionaries to name a few.) if you just take the time to talk to them and listen to them, you naturally want to help them. you naturally want others to feel the peace you feel. you want them to understand there is a plan for them. i am grateful Heavenly Father has given me a loving heart. He has told me "He will bless me with a special compassion for people who are not now members of His kingdom as i have opportunities to teach them." i have felt this during the past year.

*i really love my companion. this is not new, but being able to be with him to a much greater degree...i love it! i love hearing him teach and bear testimony! i love watching him love, protect and care for his missionaries! i love watching him boldly lead out, like he knows everything he is promising is actually going to happen! i love watching him exercise his faith in Jesus Christ! i love being here for him when he needs someone to be his cheerleader! i am grateful that he is my cheerleader and that he wants to help me!

*i love my family! my children and my extended family. i miss being able to be with them, but i feel great strength from them. i know they are praying for us and our missionaries and i know we are being blessed because of it. i want to be the best i can be to be a good example to them. i want to make them proud of me because i am a good person.

*i have learned that happiness comes from within. it is not determined by outside influences (sunshine, your home, the people around you, even what you are doing), it comes from inside you. from doing what's right. i choose to be happy!

*i still am not a very great cook. surprise! i make a mean sack lunch and pizza dinner for our incoming missionaries. i have figured out how to feed twenty zone leaders lunch. i can even make a pretty tasty dinner for some missionaries serving in santa rosa from time to time. but being a real hostess; making a table look festive and food beautiful and enjoyable, hot and tasty, clearing plates and serving dessert...i have not mastered it yet. dianne gamblin is doing all she can to help me, and she is amazing, but i am not very good at it. not yet.

*my photography skills are not really improving either. i guess i have to do more than just take a lot of pictures. :(

i said i would write a few of the things i have learned this year. my list could go on and on. suffice it to say, i am grateful to be growng and learning. it is a slow process but it is happening.

i will leave you with a picture i found as i down/uploaded my pictures today. he is one of my favorites! elder bevan!