Day nine: A place you've travelled to

So I started the 15 day challenge last month and only got half way through it. Instead of doing the remaining posts "just to finish" I decided I will just do a couple of the ones I really wanted to do anyways. I've decided to broaden my "place I've travelled" to include all the places I served in while on my mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I've been wanting to post about it for awhile now anyways and I figure, what better time to post than today. 6 years ago to the day, I entered the MTC in Provo, Utah and started my journey to the other side of the world! I had quite the adventure travelling to the furthest mission away from church headquarters: Antananarivo, Madagascar and had some of the most memorable experiences of my life while I was there and then in the Johannesburg South Africa Mission. Since this is a VERY long post (with LOTS of pictures) I am going to break it down into categories. You better hunker down with some popcorn to get through this!

#1 The Missionary Training Center (MTC)
Provo, Utah USA: March-May 2005

Being called to a foreign speaking mission (language: Malagasy) I had the pleasure of being in the MTC for 2 months. It honestly was a pleasure. Though I was excited to leave when it came time. The MTC is definitely an inspired place with a very special spirit. My testimony grew so much while I was there and I realized how important it is to live righteously and try to serve God with a humble heart. My experience taught me how little I actually knew, and how much I was going to have to rely on the Lord's help. Especially with learning a ridiculously different language with it's own sounds, sentence structuring and about everything in between. Being there for such a long time I was able to make some amazing friends and am so grateful for their influence and support. My companion was Sister Ison, though it mostly felt like I was in a foursome as we spent 24 hours a day with Sister Hazlett & Sister Ririe who were also going to "Mada". I still keep in touch with all of them - a mission really has a way of binding you to people in a way you could never expect. They know exactly what you are going through in a way that you can't explain or relate to with family and friends back home.

Just working on my Matrix moves

Our Madagascar district at the MTC

#2 Antananarivo, Madagascar: May 2005 - February 2006

Honestly, I don't know what to say to give justice to this beautiful part of the world. Saying it was a bit of culture shock would be a gross understatement. Most parts of my mission were considered "3rd world" and had so much poverty. The people were so loving, open, humble and friendly. So curious about us "vazahas" (white people) and so interested to hear what we had to say. I had a great trainer, Sister Winter, and awesome companions following her. Sister Zeller, Sister Hazlett, Sister Jorgensen (who I trained) and Sister Kunz. We tracted, taught English class, learned and taught how to cook, and most importantly taught the gospel of Jesus Christ. Somewhere between companion two and three I learned how to speak the language. I love the beauty of Madagascar. The Southern Hemisphere with it's beautifully different stars, the AMAZING flowers everywhere, and the wonderful people. I have a special place in my heart for the dirty little kids who would follow us everywhere, and would be happy to rummage through our garbage for "treasures". I love the valiant members of the wards I served in, and the investigators who took the time to listen and gain a testimony of their own. Sometimes I wish that that part of the world wasn't so far from mine, that I could write and it would make it to their remote home, or call and actually get ahold of people. But I guess our reunion in the next life will be that much sweeter. I honestly consider myself a changed person because of my mission and for the things I learned, the people I came to love and the fact that the gospel became a part of my life and not just something I did every Sunday. I will be forever thankful to my immature, naive, 20 year old self for making the decision I did to leave for 18 months and serve a mission.

My first day in Madagascar

Me and Sister Winter on a pday visit to a small rural village

A little local transportation

Me and Sister Zeller with our first 2 baptisms, Vivian & Nandroasana

Beautiful sunsets were a regular thing in Mada

As were delicious fresh fruit!

For those of you who know me well, know that I am seriously Arachnophobic.
I HATE spiders. This picture does not do this web justice. You can't really tell,
but there must have been a hundred spiders on this particular web.
We'd see webs and spiders like this on a regular basis. Ugh!

A little spider size comparison: basically the equivalent of
the length of the mechanical pencil in my notebook.

A lemur!

This member family was my absolute favorite (they had over 10 kids)
Rosalee (6) is in the blue and always brought a smile to my face with her crazy antics

This is the biggest a taxi ever was, and the drivers were known to coast on fumes,
syphon gas, and have missing floor boards. Suuuper safe.....

Sister Hazlett & I with our convert, Landre, and his aunt Honoriette and uncle Lala.
I guess I can kind of see why everyone asked Hazlett & I if we were twins....

All of the Sisters in the mission (or "Soeurs" as it read on our tags)

Sister Jorgensen & I at one of our few DELICIOUS dinner appts.
Lets be honest here: People were poor, so we didn't get fed a lot, and if we did
you never knew what you'd be getting and lets just say more than once I ate fish bones...

Sister Kunz, Hazlett, Jorgensen & I with some members at a baptism

Rain gear was a must in a place that flash flooded up past your knees on main roads.

#3 Johannesburg, South Africa: February - March 2006

About a year into my mission, there were increasing risks of safety for the sister missionaries in the Madagascar mission so we had a meeting with our mission President to decide what to do. Long story short, we were split up. Some were close to the end of their missions and went home, most of us received new mission calls from the General Authority over the Area, and two sisters chose to stay. I was the only one called to the Johannesburg Mission. It was scary and exciting to be going to a new mission all alone, and to learn to teach the gospel in English. You'd think it would have been easy, but it's like a switch had been turned off in my head. More than once I found myself apologizing while teaching a lesson, because I had reverted back to saying something in Malagasy. It was so weird to be teaching in one of the richest, white areas - being back in a "1st world" country in general was definitely different, but I was SO excited to eat some North American food again! I was in Joburg for just a half a transfer with Sister Thurman and Sister Hardin before being transferred to one of the most coveted zones in the mission, Botswana.

My new mission President and his wife, the Bowdens.

One of the things I was most excited about going to "mainland Africa" for
was to see the abundance of wild life. I was not disappointed in the least.

Knocking on a pretty cool door.

Sister Hardin, me & Sister Thurman on the Johannesburg Temple grounds.
It was so wonderful to be able to do a temple session there after having not been
the whole time I was in Madagascar (this is the closest temple, and is an ocean away)

#4 Gaborone, Botswana: March - August 2006

Bots was a perfect mix of Madagascar and Johannesburg for me. Still in a developed country, with minimal poverty (atleast in the city where I served), access to regular tasting food, an area with a CAR! (though we did get mugged while walking before we got said car). And being able to still serve among the locals who were African, and were humble and willing to accept the gospel. I know without a shadow of a doubt that I was meant to be in that country, at that time. I met some wonderful people, and saw them accept the gospel into their lives. My most favorite convert of all, Mariam, was there and I am so glad I was able to be a part of her life. She changed mine for the better. I met even more amazing missionaries and made SO MANY fabulous friends. I served with my only two non-American companions, Sister Durand & Sister Rasoanaivo (who ironically is from Madagascar) in the last 6 months of my mission. My days were the fullest in this small area in Bots, and I loved being there. Just like Mada and Joburg, it was HOT and humid. I loved the ward I served in, the many meals the members fed us and loved the beautiful African scenery.

Welcome to the real Africa

I ate this "delicacy". A mopani worm. Mmmm crunchy. (bleh!)

At Mariam's baptism. There were at least 8 others baptized that day.

Checking out the making of cowhide drums.

No biggie. It's not like I'm petting an untrained cheetah or anything...

Getting up close and personal with Dumbo.
Did I mention I had just RIDDEN on his back!!??!!

PDay game of soccer with the zone.

After hiking to the top of Kgale hill.

Sister Rasoanaivo & I with a member, Chedza. Modelling our locally made skirts

I was lucky to be in missions that did not require sisters to wear nylons with shoes.
Because of the sun, dirt roads, and walking everywhere, my feet often looked like this:

With Mariam and her son, Kevin.

After putting on a musical fireside with the Zone

One last visit to the Johannesburg temple before flying home.

Saying goodbye to some of my best buddies, Elder Nielsen & Elder Nettleship

#5 Home to Cardston, Alberta Canada: September 2006

Oh baby!

I've been wanting to do an update on this pregnancy for a couple of weeks now, but I've just been waiting for this baby to cooperate and let us know what he/she is! I had my first ultrasound on February 22nd and was SO excited to find out the sex of the baby. I even had a celebratory lunch planned afterwards and everything. Unfortunately the tech was unable to get a "determining view" and left us feeling a little deflated... Cue ultrasound #2. This past Saturday, the 5th, we paid for another ultrasound to be done - this time in 3-D. We figured that if we had to pay for the 2nd time around, we might as well have a different experience. It was so fun to watch the baby move, and see just how active a teeny tiny baby can be while I am feeling mere flutterings inside my belly. Seriously, the baby was all over the place doing flips, rolling around, doing total 360s in a matter of minutes. Pretty funny. The big news of the day was that we did in fact receive a conclusive answer to the sex of the baby...so without further ado... I'm here to let you know that my suspicions were confirmed, that I'm getting my wish, and we are having a GIRL! My head is swimming with visions of headbands and flowers, ruffles and bows... I even bought a cute little purple dress today! She better be a natural 'girly girl' or she's in for a rude awakening ;) ha ha

It's a little fuzzy, but I loved this sweet little picture of my baby girl's face.
I think she's going to be beautiful.

22 weeks

My due date has been moved up to July 5th, and my C-section will be booked around the end of June. This pregnancy has actually started to really fly by for me and I can't believe that I'm 23 weeks. I figured it was time for a belly shot (considering I look 7 months pregnant already!) though I've come to remember how much Nick and I hate them. I hate feeling like I look like a blimp with 3 chins, and Nick HATES retaking my picture a bazillion times in order to get one I will keep. Needless to say, I will probably only be taking one or two more in the remainder of my pregnancy, and I am A-Okay with that. I think we are going to have a much harder time finding a name for this little girl considering we do not have any sort of a front runner like we did with the name, Nixon. Hmmmm any suggestions?

22 weeks

Nixon

There haven't been a whole lot of exciting things going on around here and I guess that's why I haven't done a regular update in awhile. As I was going through my camera and uploading pictures I realized that I did in fact have quite a few things to say about one handsome little guy in particular. Nixon will be 10 months old next week, and I can't believe how fast time is flying by. He is growing and changing every single day - and I thought I better record some of my thoughts before I forget them. I wrote them as a letter to Nixon and plan on including it in his book.

(Just 'bustin a move' on Brielle - she doesn't look too impressed...)

Nixon,
I just wanted to share with you a few of the things I've noticed as you grow and develop and become less of a baby, and more of a little boy. You are quite the character and we love having you around and watching you discover the world around you.

I was worried that since our house only has laminate flooring, it would be too slippery and you would have a hard time learning to crawl. Not the case. At around 7 months old you started to do a little scooch and drag. You lay on your stomach and using just your forearms you drag yourself around. Sometimes you kick your legs excitedly and look like you are swimming, and other times your legs just look like dead weight. Who knows... maybe you'll learn to get your knees up under you and crawl 'properly', or maybe you'll just go straight to walking.


You love to scratch your little fingers/nails against any surface very lightly, just to hear the sound it makes. Every time I pick you up, you scratch my shoulder and to me it feels like a little sign of affection - like you are patting my back or something. I LOVE it.

Because you were so tall, and weighed enough we were able to switch your car seat to front facing at only 8 months. I love being able to turn around and see your smiling face and your little legs happily kicking as they hang over your new, bigger car seat.


At 9 months you got really sick for the first time. It started with a fever and teething, and ended up with you having a double ear infection and a chest infection. For a few days you were so sad and cuddly, and only wanted to be held. Even though we loved having you sleeping in our arms again, we were so glad when the antibiotics kicked in and you were back to your happy, busy, mischievous self again.

When Grandma Jeannie & Grandpa Ron were here visiting, you taught yourself how to pull yourself to standing for the first time, so we were very surprised when we went in to get you from a nap and you were practically hanging over the edge of your crib! Time to move the mattress down...


You get in to everything. Now that you can pull yourself up, you love to pull anything and everything onto the floor. The DVD shelves are your favorite and at least twice a day I am picking them up and putting them away so I can walk from our kitchen to the living room without stepping all over them. You can also reach the bottom two shelves of the bookshelf and have learned to pull quickly - to cause as much mess as you can before we notice and pull you away.


When we catch you getting in to something we tell you to stop and you turn your head towards us, smile and laugh, and then go back to what you were doing. Little stinker!


You have definitely discovered how to use your voice and love to just laugh, yell, grunt and make all sorts of noises. It's funny to look over at you and see your face, with your nose all scrunched up, your mouth wide open, and your two little bottom front teeth poking out.

(This picture of Bennett makes me laugh so hard, because
it's SUCH a facial expression Kay would do! haha)

You love being the center of attention, and have started to resent the fact that you are on the floor when us grownups are walking around, or sitting way up at the table. You are now constantly 'under foot' when I'm in the kitchen, literally pulling on my pant legs and climbing all over my feet. You love to sit at the table with us and grab at whatever we're doing, or mooch food from us.

You are adorable, and we love you so much. Everyone is always telling us how handsome you are - that they love your beautiful blue eyes, your shiny blonde hair and your rosy red cheeks. We are so grateful to have you in our lives and love the happy spirit that you bring into our home.

We love you, love Mama & Daddy