Boy, I've been a bad girl at posting lately! Between getting settled back into American life, taking classes and making my plans for the next year and a half things it has been a little bit of an adjustment. I have lots to do and I get lots of things done, but for some reason I am always bored! It seems so ironic to me, just like how sometimes trying to fall asleep can be more exhausting than staying awake. Needless to say I've had to make some serious changes and plans.
I don't know how many of you readers know, but right before leaving to Spain I applied to be a missionary for the Church of Latter-day Saints. The second week I was in Alcalá de Henares I received an email from my parents saying that my acceptance letter had come in the mail. They scanned a digital copy of the packet to me so that I could read it word for word for myself.
I was astonished to find out that my assignment was to go to Portugal!
To be quite honest I was terrified. I knew how hard it was to live in a foreign country, learn a new language and get accustomed to another culture. How on Earth was I supposed to do it all over again with Portuguese? Let alone help, teach, serve and get to know the Portuguese people?
This caused some alarm initially, however as I met missionaries serving in Spain as well as missionaries recently returning from Portugal that I've met here in the States I've begun to gain some confidence. After all I do know how to go about conquering difficulties. Yes, I am sad that I will have to postpone my Spanish studies, but I suppose in the grand scheme of things I will have plenty of time to dive back in when I am released from my duty as a missionary.
Anyway, now that the shock is over, I CAN'T WAIT TO LEAVE!!!! I have been itching to get out to the unknown land of Portugal ever since I came back from Spain. I want to serve and represent Christ soooo badly!
Amidst my physical, emotional and spiritual preparations I have also been making wonderful progress of discovering the beauties surrounding my own home. Last weekend I went to Bear Lake, a well loved mountain lake area of mine. Although it was too cold to get into the lake at this time of year (I'm a wimp, I know!) we had a great time enjoying the gorgeous nature.
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| In order to avoid being a "narcissist" as Time Magazine called my generation, I decided to take photos of others in my company! |
You know something? After traveling so much in my life I've learned something that I don't think I could appreciate before. So many people in my life complain and complain and complain AND COMPLAIN about how they don't like where they live, or the climate, or the building, or the people in their everyday lives.
And you know what? I feel extremely sorry for those people, because they fail to realize the beauty the world around them possesses.
Yes, I admit I was most likely fell into that ungrateful category at one point in time, but my travels have taught me something I don't think I could ever erase from my heart. I have seen some truly marvelous, miraculous, majestic things in my life; I truly have. I've seen mysterious Roman ruins, Mayan temples, rocky deserts, stunning cathedrals, active volcanoes, the Amazon, wild lions in the Sahara and more. But I definitely don't say that in a boastful sort of way at all. Instead I've simply come to realize that everywhere I go I see the beautiful world around me and yet I still run into people that hate where they live. (Believe it or not, but I talked with a French boy that said the Eiffel Tower was the ugliest building he ever saw!)
The truth is this: Every location is just as beautiful as any other; You just need to look for it.
While I was at Bear Lake looking at the nature there that seemed so mundane and familiar to me in the past I saw my homeland with a fresh pair of eyes. The fresh smell of pine, the sound of the brook cheerfully splashing upon the pebbles, and the rustle of the breeze that makes the Aspens' leaves shimmer like coins in the sun all made for just as amazing a sight as any of those others I mentioned above-- and yet it was as if it was in my own backyard.
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| If life is a long journey full of the unexpected, we might as well learn how to enjoy the ride! |
