The Call

Dear Sister Downing,

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  You are assigned to labor in the Russia Moscow Mission.  You should prepare to preach the gospel in the Russian Language.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, I am going to Russia!!!! Did not see that one coming.  Grandpa did apparently though.  He was the only one who guessed it right! Which makes it easier for me 'cause I only have to bake cookies for one person.  

Can you see me spittin' out Russian?! I can't.  I'll probably end up with the nickname Olga or something when I come home. 

I got the call in the mail Thursday morning right before class and it was in my backpack all day. TORTURE. I wanted to peak and then pretend to be surprised when I opened it on Skype, but I figured mom would have my head. haha And I really did want it to be a surprise.

Mom got this great video of the party that was goin' on on the other side of the skype camera that she posted on facebook but I cant figure out how to share it to blogger...so bummer. 

Before I opened it, my little brother caleb sang me "I Hope They Call Me On A Mission." So precious.  That triggered the tears for sure! 

When I saw "Russia Moscow," this  overwhelming, indescribable feeling of peace came over me and I knew that it was of God for ME.  Even if it said "Idaho Boise" I would have felt the same way.  Only God knows why we are going where we are going and He has a plan for each of us in this life.  The difficult, yet exciting, part is figuring out what it is. 

Funny Story...So I have, more than once, called it "Rushcow Mossa." For some odd reason, it is a tongue twister for me. 

Caleb Singing to me

Chandler made this great collage!

 

 

 

Whoa that's huge

Thank you to my friends and family who documented this moment and who have supported me  :)

I just want to testify that I know that this church is the true church on the earth and that missionaries are called of God for the divine purpose of bringing souls unto Christ.  I love my Heavenly Father and His Son  Jesus Christ and I am so thankful for the plan that they have for me and for everything they have blessed me and my family with.  I am so excited to serve as a representative of Him and Christ and I can't wait to serve the people of Russia as well.  

Colorado pt. 3: Wrapping It Up

Jessica's last sunday at church before leaving for the MTC.  She will be an amazing missionary in Florida and she will missed here. 

Picnic in the park with Matthew.  Always a good time with this one:) 

Starbucks with Stacey! :) Iv missed this girl.

Pinkies up!

Tuesday night Matt took me to dinner at Amanda Fondas. It was so yummy! 

Wednesday I went to say goodbye to Stacey. I also went to Starbucks with Matt and said goodbye to him.  I tried the most delicious hot cocoa ever! It is definitely my new favorite! White Chocolate hot cocoa with peppermint.  Go try it if you havent! So yummy! I'll see these two soon:) Its never really goodbye. I have to keep telling myself that when Im saying "see ya later" to all my friends (stacey and matt as I go off to school again, and jessica as she goes on a mission!!)

Iv always wanted to snap a pic of this sign! Finally did it!

Semis along the backroads lined up  waiting for i80 to open.

 So... funny story.

Ashley and I start driving to Rexburg Thursday morning.

Everything looks hunky dory til we get to northern colorado and southern wyoming. 

Then, things get hairy. well, icy i guess.

I have NEVER been more stressed out while driving in my entire life.  not even as stressed out as the very first time I ever drove. EVER!
there were parts where we were going literally 5mph on the interstate!
not to mention we were closed in by Semis the entire way.  THAT was scary.
While Ashley was driving on this 2 lane highway a semi slid right as it was passing us. THAT was also scary.
Anyways...we make it to cheyenne and then they closed i80. perfect!
Im glad they closed it though because it was death out there.
So they sent us back to Fort Collins so we could take a different route to Laramie where we stayed in a hotel all by ourselves and waited for the road to open up which it did the next morning.
And we were off again! Still a very scary drive. Super windy, icy, and blown snow, but definitely not as bad as it was the day before.
Apparently Wyoming didnt want us to leave because a few miles before crossing the border into idaho poor Cleatus started making weird noises and all of the gauges started shaking, and flying up and down and so we pulled over and turned the car off thinking he only needed a nap.
So about 10 minutes later we tried to turn him on again.
nope.
 didnt start.
  So there i am waving Jumper Cables in the air, while cars are flying down the interstate in middle of the woods with no cell phone service.
OH! and its raining.
of course.
Soon enough two nice guys pulled over and jumped the car for us.  It was so nice of them! and we were very grateful.
 SO! we set off again and made it to Rexburg safely and on time to check into our apartment.
What a DAY!

Cleatus still makes this weird putting sound which I am still kind of worried about, but other than that he is running great:)

Cleatus was a mess! this does not even begin to capture the thick nasties caked all over him!

Stuck on the side of the road...in the woods

We are safe now! 

I am so thankful for the time I was able to spend in Colorado Springs with my closest friends.  and I can't wait to come back after my mission.  It's weird to think I probably wont be there again til then.  This trip was  a fantastic way to wrap up my offtrack semester.

I am so thankful that me and ashley made it safely, even if things did go wrong, I knew Heavenly Father was watching out for us and keeping us safe.  

And the Spring Semester begins! Goodluck with this new semester everyone:) It is sure to be a good one. 

Colorado pt 2: Shows

While in Colorado I had the opportunity to see some really great shows.

Pine Creek put on an amazing production of Les Miserables.

It was absolutely incredible!!!! And i still cant get over it. the actors were amazing. the vocals were amazing, the tech was amazing.  amazing. amazing. 

They brought many people to tears.

Caylee and Allison were great prostitutes;)

Rylee was an outstanding Fantine--made me cry!

Morgan played the part of Eponine soooo well!!!!

Matt was incredible with the part of Jean valjean. No words can even describe how much talent this kid has!

Everyone, the ENTIRE cast, did fantastic.

The prostitutes

Me and Jean Valjean

The next night Ashley and I went to see Discovery Canyon Campus's musical, Honk.  It was a really great show! and Stacey did incredible.  She was fantastic for the part of the ducklings' mother. The little kids loved her!!! She blew everyone away!

Colorado pt. 1: Being Children

 So I'm finally in Colorado, and it has been the funnest trip ever.  I have gotten to spend so much time with friends.  But it was weird thinking I wont be back til after my mission.  Bitter-sweet. :)

Matt and I took a trip up to Denver for the day.

16th Street Mall, Einstein Bagels, exploring, and goofing around etc.

Baptisms at the Denver Temple

The Aquarium

Back to Matthews house for dinner and stories with his family

Stuck in morning traffic...blah!

 The Hat Shop.  Something I'd wear to a tea party (or apple juice party) in England.

 Shark/Ray thing

 Sting Rays--their eyes look so creepy! and I can't get over the fact that they can't see what they are eating! WEIRD

We decided that this is the ugliest fish in the sea.  He was probably made fun of a lot in school.

 HUGE FISH!!! Im thinkin it was bigger than me.

 The Grumpy Fish with Jumbo Eye Balls

 Shark Boy

 Sting Rays, my kinda men ;)  MWAH

"Im. a. parana.  I. live. in. the. amazon."

 The tigers came out! They are so so cute!!

 Jellyfish are gorgeous.  Absolutely beautiful creatures

 Petting the Rays was definitely the best part of the aquarium, at least for me.  They werent as vicious as i imagined.  They were actually quite cute and slimey and snuggly!  They like to flap their...flippers along the sides like they want to be touched!

Funny Story:  At the temple, we were mistaken as a married couple.  hilarious, but awkward. 

OH! we went to this Orange juice place that had the BEST orange juice I have ever tasted!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously. The. Best. 

It was also fun hanging out with his family.  They are all so much fun and so hilarious!  Always joking.  We got to listen to Matt's grandparents tell stories.  That was awesome! I hope I remember all of the little things so I can tell them to my grandkids someday.

I had the best day ever with my best friend! We are such children. :)

Anyways, more trip details on the way!  I love Colorado!

"I Hope They Call Me On A Mission" : Start Your Guesses!

Last night I pushed the button.  

The final submit button on my mission papers in my stake president interview!

And this morning I got a call from the Missionary Medical department because they had a question or something which is irrelevant but! the point is that i submitted them last night! and they were already reviewing it at 8am! Im flippin' out over here!

I am so thankful for the opportunity that I have to serve a mission and I can't wait to see where the Lord needs me to be.

Start your guesses!

BBQs, Backflips & Bucketlists

Today was my last day of work!!! ahhhhh!!!!!! time is flying by so. fast. I leave in 2 days.  CRAZY.   

So I got home from work, after missing conference 

which i am pretty bummed about but i'll watch it later online or something, my family was having a BBQ with some family friends we knew in Tucson.

  Their Australian cousin Brenden, who i dont even really know threw me in the pool with all my work clothes on! --by the way, so awesome that its so hot here we are swimming in April.  

I absolutely love the weather here.

  

At some point in the evening Kayle, Trevor, Bryson, and I found ourselves on t he trampoline doing tricks.and me and Kayle were trying to get up the courage to do a backflip.

  I have seriously been wanting to be able to do one my whole life

 and what do you know..I DID IT!!!! all by myself!!!!! and you cant stop me now! im on a roll!

No one has been able to help me do it all the way until today, so thanks Brenden for the continuous spotting and patience.  So I can check that off the bucketlist! 

Soon, everybody was on the trampoline learning backflips and practicing them. 

 It was a really fun time.

We had some really delicious food too!

  Dad made cheeseburgers, chicken, ribs; mom made potato salad and m&m cookies, 

and Jackie made her famous Chinese chicken salad. Yummo. 

I even made myself sick from too many cookies! 

Since mom and I have been doing these fitness challenges we have really been getting in better shape are feeling great! but we have a couple days a week when we can cheat.

  today was one of those days, and from doing no sugar all week, and splurging today with like...5 cookies...and bouncing around on the trampoline all night...I had a very upset tummy. not smart.

Im so glad that I got to spend the evening with close friends and family.  We've had so many super fun times together Im bummed Im not going to be seeing them for a while.