Travel Plans!

First things first! We got our travel plans!!!! OH my goodness, it was so hard to focus yesterday. We fly on Monday the 20th from Salt Lake to Seattle. Then, from Seattle to Tokyo, and from Tokyo to Manila. It sounds so simple when you write it down, but it's NUTSO!! We've made friends with some of the Japanese elders, so I had one of them write down some basic Japanese phrases for me so I can at least ask for help and explain that I don't speak Japanese, haha. I'm pretty excited regardless. :) Now some highlights:

Best. Thing. Ever. Okay, that might be a minor exaggeration, but seriously. I bought some poprocks at the bookstore a couple of days ago, and I went back to class and was eating them to keep myself awake. Well, Elder Simiti (the one from Samoa) came in, and it donned on me that he probably had no idea what poprocks were. So, I offered him some. :) He looked kind of skeptical, but said he'd try some. I gave him a fair amount, and he just took the biggest one, popped it in his mouth, and crunched down on it. Well, we all know that ruins the fun, but he didn't. So I just told him to put the whole little pile right in his mouth. After some persuading, he did. Oh man, it was the funniest thing ever! He made a "what-is-going-on" sort of face, and then started giggling. A huge, 22 year old Samoan man was GIGGLING. Ah! It was so great! He kept turning to his companions and just opened his mouth and said "you hear it?!" It was so great. SO great.

Devotional this last Sunday- Chad Lewis!!! The BYU football player that went pro for 8 years and then became the NFL ambassador to China because he spoke Chinese from his mission. Um, that was the best thing ever. It was like one, wonderful, giant pre-game pep talk. So great.

 

Another "Amy" moment for all of you- I was putting my mascara on the other day and for some reason I didn't register that I needed to scoot my face back away from the mirror to turn the brush around. Consequently, I gouged my eyeball. Like literally, gouged it. Not just a little poke, like dragged the tip of the brush across half of my eyeball. MAN. It hurt so bad. I went to class, and literally couldn't see for a bit. Then my eye hurt so bad and I couldn't even focus it to read something. It was a very pathetic morning. It ended up hurting the entire day, and even going to sleep that night I'd have to close my eyes, and then open them after a few minutes because keeping them closed was uncomfortable. Never fear, I woke up and have been fine ever since, but it was real dumb. One of the Elders, Elder Hall just turned to me the next day and said, "Oh. I thought you were just having a really spiritual experience." Well, alright. If that's what you want to think, go ahead, haha.

Okay, on a more spiritual note. Yesterday, mga kasama ko were having a bit of a rough time because of getting travel plans and missing family, etc. So, one of them asked the Elders for a blessing. So we go into a classroom, and she gets a blessing. Then, the other one asks for one at the same time that Elder Simiti asks if he can give her one. Very cool. Anyway, he still has really broken English, so he told her he was going to give the blessing in Samoan. She was sort of skeptical, but in the broken English he does know he said, "Many countries, one God. You don't know in the Samoan, but God knows in the Samoan. He know the blessings I say, and give them you. You no know in the Samoan, and I don't know in the English. But one God." It was so extremely powerful, I couldn't even say a thing. He proceeds to ask for her full name and give her the most beautiful blessing in Samoan that I have ever heard. That language is so beautiful anyway, but when the Spirit is so strong and the language unites with the language of the spirit, it was so unique and touching and just so GOOD. I don't even know how to describe it. Needless to say we were all in tears. That Samoan Elder is so strong, it is amazing! I heard his "life story" yesterday, and I just realized that my life has been so easy! We've gotten three new districts (yay!) in our branch, and it's been so fun to see them all come in and be excited and be able to give them advice. But there is one Tongan sister, and she shared with us her story when we had a little testimony meeting. I guess her dad left when she was born, and moved to America. She never met him. When it was time to come to the MTC, she was having visa problems. They told her to write to her dad in America and ask for help so she could list a family member on the papers so getting one would be easier. So she asks this father, whom she's never met, for help. It all works out, and she meets her father for the FIRST TIME the day she enters the MTC. WOW. I have been humbled many times lately. I knew how blessed I was, but I didn't realize it, if that makes sense. Wow. Just Wow.

 

Be grateful today for what you have! We never know how much we have till someone else tells us they've never had it. Thank the Lord today! Love you all!

 

Sister Amy Porter

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