The City of Sails

Sorry peeps, no personal pictures yet. My friends have a camera they're going to lend me, but I haven't yet remembered to buy batteries for it. Soon though!

Despite the lack of pictures taken/owned by me, I figured I could still give you an update on what's going on down here.

1. I belong to the greatest ward in the world

From my bishop to the Relief Society president to every sweet aunty and brother who has kissed my cheek or shook my hand every week, down to the precious primary kids who already smile deviously at me and yell "hey Kesaia!" when they see me, I could not feel more at home or more welcome. 

2. I love where I live!

New Zealand is like Ireland! Green, green, green everywhere!

3. I love who I live with

I could not be more well taken care of, even living in my mom's house. The family I stay with makes sure I eat, that I am staying warm, and that I have  everything I need. I love them. I love that they care about me.

4. Institute is awesome!

There is a HUGE church institute program in Auckland and it is a great way to meet people and take church-related classes. There's even an institute building only a ten minute walk from my office! It has been WONDERFUL to retreat there some days, and I try to go even if just for a few minutes most days so that I can practice the piano and feel the spirit a little bit.

5. Shivering 60% of the day is a great way to burn calories!

For real. You should try it.

6. Flavored tuna is a delicious invention

Who knew, right??? My favorite lunch at the moment is a generic brand of Tuna with a Thai Sweet Chili flavor and rice crackers. The "sweet" part of the name is kind of misleading--it's super spicy. I love it.

7. Traveling to the south pacific is so much cheaper when you live in it!

Honestly. You can get RT airfare to most of the pacific islands for between $300-$400. And you can go to Australia for $200!!! In case you're wondering, I'm totally going to Australia while I'm here. Maybe early next year...

8. Idahoans are surprising people
They do things like move half way around the world for grad school, meet their spouse, and settle here to stay (I'm not talking about myself. I'm talking about a girl I completely randomly sat next to on a bus who ended up being from BOISE IDAHO. The odds of that are astoundingly, infinitesimally small. It was a crazy experience.) 

9. Being tall is great
Everyone takes it for granted that you're an famous athlete and want to meet you. :) (but instead of asking if I play basketball, here they ask if I play net ball)

10. Seeing the world you live in from a new perspective is good
It's been very interesting to watch the news when the weather comes on and see NZ set in a sea of pacific water with nothing above, nothing below, and nothing around. It's strange to me to remember that I live in the southern hemisphere, and even though it's bigger than Maui, it's still an island, and a very, very small country. It feels like the world is upside down when I look at the map.

11. PhD's are not that big of a deal
Honestly. It's just more school. I've decided to give up being intimidated by people with advanced degrees. All that really means is they've spent a lot more time in cold, dusty libraries reading books with pretentious titles and writing papers that almost no one ever read than you have. It's a sad thought really.  You should never feel inferior because you didn't choose to spend your time that way. But what am I saying? That's how I'm spending my time right now, lol. :)

12. Family is fluid
The more people I meet, the bigger my family becomes. It's that simple.

13. Lamb can taste good
No really, it can. You have to boil it forever and a day, but put some onions in with it and eat it with roast carrots and sweet potato.... yum.

14. The Temple is the house of the Lord
No matter where it is. It is His beautiful house.

15. Everyone loves a good Motown jam
Did you ever meet anyone who didn't start snapping their fingers and tapping their feet when they hear the Jackson 5 come on? I didn't think so. Motown is a leveler. It erases the differences between people.

16. Kiwi's are really friendly
I have been to over a dozen countries and lived in a lot of places, but I can honestly say that I have NEVER met a people so friendly and helpful and genuinely nice. Honestly. Even in the big city. People are overall extremely polite and considerate. I love it. I need to improve myself so I fit in better.

16. A quarter century is old, and moving to a new country right before your birthday will probably make you feel lonely
This is self-explanatory. But yes, I am now 25, and I actually do feel old. Especially thinking that recent RM's are still just 21 or 20. When did I become a grandmother in the dating world????

17. Life is so good
And we all have great reason to rejoice!

holy moly I'm in New Zealand

Hola peeps. What's up? Guess what? I'm in New Zealand. Woah, right? It really is a big 'woah!' for me. The past week has flown by. Monday I woke up at 3am and couldn't go back to sleep all day. I packed and repacked, prayed over my luggage--that it wouldn't be too overweight--and prayed even more over my car, to sell it before I left. Miracle of miracles, I did, and literally three hours before I left for the airport, I signed over the title with the money in my pocket I needed to be able to open a bank account and start my life here when I landed. My flight was not fun. I was ultra tired and just wanted/expected to be able to sleep the whole time since it was an overnight flight that didn't leave until 11pm anyway, but No! For whatever reason AirNZ seems to think it's a great idea to serve "dinner" at 1am and "breakfast" at 4. Yuck yuck. They kept turning the lights on and making intrusive announcements on the PA. Needless to say I took a long nap after arriving in Auckland.

It is beautiful here. It's like Seattle--very wet and very green, but minus the tall pine trees. I can't believe where I live! I am living with a great friend of mine and her family and it is in such a perfect location; I couldn't have wanted anything more. I can see the Sky Tower from my bedroom window, and Auckland city skyline around it. It is close to shopping and buses, but in such a nice neighborhood and far enough away from "the city," that I do not feel claustrophobic or hustled. Wow. I am so blessed.

School starts Monday. I am excited. It is grey outside but I have such a feeling of light and warmth inside me. I know this is right for me. I know this is where I'm supposed to be and I believe that great, grand things are in store. It's hard to think of my family being so far away, but I am reminded that if we could see with God's eyes, we would realize that it's not so very far after all.

Sorry for the lack of pictures--It didn't occur to me that when I left my phone in the states I wouldn't have anything to take pictures with here. I will try to remedy that soon, because you're going to want to see what I'm looking at. :)

Love you all.

Rejoicing from NZ,
love,
me

Der Sommer

It is two o'clock in the morning and I can't sleep. Usually when I can't sleep it's because I'm thinking about something, and with T-11 days till NZ, you can imagine what. As I think about all the changes coming in the near future, I think about the funny and witty and entertaining and inspiring things I will write on my blog for you to read. And then I remember that I'm a terrible blogger and haven't opened this template in months. Time for that to change. I feel a need to blog, not because I want to broadcast my life or experiences, but because I feel too blessed not to. Even if it's just in a small way, I hope that something I may say or write someday on here might benefit someone. Sunshine is the goal. 

With that in mind, I'd love to tell you about my summer. 

It's been lovely. I've had taimi 'ifo (delicious, wonderful time) with family and friends, and been rejuvenated and recharged in a myriad of ways. Leaving Maui, as predicted, was HARD. BUT I have a strong feeling that I will be back, that it is my home, and I hope someday I can share it with YOU, when you finally come visit me. :)

The summer has been a whirlwind of travel and adventure. I arrived back to immediately attend a cousins HS graduation, then a family reunion, and got to spend a couple of relaxing weeks with my fam while freezing in the forever-dawdling Idaho spring (see previous post). 

The middle of June brought me a much anticipated gift: an aptly named "Rocking Roommate Reunion Roadtrip" from UT to Seattle with three of my closest and much-beloved friends. 

These girls light up my life and are continuously teaching and inspiring me. Not to mention making me laugh. Love you R, N, and L.

Portland was next, with another week with a favorite aunt, uncle, and cousins. I grew up during my high school summers with them, and love and miss them a lot. My dear aunty decided she wanted to go back to being a farmer, and she has enough chickens, goats, rabbits, horses, cats, etc. to prove herself one. I had a wonderful time going back to my roots and milking goats, bottle feeding the kids, and collecting eggs from the chickens. Aunty K is a master food preserver and professor of self-sufficiency, and I learned how to properly butcher both chickens and rabbits. Living in a Tongan world for so long has desensitized me to such experiences, though I'm not anxious to repeat them. I just don't like taking the life of another creature. :(

Following up that week was a visit to another aunt and uncles house, fun time with more cousins (I am decidedly biased, but I really like my family and think they're the best in the world), and finally home again for the 4th of July and preparations for our epic summer block party. 

The block party was my brainchild, and something I looked forward to and planned for several months. When work was particularly tough or I was struggling, I would just think about what the party was going to be like and how much fun we would have and all the people I could cook for (cooking for people is my joy in life). And the party did not disappoint. Although we weren't able to have everyone come that I would have liked (out backyard isn't exactly big enough to fit the whole world into, and we would most definitely have run out of chicken), the important ones were there. We ate delicious barbeque and salads in my mom's perfect yard, watched a movie projected onto the house after dark, and for those whom we were related or particularly close to, slept outside on the grass that night, under the stars. The next morning delivered a beautiful sunny day in which we ate a large pancake breakfast and spent an ultra-wonderful afternoon kayaking on a subsidiary of the Snake River. So perfect. Such a gift. 

 

Other family activities included wild berry picking and exploring some new (to us) little Idaho towns. 

August came on with a fury, and I saw a cousin off at his mission farewell, finally got to see and hug my brother after 15 months apart, and added a new country when I spent a week in Mexico with some beloved extended family members doing humanitarian work at some orphanages. 

My older sister went too, and we've only just arrived back home from all those adventures and time with family in Utah once again to dear-old-Idaho. Tomorrow is an overnight camping trip with little brother for his birthday, Friday is all-day packing and repacking, and Saturday it is off to Boise to fly out. I will have six more days in Maui trying to sell my car and settle my nerves, then it's off to Aoteroa for me. 

Am I excited? A little bit. 

Am I nervous? Maybe so. 

What are my thoughts? Mostly I'm just going to miss my family a whole lot. They may not know it, but it's a lot more difficult for me to leave them than it looks. It is my one consolation to know that the Lord is there and watches out for all of us constantly, whether we are or are not together. I know He is there in your life too. I hope you can see Him today. 

Ehrlich gesagt, hab' ich wirklich zur Freude groβen Grund.

Perks of being jobless, friendless, and living in the middle of nowhere

1. No pressure to get dressed. So what if I've worn the same sweatpants, socks, and "bear feet" slippers all week?

2. No alarm clock. Let me tell you the secret to getting over jet-lag in the slowest way possible: continue functioning as if you're still living four hours behind everyone else.

3. Having time to spend with family

4. Catching up on all the time I never spent watching TV/movies when I lived in Maui and had a life.

5. Having time to practice piano and study languages for grad school

6. Being stuck here, with these people:

7. Being able to have spontaneous dance parties whenever I find a good song (in my sweatpants and bear feet, of course):

8. No reason to feel embarrassed when I bring a blanket to church because it's so.stinkin.cold here.

9. Being there to help little brother through a meltdown. Poor kid. Having to clean up your own messes is hard.

 (word to the wise: don't watch the whole thing. it will just stress you out.)

10. Having time to stop and enjoy this

and this

and this

and this

11. Finally starting to work on all of the house projects I've planned for so long:

• Deep clean living room. [check]
• Deep clean kitchen [check]
• Fix lawnmower [half-check]
• Keep lawn mowed [ongoing]
• Trim trees
• Put in backyard fence
• Deep clean, repaint, and retile bathroom
• Clean out and reorganize back storage room 

(my mother should pay me more)

12. Feeling loved because people here are happy to see me, and people at home miss me.

13. Getting pictures like these texted to me from people who miss me:

 
Life is a great reason to rejoice!

Men on Maui

I am writing to you from my living room sofa (actually, I live in a studio apartment now, so it's my living room/diningroom/kitchen/family room/bedroom sofa). I just finished watching the beautiful 'Ulalena show for the fourth time (thank you talented hula dancer coworker for the free tickets), and am now comfortably in my basketball shorts, Superman-CTR Tshirt, and glasses, eating Corn Chex from the box. It is on my mind to tell you some stories about the main subject that I think people wonder the most about in my life: men. In case you are wondering, yes, I do date. No, I am not dating someone right now. Maybe you will understand better why after hearing what I am about to tell you. But first, some prelude.

My landlord's name is Mike. He is Caucasian, male (obviously), and probably about 46ish years of age. He is in great shape, runs a para sail and handyman company, owns a large, beautiful house of which he takes immaculate care and rents different parts out, and he is also a bit of a hippie. He has long hair, usually a few feathers hanging from his ear, plays bass and "yells" (his description) in a rock band, and is absolutely alone in life excepting friends, renters, customers, and his cat, Sneakers. I didn't realize how truly lonely he must be until the other night when my roommate and I were headed out for a walk. He came out on the porch and started talking to us, asking us if we had any friends he could date. He said something which initially surprised both of us, but has since brought amazing clarity to some confusion we both had. His news: for every three women on Maui, there are seven men.

Wow, right? (sidenote: I know A LOT of girls who would almost commit to a daily commute across the pacific just to live in a ward with those kinds of odds at BYU, but I digress).

This statistic, which apparently comes from Match.com (I know this isn't a good source, but we're going with it for creative purpose), is apparently the reason why Mike isn't dating anyone (because usually those three women are crazy, according to him), and sheds a whole new light on the everyday living situation for my roommate and I. All of a sudden, SO MANY THINGS MAKE SENSE. Like why, all of a sudden since moving to Maui, we feel like hotcakes on a griddle, whereas in Utah/Idaho/any where else we've ever lived, we can go months without any acknowledgement from a member of the opposite sex that we even exist?


So  now, some stories:

Two hours into my first day on Maui I met a man who was working at the Hostel I stayed at. Shirtless, wet, he had just come back from snorkeling. Early 50's, shaggy hair, caucasion. He winked at me and told me Idaho girls are easy to fall in love with. 'Oiaue. I have been avoiding making eye contact with him every time I've seen him since then.

A week later I was at the beach by myself. A man approached me in the water, started talking, being friendly, and then asked if he'd seen me somewhere before, possibly at the nude beach the previous Sunday? Um, no, definitely not. I was in church. Too bad, he said. I should check it out some time. Wink. Gag me.

And one of my (least)favorite's--a bearded man with double nipple piercings who called me baby, asked what time I got off work, and promised that we would have fun. Um, no thanks.

In the following weeks, months, and now in two years, I have accumulated quite the collection of "pick up" stories, from the grocery store, the bus, front street, the mall, work, etc. If you're a girl and like free food, I can tell you that the beach pathway is a great place to walk around late afternoon time. I have been impromptu invited to dozens of BBQ's, bachelor parties, birthdays, and "just to have a few." I'm telling you, being a girl on Maui makes you feel like an important commodity.

Sort of.

Because there is a huge downside. Like, despite the fact that there are seven-to-three options, there are no real options. At least not for me. I'm sorry, but I'm not attracted to beer belly's, womanizer winks, or kava drunk requests to to'a (represent the traditional village virgin and serve the kava). Added to how unattractive the offers have been is my natural shyness and discomfort when men I don't know start talking to me. My coping mechanism is usually ignoring attempts to flirt, brushing whomever it is off with excuses, or being as short as possible when someone whistles at, yells for, approaches, or in any other way tries to "hit on" me (ps that's a weird phrase. Why do we use that? What does it even mean?)

And that leads me to one of my latest encounters.

On Saturday I went to spend the evening at my family's house across town. I have a car but I love to walk. There is a park adjacent to the neighborhood my family lives in, and I was taking a short cut and walking through it. In the distance I noticed that there was a group of Hawaiian men who were all sitting together talking story and laughing right in the area I was going to have to walk through. Being accustomed, for the past two years, to being called out to when I usually encounter such situations (I had actually already dodged two men already that night, including the one from the hostel, haha), I braced myself. As I got closer and closer to them, I noticed them look up and acknowledge me. Oh boy, I thought. Please don't say anything to me. I really don't feel like being hit on right now*. I kept my head up, tried to look confident, purposeful, and busy, and continued in my path across the park. I made it past them fifteen feet, breathed a sigh of relief, and thought I was home free. Not so.

"Hey! Ui! Seestah!"
huh?
"Hey! Seestah!"
I turned around to check who was yelling. A medium size Hawaiian guy, shirtless, belly hanging slightly over his surf shorts, no slippers, beer in hand, had gotten up and was walking towards me. He motioned at me with his hand.
"Hey Seestah, com hea"
Dude, I'm not your sister. Me, waving my hand in a distracted fashion, turning around and continuing walking "No thanks!"
Him, louder: "Hey! Seestah!
Me, continuting to walk.
Him: "Hey I jus wanna talk to you. You don gotta be afraid."

Lol! I'm not afraid dude, I just don't feel like being on stage for you.

I continued on, didn't look back. I was too tired and uninterested to feel like stopping, even just to be polite. But I laughed and laughed. "Hey! Seestah!" Classic Maui. So classic.

I'm not sure that this happenstance is something I'm going to miss once leaving Maui, but I do have to say that it has made life a little more interesting here. For the most part I've never felt in danger (there were a couple of guys, but thanks to different friends who showed up at the right time, nothing has gotten out of control), just a little cornered a few times. My advice to any men who might read this who are interested in finding a girlfriend anytime soon: treat girls like people, not merchandise. It's not flattering, it's demeaning.

Mahalo for your kokua.


*Tangent: I'm not sure if men understand that (at least for me, maybe it's different for other girls) it's really not flattering to be whistled or yelled at, and it's REALLY not flattering to be ogled or followed. My thought: YOU DON'T KNOW ME. Any attention that you're giving me right now is based solely on your judgement of my outward appearance. And in my opinion, based on my calculation that beauty really has very little to do with anything aside from genetics and hygiene, that really doesn't mean anything to me because IT'S NOT ME.  Are you picking up what I'm putting down here? I get the concept which is that appearance is the first things someone can see and judge, but I'm just saying I don't like feeling like that's all someone cares about when they meet me. Especially if it's someone I feel hounded by. KthanksforreadingI'mdonewiththisnow.

But a real PS- I'm still rejoicing! And you should find reason to, too. :)

A corner that is forever

Being a BYU English major gave me many things, and an appreciation for poetry is among those gifts. In one of the many, many, many literature classes I attended was a section on war poetry. That week I discovered a poem which gives words to feelings previously unutterable by me.

The Soldier- Rupert Brooke

IF I should die, think only this of me;   That there's some corner of a foreign field That is for ever England. There shall be   In that rich earth a richer dust concealed; A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,   Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam, A body of England's breathing English air,   Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.    And think, this heart, all evil shed away,   A pulse in the eternal mind, no less     Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given; Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;   And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,     In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

Why, you may ask, do I love this poem? Because somewhere in everyplace I have been, there is a part that, though I am not still there, is forever mine. My walking route in Vienna. My keke lady in Vava'u. My train station bench in Berlin. My carrell in the Harold B. Lee Library. And even deeper, there is in my heart some corner that is forever all the places I have been and all the people and things I have loved. There is a corner of my heart that is forever hanging out with my grandparents. There is a corner of my heart that is forever country. There is a corner of my heart that is forever Provo and Idaho and family and roommates and friends and books and experiences and my mom's lap. And yes, there is now some corner of my heart that is forever Maui.

I will be leaving my precious valley isle soon. I will miss it so much. I will miss the water and the red dirt and my town and the people and my friends and the culture and church and my precious primary children. I will miss my job and my coworkers and the food and the language and the roads and the quirks and the shape and the spirit of this little rock itself. But there is a part of me, I think, that will always be Maui. The things I've learned and the experiences I've had and the people I've met--my soul has absorbed them so thoroughly I can barely remember myself without all of it. And I know that there will be in my life much, much more to still absorb. I will be home for three months visiting family and friends and soaking up a quintessential American summer. Then, at the end of August, I will be leaving for New Zealand. I do not know what is to come there; I don't even really know what to expect. I don't know if I will stay and succeed in my intended and chosen program, but I will give it my best shot. And I am guessing that, a few years down the road, whenever it comes time to move on from there, I will look back and then be able to say that there is now a corner of my heart that is forever New Zealand. I'm sure glad we have these lives to live. Life is a great reason to rejoice!

life, lately

What the?!
Two posts in one day?
I know, right?

Life lately has been full (read, overflowing) with challenges. I have shed more tears in the past three months, I think, than in many other months previous. But not all for sad reasons. Here is a list of some of the things that are on my heart lately, for good and also for bad. I feel lucky to have so many.

[:)]

1. My brother is going on a mission! My adopted brother, who just turned 19 and of whom I could scarcely be more proud, has been called to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the San Fransisco/Oakland California mission, speaking Spanish. He leaves in three weeks, and I am emotional every.single.day alternately thinking of how much I love him, how much I'm going to miss him, and how proud I am of him.

[:(]
2. My back is killing me. This is obviously not a good thing. Here's the LD (read, lowdown, for those of you who don't want to guess at the acronym I just formed): I injured my back several times in my early teens, and since the time I started college have struggled with severe and sometimes debilitating pain. I have been to many, many doctors and tried many, many things. The severity of what I experience varies and I have found things that help and things that haven't, but I have never found a solid reason or cure. In January I was recommended to a sports injury chiropractor with whom I have been doing physical therapy for the past two months. The pain has diminished quite a bit and I have learned to manage it a lot better, but it is still there. For some reason it has been "acting up" this weekend and I have been in distracting and excruciating pain. I had so much to do tonight and my heart set on attending two specific events that are important to me, but due to my back being how it is, the most I can do is lie here on the couch with ice and painkillers and try to keep my pelvis as flat as possible. TMI, I'm sure. Alas, as much as such situations are frustrating, they make me SO thankful for every single day and moment and experience I have pain-free. Also they always remind me that my life is in the Lord's hands and maybe He's just teaching me to be still and slow down. I don't mind lying here if I can learn from Him while doing it.

[1/2 & 1/2]
3. I moved out of my house. This is an event filled with many mixed emotions. I am thankful to have my own clean and quiet space again, but I miss my [adopted] family so much it hurts. Blah. Sometimes I wonder how much further my heart can stretch before .... well, I don't really know before what. But as thankful as I am for all the people in my life to love, stretching hurts too.

[:(]

4. I have only a few months left on Maui. Not loving this thought right off, so I have to focus on what it means--getting on with my life! Graduate school! My future! But I love Maui so much. I am going to be a tear-streaked bucket of sobs when I get on that departure plane. Hoi.

[:(]
5. Work has been ueber hard lately. What with stuff going on outside of work and issues that have arisen on the clock, the difficulty of wearing a sincere smile while there since November has been far increased. Are things getting better? Not so far, but I do know that the only thing I can control is myself. My attitude and my spirit are up to me. I'm working on this.

[:)]

6. One of my best friends moved in with me. Yay for having friends! My roommate of three years, one of my very best friends and a girl I met my very first day in my very first class in my very first semester of school at BYU moved from the mainland to come live with me for the months I have remaining here. It has been so wonderful to have her. To remember who I was before Hawaii and who I still am and to have her here to explore, adventure, and experience with. Blessed.

[:(]
7. My brother is not making very good choices. I think one of the hardest things in life is seeing someone you love do things you know will cause them pain in the long run. I am praying hard for him right now. I wish he could see an eternal perspective more clearly. Pray for him, would you?

[:)]

8. I love the gospel SO much. This cannot be overstated. Sundays and Thursdays are my favorite days of the week, because of church and institute. When I'm there I never want to leave. I feel so hungry for the spirit--I just want to drink it up and up and up and up. I can't get enough of the scriptures and church talks and videos and general conference (only three and a half weeks left!) and sharing my testimony and listening to beautiful music and looking at inspiring art. I am so thankful for these gifts in my life.

[:)]

9. I love my primary children SO much. This also cannot be overstated. Though they once intimidated me to the core, I can't imagine life without them now. I love being greeted by half a dozen strong little Tongan kids bulldozing their way full-speed ahead down a hall or across the church parking lot to call me Sister Cook and throw their arms around me and tell me hi or they love me or where was I today? They even recognize my car! Their pure faith and budding testimonies strengthen mine like no other. I thought recently how blessed I am to serve in the primary--to witness and be able to observe first hand that most faithful group of people whom the Lord encouraged all of us to be like: the little children. His mercies to me seem never to cease.

[:)]
10. I am so thankful for all that I have. Opportunities to serve and to be alive and health and strength and gas in my car and having a car to begin with and people to love around me and love that others show to me and tender mercies that I see and wonderful memories that fill me when I'm thinking of nothing and a beautiful world to live in and blueberries to eat sometimes and the blessings of work and SWEATING. There is truly just too much to list. And I am happy. There is much that seems to be hard and wrong right now, but there is far more to be glad about. And to rejoice in. I am grateful for it all. I don't mind crying over the hard, because it helps my heart stay soft to be ready to cry over the good made so much better because of the hard. I.Love.It.All.

And I love you. Thanks for reading.

Overcoming

Today I met an old man and his wife. They told me an incredible story. He was a high school dropout, expelled for poor behavior at sixteen.  He and his wife married very young and had three children right away. When he was twenty-five, remorseful of his previous decisions and determined to beat the odds despite his disadvantages, he got his high school equivalency and enrolled in college. For four years he went to school full time during the day and worked full time at night. There were no satellite programs in those days, and his commute to school was one hour each way. For four straight years he kept this schedule: leave the house at 7 am, go to school all day, drive home, work until 4 am, get up at 6 and do it all over. Although he was home every night for between three and four hours, his children would kiss him goodnight on Sunday and not see him again until Saturday morning. His wife cared for them during all that time, and they supported each other. After he finished school he became superintendent over the same high school principal who expelled him years before. He eventually went on to earn a masters degree and was able to be very successful and effective working with the troubled youth in his district because he knew what they were going through from his personal experiences. When he finally retired thirty-two years later, without knowing it, he signed the high school diploma that was awarded to him honorarily for his outstanding work and example.

Talk about overcoming your past.

I sometimes wonder why I even keep a blog, since I write on it so rarely. The reason, though, is in the title: this is a record, in part, of reasons I see to rejoice in life. This man's example makes me rejoice. All around me there are children of the Lord in pain. Some of them are victims of other's poor choices, and some are living consequences of theirs'. In most of these instances I know, these kids will grow up to become people who never truly escape from the pit they ended up in. It's easy to blame others, it's easy to blame yourself, and it's very hard to continue trying to improve yourself and your life when it feels like an endless marathon up a muddy grade. What makes the difference between success and failure, I think, is perspective. You have to keep perspective and believe that life really can be better. Perspective equals faith. Faith that you don't have to keep living in that same muddy hole all your life. Faith that you can become the person you desire. Faith that, no matter where you've been, you can still make it where you want to go. Faith that "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow" (Isaiah  1:18).

I saw a great example of that today, in the man and the woman I had the pleasure of meeting. I'm so grateful they shared a little of their story with me. To see them now, tan and happy on their annual vacation together to Hawaii, you would never guess where they started. But I imagine that their story and what they've been through together is a major part of the reason why they can be so happy, because they know what they've overcome. I thanked them for their example, and hope to be like them in many ways. Whatever life throws at me, I hope I can always keep the faith and perspective to overcome.

Heute

• Good way to start off the week: package from my mom full of leftover Andes Christmas mints. Thanks mom. 
• For lunch today I ate my favorite food (salad) in my favorite way: romaine lettuce-grilled chicken-bowtie noodles-parmesan cheese with Ken's Ceasasr vinagrette. It's made just like it sounds. Cook it, chop it, throw it together, enjoy!
• Woke up to pouring rain this morning--a rarity on this, the hot, arid side of the island. Ran out to roll up my windows and close the sunroof on my car (saying my car has a sunroof makes me feel spoiled. just fyi, that's one of only two cool features about my car, other than the fact that it starts, which is the main reason I love it). Got SOAKED in my basketball shorts and sweater. My face and glasses was dripping as I came back into the garage and realized that three men from my ward were sitting there watching me. They were over visiting, at 8:00 in the morning, and all saw me in my morning glory. Awesome.
• Today begins week two of having a clean room. Although I am very big on keeping my house clean, my room usually gets neglected. Ever since college days when I was literally too tired and busy to care, I have adopted my bedroom as my messy space. I'm trying to be better though, and have succeeded for eight days straight now. Win.
• I have already done my laundry and finished two chapters in the Tohi 'a Molomona today, and with the rest of the week off till Friday, I have four days with little planned but driving brothers and sisters around and reading the TM at the beach. Another win.
• I wish people who made satellites or fiber optic cables or phone cards or anyone else in power cared a little bit more about Tonga and made it a little easier to call over there. I miss people SOOOO much, but due to lack of connectivity for phone networks between here and there, the most I can do is pray for, facebook, and dream about them. Schade. 

That's all.


Peace, love,
me

Das Haus des Herrn

I miss the Temple so much right now. I miss the peace. I miss the beauty. I miss the spirit. 

If you have a temple near you, I urge you to go to it. Put aside any interruptions, and go receive the blessing the Lord has for you there today.Your life will be enriched, I promise you. Few places do I feel as near to heaven as I do when I'm in the Lord's house doing His own work. 

God be thanked for the gift of the Temple.