A World of Culture

Last weekend (August 9), my Aunt Sal invited my sister, Dad, and me to her home in Bountiful to meet and perform a few pieces for six ambassadors from around the world. These six were traveling and performing in part for the IOV Festival ("Internationale Organisation Fur Volkskunst"- International Organization for Folk Art). My Aunt, as well as her neighbors, volunteered to host them. Including Mary Bee Jensen, a highly acclaimed dance instructor from BYU, we got the opportunity to meet Carmen Padilla (concert pianist from the Phillipines), Ligaya F. Amilbangsa (folk dancer from the Phillipines), Malal Ndiaye and Khady Ndiaye (African folk dancers/founders of the Bakalama Dance Company), and another man from Nepal, who is a tour guide on Mt. Everest, and a dancer as well (I don't remember his name, but as soon as I found out, I will let you know). We spent all evening performing for each other. It was such a neat experience, and we thank my Aunt and Uncle for asking us to be a part of it.

All Day "P"-Day: "Partayyy!"

The Mission President for the Salt Lake area told the missionaries serving here that they would be allowed to have an all day P-day on Wednesday, August 6th. This doesn't happen very often, but apparently, they earned it. Because the missionaries have been over before for various events, they came over to ask if they could hold their "zone day" at our house! They had planned to have a BBQ, play some sports, and watch Disney (G-rated) movies. My parents, of course, were quite honored and accepted their request.

The entire zone consists of 18 missionaries- sixteen elders and two sisters. They all started arriving around 5:00 PM to help set up, and to pick movies out haha. They ended up watching Mulan and Aladdin, played some badminton and basketball in my backyard, and ate TONS of food. It was a lot of fun to meet and see so many 19-24 year old missionaries (especially ones that were so excited to watch a Disney movie haha). I hope they enjoyed themselves because we sure enjoyed having them. We love you guys and wish you success in your service!

Called To Serve

If anyone in my life has taught me to serve the Lord, it would be my grandparents. After a few phone calls and with only a couple months notice, my grandma and grandpa agreed to pack up their things and serve another mission for the LDS church. They successfully completed an 18 month mission in Anaheim, California, and tomorrow they leave to serve a 12 month mission in Macomb, Illinois. I am so excited for them to serve again! I have never been to Nauvoo, Illinois so I am going to take the opportunity to visit them while they are down there. In California they served as CES missionaries, and in Illinois they will be doing the same, however, this time they will be running the CES program themselves. Having an extensive knowledge of the gospel and close relationship with our Heavenly Father, I have no doubt that they will do an amazing job out there. We will miss you both. Thank you for being such great examples for all of us! We love you!

"Before I met you I never knew what it was like; to look at you and smile for no reason."

I just have to brag here a little bit about my sweet boyfriend. For those of you don't know, my boyfriend is currently serving a mission for the LDS church in the South Dakota Rapid City area. Some days are extremely hard because my best friend is away, but I know that what he is doing is far more important. Friday was one of those "hard" days. I am quite the perfectionist. I stress out over practically EVERYTHING, and this time, I was stressing out because I was running late for a banquet that I had to play for that night. To my surprise, the doorbell rang right before I headed out the door. My Mom answered it and I heard a woman say, "Hi! Is Lindsey here?" Walking out to the hallway, I see this big, beautiful bouquet of my most absolute favorite flowers- lilies. I couldn't stop smiling. Although on his mission, my boyfriend still finds a way somehow to spoil the heck out of me haha. I feel so blessed to have someone that (even though away) can immediately put a smile on my face, always reassuring me that everything will be ok. He makes me so happy! Thank you for everything Josh. I love you! :)