Expedited Process

Life changes direction so fast, and of course it is for our benefit. Its never been in plan to go on a mission. Not that I didn't want to serve, just that I thought going on my study abroad was my "mission". So I convinced myself of such, and was vocally opposed to the idea of serving. Well I got a "slap" in the face when I learned that I needed to serve a mission. Coming here to BYU-Provo has been a little tough, but I couldn't have grown as much in Idaho as I have here, in my own identity and testimony. It truly has been a blessing to be able to attend school here and learn from those that surround me. As I have been wanting to know why I am here at BYU, in a sense what is my purpose, I still am unsure, however it was very unsettling to stay and do classes until I am finished and then go to Graduate School. (This plan is still something I will, its just on the back burner now) So I decided I was going to go on a mission a little over a month ago and will leave on my mission in little over a month.

I turned in my mission papers last week on Tuesday, my stake president told me he wasn't sure if I would get in the bundle for the First Presidency to look at on Friday. But sure enough, at work on Wednesday, I was extremely anxious, so I booked it out of the office and ran home. And there was a huge, heavy white envelope sitting in my mailbox.

I ran up the stairs screaming, and I had my roommate take it out of my hands before I ripped it open. The myth is that if the call weighs more than $1 it is foreign but if its less than its stateside, but I have heard of my people who debunk this myth, so I had no clue. But I kind of a had a feeling it wasn't going to be a Stateside mission. I was completely happy to go anywhere and I know I would be happy anywhere.

In order to comply with my family and friends schedules, I told them I would open up my call at 8:00pm at my apartment. My family was on a skype, I had my Bishop, Annie and Kyler on speaker phone and about 40 very supportive friends come over and watch me open my future location for the next 18 months.

The whole afternoon before opening up my call, I cleaned and made treats because those are my stress relievers and then went to my Psychology Class which was ironically on Anxiety Disorders, by the time I left I had basically diagnosed myself with one. After class, I had my eye on my call the whole time.

I opened up the call at 8:07pm in front of a full family room in my apartment, with full support of great family and friends. I was so nervous, and was shaking like crazy. My worst fear was the envelope I had received was actually a rejection of my mission papers. Oh course that wasn't the case. It was so incredible.

I am called to serve the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Guayaquil South, Ecuador, Spanish speaking. I leave June 22! My friends were laughing so hard because my Spanish really struggles. But I know it will all work out and I am totally thrilled to go. And I am extremely grateful for all the support I have from my family and fantastic friends!!

Domestic Tumbleweeds

This is what occurs when you live in an apartment full of hairy girls
Not to say that the girls (myself included) are overly hairy but well ya know
The couches in our apartment are probably the most uncomfortable seating you can get
Lets just say they make it uncomfortable to simply sit, lean on, spoon on etc
So as a result we resort to the floor, hey its brand new carpet.
I have got to say that we only have 3 girls in my apartment currently, but we cant all be home together and not be in the same room.
In fact if one of us is home and in the separate room we all gravitate to where they are.
Well this one night we were all on the floor, innocently doing homework
and there was a sudden storm of domestic tumbleweeds.
You may ask what a domestic tumbleweed is, well tends to consist of

pencil lead
lint
food crumbs
bobby pin
paper scraps
and about 5 different types of HAIR

You may find this absolutely disgusting, we did too and then we realized that...
they had invaded our apartment! At any given time we can find about 4-5 rustling around on the carpet. We find them EVERYWHERE. Simply just walking around and getting one stuck on your toes. Or they are wrapped around your laundry. Or if you drop something on the ground you go to pick it up and one decides to cling on as well. Or even in your own bed. Well the locations are endless.....EH PACHA!

A Reality Check

Because of my job, I get to be more informed and read lots of news stories and articles. I love knowing what is going on around me because I tend to be sheltered from the "real" world because of the Provo bubble. And sometimes I find something to "complain" about that should not even be a complaint. I am not dealing with:

-Trying to find my family members
-Attempting to figure out where to live because my house was swept away by a natural disaster
-Trying to find safety in my home town
-Protesting against my countries government
-Fighting a chronic disease
-Dealing with protecting my self and family from neighbors
-Struggling to overcome hard addictions

Not to say I don't have problems or trials, but when I look at the news pages, I realize that I live in America, let alone Utah, I go to a fantastic university, have a loving and supportive family, I have a safe place to live, great friends, I have the gospel in my life, the choice of what I get to study, the temple is two minutes away and . And I gripe about taking midterms or not getting enough sleep. I am so grateful for all that I have and sometimes I just need a reminder that I chose this lifestyle. I am not forced to do these things, its a choice. So my new goal: NO COMPLAINTS.

Because I live in Provo

One thing that I have missed, since not being in Idaho, is all the friends that I left there. BUT! One thing about living in Utah is that everyone comes through here once in a while, so as a result, I have been able to see many of them. And this makes me so happy that they come down and visit me, its awesome. I love it :)

Spice of Spontaneity

One of the most common characteristics of a college students is "flaky". As a result, we fly by the seat of our pants. Because of our free agent lifestyle, we have no strings attached and so as plans
come and go, we seem to base the choice on factors such as the most thrilling, cheapest, interesting, who is it with, or most fun. Being the college student I am I decided to do just that and add an extrakick of spontaneity into my life.

The lack of any substantial break in the Winter semester makes it seem to drag on especially with the frigid weather, which would be much more enjoyable if there was some beautiful snow to go with it. Nonetheless, we had our last "break", meaning one day off, this last weekend. Events were coming and going there were possibilities such as, Fresno, St. George, Sports games, vocal performances, skiing and snowboarding, homework etc... my plan was to stay in Provo, as much as I wanted to get out. After I resigned myself to not going anywhere, my roommate, Megan marches in and says, "Hey! Do you want to go to LA?" I was in shock and wasn't mentally prepared for the trip but after hashing out the pros and cons for about an hour, we said "Why not?" So we decided to go! I was super hesitant and astounded that I would just up and go to California. But what can I say I am a flaky, free agent, college student.

Megan, Nathan, Josh and I left Provo at about 6:00pm on Friday and caravaned to Las Vegas. I had never done anything in Las Vegas except driven through it. We stayed at a girl's family's house next to the temple, they were the nicest family ever. Saturday morning they made
us the most scrumptious breakfast which included, whole wheat pancakes, fresh strawberries, whipped cream, homemade maple syrup and eggs. It was wonderful to be in a family home, so refreshing. We left in the morning, and went to the Bellagio Hotel and were planning on seeing the water show, however due to high winds we were not able to. We walked through the casinos and I could only handle a small amount of it, the lights, alcohol, and smoke was just not enjoyable for very long. The strip was a kind of see it once experience .

We then headed to Los Angeles, California. We were going to be staying at Nathan's grandpas house. Nathan's older sister and her roommate also live there. They were the sweetest, most hospitable people. When we arrived, Grandpa took us out the most delicious Chinese restaurant.
We devoured all of the entrees. Grandpa was the cutest man ever! Leslie, was the best tour guide, because she is kind of a celebrity she knew everything about Hollywood. After dinner, she took us out for a night on the town, we hiked up to the Hollywood sign and saw the beautiful
lights of LA. She also showed us around the Chinese theater, where the celebrities hand prints are and the stars on the sidewalks. They were also setting up for the Oscars so that was fun to see all the preparation. It was kind of rainy but because it was a Saturday night,
there was a lot of clubbing going on.


I definitely felt a little out of place, a little Mormon girl with sneakers, jeans and pea coat on,
versus the the girls in extremely short skirts, tight shirts and stilettos. I felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb, I don't think I would ever fit in that atmosphere and don't ever want to.

On Sunday, we went to church at Grandpas ward. It was so refreshing to be in family ward and in California out of the Provo bubble. After church, Nathan's older sister, Lindon, took us to the Santa Monica pier. It was a gorgeous day on the Pier and the wind was gently blowing, the water was a little nippy, but definitely bearable, and it didn't matter because we were on the beach. Everything was green and the sand was warm. I loved every moment of soaking in the sun. She then took us to the Los Angeles temple, it was beautiful. And the visitor's center was newly redone and it had been a while since I had been in one and it was so fun to look at all the new technology that they are using now a days to spread the gospel.

Leslie is from Arkansas and so she made us a wonderful southern meal, including chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and collard greens. I had never had collard greens and they were that bad! On Monday morning, Grandpa took us out for a delicious meal at a wonderful
bakery.

And then we headed back for the wonderful bubble of Provo. Well back to lovin' school.

I Found a New Hobbie

It could possibly be...

the example of an awesome Mom that always cooked amazing food,
the Idaho attitude of generosity and openness rubbing off,
my awesome roommates that love to be my "sous" chefs,
the Mormon instinct,
my maternal genes kicking in,
the passion for trying new things,
the Brown family traditions I was raised with,
a way to gain relief from school work,

...whatever it is, it gives me the LOVE and DESIRE to cook for people.


It brings me great joy and satisfaction to have people sit down at my table and not have to worry about anything and the food is already prepared for them. It is quite a puzzle to get everything cooked and prepared right on time, but after the dishes are all cleared and people are full and satisfied its such a great feeling of accomplishment.
My roommates often say to people when they come over, "If you need any maternal needs taken care of, ask DaLynn, she will be there for you." So maybe that is where the drive comes from. Anyways, it is always fun to found things that you really enjoy doing, what ever it may be :)

One Year Ago...

One year ago today, I had one of the best experiences of my life. I went to the Jerusalem Center, I would not trade that experience for anything. And I am going back....sometime. Oh mylanta 2010 went so fast. Well parts of it did.
Highlights:
-Trying out skiing
-Getting a new laptop for college
-Going to the BYU Jerusalem Center
-Seeing the Giza Pyramids
-Eating cow tongue. (Not recommended)
-Staying on the Sea of Galilee
-Spending the summer with my family
-Transferring to BYU-Provo
-Having my Idaho roommates come visit me
-Trying the completely "random" room-roommate thing.
-Taking 8 trips back and forth to Utah
-Riding in a Limo
-Trying Calamari
-Attending Christmas Shows: The Forgotten Carols, The Nutcracker, The Christmas Carol, and Jon Schmidt.
-Finishing Statistics
-Completing all my Generals
-Getting a new job as a secretary
-Seeing SLC temple square all lit up
-Ice skating for New Years with friends

Well that about sums up my year! Awesome. Bring on 2011!