Yep, here´s one of those "feeling" posts.

This past couple of days has been so good for me. The four of us girls have had some great experiences that make me realize the real reason I came down here. It wasn´t just to learn Spanish, eat delectable food, and sleep in a hammock (as much as I would like to think I could just do those three things all day every day), but to grow spiritually as well as intellectually (let´s hope not physically as well, Elisa just cooks too much good food!).

I have come to understand how blesed my life has been, and continues to be. I was born into an outstanding family who loves me and has always been there for me. Especially my parents. I don´t think I could ever thank them enough for everything they have given me and more importantly what they´ve taught me. I owe them everything and maybe one day I will be able to sufficiently express my gratitude to them.

I have been able to receive an education. A lot of people cannot finish high school for one reason or another and I have not only been blessed to do that, but also continue on to a university. This is something I am truly coming to cherish. In college you learn more than what is taught in the classroom, but you learn about the basis of who you are. Being out on your own forces you to figure out what you stand for and what you won´t put up with.

And let´s face it, as much as we complain about American government, and the economy, and Provo police pulling you over...nope, that one is still valid, I hate those guys...we are truly blessed to be born into a country where we experience freedom. During the Mexican elections we have been talking with Elisa about politics a little bit. I know, who knew I would be talking about politics? She was telling us how The U.S. has a bit of say in who wins the elections. We had no idea. She just went on to talk about how it isn´t really a matter of who the best politician is, but the least bad. The conversation kind of boiled down to Americans believe in their government. We trust it has the people´s best interest in mind. That may not always be the case, but for the most part it´s true. I´m not trying to start some political debate or anything of the sort. It´s just a couple of experiences I´ve had in the past few days. (This means I´m an ignorant American and if you post anything involving politics, I will not respond. Ignorance is bliss, right?)

And most of all, I am so blessed to have the gospel in my life. I was telling Bart (that handsome devil) how crazy it is the difference you can feel in your life when you are diligent in your faithfulness versus when you are just casual or not even doing the day to day things. The first couple days of this trip, I was pretty bummy. I just felt lost and like the upcoming 7 weeks were going to be so hard. I honestly wanted to go home, I just didn´t feel like it would be worth it and that I wouldn´t be able to hack it. After a couple of days of moping, I changed my attitude thanks to years of my mother´s words resounding in my ears. Who knew I would be admitting my mom´s advice to change my face actually worked. I started being more diligent with my scripture study and prayers and things just got brighter. We´ve had a couple experiences in the past few days that have just rocked my testimony, in a good way. It´s been as simple as having the faith that a simple prayer can help us exactly in the way we need it. I know the Lord is waiting to bless us with anything and everything, but we need to ask. I just love having a bigger picture in mind. I´m not just praying that we make it home safely, I´m building my testimony that will be the foundation of what I believe and in turn who I wish to become.

Props to you if you´re still reading, this has turned into a longy long post. This trip has just given me great time to think. We ride the bus for at least a half hour total each day to and from school. When I´m not trying to have a conversation with the poor soul next to me (I set a goal to talk to someone every time I get on the bus), I just have unlimited access to thinking. That sounds dumb, but when your mind is so focused all day on understanding what you´re reading or hearing, you don´t have much room for transcendentalism. Speaking and listening to Spanish all the time really messes with your head. When you go back to using English, your brain has a hard time translating and pretty soon you can´t find the English equivalent so you just say it in Spanish. I´m turning into one of those pretentious return missionaries that says something along the lines of, "Oh, I can´t explain it in English. You just wouldn´t get it.".