Time Flies When You're Having Fun

30/03/08
I just got back from an incredible fireside focused on the temple. Sister Shumway spoke first about her experiences with the temple and all of the blessings it can bring into your life. There is no excuse to not attend the temple! She also talked about how being married in the temple provides a strong foundation for a marriage, there will still be tough times, but being sealed in the temple will provide strength and support. Then there was a musical number by Erica, Amy, Garrett, and Andrew which was beautiful and then Hermano Lopez spoke about his experiences with the building of the Madrid temple. He did an awesome job and had a lot of neat experiences because he was involved in every step of the process. He has a very strong spirit about him and I could just feel his great love for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. He closed by sharing his wish that we would all some day find a righteous person to go to the temple with and that we would raise our children in the church to continue building God’s kingdom here upon the earth. After the closing song and prayer my friends and I turned to each other and were just so sad that our time is coming to a close here in Spain. My feelings are so mixed right now, I am so excited to see my family and friends back in the states, but at the same time I am terribly sad that I have to say goodbye to Ana and my life here in Spain. It will also be sad to not spend so much time with group. I’m going to miss our fabulous trips when we are all together for hours on the bus, then exploring a new city, and hanging out in the hotel at night. I have made some great friends and I am excited to hang out with them when we get back to the school routine in Provo. I feel that I have learned a lot in these past three months, not just the Spanish language and culture, but I’ve learned a great deal about myself. Today in church our group sang “Para Siempre Dios Este Con Vos” or “God Be with You ‘Till We Meet Again” as the closing hymn in sacrament meeting as a musical number. It was very powerful and it made my heart hurt as I looked out and saw all of the amazing members of the ward that I am going to miss. I couldn’t look at Ana or Oscar too much because seeing them was affecting my vocal abilities, and we all know there isn’t much ability to begin with. It was an amazing last Sunday and I am so excited for General Conference next week. After lunch today I went to the plaza behind my school to check email and my mom ended up being on. That is two days in a row when I have signed on the internet and she was on because last night after we got home from Barcelona she was on as well. When I see my parents name highlighted on skype I get all excited inside it is hilarious. Last night I got to talk to the whole fam minus Jana. They were in Santa Cruz enjoying the last weekend of Spring break and it was fun seeing all of their faces and telling them about Barcelona. Today my mom and I talked about our travel plans for when they come and it got me very excited! We are going to have the best time. We also talked about the wedding plans and it sounds like everything is going to be perfect. We are going to have a girls’ day on Thursday and get pedicures which I am stoked about seeing that my poor feet have taken a hard hit with the endless yet glorious walking here in Spain and then the temple and reception is on Friday. Unfortunately my face is going to be a little more round than usual in the thousands of photographs that will be taken, but hopefully it will just remind me of my great life in Spain! Well only one and a half more weeks of classes, I have my Spanish final this Thursday and then my two history finals next Wednesday. I’m going to put in a lot of study hours this week so my grades turn out the way I want them, wow I just can’t believe how fast time has flown.