Splinched

I've been splinched! That's the only way to describe it! Let me start at the beginning.

It's Tuesday morning in The Hague, Netherlands. A beautiful girl who does not take very good care of her appearance walks down the steep staircase from the second floor onto the street. She unlocks the new (used) bike That She brought` home just yesterday. It's a bit small for her, making it feel like a clown bike but its ok Because she did not dress to impress this morning. She is wearing black exercise capris and a large, loose, blue polka-dot shirt. Like any good superhero She Has packed her true identity in her bag (in the form of an adorable blue dress). 

This is miracle number 1. She was not wearing the beloved dress When the incident occurred.

Well, this beautiful but unkempt girl cycled down the street towards work just like any other day. After the big circular fountain she Reaches of the familiar crosswalk where (though it is the wrong side of the street), she is obliged to cross due to construction on her side of the road. Though she only moved to the area recently, She Has traveled this route to have enough Considered, The Possibility of crossing back over to the other side of the street after passing the construction site. She knows now-which of the branches of this strange, rambling dutch street are hers. She considers crossing on this fateful day. But there are about 15 bikes waiting in line at the main intersection to turn from the other direction and it would be very kettle to make the sharp right turn Necessary to join them. 

So she continues, just like She Has most days. Just like her guide Showed her on the first day of work. But the path is extremely busy (most likely a function or leaving for work Earlier than usual). It's like a mob coming towards her. She expertly handles the first crisis zone. But then as she maneuvers through the next phase of the crowd That Suddenly she sees two feet directly in front of her is another woman on a cycle. The path is packed and there's nowhere to swerve. There is just enough time for the registry to the girl, 'this is happening and then the two collide with a spectacular crash and the girl falls into the street where, luckily, she was not hit by a car. 

This is miracle number two. She was not hit by a car. 

Slightly embarrassed and in shock, the girl jumps up, grabs her bike and gets back on the sidewalk. A few people have stopped to make sure the two parties are ok. A man makes his way back into the crowd, Clearly connected with the woman. The woman stares wide-eyed at the girl. Everyone checks That everyone is ok. The girl says she is fine and then is told thatthere is blood trickling from her lip. She Reaches up to wipe it away. The woman and the girl continued to stare at eachother and the girl is toldthat she needs to be careful in this busy area, that the woman could not see her. The girl nods and says That Agrees and it's not the woman's fault and That she should not have been on That side of the street and that's She Has learned her lesson. With the uneasy union born of two strangers not killing each other, They part. 

This is miracle number three: The girl kept her cool.

The girl does not really hurt but she is a bit shaken and Decides to go find a bathroom where she can cleanse herself. When she gets to the bathroom she wipes off her elbow and her knee but is alarmed When She sees how deep the hole is beside her kneecap. It looks similar to When She split her skin open hiking and had to get stitches. Now, she is truly Concerned Because wounds are too deep That do not hurt. She Decides to call the one number saved in her contacts-an old friend and current co-worker. Hey instructions Ir her walk the rest of the way to work and get medical help from the on-sight doctor there. 

Look at that face-Clearly in shock!

It's difficult to see how deep it is from this picture.

The girl locks her bike, sets her determination and begins her long walk. With conscious Attempts to Regulate deep breathing, she tries not to concentrate on the image of the hole in her leg. Now would not be a good time to go into shock or start hyperventilating. 

This is miracle number four: The girl does not pass out on her twenty minute walk the rest of the way to work. 

When she gets to work she tries to act nonchalant about wearing sweats into a nice office building. She makes it to the 4th floor, Explains her situation and is bandaged by a nice filipino woman. She is validated to hear That the cut is deep but in fact That everything will be ok. Her jaw hurts and she is've've given painkillers. When she finally makes it downstairs to her division, her supervisor makes an Appropriately big deal about the white bandage. Her boss just comes in and gives her a mini case of ice cream. 

This is miracle number five: The girls co-workers have an opportunity to serve her-which scary managers a greater bond between them.

What the banage looked like by the end of the work day. I mean who would not take pity on that?

The re-done bandage the first night. It just kept getting bigger.

It was only later the girl That Realised what must have happened. It's a common problem for people trying to transport themelves quickly while on an adventure. And the shape of the indent in the girl's leg was so unique. It's not a long scratch or a line. It's a hole. Like a drill was applied to the first few Millimetres or flesh. Part of her body was simply gone. 

There is only one explanation: the girl HAS BEEN splinched. In the process of traveling from one part of space to another, a portion of her body has gone missing. Just like it did for poor Ron Weasley When he and his friends were running away from Death Eaters. 

It was That  dramatic

The girl May never know where her missing bits of flesh got off to. But, just like Ron, she too had kind people around to apply essence or Dittany and care to her wounds. 

The covering really does just keep getting bigger!

So this brings us to miracle number six: People are kind, accidents happen and the best way to deal with them is to imagine that you are part of an epic, fiction-worthy adventure- Because you are! 

Oh, but really, miracle number seven? I still looked awesome in the simple blue dress. 

Going Dutch

Well I have officially survived my first week here in Nederland! 

I'd say the craziest thing about my time here so far is how surreally normal it has felt! Maybe it's because I spent the summer in Uganda or because I have visited the Hague before and so knew what to expect out of my environment but I feel like I am adjusting really well. Like, yeah I live in Europe now! Great! One of my goals with traveling though is to never lose my sense of awe at discovering or living in a new place so I don't want to get too comfortable!

Well, a quick recap of my adventures so far. My first weekend here I went to fireworks with Sameer and Natalia like I mentioned in my last post. Then on Sunday I braved the public transportation system and found the English ward here. This took two hours due to my own incompetence. The ward was very nice and the bishop's family had me and some other people over to lunch afterwards. 

Monday was my first day of work! I was pretty outwardly calm about it but subconsciously nervous. My sweet roommate who used to intern at OPCW woke up early so that she could guide me by bike to the building. This was very nice as it took me a few days to become comfortable biking around the city. It was raining that morning so for my ID photo I've got a bit of a puff ball for hair but whatever. 

The first day was actually pretty comical. I went through security outside the building and when they asked for my passport it was the one thing I had forgotten at home. So I gave them my void drivers licence and they didn't seem to notice. Then when my guides came to collect me in the lobby (you can't walk around alone inside until you have your own badge) they took me to this really fancy meeting room to sign my papers. I realised  that my hand was actually shaking as I sat there, pen in hand. When they finally took me to meet my supervisor he was like, "I DON'T NEED ANY MORE INTERNS!" 

Really. He was

So Then They overtook me upstairs and I've been in Entitlements and Benefits (E&B) ever sense! I'm supposed to transition to recruitment soon but in the meantime my officemates are really nice so I don't mind! Although it's a lot of spreadsheet work....

On Thursday I went with some of the OPCW peeps to jazz in the canals and then on Friday I went to a Brazilian grill and fireworks and then on Saturday I had an incredibly blissful time just cycling around on my own and exploring the city. Then I went back to the jazz concert and read my book there like a weirdo. It was wonderful.

Also my house is incredible! A really great location and a landlord who is like santa clause-seriously I came home to find new furniture magically appeared yesterday! 

So, while I realise its still rather early to make a definitive call, I'm going to say Holland = good choice. A very good choice indeed.

The Suite Life

Greetings from Den Haag!

So I have a goal to blog more and document my blessed life so I'm going to try to update more frequently with perhaps shorter posts.

Well on Wednesday (or was it Tuesday? It's hard to keep track now) I left Provo for the big wide world with the help of my old mission companion's mom, Kerri Crane. She's great! She took me to the airport! The flights were great and the airport was totally fine because I got to watch Dr. Who which I am unashamedly obsessed with right now!

The only problem was that when I got to London they ended up cancelling my final flight to Amsterdam. So then I had to go through customs, pick up my bag, and wait in line for about 40 minutes to talk to costumer service (but it's cool guys, Heathrow has wifi so I just watched more Dr. Who on my phone).

Reason number 1.35 TRILLION that I know God loves me is that the next flight they could get me on from Heathrow was the next day! Oh no! A night in London! Whatever shall I do? ;)

Well, I got free shuttle passes, a free hotel room for the night and free dinner and breakfast. It was great cause I love just BEING in England even if I don't do anything cool and it was nice to finally get out of the airport. And the hotel was way nicer than I expected it to be!

My hotel room 

So I just had an unreasonably fun time basking in the luxuriousness of my own hotel room. What did I do besides eat chocolate cake at dinner? Well, I watched Dr. Who of course. I even took a bath and watched it. It was glorious. And sometimes I just love being by myself.

This morning I slept in by accident but it's cool cause I still got to the airport with plenty of time after eating three (count them! Three!) chocolate croissants for breakfast.

I flew in to Amsterdam and then took a train to the Hague which was really easy. When I got off at Den Haag Centraal Sameer was waiting for me at the platform and then we got in his friend's car and drove to my new apartment! I really like my apartment. It's close to the city center and the girl who is staying here right now is really nice. Her name is Natalia and she is from Madrid. She may end up living here this fall. It just depends on whether she gets hired back at her job.

So we chatted for a little bit, Sameer managed to procure a bike for me and we went to the beach for drinks and fireworks with other young Hague expats. (And when I say drinks I mean ... pineapple juice for me. And sprite, haha).

It was good! The other people there were from EVERYWHERE and everyone is very friendly and by some miracle I was able to be pretty normal and outgoing and not overly tired. Some examples of where people come from are Singapore, Malaysia, London, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Spain, Iraq and more. It's incredible how diverse it is!

"Welcome to the Hague Jenny!" say the fireworks

Natalia and I and some nice dutch fries with mayo on them

So life is great! Biking around is really fun although I have an irrational fear that my skirt is flying up in the back and I don't know it. I also don't know how on earth I'm going to be able to find my way around without Sameer or Natalia...but that's a problem for another day! For now, though I sadly had to leave the hotel in London, I'm still living the Suite Life! :)

First World Problems

I'm pretty sure that experiencing PTSD for something you've never even been through counts as a first world problem. Let me explain.

Last week Lori and I went down to Kampala for our Safari. We were really excited and were treating it as our Africa vacation. The only problem was that I wasn't feeling well before we left. And usually my health tends to get worse when I travel. So I got a priesthood blessing from the elders here and we set off on the post-bus early on Monday morning. It took about 6 hours or so to get from Gulu down to Kampala and then from there we walked to the craft market so that we could pick up some gifts etc. That was really fun and afterwards we were able to take the shuttle to Red Chili Hideaway- the headquarters for our safari. We spent the night in a dorm room and the next morning we left early in our safari jeep. We were paired with a couple young women from California who were on a work trip (they study malaria prevention) as well as a German mother/daughter duo who were very nice. To my surprise our driver, Noor announced that it would take us about 7 hours to get to our destination. I was like WHA? I had thought it would only be like three or four hours. As we drove I was starting to not feel my best again but it was whatever.

We finally arrived at the first leg of our safari which was Kalinzu Forrest Reserve where we went chimp tracking! After an early morning and long day in the car I wasn't quite in my peak hiking condition. But I was super excited to go into an African forest and see chimps! So our guide lead us into the woods and at first we were just on this beautiful path going up and down hills. I imagined myself as some sort of fictional character- Katniss Everdeen, or Jane from Tarzan-- someone epic!

Then, in our attempts to find the chimps, our guide starting off-roading it. We got to a point where we were literally bush-whacking. The guide had a machete up in front of us and was just hacking away at things and we were following and tripping over logs and stones and ferns and running into branches. I kept falling down-it was very humbling. We saw giant millipedes the size of tiny snakes and I got my bun stabbed by a branch at least once. The guide was going SO fast that it was all I could do to keep up with him and not fall down. I couldn't even enjoy the beauty around me! I was just so focused on not holding everyone up!

Well, we did get to see chimps which was pretty awesome (and a good opportunity for me to take a swig of water!). They were climbing in the trees above us and we got to follow them pretty closely for a little bit. It's crazy to think that they were just wild chimps with nothing between us and them! (Although they are practically domestic considering how well those guides know them).

Somewhere throughout this I started to not feel good. I felt like a weakling because I couldn't keep up. And then I started suspecting that it was more than just being out of shape. But I wasn't sure if that was an excuse or not. I started thinking things like ...."if I had diarrhea right here would it disturb the natural habitat?" I thought about having the intern-guide-girls take me back to the start. It was not fun anymore.

At some point on the second half of that journey I realized what character I was actually playing out as I stumbled, exhausted, through that forest afraid I was going to be sick. It all really solidified as we finally emerged out of the trees at the end of our path and I asked to hold the guide's machete and gripped it in my hand.

I kept myself together for the next couple hours as we drove to our campsite and received our orientation. I was talking with everyone and acting totally normal. But my temperature was increasing and I felt achy. When we finally were able to go into our safari tent I went through a sudden and kind of terrifying transformation that freaked Lori out. As soon as we got to our tent I immediately laid down on my cot and just started crying-more like sobbing actually. I was so cold even though I had so many layers on. I started hyperventilating. I had no appetite. I felt disgusting. And I finally told Lori what that trek through the jungle had reminded me of- child soldiers.

I've done a lot of research about the child soldiers kidnapped by the Lord's Resistance Army in Northern Uganda. I've interviewed a lot of former child soldiers and heard first hand accounts. Natural empathy combined with exhaustion and the fatigue of fever brought out a small portion of the horror that those children experienced for me in a new, un-ignorable way. I had heard their stories, but I have a talent for keeping things theoretical and academic. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to work with a post-conflict population. Now, in a very small way, I was feeling their stories.

That day, hiking through Kazinga forest, things got a little more real for me and I experienced in the slightest, whitest way what those brave, desperate children went through. I carried a 1.5 liter water bottle in a backpack-the girls in the LRA carried their own babies on their backs through the bush. I felt sick but was embarrassed to hold others up- those children could have been beaten or shot for stopping. I was here in Uganda eating unfamiliar food that upset my stomach- they were living away from home off stolen crops and foraged morsels. I held branches back for the person behind me- they held machetes. I paid a lot of money to be there-they were kidnapped.

The Lord's Resistance Army wasn't in southwestern Uganda where I went on this hike- they operated up north. But once they were kicked out of the country they've hidden a lot in the jungles of the Central African Republic or the Congo. Laying in bed, crying in that fancy safari tent, it hit home to me once again just how unfair life is. Why is it that I was born into a life of so much privilege while others inherit so much suffering? We are all children of God and any blessings I have come from Him- have I been honoring the privileged circumstances that He has given me to lift others?

I don't know how any of it works. I don't know how it is decided who will be born where or what trials they will face. But I do know that the Lord was and is acutely aware of the people in Northern Uganda. And, as Lori reminded me, I know that through the atonement of Jesus Christ all that is unfair in this life will be made right. The atonement isn't just for sin. It is for all pain and injustice--it's for children who've had their innocence stolen from them. It's even for weak little me who can't handle one small hike in the forrest.

I don't really know what I can say that won't be cheesy so I'll just end by saying this: Evil is real. Though my direct exposure to it has been small, it is undeniable. But, because of the atonement, goodness is stronger. And in that I rejoice.

Jumanji House

Due to the fact that I seem incapable of keeping an up-to-date sequential blog I will attempt to record this experience in Africa topically.

This post is dedicated to my current residence. We call it "Churchill Mansion" because it is this huge house on the hill right across from the LDS branch building where we attend church and it's near a hotel called Churchill Courts. We have also referred to it as a haunted mansion. Let me explain.

When we first got to Gulu we were staying in this place called Cosmo Guest House in the Center of Town. It wasn't bad- they had free Omelets and toast every morning plus unlimited access to toilet paper and hot showers if you planned ahead right. The downside was that the room was tiny, Lori and I had to share a small bed that sloped down in the middle so that it was a constant effort to keep any space between us and it was just as expensive as staying somewhere bigger in the long run.

Cosmo Guest House

So we started looking for places. We asked the senior missionaries here, the Taylors who we quickly became friends with. They got into a funny situation with a broker showing them around and increasing the money chain. They showed us one of the places they found though which they called 'The Palace.' Oh boy, it really was a palace! It was out far away from town so we would have had to get bikes to go back and forth but it was super nice with a guard and a wonderful view of the countryside. Lori and I felt weird about it though because it was just too nice. We called a random number we saw on the side of the road advertising houses- bad idea. It was just another broker who wanted money from us. When we finally told Rom (our sales manager and my friend of about 3 years) about our situation he swooped in and fixed it all for us. He set it up so that we could see a house that one of the MPs (member of parliament) owned but wasn't using in Senior Quarters, a nice part of town.

Sketchy number we called. The guy who met up with us kept telling us how much he wanted to marry a white woman. 

We got there and I was NOT impressed. It's this big house (well very big for Africa not actually THAT big) but with a huge, tiered lawn and so that's cool. But the inside was TRASHED. There were random clothes and stuff and a huge dead bug in the shower and the bed was used and it was just gross. I was like ....... not feeling it.

Well, long story short beggars can't be choosers and that house actually ended up being the one that worked out. We had spent so many days and so much energy calling people and trying to make something happen that we were just ecstatic to move in somewhere other than our increasingly smelly hotel room (we wouldn't leave a key for people to clean it because we didn't want our stuff to get stolen). So we moved in on a Monday night, I think two weeks ago. We made sure with the housekeeper who lives in a hut right next to the house outside the gate that she had washed the sheets on the bed. She said she had but she doesn't speak much English so, I don't think she lied exactly but subsequent experience has unearthed evidence that probably those sheets were not washed.

As night fell, we had the lights in the house on and we started noticing huge moths about three or four inches long. They were lazy, lilting, moths and Lori easily walked around stepping on them to kill them. But it seemed that for every moth killed two more magically appeared! It was freaky but Lori told me to stop yelping. So when I went to the bathroom and closed the door I very calmly opened it again to tell Lori that there was a lizard behind the door. Ever the calm warrior, Lori grabbed a cup or something to trap the lizard in and made an attempt. Unfortunately the lizard scuttled into our room and disappeared. There was a major ant infestation behind the small sink in the living room. We didn't think too much of it and we weren't planning on sweeping up the moths until the next morning since it was getting late but then we realized that a SWARM of ants had surrounded one of the dead moths near Lori's chair and were preparing to carry it away. This sent Lori on a toilet paper mission to pick up all the dead moths and throw them outside. I grabbed the broom and started sweeping the ants in different directions trying to confuse their collective memory.

We were like "where are these things coming from?!" and then I looked up and there was this huge square hole in the ceiling of the hallway. We were like you'vegottabekiddingme (we've since found out that's actually kind of normal). But it's also worth mentioning that this house has no hot water, no stove or oven and the kitchen sink doesn't work 98% of the time. Oh and also it cost 1.3 million. Shillings.

Well, we locked ourselves in for the night by literally locking the gates of our house together with a chain link and external lock. We set up our mosquito net tent and slept on top of the disgusting blanket. Somehow, irrational as it is, we felt safe from the moths and ants and the lizard inside that mosquito net. I was scared of the house though and when we woke up in the morning to the cheery African sunshine, without incident it felt like a minor miracle that we had survived the first night in what had turned out to be a freakin Jumanji house.

Our cozy bed. There are actually two bedrooms in the house but the other bedroom is creepy.
 So we both just sleep in here.

Since that crazy evening, things have gotten better at the haunted Churchill Mansion. We found the lizard agin and Lori caught it and forced it outside. There are two more lizards in the house, though. The moths have gone away. We found a dead beetle in the corner randomly. The ants were getting ready to carry it away but we put a stop to that. Another day I got up after Lori. When I opened the bedroom door I saw another one of those dead beetles in front of me. I told Lori and, good friend that she is, she grabbed some toilet paper to pick it up and throw it away. To my horror the bug scuttled away when she reached for it and ran under our bed. I was subsequently afraid to stand near the bed-though strangely still felt pretty much fine in bed.

I would say the crowning asset of this mansion of ours is that this morning I wasn't feeling good so I stayed in bed for awhile. I felt something under the sheets. It was small and square shaped. I pulled it out from under the bed sheet- yep. It was unopened condemn. Just hanging out in bed with us. It wouldn't seem like that big a deal except that...those sheets probably weren't washed...after someone had sex in that bed! (Insert mental image of me vomiting).

Anyway, that is the story of how Lori and I came to be living in a house that is simultaneously too nice and too crappy for a couple of American students.

Gnarly grasshopper in our yard. That thing was huge! 

Huge caterpillar on the street- just to give a sense of the size of things here

I felt kind of sick today but didn't want to hang out in the condemn bed so I went outside and this is a picture of our patio roof with the huge radio tower next to it. This is right about the place where I sat on a bee. Yep that happened. I panicked and had to moon Lori so she could take a look at my butt and make sure the stinger wasn't stuck in there! #bonding

Our top of the line stove. We have a lighter and some charcol and some kerosene. That's a yard landscapping pot type thing that we tipped over to and the fire goes inside of it. Takes awhile for things to boil. 

Basically, life is awesome! I'm scared of my own floor, the couch smells terrible and I've taken to not closing the door when I go to the bathroom because I like to have an escape route! 

"Are We Cool Enough To Be Here?" and Other Legitimate Concerns in London

Greetings from Gulu Uganda! 

I've been quite tardy on my blog posts but first things first- and that is, the ever charming, always magical, totally worth it 23 HOUR LAYOVER IN LONDON!

One of my very favorite places in the world

It was so fun. And I'll tell you why. Well, to start out with our flight to London was good. Lori and I got to sit next to each other which was good for a lot of reasons but especially because it meant that we could try to sleep on each other since the flight was overnight. I think I actually slept a fair amount. We got off the flight and got through customs pretty quickly. The man that inspected my passport at customs was like, “how are you doing, miss?” (or something generic) and I just looked at him and was dumbstruck for a split second. I was just like hot boy...british accent...overstimulated. 

We got our luggage and got out onto the tube. It was surreal to be in England- especially for Lori. We took the Picadilly line into town. After a little while this older man got on and he had a guitar slung over his shoulder. Lori asked him if he was going to play something for us. He was like, “see, I was and then I wasn’t and then I was.” We got him going and then it turns out he is a street performer-type person. He just broke out playing and singing John Denver. He was yee-haw-ing and everything! It was so cute. Lori got a video and he got some change from the crowd. Turns out he is from Ireland and is a bit of a traveling troubador. He has a sister that lives in Worcester! So that was kind of a fun Boston connection. 

When we got into town we had some tricky staircases but of course a British man just popped out of nowhere to help me carry my suitcase. Lori was freaked out by it at first just like I was awhile ago when it first happened to me, but apparently English men are, generally, quite gentlemanly because men carrying my suitcase has happened to me a lot in London. We got to our hotel without too much trouble and it was... NICE.

The view from ground level at night

Holy cow, I’ve never stayed somewhere that nice before! It was incredible. It was kind of a splurge for us but we got a good deal and we decided it was worth it to have a safe place for all of our stuff and a quick commute within the city since we were there for such a short time. So we stayed at the Double Tree by Hilton next to the Tower of London. We walked up to it and as soon as we came in this handsome boy (a worker) offered to take our bags. We were like, “umm, yeah” totally overwhelmed with the fanciness of the place. We went to check in at the desk and THAT guy was really cute too. As we talked I was getting kind of stressed out with trying to find my passport and then out of nowhere he was like, “And here is a warm cookie for you!” and handed us both cookies. We were like, “….why thank you!” After cleaning up a bit we HIT THE TOWN! 

First, we took the tube to Westminster station. We wandered around Big Ben and parliament and Lori basically just delighted in taking a million pictures which was fun--she has never been outside of North America before! After wandering around the area a bit we figured we were already close to Hyde Park so we would just walk to the visitors’ center which was one of our top priorities of what to see when we got to England (Lori’s idea since the Portable Visitors' Center which we both worked on in Boston was largely inspired by Hyde Park's visitor center)

Great stalker pic of some Epic London fashion

The bus says "I heart Mormon" advertising the Book of Mormon musical so this was supposed to be me being like, "no way, me too!"

most photogenic phone booth in London

Near Westminster. That building behind me reminds me of Kings College at Cambridge

Outside Buckingham Palace!

Some more great fashion. Almost look like they could be missionaries from behind--it only missionaries dressed that well!

Well we set out walking annnnddd.... ONE. HOUR. LATER. we finally caught cite of the visitors’ center. We wandered around for forever! We kept asking people for directions which was actually really fun and funny. I think it’s the mission history that makes us not scared of talking to strangers  We noticed a peculiar pattern that the men were REALLY nice to us. It was fun but also a little unnerving. Lori summed it up best when she said, “I don’t know if it’s because I’m pretty, American, or because I have a $1,000 camera around my neck.” Haha, so true. We met some seriously CUTE guys. No one had heard of the Hyde Park chapel or visitors’ center, haha. So we wandered a lot and we were getting pretty fatigued.

Passed some footballers in Hyde Park

A random waiter let us use his smartphone to look up the address 

Finally, we found it. We introduced ourselves to the missionaries at the Visitors' Center and when they heard where we were traveling to they kept getting excited and being like, ‘we have a sister here from Uganda.’ So finally this beautiful African sister comes around the corner and we talk to her and I asked where she was from and she said the North and I was like…"where north?"

TURNS OUT SHE IS FROM GULU! She joined the church like 5 years ago and now she’s on a mission. It’s incredible! When I heard that she was from Gulu I just stepped forward and gave her a big hug. She was so cute. I offered to take any letters or anything to her family for her and she was excited. She and her companion showed us around the visitors’ center which was fun to see since it served as such an inspiration for the PVC. They left while we watched a long movie and it was really cheesy but it also really moved me. So that was a fun little spiritual boost to start the trip. We were there up until closing time and we got a set of scriptures and a note from Sister Apiyo to take to her family. I’m really glad that we get to do that for her because she has only been out 3 months which is kind of a hard point on the mission like…am I seriously going to do this for 15 more months?! 

we seriously walked SO LONG before we found it! 

I'm so glad to be on this adventure with Lori. We are trying to really make this a spiritual undertaking. We want to help the people of Uganda to have better lives through jobs and access to light. That seems like the Lord's work to us. 

Sister Apiyo is right next to me. Isn't she beautiful? Her companion was so cute too! Great missionaries.

After that it was late and we still had hardly eaten anything all day. But we hadn’t really been that tired or that consciously thirsty or hungry and we hadn’t had to seek out any public bathrooms. It was kind of weird actually. I told Lori that I felt immortal. It was like I had been cleansed of my human bodily needs! Well, we decided to go to Picadilly Circus at that point because it was something cool to see that would be ‘open’ late. So we took the tube there and that was fun to get a look of that at night. We really needed to find somewhere to eat and after some searching ended up at an Italian place. We were really quiet at that point cause we were so hungry so I think we looked kind of weird to the staff. At the end, this adorable blond English bloke came up for us to pay and then he sat down to talk to us which was unnerving because Lori had just told me that I had pesto in my teeth. The cute English guy was like, “so, are you girls going out tonight?” Me and Lori were so awkward. I said something about having a flight the next day. Afterwards Lori and I were laughing about what we were really thinking. She was like, “um…we…are out?” Haha, that’s about as “out” as it gets for us. 

Another thing that we noticed (again and again) was the impeccable fashion that many London men had. Ugh, just incredible. We got some nice stalker pics of course. After food and a little souvenir shopping we took the tube home and went straight up to the sky lounge where there is this fantastic view of Tower Bridge. Well, when we stepped off the elevator and got on the floor and saw a couple walk past us looking nice and heard the club music I turned to Lori and was like, “are we cool enough to be here?” I had to gather my courage to go in to the bar area and it was super crowded (it was Friday night) and the balcony had apparently closed at midnight so we couldn’t go out. We took a look and left. Then we went back to the room, unwinded, said our ‘companionship’ prayer (we are calling this companionship 2.0) and went to bed. 

HE WASNT EVEN POSING FOR US

The next morning was it's own adventure. We went up to the sky room in the morning to get some pictures with tower bridge in the background and then we packed up and left. Lori had originally thought we were leaving early when I suggested the time on Friday night but it’s a really good thing that we left early. The entrance to the tube station just down the road from out hotel was closed! We were like, no problem, must just be this entrance so we went around to the other side. Nope. We really didn’t know what to do and we had these HUGE bags with us. We finally got on a bus and the driver was kind enough to let me get on for free since my cards weren’t working and I didn’t have an oyster card. We got off at the nearest tube stop where he had told us to stop—that one was closed too. Luckily the next closest one was down the street. It was pretty painstaking getting everything up and down stairs at the metro. And all of our prince chartings from the day before seemed to be hung over because we were not getting much help. 

View From the top of the hotel! 

admittedly zoomed in a bit but this is the view from our hotel!
That's the Tower of London right in front of tower bridge! 

Here's the beautiful Lori for reference point as to how far we were

Lori had a panic attack at one point thinking we were going the wrong way on the train so we got off but it turned out we were going the right way. So we had to wait to get back on. Then we didn’t know which terminal we were at. We got off at the stop for 1,2,3 but it turns out we were at 5 so we had to take the airport tram there (we turned a corner and saw that we were about to miss a train so I was like “hurry!” and not only did Lori and I start running but everyone around us too) and then we hurried to check our bags (which Lori had some trouble with) and then go through security. Our stuff had to be personally checked because I forgot to take some liquids out and Lori didn’t take any liquids out. Turns out that was a bad idea because they are really anal about liquids at Heathrow!  Lori's experience was SO LONG because it turns out she had hidden applesauce packets ALL OVER HER BAGS. So she had to pull like all her stuff out and she was getting a proper que behind her who were not happy. It was fine though. We got through security, and found our gate on the basement level. When we went down the escalator we popped out to see that there were like an a,b,c,d gate all under the same number. The Entebbe flight said “now closing” as its status so I started running and Lori followed me. We made it! We promptly got ushered into a airport bus because our plane was far away. We got on the plane. I sat next to a nice Congolese priest who lives in London. Lori was stuck further back in a middle seat. 

We made it into Uganda safe and sound. Some other BYU students were nice enough to let us crash at their place for a few days--we got in at like 2 in the morning! My body celebrated by developing a nasty jet-lag-cold that lasted for days. But that's a story for another time! For now I will just say that I absolutely love London. It was good to be back. 

and that's a wrap!

Immunization

          In my mission we have a set of things we are supposed to do to help a person who has already agreed to a be baptized on a certain date like contacting them daily, making sure they read the scriptures, planning the baptismal program, etc. One of the essential things we are supposed to do is called ‘immunizing.’ 

          Immunizing is when you warn the person who has accepted baptism that there will almost certainly be resistance to their decision. When someone makes a good decision that will affect their eternal happiness they often experience adversity. This may come in the form of disapproval from family, problems at work, a crisis of faith, or what might usually be perceived as general ‘bad luck.’ 

          See, people are way more dependent on ‘signs’ than they think they are. So when someone experiences all these hardships after they make the commitment to be baptized they often think that these are bad omens or sign from God telling them to change their path. Well, of course, I would argue that the opposite is true. The devil doesn’t worry too much about people who are content with their current relationship (or lack of) with Jesus Christ. The devil is more concerned with those who are moving towards light. He wants to stop us in our progress. 

          I experienced this exact phenomenon after I made the decision to come on my mission. After I got my mission call life just seemed to move into the fast lane for me with opportunities to postpone or forgo my mission popping out of the woodwork. I was overwhelmed with a lot of distractions and couldn’t think clearly. Luckily, the Lord didn’t give up on my and gave me the undeniable prompting that, whether I liked it or not, I needed to go on my mission.

          So I did. And that was probably one of the top 5 best decisions I’ve ever made. 

          And then I had to go home. The realization,  actualization and aftermath of this return journey have resulted in a rather uncomfortable bout of cognitive dissonance.

          I’m kind of tempted to think that I am entitled to a bit more ‘immunization’ than I got for this transition. I mean, when we come into the field they give the missionaries this pamphlet thing called ‘Adjusting to Missionary Life.’ I refer to it as the ‘Missionary Stress Book’ and there may or may not have been a period near the beginning of my mission when I carried that book around with me. 

          So, where is my ‘Adjusting to Post-Mission Life’ book? I mean there is some real reverse culture shock going on here! I should have prepared more mentally for this! 

          My ideal ‘Adjusting to Post Mission Life’ book would have sections and subsections similar to the following; 

          1. How to Respond Rationally to Facebook

                    A.) How to handle yourself when you discover the marriages of those people that you are close enough to that you resent them for not telling you about their marriages but not close enough to that they told you about them.

                    B.) How to regain self-esteem after facebook-stalking yourself and realizing that the ‘you’ of three years ago is way hotter than the ‘you’ of today.

                    C.) How to not get sucked into the vortex of little red notification numbers in the top right corner of your screen.

                    D.) Words of validation to practice when you start to feel suffocated by the fact that practically everyone your age is married, pregnant, and/or in graduate school and you realize that you still haven’t received your bachelors’ degree.

          2. How to Manage the Alarming Amount of Time You Suddenly Have at Your Disposal

                    A.) Coming to grips with the fact that not everything you do will be of eternal importance.

                    B.) Why It Is Infinitely easier to dinker around the internet than do your scripture study and How to Overcome That.

                    C.) Maintaining a Steady Sleep Schedule

          3. Overcoming Your Fear of Media

                    A.) TV

                    B.) Movies

                    C.) Music

                    D.) Books

          4. Not Falling into pre-Mission Bad Habits

          5. How to Interpret Dreams About Your Mission

          6. Tips on How to Draft people into your personal ‘Rehabilitation Support Group’

          7. Staying Within the Bounds of Social Acceptability When Talking About Your Mission

                    A. The Rule of Karma: If you didn’t really care about other people’s mission stories, chances are most people won’t really care too much about your mission stories.

                    B. Consider the amount of context needed before starting a story. Evaluate if this is worth your listener’s time.

          Wouldn’t that be a nice book to have around? So many advices! So many specifics! No more of this ‘it will be hard, and you will be awkward but it will go away’ crap. I want deliverables! 

But on the other hand…. I kind of had immunization to prepare me for post mission life. I mean, we had a good ‘trunky chat’ with President and Sister Packard in the mission home before we left. But it’s more than that. In a very real way, everything about my mission was a preparation for post-mission life; working hard, putting God first, developing Zion in your companionship, always looking for ways to serve others, maintaining a steady schedule, setting goals, etc. etc.

It’s just so hard to continue doing those good things without the constant support and encouragement and expectations that we had in the mission. How do I maintain the awesome spirit I felt on my mission and listen to regular music and read normal books?

I’m fumbling to figure it out-what Does God expect of me in this stage of life? And how do I muster up the energy to do it? President Packard always talks about going home in the sense that the ‘training wheels’ for how to live a consecrated life come off. That’s certainly true. And I am a-wobbling. 

But I think it’s going to be okay. If there is anything that I learned in the past 18 months it’s that God has a plan for me. As President Packard once said, “Let the kaleidoscope of life turn again and again: the true believe of Christ will always find purpose and meaning.”

Or as Peter Pan said; “to live would be an awfully great adventure.”

Immunization or not, look out life! Here I come.