Today I said Goodbye

The roads are snowy and icy. The snow is here to stay.

I drove slowly and to my amazement only hit two red lights on the way to the church. I picked a parking spot at random because in the winter no one pays attention to the lines that are painted on the ash fault. I take a deep breath and try to mentally prepare myself for the next few hours. I've never been good with goodbyes, and I know that is one will be the hardest yet.

I'm so glad that I had the chance to become friends with Ashley, even though it was only for a few short months. She was the type of person who was always as sweet as could be. She was also super involved in everything, but also found the time to be a stellar student. She was a return missionary, a gifted teacher, and a shining example to me of kindness and love.

I will forever remember the experience of singing in the choir at her funeral. We sang the theme song for the cultural celebration and have never sounded better. As a postlude we sang 'How Great Thou Art' I found back tears during the entire piece, and couldn't hold the smile that I usually have when I sing.

Today gave me a new love for the Plan of Salvation. I saw the comfort that it brought to her grieving family and friends. I'm so grateful for the knowledge that we lived before we came to Earth and that will will continue to live after we have departed from this life.

The Garden Tomb. Christ overcame death here.

Then sings my soul,

My Savior God, to thee,

How great thou art!

How great thou art!

'How Great Thou Art'  LDS Hymn Book number 86

A Temple For Calgary

I can't even put into words how excited I am about the Calgary Temple that is going to be dedicated in a week. It it so wonderful  that the House of the Lord is only about an hour away from my family's house. I've had the chance to tour the Temple 4 times during the open house and was also able to spend 10 hours last Saturday volunteering at the open house. It was seriously the best!

I didn't have time to take great pictures (because people read my blog because of my non-existent wonderful photography skills), but here's what I have:

My favorite Temple!

Tour entrance and a bathroom. Classy.

At the end of the tour we were give a water and a cookie. The water cups were sealed with a piece of foil that has a picture of the Temple of it. It was a really neat detail. 

The other thing that makes me want to burst with excitement is the cultural celebration that is going to be taking place this next Saturday. I discovered a new love for signing when I was in Jerusalem, so I decided to join Institute Choir when I moved back home. I was delighted to find out that the choir I had joined was going to be a part of the cultural celebration, and that I was going to get to be in a choir that will sing for the prophet. 

Edmonton Weekend

Every fall I take a weekend trip to Edmonton to visit my friend Rachel. It was a great weekend, but also a little bittersweet because it is the last Edmonton trip I will make for a few years as Rachel is leaving to serve a mission in Finland in January.

It was such a good trip. On Friday I drove out to Red Deer to spend the night and Jessie's house and then Saturday morning we drove to Edmonton. Since Jessie leave on her mission to Vancouver in a few days it was great to have so much time in the car just to talk about life. In Edmonton we went to West Edmonton Mall and rode the roller coaster that is inside of the mall. I consider myself to be a roller coaster person (is there such a thing?) so it was a real treat to get to go on it. We also went to the Relief Society broadcast, and loved it. We ended off our perfect Saturday at Dairy Queen where we stuffed ourselves full of ice cream.

 1. In front of the pirate ship

2. Me and Rachel in Galaxyland

3. Jessie and Rachel in Galaxyland

4. Tickets to ride the roller coaster

5. The 'Mind Bender' it was seriously so fun

6. The best photo of the weekend

7. A nice man offered to take a photo of all three of us

My only complaint for the weekend was that it went by way too fast. I loved see both Rachel and Jessie and I know that they are both going to be wonderful missionaries. We'll have to have another Edmonton weekend in two years when they are both home.