Uncategorized – Page 5

Natural Disasters… they happen

The earthquake hits Canada, and the tsunami warning sirens begin to ring on Oahu and the Big Island soon thereafter.

The raging waves up the coast of Haeiwa on Oahu, and the warning of the major expected hit at 10:28 that night had us all fleeing to higher ground in terror, with thoughts of death and our precious electronic devices on our minds. We stayed up all night, huddled together, hoping for the best, fearing the worst.

Nothing happened. The highest the waves got was 2.5 feet, as opposed to the expected 6-foot waves. And that huddling on higher ground? My friend Julie and I opted out of racing to the temple, which is where we were all advised to go, and instead went to the practice rooms above the auditorium (a second-story, so a perfectly fine and safe location) so that we could practice and study for orchestration. (Yes, that is what music majors do.) And the only ones that were really scared were the inexperienced freshmen and that one other type of person. You know.

I have now survived 3 very anti-climactic natural disasters. Here’s a little taste of how it is for us students:

The Art of the Compliment

At a loss for a conversation-starter?

I grew a foot or two

Just got this in the mail:

Dear Sister Amber Blair,

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints You are assigned to labor in the California Los Angeles mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 18 months.

You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on February 20, 2013. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Spanish language….

You have been recommended as one worthy to represent the Lord as a minister of the restored gospel.

I have waited for this literally my entire life, and everything up to this point has been in preparation for it. I CAN NOT wait. Speaking of waiting, I’ve had a grand total of 21 years of that. 21 years.

Two More Inhibiting Factors

So how do I feel about Columbus Day? Just rotten.

I might die, just fyi.

Reaction to the Annoucement

Whoa. Holy cow. Mind blown.

That was my initial reaction to this major announcement. [I shall spare an explanation, since everyone already knows about this Announcement.] Then I made the mistake of getting on facebook when I got home from watching that session of Conference, and my news feed happened to be overflowing with excited young girls who had “just started the mission papers!” and “can’t wait to go in 2 months!”

These are girls who just graduated from High School. Some (many?) of these girls hadn’t even seriously considered a mission up to this point. None of these girls have had to wait 21 long years, or 28 veeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrry looooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnng, painful months.

I’m happy that the work is picking up speed, and more kids are going to take this opportunity now. I’m just frustrated that it happened right now, and that I STILL DON’T HAVE MY DARN CALL!!!!!! But as I said, I’m happy. I know this is divinely inspired. And I know I will be blessed for the long spiritual road I’ve taken, and the time and experiences I’ve had.

This is an article and press conference about the new rule, which was very informative and even helpful for me. I recommend taking time for this.

Anti-climax

Well folks, I recently (yesterday) experienced the most anti-climactic moment of my life. Allow me to illustrate:

I started the grueling process of the mission papers a few months ago, and finally completed and submitted them. They were subsequently received by the church mission office, and shipped off from Salt Lake City shortly thereafter (Sept. 28). That is fact.

As it happens, another girl in my ward went through the same thing– she submitted her papers, but they were in Salt Lake for six weeks. They finally got shipped to Hawaii the same day as mine, which means that they would obviously arrive on the same day.

Friday came, a week after the day those precious documents left the Mainland, and the call was sure to come. Tiffany texted me in the morning when I was studying in the library, and told me she had her call. I had my call!!! My call was in my mailbox!!! I immediately texted several friends and family members with the happy news, and then proceeded to tell almost everyone I came in contact with.

I could hardly focus for the rest of the day, and could NOT WAIT to walk home and see the envelope I’d been expecting literally my entire life. The anticipation almost killed me. I got to my house, excitedly opened the mailbox, and…

empty.

It wasn’t there! I checked again and again, hoping by some miracle it would appear, but it didn’t. I asked a few of the missionaries that live by me, and I even looked inside my fridge to see if my roommate had possibly been possessed enough to play a twisted trick like that on me.

Nope.

So that happened. I have never felt so let-down and disappointed in my life. This even surpasses my feelings after seeing Harry Potter 7 part 2. And that is saying something.

If You’re Curious…

No, this is not my call announcement. Not yet. 🙁

But I’m taking this time to let you know, if you were possibly interested, that I have a Tumblr account now, because I think it’s cooler than blogger. I’m pretty much blogging about getting ready for my mission. And some other stuff. The url is http://shazzamber.tumblr.com/, if you’re into that kind of thing.

Call announcement to come, here and in said new location. It’s coming.

Category: Uncategorized