Oh ambitions...

So I was telling someone about how appropriate it is that I was wearing my scrubs when I opened my call (long story short: we ended up leaving the hospital in Salt Lake wayyyy later than we were supposed to so I was running really late and didn't have time to do anything but grab my call and computer to start the skype session) because it brought together my life goals of serving a mission and being a nurse.

Being a nurse has been a goal of mine since I was 4 years old and going on a mission has been a dream since I was 6.
Put a ring on my finger and a baby in my belly and I'd have all my life goals in one place.
...Although I feel like there are some contradictions in that statement...

Hermana Maughan!

How appropriate that this is my 100th post on my blog, since this is so significant....

I'm sure that by now either by Facebook, my family, my friends, or straight from me practically everyone has heard about my call, but just in case...I'm going to SAN DIEGO CALIFORNIA, SPANISH SPEAKING!! Some of my mission I will also be serving at the Mormon Battalion Historic Site. Can I get a woot woot!? hehe. I report on July 7th, which happens to be my 21st birthday. So even though Facebook tells where I'm going, it's those elite people who read my blog that will know how I feel:

I have to admit I was very very surprised when I opened my call. It was nothing that I was expecting. Truly. Well, I guess that's only half true. I always thought that California is the place that I didn't belong, so half of me knew I would get called there. hehe. And yes, that is the truth ;) I didn't really know how to feel at first: Stateside? California? Spanish? Visiting Center?! All things that I had never seen when I pictured myself as a missionary, which I have since I was 6 years old. I guess I had always pictured myself in some far off foreign land learning some crazy psycho language, not know by a lot of people. I would have to say Spanish is DEFINITELY known by a lot of people haha. I even felt a bit guilty because of the way that I was feeling. I think all missionaries would like to say they didn't have any hopes of where they'd go, but I think deep down we all do. But I've always felt like missionaries end up getting called to the place that is perfect for them, but is the place they never expected. And surely that is the same for me.

The thing is, a month or two ago, I really felt strongly that things related to my mission were not going to work out the way that I was expecting. I had already seen that happen with my delay in putting the papers in and having to wait for my call longer than anticipated. And now the Lord does it again. I'm not doing what I'd thought I would be doing, but at the same time, I'm doing the EXACT same thing! I'm still preaching the gospel! I'm still sharing my testimony! I'm still serving the Lord! I'm even still learning a language! And on top of that, I'm even learning more about the history of the church then I might not have learned anywhere else. So really, what else matters?

I'm feeling a lot more confident about my place and time. It feels more and more right. I don't know why I've been called to San Diego, but I can probably guess some of the reasons. For instance, now I'll be able to speak Spanish fluently, a dream of mine, and a HUGE benefit for nursing. There's a good chance I'll end up being home for Christmas 2011. I'll be able to start school winter 2012, rather than wait until the next fall to continue studying nursing. I'll be stateside in case something does happen with my health (which, with my luck, is not that unbelievable). I get to find people when proselyting, and have people find me when at the visitor center. I get to force my tongue to finally learn to love spicy Hispanic food (that one may take awhile...). I'll be close to the GORGEOUS San Diego Temple (all my non member readers, click on the link! It's beautiful!). The weather in San Diego is perfect! I may not be able to swim in the ocean, but I will get to see the Pacific! I'll get to learn lots of church history about the Mormon Battalion! (PLEASE don't ask me right now though, I don't know even know what happened there! My mom (my seminary teacher) wasn't too thrilled with that haha).

I'm excited. It's been a long hard journey to get here. Emotionally, Physically, Mentally, and Spiritually. There have been broken hearts, broken necks, and broken friendships. There's been difficult struggles with myself, feelings of inadequacy, and doubts of the right thing to do. But now that's it here, it's right. It's been a long time coming. I know I have a long hard journey yet to come. I know that preparing to go will be a challenging time. I know that the mission will be hard and tiring and demoralizing from time to time. But I know that it's the right thing for me to do. I KNOW that the church is true, so why would I really have doubts if sharing my testimony for 18 straight months, every single day, is the right thing? I don't. The Lord is amazing. He loves me, and everyone, and I'm excited to play a part in bringing people to an understanding of what's true. I love my Savior. I know this is right. And I'm ready....

Learning that I leave on July 7th, my 21st birthday. The really funny thing about that day is of all the people involved in opening my call, July 7th is a significant day for 4 of them. For me, Sara, and Michelle Brooksby (in NY on skype with my family), it is our birthday, and for April McMurray, it is also the day that she enters the MTC to Madrid Spain. I'm so excited we'll get to go in together!

It was really sentimental to hug my brother. Hence the tears.

My best friend Sara got her mission call the same day too! Philippines Naga Mission. She leaves in August. It's fun though because we were born on the same day and got our calls the same day.

Click on this to see it bigger. Notice that I will have "special training in conducting tours". haha

AHHHH!!!!

So funny story: I have been waiting longer than usual for my mission call. My papers went in three weeks ago today, but I still hadn't heard anything and had essentially given up on getting it this week because of conference. But I have a friend who put her papers in last Monday, and found out that her call was issued that Thursday (a few days ago) so I thought to myself, hmm....would I get that lucky? So I emailed my bishop and asked him if he wouldn't mind looking online. Fast forward about two hours, and I walking home from campus. I'm right in the middle of 7th north, smack dab in the center of the crosswalk when I get this text message from my bishop: "It says your mission call was sent on April 1st. You don't think it was an April Fool's prank, do you? just kidding. You should get it soon."

OHHHH MYYY GOSHHHH!!!
MY CALL IS COMING THIS WEEK!!!!!!

and the funny part is, I jumped up and down in the middle of the street for a while because I was so excited, until I realized there were still cars waiting for me to cross the street :)

You could just tattoo it to my face, if you'd like.

I'm a blogging machine recently!! Yes, I know that I have lots of things to do, but for some odd reason blogging sounds a lot more enjoyable than the things I actually have to do. hehe. Just think of this as compensation for the soon to be 18 months of silence. Well, 19. I doubt I'll be doing a lot of blogging in Ghana.

SPEAKING of which, ONE MONTH FROM TODAY I'LL BE IN GHANA!!! Halle-freaking-lujah. I'm so excited. I'm ready to be there. Well, almost. Still have to get some stuff together, prepare my lessons on women's health to teach down there, get some anti-malarial pills, and--you know--pack, but overall, it's coming up fast. I even went and got my vaccines last week! It really stinks that most insurances don't cover vaccines for travel to other countries, because my pocket sure took a hit for only three vaccines. But here's the funny part. I got two injections (Polio and Yellow fever) and then one oral typhoid vaccine because 1) it was a bit cheaper, and I, as you should know, am frugal and 2) it lasts for 5 years as opposed to two years, and I figured, you never know where you'll go. But the key with the typhoid pill is that you have take 4 pills, one every other day with 8-12 oz of water. But you can't miss a single day. If you do, you have to start the whole process all over, beginning with buying new pills, and that's not conducive with my frugality. So to help you remember, the manufacturers have thought of some clever ways to subtly remind you to take your pill.

1. These are fun little stickers that you write on and put one on the fridge and one on the bathroom mirror. They even labeled each one lest you put the fridge one on the mirror.


2. This is my favorite. A reminder bracelet! Remember all those LiveStrong bracelets that were all the rage in say, middle school?! Apparently they still make them! And you may not be able to read it (I have no idea why my hand is so red in this picture) but the bracelet says "Remember Oral Typhoid Vaccine". HOW AWESOME IS THAT?! Really! It's clever, helpful, and most of all very fashionable. I'm tempted to never take it off. The website? www.reminderband.com. I'm going to do this for everything I ever need to remember. Ever. Think about it. You could have a whole to-do list that goes to your elbow, but instead of crossing it off, you'll just take a bracelet off. I like it.

Moving on. Have I mentioned that when Camille and I are in Salt Lake for clinical from Wednesday evening til Thursday afternoon or Friday afternoon we stay at her grandparents house? Well we've done this every week since September so I've grown really close to them. They are marvelous people. So this week, when we were there on Wednesday night, we found these mugs sitting on the table filled with chocolate! (They DO know me well!)

How cute is this?! Camille's mug is pink and says "girls love...SHOES!" with a little shoe instead. And it had a note on it that said "Happy Easter, we love you!" Seriously, how cute is that?!
And don't worry mom, I'm going to find a way to bring this mug back to NY safely so that you can appreciate it too :)

Hurry up you AND you AND you.

So there are three things in my life that need to hurry up.

1. My mission call. As of Sunday, my call had not been issued, which means I'm not going to hear anything this week. Which also means because of conference this weekend, it probably won't be for another 10-14 days. sigh... Don't get me wrong, I love conference. That'll make it all better.
But seriously, I've had this badge for over 2 1/2 years. I'm ready to switch it out for a new one.

2. The end of school needs to get here pronto. And truly, at this point, I'd be okay if just finals got here quicker! But in the next two weeks I need to take two ATI exams (standardized tests predicting how we'll do on the NCLEX), a peds exam, a women's health presentation, an article summary, a women's health quiz, a mock ethics trial, and a psych exam. And that all needs to be done before finals even begin.

3. GLEE!!!! It returns in TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY! It's the one thing getting me through all my problems. okay, not really, but it could! I can't wait to see the new songs and Rachel's new romance and Emma and Will and Finn. Oh man. 14 days 14 days. If I get my mission call that day I may have to open it later ;)

Just hurry it up.

Hare Krishna!

First of all, I just noticed that this will be my 10th post this month. This is monumental! I've never before, in the 23 months I've had my blog, blogged 10 times in one month! Double digits baby. Of course, I did know that this would be one of the craziest months of my life, with a couple extra crazies thrown in there. But still, yay! I can call myself a true blogger now!

Anyhooser, today I got to go to the festival of colors! It's a Indian/Hindu(?) celebration of the beginning of spring. Essentially, there is lots of celebration, dancing, smoking of drugs (just say no), and the highlight....throwing chalk at one another! (powder chalk. I told my friend Colt about throwing chalk at one another and he said, "wouldn't that hurt?!" haha. No no. Not the sidewalk chalk. That would make for a VERY interesting festival). The festival was fun and exciting, and I even had a chance to use my nursing skills when a 15 year old girl was thrown into the air when crowd surfing and they didn't catch her. So I jumped in to take care of her until the ambulance came. That was thrilling. I had somewhat of a deja vu feeling....back injury leading to ambulance leading to hospital.....alas, I digress.

The point is, it was fun. I can't believe that after three years of living in Utah this is the first time I've gone, but hey, now I can cross it off my bucket list. That, and blogging ten times in a month.
Hare Krishna!

It was me, Camille, and her roommate Megan who went

And so it begins....

Remember how white our shirts were in the beginning!?!

:)

You say mission, I say mission.

So I've been getting a lot of questions about the status of my mission papers because of that little "oopsie...." that was discovered last week. So now I must say, yes. My mission papers are in. They've been in since last Wednesday, but that doesn't make a lot of difference because they won't be processed until this week. As for when I'll get my call... not the slightest idea. It's possible that they're delayed because I may be medically flagged (due to my chest pains sophomore year) and/or because of General Conference. It's a well known fact around here that extending mission calls slows down around conference time, and because of the week delay, I'm not sure if my papers are in early enough to miss that. So I guess my call may come as early as next week, or as late as when I'm packing up and leaving my apartment in a month (or possibly later, but I don't want to even THINK about my call coming to an apartment I don't even live at anymore....) Sigh...maybe it's better to truly have no idea when it's coming. Then you have no expectations and will be more surprised when it does come! I'm going with that.

SPEAKING of missions, today is an exciting day for a certain someone....

HAPPY 18 MONTH MARK TO CODY (AND SARAH)!!!
only 6 more months without him Sarah!! :)

Hurry Up Spring...

I'm kind of scared to actually say this, because I know I'm only jinxing it, but today was such a LOVELY Spring day!! What wonderful weather! I have such spring fever. And it made me soooooo happy :) :) :)

it made me actually forget how much I want this semester to end and to finally move. out.

p.s. that picture was taken by my mom in Holland. It still makes me think of spring though :)

I had you going, didn't I? Yeah, me too.

Just kidding about the last post apparently. My mission papers DID NOT go in.

When I asked the stake executive secretary on Monday, he said that he had started to work on them and they would be submitted later that day. But he really didn't work on them until Tuesday late afternoon (cut off for the week is Tuesday at midnight). It was then that he found an error in the medical portion of my papers. Under the TB shot section, there was spot to say if the test was positive or negative and then the number of centimeters that the spot was. My doctor put the test was negative, so I guess he assumed he didn't need to put a number. But he did. And the secretary didn't pick it up until last night, and didn't call me til half an hour ago. And now since I've missed the deadline, I have to wait until next Tuesday to put them in, which means the earliest I'll get my call now is early April.

I'm trying hard to not be too frustrated. Mom says that it is such a freak circumstance, that there HAS to be a reason. Like maybe there is a mission available next week that isn't this week. I'm going with that...

Let the guessing begin...

My mission papers are officially in.


Now, we wait.....