New Apartment

Welcome to apartment 5 of Alpine Apartments where the men are real men...
Where there are 5 languages spoken...a National Yo-Yo champion, air soft lover, a Malaysian, a Japanese/Asian studies major, an Arabic major, and a small little TV all reside.

Some of the girls in the ward comment it as..."Wow! Your place is so much nicer than ours."

"You even have a view out of your window!" "You have tile along your oven to protect the wall!" or even best, "You have wall chair protectors!"

Nothing comes as good as apartment #5 (hm I feel like that should be a song).

Cool little story about getting this place. Cameron and I have been looking online for apartments but no luck. Finally, we went out together for the hunt. Emilie Gardner was great driving us around one day of searching, thank you Emilie. Cameron and I found this place, and knocked on a door to check it out. Someone opened up and the place was trashed, but there was something about it that felt like we should live here. We later found out the place was completely full and that they were saving two spots for guys that would come in that weekend to sign the contracts. So we kept searching and finally found a few places that had openings, but they didn't feel right, not like Alpine Apartments. So we declined those other apartments even though if we didn't sign soon, we for sure wouldn't even get those apartments. But we followed our feelings, I called later out of guilt telling Cameron I would and had forgotten the next week to see if there were any openings at Alpine Apartments and low and behold there were. Those two men coming to sign the contracts never did and so Cameron and I took it! It's been good so far and will be a great semester, we have great roommates.

Anyway, it's really not all that nice, but it is pretty nice. When we first moved in it was really nasty, mold and fungus in the refrigerator and bathroom. But that is ok. So here are some pictures:

Apparently our door is the only real door in the apartment complex, all the others are just a plain wood slab. We have a window and indentures in it ;) (don't mind the continual adds on our door, they are decoration after the first day of them being up).

This is the kitchen, oh very nice kitchen. I was talking to my roommate Cameron about something while sitting on the couch and in mid sentence said, "Whoa, we have a dishwasher!" Had no clue it'd come with something like that.

Here is on the opposite side of the kitchen (the kitchen is behind me) Tile all the way through, three chairs for four guys, really nice couches (the girls were jealous of these a lot) and a small little tiny TV that DOES come with free cable... Last night I finished reading my book out on the couch, it was really great. 

Then if you go to your right from the living room, you see a door and in this door is the study room for Cameron and I. It's not too bad. Obviously I have a lot of books... Most of which are for reference for church and school materials. Only three of them (as of now) are text books for this semester. Still some to organize around it...

On your right from the study is our little bathroom area. Which is just for for out personal needs. There is the shower in the left door. The shower is about as big as my bed, so watch out, it will take a long time to clean. The mirror was like that when we came in, just haven't gotten any Windex yet. 

Then here on the opposite of the bathroom area is a door that leads to the bedroom, which is not too bad. Good size closets and beds that could be bunked or put on cylinder blocks to store things underneath. The only problem, the beds are stiff as a rock and you can feel each individual spring going into your body. I have looked a couple times already for a bed pad but no luck yet. 

So that is my apartment. The same rooms are on the opposite side of the apartment for my roommates Nate and Tien. It will be interesting to see how it is when school finally starts up. I am working already with a job that is great, I love working at the NMELRC. I have seen many miracles in the last month while being in Utah and I thank God for it often. 

"Hurt" to "What a Wonderful World"

Sometimes you can't do anything but look at where a person has put themselves and desire to see the situation to be better. I listen to the song, "Hurt" performed by Johnny Cash (cover song, original by Nine Inch Nails, go figure) but I think it fits impeccably well with his life and the life of many others.



Interesting side note - Johnny Cash is related to my cousin's husband, Jason. Jason joined the church and a year later did the temple work for Johnny Cash on his year mark.





And to close it off, with a positive note, from my good friend, Louis Armstrong...



These three old time artists are my favorite. The world is a great place, it is grand and beautiful. I am grateful for the joy that comes from God's gift to all of us.

Hwa & Hannah's Wedding in the Manti Temple

Ok, so this last Saturday I was able to go to the Manti temple to see the ordinance of my good friend Hwa Yong Lee and his bride Hannah Harris. It was a fantastic experience to see and be a part of. But first, I want to share a little bit about who Hwa is and how he has blessed my life and many others.

I was Hwa's (pronounced like Wa!) resident assistant in the dorms for the summer of '06. I had just recently come back from Seattle the first time pretty ill and I felt being an RA would be a great way to help others to get on their missions. A few days before the other residents showed up, I got a phone call saying a foreign student that was assigned to my floor was in the lobby and waiting to be let in, "oh and he doesn't speak English." So I go out and pick up this young man from Korea. I quickly got excited to see he was from Korea because my dad served his mission there. Hwa and I had a conversation that night that took 3-4 hours. If he could speak fluent English it probably would have last only 30 minutes. He often pulled out his little language translator machine to help us understand each other. Through that conversation I discovered that he was a recent convert but didn't have a testimony of the Book of Mormon and of the current prophet (then Gordon B. Hinckley) and that he did not want to serve a mission. As the summer term started I felt inspired to hold a little mission prep class at 6 AM each morning. 

Surprisingly a few came, including Hwa. After a few weeks of the class Hwa came up to me afterwards and said, "I do not understand what you are saying, but I feel the spirit." I then told him that he should reconsider going on a mission. "I will, lets fast for three days to find out." I literally would have died if I had fasted for three days with my current health at that time, so I mentioned we should fast until he got an answer. Two days later... I received a little note slipped underneath my door which said, "I go on mission." He did later serve a mission and went to Los Angeles Korean Speaking. He was a great missionary. 

Hwa would give you the shirt off of his back for you. Anything he would do just to bless your life. So we went to the temple in Manti to support him and his decision to follow the counsel of the Lord and be sealed for time and all eternity. 

I traveled with two of the other young men and that same floor with Hwa, Doug Leonard and Stephen Nelson. Both of those men are fantastic. We had a blast getting together and catching up on old times. Stephen was his roommate and he reminded us of some of the funny things that have happened with Hwa. One short story is back when Hwa had asked Stephen what "awkward" is. Stephen couldn't explain it so Hwa could understand. Hwa later asked a girl out on a date which later found out she had a boyfriend. That boyfriend showed up to their dorm door and was a bit upset at Hwa. Stephen remembering the question Hwa had earlier and shouted, "Hwa! This is awkward!! This is what awkward is!" Got to love it...

While in the sealing room before the ordinance was performed, I was looking at Hwa and he was looking back at me. He made the gesture with his two fingers pointing at his eyes and then at me, as if I needed to pay attention and then he mouthed the word, "Thank you." I can't explain the great joy I felt at that point and later when he and his bride, Hannah, were sealed. It was like flying on a cloud and being able to better understand how God works. I am grateful for the amazing experience I had to see Hwa grow in the gospel. Not of my doing, but of his own desire and actions. 

I also in the temple was able to have an incredible experience. I saw my Dad's Dad's (Grandpa Gemmell, which I do not recall any memories of him) sister and her family, the Eldridge's. I had not seen any of them for years and they just so happen to be in the temple for a sealing as well. In fact, for a cousin of mine I had not yet met. Aunt Margaret was introducing me to everyone, especially those I had no clue who they were. It was a great day! 

Night Fishing

What a crazy weekend! Things have been absolutely crazy in life but at least there have been great people and events going on.

Friday night at 7 PM the Barton's (the family I am staying with in American Fork) we went to Rumbi's and they had one of my favorites, teriyaki chicken. And then we went out to Deer Creek up Provo Canyon and went night fishing till 1 AM. I hadn't really ever gone fishing before so this was going to be exciting. So night fishing contains it being dark (obviously) on a boat with a little light hanging in the water to attract the fish. There were three poles and we caught a total of 7 fish. Three we let go.
I caught my first fish that I can remember. It was pretty tough to get into the boat but not too big. Here is a video of it.

Emily caught four fish!

Brother Barton taking the hook out. 

So I think I am a fan of night fishing now or fishing in general. It was pretty fun and awesome to do. I will have to do it again.

Mormons Made Simple

Hey Friends!
Happy Sunday! Today was yet again another fantastic uplifting day.
This morning I crossed this awesome set of videos from this missionary minded website:
www.mormonsmadesimple.com
It has some flash animated videos about temples, the Book of Mormon, church services and Mormon Missionaries. Sure seems like a great idea to help with missionary efforts online.

Today I went to church the Barton's (the family I am staying with) and was able to hear my old BYU bishop, Terry Fox and his wife speak on obedience. I loved it. It was great to hear my old bishop that I would have meetings often with and to feel his great spirit. It definitely inspired me to be more obedient with the simple things.
He was the bishop that finally said i could head back to the mission field after a long time of trying to be healthy again. I got cold feet before I finished my papers and he kept encouraging me to do it. It was exactly the right push I needed to get back out. The next day I finished my papers, turned them in and then the following day received a phone call from Bishop Fox stating that the stake president received a phone call from the mission department to issue the call to return to my first mission, Seattle.

I can still remember when Bishop Fox called me. I was in my room going through books for school and I noticed my phone ringing with it saying Bishop Fox, which was normal, just thought it was another call to do something for him. It never crossed my mind that it would be related to my mission call as it was just 24 hours that it had been submitted. Then Bishop Fox stated the words that he received a phone call and was assigned to issue my mission call through the phone to head back to Seattle. It was a great experience for both of us. He knew how badly I wanted it and I wanted it so badly. Now my life has changed for the better of it. I was able to teach many people and see them join the church. It has been a tremendous blessing. I am grateful for it.