Called to Serve

Today I am grateful for the impact my friends have on my life whether it be making me laugh, cry, smile, or believe. I have to admit that in the past couple of weeks when it comes to friends at home it has been more crying than laughing, but they are tears of joy, well most of them anyway.

A week ago I received a call from my best friend Kamrin, he has been called to serve in the Ukraine Donetsk mission, reporting on June 16. Well the first thing I did was cry and then felt about 10 different emotions run through me in all of 20 seconds. It's far away, really far away. But hearing him so happy and excited made everything okay. Kamrin informed me that the national anthem is titled, Ukraine is not yet dead, after hearing this he knew he would love it!
For the next 2 days, Ukraine kept running through my thoughts. It is going to be one amazing experience for him. June 16 seemed to be the day that it was all going to start, my best friends leaving on missions, or so I thought.

Next to make me cry was Daniel's mission call. I was put on speaker phone so I could hear him read his call, the only problem was that everyone started screaming so loud I didn't hear where he was going but I had a feeling it was somewhere in Asia. After screaming through the phone at Jasmine trying to get her attention, I was finally informed that he had been called to serve in Busan Korea.
He is reporting to the MTC on June 2, when Jasmine told me this part I thought I misheard her and it was actually July 2 but my hopes were soon crushed. Daniel will leave in less than 4 months. The cool part about this was that he actually had a dream that he would be going to Korea, he wanted to go somewhere in Asia so badly. Just like with Kamrin, I am thrilled for him. The few tears that weren't joyful tears was because it finally became a reality that yes, they would be gone for 2 years, crazy that we are already that old! I also couldn't help feeling a little bit of homesickness when they both called me. It was hard not to be there to give them a congratulatory hug but I will be home soon enough!

On a happier note, friends also bring great joy in our lives. It is Lizzy Grant's 19th birthday today and boy am I glad that she was born. We became best friends sophomore year doing cheer together. Senior year we were told that you never see one of us without the other. She is an amazing girl and I am so lucky to have her in my life. If I ever need a good laugh or just a night of craziness and not caring whatsoever about what people think I call Lizzy. We have been through a lot together the past three years and I can't wait to get back home to create even more memories than we have. 

Happy Birthday Liz! I love you!!

Now back to my Hawaiian life, we had a great weekend here in Laie. On Friday we went to a condo at Turtle Bay for the night. It was me, lohren, kelsey, jess, jon and steve. We had an absolute blast! We played yahtzee and a few rounds of Kent. Lohren and steve ended up winning but jon and I are calling for a rematch! Then we watched the movie Unbreakable which I do not recommend any of you seeing.
We finished off the night with talking and laughing about anything and everything! On Saturday we headed to Waikiki where we were hoping to get some pretty cheap surf lessons but it turns out they aren't so cheap after all. Jess and I were so desperate that we almost went and asked two random guys we saw with surf boards to teach us but we chickened out.
 We ended up spending the day laying on the beach and then making a much needed walmart-run on the way home. It was culture night at our school where all the clubs and organizations perform something from that culture. There were some pretty amazing performances and I was so excited to see the Korean club come out and perform some karate that was very impressive, I think Daniel should take that up on his mission.