SunsetHike&Easter&Conference

I am a terrible blogger.
I swear time is flying by and I just can't keep up with it!
So here is a recap from the end of March & all of April...

Sunset Hike to the Y 

So it's always been on my bucket list to see the sun set from the top of a mountain. Zac and I were looking for something to do so we were like hey, why not hike the Y and watch the sunset? I was totally down except for the part about it being the Y trail. Remember my last experience? It was awful. I googled every other possible hike, but the Y trail seemed like the easiest to walk to and we knew we could see the sunset from the top. So we decided on that. 

We left early, at like 3 and made a stop at Flags and Stuff & Gandolfos. I got a map of Tahiti that I stuck on my ceiling and looked at every night before I went to bed. Pretty cool. 

I also got a little French Polynesia flag and Zac got a map of South Korea. 

The funniest thing that happened to us at Flags and Stuff was when we checked out, the cashier was talking to Zac about how his daughter went on her mission to South Korea and married someone who went on his mission to South Korea as well. He went on about how they still talk to each other in Korean and will talk to people at Korean restaurants and how it was really cool. He then told Zac, "So what you need to do is ditch this girl and get yourself a Korean girl! Because Tahitian is going to get you guys nowhere." He was just like uhhhh.... and we both laughed it off. I made fun of Zac for that for awhile, it was pretty funny.  

After Flags and Stuff, we went and got sandwiches at Zac's favorite sandwich shop- Gandolfos. He is obsessed. Then we started the hike to the bottom of the Y trail. It was basically the workout before the workout. But it was fun. We got there early enough to be able to take our time heading up. I was happy with that because I was able to slowly adjust to the high altitude and not get light headed as much. Overall, it was an incredible view and SO pretty to watch the sunset. The view from the Y is not that great, so if you're going to hike the Y, definitely do it at sunset. Watching the sun set and seeing all the lights come on in Provo, it's breathtaking. We loved it so much we actually did the same hike last wednesday as kind of our last big thing before we both left for back home. 

Easter

This year for Easter, my day started out with getting a lovely easter basket from Mama Jones! Jordan and I had so much fun opening the box and getting out our baskets. Thanks again Mama Jones, you're the best!!

For Easter dinner, we spent it at Ashleys with all of my sisters. It was really fun and good to spend time with them! Something sad to realize is that this is probably the only time in our lives that we're all 3 in the same city at the same time. I definitely feel like I didn't take advantage of that enough, but Easter was definitely fun. We had a good dinner and then Zac and I filled a bunch of eggs with candy so we had a big Easter egg hunt. It was so much fun. I love my family! 

 General Conference

General Conference was amazing this year. I really enjoyed all of it, and just thought the speakers were incredible. If you didn't get a chance to watch it or don't even know what I'm talking about, check it out here- http://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2013/04?lang=eng
General Conference happens twice a year and is a time when the Prophet & President of our church speaks to us along with other great leaders in our church. They speak to us and give guidance relevant to us now and what we need to hear. It's great and I always feel so good after watching. Take a look, I dare you (:
Zac & I watched it at my sister Ashley's apartment on saturday and sunday morning and then headed to Salt Lake City on sunday afternoon to watch conference at the conference center. Best Conference ever!!!

Hahaha Zac watched saturday afternoon conference in his dressy clothes because he headed to the train station right after we finished watching. I was amused because I was in all comfy clothes and he was all dressed up.  

Mission Languages! Tagalog, Tahitian, and Korean! 

Found scriptures in both of my mission languages :) I can't wait!!

Sunday afternoon conference! Love them :)

 Puppies for Rent

So there's this business in Provo where you can rent puppies and play with them for an hour! The goal is to try and get them adopted, but we just wanted to pretend like we had a puppy for a little bit :)

His name was Miles and he was adorable!

Well that wraps up April! Expect a post (hopefully) within the next week about May! So far I'm loving it :)

Lessons from the Book of Mormon: 

So clearly this is a little old, but I still wanted to share :) 
So one thing that I loved about my Book of Mormon class was studying the prophets and gaining a better appreciation for what they taught and their courage. A few weeks ago we learned about Mormon and what an incredible prophet and person he was. At 10 years old, Ammoron came to Mormon and basically told him that he was a special guy with a sober mind and was chosen to be in charge of the records when he was old enough. When he was only 15 years old, he went out as the head of the army. I’m barely 19 and I can’t even imagine enlisting in the army.  Granted he was obviously chosen by God beforehand for that purpose, but still. The thought of being given that responsibility at that age is mind-boggling. Another great thing about Mormon is that he never gave up hope and courage. In chapter 1 verse 16, it reads, “And I did endeavor to preach unto this people, but my mouth was shut, and I was forbidden that I should preach unto them; for behold they had willfully rebelled against their God; and the beloved disciples were taken away out of the land, because of their iniquity.” I can find so many reasons to be depressed and lonely when in this situation, but Mormon never does. It’s incredible the strength he has and I’ve really come to admire that. Mormon has definitely become one of my favorite prophets! 

Laugh of the Day:

So a little fun fact about myself- I laugh at everything and in every situation. It's mostly fun, but sometimes can be annoying because I will laugh at inappropriate times. For example, I was babysitting this past week and the 12 year old boy in the family was mad (at something dumb like losing a little competition he had going on with his sister) and so he was flinging his shirt up over his face and accidentally poked his thumb into his eye. I thought this was funny. He poked himself in the eye. Is that not funny to anyone else? Well anyways I started laughing a little and he got a little mad at me because I was laughing at him. He then accused me of not caring about his pain and was a little dramatic but I did feel pretty bad. I had to remind myself that not everyone laughs when other people are in pain. My Beard family members would understand me, we all do it. :) 

TheBigOneNine

So this way past due but....
That's right folks, I'm the big One Nine!
19 years ago, on March 15th at 12:47 p.m., Rachel Lynn Taylor (that's me!) was brought into this world.
It's weird to think that I am one year away from official adulthood and that I'll turn 20 in the tropical paradise of Tahiti. I feel like I should still be an awkward little Beehive, just loving each day of life. Now I feel old, tired and stressed all the time. If this is how I feel now, I can only imagine how I'll feel in 20 years... Oh gosh.

As you can see, nothing has changed. 

This year for my birthday, we celebrated by taking the FrontRunner to Salt Lake and eating at my favorite restaurant at City Creek- The Blue Lemon. After eating we hit up City Creek and did some shopping

So happy we got to get our traditional vanilla bean frappuccinos at Starbucks <3  

So after we finished shopping and getting frapps at Starbucks, we decided to head back to the train station. I looked at the schedule online and it said the train would leave at 10:12 pm. In my head I'm thinking, "That's a weird time buttt whatever, that's what it says!" So we're walking and we get to the parking lot right before the tracks. It's approximately 10:06 and we see the train start to leave. It's take a second to register and then we're all like, "Wait! Isn't that our train?!!!" Sure enough, it definitely was. We looked at the schedule at the station and it said 10:05. I was like what?!?! It was a pretty epic "this only happens in movies" moment when you see the train you're supposed to be on leave. So it wouldn't have been too bad except for the fact that the next train was scheduled to leave an hour and a half later. What were we supposed to do for an hour and a half?!?! 

Well basically, the group split up and half went to find a restroom and ended up running to get a birthday cake for me as well (Helmut is the best!), and then the other half stayed and entertained ourself with a shopping cart we found in the parking lot and blowing up people's phones with pictures and selfies. So that explains the shopping cart picture at the beginning of the post :)

We did finally make it on the train to get back home. When I got back to the dorms, I went up to May Hall and my good friend Austin (who is also my home teacher) made me a cake and so we went and had cake up there too. Overall, I had the best birthday ever! I can't believe I'm already 19 and what the future has in store for me, but I'm excited! Great things are definitely to come. 

Lessons from the Book of Mormon: 

A few weeks ago in Book of Mormon, we talked about The Church of Jesus Christ vs. the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The best way to display the difference is in an analogy. The Church of Jesus Christ is like a lantern and the Gospel of Jesus Christ is like the light or candle burning within. Basically, the Church is the foundational set up and structure for the Gospel of Jesus Christ that consists of the doctrine and teachings of Christ. I think that I've always known the difference, but it was kind of nice to review it and realize the importance of both. We also talked about names and the importance of them. If you break down the name of our Church, it actually gives it so much more meaning and justifies why it is called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

The- An article/marker, establishes the name as a whole 

Church

of- ownership or possession; Church OF Jesus Christ; His church 

Jesus Christ

of- 2nd possession; Christ gives us partial ownership 

Latter-day- A marker for our day, distinguishes us from the others 

Saints- Helps us know who we are. We aren't just members, we're Saints and equal in God's perspective. 

Overall, I really enjoyed talking about names and the importance of them. Not only are we given our father's name at birth, but as we go through life, we gain other names. I will gain the name Sister Taylor in a few months. Behind every name there is importance or significance for our purpose in this life. I'm so grateful for my name and the purpose and significance it has behind it. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is true and I am so grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!

Laugh of the Day: 

On my birthday just a little past midnight, Micaela and Lindsay came bursting in my room playing some hip hop version of Happy Birthday and dancing crazily. It was great. I was laughing so hard.

TahitiPapeete

This past week has been INCREDIBLE.
I finally got my mission call and I have been on an emotional and spiritual high ever since.
So I'll start and share my experience starting with last Wednesday. Wednesday was the day that my mission could've come in the mail, so I was anxious and nervous all day. When 3:30-4:00 finally came when the mail was supposed to come in, I was a wreck. I never got the call and was initially pretty disappointed, but then just felt relieved that I didn't have to worry about it anymore. I was fine the rest of the night, but it started all over again on Thursday. By 3:30-4:00 on Thursday, I was so nervous that the mission calls weren't going to come in because I didn't think I could last until Friday. Thankfully, the Lord looked down on my poor worried heart, and I was finally able to pick up my call!

Once the call was in my hands, I was finally able to relax. It didn't really make me more anxious or nervous, I was just so glad I actually had it. That day was the day that I would find out where I was going to be spending 18 months of my life. I didn't start freaking out until like 30 minutes before I actually was supposed to open it. My friend Carli was reopening her call for everyone (because she opened it with just her family before) an hour before I was opening mine, so that was a fun distraction. She got called to the Bulgaria Sofia mission and so that was exciting to see.
But finally, the time came and I called up all of my family on skype to listen and watch. I think I was too in shock that I was finally opening my call when it was happening to even focus on the words I was saying or what I was doing. I felt like it wasn't real life, just a dream that I had waited months to experience. I successfully opened the envelope (very smoothly might I add) and pulled out the contents. After flipping the letter to be behind the book (so that I read the letter line by line), I proceeded to read it out loud. "Dear Sister Taylor, You are hereby called to serve as missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (In my mind- IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING?!). You are assigned to labor ..." and that's when I read it. My eyes widened and I couldn't believe it. "... in the Tahiti Papeete mission." All I saw was Tahiti and all I could think was nooooooooo, this can't be real! When I read it out loud, I honestly didn't even believe the words that were coming out of my mouth. TAHITI! What?!
I then read out that I would report July 24th. After that, "You will prepare to teach the gospel in the Tahitian language." Like WHAT?! I couldn't believe that either. So crazy. I'm just a crazy little white girl and they want ME to go to these gorgeous islands and teach?
Despite being so shocked to even comprehend completely, I will say that opening my mission call was one of the most spiritual experiences I've had in my life. I was on such an emotional high that I felt like I was the only one in the room. After a few days of trying to believe it, I can definitely say that I know that I am supposed to go and teach the gospel in Tahiti. The more I research and learn about the Tahitian people, I just know it's a perfect fit for me.
Here's the link for the video of my mission call opening-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXJNypZ6aCg

Mission call twinsies! Canada and Tahiti here we come!!

While I will officially be speaking Tahitian, the official language of Tahiti is French because it is a part of French Polynesia.

Confused about what exactly is French Polynesia? Don't worry I was too. Here's a good map I found.
Learning and googling about Tahiti is seriously so addicting because I know so little about it. My mom found this great link of someone speaking Tahitian which I was so grateful for because I couldn't find any on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2TuGPTR5Tg&feature=share
The first guy that speaks is speaking Tahitian. The girl that speaks after him though is speaking French.
Because the mission is not a very big or common, I've had a hard time figuring out if I will only be speaking Tahitian. From what I have been able to gather, I will most likely speaking some French too. This works out pretty nicely for me because I took French all through high school so that is a definite advantage.
Another interesting thing I found regarding Tahiti is this article in an ensign on lds.org-
https://www.lds.org/ensign/1986/06/the-lost-island-of-saints?lang=eng
Overall, the more I learn, the more I come to love Tahiti already. I am so excited to experience everything that Tahiti and the Tahitian saints have to offer for me. It'll be an adventure and certainly not an easy one, but I can't wait.

Lessons from the Book of Mormon: 

This past week in Book of Mormon we talked about the nature of the straight and narrow path. It's not just a straight line, but rather an uphill bumpy climb. It's a journey and we certainly can't do it on our own. At times when the path is so steep that we can't stand, we can only move forward by getting down on our knees. One of my all time favorite scriptures is in 3 Nephi 14:7-8, "Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened." I love this scripture because it is such a testimony to me that God is always there for us. If we seek him out, he will ALWAYS be there. We all know that life is hard. At times, we may feel that we are completely alone. That's why this scripture brings me so much comfort; if I need help, I can always get it. If we let Christ in, he will not only help and comfort us in our times of need, but we then allow ourselves to become like him. Letting Christ in is the first step, and it only gets better from there. I am so grateful that I can always rely on my Savior and that through him, I can move forward on the path. I honestly don't know what I would do or where I would be in my life without this knowledge.

Laugh of the Day:

If you haven't gathered by now, I LOVE funny youtube videos. Here's one that my friend Micaela showed to me that I literally can not get enough of.

"Hey.. Whatever!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUyKpfbB9M8

CameraCrazy&GoodFriends&FireNation

Wow I have a lot to catch up on, but I think I've had more fun in the past few weeks than I had all last semester. If not that, it definitely came close!
First of all, a bunch of the girls in my ward decided to do a little Harlem shake response to the one that the guys did.
Please enjoy this wonderful display of boredom and hyperness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuVPEOmxEKU

Other than that, we had our ward talent show 2 weeks ago. It was a lot of fun to watch everyone's talents because there are so many funny people in my ward! The best part however was definitely the skit that I was a part of with a few of my friends. We did a parody of the "Boys will be Girls" and "Girls will be Boys" YouTube video that the Harvard sailing team did. We called ours "Elders will be Sisters, Sisters will be Elders."
Please enjoy and hopefully you will find this as funny as we think we are.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzzK9WZO36Y

By now, hopefully you can tell that I have the most incredible friends ever! I couldn't have asked for better friends to have while up here at college. I am so grateful for their influence on me and how much they help me when I need them or I'm down. I love it!
Jordan and I have become especially good friends with 2 girls in my ward, Micaela and Lindsay. We hang out ALL the time. It's actually come to a point where we have to ground ourselves from each other because we'll end up talking for like 3 hours and get nothing done. We're not even really allowed to eat with each other because we talk too much. When we do hang out though on weekends, it's so much fun.
Yay for doing random stuff and not caring what people think <3

Midnight In-N-Out runs. Totally typical right? haha

 Lindsay & Zac's "Zip Bong?" game. SO FUNNY. You apparently aren't allowed to show your teeth so they were trying to make each other laugh and it was so entertaining. Zac definitely makes the best faces!

Hahahaha so Jordan got her wisdom teeth out the other weekend and was on a lot of drugs. One time, I looked on my phone and found all of these random photos on my phone. I blame the drugs. lolz

This picture is hilarious because not only is it like 2 a.m., but look at Micaela's leg! It looks like it's my leg. When I saw this we literally laughed about it for a good 5 minutes. So funny. 

I love Lindsay! She always makes these crazy ice cream cones and it's hilarious. 

Mens volleyball game! It was such a good game. We were facing Stanford and it was definitely a good fight. We went to 5 games and barely won. I believe we're #1 in the nation for volleyball. Yay morms!

One time, we were talking about pie and then we were talking about pie shakes and how much we REALLY wanted one at that moment. So then we sweet talked Micaela into driving us to Sammy's in the middle of the day to get the best pie shakes ever! If you live in Provo and haven't been, you seriously need to get your butt down there. I recommend the Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake shake. It's heavenly.

To top off my fun activities with friends, we had a winter olympics on our President's Day holiday! It was SO much fun. There was a bunch of different countries (and fantasy countries/places) and we did all sorts of events like sledding, speed skating, human curling, a snowball fight, and soccer. I obviously had the best team, we were Fire Nation (from Avatar). We took the bronze but BARELY. We would've tied for 2nd I think but they mis scored the snowball fight and so we ended up in 3rd. It was still really fun though.

1st in soccer, but mostly because Sarah is on the BYU soccer team. (: 

I surprised myself and was actually really good at human curling. Except, it was more like sled down the hill and try to land within the target. At one point, I got hit pretty hard but it wasn't too bad. It was my favorite event!

1st place in the sledding relay! Everyone's sleds broke but it was still way fun. 

I wish this wasn't blurry, but 3rd place baby! Yay for bronze medals.

On other news,

I SUBMITTED MY MISSION PAPERS!!! 

Today is actually the 1 week countdown until my call should come in. I'm so excited. I can't wait to finally find out where the Lord wants me to serve for 18 months.
We cleaned off the map and I put up something official for Jordan's call to France Lyon!

Stay tuned to hear! I'm so excited.

Lessons from the Book of Mormon

So something that I really enjoyed talking about 2 weeks ago in Book of Mormon was Samuel the Lamanite. I always knew he was an incredible prophet, but after studying and learning from Samuel, he has by far become one of my favorite prophets. So we know he's a Lamanite from his name, but not only that, he was a Lamanite preaching and chastising a whole city of wicked Nephites. Before he even got to that point, he tried to preach to the Nephites, but they rejected him. When the Lord told him to try again, he was obedient and went back even though he had no idea how he was going to get through to them. He got up on that wall and had the courage to chastise the Nephites, speaking for the Lord in 1st person saying, "I will visit them with the sword and with famine and pestilence." (Helaman 13:9) Can you imagine the courage that would take? He's basically telling them that they're doomed because of their wickedness. Even when they got angry and started to throw arrows and rocks, he stood up there with confidence in the Lord. 
I'm grateful for Samuel's courage and the example he set. I could only hope that if I was in that situation, I would have the courage to share the gospel and be obedient to the Lord. 

Laugh of the Day: 

So this has been kind of a video & picture post so here are some of my favorite youtube videos lately. Each one gets funnier every time you watch it. SO GREAT.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdVuSvZOqXM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48QYrEv3P7U