Apr 27th - May 3rd

Apr 27^th “What is it worth to you to have the words of the prophets.”            

 Today we had Stake Conference at the Conference center. It was great! Here’s what I learned:

Elder Arnold: Hasten the work!   His promise: My spirit shall be round about you and mine angels shall bare you up.

Sis Cheryl Esplin: We hold our children; we provide good bones by teaching them righteousness.  That way when the ‘things’ come it will be like water on a ducks back.” 

Elder Clayton: We have an obsession with measuring things. “We need to spiritual measure ourselves.” 

Sis. Anderson: “What is it worth to you to have the words of the prophets.” 

Elder Anderson: “Observe those around you, embrace the gospel principals they live. “Faith, diligence, and patience; these are the spiritual qualities to nourish.” 

AS you can see it was a great conference. One our walk back to the car we pasted the beauty that is Temple Square! Beautiful day!!

Apr. 28^th I have my bruised knees and cut hands but I am ready to get back up and move forward.

            Today I shed a few tears. It was a rather hard day at work, ya-know, work is hard, life is hard. This has been a rough road for me, east canyon resort, that is. It’s been confusing and challenging and down right dramatic. I feel used, lied too, and I think my soul is bruised. I don’t wont to write down the details because I don’t want to re-live any of it, ever again. I’m confused, feeling a bit lost, and…. Icky.

            I came home to loving parents who I know what the best for me and I told them about my day. All the really bad parts; the parts I wish weren’t in my brain, the parts I don’t want, the parts you’ll never know about. I feel pretty low and… confused.

            Life is hard. I know this, I know because it has always been hard, and soon it will be a different kind of hard. Once I’ve made it through this hard, the Lord will bless me with another hard. I’m a little afraid of hard… it hurts and I’m not a fan of pain. But I know that hard will come, and I will do my best, and I will stumble and fall, and I will have bruises on my knees and cuts on my hands. And then my parents will help me get back up and I will heal and become stronger. Sometimes I pray that these hard lessons wont hurt so much, but I know that they will and that is the way that He is making me who He wants me to be.

            This has been a bit of a Debbie Downer post, but one of the hard lessons I learned on my mission was that it always gets harder before it gets better. People, it’s harder, so it’s gonna get better! Just like when I learned about my gallbladder, it was harder then and it got better. But the harder usually hurts when I get to that point. I know that we go through hard things so we can make choices. Choices like, ‘Am I going to let this hard experience bring me happiness or heartache?’ Maybe it will bring both, but we decide how we are to act, “We are agents to act, not object to be acted upon!” Elder Bednar.

            Through my whimpering heartaches my parents sat in front of me with problems and concerns of their own. I know my Dad’s heart is aching for a friend in need; my Mom’s heart is aching for a loved one’s health. They are always concerned for their children and are always praying for us. I know they are not prefect but they have tired their best through their hard experiences and have become wonderful people.

            On my mission, when I was truly struggling, I received a phone call from my amazing mission president, Pres Hobbs. He told me my grandpa had died. I was crushed. My heart hurt. It was bruised. But it healed, it healed because I turned to the Lord, put my trust in Him and faith in Him. It healed. It will heal again. I know it will most likely be bruised again, someday (hopefully not any time soon), and when it does I know that I can turn to my family. My wonderful earthly Parents who love me, and my Eternal Loving Heavenly Father, who also loves me, and who both want me to become the best I can be.

            The only option I can see is to get back up, I have my bruised knees and cut hands but I am ready to get back up and move forward. It will be hard, yes it will be hard, but not impossible and not horrible! I think I am quite ready for another adventure!!  

Apr 29^th I am trying to spread encouragement and trust and hopefully, they will feel the same way!

            I woke up this morning having high hopes for the day!  I was ready to take on the world (or maybe just my to do list) and wanted to have a good attitude about it. And it was a surprisingly good day.

So things are a bit crazy at work, as mentioned, my manager was fired. The acting manager is out of town this week and the assistant manager has lots on her plate, as you can imagine! I’m trying to help and not hinder in this whole process. I ‘m trying to stay positive and encourage all the other employees to do the same. I’m hoping that the drama will end and that we can work together as a team, because that is what we are, a team. I am trying to spread encouragement and trust and hopefully, they will feel the same way!

I’ve had a few people today ask me if I am going to apply for the manager job. Well I would like to think that I would be able to help the resort but the truth of the matter is, I’m not qualified. It would be a steep learning curve, not impossible, just really, really, steep!! I also look at the last resort manager that wasn’t really qualified and see what happened and it makes me even more nervous. It’s something to think about, maybe… I don’t think so, but it’s a thought.

 

Apr 30^th

            Well I think it’s all going to work out, but it’s still a bit confusing. I’m trying to get ready for the first ‘work day’ at the resort, Natasha was suppose to be charge of this, but she’s no longer here to do so. SO now I have to step up and do it, which makes sense really, it is in my department.  Just would have hoped for more time to prepare for it and that our maintenance guy was going to be around. I don’t know of 3 or 3o people will show for this ‘work day.’ Axcil is usually around to help with everything including the to do list, but he wont be so I have to be in charge. He was funny, trying to show me around, it was good for me.  I had the list of items we talked about and we went through and showed me where everything would be. He showed me where the key to get into the building was and I thought, okay, I can do this!

May 1^st I think they will work but I hope the brides like them too!

Well my tire popped on the freeway right before I drove up Weber Canyon. Huh I don’t know how to change my tire so I thought, I need to call my dad (because I always call my Dad for help)… but I’m in Weber… so who might be closer. I thought Jeff Gale said he was coming up to the resort so I’ll call him. He was just not until the late afternoon. He called his son, Brad, to come to my rescue. He and Mike came and changed my tire then told me where to take it. I took it to Les Schwab and they fixed it AND they did charge me for it! I’d said that was a GREAT blessing!!

After my tire hiccup I went to work and worked on getting last minute everything ready. The flowers continue to die every year so Jeff and Kris decided that we should try silk flowers and see if that will work out. SO I spent a bit trying to put together the flowers for the planter boxes. I hope they don’t look really bad! I think they will work but I hope the brides like them too!

May 2^nd I haven’t had her braid my hair since high school and it was great!

            Today I picked up the logo canvas wrap for the restaurant. I think it looks great and I hope it will add the little touch needed in there. I also picked up the volunteer vouchers for all our hunters tomorrow.

            Tomorrow will be an early day so I need to get everything ready and call it an early night. I asked mom to French-braid my hair. I haven’t had her braid my hair since high school and it was great! I look horrible with this hairstyle but I didn’t care cause I was worried about it getting in the way while working.

May 3^rd I set off the alarm to the resort, yup, this girl.

What a crazy day! It started early and drove to the resort to open the A-frame and find out that the maintenance guys, BOTH of them are gone. I set off the alarm to the resort, yup, this girl. I think overall the day went really well. Since I didn’t know that both guys were gonna be gone I didn’t get any other codes. We had a few run around’s trying to find the codes but eventually we got them all. I was thinking maybe 15 people and we had 35ish people. It was a little overwhelming.

            After the day was ‘over’ I was trying to leave and this nice old man stops me in the parking lot and just starts chatting away. I learned all about his three daughters and one son, and his 11 grandkids. That he is from Portland but now lives in Idaho. Not really sure how it got around to it but he was talking to me about family history and then it got to how I have the control in choosing who I marry, meaning it’s up to me, it’s my choice. He continued to tell me that I have plenty of time and not to worry until I turn 30. Weeellll… he must have thought I was 22 (he mentioned that) and didn’t realize that tomorrow is my 29^th birthday. After an hour of his advice and chatting I was able to get going. He was a very nice man who I think missed his three daughters and felt like sharing some life lessons with me!

            THEN I drove home as fast as possible since I was an hour lat, changed and Dad, Mom, Peter and I went to Dinner at Royal India in Bountiful. Yummy!! Afterward Ashley Marie and I hung out until the wee hours of the morning.