Adventure Friday

So this is a post I've been wanting to write for a while, and life has finally slowed down enough for me to do that!

To begin, let me introduce you to three very dear friends, Emily, Ben, and Meghan:

 Emily was my very first friend in China, by a fortunate turn of events, I met Emily when I first moved there in June of 2012, and even though she left two days after, it helped so much to know that I would know someone, and hopefully have a friend the first day of school.  And we continued to be best friends through the next two years, she was always there for me when I needed her.

Ben, he moved in summer between Jr. and Sr. year.  He and his family are also Mormon, which was such a blessing to my family and me! We quickly became best friends.  He is also a theatre kid, and somehow more dramatic than me, although I'm probably still sassier.  He was a great support to me as well.

And last but certainly not least, Meghan! This girl is fantastic.  She moved in around January of 12th grade, and once I realized she existed, she became one of my closest confidants (I really didn't think she existed at first, Emily would talk about her, but I never saw her, and I just thought she had made Meghan up).  She ended up being exactly the kind of friend I needed in my life.

So now that you kind of know these people...vaguely, let me explain what "Adventure Friday" is!  Short answer, we go on an adventure on Friday.  Feel free to roll your eyes.  But let me get into the technicalities, you have to do something that at least one person in the group has never done before, and the crazier the better.  It's usually better if you don't have it planned before hand.  The spontaneity makes it more exciting!  Awesome stuff always happens on adventure friday!  Oh and you're probably thinking, "that sounds fantastic, but I have to work Friday nights, can I do it another day of the week?" Yes, my friend, you can.  Friday is typically just a good day for adventures, but we had a few weeks where Friday didn't work, so we had an adventure Tuesday, or Thursday.

It all started when Ben Meghan and I hung out on Friday after school, and we just did some crazy stuff, and the next friday we decided that we needed to adventure again, and somehow Adventure Friday came into existence!

I don't remember exactly everything we did, or the order we did it in, but let me just give you some examples of adventures we had:

• Climbing down a waterfall thing and trekking through bamboo: in our compound (neighborhood) There's this pond with a big old waterfall, only it's never actually going... But somehow Ben and Meghan figured out how to climb up to it, so we did, and then we found a bamboo forest behind it, and adventured through there, I felt like Tarzan
• driving my scooter through the drive through at McDonalds:  I'd never done it before, so Meghan and I decided to try... We wanted ice cream, but they were all out so we got sprite instead.  Then I met who I call "My Strawberry Lady". She's basically the cutest little old Chinese lady ever
• We went to the movies: one of our less adventurous feats, but Meghan had never been to the movies in China before.
• Ben, Meghan, and I ate octopus: I had no trouble, Ben struggled a little, and Meghan, oh poor Meghan....

There are others too, but that's just a few.  I also realize they don't sound nearly as crazy as they actually were.  But the grand finale of Adventure Fridays was Legendary.

Sadly Ben couldn't be there, he was in Shanghai.  BUT, it was Emily's first real adventure friday, somehow she always ended up missing it. I think she had been to an adventure Tuesday, but I'm getting sidetracked...  We started it out by going to mini Suguo (Suguo is like the Chinese version of Wal Mart [mind you I said Chinese version, it's very very Chinese], and mini Suguo is well, mini).  We loaded up on snacks for the night.  Then as we left, we decided to ride the little kid rides that they have sitting outside (just like some in America, only they sing Chinese songs) That was funny especially since I couldn't really fit in mine.  Then we noticed this new massage place, so we decided why not, let's go up and check it out.  It was super fancy and expensive, but they did give us a tour around the place, and gave free tea to Emily and Meghan, and lemon water to me.  We then had to buy pepsi for Emily's mom, and we took it back home to her, where Meghan and I found Toaster Strudels in Emily's fridge.  Unless you live in China, and know what toaster strudels are, you're probably thinking what's the big deal? Well let me tell you, I have never seen a toaster strudel in China.  Ever.  Those used to be my life.  Then we had to run over to my house, and Emily's little brother plays the guitar, so he serenaded us as we walked!  Then we decided that we wanted to shotgun soda, so we headed over to Suguo to buy some Coke, and on our way over, we decided to buy some flowers and hand them out to random people!  I tried giving a flower to a guy to give his girlfriend, but he wouldn't take it.  But then I gave one to a little girl, and a man nearby saw, and asked how much they costed, and we told him they were free, and he was just astounded that we were giving away flowers, and asked why, and we told him we just wanted to make people happy.  He indeed seemed happy with his flower as we walked away.  We also gave two to two street performers.  We got the soda, and went back to our compound to shotgun it, it was a mess, but totally worth it.  We also went walking through part of the river in our compound, which was super sketch because water is just sketch in China.

So yes, that is how I would spend my Fridays.  I haven't really had an Adventure Friday since I've been back in Utah, it's all kind of been one big adventure.  It is definitely something I want to start back up when I move down to SUU.  

I just love the idea of Adventure Friday, taking risks, loving life, enjoying the small and simple things.  I think it's a great outlook to have on life in general.    

Suzhou

Sorry that it has taken me so long to blog about this, I have a lot of old news I want to blog about, so the next few posts will just be catch up!

Our adventure begins!

My family and I went to Suzhou during a school break!  It was actually quite an experience!  It was a mini backpacking trip through China (my family also went to HangZhuo after  Suzhou, but I had to go home earlier).  We packed our backpacks with the minimum amount of stuff, and left for the train station.  Other than the fact we wanted to go to Suzhou and a few of the things we wanted to do in Suzhou, we had no plans.  Train tickets had not been purchased, and a hotel had not been booked.  Let me assure you, this is so far out of the ordinary for our family, but it was one of the best vacations we've had.  One thing that made it even more fun is before we went my dad asked on Facebook for Chinese things (not specific places like the Great Wall, but something like "Stinky Tofu") people wanted a picture of, and as the trip went along we attempted to find all these thing and post the pictures on Facebook.

Now Suzhou is known as the "Venice of China" because parts of the city has waterways instead of roads.  We knew we wanted to go to a part of the city like that, but we didn't know where exactly to go, so when we got to  Suzhou, we asked a man in the metro station which stop had the canals, and he pointed us in the right direction.  There was a hotel right next to the metro station the man recommended we went to, but we decided to walk down to the canals and check that out before booking a room, and boy and I glad we did that!  There was this cute little hotel right next to the waterway, and it was amazing staying right on the banks.

So after got all settled in, we went on a boat ride, it was so beautiful!  But it was also quite entertaining.  When we got on the boat, there was a group of chinese people who gathered on the banks of the canal to gawk at the lao wai (foreigners), as often happens.  We talked to them about where we were from, why we were in China, how amazing our parents were for having 7 children, you know, just the basics. Oh and of course, lots of pictures were taken.  It was a beautiful ride, but of course after a few minutes my brothers became restless, so we pretended like we were being followed by pirates, and if we were caught we'd be killed, so every time another boat would come by we would duck down and hide.  My brothers had quite a lot of fun with that!

The Suzhou specialty

Then we went to dinner at this cute restaurant where all the seating was outside.  One of our hotel rooms actually looked out onto the restaurant, and that's how we found out about it in the first place! There's this specialty dish in Suzhou, I can't remember what it's called, but it's like a sweetish soup with this little doughy balls made out of some sort of flower. Not everyone in my family liked it, but my mom and I quite enjoyed it.

After dinner, we decided to explore this area we were in.  There were lots of Chinese shops, and in one I bought an abacus keychain (I actually collect keychains from everywhere I go, and have over 30), and ever since I've secretly hoped that someone will need some calculation done, and I can just pull out my abacus and do it, and now I guess I don't "secretly" hope that anymore, but it is still a hope!  As we walked a little further down the street there was this man selling clay keychains that he had made.  He had made all these little characters, and they were really impressive.  He had a newspaper clipping hung up about him making these keychains, and the keychains were so cheap, my dad bought us each one.  It amazes me when people have the skill and patience to do something like that!

"He ain't heavy, He's my brother" -My Dad

The next morning we went to the "ancient theatrical stage"  We had seen a sign for it the night before, and I wanted desperately to see it.  I was expecting some cool Chinese stage, but it was actually a place to dress up in traditional Chinese garb and get your picture taken.  To do all that was expensive, but they did have a guan jiao, or a sedan chair, and they let us take our own pictures for free (but we did end up buying one of the ones they took).  So now we have a cute picture of us carrying Declan and Trevon (The two little emperors) with Liam just chillin' in the from.  

We then went to Eden, which is a chocolate factory.  Marissa heard that you could take tours of the factory, but when we got there we found out that they must be scheduled in advance.  Luckily, my dad was able to use his awesome Chinese speaking skills, and he talked the lady into having someone give us an impromptu tour.  She did speak english, but I know if we had just been random lao wai who didn't speak Chinese we would have had no chance of going on the tour, so luckily we were random lao wai with a dad who's fluent!  There wasn't much going on in the factory due to the fact that it was the "off season".  But they were packaging some chocolate, which was interesting to watch because in China it's actually cheaper to hire people to package all the chocolate than to have a machine do it.  It's crazy to even think about, but it totally shows why everything is "MADE IN CHINA".  

After we had taken the tour and bought more chocolate than was probably necessary (who am I kidding, it's chocolate) Everyone was pretty hangry (So hungry you're just in a foul mood).  We hadn't really eaten breakfast or lunch that day, so we went back to where our hotel was, and ate at the restaurant next door again, gathered up our luggage and left for Shanghai.  

We wanted to be in Shanghai longer than one night, but we ended up leaving Suzhou later than expected, so we stayed in Shanghai for a night, then the next day my family headed off to Hangzhou, and I back to Nanjing.  While we were in Shanghai, I did have a very neat experience.  Walking back to the hotel from dinner, my parents and a few of the siblings got quite a bit behind, so we stopped at a corner to wait for them, and some old Chinese women started talking to us.  At first they thought I was the mother, and were quite impressed with my 4 kids, so I explained to them that I wasn't actually the mother, I was the oldest sister, and my parents actually had 7 kids.  They believe me, and I think they just thought I didn't know what I was saying, and I tried to explain that my parents were back aways, but I couldn't quite figure out how to say it.  So we began to go into the usual stuff that they always ask us, but this conversation was different, for me at least.  I was able to understand everything they said, and answer most everything.  The conversation did go more indepth than usual because we were waiting there for awhile, and talking them seemed to come naturally, it was fun.   Chinese is a very hard language to learn, but at that moment I felt like I had accomplished quite a lot in the realm of learning Chinese.  It was a moment when I realized how much I loved it.  It was a moment that showed me I might actually be able to pass my Mandarin final exam (I had, and continued to be until I received the results, so scared that I wouldn't pass).  

It was great just to be able to have this time with my family before I left.  I had so much fun, and I wouldn't trade those people for the world.  It's weird to think I might not have anymore Chinese Westover Family Adventures again, hopefully I'll go back for Christmas, and I can have some then, but who knows what might happen!  All I know is that this is one of the many memories I will cherish forever, and when I say forever, I truly mean for eternity.  I love you guys, and I miss you.  

Here's to the best siblings in the world!

Trevon's Baptism

So Trevon turned 8 on March 7th, and you know what that means! He was baptized! It was a totally different experience doing it in China! We meet for church in a hotel here. Our meeting rooms are used as a restaurant on weekdays. So obviously there's no baptismal font like in Utah! Because of this, we had to go to a different hotel and  Trevon was baptized in a swimming pool.  It was pretty neat. I'm all about living life and having neat experiences, and this was definitely one of them for Trevon, and for me too!

Here in China there aren't many kids being baptized, so there were no suits small enough for him, so he had to have a white suit tailored for him. The swimming pool was pretty deep too.  Then they first got in, the water was so deep Trev couldn't even stand, so they went to the shallow end and even then his head barely poked out of the water when he stood on his tiptoes.  My dad says it was the easiest baptism because he was already mostly under water.  And we had a ton of our branch family there. Sometimes it's sad not being able to have our actually family with us for experiences like this, and to not be able to be there for them, but we are so lucky to have such a wonderful branch here that really has become family, and really does support us in everything we do.  But we were blessed in the way of actual family for this!  My mom's cousin and family were in China, so they were able to come spend a few days with us, and see Trevon be baptized, and we are so lucky we were able to have them there for this! See, like I said, it was a really neat experience! 

But it was also a really neat experience spiritually as well.  Though Trev probably is not going to read this, I just wanted to thank him for all he has done. For making this choice, and then living his life in such a way that he is worth to be baptized!  I'm so proud of him for his decision. Even though he's quite a bit younger than me, he was a huge example to me with this decision. Trev can be quite a stinker sometimes, but he still knew the importance of baptism. He didn't have to be baptized, but he chose to be anyways, and for that I am so beyond proud of him.  I'm also impressed with the way in which he chose to prepare for his baptism. Obviously he wasn't perfect the weeks leading up to the baptism, but you could tell that he was honestly trying to do his best.  And though he'd have moments where he would act out, the way in which he tried to live his life like Christ, and be the best him he could was inspiring.  It was fantastic to see him soak in the lessons our home teachers gave him about baptism to help him prepare.

In Mark 1 of the New Testament, there is an account of Jesus' baptism.  In verses 10-11 it states:

10 And straightway coming ^aup out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a ^bdove descending upon him:

11 And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

I love how how right after, the Holy Ghost descended upon him in the form of a dove.  It's so symbolic of us receiving the  Holy Ghost right after we are baptized.  And just like a dove symbolizes peace, the blessing of the Holy Ghost can bring peace to Trevon.  But the next verse, to me, is even more powerful. I will bet my bottom dollar that God is saying that about each of us after we come out of the waters of baptism.

"Trevon, you are my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased."

"Mikayla you are my beloved daughter, in whom I am well pleased."

"YOU are my beloved child, in whom I am well pleased."

Baptism, like all other ordinances performed in this church is such a sacred, special thing.  We should not take it lightly.  But it is such a wonderful thing to know that by doing something so seemingly simple, and so infinitely important, we can make our Father in Heaven so happy.  Now I'm not a parent, and I don't plan to be for a long time, but Trev... There aren't words to describe how important he is to me, or how much I love him.  There aren't words to describe how happy I was to see him being baptized.  The way I felt that day was so indescribably strong, and that wasn't even as strong as the love of a parent, which isn't even as strong as the love of our Heavenly Father.  Can you even believe how "well pleased" God is with his children when we make these sort of decisions?  It's a truly wonderful thought.  It inspires me to do my best. I know I make mistakes and slip up, but because I made the decision to be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost, that's ok! I can repent, and try harder the next day!  One bad decision, no matter how bad, is NEVER the end.  Not to a Father who loves us all so much, and wants nothing more than to take you in His arms in a loving embrace when you return back home to him.

And now Trevon, like all those before and after him who entered into the waters of baptism, has the infinite blessing of repentance as well.

Families Can Be Together Forever

The Special little man <3

Our Branch family.  These people are fantastic! 

The Happiest Place(s) On Earth!

So for Chinese New Year break, back in February, we went to the two happiest places on earth: Disneyland, and the Temple (LDS [Mormon] Temple that is!).  This has been one of the best vacations ever, although there are quite a few right up there with this... Vacations in general are usually just great!

Disneyland

Of course Disneyland was beyond fantastic!  I think it is worth noting, we went to Disneyland Hong Kong, not California.  I didn't even think about it, because living in China, the Hong Kong one seems like the most logical one to go to, but a few of my Utah friends were upset that we didn't visit them when we went to America.  But of course we didn't go to America.  HK Disney is quite a bit smaller than that of it's Cali counterpart.  It has less attractions, and characters, and even has some different rides (like Grizzly Gulch, and Mystic Manor, which is kind of HK's version of Haunted Mansion).  

I think Tiana and I enjoyed it more than anyone else.  Typically you think of little kids getting all excited about Disney, and though my brothers were extremely excited to go, they just don't know Disney like Tiana and I do.  They haven't seen a lot of the classic Disney movies, so it just wasn't as meaningful to them; However, Disneyland is the embodiment of Tiana's and my childhood.  I think we both about peed our pants we were so excited when we first walked in.  There's just this magic in the air.  I'm most definitely working there when I'm older.   

For us, the characters were of top priority.   We each bought a Disney book, and fountain pen in our lovely Nanjing in which to gather our signatures.  We were a little disappointed because when we looked on the website, there weren't many characters that were supposed to be at HK Disney, but we figured something was better than nothing.  Obviously for Tiana and me, the princesses were our main focus.  On the website, it only had Belle, Cinderella, Aurora, and Snow White listed.  Though we were confounded that HK didn't have Mulan, I was ok with the small assortment of princesses because Belle is my favorite.  Crazy thing is, the only princesses we saw (other than seeing the four previously listed in a parade) were Rapunzel and Aurora!  Though I didn't get to see Belle, I was beyond extatic to see any Princesses, and Rapunzel is Tiana's favorite, and near the top for me; and Aurora is my mom's favorite, so it all worked out well!  

The rides of course were fantastic! The first day as we went through everything, we had a lot of time wasted just standing around planning what to do next, so when we went back for the second day, we had a clear (but flexible) plan outlined with everything we wanted to do!  Trevon and I were ride buddies, and we tried to get a selfie on every ride.  There is never a dull moment with this kid, so I was glad to be his ride buddy.  

Another very important thing, for me at least, are the SHOWS!!   We saw a Lion King Show, Golden Mickeys, and the Philharmickey (or something like that)!  We saw all the shows on the second day, and they probably took up the most amount of time! Not because they were that long, none was over an hour, but because we had to wait for ever in a line! Chinese people are known for queueing... Well in Mainland it's usually more of a clump, but I think in HK they understand the idea of a line a bit better.  In China you see people lining up extremely early for no specific reason (imagine black friday every single day). One of the best examples of this is the train station.  People will be lining up for the train waay before it's time to board, and everyone already has a ticket, so there's no reason to even be lining up!  For all the shows (except Philharmickey because it's not actually live, so it's playing all day) we lined up at least an hour early.  When arriving at the Lion King show about an hour early to assess the situation, the lady told us we only need to line up right now if we wanted a front row seat, but that we could come 15 minutes before it started if we wanted to sit in the back.  There's no way I'm sitting in the back if I've got the option to sit front row to see such amazing talent, so we did what China taught us, and queued.  I think that the waits were definitely worth it!  The performances were fantastic!  If you've seen, or at least seen pictures of the Broadway show of The Lion King, that was kind of how the Disneyland show was. The costumes weren't as intense, and it was a more of a kid version, but I was blown away.  And the Golden Mickeys was an "award show" highlighting some famous songs from different disney movies.  It was so surreal watching all these people I've adored since the age of three performing... even if they aren't real.  And the Philharmickey was a 4-D movie where Donald was supposed to be setting up an orchestra enchanted by the hat from the Sorcerers apprentice bit from Fantasia 20000 for Mickey's performance, and he starts messing around, and travels from musical number to musical number in different Disney movies trying to get the hat back.  We wouldn't have gone if Tiana and Marissa hadn't pushed for it, so I'm very glad that they did!  

I just cannot get over how fantastic it was!!

The Temple

We also spent two days at the other most magical place on the face of the earth, the Temple.  I love going to the temple so much! I forget how uplifting it can be when I only have the opportunity about every 6 months.  It also makes the temple so much more meaningful.  Not going to lie, I, like most Utah Mormons, used to take the temple for granted.  It was just down the street, and we had leaders who would offer to drive us on a regular basis when I was in Beehives and Mia Maids.  When they were doing construction on the road in front of my high school, we'd drive past the temple on our way home from school because it was quicker.  But living in China, and having the temple taken away from me, has shown me how important it is that I go whenever I have the opportunity.  It also made my decision to go to SUU that much sweeter when last general conference [in October, not the one we just had] the Cedar City temple was announced!  The HK temple is a lot smaller than any of the temples I've been to before, which caused the layout for the baptismal font area to be a little different than I'm used to, but I didn't mind it much because I was actually at the temple!  It was neat because there were a lot of Mainland China members there!  While in Mainland China, we aren't allowed to talk to any native Chinese people about the church.  We even have to meet separately from them.  In some cities, like Beijing, they all meet in the same building, just at different times, but here in Nanjing, us foreign members have no idea where our Chinese brothers and sisters meet.  We do know there are members in Nanjing, just not how many.  But being able to see them in the temple melted my heart.  There were some girls from Beijing doing baptisms at the same time as us, I wish we had gotten to talk to them, but they left before we got the opportunity.  My dad was able to confirm and baptize me in chinese which was one of the neatest experiences!  There's just something wonderful about doing the work for chinese people, in china, in chinese :)  And when my mom and dad did their sessions, my dad was able to do that in Chinese too.  I just can't wait to go to the Taiwan temple! I'm sure that will be an even more amazing experience because my dad served his mission in Taiwan.  Also, if everything goes as planned at the moment, when I go the the Taiwan temple, I'll also be going to receive my endowments for my mission!  I'm just so excited for all of this!

Being in the temple, and feeling the spirit of it all, really helped me to know that this is the truth.  Though other churches have bits of the truth, this is the only church that has all the truth.  All because of a 14 year-old boy who had a question, and the desire to know the truth.  It's kind of long, but I feel like Joseph Smith's words accounting his first vision are just so strong, and no matter how many times I've read, or heard this, I feel the spirit so strong.  I am just so thankful to this wonderful man, and all he has done for the world.  I wouldn't have a temple like this to go to if it weren't for him.  I wouldn't even be living in China.  Joseph Smith is a great example because he showed us how to know the truth.  He showed us the best way to find answers.  I've followed after his example of earnest prayer more times than I can count, and even though I've never had God or Christ appear before me, let alone an angel, I've always received an answer.  and I invite you, whether you're Mormon or not, to do the same.  If your heart and mind are in the right place, you might be amazed at the results.   

 10 In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself: What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be^aright, which is it, and how shall I know it?

 11 While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading the ^aEpistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: If any of you lack ^bwisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

 12 Never did any passage of ^ascripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed ^bwisdomfrom God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know; for the teachers of religion of the different sects ^cunderstood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible.

 13 At length I came to the conclusion that I must either remain in ^adarkness and confusion, or else I must do as James directs, that is, ask of God. I at length came to the determination to “ask of God,” concluding that if he gave wisdom to them that lacked wisdom, and would ^bgive liberally, and not upbraid, I might venture.

 14 So, in accordance with this, my determination to ask of God, I retired to the ^awoods to make the attempt. It was on the morning of a ^bbeautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty. It was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never as yet made the attempt to ^cpray ^dvocally.

 15 After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was^aseized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick ^bdarkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction.

 16 But, exerting all my powers to ^acall upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into ^bdespair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of ^clight exactly over my head, above the brightness of the ^dsun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.

 17 It no sooner appeared than I found myself ^adelivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I^bsaw two ^cPersonages, whose brightness and ^dglory defy all description, ^estanding above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My ^fBeloved ^gSon. Hear Him!

 18 My object in going to ^ainquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)—and which I should join.

 19 I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all ^awrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those^bprofessors were all ^ccorrupt; that: “they ^ddraw near to me with their lips, but their ^ehearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the ^fcommandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the ^gpower thereof.”

I wanted to finish the blog post with an excerpt from Elder Holland's talk from the conference we just had.  This quote is about a million times more powerful when he's actually saying the words.  I just loved the power and conviction with which he delivered this.  I was a little surprised, though I shouldn't have been, with how adamant he was.  He's more certain of these things, than he was that he was standing before a conference house full of people... That's the kind of testimony I want to have.  I feel like I've got a fairly strong testimony, though I've had my moments of weakness, but I don't know if I'm to the point were I can say  "I am more certain that those key have been restored and that those ordinances are once again available through The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints than I am certain that I am typing this blog post right now"  One day I want to have that conviction.  I know it won't be easy, but it will be worth it.  And here is me setting my goal to reach that level of faith.  

Friends, especially my young friends, take heart. Pure Christlike love flowing from true righteousness can change the world. I testify that the true and living gospel of Jesus Christ is on the earth and you are members of His true and living Church, trying to share it. I bear witness of that gospel and that Church, with a particular witness of restored priesthood keys which unlock the power and efficacy of saving ordinances. I am more certain that those keys have been restored and that those ordinances are once again available through The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints than I am certain I stand before you at this pulpit and you sit before me in this conference.

If you ever have questions about the church, don't be afraid to ask me, or even better a missionary from our church.  If you want to know more, visit lds.org or mormon.org.  I have found more joy through this church than any other source, and the only reason I share anything about this church is because I want you to feel the same joy.

P.s.  I'll try to update this post with pictures later :)

The Past Year and a Half!

Sorry for the silence I've had for nearly a year and a half!  Well on this blog anyway... To those of you who see me regularly, sorry for the lack of silence.  There has been so many crazy things that have happened this past year, and I hope to be able to highlight some of those really big ones.

Grade 11

Our school (like most international schools in China) has a "Discover China" week where every grade goes on a trip to somewhere in China to, well, "Discover China".  In 11th grade we went to Guizhou, the poorest province in China, and it was one of the most AMAZING experiences of my life.  We spent the majority of the week digging a rice patty.  Literally building it with our own hands and old tools that had to be constantly repaired by some of the village members.  It was hard work, and compared to the grade 12 trip to Hainan (the beach) it may seem like a horrible experience, But it wasn't.  It was one of the best experiences of my life.  The people of the village lived such a simple and meager life. But they were so happy!  Their community leader had even died right before we got there, and the funeral procession was while we were there, but they didn't let that get to them!  They were such a fantastic example that you don't need money to be happy.  Do what you love, and surround you with people you love, and you will live a happy life. And I just loved being out there working.  I'm obviously not a very active person, but I don't mind getting dirty, and I love to feel like I'm helping out.  I like to make people happy, and I felt like this was a good opportunity for that.  What we did during that week would have taken a group a farmers the better part of a month to build.

Theatre:

I ended up with a lead in the school's production of Kiss me Kate!  It was funny because Tiana was Kate, and I was Bianca.  Meaning that she played my older sister.  I realized this was the first ever school musical I've been in.  For a series of reasons (some my fault, while others out of my control) It's just never worked out for me to be in a school musical before! I've been in quite a few musicals at community theatres, but never at school!  So that was a really exciting experience for me!  It was an amazingly fun experience, and I think that I grew a lot. It definitely pushed me, especially vocally!

I participated in ISTA (International School Theatre Association), and also the first international trip for the school! We went to Jeju Island Korea.  It was such a beautiful place, and the perfect setting for the theme, which was "The Tempest" by William Shakespeare.  It was a little crazy because there was even a shipwreck right before we got there, and for those of you who don't know "The Tempest", basically none of it would have happened if it weren't for a shipwreck at the beginning.  We portrayed the major themes of the play through a more interpretive style of theatre.  It was an interesting experience for me because I've never done much like it (like much of the theatre I've done since moving here).  We all had different workshop groups, and learned about different types of theatre.  I can't even remember what mine was, but it was an asian movement kind of workshop.  So basically we portrayed the conflict of the people of the island with those shipwrecked on it through movement, but it wasn't a dance.  It's hard to explain but it was really exciting.

I attended an arts festival, and of course I took all of the drama workshops, and surprisingly enough a dubstep dance workshop because I had a free slot.  I think that aside from Shakespeare festival in Utah, this is the best school trip I've been on for drama.  Even though He'll never read this, I just have to thank the director Mr. Smith for it all!  If I end up directing (which I plan on doing at some point), he is one of the directors I've had which I aspire to be like.  He pushed us, and expected so much out of us.  he had so much energy and passion.  That festival was so inspirational to me, I definitely confirmed that going into theatre is the right thing for me.  We just acted all day for 4 days, and I was so happy.

I competed with the wonderful Erika in the duet acting devision of Speech and Debate.  We had a wonderful experience rehearsing and competing made all the sweeter by winning first place.

I directed my first show, and dang was it a lot of work!  Compared to Lone Peak, the drama department here is severely lacking because the program is a lot newer, the student body is smaller, so it's hard to get people who are interested, and other things like that.  But it has grown a ton just since I've been here!  I wanted to help build it up by directing my own show, but I didn't realize how much work it would be!  I am definitely so glad that I did it though, it made me realize that not only do I want to direct, but I could actually do it.  I think it was a good experience to have before college.  But really I couldn't have done it without my fantastic cast.

Trips:

For Christmas we went back to Utah, which was fantastic!  It was so great to be able to see my beloved state, friends, and family.  I was reminded how much I missed and loved the place.  I think leaving after Christmas break was harder than moving to China in many ways, but easier in ways like I knew people in China, it wasn't a new scary thing like moving there was.

We went to England for Chinese New Years.  I've ALWAYS wanted to go to England so you can guess that I was more than thrilled.  I was on cloud nine the whole week, and I'm going to live there one day.  Not for a long time, but it will happen.  We saw the Globe theatre, Shakespeare's house and grave, Phantom of the Opera, a Police Box (sadly I never ran into the Doctor), and obviously things like buckingham palace, Big Ben, the London Bridge, The London Eye, etc.  We went on both a Harry Potter, and Jack the Ripper tour. Both of which were extremely interesting.  I just love the atmosphere of London.  parts of it feel like you've traveled back in time.  There are sections with new high-tech buildings, but large portions of it is just old buildings.  It's beautiful.

Summer

Well Liam was born right towards the end of the school year!  He's the cutest chub ever!  It was soo weird having a new baby in the family at first, but now I couldn't imagine it any other way.  But the timing of him being born meant that we only got to go to Utah for two weeks because of visa stuff.  

In a way it was good we had to stay in China, even though the summers are unbearably hot and humid (like 100+ practically every day), because we were able to meet the new Mormon family that moved here over the summer.  Yes you read right! A new Mormon family! With kids our age and everything (17 year old boy, 15 year old girl, and 14 year old boy).  We were instant friends and do practically everything together now.

When we did go back to Utah it was fantastic!  I loved being able to see all my friends! Especially Cheyenne who wasn't able to come to Utah over winter break.  I spent the first week going on college trips with Cheyenne, and spending time with friends and family.  The second week I went to girls camp, and I'm so glad I was able to go.  It was both my first and last time being a YCL because of moving to China the summer before.  I think it was easily my favorite girls camp.  It was crazy though, even though Utah is one of my favorite places in the world, I was completely ok going back to China.  None of the overly emotional desire to stay in Utah.  But of course I'm still so happy to go back when I graduate!

Grade 12 (up to now)

Grade 12 has been soo busy!  Unlike in the states where 12th grade is usually the easiest year, here it's the hardest. By far.  But it will be so rewarding when it's all over.

For Discover China week we went to Hainan, and I was able to check surfing and hiking through a rainforest off my bucket list!  It was so nice to be able to just relax and play on the beach, and just have a break from our studies.

I competed in Speech and Debate again this year, but not only in Duet Acting, but also in Debate, and Oral interpretation.  Ben and I competed together with a scene from Richard III in duet acting, and I feel we did fantastic, but sadly we didn't place.  All those who did were from my school though, so that's ok!  Debate we didn't even make it past the first round, but I wasn't expecting much from that.  and Oral interp, I ended the first round in first pace, but ended up getting third overall.  I was happy with my performance in all the categories but I really wish I could have placed better in at least duet acting and oral interp.  I think it was a huge eye opener that I can't get complacent.  I tend to get prideful when I'm doing really good in life (like I was in drama last year), and I think God needs to remind me I'm not all that and a bag of chips sometimes.  This being one of those times.

I was in the School production of "The Willow Pattern" Which is supposed to be a Chinese proverb, but it's written by some British lady.  It's basically like a Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet.  The script wasn't that great, but the makeup costumes, scenery/lighting, and of course the actors made up for it, and I think we had a pretty great play! It was fun to do something different!  

For Christmas break we went to Australia for a week, then spent the other two weeks here in China.  It was really great but really different at the same time!  Before we went to Australia I didn't really have that strong of a desire to go, other than to add a continent to my list, but I after going, I absolutely love it! It was one of the oddest experiences having it be Summer and Christmas at the same time!! I don't think that is something I could ever get used to!  I also turn 18 in Australia!  How many people (aside from Aussies of course) can say they turned 18 in Australia!?  I've now had my birthday on a different continent every year for the past three years.  It was so nice to be able to just lounge on the beach!  We tried our hands at surfing, and even though I didn't do great in Hainan, I did way better there.  But Trevon was pro! He got up practically every time!  Though most of Australia was fantastic, it wasn't all fun and games.  For instance, I got a tick while I was there, and my dad, mom, and I got so dehydrated when we went to the zoo that we threw up... those were both experiences for sure.  I had a major panic attack when I got the tick.  I got it the day after I turned 18, and for those of you who don't know, I have a bit of Peter Pan syndrome.  So I was (and still am) pretty bummed about being 18, and then on top of that I got a tick, which my dad flushed down the toilet.  For those of you who don't know, if you get bit by a tick which has lyme disease, and you keep the tick they can actually treat you, and you don't get lyme disease.  So I basically spent the day wallowing in self pity because I had no idea how I'd survive in the real world... If I didn't die from Lyme disease yet.  But don't worry, it's over a month later, and I'm fit as a fiddle!  I'll spare you most the details about throwing up, but basically we went to the zoo the hottest day we were there, and forgot water, we bought some halfway through the day, but it was already too late. Then on the bus ride home, I threw up... lets just say there was a hole in the bag, and it was NOT pretty!

Actual Christmas and New Years was so much fun, but so different than it usually is! We spent Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Years Eve with the Ferneys, and we definitely made the most of it.  I just love those people soo much, when you get us together, we can make anything fun.   I do miss all of the old traditions, but we were able to carry a lot of those on, or at least variations of them, and we made some new traditions.  It's just crazy how much life can change in one year.  Yes, we were living in China last year, but we went back home for the break, so other than the fact that everyone just wanted to hear about China, and we were obsessing over all the American stuff, it wasn't that different than a normal Christmas.  but this year was really a time for me to just see how much things have changed.  There are some aspects of my life that are completely different than what they were last year, even somethings that meant the world to me, and I never thought they'd change, but they have, and I'm completely ok with that.  I've realized that's what life is.  I think this change is fantastic.  I've changed and grown so much as a person, and I absolutely love it.  I would not change a single experience I've had in my life, both the good and the bad.  Because like it talks about in 2 Nephi chapter 2, you've got to have opposition in everything.  You can't know the good without the bad.  I can honestly say that everything that has happened since I moved to China, has proven that to be true.  That has been one of my favorite chapters of scripture since I moved to China.  It really is just great to read when you are struggling with any sort of challenge :)  

All in all, I've just had an amazing experience! In addition to all of the cool places I've traveled to, I've also gone to see a lot of cool things in china, just around Nanjing, and also other places in China, like when we went to see the terra-cotta warriors!  I just wish I would have blogged more over the past year an a half, not only so you all could know what's going on, but just so I could have a more accurate record of everything that has happened.  I sure hope that I'll blog more, but I'm making no promises!  I hope you have had as good year and a half as I have!