It's Snowing

So it's really cold here. I don't really like it very much. That's about all I have to say about that.

I looked for my Civil War book today for a long time, and then my mom told me that she had it in her room. So I went and got it, but didn't have much time to read in it. I read probably three sections. They were pretty cool. I hadn't read for more than a week, so I kind of had to backtrack to make sure I knew where I was. Me and that book go way back. Good times.

I've been drinking a lot of water today. I just finished my third glass. It's actually my third plastic, but no one would understand if I said it that way. I drank three though. I had three "glasses" of milk for dinner too, but that's not really a surprise, now is it? It's about as dry here as it is cold. My lips are both cracked, and my hands feel like beef jerky. I'm doing my best to act like mildew by staying both warm and wet. But they say that storing things in cool, dry places usually helps them to last longer, so maybe Idaho isn't so bad for me after all.

I really miss Julie. I just needed to get that out.

Today I went shopping, and drove past the temple on the way there and back. I realized last night that I've seen all four of the temples in Idaho since I got back from North Carolina. That's pretty cool. It's pretty different being home, during my mission I never saw a single temple, and now I drive past the Boise temple all the time. Tomorrow I will have been home two weeks. I guess that went by faster than I expected it to. I kind of miss being in North Carolina. I think about it a lot. I think about Hickory a lot too, and I wonder what everyone's up to. A lot of great things happened to me in Hickory and I met tons of great people. I sure miss them. I wish it was easier to keep in touch with all the people I met, but it's just not possible.

I really miss speaking Spanish too. There just aren't as many Hispanic people in Boise, and I have hardly had any opportunities to practice my Spanish. I love Spanish. I think I'll type something in Spanish, for the benefit of anyone who can read it. If you want to you can ask me to translate it for you. He estado pensando ultimamente en lo que es mi vida. Creo que mi mision me ha ayudado mas que cualquier otra cosa hasta ahora para encontrar el proposito de la vida. Entiendo mejor ahora que la vida no es un juego, no es accidente. Es una prueba. Y es una experiencia muy positiva si vivimos correctamente. He podido conocer a mucha gente nueva durante toda mi vida, y sigo conociendo a otras personas cada dia. Algunas de aquellas personas llegan a ser muy buenos amigos. Pienso mucho de mi familia y de mis amigos, y pienso mucho en el evangelio y la iglesia. Son todo para mi. No hay ninguna cosa en el mundo que vale mas que mi testimonio de la verdad. Yo haria cualquier cosa para asegurar que mi familia este conmigo para las eternidades, y ahora estoy comprometido a hacer mi parte para empezar una familia nueva y asegurar que mis hijos y mi esposa esten conmigo tambien. Hare lo que sea para que sean felices. Amo a mi familia y a mi futura esposa. Espero que lo sepan.

Well, that was fun. I really should stop writing now though. It's getting late, and I'm getting tired. That's all for Thursday night.

My Old Stomping Grounds

This is a semi-obscured view of Charlotte, NC.
I used to live about ten minutes from
downtown. There was a pizza place in there
that we used to go to every Monday to break
up our weekly planning session.


Charlotte from the highway. Oh yeah, baby.
You just have to love the big city. I wouldn't
want to live there though, it's not very
family friendly. Or anyone friendly, for that
matter. I'll stick with Boise, even if it IS cold. 

Let it run wild

Today I woke up at 8:00 as usual. It's amazing how I always woke up at 6:30 every day for two years, and when I came home I kept waking up at 4:30 no matter how dark outside it was. And then all it took was one trip to Eastern Idaho for me to reset my clock and now all of a sudden I wake up at 8:00 every single morning. I wonder what will happen to me when I'm not living at home anymore. I'll probably find a new magical time.

Reality hit me pretty hard today too. Finances will never cease to frighten me. I tried to think out just how much money I will need for college next semester, and how much I plan on earning. If I get a good job, and work 20 hours a week, and eat nothing but the cheapest of generic brand ramen noodles, I will end up exactly even, to the dollar. Take out 10% of all future earnings for tithing, then add a wedding on top of that, several other small or large unexpected expenses, and getting my own insurance policy and not claiming dependency on my parents anymore, and we will have created what is commonly known as "debt", or in words that I understand a little better, "a headache for a soon-to-be married young poor college student with limited income". So, my plan is to first cry, and then work really, really hard all the time, and get good grades so that I can apply for and get a scholarship so that I don't have to drop out of school and sell newspapers on the curbside for a living. Real life is so different from getting free money put into my account on a regular basis and always having someone else take care of housing arrangements and gas money. Oh well. I'm only doing this because I chose to. Eventually this will work out for me much better than sitting at home all day every day and never working a day of my life, and playing video games and living in my parents' basement until I'm 30 and realizing that I'm still single. Life is going to be an exciting adventure. It's going to be good.

Well, I have to jet. I'm going to the gym with my dad again. We haven't gone yet today, so we're due. I think he wants to do some weight training and things. Which is good, I'm pretty worn out from yesterday's racquetball fiasco. I did so terribly yesterday. I think my beginner's luck is all but gone, I struggled to get the ball where I wanted it to be. I tried signing up for a racquetball course this afternoon, but of course they are all full still. Maybe someone will drop out by the time the semester starts. But I'm off to go let loose some built up adrenaline. Out, out vile adrenaline.

Long entry

This morning I made a long journal entry. But not on my blog. I spent almost an hour writing. That really got me ready for the day. I went and got my tuberculosis test done, but I have to go back on Friday or else they'll make me do the whole thing over again. The nurse who gave me the shot asked me if I would have a problem watching the needle go in. I said no. Then I watched the whole thing. It looked so cool, it was like watching a balloon slowly filling up with water. The bump is gone now though, but it was pretty big before. I wonder how far skin can stretch without bursting. I don't want to experiment though.

I practiced some Spanish today too. I decided to try reading aloud to not lose my skills. I can't believe it has been over a week since I have spoken Spanish to a native Spanish speaker. I have talked to several white guys in Spanish. I definitely don't want to lose practice, especially before my test for college credit. I found my big yellow Spanish book yesterday when I unpacked some things. I used to go through the assignments in there all the time, but I guess I haven't for a couple of weeks now. That is going to have to be one of my new goals, to study Spanish every day. There really aren't many Hispanic people in my part of town to talk to, so I'll have to talk to myself until I can get back to school. And then I will have a Hispanic professor, and two Spanish classes, and hopefully lots of Hispanic friends.

I got my tooth fixed today. It's another temporary composite, but it should last me until April when I will finally be insured and in a position to be able to come home during the week to have the crowns put on. But I have a full smile today for the first time since Thanksgiving. I wish it was Thanksgiving again. I think I'll take a picture of my new tooth. You can't even tell it's fake. Here's the photo. My little brother is in the background playing The Incredibles computer game. I finally saw that movie this week for the first time. I had started it about 4 other times, but now I can finally join the rest of mankind.



I hope everyone has a good day today. Talk to you later.

The longest Monday

So tonight it dawned on me how slowly today and yesterday have gone by. I thought it must have been Tuesday by now. But it's not. It's going to be a long week I think. Definitely different from last week. But I almost got my room cleaned, that's the good news. I got all my luggage emptied and out of my room, but I still have lots of small things with no homes on the floor. But I can see the carpet again. It looks a ton better. I shouldn't have let it go this long. I need to take some lessons from the Brawny Man on housekeeping. :) I'm making good progress I think. I only have two more boxes to unload. I need some hangers before I can make any more difference.

I played racquetball with my dad this afternoon. He's much better than I am, but I'm getting better. It's been so long since I've played racquetball. I need to make sure I can play when I get down to BYU, I have to challenge Andy to a racquetball duel. I haven't been practicing much in the last couple of years, so he'll probably beat me. But I really do like to play.

I listened to some of my old music today, and I realized that I don't even care about some of the bands I used to listen to a lot. But some are still so sweetly familiar. It's like talking to someone in person and then being separated. For a couple of days you still have a pretty clear memory of what their voice sounds like, but when you actually hear their voice it surprises you how much more real it is than just a memory. Even though you know what they sound like, hearing them is so much richer. Talking to some people is like listening to music.

I've been posting

So, I kind of started posting pictures mainly, but I haven't had a chance to write anything about what's been going on lately with me. So for right now, I'm not even going to touch the picture thing. I will just write.

This week started a little crazy. I got back from North Carolina on Friday and I still haven't unpacked my luggage. I have been so busy, and honestly the only reason I have a room that looks like tornado damage is because I have found a few other things to do that are far more interesting than cleaning up and putting away all my things. And on Thanksgiving break, you have to spend time with your visiting family members and visiting future family members.

I started reading my first book (not the first ever, just the first in the recent past) last Sunday night too. It's called Civil War Chronicle. I read until maybe Tuesday and haven't found time to read it since, but I really enjoyed the parts I read. I will have to continue.

I miss speaking Spanish to people. I have been able to talk to Nic in Spanish quite a bit, I'm just glad that he's living in Boise for now, or I would be pretty lonely. I tried to speak Spanish to a family in Costco about a week ago, but we didn't have much time to converse. I found out that they are members of the Church, and attend the Cassia branch. So that was fun. I miss North Carolina, and I miss all the Mexicans and Peruvians and Ticos and Salvadorenos, and Chilenos, and Catrachos, and mostly all the people from La Ciudad de Mexico and Guerrero.

It snowed this morning. It's so incredibly cold here in Boise. I'm glad it didn't snow until last night though, because I know a lot of people that were driving long distances yesterday in areas colder than here. They all got there all right, so that's good. And today I have big plans. I'm going to start by eating a good breakfast and cleaning my room and unpacking my stuff. Then I might give blood, and after that I might read a little, or find a job. I could really use the money, because I have some big expensive plans coming up next semester. It will all be worth it, but I need to match to worth with work, which I will gladly do to ensure that I can do everything that I need to. Work, work, work.

All I want for Chrifmaf...

Thanksgiving Day, 2006. Yep, I broke my
tooth off again. So now I can whistle again.

Some folks from Hickory

This is us with Angel, Carmen, and Laura.
They are amazing people, I love them to death.


This is a very dark picture of the Quino family
in Hudson, NC. They are from Peru, and they
had just moved in from Rhode Island. They
were the first family I met in Hickory. 

Some folks from Hickory

This is us with Edmundo. We were teaching
him English and he liked to eat with us every
Sunday evening. The stuffed animals aren't his.


Us with Mario Vasquez, a Costa Rican. He fed
us every other Monday, always Japanese food.


Hermana Flores with her pass-along card. She
moved into the branch from Charlotte about
half a week before I finished my mission. We
went to visit her in Mills River, NC.

This is the Aranda family, one of our all time
favorite families in the area. Top: Raquel,
Jareth, Alfredo, me, Elder Livingston.
Bottom: Raquel, Hiram. 

Some folks from Hickory

Us with Samuel Patoni. His floor is
only messy because we were helping
him assemble a huge entertainment
center. He's the guy who sang at the
talent show in Charlotte.


Familia Vasquez. Top: us. Middle: Daniel,
Hno. Brenes, Hna. y Hno. Vasquez.
Bottom: Mosiah, Axel.

Some of the coolest kids ever. They are with
the Chavez family.


The Chavez family, minus Hno. Chavez. 

One of the hot ones

These pictures come from Statesville, NC



We almost got some really good pictures, but
the sun went down before we could get our
cameras ready. Trust me, it was good. 

Late night fashion show

Elder Livingston, building mind and body.


Happy birthday to you.

Elder Livingston making tortillas, with style. 

It took us an hour

When you bike all the way to a city
you may as well take a picture. 

Raquel and Hiram's birthday party

Elder Livingston the turtle

Elder Harris the squirrel 

Newton Conover High

"You play football like a gurl!" 

Hickory Spanish

This is the lampshade where everyone who
comes to the area writes their name and
years of service in the North Carolina Charlotte
Mission. One of my trainers is at the very
top, and I am at the very bottom. My other
trainer is on here twice, and my second
companion was also here. 

Regional Spanish Conference

This is a picture of almost all the Spanish
speaking missionaries as of September '06.
Back: Elders LeSeuer, Harris, Livingston,
Osuna, Olson, Burgoyne, Kellogg, Larsen.
Middle: Elders Caicedo, Garcia, Salguero.
Front: Elders Rohrer, Garza, Killian, Mitchell,
Whitmore. Far Right: Cesar Marin, one of my
favorite people from Winston-Salem


Samuel Patoni, singing at the talent show.


Elder Harris, Cesar Marin, Elder Osuna 

Brother Beasley

Elder Ball, Elder Harris, Ben Beasley.
He helped us a lot with the Spanish program
in the Asheville stake. We would go to him for
ideas and he would help us to not lose hope in
our tiny group. He's the smartest man I've
been priveleged to work closely with. 

Sunset in Arden, NC

This was taken at the apartment I lived in.
It was like this basically every night, so it was
pretty cool. I never saw cooler sunsets.
 

The view from Halcyon Hill

These pictures were taken from my friend
Myron's back porch. He has a nice view, and
a nice rope swing down below that could very
easily kill the unexperienced.

 

The Baptism

Elder Harris, Martin Gonzalez Crisanto,
Elder Ball. July 15, 2006