Getting Lazy!

Sorry it took me forever to write another post. I actually didn't exactly get lazy... I did have quite a few assignments to do, so it was fairly valid. I can now post again though!

So I had a SWEET AWESOME get together with people from my mission last Friday evening! It was WAY fun!!! There were a good 15+ people there, and I was so happy to see 6 of the Senior Missionaries!!! (3 couples) I've missed them! Also the normal missionaries. ;) But we particularly love the Senior Couples! It was great, as we were able to catch up with each other on what we're doing, how life has been since the mission, etc. Very fun! I loved it! It was incredible seeing them all again!

*****

Mission Picture and Story of the Day!!! Yay!

Afternoon on the Island!

So this here picture is from around my 18 month mark. We all decided to go to Toronto Island on our Preparation Day! So we got a few members and missionaries together and we went! It was very fun! We took a large Ferry from the Toronto Beach and went across to the Island. (that's the only way to get to the Island) Then after eating (Pizza!) we went exploring! It was sweet, a very beautiful place! We walked around, checked out the attractions, and just had a darn good time!

Bicycle Thing!

This here bad boy is some kind of a bycycle-car. You know how there's the old Mazda Protege, then these days you have the Mazda 6? The Mazda 6 is obviously more modern. The Mazda 6 is to the Mazda Protege as this Bycycle thing is to the car the Flintstones drive. This bad boy has pedels!!! I know... Absolutely groundbreaking amazing! Anyway, we all had fun taking turns riding this thing around. So of course we had to take a picture of all of us on it.

So that was the awesome fun-ness of the day we went to Toronto Island! Very recommended, especially for people who aren't missionaries, because then you can actually do all the attractions, which we couldn't, due to our rules. We could watch them all though! Very fun place!

*****

So I've re-started over Doctor Who, because some of my friends haven't seen it, so of course I have to introduce it to them! It's funny going back to the first season, because the overall quality is nowhere near the quality of Season 2 and onward! However, they are just so classic, the episodes of Season 1! Not to mention Christopher Eccleston is just so awesome! Not nearly as awesome as David Tennant of course, but very good nonetheless!

So we watched the first two episodes of Season 1. Very classic. It just reinforced my idea of how utterly awesome Doctor Who is! :) View in all of its glory!!!

Is it the Weekend Yet?

We're only to Wednesday, and already yesterday I wanted it to be the weekend. Yeah, it's that bad... I'm attempting to finish a ridiculous lab for my Programming Class (so as you can see, rather than do that, I"m writing in my blog! Lovely, eh?) Anyway, I can't finish it till I get some help, and that doesn't come for a bit, so I'll do something productive rather than stare at Facebook until then.

So I've been thinking a lot recently, and I have decided that I love being home! Not to mean that I like being home more than being on my mission, because I've decided they are two different things and I can't compare them! I discovered that there are so many possibilities being at home!!! Like watching AMAZING television shows such as Doctor Who!!! (see clip below...)

Yeah... It's that awesome!!!
I can also do other awesome stuff! Like do homework! (oh boy, I'm shivering with excitement at the thought... NOT) I can hang out with all my amazingly awesome friends!!! And not to mention be in this BEAUTIFUL valley of Utah! I absolutely LOVE having the huge majestic mountains surrounding my home. It's amazing!

So yes. I love being home! It's great! Do I miss my mission? Yes. However, I do have an AMAZING job that gives me many of the joys and experiences from a mission!!! So I've got the best of both worlds!!! Oh yeah!!!

All right, I'm starving so I'm going to go home, eat, then get help on my lab! Tchau!

I'm a Mormon!

Hey everyone! My Mormon.org profile has been posted! If you want to see it, feel free to check it out! You can find it by clicking here.

I encourage everyone who's a member to also make one! It's a great way to share your beliefs with others! Just go to Mormon.org and click "Create a Profile." You'll need an LDS Account to do this, but that's easy to set up if you haven't gotten one yet. Just ask your Bishop for your membership number and you can easily set up an account. So go make one! It's great!

New Blog Content!

Hi everyone! I've added some sweet new content to my blog! I've added a fourth tab to the top of my blog that directs you to a page about my beliefs. It not only has my basic beliefs, but it also has a list of links to posts about different Frequently Asked Questions about Mormons. (that list is rather limited right now, I'm attempting to add content as quickly as I can) These posts will be posted on a separate blog, which you can view here. That blog will be dedicated to my beliefs as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

So remember, it's in the works right now. I'm trying to add stuff as fast as I can, so bear with me for now! Thanks for being awesome, those of you who read my blog!

Typical...

The DAY that I post a post about how there is no snow, it snows... Typical... They've been predicting it and predicting it, and it never happened, then they don't predict it, I write a blog post about how it won't snow, and it snows. It's Mother Nature making fun of me. Again, I say... Typical...

Why couldn't this have happened on Christmas?

100% Chance of a Slight Possibility of Snow

So for the last one to two weeks we've been hearing over and over "Snow tonight, accumulation up to 4 inches" and "Winter Weather Advisory, big snowstorm going to hit, accumulation from 4 to 6 inches" and all manner of stuff, and it was always "This time, it's definitely going to happen!" Well... Let's just say we're still waiting for this extreme winter weather. I think it's rather funny, because so many people on Facebook from this area are saying "This warm weather is the build up to extreme winter weather tonight!!!" ...And it never comes.
So therefore I've decided that the world's climate has changed this year. We have summer on Christmas, and a wintry Fourth of July. The good news is that because of this, we'll be able to do fireworks at our house! The place will be covered in snow, so there is 0% chance of fires! That, of course, is contingent upon whether or not you can get the thing to go off in such a wet environment, but hey! No fires! :)

*****

Time for the mission picture and story of the day!

Our Beloved Home.

This amazing little house was where I lived in one of my favorite areas, Bowmanville Ontario. It's a cute little city (almost could be qualified as a town) located about an hour from Toronto, maybe a little more, depending on traffic. (which is always horrible on the highway known as the 401!) Anyway, my story for today is the time I called 911. :)

The first time I called 911 on my mission was one or two days before the transfer, which I would be training a new missionary. So my companion at the time, the one who was being transferred, pulled up to the house around 9:30 and we were filling out our kilometers for the day, when there was a knock at his window. An old man was standing there, and so we got out to talk to him, and he said "That house is on fire!!!" and pointed to the white-blue house you see to the left. So we looked up, and sure enough, there were flames coming off the top of the roof, and we could see the curtains glowing from the flame inside. Well, my companion ran to get the member who lived above us in the house, and I called 911 immediately. Being a small town, the fire department got there within minutes. During that time we pounded on the person's door to find out if anyone was in there. Because of our pounding and yelling, we managed to wake up the guy inside the house who was slightly drunk and had fallen asleep, and he grabbed his 2 year old son who was in there as well and staggered out. They were both black with the smoke and coughing pretty hard. We brought them away from their house, because the man wanted to try to go back in and put out the fire, but of course he was delirious, so we had to get him and his son away from the house. Three firetrucks pulled up and began hooking up to the fire hydrant. It was actually a little funny, because there were a bunch of people gathered who were watching across the street, and as the fireman hooked his hose up and turned on the fire hydrant to get water going, he accidentally turned on the wrong side and it shot out tons of water, completely soaking everyone who was watching. So that was slightly humorous. :) (you have to think of the positive side of things, right?)

So the fire department finally got their water going, and they entered the house to tackle that fire. (by this time, the flames were quite large above the house) They were able to eliminate the fire, though to do this they had to rip a hole in the roof to get to the fire in the attic and on the roof. They fought that fire bravely, and finally took it down. (I'm sure all the women there were swooning) We were finally able to go into our house though. They had told everyone in the houses next to that one to stay out, in case the embers got blown and caught on those houses. (my companion and I were joking, trying to decide what is of most worth in our apartment that we would get if it caught fire... Of course there was the typical missionary answer of the Area Book... Frankly, I think that was the thing of most worth... missionaries have lots of junk) Anyway, they put it out (they had sent the man and his boy to the hospital long before this) and we went inside and finally went to bed. Needless to say, it was a very exciting thing! It's just great though that we were able to pull up right at the time that we were able to help! Any sooner, and we wouldn't have noticed the flames and would have gone inside. So I'm glad we were able to help.

*****

I will say, I've got some pretty sweet stories. Missions are the ultimate jackpot of sweet awesome stories to tell for the rest of your life! I love it!

I am now going to go gorge myself on lunch. Or I would, if we had anything incredible for lunch. So I'll most likely scrounge up whatever I can find. There will be no gorging involved. Anyway, I accomplished that quite well last night at Brick Oven with three of my best friends! So I've done my gorging for the week. All right! See you all later!

The Post That Yesterday's Should Have Been

Ok, so now I've had a good full 9ish hours of sleep (although I'm not feeling it as much anymore, because I've had three classes and a session of homework) and feel much more bloggie. So here goes.

Today in Math we made boxes out of paper... Yup, just like I did in 2nd grade. We took a piece of paper, cut squares out of the corners, and folded up the sides. What do you think of that? Ok, so there was a little more to it, but for the first 20 minutes I was thinking to myself "Hey, this is cake!" Then we got into other stuff, which was still fairly understandable and easy, but not the delicious cake I thought it was... Anyway, I of course didn't have another one of those awesome smart person moments. Oh well. Maybe another time.

*****

Mission Picture and Story Time!!! Yay!!! I'm hoping you all aren't getting bored of these. If you are, leave a comment or a message telling me and I'll choose something else to do. Anyway, see picture below.

Petey the Pigeon

This monstrously ugly bird is known affectionately as Petey the Pigeon. He was our pet when I was serving with Elders Wray and Workman in the Weston South Area. One day we were studying and we heard this squealing noise on our deck outside, and we looked outside to see a big pigeon attacking this old hideous bird. I yelled "Oh my gosh!!! It's killing it!!!" I didn't know why, but that big bird was murdering that hideous old bird!!! Then suddenly the big one grabbed the little one by the beak and started doin' its thing into his beak, and it dawned on us. It's a baby pigeon and it's being fed! So I was much happier, because I didn't want a dead pigeon on our deck. That's nasty. Well, we found out that this baby had hatched either on our deck or the one next to ours, but either way, it seemed to take a special liking to our deck for some strange reason (probably not because we kept feeding it... nah, definitely not) and made its home there. Well, at first my companions wanted to kick it off. I didn't let them. Sure it was absurdly ugly, but still, it was just a baby and couldn't fly. So we spared its life, and after a little bit we gave it a name. Petey.

After a while we all got kind of attached to the ugly beast. So we fed it, played with it, and eventually he grew old enough to fly, and his parents had left him, so my companion nudged him off the deck to learn to fly. I was impressed, he flew! Not super well, but not bad! He managed to land on the deck below us, and later that night flew back up to ours! So he had finally learned how to fly! After a few days he finally disappeared. I'll admit, even though he was hideous, I was a little sad that he left. But it was time for Petey to move on to bigger things in life. (although frankly, I don't know if he'll be able to find a wife looking like that! Hopefully he gets a little more handsome than he was...) So anyway, that is the story of Petey the Pigeon.

*****

I'm going tonight to a sweet restaurant I haven't been to in years!!! Actually, the last time I went to this place, Brick Oven, was the day that I entered the MTC!!! I remember it veeeery well! It's a delicious place!!! Incredible pizza and pasta!!! I can't even decide yet what I'm going to get... But there will definitely be a frosty mug of root beer involved!!! Yum!!!

*Begin salivating here*

Anyway. Basically I'm dying to go and can't wait! I purposely didn't eat lunch today just so I could enjoy it in all its glory!!! So I'm super excited!!!

Dear Blog,

I am starving.

Love John

Eyes.

Dear Blog Readers. A picture is worth a thousand words.

*Thousand Words Here*

Yes. This is not my eye. My eye looks far worse. This is the worst picture I could find. I tried taking a picture on my phone but I looked hideous.

I was considering writing an actual post like normal. But then I looked in the mirror. So therefore, dear readers, GOOD NIGHT!!!!!!

Free Brains

Today was actually quite good! I went to school early so I could be in an environment where I would actually be able to concentrate on my Math homework. That was actually a really smart idea! A place where I wouldn't be tempted to get on facebook or email or read the latest on Windows 8 or anything of the sort! So it was a good move, and because of it I was able to blow away my homework and I feel extremely good about it too! I'm pretty sure I aced it! Then not only that, but I was able to accomplish something I've always wanted to do my whole life! I was in Math class and right at the very end the teacher asked a huge question, and everyone was trying to answer it but none could answer it correctly, and I knew the answer!!! So I raised my hand and was able to say the answer. The teacher said "Woah! Say that again!!!" so I did, and he said "Class, that is the perfect answer to my question! You will not get a better answer than that! Make sure you remember that answer!!!" I will say it was absolutely amazing. I've always wanted to be one of those really smart people that the teacher asks a difficult question and I give an amazing answer that the teacher is impressed with and points it out to the other students. ;) So I was very happy that I finally got a moment to be smart.

Then I turned in my Programming lab a day early, which is lovely! I got bonus credit. Happy day. Since then I've been doing homework. Lovely. Hence why I'm doing a blog entry. :) Good distraction. All right. Moving on.

*****

Mission Picture and Story of the Day!

Best Poster Ever

On a Preparation Day a few weeks before I came home, my companions and I went to Downtown Toronto so I could buy a few things and take some pictures. One of my favorites from that day is the one shown above. There were new posters on the poles lining the streets of Chinatown advertising free brains! Definitely the best posters I've seen Downtown! I just had to show that one. It's a classic.

*****

Well, I'm going to watch the amazing two part season ending of Doctor Who!!!! So there's no end part here!!! Tchau!!!

Martin Luther King, The Doctor, and 911

I must say it's been lovely a lovely long weekend. I've done exactly what must be done during such a weekend... nothing!

Ok, that's false, I've done a few things. Actually, today I finally went shopping for new clothes! Yay! So I will hopefully no longer look like a hobo in his old mission clothes! :)  Anyway, so it was nice. I got a sweet dress shirt, an awesome hoodie, two excellent collar shirts, and 3 new white shirts. So I'll actually be able to dress well now! (I'm still working on the normal t-shirt business, so bear with me)

So for the highlight of my day (sorry, shopping for clothes just doesn't jump to the top of my list of fun things to do) I watch two most excellent episodes of the coolest TV show in the universe, Doctor Who. Ok, now disclaimer, for those who just clicked on that link to Doctor Who, I understand that to you it most likely looks very strange and incredibly weird. That's what I originally thought when I first heard of it. Well, I've now actually watched it, and I happily count myself among the group of awesome people who are huge fans of this show. (by the way, I don't mean that those who aren't fans aren't awesome) Also, another thing. If you want to become a fan of this show, whatever you do, do not start watching it from where it is now. You will be incredibly confused and most likely will not like it. Definitely start from the beginning!!! If you want to become a fan, get in touch with me and I'll hook you up. But anyway, all that aside, I watched two excellent episodes of Doctor Who! Now (as usual) I'm dying to see what happens next, but I have to have self control to not ruin my studies. :)  So I'll save the next two. (even though it's a two-part season finale!!!! Ah man!!!!!) Ok, moving on!!!

*****

Time for the Mission Picture and Story of the Day!!!

Look at the top number called...

Yes, that does read correctly. The most recently called number was 911. As a matter of fact, this was the third time I got to call 911 in my mission! I'll talk about the first and second times another time, they are both excellent stories! The first and second actually are technically part of the same story. Anyway, I digress...

So on March 5th of 2011 my companions and I were walking out of a less-active member's house, and we had just crossed the street. Well, behind us a lady in an electric wheelchair had also started crossing, and she had the right of way, but some crazy driver sped up and hit into the side of her wheelchair, also hitting her leg, and it made the wheelchair spin around and she was clutching her leg and was just crying very loudly and seemed to be in shock, because she wasn't getting out of the middle of the street. Well, the light was turning green, and while I grabbed the phone and called 911, my companion, Elder Lima, ran out into oncoming traffic to grab her wheelchair and maneuver it to the sidewalk. (in the past when we would tell this story it would be absurdly embellished with all manner of exaggerations... It made it exciting! I'll try to tell the events correctly this time though) So by this time a number of people had gathered, and while I spoke with the emergency people, Elder Lima talked to the woman to calm her, and my other companion, Elder Figueiredo, talked with the other people trying to see if anyone had gotten a license plate number. Well, funny enough, a car pulls up, and the guy inside gives us a paper and says "Here! I got the license plate of that guy!" (because it was a hit and run incident) So that worked out nicely. Well, the police and paramedics show up after a few minutes, and we were able to explain what we saw, give the license plate number, and then since we had done all we could do, we left to get home. (this all happened around 8:40 pm)

So it was an exciting adventure! Thankfully, we were able to see in talking to the police that the lady was not seriously injured, but was still in shock and in pain, and other than that, would be fine. So we were glad we were able to play a part in helping her! Also I hope some people there saw us missionaries doing all that and it touched their hearts, allowing them to be open to hearing the Gospel later. Always be an example and let your light shine!

*****

One of my best friends, Katy, got her mission call on Friday!!! It's so exciting!!! You can read her blog to see where she's going, so it can come from her first! But I'm so excited for her, particularly because I love love love that country and those people!!! And I'll be able to speak Portuguese with her when she comes back! (cause Portuguese is just so dang awesome!!!)  Anyway, that's way exciting!!! Plus, I totally guessed it!!! Although to be honest I didn't think I would be right, I just guessed it for the heck of it. ;) Oh well, I still guessed it!

Also of note, I went to the mission farewell of Ryan Crookston, an awesome friend of mine, as well as the brother of another awesome friend of mine! (so therefore the whole thing was doubly awesome!) He's going to California! He's going to have a great mission!!! (because missions are so cool, and he's just a ridiculously cool guy!)  So yeah, it's soooo exciting that so many of my friends are either on missions or going on missions!!!!! It's sad, because I'm here and done with mine, but soooooo exciting for them! So congratulations to you all!!!!!!

All right, that's just about all I had for today. It's funny, I always think these entries will be so short, because at the beginning I can't think of anything to say, but then things come! So hopefully you enjoy them! All right! Tchau tchau!

CN Tower!

Hello all! So since it's a little late, I'm just going to do the Mission Picture and Story of the Day. So here you go!

CN Tower

Yes indeed!!! This was during the time I worked in the Mission Office with Referrals and Tech Support, and me, my companion Elder Nash (from Ireland... Awesome guy!!!) the three Assistants, Elder Rhodes, Elder Pead and Elder Garcia, and Elder and Sister Carroll, one of the couples who worked in the Office, we all went to the CN Tower! For all of you wondering what the CN Tower is, it is the extremely tall Space Needle you can see in my last post, the really cool sunrise picture. It is off to the right. (obviously... It's the only space needle you can see) ;)  Anyway! Moving on!

So on our Preparation Day (a missionary's "day off" you could say) we all got together to go to the CN Tower. It was incredibly fun! We of course took many pictures. I'll include several of them here. (sometimes it's more fun to look at pictures than read my boring description of events) So of course at the base we had to take pictures. :)

Base of the CN Tower

Elder Rhodes taking pictures of the Carrolls.

 Yeah, that tower is tall! It's the tallest tower in the world. (tower, not building) It's crazy being right at the base of it and looking up at the top. It's so tall! So I of course loved the base, but I had been there several other times. The real excitement was inside!

MOOSE!!!!!!

Ok, so honestly this isn't the exciting part I was talking about... Although it was inside! I just thought it was sweet. Canada... Moose... Yeah... Ok, moving on!

Creepy....

Now this part was creepy!!! I know, you're all thinking what is he being a baby about? Well, the camera doesn't capture very well the experience! I am lying on a glass floor up top in the CN Tower. The first step you take is terrifying. Once you've taken that one step, then you realize just how solid it is (unless you're terrified of heights, in which case you are crazy for going up the CN Tower, and you wouldn't take that first step!) So of course, having taken my first step and being very confident, I had to test the next level... Lying down. Well, you assume it's not that bad... It's bad. There's something about lying down on a floor of glass that's unnerving, and the drop seems to come up much closer to you. It's an eerie experience!

Names (from left to right) Elders Nash, Pead, Woodruff, Garcia, Rhodes

So finally before we left we all had to take one last picture together. (except the Carrols weren't in the picture, I was sad about that...) You can't see it, but we were all standing on the glass floor. But anyway, it was a great Preparation Day!!! I loved it! Afterwards we went to the Korean Grill for lunch (I believe I had a picture of that in an earlier post...) which is all you can eat meat!!! They bring it to you uncooked and seasoned sooo well, and you cook it on a little round stove thing in front of you. It's delicious!!! I love that restaurant so much!!! Anyway, that's basically it. I also made a "Bobblegram" at the top of the CN Tower to send to my family! (I have no idea why they call it that... It's just a video postcard) The link to it is here. I wish I could download it, but I haven't figured that out yet. :)  Anyway, it was super fun!!!

Well, that's the end of that story! Hope you all enjoyed it!

Sleepy. Very Sleepy.

Yes indeed, I am exhausted. Ok, maybe not quite that dramatic. I'm just very very tired. Let me tell you why. Every other day of the week and on weekends, I work from 5:45 in the morning until 9. Yeah, I know there are many people out there, some probably reading this blog, who work way earlier than that. I understand that. But as this is all I've known, it makes me beastly tired. :)

Actually, it's not that bad. It's a tiresome business, especially in school. However, the real issue is that on a Friday and Saturday night, I'm just not willing to go to bed early! The night is young! It's the weekend! I'm in college! Come on! I'll have plenty of chances in my life to work super early, but I've only got this time to be a university student! So therefore, I must take advantage of it, even if it means losing a couple of hours of sleep. Anyway, I can make those up in afternoon naps! ;)

So the point of this portion was to say that... I'm really tired right now. :) MOVING ON!!!

*****

Well, it's kind of sad, there's no more parts to the Broken Ankle Epic, but that means we're back to the MISSION PICTURE AND STORY OF THE DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oooooh yeah!!!

This first one here is just for fun. This was probably the coolest picture I took off of our balcony. Click on the picture to see it in all its glory. As you can see, the CN Tower is towering off to the right, and the dark yellow rays are bursting through the clouds shining down upon Downtown Toronto. Also I love the smoke-ish cloud things that are in front of the buildings. That's just cool. Yeah, this was one of my greatest mission photos of Downtown... Ok, real picture and story.

Christmas Party

This was taken on December 11th, 2010 when I was in the Portuguese Area. The person in the middle is a member named Sidy. She's super awesome! She also helps out the missionaries a TON. She was baptized a few years ago and is a really strong member. The girl to the left is a person who was learning about the church, her name is Deborah. At this time she was being fellowshipped by Sidy. So she came to our Ward Christmas Party! It was a SUPER fun party! Lots of excellent food, a great message, and the "Christie Quartet" did a couple of numbers! The Christie Quartet was a quartet made up of myself, my companion, and my two Zone Leaders. We called it the Christie Quartet, naturally, because we were in the Christie Ward. But we actually sounded really cool together! It was awesome! I love singing, especially in a quartet!

Anyway, it was a GREAT party! Deborah loved it, and it left everyone feeling the Christmas Spirit very strongly! A most excellent day!!!

*****

So tomorrow I'm going to a missionary farewell of a good friend of mine and then to my singles ward. It'll be a busy day, that's for sure! I'm REALLY looking forward to the fact that Monday is a HOLIDAY!!!!! NO SCHOOL!!!! :)  Yeah, there are few things that make me as happy as that.

So now I believe I'm coming down with a case of the munchies. (for those who don't know what that is, that means I'm not exactly hungry, but I want to eat something. Or more like snack. Yeah, I just want to snack. :)  One of my favorite things to do!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!! I know I will! Tchau tchau!

Homework... 'Nuff Said...

In my extreme boredom and unhappiness yesterday, January 11th, I wrote this portion of a blog entry, but never finished it. So here I'm going to finish it.
"So currently I'm blowing my brains out doing homework. Earlier this morning and last night I fried my brain doing Math homework, and even so there were a few problems I just couldn't do! It drove me nuts! So of course, here I am a few hours later after class, and I'm chuggin' away at it again! Attempting to smash my way through all this homework I suddenly have. I'm thankfully almost done with the actual homework to be graded. After that I just have to do my reading. Fun fun. But basically I got so fried here whilst converting decimal to binary and binary to decimal that I just had to finish up my blog post just to get away from 16 bit 1st and 2nd's Complements.

I think I'm getting it, which is really nice. I'm not worried about it. It's just long and taxing work. Very dry stuff, binary numbers, but necessary. :) I actually am having a good time learning it. It's quite fun."

Yeah, it was so bad that towards the end I was actually trying to tell myself that it was "quite fun..." I think someone spiked my water. Also I was really hungry. That makes for a messy situation...

P.S. I was about to get into the car today, and I twisted my bad ankle really badly again!!! Yeah, I have the worst of luck with that ankle. So I limped around for the rest of the night. Fun fun.

P.P.S. I'm thinking this post sounds extremely depressing. I assure you, I'm most certainly not this depressing of a person. I promise my next post will be more normal.

P.P.P.S. I love Caesar Salads. With Creamy Garlic Caesar dressing. Heavenly.

Past and Present Merge

Hello hello blog-readers! Today I'm going to talk about the craziness of time. Ok, not really. It just has to do with time. Basically, I was at work yesterday, and I finally got my nametags. (I work at the MTC) Well, I put it on, and I felt myself whoosh back in time to when I was on my mission and would wear my nametags. It just felt right, putting back on a nametag! :)  Weirdness. Also at the same time, I was realizing that I'm no longer a missionary (I know, brilliant observation John!) as my nametag is now white instead of black! So I was like woaah, this is weird, I'm now a teacher at the MTC! That was a very definite realization that my mission is over. Crazy weirdness!

So then on top of that, today I was busy doing my Math homework. Horrible stuff. Well anyway, I was going as fast as I could to finish and still get to school on time. So I finished, but then there was no car at home to take me! So, I was left at the mercy of my own two feet, with 15 minutes till class started. Naturally, since there was a quiz and we had to turn in our homework right at the beginning of class, I booked it down to the school. Each step I took was a more and more painful experience, and vaguely, running through my head, was the thought "Something's telling me I shouldn't be running..." Well, being the stupid-head I am, I kept going for it. So now, thanks to my brisk morning run I should not have had (Doctor's orders,) my ankle has been paining me all day and I've been walking with a limp. That's why it brought back the past. I remember now vividly what it was like back when I would walk around with a limp in my mission several weeks after having broken my ankle. Luckily it doesn't feel nearly as bad as then. But it did bring back memories! And funny how this happened right as I'm telling my story of my broken ankle! I sure don't learn, do I? Go figure...

*****

Speaking of which!!! IT'S TIME FOR PART IV OF THE SAGA OF THE BROKEN ANKLE!!!!!!! (I'm realizing this is a lamo name... that's ok, it's too late to change it!)

It's back!!!

Ok, I'll explain this in a second. So in a nutshell, after Pickering I was transferred to a city called Brampton to work in the Mission Office as an Office Missionary. That actually turned out to be quite a blessing for my ankle! From about 9 am until about 5 or 6 pm (depending on how much there was to do) I would sit in the office and work on a computer doing all kinds of stuff, and it would rest my ankle! So that was actually a great blessing, because it helped it to heal MUCH faster than it was when I was in the field. Plus it allowed me to be working really hard without physically walking around, so I didn't feel useless! Yeah, it was sweet! Plus I loved working in the office!!! It was such a great experience!!!

Anyway, so after several weeks in the office, and doing Physical Therapy, the Doctor told me I could switch to a cane, and after two weeks go without it! So I went back with my cane I used to use. (hence the photo... me and my cane... which I kept by the way if anyone wants to see an artifact!) ;)  I know, really stupid to keep a cane. Hey! It's got sentimental value, all right? :)

So then the REALLY happy day!!! I went to Physical Therapy and the Doctor said "All right, you can stop using the cane now, and try walking around without it, see what it's like!" Well, it had been months since I had walked without either a walking cast or cane or crutches, so this was a big deal!!! Well, after that I began walking all by myself!!! Coolest day ever! ;)

I can walk!!! Or stand!!! Without a cane!!!



So there you are! That, amazingly, is the end of the SAGA OF THE BROKEN ANKLE!!!!!!!

*****

Really I didn't even scratch the surface of what went on with this whole ankle business, but I managed to cover the main portions. I portrayed it in a rather humorous unfortunate situation, when really that doesn't exactly describe it. Sure, afterwards it is humorous to remember some portions, but I honestly wouldn't trade this experience for anything! It was an excellent learning and growing opportunity for me, and I had special experiences that strengthened my testimony a lot as a result of this whole ankle issue. I honestly believe that it helped me come much closer to my Heavenly Father through many different ways.

It's funny how even seemingly ridiculous situations such as breaking your ankle can be a learning experience for you, if you treat it as such. Believe me, there were times when I was crazily frustrated!!! Being on a mission and not being able to work as hard as you normally would like, that's rough!!! Thanks, however, to an amazing Mission President and Mission Mother, and some awesome companions, I was able to turn it in to an incredible experience I wouldn't trade for anything! Just goes to show you, Heavenly Father always has in mind what's best for us!!! We just need to see life through that lense!

The Dreaded Part Three

That's right folks, you heard it here! This post is the Dreaded Part III in the epic of the Broken Ankle!!! However!!! This is not the section which deals with that! So you'll just have to wait! (or like most of you will probably do, you can skip down to the correct part) ;)

Anyway, so I went to work this morning (beastly early in the morning) and had a great time! I did some calls today, along with my regular chats. I got incoming calls from people calling for either a free DVD, or a request to be visited by missionaries. It was great fun, I loved it! Although there was this one drunk guy who called me five times in a row. The first time I talked to him and found out he was visiting with missionaries and wanted to get baptized, but he couldn't yet because he liked to drink. (as I could easily tell talking to him) So he just talked to me about all sorts of crazy things, as he was totally smashed, and finally I found out that the missionaries were going there that day, so I told him that the missionaries were very willing to help him out. So I thanked him for calling and hung up. Well, he called back 4 more times, each time saying "John, thanks so much for talking to me. I want to be baptized. I'll leave you to your work. Bye." (with varying levels of clearness and understandability) Thankfully he stopped calling, and I could continue with my work. He was a very nice man... Just a tad intoxicated.

*****

This is it ladies and gents!!! PART III OF THE SAGA OF THE BROKEN ANKLE!!! See picture below...

The Dreaded Boot...

So, as left off yesterday, I had just been transferred to Pickering. Well, to my incredible luck, one of the members there happened to be a doctor! So I asked him about my ankle and told him how it had been eight weeks and it was still hurting quite a bit. Yeah, I know, stupid me for waiting for eight weeks before I ask anyone about it. ;)  Anyway, the doctor knew immediately it definitely wasn't a simple sprain. So he got me an order for a bone scan at the hospital (a different one this time) which I went to do. Well, they first injected me with a radioactive isotope to get flooded through my body. (that was a comforting thought...) Then they told me to come back a few hours later. So of course, in the interim, I just HAD to see if my pee would glow in the dark... It didn't... I was disappointed.

Ok, moving on! So I went back, and after a half-hour scan, they looked at the results and said "Yeah. I don't know who read your X-Rays, but your ankle is broken, and you've made it more stressed by walking on it. It should have been in a cast." So I though oh... thanks x-ray guy! Well, anyway, they put me in the AirCast shown above in the photo. However, that one turned out to be really lame and did nothing, so they switched me to another AirCast that goes up to my knee. So I had this massive ugly boot thing on my foot. (not matching at ALL with ANY of my clothes, especially missionary ones!) Let's put it this way. In a Zone Conference the following week, my mission president asked me during it to write something up on the board during the meeting. I walked up to the board, and as I passed him he looked at it and basically yelled "WOAH!!!! That thing's BIONIC or something!!!!" Naturally everyone laughed. It was pretty funny. Anyway, so for a Transfer and a half in Pickering I wore around that absurd boot. Lovely.

That is the end of PART III of the SAGA OF THE BROKEN ANKLE!!! Although it doesn't end there! TUNE IN FOR PART IV NEXT TIME!!!

*****

Well, I'll be honest, I don't have much for you in this last portion. Except that I got a cell phone number finally! Oh wait... Maybe I mentioned that last time... I don't know, I can't remember! :) But I'm about to go out to eat at a fabulous burger joint known as BURGER SUPREME!!! Honestly, it's not nearly on par with Hires Big H, but I would definitely say it's number two! So it's going to be deliciously fun!!! And I'm starving my brains out right now, so I'll stop thinking about it!

All right, that's all from here! Tchauzinho!

I GOT A JOB!!!

Yes sir indeed ladies and gentlemen (assuming more people than myself read my blog) I have FINALLY gotten a job!!! It's SO GREAT to finally not be a hobo anymore and actually be able to work and make a little bit of a living!

So my job is at the Referral Center in the MTC. (Missionary Training Center) Basically what I do is I'm one of the people who does online chats with the people who visit Mormon.org. That's the main part of the job. On top of that, I also read through the Mormon.org profiles that are submitted for approval, and we approve them and pass them through. (unless they don't meet criteria, at which point we give feedback, they fix it and resubmit it, and we approve it) It's SO much fun!!! I LOVE reading other people's testimonies from around the world, from all different backgrounds, walks of life, it's SO GREAT!!!! Basically the best job ever!

*****

All right!!! It's the part you've all been waiting for!!! It's time for PART II of the SAGA OF THE BROKEN ANKLE!!! Here's the picture!

Look at that beauty!!!

Wooh! Would you check that out! That, ladies and gentlemen, was about two weeks after my broken ankle. So I'll fill you in up until that point. Well, the next day after that wonderful accident in the volleyball court, a senior couple by the names of Elder and Sister Lindsey (two of the greatest people in the world by the way!!!) took me to the hospital to get my ankle x-rayed, to see if it was broken. Well, after waiting for hours on end we finally got it x-rayed and the doctor who did it glanced at the x-rays and said "Nope! Not broken! It's just a sprain. Use crutches for 5-7 days, and it'll be fine after that." Well, I went away quite happy it wasn't broken! (little did I know) So I did what he said, and after that time went back to walking, but couldn't do it, because it still hurt too much. Well, I'm not the smartest, so I just assumed that sprains usually hurt for quite a while, and it was fine. So, I switched to walking on a cane for support. See below picture.

Cane! Click on photo for full-size to see easier.

Well, my ankle was still nice and swollen, and it had developed that lovely looking bruise. It continued like this for several weeks. (me, not being very smart, still didn't think much of it!) So, finally I was transferred out of the area to a car area where it would be easier on my ankle. That's not the end, however! Check back here next time for PART III of the BROKEN ANKLE SAGA!!!!!

*****

Anyway, so now school has started, and let me say, it's going to be a tough semester. I know, everyone who is further along in school than I am is going to laugh, but I'm taking Biology and Math 110 this semester, both of which are turning out to be beastly (although I have an AWESOME teacher for Biology!) even though it's only been 3 days. Yeah. I'm in trouble.  But, it'll still be a fun good semester! I'm excited for it! I'm really happy to have things to do! So that's great!

All right, that's about it from me! Tchau tchau!