April 30, 2020

    Hi! It’s been awhile since I’ve updated this. I haven’t been on wattpad in general for a while. With everything going on, I figured I could pick back up on some of my books. 

    A lot has happened in the TWO YEARS (shame on me) since I’ve updated this. I don’t know where to start...hmm…

    Well, one of my followers asked if I could talk about how taking the sacrament at home has impacted me, so I guess I’ll start with that. The absence of church meetings has definitely taken some getting used to. On one hand, I can’t wear all of the spring and summer dresses that I have, but on the other, I don’t have to shave my legs for church XD. 

    My family’s Sunday church meetings have been pretty laid back. My dad wears a white shirt and tie to bless and administer the sacrament, but my mom and I are just in regular clothes. I’ve found the Sunday meetings to actually be pretty awkward because I don’t have any siblings living at home, so it’s just my parents and me. :\  My dad usually reads a conference talk and then we do Come, Follow Me for the week. 

    With everything that’s going on, I’m definitely grateful that my dad is a priesthood holder and is able to bless the sacrament because other people may not have that privilege. We live 30 minutes away from church in the middle of the country, so it would be difficult for ward members to deliver the sacrament to us weekly. My sister, for example, lives out in Utah, but she’s single and lives with some roommates in an apartment. I think some elders or the bishop of her ward brings her sacrament every week, though. 

    With all of the free time on my hands, I’ve definitely been able to study the Book of Mormon more in-depth, which I’m really grateful for. I’m currently on Alma 29. I just finished the series of chapters about the Sons of Mosiah and the Anti-Nephi-Lehies. 

    I’ve been out to Utah twice to visit my sister since I last wrote in this. I’ve been to the Salt Lake Temple, the Provo temple (when it was being renovated), the Provo City Center temple, and we stopped at one when we were road tripping down to Mount Zion National Park and got a selfie and then it started pouring down rain right when we got the picture XD

    My state also got a temple announced during the October 2019 General Conference! We’re really excited about it, because our closest one is 2 ½ hours away. Although from where my family lives, the new temple will be like 3 hours lol. 

    My stake is having trek this year (hopefully)! I’m really excited for it! I’ve always been an outdoorsy type of person who likes camping and hiking, so I’m really excited. Have any of you been on trek? 

    Something that they asked us to do was research a pioneer to walk in honor of. I found an ancestor on my mom’s side(one of my great-grandmothers) who came over from Denmark and walked. I also found another woman, one of my fourth great aunts (I think), whose group left two days after the Martin Handcart Company! Someone uploaded a memory on FamilySearch that said to keep her kids from starving, she cut a cloth sugar sack into strips and made them suck on it, hoping that enough sugar got caught in the threads to give her children energy. Some rescue wagons came with food soon after. 

    I also watched 17 Miracles on Tuesday for the first time in 6 years, and I cried so much. The Lord really blessed the pioneers in their trials, even though there was still a lot of suffering. It’s free on YouTube movies with ads, although when I was watching it, I didn’t get any at all. 

    I also learned how to index this past monday! Our stake hosted a challenge to index 5,000 names in one month, and I’m really glad I can contribute! 

    Oh, there’s a really awesome lds YouTuber called SundayJess, and she uploads really cool advice about everything from serving a mission to modest fashion. She’s really cool, and I think her channel is worth checking out. 

    General Conference was awesome! I got to watch every session, which I haven’t been able to do before due to limited internet access and whatnot. I got answers to some questions I’ve been having and felt really enlightened. I think it’s so cool that they had youth speakers this year! Do you know how scary that would be to do that!? They did so well!

    So...this past year has been eventful in the relationship aspect, I guess? This guy and I had been crushing on each other for probably over a year, but it took one of my friends to make us tell each other. That was March of last year. So we both liked each other and got to know each other, but the problem was I wasn’t 16 yet. I finally turned 16 in November, though, so we started going on some dates. Then right before Thanksgiving...he got his mission call :’( He was called to serve the California, Arcadia Mission, English-speaking, and was to report to the MTC on January 2nd. This was really hard on me because that meant we only had a month left together. We did our best to make the most of it, despite living an hour-and-a-half away from each other. 

    We’re both doing really good now! He will be out 4 months as of May 2nd! We both still like each other a lot, and I do my best to be encouraging and supportive, especially right now. California is under partial quarantine, where you can only leave your house for groceries and exercise. So he basically stays in his apartment all day with 3 other guys (they share with a set of Spanish elders). They get to teach lessons over zoom to other members, and he now gets to contact his family via text, email, or videochat twice a week now. I, however, am not family so I’m confined to email unless I was with his family when he called them. We haven’t been able to go to their house because of quarantine and stuff, so I haven’t had that opportunity :’(

    So yeah, I guess I’m kinda the stereotypical “missionary girlfriend”. I promised him that I’d date other guys that way he wouldn’t be holding me back for 2 years, but due to the given circumstances, that won’t be happening anytime soon. Plus I don’t think anyone in a 50-mile radius wants to date me anyways lol. 

    So yeah, that’s how my life has been going. I’ll try to upload some scriptural insight stuff. I hope everyone is staying safe from the virus and that your family isn’t driving you crazy! Lol. Until next chapter! 

--Rey