His Timing

One of the biggest lessons that I've learned so far, is that I'm on Gods, timeline not mine.

I like to feel that I'm in control of my life. When I had finally decided that I was going on a mission I had it all planned out that I was going to finish and submit my papers with in two weeks and then I would receive my call two weeks after that with the hopes that I would leave in early September.

Obviously that didn't happen.

From the time that I had decided to go on a mission to the moment I submitted my papers, a little over two months had past.

I've been waiting to leave for Brazil for almost three months and I still have two more months to go.

Waiting is hard.

This past few weeks have been rough.
I don't have a job, I don't have friends, I basically sit around and do nothing. Satan has done an excellent job at making me feel worthless.

I have always had a pretty good self esteem. I've always felt important. I have NEVER struggled with any of that. But lately I've just felt useless, and insignificant.

But as my Primary kids often remind me, I am not that at all. Because I am a Child of God 

I'm not worthless. And obviously as seen from the picture above I'm cute and adorable. But more importantly I have a Purpose.

And so I've tried to keep my self busy, I've been working on craft projects, trying to learn Portuguese, running errands with my mom, preparing for the mission ect.

I don't know why it took me so long to do my papers when others finished theirs in 10 days. I don't know why I'm leaving in November when many others who got their call after me have already left.

But I do know that God has a plan for me. And I feel like I am constantly reminded that His plan for me is so much better than my own. I know that there is a reason why I'm not leaving till November, I'm not sure what it is but I have faith that God knows exactly what he is doing.

I have faith in Him, and Faith in Him, also includes Faith in His timing.

- Mallory ♥

"A Song of the Righteous is a Prayer Unto Me"

I'm not going to pretend that I'm a huge music fanatic because I'm not. I don't like sitting there and analyzing every pitch and tempo to every beat I hear. But I do appreciate music. And the past couple of days I've been making a playlist for the mission. 

The guidelines in my Call Packet is this:

"Appropriate music can be a powerful source of inspiration. Missionaries should select music that is consistent with the sacred spirit of their calling. Music should be used to invite the Spirit, provide spiritual motivation, help focus on the work, and direct thoughts and feelings to the Savior. Missionaries should not listen to music that distracts, that merely entertains, that has romantic lyrics or overtones, or that dulls spiritual sensitivity by its temp, beat loudness, lyrics or intensity."

I've done dome real digging and I think I've finally have come up with a (tentative) playlist that I wanna bring. So for those of you that are either curious/interested or are struggling to find "mission appropriate" music this is what I've come up with.

The Lower Lights
I love them! This group may possibly be my favorite. Their hymn arrangements are so unique I feel like they have kinda an indie vibe to them. They're great.
        


Page CXVI
This group also has a very unique approach to the hymns but I love them, they're a little bit more upbeat. They only have a few hymns but they're great.



Vocal Point
This BYU A Capella group just released a CD "Lead Me Thou On" that is filled with hymns. Plus its a bunch of attractive spiritual guys singing haha I don't think it can get much better than that!



RM Sound Track
I don't know if this music is too "up beat" or whatever for the mission but if its allowed I have already decided that this is the music I will be listening to while I'm doing my pinterest workouts every morning!



Rebecca Mohler
She is also a sister missionary serving in Cleveland Ohio and her Music is beautiful. I love her voice because its a little bit softer and its not so "in your face". It makes her really unique.



BYU Mens Chorus
Like I said, it doesn't get much better than listening to Men's voices. But you can download their entire "Set Apart" album for free here.

Errand of Angles Soundtrack
Honestly I think any soundtrack of any of those movies (you know Singles Ward, Mormons and Mobsters ect.) are just fabulous. Some of them have really great hymn arrangements. This song in particular is one of my favorite.



Pleasant Pictures
Their album "Music for My King" Has a ton of revised hymns. When I listen to their music the first word that pops into my head is enchanted. Its got kinda a "mystical" vibe, but I think their music is great.



Youth Music
On the LDS website (lds.org) they have a whole page dedicate to spiritual uplifting youth music. It has a mix of a variety of artist (Hilary Weeks, Jenny Phillips ect.) and the best part, You can download all of the music for FREE. Here is the link

Okay so here's the truth I have no idea what the specific rules are in my mission. Some of my friends are allowed to listen to anything spiritual and Disney Music. On the other hand I have friends that are only allowed to listen to hymns sung by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir. So until I find out what exactly I can and can't bring, I will continue to add and search for music that I personally think fits with in the mission guidelines.. but just in case I'll bring my MOTAB Cd :)

If you want to listen to the rest of my missionary playlist here it is

The Last Hurrah!

You should all be jealous

Because...

 THESE LOVELY LADIES CAME AND VISITED ME THIS WEEK!!!

Yep thats right ladies and gentleman two of my fabulous roomates, Shelby and Morgan, came to the great state of Minnesota. All three of us are under call to serve missions (Shelby's been called to serve in Brazil and Morgan to serve in Kansas) so we decided to have a last Hurrah before we leave.

We all flew into Minneapolis on Monday and it was basically a nonstop party all week!! I've been working and taking classes for the past couple of months and so we pretty much crammed "summer" into this week. Here is my brief pictured filled summary.

Tuesday

We drove up the the Mall of America. We went shopping, spent way too much on make-up (gosh Sephora why do you have to be so dang expensive??), got lunch at my one of my favorite restaurants Bubba Gump, and we may or may not have gone and looked at rings (calm down we're going on missions no one is getting married for at least 2 years)

  Obviously Shelby really enjoyed her sandwich.

In honor of our other roommate Krista who couldn't make it we parked in the Georgia lot.

After hanging out at the Mall of America we decided to be adventurous and drive up to Minneapolis. Alright confession time. I only live like 30min away from the big city but I only ever go up there for the hollidazzle parade, and high school graduation. Basically what I'm trying to say is that I had no idea where we going. but its fine because after aimlessly driving around we spotted the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.

The Three of us in front of the Cherry and the Spoon

Morgan being as beautiful as ever

Wednesday 

We went to the STATE FAIR!! I love the state fair. Those of you not from Minnesota have no idea how wonderful the state fair is.We went to the Lumber Jack show, got henna tattoos, ate a bunch of food thats really bad for you, saw a cow being born, and a bunch of other awesome stuff.

Went to the Lumber Jack show

Sitting inside the Luminarium. This may have been the sickest thing I've ever seen.

Shelby Singing at the Giant Sing Along

Look Morgans a Scarecrow!

This, right here, is a little piece of heaven. The state fair has the Best Cheese Curds. 

Thursday

Thursday was more of our "chill day". We slept in till who knows when. But we went canoeing on my friends pond, went for a walk to the lake, and hung out around Lakeville.

Canoeing on the pond!

Friday

My brother works at our amusement park, Valleyfair, and he scored us some free tickets so we spent the whole day at the amusement park. We went to the water park and spent the first hour or so in the lazy river. Haha I'm so glad that I have friends who love to sit there and do nothing but float. It was fun we road roller coasters and screamed our heads off it was great.

My one and only picture of Valleyfair

After we were done riding roller coasters we decided to get food while we waited for my brother to be done with work. So we went to this Chinese place but by the time we got our food the place was closed so we put the seats down in my van and had a party in the back.

Eating take out in the back

Saturday

My family loves to geo cache so naturally when friends come to visit thats what we do. We did a couple of caches and we found most of them. But we did do a small little hike up a hill and at the top it was beautiful.

Lets please excuse my ugly sweaty face. K thanks.

Afterwards we drove to Minnesota's biggest candy store, and Shelby was in heaven.

 

Shelby found her happiness

We ended the night with dinner at Olive Garden with the Parents. It was delightful.

Sunday

We went to church and taught Primary! We had four little boys in our class and you would think that with the three of us we would have been able to have a nice peaceful lesson.. that was a funny joke. It actually wasn't too bad, and our lesson consisted mostly of playing hangman. They loved it.

That night we had our last and final crepe night. Crepe night is kinda a tradition we do in our apartment. We make a big bowl of batter and the three of us crowd around the stove, each of us getting a burner, and we make crepes.. its great!

  ♥

Monday

We drove Morgan to the airport and she flew back to Salt Lake afterwards Shelby and I decided to drive up to the Science Museum of Minnesota up in St. Paul. It was great because I took my little brother and his friend and because it was labor day they got in free!

Tested blood types in the Cell Lab.

(nice photo bomb Clayton)

Shelby created a Tornado

We built this awesome contraption.

I decided to practice my air bending

We had way too much fun at the science museum. They have alot of really cook things there If you haven't been I totally encourage you to go!

Tuesday

Was our last day together. So what did we do Sleep in! I think we slept in till like 12:30. We spent most of the day relaxing. We didn't do anything too crazy just drive around Lakeville we went our to lunch and got Cold Stone and we spent most of the day talking about life. We did end up going to Perkins at 1:00am though.

They gave me such a huge plate for such a small sandwich.. it was depressing.

And then it was time for Shelby to go home too.

We had the greatest time together, not just this past week but this past year that we've lived together. These girls are amazing! They inspire me. It was bittersweet saying goodbye to them. I was sad to see them leave, but we are all moving on to bigger and better things. They are going to make great missionaries! 

I Love you guys! 

Till We Meet Again!

♥ Mallory

Bye Provo, Its Been Good

I'm scrolling through facebook, here at the Denver Airport on my way home to Minnesota and it is so bittersweet. My news feed is full of "started my first day of class today" or "all packed up for college". Everyone is leaving for school and I'm leaving for home. I won't be going back to school for 2 years! Its hard to think about because by the time I get back most of my friends will be starting their senior year and will be focusing on graduation and starting a career. I am so excited to serve the people of Brazil. But its hard to watch my friends post  pictures and make statuses of how awesome college is. I had a great freshman year. Probably the best year of my life. The friends and relationships I've developed over the past year have been incredible. I've gotten so many opportunities to do so many different things. I am really going to miss it. But at the same time I am excited to go home. I'm excited to see my family and I've missed Minnesota. It will be so nice to not have to spend money on rent and groceries and hopefully I'll be able to get a Job so I can save some money. "To every thing there is a season, and a time" It will be good.

Still it was hard to say goodbye to Provo. On the way to airport I was flooded with memories of this past year.

 Summer Dances

Hiking Timpanogos

Brigham City Temple Open House

Imagine Dragons/Neon Trees Concert

Lots and Lots of Rock Climbing

Dates With This Guy

Camping in Zion National Park

Color Festival

and Nonstop YOlOing With My Best Friends

Ah Provo, you've been good to me. See ya in TWO!!!