Another Great Day, Suprise Surprise!

Oh man, this really is becoming like a journal for me. Oh well, I kind of like it. And it's easier and faster to type than it is to write, so this will do as a journal for now, until I get back into writing.

Anyways, I just had a wonderful day at work and I don't want to forget about it, so I'm going to blog out everything I can remember that made me happy.

Gosh, you'd think I had some super cool job, like working for Google or something, with how much happiness this job brings me. But nope, it's just a minimum wage job serving frozen yogurt, but it makes me INCREDIBLY happy most days!

Today I got to work with Taylor, which is always fun because she is so easy to talk to and we always have fun! The missionaries came in (different sets of missionaries from my church come in a lot because they get free frozen yogurt since the owners of our Golden Spoon are Mormon) and after they left, Taylor asked me a gazillion questions about being Mormon, and I loved it! Her lifestyle and beliefs are very different than mine, but we talk respectfully to each other and I love to hear her points of view and she loves to hear mine. I knew our conversation today went well when she said, "The more I talk to you, the more I like Mormons!"

There are a few things that I like to emphasize to people (particular aspects of my religion that I love) One is that we are taught to love everyone. It's literally a sin to hate or judge. I knew this concept would appeal to Taylor, because she's quite liberal and believes gay people should be able to get married, etc. If I were to hate gay people or even judge them for their actions, I truly believe that I would be at fault.

I also told her another really cool teaching from my church, which is that we don't believe that just because you don't believe in God or have never heard of God, you won't make it to heaven. A lot of other Christian churches believe that those who are not baptized or haven't said that they believe in Christ (something like that) won't make it to heaven, which makes absolutely no sense to me, since there are great Muslim people, great Jewish people, great athiests, great people with all sorts of different views, so why would they not make it to heaven simply because they didn't believe in something or come to a knowledge of it in this life? That would mean that all of the kind hearted and faithful Jewish people that died in the Holocaust would go to hell because they didn't believe that Christ was the Savior, which I don't think is the case! God is much more merciful and loving than that and he knows people's hearts. We are not powerful or wise enough to ever ever ever be able to judge or even guess if someone is going to a certain place or not.

Another cool thing that happened during our conversation was when she asked me if I would choose not to have sex before marriage even if I wasn't Mormon. Honestly, I can't say 100% how I would feel about that if I wasn't Mormon, but I do think that I would feel the same as I do now, and that is that I'd like to save that for just one person. There are so many things that we repeatedly do with people when we date them. We hold hands, we kiss, we say we love each other, we cuddle. But when I'm married to that one person that I know I want to spend the rest of my life with, we can share something that I haven't shared with anyone else, and I know that will be special! I don't think it makes me better than anyone else or will mean that my relationship is better than someone who didn't wait until marriage, but it's a personal choice that I've made, that makes me happy and makes sense to me, for many reasons, that just being one of them.

Anyways, I love talking to people about my religion because a lot of parts of my religion simply make sense and give me a good feeling! And I think that they give other people a good feeling too, if you point those things out and always stay humble. It's also important to realize that you can also listen to what other people believe and think about aspects of life, instead of always thinking that you're the only one with something interesting or worthwhile to say! I love asking people about their beliefs and ideas on certain aspects of life. Even people in my church have many different ideas about many different things, so it's fun to talk to people in my church, and people not in my church, about what they think about life. Oh, isn't conversating SO MUCH FUN!?

Another little thing that made me happy tonight was that after work Taylor and I took all the trash bags to the dumpster and on the way back from the dumpster she hit my butt with this large spoon that we use as a key for the trashcan (so we don't lose the key.) She was just teasing by hitting my butt and I kind of yelped and this drag queen was walking by (yes a drag queen was walking by at 11:30 P.M at night...I love Hillcrest haha) and she/he thought I was talking to him/her and stopped and said, "What?" and then I said, "Oh sorry, my friend just hit my butt with a spoon so I made a sound. I wasn't talking to you, sorry!" And he/she said, "Oh, well lucky you!!!" (Probably because he/she is lesbian/gay and thought I was lucky that Taylor-a girl-hit my butt with a spoon haha) It just made me laugh and feel grateful for where I work. Where else is it completely normal to be walking outside your work and you run into a drag queen? Hahah I guess it's not really "normal" but it's common and it makes me feel grateful that I have this opportunity to work downtown and see people that are so different from me and that I get to say that I really worked in the heart of San Diego, as crazy and different as it is! Hillcrest (where I work) has such an upbeat feeling and just makes me so happy, happy, happy! I will always be grateful that I got this job and was able to work there, even for the short time that I am able to work there, before I work in Alaska.

Also, Avery, Mikaya, Miles and I have been laughing and having such a good time together this whole time I've been home, but I'm especially grateful for the past few days! I love talking to my little sisters and playing with my little brother. Avery is growing up so quick and it kind of freaks me out, but I'm so proud of who she's becoming. She is so cute, funny, sweet, sassy, creative, passionate, and caring. I love her so much! And Mikaya is so funny, talks so cute, is so sweet, and is truly an example to me of not gossiping about people, of being nice to everyone, and of staying positive. The other morning, Miles, Avery, and I laid on my bed and sang, "Let It Go" and other songs like that, and had so much fun. We also shouted, "How much wood would a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck would chuck wood," while I drummed on Miles thighs. We shouted that because he was once again eating (well sucking on) wood. He really liked us singing and shouting things! They are just too much fun! And I have loved spending time with my mom because we always laugh around each other and think the same things are funny! She just "gets me" and loves her kids so much. I love being around her. She is truly my best friend and one of my favorite people in the world!

And this week, I get to see my other little siblings and my dad, and Kate. They are also some of my favorite people and I'll blog about that soon too! I'm a lucky girl to have so many people that love me and support me in my life.

Oh, one more thing. I got my root canal done today and it wasn't so bad. And I saw on the wall at the office where it was done, that the doctor graduated from BYU, which was random...haha. Then I found out that his assistant was his daughter and attends BYU-Idaho. I wasn't being very sociable with them before because I was extremely nervous for my root canal and then I wasn't very sociable afterwards because half of my mouth was numb and my cheeks felt like they were bulging out a million miles, but it was cool that my dentist referred me to a doctor that I have some stuff in common with! His daughter is even going to live at the same apartments as the ones that I lived in last semester, which was also super random.

The root canal seemed to take forever and even though I got to watch Chopped (one of my all time favorite cooking competition shows) during it, with headphones in and the TV right above my head, it was still very disturbing to me that he was scraping stuff out of my gums. That kind of stuff really freaks me out! And I keep wondering why the heck my gums aren't in raging pain right now. It seems like they would be since he was literally scraping stuff out of them (at least, I think that's what he was doing). I'm so confused as to why I'm not in pain, but I'm sure glad that I'm not! Tylenol 500 mg works wonders, I guess.