On to Thatcher!

Continuing on in the Arizona saga, I introduce you to Barbara Self!!

As I was trekking across the Arizona desert at early nightfall on Wednesday, I thought of my friend Barbara who is from a town called Holbrook in Northeast Arizona. How do I know Barbara? She was my very last mission companion in Uruguay.

We were companions for two transfers, or three months; from the second week in August up until I was to meet up with my mother in Montevideo on November 2nd, 2007. Since I hadn't seen her since I had finished my mission, I got in touch with her while on the road to see if she was available to meet up with me in Tucson sometime during the course of the weekend. Much to my surprise I discovered that she was no longer in Holbrook, but had gone down to Thatcher, AZ for school, and she told me that Thatcher was even closer to Tucson than Holbrook, and would love to see me! As we talked details over the next day, Barbara sadly realized that her textbooks were quite expensive, and that she wouldn't have enough gas money to come up to Tucson, so I opted to drive to Thatcher to see her.

It was soooooo fun! Granted, I was exhausted from all the driving I had done since leaving Las Vegas, but nonetheless, I enjoyed my time in Thatcher. We talked about the mission and relived some of the memories, went out to lunch at a Mexican restaurant called Casa Manana, talked some more, and went for a walk around EAC's campus (that's Eastern Arizona College). We took some fun pictures while out on the walk, but I don't have copies of those yet.

Barbara was the only mission companion that I had not seen since I arrived back in the United States 14 months ago, so it was a real treat! After all, she was one of my favorite companions!
We worked along side each other and with other missionaries,

studied together and ate together.

But more importantly, I learned from her. I learned more how to love and serve others,

and how to see eye to eye in order to lift others.

It was also while I was companions with Barbara (digo - Hermana Self) that I saw some of the most amazing miracles.

Barbara was always so positive and full of faith. I am so glad that I got to be her companion!

Tucson!

Yes folks, Tucson. That's where I'm at right now! I finally got fed up with the boredom of the last week of Christmas break where very few students have returned from visiting their homes and families and decided to do something about it. Actually, the week hasn't turned out half bad!

Monday night I actually decided to miss FHE (not typical) and spend some time with my roommates Airline and Jen. We were all pretty tired though and didn't end up doing much before going to bed. Tuesday night ended up being a movie night at my apartment for Airline, Eric (Airline's boyfriend) and I - we watched one of my many favorites - The Italian Job. Because of the title I realized that my friend Ryan had arrived home from his holiday trip to Italy and got in touch with him. We had lunch together on Wednesday at his house and watched selected scenes from The Wizard of Oz in Italian afterward while discussing its deeper meaning. FYI - all the singing is still done in English.

Wednesday night I helped my new roommate Cynthia move in and set up her things in her half of my room and stayed up way too late. This however, worked out to my advantage. I slept late Thursday - even in to the afternoon, and woke up bored again. To make a long boring story shorter, and hopefully less boring, by 8pm I had made my decision, packed a bag and was on the road to see my friend Emily in Tucson, without a single member of my family having the slightest clue I was going on a road trip. I drove for 6 and a half hours and arrived safe and VERY awake on caffiene at 3:30am Arizona time.

So, here I sit, blisfully wasting away the last few days of winter freedom. I don't have pictures yet, and the story is not over yet, but oh well! I thought I should at least let people know that I'm alive and safe!

One week to go and.... BORED.

What happened to the fun of Christmas break??

I have one full week left of free time before I am once again sitting in a university classroom counting down the days until my next break, and I have NOTHING to do! Most of my good friends are still out of town or are spending a lot of time with their significant other, work isn't busy enough to call in any temp workers, and thanks to my ingenious idea of not bringing any distractions with me when I moved back to Vegas one year ago (i.e. crafts, hobbies, projects, etc.), that's exactly what I've ended up with. No distractions. Even during the precious little time I am actually allowed to be distracted! I've checked my email and various other websites I visit (like facebook, blogger, etc.) about four times today, and even tried to find something interesting to watch on the apartment's newly connected cable service, but few people are online and none of the shows I typically watch have begun their new seasons.

Bored, bored, bored, bored, BORED!

Please, if any of you are in my area of the country - call me! Distract me! I need to burn more calories so that I'm actually hungry enough to eat more than only a meal and a half per day!