We now interrupt our current presentation....

I'm realizing that I'm taking far too long to update this blog with the rest of Jerusalem. (Give me a break! Each one takes me a few hours to write. Where am I supposed to find that kind of time? And no, I won't sacrifice on detail... this was my journal for those three months.) So... I still plan on finishing Jerusalem, but I'm going to post them as I get them done. And update my current life as it comes.

So... current update.

I got home from Jerusalem and the very next day (maybe 14 hours after I got off the plane) my bishop called me to be the Relief Society President. Wow... that's been an adventure. I had no idea what I was doing for the first little while. I'm finally getting a handle on it, though... 5 months later. It's quite the learning experience, and I'm grateful for it. But I won't be sad when my time is up, and I move on to the next calling. For now, I'll embrace it and make the best of it that I can. It'll be fun, really. If nothing else, it convinced me to get a food storage. (Thanks, mom, for letting me raid your pantry! ... I also bought my own food storage, thank you very much.)

I also started dating a guy when I got home. I had been friends with him since October and we had jokingly got "engaged" while I was in Jerusalem. It was very easy to start doing things with him and move straight into dating. What a wonderful boy. I learned so many things dating him. I will never, ever regret this relationship. I learned the importance of trust, communication and honesty. I learned how to sacrifice things that I want in exchange for the whole. I learned that relationships are give and take. I learned that it is possible for a guy to be able to hold me and make everything all better. I learned that I cook in order to make things all better... and that I have a Save-the-World complex. I learned that the good opinion of someone I care for can do more to make me a better person and to change the faults I have than any other persuasion. I've learned that it takes two people to build perfection... one can't do it alone. I learned that I am not limited to two-week relationships. I learned that a boy can like me despite all my flaws. I relearned that God loves me dearly. Although we're not currently dating, I will always cherish the few months we had together. Thank you for building me to where I am. Thank you for helping me learn.

Although I finished my classes in April, I postponed graduation until August so I could go to Jerusalem with BYU. Yay! I finally graduated! I got my B.A. in Ancient Near Eastern Studies. A few weeks before actual graduation (about 3 weeks after I got home), I got a job with the Church up in Salt Lake in the Church Office Building. I continued on with what I did in the Digital Lab at BYU as a student and now digitize Family History books and put them online. I'm also currently working on a special project, a favor for Church History, to put The Liahona, The Elders Journal, and The Liahona, the Elders Journal (three titles... one project) online. Currently we only have The Liahona online... and it's only one volume. But hey, you can't have everything. I'll bet if you look back in a month or two, there will be many, many more volumes up there. It's been fun working here. I've always secretly dreamed of living in Utah and working in the COB. And look, here I am, fulfilling my dreams. Who knew I would do it so early in life? The biggest problem is the commute. I leave before 6:30 am and don't get home until 5:30 pm. Such long days... Luckily, we have a remote site in Orem, so I get to spend half of my time down there. What a blessing. :)

Overall, my life is going great. Christmas was wonderful... a much needed reprieve. I'm ready to face the world again. Perfect attitude to have with the New Year approaching. I need to start writing down some new year's resolutions. Hopefully I'll be better at keeping y'all updated on my life... and in shorter posts to boot. And hopefully I'll get the last week of Israel written soon!

Happy Holidays!