Happy Thanksgiving! I have SO much to be thankful for! First of all, I'm so thankful to be home. It's crazy that I left at the beginning of this month and I came back and now it's Thanksgiving. I'm so thankful that I was able to go on this trip and able to experience many trips... they make me happy and I always come back for a new appreciation for the United States of America and what a blessed nation we are. I'm also always thankful to come back to my family and friends. Also always thankful to come back to the comforts of living.... my bed, normal plumbing, etc...
I'm also so thankful for the gospel. Especially being in Buddhist countries for two weeks. I'm thankful for the Lord Jesus Christ and for his example and sacrifice. I'm thankful for our living prophet today. I'm also thankful for the opportunity I have to share the gospel when I travel. I have this quote in my scriptures that says "Live as He lived, so that those that know you and don't know him, will want to know him because they know you". I really do try to live that way. I try to be a good example to all those I might all over the world and represent our church in the best way I can... and talk about the church when the opportunity comes up. On this trip it came up a couple of times. The biggest discussion I had was on the 12 hour flight on the way to our trip. I sat next to this very sweet Christian lady. She prayed for me a few different times that we would have safe travels. We read scriptures together and I helped teach her what Latter Day Saints REALLY believe since she heard things like the more money we had the high up in heaven we got or the more wives you had the higher up in heaven you got.... WRONG!!! I don't know who starts this stuff, but I was happy to set her straight. Happy to tell her that we believed Christ was our savior and that we believed the same scriptures that she did... we just had another testament of Jesus Christ, the Book of Mormon. It was a great discussion and she was happy to learn correct things about our church and I think it helped change her opinion. She was a very sweet lady. She shared her popcorn with me while I watched a movie. There are a lot of good people in this world... and I love meeting them. It makes me happy to know that there is still a lot of good in the world. Of course sharing the gospel makes my testimony stronger, and I am thankful for the opportunities I have to do it. I hope that I am a good example.
I have been home for a few days now. I still have not adjusted to our time. I don't know why this always happens to me. I have no problem adjusting on the way there. I had no problems sleeping on the planes and always slept fine every night while I was there... never woke up int he middle of the night. But when I get back... I wake up super early and then I get so tired to the point that I can't function at 8:30. Which is so not normal for me. I'm still struggling with it, but hopefully it won't take me longer than a week to go back to my normal time schedule. If not... I feel kind of bad for the people I'm with... like John. He come over wanting to hang out with me and I just fall asleep.
While I was gone, I didn't think about work once. It was great. It's nice with my job that when I'm gone, I'm covered... so I don't have to worry about catching up when I get back too much. It did take me an entire day to go through all my emails... but that is typical. My co-workers are so great. They were so excited for my trip and they were so excited when I got back. As soon as I got back they all set up a time to meet in the conference room for an hour so that I could tell them about my trip. It makes me feel special that they even care. It's not just ok welcome back, back to work. They took an hour to talk about my trip and ask questions and genuinely care. They want part two of my travels when I got through all my pictures. The next day they asked me if I had gone through my pictures yet and I just laughed. Yet again another thing I am thankful for today. A great work environment and awesome co-workers. I know that not everyone is so lucky in that department. I know I haven't always been as lucky.
I only had to go back to work for 2 days (and my boss let me go home at 2:30 yesterday because of the Holiday weekend) and then I have a 4 day weekend. This is awesome. We kind of planned it that way when we planned our trip. We debated being gone over Thanksgiving... but I said I wanted to be back and be with family and have a long weekend to recover from the trip. So glad we did it that way.
We left right after Halloween... came back right in time for Thanksgiving and now it's time to be excited for Christmas! I need to get out my decorations. It's like a time warp. I'm glad I was out of the country for most of November though because I am anti- Christmas before Thanksgiving. :)
Oh, I finished watching Mad Men finally... so I think I'm going to start Warehouse 13 next. Catching Fire came out when I was gone... so all my friends have seen it already. My mom said she would go with me tomorrow though, so I'm excited to go see it. I have heard from everyone that it is really good.
I also missed the ward service auction while I was gone. I was a little bummed because I like going every year. My roommate was kind enough to bid on what I wanted for me though. So I still got what I wanted. I got my neighbor Geoff's elaborate compliments. I'm sure I will be blogging about them because I have heard that they are pretty rad (which is why I wanted them this year).
Besides that I have just been trying to go through pictures from my trip and catch up on life since I have been back. It was so nice to spend time with family today all day. Our house was packed. Lots of extended family which is always fun, but I will blog about that later.
If you would have asked me what life was going to be like when I was 30... I would have never guessed my life was going to turn out the way it has. Of course I thought I would be married with kids and I still wish I were. But... obviously that is not the plan for me. I would have never guessed that I was going to be a world traveler, or that I was going to learn and accomplish so much in my life. I feel like I really do live life to the fullest and I love that. I'm so thankful that I have been able to experience so much in my life so far. I'm thankful for such a loving and supportive family, who all love and care for each other and I LOVE that we don't have family drama! I'm thankful to be dating a guy who is so thoughtful and kind to everyone and treats me so well and that I have so much fun with. I really enjoy our time together. I'm thankful for a job that I can support myself and do all the things in life that I want to do. I'm thankful that I have so much family close by. It has been so fun to see family and extended family more often. I'm thankful for my health. It has been so nice to have lost 55 pounds over the last 6 months... I feel SO much better. I feel healthier and feel like I physically can do more and I am more confident and happier with myself. I'm thankful for roommates and that kind and easy to be around and are clean. I'm thankful for everything that I have been blessed with. I'm so glad that we have a holiday that lets us reflect on everything we are thankful for in our lives... because we should give thanks more often. We are all so blessed! Here is a Thankful Tree that I drew in my journal while thinking of everything that I was thankful for.
I'm also so thankful for the gospel. Especially being in Buddhist countries for two weeks. I'm thankful for the Lord Jesus Christ and for his example and sacrifice. I'm thankful for our living prophet today. I'm also thankful for the opportunity I have to share the gospel when I travel. I have this quote in my scriptures that says "Live as He lived, so that those that know you and don't know him, will want to know him because they know you". I really do try to live that way. I try to be a good example to all those I might all over the world and represent our church in the best way I can... and talk about the church when the opportunity comes up. On this trip it came up a couple of times. The biggest discussion I had was on the 12 hour flight on the way to our trip. I sat next to this very sweet Christian lady. She prayed for me a few different times that we would have safe travels. We read scriptures together and I helped teach her what Latter Day Saints REALLY believe since she heard things like the more money we had the high up in heaven we got or the more wives you had the higher up in heaven you got.... WRONG!!! I don't know who starts this stuff, but I was happy to set her straight. Happy to tell her that we believed Christ was our savior and that we believed the same scriptures that she did... we just had another testament of Jesus Christ, the Book of Mormon. It was a great discussion and she was happy to learn correct things about our church and I think it helped change her opinion. She was a very sweet lady. She shared her popcorn with me while I watched a movie. There are a lot of good people in this world... and I love meeting them. It makes me happy to know that there is still a lot of good in the world. Of course sharing the gospel makes my testimony stronger, and I am thankful for the opportunities I have to do it. I hope that I am a good example.
I have been home for a few days now. I still have not adjusted to our time. I don't know why this always happens to me. I have no problem adjusting on the way there. I had no problems sleeping on the planes and always slept fine every night while I was there... never woke up int he middle of the night. But when I get back... I wake up super early and then I get so tired to the point that I can't function at 8:30. Which is so not normal for me. I'm still struggling with it, but hopefully it won't take me longer than a week to go back to my normal time schedule. If not... I feel kind of bad for the people I'm with... like John. He come over wanting to hang out with me and I just fall asleep.
While I was gone, I didn't think about work once. It was great. It's nice with my job that when I'm gone, I'm covered... so I don't have to worry about catching up when I get back too much. It did take me an entire day to go through all my emails... but that is typical. My co-workers are so great. They were so excited for my trip and they were so excited when I got back. As soon as I got back they all set up a time to meet in the conference room for an hour so that I could tell them about my trip. It makes me feel special that they even care. It's not just ok welcome back, back to work. They took an hour to talk about my trip and ask questions and genuinely care. They want part two of my travels when I got through all my pictures. The next day they asked me if I had gone through my pictures yet and I just laughed. Yet again another thing I am thankful for today. A great work environment and awesome co-workers. I know that not everyone is so lucky in that department. I know I haven't always been as lucky.
I only had to go back to work for 2 days (and my boss let me go home at 2:30 yesterday because of the Holiday weekend) and then I have a 4 day weekend. This is awesome. We kind of planned it that way when we planned our trip. We debated being gone over Thanksgiving... but I said I wanted to be back and be with family and have a long weekend to recover from the trip. So glad we did it that way.
We left right after Halloween... came back right in time for Thanksgiving and now it's time to be excited for Christmas! I need to get out my decorations. It's like a time warp. I'm glad I was out of the country for most of November though because I am anti- Christmas before Thanksgiving. :)
Oh, I finished watching Mad Men finally... so I think I'm going to start Warehouse 13 next. Catching Fire came out when I was gone... so all my friends have seen it already. My mom said she would go with me tomorrow though, so I'm excited to go see it. I have heard from everyone that it is really good.
I also missed the ward service auction while I was gone. I was a little bummed because I like going every year. My roommate was kind enough to bid on what I wanted for me though. So I still got what I wanted. I got my neighbor Geoff's elaborate compliments. I'm sure I will be blogging about them because I have heard that they are pretty rad (which is why I wanted them this year).
Besides that I have just been trying to go through pictures from my trip and catch up on life since I have been back. It was so nice to spend time with family today all day. Our house was packed. Lots of extended family which is always fun, but I will blog about that later.
If you would have asked me what life was going to be like when I was 30... I would have never guessed my life was going to turn out the way it has. Of course I thought I would be married with kids and I still wish I were. But... obviously that is not the plan for me. I would have never guessed that I was going to be a world traveler, or that I was going to learn and accomplish so much in my life. I feel like I really do live life to the fullest and I love that. I'm so thankful that I have been able to experience so much in my life so far. I'm thankful for such a loving and supportive family, who all love and care for each other and I LOVE that we don't have family drama! I'm thankful to be dating a guy who is so thoughtful and kind to everyone and treats me so well and that I have so much fun with. I really enjoy our time together. I'm thankful for a job that I can support myself and do all the things in life that I want to do. I'm thankful that I have so much family close by. It has been so fun to see family and extended family more often. I'm thankful for my health. It has been so nice to have lost 55 pounds over the last 6 months... I feel SO much better. I feel healthier and feel like I physically can do more and I am more confident and happier with myself. I'm thankful for roommates and that kind and easy to be around and are clean. I'm thankful for everything that I have been blessed with. I'm so glad that we have a holiday that lets us reflect on everything we are thankful for in our lives... because we should give thanks more often. We are all so blessed! Here is a Thankful Tree that I drew in my journal while thinking of everything that I was thankful for.
2 comments:
I thankful for you Tracy! I'm glad that you are living life to the fullest right now :) Love you.
Elaborate compliments?! Sweet. Worth every penny.
And yes, your life is rad. And I am very thankful for you, sister!
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