President Hinckley

Our beloved prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley, passed away on Sunday night. When my mom called to tell me President Hinckley had passed away, I was a little surprised. He was 97 years old, so it shouldn't have been surprising at all, but somehow I just thought he'd live forever.
When I was on my mission, President Didier visited Ukraine. In a meeting with members and missionaries, he told us that he brought us greetings and love from the First Presidency. He'd spent some time with the prophet at General Conference a few weeks previously and related an experience. I don't remember the entire story, but President Hinckley had been working tirelessly all week and was completely exhausted when he arrived home very late one evening. So exhausted, that particular day, he did not even have enough energy to undress and sleep in his bed. Instead, he laid down on the couch and asked his son to help him take off his shoes. He had no strength left. The next morning, the prophet was dressed and ready to go at 4 A.M. His son suggested he go back to sleep, since no meetings were scheduled until 8 or 9 that morning. President Hinckley said something like, "How can I sleep when there is so much work to do? We have no time to waste. We must get to work and use every minute."
As missionaries, you can imagine the gigantic feeling of guilt that suddenly overwhelmed each of us. We liked to complain about waking up at 6 A.M. and working hard all day. We were happy for long bus rides when we didn't have to contact, but could relax and just rest for a few minutes. Of course all of our efforts were nothing compared to our the efforts of our prophet. A man four times our age, but with more energy than any of us.
One of my favorite quotes is by Sister Hinckley.
"I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with grass stains on my shoes from mowing Sister Schenck's lawn. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived."

When I think about President Hinckley's passing, I am sincerely happy for him. He will be missed greatly, but I just can't stop thinking about how happy he must be to see his sweet wife again. I remember seeing this photo after Sister Hinckley's funeral and just feeling a little bit of the loneliness he much have felt.

Eternal families are such an amazing, wonderful thing. I am truly grateful for the knowledge I have that our families do not end here on earth. Through the construction of temples, President Hinckley helped bring that knowledge closer to millions of people. I'll never forget sitting in the Topol chapel in Dneprpetrovsk, Ukraine and listening to our Branch President tell everyone that President Hinckley had just announced the construction of a temple in Kiev. Suddenly blessings that were once so far away came within reach to some of the people I love most in this world. Such an amazing thing!

I love this photo of President and Sister Hinckley. I think President Hinckley waved his cane around more than he ever used it to help him walk. I always loved to see him wave his cane in their air when he walked out of General Conference. President Gordon B. Hinckley was a great man who led by a great example. He will truly be missed.

In Honor of Chinese New Year...

Everyone loves China, in one way or another. Chinese food. Fortune cookies? What's there not to like? Here are just a few of the reasons I like China.

1. Clean dry shirts.
Someone did our laundry for us so there were clean clothes for everyone ALL the time.

2. Good company.
How could anyone not have a great time traveling with this group? Sure, we spent most of our time eating or sleeping, but we had a great time.

3. Instant celebrity status.
As the first foreigners to visit Yicheng, we gained popularity very quickly. Yicheng is so small, I couldn't find any information about it online. However, I found some information about Xiangfan, a larger city about 45 minutes from Yicheng.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiangfan

4. The Great Wall.
Obviously, it's called "great" for a very good reason.

5. C.J.
Melanie and I met C.J. at KFC in Beijing. We spent a couple of days with him and had a great time, until he started reading Chairman Mao quotes from the great red book and some cops tried to stop us. We got scared and ran.

6. Good students.
I really liked the kids I taught. A big change from Vegas, definitely, but it was fun to get to know them and see their personalities. It's always difficult to express yourself in a different language, especially if you are still learning that language, but for the most part, the high school students I worked with were motivated, energetic, helpful, and respectful. They stood when I entered and left the classroom. They did their homework, even though they were not getting any type of grade for the class we taught. The girls loved to show us their town and help us translate when shopping.

7. The DOLLAR actually means something.
Yep. Things are cheap. Tons of great souvenirs. Baby clothes for Jacquie. Cool shoes and purses. I even managed to buy magic Kung Fu headbands from Wudan, the birth place of Kung Fu, for just 10 cents each.

AVID Alumni! -- A dream to guest speak has come true.

Luckily, it didn't take much to persuade my old students to speak in my class when they were back home in Vegas for Christmas break. The offer of Sonic, or carmel rice crispie treats, is usually enough to persuade high school students to do almost anything. (I've trained them well, I know.)
Jose, always responsible, was the only person who made it on time. (Way to go, Jose!) Zach was driving Boo and Crystal, so they showed up around 45 minutes late. Thankfully, Jose has such an awesome life story, he was able to completely captivate my entire sophomore class for over an hour. Jose's family moved to the U.S. from Mexico almost 5 years ago. As a 9th grader, Jose was bussed to a predominantly white high school, where he was forced to learn English quickly. Jose spent all summer at a public library, teaching himself the language. He joined AVID as a junior because some of his friends on the soccer team told him it would help him get to college. Jose is the student he wrote such an amazing college admissions essay, it was passed around the entire office. He graduated as salutatorian, with a 4.6 weighted GPA, and received the Gates Millennium Scholarship that will pay not only for his undergrad, but also his Masters and Ph.D. He received a $40,000 scholarship to the University of San Diego, where he is now studying Biology, Spanish, and Italian.
I've told my class about Boo a.k.a. Vegas before. She's had all kinds of crazy experiences since she's been in school. From missing her train back to Jeff City and nearly having to sleep in the train station overnight to finding a girl passed out on the bathroom floor in the middle of the night, Boo has seen and suffered through a lot. She's barely scraping by each semester, but she's doing it. She really is. She may not love MissourAH and the university isn't very well organized, but she likes her classes. We've had some great conversations about some of the things she's been learning. Thankfully, she didn't show pics from the TOGA PARTY.
Crystal, Miss AVID 2007, told about her experiences at UNR. I visited Reno for a day (that turned into a LONG NIGHT stranded at an airport) at the end of October and saw her cruise all around the campus like she knew exactly what she was doing. All grown up. :) Her school is completely free. Millenium and GEAR UP scholarships, plus financial aid. Now, young Miss Chris G. Lo Kill-AH gets a little bonus check $$ each semester.
So, Zac Moe talked about Hampton and gave us the perspective of HBCUs. Zach's hysterical and makes friends easily, so he's definitely had fun at Hampton. He's also gone to school, when he hasn't been too busy hanging out in the student center making new friends... The best piece of advice he gave was this:

"College isn't about being smart. It's about being responsible."

Genius! Zac Moe giving some serious, real advice and not once did he mention "dead AVID homes". He talked about a lot of pool parties, of course, and girls and girls and girls. He also passed a hat around and collected $9.00 in gas money from my junior class. And he told quite a few stories about all of the fine girls in college. (Apparently girls outnumber guys at Hampton 17:1). And he also happened to mention a late night study session in the library that turned into a dance party, but other than that, I think things went okay and no young minds were terribly corrupted.
All four of these kids will be the first person in their family to graduate from college. It's still a ways off, yes. First semester of freshmen year has just ended, but it's all so exciting. Each one seemed a little more confident and mature. I can't wait to see them at their college graduations. :) I was pretty proud. (So proud, in fact, that the tutors said I was "glowing like a mom". I'm sure that's supposed to be a good thing... Right?)

Your blog?

So, today my friend Evan and I were emailing one another. (By the way, he was supposed to be working, but I was already home from work.) Anyway, I happened to mention my blog. His response? "Your blog?" Duh. Of course. Doesn't everyone have a blog these days? What is he talking about? Why doesn't he know I have a blog? I'm attaching a pic of him here, just so you can see what a complete dork he is.
His wife's pretty cute though. I took this lovely photo at her last bday party, which was a hit, by the way, even with all of the last minute planning and near Sabbath breaking. Speaking of Nikki... Her bday is coming up again pretty soon. March. Wonder if I'll be forced to go to the mall, or even worse, TARGET, with him, to help pick out a gift. Evan, what are you planning for the big bash? Please don't make me go to Target.

Huh?

Music-ogenic-epilepsy. What the heck? (Yes, I'm from Utah.)http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22718183/

Have you heard of this guy?

He's been in college since 1994 and now has a 24 hour web came so you can see his every move... (You really don't WANT to, but just in case...)
http://www.johnnylechner.com/johnnycollegestuff.htm


QUOTES

"I have two major goals right now. I want to fall in love and I want to go to the Playboy Mansion. Hopefully these two do not end up happening on the same night."
-Johnny during a CNN interview

"Johnny puts his pants on, just like you, one leg at a time. The only difference is that while you enjoy a beer in the evening, he enjoys his through a funnel in 2.2 seconds with a crowd cheering him on."
-Dan B. (friend)


Basically, this website made me scared.

AVID Reunion #2

For our second AVID reunion (during Winter Break), we settled on dinner and bowling at the Texas Station. Our group was quite a bit smaller this time, but we still had a great time. We're just cool like that.

Warm weather on New Year's Day! What?!?

Allison and I went "hiking" (read: walking around outside) at Red Rock on New Year's Day. I've lived in Vegas three years and, sadly, this was the first time I'd been out there. It was beautiful, as evidenced by these pics... :)