Summer fun is beginning!

This past week has been starting to bring summer into my life! Thank goodness though, I thought it would never show up!

One start of summer was my coworker Kassandra going to prom! She came into visit us last Friday before going to get pictures with her boyfriend and family. She looked fantastic! Our Rockport fam is so happy for her!

Me, Kassandra in her prom dress, Marie, and Joe

On Tuesday night, mom and I went to our relief society group to work on a service project to refurbish old furniture to put it to good use for other families. I got pretty into it! Also on Tuesday, I went to see 'Finding Dory' with my best friend Emily! It was so cute and we both really liked it!

On Wednesday night, myself and some of the YSA from church went to Tracadie beach for a bonfire. The sister missionaries also came with us. It took us a little bit to start the fire since it was rather windy, but we got it going so it was fine! Tim and Megan and Kelvin all jumped in the water and Sister Buchanan burned one of her old skirts. (It's a missionary rite of passage, hard to explain, but it was funny!) After the sisters left, we stayed a little longer, but it started to rain a bit so we decided to leave. And while walking up the boardwalk, Tim caught his foot on some wood or a nail and cut it open! Luckily we have Megan, a nursing student, to help him out! And with a cut foot and all, we decided to go to Dairy Queen anyway! 

Sorry not sorry for putting up a picture of Winnie. She turned 10 months old on the 22nd, so she's almost a year old! Growing up so fast and so good! Love her!

Last night after I got off work, I went home and did some chores, then asked Emily what she wanted to do. I picked her up and we went to the mall really quick because she was looking for a some new summer outfits. We wanted supper, so we decided to go to Captain Jack's Pub and Grille which is located on the waterfront at the Charlottetown Yacht Club. Emily and her parents sail and have a boat in the harbour, so she spends quite a bit of time down there. 

Anyways, we sat on the patio of the restaurant for our supper. It took a while because it was busy, but the food was definitely so good! I had a chicken burger and fries and Emily had fish and Caesar salad.

It was a little cold with the wind, but still a lovely evening view. 

That's all for now folks. Have a lovely weekend!

P.S. Its my birthday on Monday!! So I'm excited for that!

Differences

Lately, I've been feeling a little discouraged with certain aspects of my life. I know I'm not perfect and no one else is. But I wish sometimes people would take the time to consider what they do around me. I thought being a Latter-Day Saint was hard in high school and college. But it's surprisingly tougher as a young working adult. When Elder Dale G. Renlund came to speak to us all in Sackville, one major thing he touched on was about how as saints of Jesus Christ, we're going to be offended in different ways. But it's our job to rise above it and use our faith to overcome those trials. 

I was on Tumblr other day and I follow the Mormon Channel. They blogged this quote.

"You will come to know that what appears today to be a sacrifice will prove instead to be the greatest investment that you will ever make." - Gordon B. Hinckley

I know I've made many sacrifices, and I know I'm going to make many more in my life. It's through faith and prayer that I can get make those sacrifices that will hopefully benefit me. I know I have so much support from family and close friends who understand the same things I do. And I'm grateful for that.

It's good to be different, as long as I'm happy doing it.

As I usually say in my prayers, I need all the help I can get. 

24 hours at Mount Allison University

This weekend was actually pretty awesome!

A few months ago at church, it was announced that two general authorities would be visiting our area. Those two were Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apsotles and Gerrit W. Gong of the Seventy. AND IT WAS SO GOOD.

(Quote from Elder Gong's talk from the last general conference. Link is farther down on this post. This was actually my favourite quote from that talk.)

But let me rewind:

When we found out these general authorities were coming, we decided to make a young single adult activity out of it too. It took some planning about what we should do. Big shout out to Charmaine and her family for making most of what we did possible! Love yous!

Back to the present:

On Saturday, I worked until 5:30 p.m. and from there, I drove my car to Sackville. I was accompanied by Megan and Tim and Michael. They are a funny bunch and I love them all.

When we arrived at the Mount A campus, we received our dorm room keys, but couldn't go to our rooms yet. We had a fireside with Rick Cartier and Rick Watson. We called it Rick Squared. Their messages were really great. There was about 18 Young Singles Adults attending, which is small but we all get along very well so that was maybe the best thing about it! After the fireside, we walked to my car to get our luggage and take it to the rooms. We changed out of our Sunday clothes and put on our sport gear to play ultimate frisbee! However, it took a few minutes to find a decent field to play it in, but after we did, we all played for until 11 p.m.! So much fun! I actually don't even know who won, but that's okay!

After playing, we went back to the dorms and chilled out for a bit. I decided to shower really quick then hung out with Megan and Charmaine. They decided to go bed, and I did shortly after.

I woke up early Sunday morning to get ready. Once I was ready and had some time, I remembered we were encouraged to read Elder Gong's talk from the April 2016 general conference. 

Here it is: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/04/always-remember-him?lang=eng

I cried after reading it. I knew it was going to be a good day. 

We ate some breakfast and Megan and I decided to go to the convocation hall early. I met my family when we got there, as they had driven over that morning from home.

(Megan and I taking an outfit photo because we look so good!)

It was really cool to see a lot of my friends from different places, including many missionaries I've met!

(Myself with Sister Barfuss and Sister Dutson, two sisters who have served in Charlottetown and I love them so much!)

Of course, we had to take a squad selfie. Haig is not impressed though

The meeting started at 10 a.m. and I actually started crying during the opening hymn. 

I won't go into too much detail about the talks, but I will say that they were all awesome and inspiring. Elder Renlund bestowed an apostolic blessing to us, encouraging us to press forward through hard times. After it was done, we were told Elder and Sister Renlund would stand at the stage and shake hands with the saints. I was busy talking to people for a story I'm working on (stay tuned), so I let other people go ahead first. As the line died down, I joined Charmaine and John in the line to see them. I told Sister Renlund I was from P.E.I. and she told me she loves Anne of Green Gables! It was incredible!

After doing that, I found some more people to talk to! I found some members from Newfoundland who I met while I was there last summer and it was amazing to catch up with them!

I met with my family again and ate some lunch with them. There was a YSA gathering so I joined them as well, and got to chat with some more people. 

We then had to hit the road to go back home. And driving back home, we stopped after getting off the bridge to take a group selfie.

All in all, it was an amazing Sunday with friends and the opportunity to receive inspiration from Heavenly Father's modern day apostles. :)