The Stars At Night....Are Shinning Bright

I AM GOING TO HOUSTON TEXAS!!!!! Oh my gosh I am so so so so excited. I know that my cute mom and sister have probably done a wonderful job of spreading the word so I am sure that you have probably heard, but you do not know the whole story, so I will tell you!

WARNING: This post could get a little long. I will try to be concise. We all know this is not my strong point in writing.

OK so LAST WEEKEND I went up to my Grandma Marilyn's house in Cottonwood Heights because it was Buttlervile Days AND the 24th of July Celebration. I went to Sandy on Thursday for our Family Sports Night to play soccer and then spent the night so I could walk in the parade with Abbey and Sara, my gorgeous cousins, the next day. After the parade we were hanging out in the park and doing all kinds of super fun things. While we were waiting for the fireworks I decided to call mi familia (note the Spanish, thank you!). My wonderful father informed me that MY MISSION CALL HAD BEEN ISSUED AND WAS IN THE MAIL! FINALLY this would be the week. The only slight problem was that I had an efy session. We thought of waiting until saturday and having a little family get together, but lets just say that I have very little patience and there was no way that I was going to do that. On wednesday at efy we have free time from about 3:30 to 5:30. As a counselor I have a meeting at the start of free time until about 4:00. We decided to meet at my dorm in Helaman Halls at 4:30 on Wednesday to open it.

Wednesday came. I WAS SO NERVOUS BUT UNBELIEVABLY EXCITED. I told all the girls in my group and all the kids in my company that I was going to open my call in chipman Lobby at 4:30. Classes were dreadful. I usually love going to classes and learning with my youth but the day just dragged on. At lunch I texted my roommates to see if they could check the mail. They were out and about. I could not stand it any longer. I got permission from my BC to leave campus during the second block of classes. I went to the store and back to my apartment to check the mail. I got there around 2:00 PM. I slowly walked the stairs to my apartment. I found our mail key and walked to the mailbox. My little heart was pounding out of my chest. I turned the key and there, sitting proud and bold in our box, was...NOTHING. That is right. It did not come. MAILBOXSAYWHAT? ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME? SERIOUSLY? Seriously. My daddy told me that my call was coming today and HE NEVER LIES. BAH. I called my mom broken hearted and practically in tears. She tried to calm me down. I was not so much upset that my call was not there. I knew that it was issued and would come on it's own time. I was just upset because my entire family was counting on it coming and would soon be on their way to Provo. I called my aunt Tara and told her to spread the word that my call did NOT come. I called my grandma, who was working at the conference center and planning on leaving early to be there when i opened it, and left her a message saying to go back to work.

I left my apartment and headed back to campus for my meeting. On my way there I was practicing my speech to give to my kiddos...."It's ok girls! It will come next week! HAHAHA! You guys are more upset then I am and it is MY call. No use being sad over something we have no control over..." BLAH BLAH BLAH! LIES. I WAS SO UPSET. Suddenly I get the following prompting
"What if the address on your call is wrong..."
ME: It's not. I am not stupid, Spirit. I did not write the wrong address on my mission papers! HEL-LO!
"It might be. You moved right before you filled out your papers AND you were in Washington when you filled them out so it is very possible that you were not sure of your address or that you wrote the wrong address..."
ME: Good Point (which is the only kind of point the spirit makes). I Do remember thinking that i need to text Jaimie and triple verify our new address....

I got back to my dorm and quickly got online to check my mission papers. They read as follows....
Send To: Sister Katelyn Michael Christensen
600 North 420 East
Provo, UT 84606
PERFECT! That is my address!....Wait....Almost. Something missing? Anyone, Anyone??? LIKE AN APARTMENT NUMBER! Yeah. There was no apartment number on there. This upset me so much more. I just had visions in my head of my Call being lost somewhere between here and SLC. It would takes WEEKS FOR THEM TO FIGURE OUT WHAT WAS WRONG AND FIND ME!

New Impression - "Call the Post Office Katelyn..."
Me: "That won't help."
Spirit: "OH JUST DO IT! CALL THE POST OFFICE NOW!!!!!!"
Me: "That does make sense. It is somewhere around here and I might be able to have them flag it..."

I called. This Indian man with a very thick accent told me that my "letter" was probably already "returned to sender" and that i needed to call the preson sending it and let them know my correct apartment number. WHAT?!?!? Is there SERIOUSLY nothing you can do? This is not just anything...this is MY MISSION CALL!!! Let me just call up president Monson and tell him. I will be sure to do that. I'll make a note of it. He is on my speed dial. This man obviously did not understand. I hung up and got a prompting to call again. This time I did not hesitate and THIS time an older woman who DID know what she was talking about answered. She transfered me to my exact carrier. I told that man my problem. He started going over all of our options, none of which involved opening my mission call that day. suddenly he said...
"Can you just hold on for one second Miss....?"
"Christensen. My name is Christensen."
"Wait....Did you say Chritensen?"
"Yes. Yes I did. Katelyn Christensen. C-H-R-I-S-T-E-N-S-E-N..."
"I will be right back. I need to check something."
I waited. He came back
"SISTER CHRISTENSEN! We were wondering if you would call us. We are so glad you did. We have your mission call right here in our hands. I can have someone bring it over to you right now...."
OH MY GOODNESS! My call IS HERE!!!!! Thank Goodness for the gift of the Holy Ghost and little Tender mercies of our Heavenly Father.

I was late for my meeting by this time so I called Big Brother and asked him to stop at my place and get the call. Riley said he would bring it. My Counselor meeting ends. Everyone gathers around. There were so many people! My entire company of thirty youth and my amazing co-counselors, my grandma, Riley and Darin, Stefanya, Holly and her boys, Tara and the little ones, and Kelle and her girls. SO FUN. My dad was actually crabbing so I had to have my parents on two separate phones. I teared open the letter and read the following words....

Sister Christensen,
You are hereby called to serve as a missionary for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days Saints. You are assigned to labor in the TEXAS HOUSTON MISSION.

Cheers. Hugs. Laughter. Tears. PURE JOY AND AWESOMENESS.

Riley then asked "What language?" LANGUAGE? Holy Cow. I had assumed and accepted the fact that because I was going to be serving in the United States, I would more than likely be speaking English. I scanned the paper for the words. I than read "You will prepare to preach the gospel in the SPANISH LANGUAGE!!!!" (exclamation points added for excitement emphasis)

WoW. Just, Wow. I never actually told anyone this and I did not write this on my papers because I did not want to sound picky or influence where the Lord would have me serve (not that it would)...but I had three things I REALLY REALLY wanted in a mission call....

1. To learn a language. DONE. I took some Spanish in High School and I was actually pretty good at it when I spoke it everyday. I have lost a lot of it because in college I have studied ASL, but I am so excited to learn. I am planning on getting my Masters in Speech Pathology and learning Spanish is really going to give me a small edge.

2. To NOT go someplace cold. The average LOW January Temperature is 48 degrees F. 90% Humidity Baby! Heavenly Father knows me so well. He did one better and is sending me someplace warm...well, HOT!I THis is actually what I wanted, but in my journal i wrote "someplace not cold" because it sounded less demanding. I AM SO EXCITED!!!

3. Someplace Awesome. I did not want to go anywhere dull. I wanted culture and excitment, and BOY DID I GET IT! Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, the largest city within the state of Texas, and "the energy capital of the world."
As of the 2008 U.S. Census estimate, the city has a population of 2.2 million.
The Theater District is located downtown and is home to nine major performing arts organizations and six performance halls. It is the second-largest concentration of theater seats in a downtown area in the United States, second only to New York. Houston's skyline has been ranked fourth most impressive in the United States; it is the third-tallest skyline in the United States and one of the top 10 in the world.
The population of Houston is the youngest and one of the most diverse in the world.

Ladies and Gents...CHECK, CHECK, AND CHECK!!!

And for those of you that are wondering, The Texas Medical Center in Houston is the largest medical center in the world with one of the highest densities of clinical facilities for patient care, basic science, and translational research. The center contains 47 medicine-related institutions, including 13 hospitals and two specialty institutions, two medical schools, four nursing schools, and schools of dentistry, public health, pharmacy, cardiology, and other health-related practices. PLUS the assistant to my heart doctor here is Utah just moved to Houston to become a Cardiologist herself. I will be more than well taken care of.

I never really considered Houston Texas, but Heavenly Father did, and I would say that it is pretty much PERFECT. I am so excited to get started learning Spanish and to teach the people that the Lord loves, sing it with me now, DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS!

COUNTDOWN TO HOUSTON: 87 Days 3 Hours and 22 minutes

Welcome to the good life...

SO I have had a little bit of a break from work and had the opportuniyu to do some pretty sweet things and spend some excellent quality time with my family. I guess I will start with the 4th of July.

It was awesome. I love Freedom Festival. For one weekend Provo is in the spotlight and there are so many convivial things to do. On the actual day of the Fourth I went to grandma Marilyn's because my FAMILY WAS IN TOWN! YAY FOR FAMILY! We had yummy food and went to the park and did all kinds of fun stuff, but none of that really matters because the important thing is... WE WENT TO SEE THE JONAS BROTHERS AT STADIUM OF FIRE!!! It was prodigious. Colossal. Huge. Jace would say Epic. Linds would say Legit (I am a Junior in college so i used better words...) Because i grew up in the 90's I think that my love for boy bands is perennial. Stefanya and I took all my little cousins..(Linds, Abs, Sara, Em, Sam, and Morgan). The day before the concert we made these SWEET Jo Bro T-Shirts (see picture at bottom of blog for more information). Mine says "Jo Bro Hoe" Thank you to Stephanie Alexandra White for that one. SHE MADE ME ; D Together we made quite the little fashion statement. Especially since Tia Tara gave us a huge box of glow sticks to use. We loved every minute of it. No matter what Abbey tries to tell you about Joe...NICK IS THE CUTE ONE. I am so thankful for this country. If you have never watched fireworks to the tune of patriotic music you should do so. It is really quite emotional.

Next I went to a Harmer family reunion up at Brighton for a weekend. We played games to get to know our family members better and did what Harmers do best - eat, sleep, and fight : D Actually there was very little of the later and we were pretty active so it was a success. We hiked up the mountain to Lake Katherine and floated the Provo River. GOOD TIMES. I love my Utah family. What would i do without them? I would probably not be here in Provo i can tell you that. Aren't they SO SO SO CUTE? We are getting pretty large in numbers eh?

Steph has been begging to come to Royal City for quite some time. I tried to warn the poor city girl about the size but she stood firm in her conviction. FINALLY this past week we made the trip. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN. Steph had this wishlist of things she wanted to accomplish so we were pretty adventurous. Let me tell you so of the things we did...

* Shot some Skeets with a freaking 12 gauge - my arm even bruised from the stupid kick.
*Milked a cow
*Helped birth a calf - OK, so we witnessed the birth of a calf, but our cheering TOTALLY helped ; D
*Drove a tractor
*Bailed Hay
*Flew a plane - IT STALLED AND FREAKING FELL THROUGH THE SKY. Can you say adrenelin rush?
*Rode a float in the local Community Days Parade
- we made the front page of the Columbia Basin Herold AND we were quoted in the article about Summerfest because some
nice lady interview us about the giant cake we were asked to serve. It was in the shape of Grant County to comemerate the
100th birthday.
*Went boating - i am still soar. NOT AS YOUNG AS I USED TO BE.
* Made raspberry jam - WHICH WAS DELICIOUS if I might say so myself
* We also made authentic Mexican food. SHOUT OUT TO THE AMAZING AURORA AND HER ADORABLE FAMILY!
*jumped on the trampoline and watched a movie EVERY night

GOOD TRIP!!!

Home to Me

So i have been so busy working Especially For Youth Sessions that i hardly have had time to sit and think and blog. Tomorrow is the Fourth of July and I was sitting here thinking about how last year on the fourth of July I was traveling to Egypt on a sticky hot Israeli bus and next year I will be WHO KNOWS WHERE on my mission. Israel was an amazing experience, one that I will never forget. I think about it all the time and I would give almost anything to go back there. I LOVED IT. I am also so excited to go on my mission and have tons of new and fun experiences. It seems like I am always doing something or going somewhere. Right now I am working for EFY, which I absolutely adore and I am so thankful for that opportunity, but every single week I am starting over. I am in a new dorm with a new group of counselors and a new group of girls to manage. The few weeks that I am not working I am at my apartment in Provo and that is slightly awkward because I am never there and I do not really know very many people in my ward. I love new places and new adventures but all this packing and unpacking has made me a little tired.
My Bestie Steph is coming to Royal City with me next week. I have been telling her about it and warning her about the size and stuff for weeks. Yesterday at my grandma's I came across a couple of old family pictures that I was showing to her of our house and us growing up in Royal CIty. I MISS IT! I miss walking barefoot everywhere. I miss the simple peace and quiet. I miss the people. I miss the fresh cherries and I miss Pa and Grandma Jean. I miss my siblings and my high school buddies and my cousins my age. I miss our sweet little community we built there in the heart of the Columbia Basin. I even miss going to dirty old Saddle Mountain Supply to get a pop and say hi to my dad. When i was traveling abroad we went to the American Embassy both in Jordan and Tel Aviv. I remember thinking that as much as I loved being cultured and studying abroad that it was like a little peace of Heaven on Earth because it was so familiar and it felt like home to me. That is what Royal City is like.

IT'S OFFICIAL!

Ok Folks - Here is the final word. I met with my Stake President Yesterday and turned in my mission papers!!! YAY!!!! I am now waiting for my call. It might take a few weeks as this whole process has kind of thrown us for a loop. I know that a lot of you are wondering exactly what is going on and what happened with my heart so - here is the story.
When i was diagnose with Turners (when I was nine) my endocrinologist recommended that we do a heart echo - which is like an ultra-sound of my heart. Lots of patients with Turners Syndrome have heart problems. We found out then that I have a bi-cuspid heart valve. Most people have three cuspids in their heart. It has never really been much of an issue. I get it monitored every few years and take anti-biotic before I go to the dentist. I was not surprised when while filling out my mission papers my doctor in Utah requested that i have a echo done before I go on my mission just to make sure that everything is still checking out fine. I WAS surprised when a few weeks after the echo I got a phone call from the hospital saying that my doctor, Dr. Peterson, wanted me to meet with a Cardiologist at the U of U named Dr. Green. This was a little disconcerning because I had never had to meet with a cardiologist after having an echo done before this. Also, i was in Washington filling out my mission papers and hoping to get them turned in, which could not happen until i had all my medical forms filled out. LAME.
I went back to Utah and i met with Dr. Green, the Cardiologist. My dear Aunt Holly was kind enough to come with me...I WAS SO GLAD SHE WAS THERE. Basically the doctor told me that because of the broken heart valve there has been severe leakage in my heart. Half of the blood being pumped is going back into my heart. This is a bad thing :D My heart valve is pretty messed up and becoming weak. He did not know if a mission would be the best idea and wanted to perform several test before he gave me the green light just to make sure.
I went back the next day with my OTHER aunt Heidi. I rode this exercise bike while hooked up to all these machines and stuff so that my oxygen levels could be checked out. It was a little scary at first. All of the nurses were acting all sweet and stuff because this is a test that you have to take and fail if you need a heart transplant. Be assured that I do not need an entire new heart. The test went well - actually, it went phenomenal. My stats were amazing and for someone with Congenial heart disease/ major heart insufficiency's and Turners Syndrome I am basically one tough cookie. The doctor was impressed. Because i am young and healthy my heart is still very elastic and strong and doing a good job of compensating for my messed up valve. I went back for a ton of blood test too - which all turned out well.
Long story short - I AM GOING ON A MISSION!!!!!!!! Granted I still will have to have my heart valve replaced sometime...which WILL require a bypass, open-heart surgery. Just don't google it. PLEASE. Doctors do this stuff all the time. It is not that big of deal. Every year I will have to have an echo to make sure that my aorta is not dilating. Once it starts to expand i will have to have the surgery, which is why I will be serving in good ol' North America - probably "in or around" a major metropolitan area. The doctor thinks everything will be great for the next two years...but you never know what will happen. If something were to go wrong in the jungles of South Africa it would be disastrous. So we are not going to let that happen. I am going to have an echo on my mission and everything is going to be awesome. I am just glad I get to go! Other than serving in North America i will have NO PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS while on my mission. SCORE!
Judge me if you will, but I was a little disappointed at first because i have such a tough little spirit and I know that Lord could use me somewhere AWESOME and CRAZY but i am not going on a mission to have this wonderful cultural experience or to learn a sweet language. I am going to bring people to the fold and teach them the Gospel. I may not have known that i would be serving here in North America and probably in the US...but Heavenly Father did. I am now totally fine with it because in reality - I WAS ALWAYS GOING TO SERVE HERE, I just did not know it yet. I am so excited to get to know people and teach them the plan of Salvation. Heavenly Father let me have so many wonderful experiences...Jerusalem, Jr. Miss, The Treck to Martin's Cove, Cheer, Dance, and Softball in High School...all of which probably would not be possible if we would have known about this or if it would have happened any earlier. I am so glad all is well and that things could be SO MUCH WORSE. Thank you for your concern and prayers. Feel free to comment and take a guess where I am going.

I will close with the words of a famous LDS Hymn we sing....

It may not be on the mountain’s height, or over the stormy sea;
It may not be at the battle’s front my Lord will have need of me;
But if by a still, small voice He calls to paths I do not know,
I’ll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in Yours,
I’ll go where You want me to go.

P.S. The picture is from EFY. YAY FOR ESPECIALLY FOR YOUTH! I LOVE MY JOB : D

Everything is AMAZING - But nobody is happy

OK so the other day i was walking back to my dorm during freetime at EFY to try to round up my twelve girls for the week. It was pouring rain. I was freezing cold. I had not slept all week because my girls are crazy and love to stay up. My nose would not stop running and my throat was killing me. I was thinking to myself - My life is LAME. I am twenty years old. I am single. I live in a dorm. I play with teenagers all day long. I am a terrible counselor because my girls are running ramped around BYU and they are they only ones that cannot seem to walk from place to place behind their counselor (ME) in a straight line. BAHHHH!
Then i went to a class on gratitude with my girls. I realized something. MY LIFE IS PRETTY FREAKING AMAZING. I go to Brigham Young University! People would kill to go there. It is the best school in the history of EVER. I studied in Jerusalem. My family is perfect and for the most part healthy. I have the best job in the history of the church and get paid to read my scriptures and dance with fourteen year old boys. Here are a couple videos the teacher showed in the class. ENJOY!!!!

Princess Melissa

For the past ten days Princess Melissa has stayed at our house while her mother was back east at Harvard visiting her younger brother Jared. I have not really mentioned Melissa much in my blog. I first met her when i was about eight years old when she and her family moved to Royal City. I remember meeting her at church. Our moothers set up a play date for us. I had never spent much time with someone who had Downs Syndrome before she came to my house. I just knew that she had long, beautiful brown hair and that she still loved dolls, dress ups, and Disney Princesses. Those are three things i will never grow out of for as long as I live. We got along great. She started coming over more and more often and staying at our house sometimes when her parents had to work after school. WE LOVED IT.
Melissa is such a little celestial being. She is so bright and happy and everything is better around our house when she stays with us. Even Big Mr. Jace can't help but smile when she says "WELCOME HOME HANDSOME!"Alot of people think it would be hard to entertain her for ten whole days but i loved every minute of it. She notices all the small things in life. I LOVE HER SO MUCH. She is brilliant. She remembers everything and we quote our favorite movies to each other all day long. I love it when she sings an entire Shainia Twain CD on her Princess Microphone Machine or when we go to the park and play on the swings. I love it when we race or when we pretend to be mermaids at the waterpark. I love that she accepts me 100% for exactly who I am. She never tries to make me different or change me because she thinks I am awesome just as I am, but at the same time she brings out the best in me. I MISS YOU BUDDY! Be Good for your Mother. I know I know, you always are....

Back to Blogging

SORRY GUYS! Things have been pretty crazy these past few weeks. Finals and moving sucked all the time and energy out of me. Now that i am done with test and officially moved into my new apartment i finally have some time to blog.
This past weekend my mother and I - along with my aunts and a couple of friends from Royal City went to Womans Conference at BYU. My grandma was one of the presenters, which was really neat although not surprising because she is an AMAZING person. She is so cute and did a wonderful job. Nicely Done Grandmary. I LOVE YOU! It was an awesome weekend just spent with some of my favorite girls. I learned alot and am glad i had the opportunity to attend.
Saturday my brother Riley and I drove home with mom. I am going to be working for Especially For Youth as a counselor this summer but i do not have to be back in Utah until the end of this month so i am going to spend a couple weeks chilling at home and enjoying the small window of time where all six of us will be here together. I am also working on my mission papers and can turn them in next month. EXCITING STUFF!!!
I am excited to be home and to blog about all my adventures on the farm. You should all be excited to read them. More to come soon i am sure. LOVE YOU! Hope summer is going AWESOME! Enjoy the pictures of me, my grandma, my mom, and cute aunts - along with the Ladies Of the Night, or LON as they like to be called (my grandma's group of friends) who came to support her. A couple of them also presented. Between her daughters and friends - and most of all her FAVORITE grandchild my grandma had quite the little support group.