Trip to Ida[home].

For those of you who don't understand my obsession with Idaho, that's alright. I lived in Idaho for a 18 months of my life. I served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints there in Idaho. And it was an incredible experience!

My husband and I were able to go up to Idaho and visit people and see the sights. It was wonderful!

We started off our trip in the morning and I was sooooo excited! We stopped in Grace, Idaho (a super small town). My last companion (Sister Hunkin) is serving there and I got to see her!!

It was good to see her and for her to meet my husband. She is so great and she is working hard! 

Next was to...THE JOLLEY'S!!!!! Whoooo! I was so excited!!

We met Zoey at her work and she waxed our eyebrows! (I needed that!) And she waxed our noses. That was an interesting experience haha! We stayed in Chubbuck, Idaho! We were able to hang out together with the Jolley family and chat it up! This time in jeans instead of a skirt and no 9:00pm curfew haha! It was amazing!

The next day James and I went to Idaho Falls, Idaho. My first area as a missionary and my longest.

We stopped at Reed's Dairy! The ice cream is sooo good!

Then we went to the see the Idaho Falls Temple and the Visitor Center. My area was right next to the temple!

It's such a beautiful temple!!! 

We were able to see a lot of my investigators and members from the mission! It was wonderful being there!!

Then we went to the Chubbuck 3rd ward Christmas party! It was so much fun! A lot of people were excited to see me and meet my husband! We also went to that ward on Sunday with the Jolley's! So much fun!!

I am so grateful for my mission and all the people that touched my heart there. I will forever love Idaho! Forever.

The Book of Mormon Will Change Your Life

For those of you out there, I want you to know that I LOVE THE BOOK OF MORMON! And I know it is true. And I also know that it can change lives. It has changed my life in more ways than I can imagine.

I'm currently taking a Book of Mormon class at BYU and one of our assignments is a project due at the end of the semester. I wanted to make a short video that could help people know that the Book of Mormon can change lives. Now this video means so much more to me than just a school assignment. 

Watch this video. Share it with others. Help them know truth. 

The Book of Mormon holds truths that can change your life. Just put it to the test. You will see for yourself the positive change it brings. 

The Book of Mormon will change your life. 

Thanks for the Giving

In the season of thanks and gratitude, I wanted to tell you what I'm thankful for. I thankful for my husband and family, my education, the gospel, the Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ.

Our Thanksgiving was small, but fun!

We started the Thanksgiving festivities off as I always had my whole childhood.... WITH DOUGHNUTS! Yum! Then watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! It was fun! Then here was the change of pace... I was in charge of cooking. My FIRST Thanksgiving meal that I had to cook. No pressure. But everything turned out perfect! It was just the husband and me, so it wasn't too difficult :).  We has a delicious feast and we were sooooo fool. We had apple pie and ice cream for dessert! We napped and watched Christmas movies. It was such a good holiday!

Overall it was a great Thanksgiving!! So grateful for everything!

OH! And here's a highlight from last week:

We went to a BYU basketball game and they did GREAT! WE WON!! Go Cougars!!!

Home Sweet Home

It has been fun living in our tiny little apartment! We moved to this new place and into an apartment that we had only seen on the computer. It was weird at first, but we've really come to love it here :). It may be small, but it's ours. We like it. I posted a while back about moving in and I promised before and after pics of our set up. When we first moved in all we had was a bed and a couch haha! But now that we've gotten more settled, we've been able to make our place a home. We aren't renovating or anything fancy, I guess you could say it's just a little interior designing :). There are still more things to do, but I think it's okay to show you some things now :).

Kitchen:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Bedroom: This room is small. The only thing that fits in there is our bed, haha!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Bathroom:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Living Room:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

 There is still more things we want to do, like put up more pictures! (We love pictures and we have an empty wall). And maybe another place to sit haha! But we have our couch and we both have desks now for studying and working! I pretty excited about that because I got my desk two days ago haha!
Things are good and we'll keep on keeping on slowly. It's been fun to see the place change :).

Because Change is Real.

I've got to be honest. Over these past few weeks/months things have been off, personally. Like somethings missing. I've been trying to figure out what it is. It's been bugging and me and after trying different things I still felt lost. However, it is kind of funny to see how Heavenly Father works with me. It is SO subtle (sometimes I wish it wasn't so subtle). I usually miss the signs the first few times haha! But I know that God is helping me learn something in the process. I remember praying and asking God to help me find the missing piece or make the feeling to away.

As time passed I continued to pray for the same thing and I still constantly felt like something was missing in my life. But what? My scripture study has been super great, I'm saying my prayers (personally and with my husband), I'm attending my church meetings, fulfilling my visiting teaching, school at BYU is going fantastic, I love my job at the MTC, my husband is so supportive, generous, kind and wonderful to me. I even started indexing haha! What the heck was missing?! My life sounded perfect. Why was I feeling this way? I was so frustrated. It made me sad. Why was God ignoring me?

Then just this past week I've noticed small little insights that I've gained and little by little I'm beginning to realize what the missing piece is. I still don't know exactly what that piece is, but I've been inspired by the Spirit of small changes I needed to make in my life and I've been much happier since those changes have been made.

It all started when my husband finally reached a goal he had been working toward! He was so happy and filled with so much motivation. He said to me, "when you have a goal and you work hard to achieve it, then you will." That really stuck with me.

Then a little later in my Book of Mormon class we talked about agency and how we have the power to choose. To choose righteousness or disobedience. I thought to myself that I have the choice to be happy. It's MY choice.

Another little moment was just this past week when I read a blog post from a sister from my mission who had just returned home, (Emily Rawlins--Her blog). She said this, 

"The hardest adjustment is figuring out who I am now. I'm not the person I was before the mission, nor am I the person I was during the mission. Those seasons of life are over. Those time have passed. I need to now become the person I am during this season of life." 

I realized that I totally skipped that when I returned home from my mission. I don't know who I am. I'm not the me I was before the mission and I'm not Sister Faagai either. I guess these past months I was trying to be some combination of the two; I don't know. All I know is that I need to be the person that God needs me to be right now. I know who I want to be, but I'm not there yet.

I need to change.

The next thing that helped me to know this truth happened last night. Al Fox Carraway (if you don't about her, look her up! She's awesome) came and spoke at my school. She talked about change. It was like she was talking to me. I even bought her book afterwards haha! And there's a part of the book entitled "Change." It talks about a bishop that asked a group of young women, "What is the most important part of the gospel." She says that the girls yelled out the answers like, "prayer." "Sacrament." Etc. Those are all awesome answers, but the bishop shook his head. The bishop said... "the most important part of the gospel is that people can change."

BOOM!!

Okay Heavenly Father. I get it. Haha.

Change is real.

I know now that are things that I need to change in my life. That's my next question to Heavenly Father. What should I change? I feel like I have an idea of some things that I need to change. Such as, I need to stop trying to be the person before my mission and I also need to stop living as if I'm still 'Sister Faagai'. I need use the things I've learned and apply them to help me find who I am meant to be right now.

I need to change:

• By having more meaningful scripture study & use the study methods taught by Elder Bednar
• By having better eating habits and a create a healthier lifestyle
• By prioritizing things better
• By having more charity
• By being more humble
• By building my confidence
• By sharing the gospel more often
• By focusing on being spiritually fed
• By finding and KEEPING my motivation
• By NOT comparing myself to others

I know that I'm slowly becoming who God needs me to be right now. Like really slow; before, it kind of felt like I was moving through molasses. But now that I know there are changes that I need to make, it's making things move a little nicer.

I know I'm not perfect and I'll be working toward that my whole life. But I know that I can work everyday to get closer. I'm grateful for Jesus Christ and His perfect example.

I want to share this quote with you by President Henry B. Eyring:

"Most of us have had some experience with self-improvement efforts. My experience has taught me this about how people and organizations improve: the best place to look is for small changes we could make in things we do often. There is power in steadiness and repetition. And if we can be led by inspiration to choose the right small things to change, consistent obedience will bring great improvement."

Change is real. God is good. And I can do this.

Rap Battles. My thang!

Last weekend BYU had student rap battles! It was so much fun! James and I had a blast! AND Cr4w (a group of talented mormon/return missionary rappers from Provo). They are so talented! Look them up! Here's one of their videos. They are so funny!!

Anyway! It was sooooo fun!

Self Evaluate.

So I've been feeling super unmotivated lately.. Especially in my schooling. When I have tests or papers due, I wait until the last minute to cram in information and write it out. This is SO UNLIKE me. I usually start my study preparation about two weeks before the exam and I usually start working on a paper the moment I hear about it. My "unmotivated self" always feels tired and stressed out. But my "organized/plan ahead self" feels calm and everything is done at good quality and turned in on time. I miss the "organized/plan ahead self."

AND, I've been working on registering for classes next semester and now that I have a degree I'm working toward, its crunch time! I need to straighten up and do better. I just can't find the motivation. Ugh... It's annoying. On the bright side I got a gym membership and I have been working out in the mornings! So thumbs up for that! And only that haha!

All I'm saying is that I need to be better. Starting now. In our Family Home Evening this past week, my husband shared this message from President Dieter F. Uchdorf:

"How many times have we started something and not finished? Diets? Exercise programs? Commitments to read the scriptures daily? Decisions to be better disciples of Jesus Christ? How often do we make resolutions in January and pursue them with red-hot determination for a few days, a few weeks, or even a few months only to find that by October, the flame of our commitment is little more than cold ash?One day I ran across a funny picture of a dog lying next to a piece of paper he had shredded. It read, “Certificate of Dog-Obedience Training.”We are like that sometimes.We have good intentions; we start strong; we want to be our best self. But in the end we leave our resolutions shredded, discarded, and forgotten.It’s human nature to stumble, fail, and sometimes want to drop out of the race. But as disciples of Jesus Christ, we have committed not only to begin the race but also to finish it—and finish it with our torch still burning brightly. The Savior promised His disciples, 'He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved'." 

Hmmm... How many times? I'm recommitting to finish the things I start. Our budgeting, my projects, diet, my education, etc. I need to stay motivated and do this once and for all.

:)

College Life... At it's Finest

Sooooooo, college. It's, well, going. My classes are fine and stuff, but I feel like I'm always either, at work, in class, doing homework, studying, or cleaning the house (and then I'm sleeping the other 6-7 hours of the day). Don't get me wrong, I still do fun things from time to time, like date night once a week with my husband!

(This is when he took me to go see the Goosebumps movie last week! It was sooooo good!!)

Anywho, I feel like I need a hobby, you know?

So I'm asking all of you!

HELP ME FIND A HOBBY!

Here are my stipulations:

• It's gotta be fun
• Not expensive
• Something I can do in the winter and summer (it doesn't have to be outdoors, but it can if you got a good idea)
• Not too time consuming (a hobby that I can stop and pick back up if need be)
• Something that I can do on my own (it can also be something that can include other people, but if I was by myself, I'd still be able to do it)
• Something to help me actually take a break from from my "to-do list"

Alright everyone, if you have good suggestions of ideas, let me know! You can comment on this post, or message me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or my email - moanafaagai@yahoo.com. 

Anything helps! I want to hear the ideas :).

Welllllllllll, in other news, I found out what I going to major in!! I've been meeting with the career advisor at my school for a while now and after several meetings, tests, sorting through results, researching potential majors, I found it! I'm majoring in.... SOCIOLOGY! I'm excited! It's SO different from when I started college (as a pharmacy major). I'm interested to learn why people do what they do. And my minor is in Family Life. So many adventures up ahead! My goal is to graduate in two years. Hopefully sooner than that, but we'll see :). I feel like I'm finally working toward something now :).

OH YA!
P.S. I like to do calligraphy a little :)

It Must Be Midterms....

I am so sorry that it's been a while since I last wrote! but I've been crazy busy with work, homework and studying like nobody's business, haha! It must be midterms time.. hmm.. Any who, what's been going on besides all that?

Well, last weekend James and I had our mission reunions! It was a blasty blast! We went to mine first in Salt Lake City.

So many fun memories! It was wonderful seeing my mission president and his wife! And James got to meet them too! It was wonderful and I got to see so many people I served around! It was amazing! Then we drove up to Ogden to got to James' reunion! That was fun too! I got to meet James' mission president and his wife. They are definitely awesome people! And I can tell that they care for James very much. And I was able to meet people that James served with/around. All-in-all it was such a wonderful night!

Then Saturday and Sunday was.... GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!

I learned so much! And is was great to see who the three new apostles are! So many good quotes and words of advice and counsel. I loved every minute. I can't wait to read it all in the ensign and study everything! It's my favorite :). If you missed it, that's alright, just click the picture above and you'll get caught up :).

I'm so grateful for all that I'm experiencing. Not everything is super easy, but things are definitely great and I'm learning and growing so much. I love it.

I Could Get Used to This!

So we've officially been in Utah for a month and it has been eventful! I just want to tell you that I love Provo! It has been a blast being here and seeing friends and learning and being back in school. I LOVE SCHOOL! I love the assignments, the challenges, being busy, the due dates, etc. I know, I'm weird, but I like those kinds of things, haha!

So last week James and I and one of our friends, Vanessa, went to Logan, Utah. It was fun! We went up for some of James's mission companion's farewell testimonies, because they were preparing to head home the next day. It was so fun to see him with all of these men that he came to know and grow close to. It was wonderful! We were also able to visit and stay with some other friends of ours! Laurin and Dillon (Vanessa's sister and bro-in-law)!

We visited Utah State campus (where James served on his mission)! We went to the Aggie A!

It was a blast! We had so much fun visiting people from his mission too! We visited some members he worked with and some Elders he served with. It was so fun to meet new people!

We also hung out at the Logan temple!

It is such a beautiful temple!!! Then we went to the departing testimony meeting and we loved it! It was like a mini mission reunion for him haha!

      

It was a fantastic weekend!!

THEN...

...this past weekend has been pretty normal, except I went to a bridal shower for SAMANTHA FREDRICK! We served in the mission together! I'm so excited for her! I can't wait to see what plans God has for her and her groom. They are going to do great things! PLUS her shower was like a mission reunion for us haha!!

               

New Things New Adventures... You know.

Soooo, I officially finished my first week back to school after TWO YEARS! I was so nervous the first day. I was thinking, "what if I don't remember how to do this?" "what if I don't know how to be normal?" I was freaking out! But of course, it worked out (it always does). My first class was Doctrines of the Book of Mormon. What a wonderful class to start of the week and start off the day. My professor is hilarious! We're learning more about the "inside" of the Book of Mormon. More than just reading from cover to cover, but studying and getting lost in its words. I LOVE it!

Then I had my Samoan class! Hahaha! That class is the best! My teacher is from Samoa and he is sooo funny! The class is full of a bunch of polynesian kids and we laugh so much (of course while learning haha).

Then there's my Family Finance class. I love that class too!!! I'm definitely learning in there. AND then there's my Accounting 200 class... First off, my professor is so great! She's funny and very passionate about helping us learn. The class has about 600 students... we have class in the auditorium.  So that's a little different for me, but I'm dealing with it haha!

Along with barely starting school and getting back into the swing of things, James and I have been on a crazy job hunt! And let's just say that the Lord is definitely mindful of all His children. We've been praying and praying for job opportunities and to get hired. After several interviews, God has provided for us :). I got a job at the Missionary Training Center Bookstore. And James got a job and a Pest Control company here in Provo. We are so blessed and we are so grateful!

Well, with all this newness in my life, I've noticed a change in myself. Not a change that I've wanted. I've noticed that I've been a lot more timid. That is not me! I'm not saying that I go up and talk to every person I see. But I'm usually pretty good at talking with others and introducing myself and trying out for clubs or teams, but that hasn't been the case with me. So I'm making a goal with myself and you're going to help hold me accountable.

My goal is to do the things that scare me. 

I know that I can't do EVERYTHING, but I going to try to do almost everything that scares me. Anywhere from asking an employee at Wal-mart for help, to trying out for the intramural soccer team (I'm not actually going to try out for the team--not because I'm scared--just because I don't want to and I don't have time haha, but you get my point). Anyway, it's time for change.

             

 

OH! And here are some more updates to our Utah adventures thus far! We've been to the BYU Creamery! Which is a must if you ever get the opportunity to come to Provo. And we went to the Provo temple, which neither of us had been to since we were missionaries. It was a crazy time capsule thing happening in my mind haha!! And there's this awesome old bookstore that sells a bunch of old/used books! It's so cool!