Excerpts from my letter home

"Classes are good- and hard. I thought thinking about only one thing would be a break, but  thinking  spiritual all the time can be exhausting! I study so hard, and sometimes I feel like my eyeballs are on the floor on one side of the room and my brain is mush on the other! BUT, I am learning a lot! I absolutely LOVE our district. These 19 yr. olds really help loosen me up so I don't get too serious with myself. Also, chivalry is NOT dead at the MTC. Sisters always go first and I don't think I have opened a door myself since I have been here. They take your trays and stand up when you come in the room! Its AMAZING!!! Food is OK, Mostly stick to wraps and salads. Funny how the days are so long, but fly by! I have 2 gym classes and love to work out! I'm not used to sitting this much. I am just working really hard, and trying my best. I love it! This week has been great and I am getting more used to it."

Chelsea's P-day is on Tuesdays and she will be departing the MTC about the 9th or 11th of Aug. You can write to her on dearelder.com. Her box # is 262 CA SFER. She loves loves LOVES mail like any missionary! She would love to hear from anyone!

*note, this is just a generic pic of some sweet sisters, not Chels. Ha!

Chelsea's get together at the house w/ family and friends. MTC send off!! Wish I would have taken pictures of EVERYONE there, but I was busy cookin. Thanks so much to everyone who helped with the food and came to support Chelsea! Couldn't have done it with out you! It was a great week!

And...I'm off!!

Well, after many months of anticipation, prayer, lots of tears, and a lot of answered prayers I am headed off to the MTC!! In just a half an hour I will be set apart to be a missionary of the LDS church.

I am SO excited and nervous to go....yet I can't wait another second.

I am so grateful for everyone who attended my farewell on sunday! It was a mad house and 400 tacos later and one crazy household I saw so many people I adore and cherish so much.

Well, my bags are packed, good-byes have been said, all the tears I possibly think I could squeeze out have been wept, my last texts have been sent, and I am ready to go!

I am ready to go out and talk to the world of the good news of the gospel. To meet all those who are prepared and searching for answers I am so excited to give.

To talk to those people I know without a doubt I met in the pre-existence and promised I would tell them what I know...what I feel, and what I have prayed about and had answered.

To submit everything I have to the Lord, and to give up all for the next 18 months.

So I say to you my goodbyes!! I love you all and know I will be praying for you, and any prayers you want to send to up for me I would love.

This is the real gospel. I love it! And I would never be going out and doing what I am doing if I didn't know for sure.

Be good, and be safe!

My mom will be updating this blog with some things that are happening each week! Soooo, more later!

Love Always,
Sister Gould

P.S. My updated addresses will be to the side :) If you write, I will most definitely write back!

These last few days...

have been a little crazy.

Trying to get ready to leave for a year and half is a lot more taxing than I thought. We have been cleaning the house like mad, packing, shopping and of course having a little fun.

I also went with friends to float the Provo river the other day.

It was beautiful.

Not sure I would do it again for a while.

My tube I think was popped from the beginning which is not so fun.

 It began when current swept me under the bridge where I smacked my head and thought I was going to die.

The water was SO cold! We couldn't feel anything.

I also wish I could show everyone my bum and the roughness of it. Since my tube was so flat I scraped bottom many times....really hard!

James also got knocked off and in some INSANE way he got the rope of my tube caught around his neck...it was also way scary.

I mean, I definitely recommend it at least once in your life! We had a good time and we laughed a lot...I just don't know how inclined I am to get back in, mostly because it is so dang cold.

I also saw Million Dollar Baby  for the first time.

Okaaaaayyy....what the judd? That is the saddest, hardest movie to sit through ever. That is some heavy stuff and I don't know if I liked it.

Definitely worth all of the academy awards it was given...very, very well done. Don't get me wrong...I just can't do that sad. Maybe once every 10 years....max.

Also it was my Daddy's birthday today! Happy birthday to him, sure love and appreciate him so SO much!

It's been a good weekend...hope yours was great also! More later :)

Disclaimer:

Some days when I wake up I go back and look at my blog and think...."wow, did I really write that?" or "did I REALLY spell that that way?" or...."that really doesn't make that much sense..."

Well, kids. I may or may not take a sleeping pill pretty much every night and I don't ALWAYS remember actually blogging or even getting on my computer....

So, every once in a while when you read a really dumb/really grammatically incorrect/misspelled (Julie), blog - know I probably was half asleep not knowing what I was doing to the fullest extent.

Ha. ha.

Maybe I should lock my computer at night.

In other news BESIDES Thailand....

I am most definitely leaving on a mission in less than a week and a half. You can be sure of that! And so am I. It is kind of weird and I am all of the sudden ridiculously nervous. This nervousness and business have accounted to one put to the side blog.

Top twelve things I have have learned about getting ready to go on a mission:

1. No one can stop asking you if you have filled up your canteen yet, or if you need help filling it. Aka, have you made out?

2. You can actually find some fairly cute outfits which fit all the mission guidelines.

3. Nylons never have been, and never will be comfortable. Buying them is worse. We sat in the nylon isle for a good solid hour picking out between "town toupe" and "barely nude". Ick.

4. You must ALWAYS try on at least one terrible dress. One that can either help you sing "I Hope They Call Me On a Mission", with more gusto, or one in particular sing, The Sound of Music and officially be cast in their show.

5. There is a lot more to be done than you think and a lot more money involved than you hoped for.

6. Parents are extremely helpful and do a lot for you when you decide to go on a mish. Thanks Mom and Dad for everything!

7. Everywhere you go people want to know where you are going and then talk to you about it for about 20 minutes, if you are a stranger. If you are a neighbor, those conversations tend to get quite lengthy because they say they probably won't see you at your farewell so this is our goodbye. I end up seeing them double than normal that week.

8. The more it gets down to the wire, the less I feel like I am really going.

9. That I feel super inadequate to teach the gospel.

10. How terrified I am to teach around Prop 8 in California.

11. How much I am going to miss my rad friends who have just been through it all with  me and my parents, and brother's and sisters...and everyone! I get teary, honest-tee when I think about it.

12 AND HOW FREAKIN' EXCITED I AM!! I am pumped and ready to spread the good news of the gospel like you would not believe!

 Hope to see some of you at my farewell next Sunday the 18th at 9!

More later...