Called to Serve

Thursday, April 26th, 2012 is a day I will never forget! It is the day I was called to serve in the Indiana Indianapolis mission!

The day started really early. I fell asleep around 2 a.m. woke up at 5, then again at 6:30, then finally at 7 I was just up. I might have been a little too excited to sleep! I got ready for the day, and since my first class isn't until 10:15, I had a lot of time to just sit around, so I got some homework done, knowing that I wouldn't want to do any homework after classes that day. Then I left my apartment, with my mail key, and went to the mail room. The mail comes anytime between 9 and noon, so I checked it at 9:45 on my way out to class, and nothing was there. I had left a little note with my apartment manager to have her text me when my call came so I would know that it was there. Then I went to my classes.

My first class was mission prep. Class always starts with my teacher asking if anyone got their calls. No one had, and then he asked if anyone was expecting their calls today, and I raised my hand. Half way through class I had the weirdest feeling, and I just knew my call was here. I peeked at my cell phone and sure enough, there was a text saying that my call was here! At that point I was dying, because it was about 10:40, and I had to stay on campus until 3:00!!! But at the same time, a feeling of peace came over me, because at least I KNEW it was in the mail and that I would have it in just a matter of hours. Also during that class I got a text from my mom asking if I was in class. So right after class I called her and told her it was in the mail! I think they were dying just as much as I was!!!

My next class was sewing, an hour and a half long class, but luckily it went fast. Yes my mind was always on my call, but I had a lot of cutting and sewing to do before the hour and a half was up, so I just kept myself busy and luckily I finished sewing the hem to the main part of my pillowcase. So that was great!!!

This is the part of the day that just kills me. On Tuesdays I only have those two classes, but on Thursdays, I have an additional class at 2-3 only for tutors. We are only meeting 4 times in the semester, and it is basically just a "how do you become the best tutor you can be" discussion for an hour. Which normally would be a very good class, but I was just annoyed that I had to sit there instead of being home and opening my call! I basically just watched the clock and counted down the minutes until the class was home.

Then... it was 3:00! I met up with my roommate who was also going to walk home at that time and together we hurried our way all the way up to my new apartment complex. Once I was inside I ran to the mail room and got it! I can't remember but I think I might have squealed! My roommate was holding the elevator open for me, and once I was inside I almost started opening the call right there. I had to force myself not to! We get to my apartment and there was a sign on the door that said "Missionary Construction Zone" and a Congrats Sister Cordner written on it! And when I walked inside there was my roommates all excited and a box of cupcakes that also said YAY SISTER CORDNER on them! So then I drop my stuff and hug everyone and run to my room.

I sat down on my bed, pulled the papers out, and put the envelope over the letter so I wouldn't read ahead. I read every single word...

Dear Sister Cordner:

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Indiana Indianapolis Mission.

I wanted to stop and scream after that, but I kept on reading...

You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, September 12, 2012. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the English language.

I read the entire letter, through wet eyes, and I took a minute to compose myself at what just happened. Then I ran out and told my roommates where I was going! I was so excited I started to cry and then laugh and then mess up the name Indianapolis. (Which is easy to mess up since it is 6 whole syllables. Thats a lot to say for one girl! Then I called my parents and tried to tell them, but the only thing they kept saying was "WE CAN'T UNDERSTAND YOU!!!" I think my crying at that point was more like uncontrollable weeping and wailing, and I could barely talk.

I honestly have never felt so happy in my whole life. After I called everyone in my family and my best friends, I texted everyone else, and then put it on facebook. I also went to my old apartment and saw my old roommates and old FHE group who had all gone to my old apartment to hear where I was going. I told them and they all clapped and gave me hugs! I did the same thing to my best friend Gaby, and she cried, so I cried again! (Basically it was a pretty emotional day)

After all the hype got done of telling people I pondered the fact that I was going to Indiana. Such a random state that I would have never guessed in 50 guesses! (Okay maybe in 50 guesses I would have!) But the more I think about it, the more perfect it feels! I was honestly scared to serve foreign. My whole life I told people I wanted to go state side because I like the idea of being able to start teaching and serving people the first day without having to struggle with a crazy new language. I can barely speak English, let alone Cantonese, Icelandic, Bulgarian or Spanish!!! Plus, I always loved the idea of serving state side so after my mission I could return to my mission and see the people I worked with.

I went to bed pretty early that day because I was so physically and emotionally tired. The words Indianapolis Indiana just kept ringing through my head all day. I already know that this is the perfect mission for me, its so hard to explain! I am just in awe at how perfect I feel this call is. And I just cannot wait until September 12th rolls along and I can enter the MTC and start what I know will be the best 18 months of my life!

GO COLTS! (I was told that I have to be their fan now!) haha

Pins and Needles

So basically I have no patience! My mission papers were submitted on April 12th and my call will be here any day! My bishop texted me on Wednesday of last week saying my papers were in Salt Lake waiting to come back to me! People say that mission calls come on Thursdays, so I should hopefully be looking at only two more days of waiting... But it is honestly KILLING ME!!! I told my mom this was worse than any December 23rd I have ever had. She pointed out that usually by the 23rd I already know everything I'm getting, and that this is the first thing in my life that I am actually going to be surprised over! So maybe I've been known to be a little bit of a sneak when it comes to presents and surprises and such... and now that I can't sneak, I just don't know what to do!!! Every morning I have been praying for patience that I will be able to survive the horrible waiting game... Today my mission prep class was all about getting called. We even watched youtube videos of people opening their call! I was about to explode in class because I was so jealous that those people had their call and I don't have mine yet! So now you know I am a sneak, I have no patience, and I am coveting after other people! Probably not the best qualities for a soon to be sister missionary! I will work on it!

This last week (besides the horrible waiting) hasn't been to bad! My last first week of school... My semester has been off to a great start, and I am really enjoying myself. Its kind of awesome not working at the health center. I don't have to go to classes until 10:15 (12:45 on Fridays) and I'm done with classes every day by either 1 or 3. If I was working at the Health Center, I would be on campus from 8-5 just like I have done every semester since I've been up here, so its a nice change of pace! I love tutoring, even though I have only done it 3 times this semester. But the subject material hasn't quite gotten hard yet, so I understand that it will be slow for the next couple weeks. Hopefully it will pick up soon though! I am pretty bored without it! I don't have a ton of homework to do yet. I had this Econ essay I was dreading, but once I sat down to do it it wasn't too bad. Also I have done small assignments for my nutrition class, and I have to debate why I'm against abortion for my persuasion class, so I should probably come up with an outline for that. Thats basically it. This week I start my first project in sewing, so I might be spending time in the sewing lab a few days here and there to get ahead. And surprisingly there hasn't been homework for my bowling class yet! Oh and I bowled a 112 on the first day! Woohoo! My roommates are really awesome this semester (honestly I have completely lucked out as far as roommates go every semester!) I'm looking forward to a GREAT last semester! But most importantly, I'm looking forward to THURSDAY!!! If you haven't already, let me know what your guesses for my mission are! Apparently the winner gets a twinkie! ( its a weird Cordner thing, and I'm not sure who will be supplying the twinkie either, just that the winner gets one! lol)

Spring Break!!!

I have had the best week EVER! It started last Thursday when I moved into my new apartment, drove to SLC and got on a flight to Phoenix. The very next morning my mom and I flew to Columbus Ohio! It had been a whole year since I saw my sister Angell and her kiddos. Not to mention the one kiddo that I hadn't even met yet! Brinley is 9 months old, and she is basically my new Best Friend EVER!!! She is the chillest baby, and such a little chunkers! We had such a blast together.

Angell sure did keep us busy every day. It was Anika's spring break too, so we had a lot of fun adventures to go on everyday. Saturday we went to the church building and the girls did their little easter egg hunt! Then we went home and played all day long. Monday we took the girls to the movies and saw The Lorax. (Which I think I liked more than the girls) Tuesday we went to Amish country. Its pretty interesting to know that people still live that way, that they choose to live that way! Its pretty crazy to me! Then we dropped the girls off and Angell, Sean and I went to see Hunger Games. Wednesday we took the girls to the zoo, and although it was pretty cold, we all had lots of fun! Thursday we took the girls to this house of bounce, which was just a huge room of inflatables that they jumped on. Then we went to Red Robin, and then put some movies on for the girls to watch while Angell and my mom and I played 7 games of Settlers! We had to play until I won! Okay not really, but that game really does bring out the worst in me!

These nieces of mine are the cutest girls in the world! I wish I had carried around a notebook and wrote down every funny thing they said! I literally was laughing all day long around the two older girls. They have such cute little attitudes, and personalities, and I just love them so much!!!

Thursday night we left Columbus and flew back to Phoenix. Friday was literally a day in paradise! My parents just finished re-doing their backyard, so I woke up and put on my swimsuit and went straight to the backyard! I laid outside for about two hours until Kyle texted me asking what I was doing. He suggested that we should hang out in the backyard, and I told him I already was. So him and his family came over and we went to the patio and sat on the couches out there! Then the two of us went to Paradise Bakery Cafe and got sandwiches for everyone. Then we ate our paradise food in our backyard paradise, and just had a fun time! Then I watched a Say Yes to the Dress: Bridesmaids marathon!!! I kind of love that show! Then Staci came over and the two of us went to dinner! We always have thing to talk about, I just love hanging out with her!

I was supposed to be on my way home now, but I woke up today just to find out my plane was cancelled. And because of that, all of the other flights to Salt Lake filled up today too. So I have a REALLY early flight tomorrow I'm praying that I will get on. If not I guess I will just stay in Gilbert forever! Except not really, because in a matter of days there is going to be this letter waiting for me in Rexburg that I really am dying to read! I literally can't sleep at night because I start to think about all the places I could possibly be serving, and the fact that in less than two weeks now I should know!!! AAAHHHH!!!!!

And now for some cute pictures of my fun week!!!










This is a picture of a Dominos delivery driver who is eating a burger, a french fry, and you can't really tell but has her phone to her ear, all whilst driving on a busy road... We think she deserves best delivery driver of the year award... NOT!

I'm Baby Hungry!

April Fools!!!

Usually I hate this day, but today I tried to be funny and fool a few people! (It didn't really work...) Mostly I told people that I wasn't going on a mission and that I wanted to stay and get married instead! The only person who believed me was my dearest Amy friend! I just love her! I also threw a fit this morning and told my roommate Bri that I didn't want to be her roommate any more and that I never wanted to hang out with her. She was sad for like a second but then I said April Fools and she wasn't sad any more! I texted Angell that I broke my wrist and couldn't come to see her this week. She still hasn't responded yet, but I'm sure she will know its a prank!

My brother texted me that his wife was prego. My mom texted me saying she couldn't go to Ohio with me next week. And I have been waiting for something from Keri, but I guess she couldn't come up with something! I never did get a prank from her.

What a stupid holiday this is, yet it is so fun at the same time! (Well, its fun when the pranks are harmless!)

It has been such a great weekend! At this point I don't have a ton of homework left to do, and not a ton of things to really study for. I have a presentation tomorrow morning in one of my classes, a group project that just needs to be looked over and submitted, a calculus final, a business final, a presentation in my marriage prep class, passing off the Family Proclamation (which I ALMOST have all the way memorized), and turning in a poster that is finished! Once I'm done with all of that I can clean my apartment, move my stuff into my new apartment, drive to Utah, get on a flight to Arizona, spend the night, and then fly to Ohio first thing Friday morning! I can't wait to get there, I haven't seen my sister or her family since last April! Then after a fun filled week there, it will be back to school for my LAST SEMESTER! And before I know it I will get my mission call!!! (I'm thinking I should have it on April 26!!!)

Also, I just need to say that Conference was amazing this weekend! I loved all the talks on missionary work, obviously, and I really loved Elder Perry's talk on the Book of Mormon. But most of all, I loved seeing a certain missionary in the choir singing Saturday afternoon! He looked so cute (besides his hair being so short!)

Well I hope everyone had fun reading this really lame post. I deactivated my facebook account this week so I could focus on my school work and finals, and I have literally been going crazy without it. Everyday I think of something that would be funny to post on facebook, and then I remember, oh ya, I don't have one right now! So then I think about blogging about it, but its not really blog-worthy, so then I just keep it to myself! What a weird concept right, keeping personal things to yourself and not sharing it with all of the internet! Its pretty new to me! I don't even think this post was blog-worthy, but I felt like I needed to put something out there for my peeps to read!

Texting Phrase-ology

At dinner we were discussing the dos and don'ts of texting the opposite gender. Hillaree thought I was so smart that I should write a book about it, but I'm thinking I will start with a blog post, and see if a book deal comes from this!!!

How to Start a Good Conversation Over Texts:
A lot of people think just saying, "hey" is a great conversation starter. I want to make it clear that this is NOT okay. This will confuse the other person like none other. Perhaps a, "Hey, how are things going?" or a more specific question "Hey, how was your test today?" are MUCH better starters. It will actually get the conversation going, instead of the awkward "hey" "hey back" "whats up" "nothing..." start. The best way to start a conversation would be to use an inside joke to make them laugh, or to ask them a specific question about something. Girls really like it when their name is included. A good example would be... "Tara, whats up! Have you seen the Hunger Games yet?" (P.S. I did see the Hunger Games today, and I LOVED IT!!!! Thats for another blog though...)

How to Keep a Good Conversation Going:
A lot of times phrases such as, lol, haha, or thats funny, can end the conversation prematurely. When you receive this kind of text, you have to make a decision. There are three options:
1. The conversation is over, and you are not going to text them back.
2. You don't want the conversation to end, so you text back a question to guarantee their response.
3. You don't want it to end, but you don't want to act like you have to keep texting them, so you text another "ender" to see if they will keep it going. This is called putting the ball in their court. It is now up to them to decide if they want to keep the conversation going. This is a good way to not come off too needy or desperate, but sometimes it leads to a never ending back and forth of "lol" "Ya haha" "Your funny" "you are too"...

How to Deal with Awkward Conversations:
Too many times the conversation turns awkward to the point of no return. The best way to get out of this would be to change the subject. You have to finish up the last thing you were talking about, but you can do that with a "lol" or a ":)" and then ask a new question or state something funny that just happened. "Lol, OMG, you would not believe what I just saw..." That would make the other person forget about what they were just saying and become interested in what you are about to say next. Only do this though if something funny actually did just happen, or you will look like a fool!

How to Manage the Fear of Texting First:
I saw something on pinterest that said, "I'm not ignoring you, I'm just waiting for you to text me first." A lot of times this is exactly the case, especially from the girls side. Girls do not want to feel needy or clingy. But most of the time, girls like to feel chased. If the girl starts every conversation you have, she will not feel chased. My rule is to never text first three times in a row! That might be silly, but its something I pretty much live by. If I have texted you first the last two times, then I'm going to wait for you to text me. (This only applies to people I am interested in dating, if they are already in the friend zone, the rule doesn't apply.)

How to Properly End a Conversation:
I feel like a lot of conversations just drop off. Sometimes this can be annoying to the person waiting on the other end for a text. If it is a short conversation then its okay to just drop it after you said what you needed to say. But if the two of you have been texting for more than an hour back and forth, I feel like it should end with a proper goodbye. Sometimes you need to point out that you are going to bed and you say goodnight. The worst is when you fall asleep before you say goodnight, and then you wake up and have a text from them and you feel like a jerk for not responding. If its not night time, but the conversation has to end, you can tell them that you are just going to start something and have to go, or a lot of the time it is okay just to say, "Talk to you later" or "See you soon". Those are polite ways to end the conversation.

How to Properly Use "dots":
From the mouth of Kelly Kapoor "3 dots means to be continued, 4 dots is a typo, and 5 dots means, "Woah, do not make me say what I want to say baby, but if I did it would blow your mind." Be careful with your dots, you do not accidentally want them to get the wrong impression based on your punctuation!

I hope you all found this to be very educational. Texting can be tricky business... I would say if you really want to talk to someone, call them on the phone. Talking is a lot less complex than texting, and it saves you time in the long run. There is no awkward time waiting for a response, and you don't have to think so hard about what you are going to say. And if you don't like talking over the phone, you could always just invite the person over to talk. Talking to someone face to face is probably the best way to communicate! But texting sure does come in handy when you want to talk all day long but have class and work getting in the way! I'm sure glad texting was invented!