a very long update of the past several days...

The rather large leaf I found on the hike I took a week or two ago!

I can't even believe how crazy this past week was--go! go! go! I am so incredibly ready for this weekend, and then for Thanksgiving Break! The excitement about this weekend is that the Petersons from home are coming for a visit! Kylie is checking out another college down in this neck of the woods, and so they are stopping in for a visit Friday night and Saturday morning. The Lord knew I would need their visit. Just to see familiar faces from home, and to have Kylie stay with me in my room for the night is going to be such an encouragement. And after their visit, I have less than a week before I hit the road for home. 11 days from today!

Mission’s Conference was last week and was such a blessing, amongst its insane stress. Being on the steering committee was a lot of fun, but towards the last few weeks, the stress involved was unreal. I had people coming to me left and right with questions and complaints, and I felt like my head was spinning in circles. After many many hours of hard work though, it was wonderful to have the missionaries start arriving Sunday evening. Last year, I never really got to know any missionaries, and instead was a hermit, but this year I didn’t miss out. I believe I talked to all of the missionaries at least one time, and several of them, I was able to have an in depth conversation with them. What an encouragement they were to me with my future ministry hopefully, Lord willing, on the mission field. One of the highlights of this time was devotions on Tuesday night. We were short on missionary wives, so we had to take from our campus family. My wing had the privilege of having the mission’s director’s wife. I would have loved to have had a on-the-field missionary, but it is nice because I can continue to be building a relationship with her, and didn’t have to wave goodbye on Wednesday. I appreciated her transparency in both the blessings and hardships in her ministry (she, her husband, and family have been on the mission field as in full time before they came here). I had mixed feelings about it being the end of conference, but am already looking forward to next year’s…including all the hard work and stress I will be putting in before then for it!

Thursday was kind of a rough day as I was absolutely exhausted from conference. Friday was a blessing as I was able to know the weekend had arrived. I was quite nerdy Friday night and worked hard core on some homework. I finished a large project, started and finished a large project, and made good head-way on another large project. What a feeling of accomplishment though!

Saturday, I allowed myself to sleep in, which was wonderful! In the afternoon, the mission’s director and his wife opened their home up for those of us on the mission’s steering committee. That was the first time this semester I had allowed myself to completely drop my books and relax. They have a wonderful family with three children (at home, five total). She made some delicious homemade pumpkin pie (which I might add I had been craving earlier that day) with homemade whipped topping, along with Scottish Shortbread. We played games, visited, and laughed a bunch. After visiting for a while, she popped some popcorn (on the stove, a favorite of mine from home), and I got to enjoy some apple cider. Once again, something fun and festive I had not yet been able to enjoy this season. We hung around long enough they ended up feeding us dinner. We ended up being there for four and a half hours, and it was wonderful!

We are now on to a new week, and I am already ready for Friday (mainly because the Petersons are coming). Thank you for those of you who answered my plea- the presentation is done! I hope you are enjoying the beautiful autumn season, and remembering the several blessings the Lord has given us to be thankful for. Have a splendid week!