Darryl Banez!!

Darryl Banez has been serving a mission in Wisconsin, Milwaukee for 1 year! Sara, Royelle and I were able to sing "The Olive Tree" a year ago at his farewell. He has been doing wonderful in Wisconsin. We write each other regularly and send each other pictures. I am so proud of him for being out on a mission! He has a lot of fun with his companion and serving the members of the church. This is a picture of him in some corn fields! I love him and miss him so much! He has been a huge part of my life.

Darryl and I became friends because I didn't have a date to my Junior Prom. He found out from my friend Megan and we ended up going together and loving every minute! We had a blast together! We went to see Stomp Out Loud in Las Vegas and we went to a really fancy place called Sedona for dinner. After Prom, we continued to see each other up til he left for his mission. He made a collage of our pictures from Prom and from my birthday. He decorated my truck like crazy! We really had an amazing time together in the Summer of 2007.

He comes home in 1 year and I can hardly wait! :)

College life... so far

Well, believe it or not, I am now in college. Here is a picture of all the JUNK I brought from my home. It was interesting trying to find a place for it all in my new place. I am really going to miss my truck...
It's crazy! I cannot believe it myself that I could be old enough to be living on my own now. I'm in Cedar City attending SUU. I've got a nice apartment with 5 other girls. The location of it is just incredible! Right across the street from the campus, right across the street from the church, and most importantly, right across the street from the institute building! :) It's pretty amazing!! It was hard to say good bye to my family when they left from dropping me off up here. I am without a car for the first semester up here, but if I feel like I truly need one at the end of it, then my parents said they would pitch in to get one for me so that I can go places. My roommate, Royelle has a car and she has been gracious enough to haul me around where ever we go. lol.
It still hasn't hit me that I actually live in Utah now... Like, what??? Utah?!? I feel like I am just on some vacation and that I will be home in just a few days, but it's not like that. I just have not gotten used to everything yet I suppose.
I signed up for an institute class yesterday afternoon! Latter Day Saint History! I am way excited about it! Ever since my church history trip that I went on this Summer, I really just can't get enough of it! I love it!
I am a music major on piano and trumpet...for now. Then I have a random Engineering class that should be interesting. I have always liked math, and I like to figure out how things fit together, so I will see how it goes. I hope that it won't be so hard that I flunk or something... If I end up really liking it and understanding everything, then I will make Engineering my major and music my minor.
Today we went on a tour of the campus with a group of people who are in our same college. We went all through the music building and met the orchestra teacher, the voice lady, and the band director! They are all 3 very very nice individuals and I am looking forward to spending a lot of time with all of them! The music secretary lady is Donna. Kinda like my new Jackie, but no one can replace her! :) She's simply too amazing!
I do not have Internet access at my apartment (which we nick-named "the swamp") so I have to come sit on the lawn at the school or go to the lab in the library in order to do computer stuff. But that's okay because it's really not very far of a walk! Plus, it's good for me! :)
College is going to be one incredible experience with hard times and with fun times and meeting new people! I love new friends, so this is going to be awesome! I just hope I can stay involved with a lot of things!! :D

Uraguay, Montivideo

Tyler Snowden is gone on a mission. He reported to the MTC Wednesday, August 20th. He has been just amazing. It was so hard to say goodbye, but I know he will be serving the Lord 24/7 for 2 years! It will be the best two years of his life! I have been writing him letters all the time. :) I just hope he starts sending me pictures of him with his hair swooped over to the side! (That's my favorite!!) He is one fabulous missionary! His farewell was Sunday, Aug. 17th at 9am. I was privileged to sing The Olive Tree with two of my best friends, Sara Snowden (his sister) and Royelle. The 3 of us were hardly able to make it through the song without balling. We all miss him. <3
Over to the top right of this blog page are a couple videos of "The Olive Tree" song if you are interested in listening to it. :) And for some reason, a weird bible video turned up too... It's totally random but I don't know how to get rid of it... lol

efy

One week with people you have never met, but you grow to love them and never want to leave them once the week is over. If you've ever been to efy, you know exactly what I'm speaking of. ;)

The theme this year was "Steady and Sure." All week the speakers, devotionals, and morning sides seemed to be focused in on Christ. We sang songs about Him, we talked of Him, we learned of Him, and we certainly felt His love for each of us. He knows us one by one. He loves us one by one. He knows each of our names. He is the one true friend we can turn to when nothing in the world makes sense. When no one else seems to understand, He does! He is my best friend, and I love Him! :)

~Christie Gifford~

19 days to live it, eternity to think about it...

CHURCH HISTORY TRIP!!! Oh my goodness! It was the best thing I've ever done in my entire life! I made some really amazing friends! It's just too bad that a couple of them live in Nebraska and North Carolina... What's up with that?!?!?! Whoa! I just got side tracked...(happens a lot...)Okay! Back to the trip! So this was a 19 day trip on a bus with 53 youth and chaperons combined. We started out in Salt Lake City and drove all the way across the country visiting every church history site you can imagine along the way. At each place we stopped, we learned about what happened there and took notes.

Our director, Brother Tesch really encouraged us to write in our journals every chance we had. And, man! I have never written so much in my entire life! I love reading the things that I wrote down. It brings me right back to all those wonderful places. On the trip, Brother Tesch would often say, "You have 19 days to live it, and eternity to think about it." That has become one of my favorite quotes in the history of all quotes! It can apply to anything. If you have a grand spiritual experience, and you write it down, then you can think about it forever. You will never forget it! You might have only 10 minutes to live it, but you still have eternity to think about it. If you don't take the time to write it down, you'll probably forget it after a while. I wish I could have learned this concept much earlier in life.

Back to the trip! (again...) So on the last day, we ended up in Salt Lake again. We had a huge nearly 3 hour testimony meeting with all of us. And man! Every single person from our group got up there and said what they know to be true and shared their feelings about the trip with us and how much they have learned and grown to love the gospel and Joseph Smith. It was spectacular! At the end of that special meeting, we sang a song together for the last time. (We sang a lot of hymns together on the trip!) God Be With You Til We Meet Again. But we changed the words just a tad. God Be With "Us" Til We Meet Again. I cannot describe the feelings and emotions that came over us. Of course the overwhelming spirit was with us as we cried, but we also knew that we might not see some of these amazing people that we had grown SO close to for a very long time! It was a very sad/happy time. Sad saying goodbye, happy knowing that we would all be able to keep in touch with one another. Happy knowing that everything we've learned on the trip is absolutely TRUE. Happy having a clear understanding of the word friendship. The word, love. The word, peace. The word, forever.

This trip changed my life for good, and I will never be the same. I can now testify that everything Joseph Smith ever said, is completely true. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and His church is on the Earth today. I am so blessed to be a part of it. If you ever have an opportunity to participate in a church history trip, do NOT let it pass you by. It will be the most incredible 19 days of your life!

~Christie Gifford~