What I Know

As I was reading and listening to Conference talks tonight, I was especially impressed with M. Russell Ballard's talk on member missionary work. I've heard talks about this topic for years, and I have usually brushed them by. But this one I actually chose to listen to, and it stuck with me.
I have always had the idea in my head that member missionary work consisted of meeting a new neighbor and being nice to them with the end goal of getting them to become members of the Church. Isn't that the point? But while listening to Elder Ballard's talk, I had the impression: they don't need to join. They just need to understand that Mormons are good people, and they need to feel your love for them. They will come to a better understanding in their own time. Ironically, right after I had this revelation, the next part of Elder Ballard's talk stated:
"Just be positive, and those whom you speak with will feel your love. They will never forget that feeling, though the timing may not be right for them to embrace the gospel. That too may change in the future when their circumstances change."
How much sense that made! Just be friendly! Suddenly member missionary work isn't near as daunting as it once seemed.
Lately I have been feeling like I've needed to do more as a member of the Church. With the way my life is right now it's hard to find time to talk to people at all, let alone try and serve others. I have always had this fear of sharing what I believe online or on social media, worried that I'd lose friends and that I didn't want to offend anyone. But I've decided that I need to let go of that fear, and to start, I'm going to share my testimony here on my blog.

I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church on the earth today. I know, not because I've been raised a member my whole life, or because of the culture I've been surrounded by because of where I live, but because I have asked, pondered, and prayed to know for myself what is true. I have received my own answers to prayers, and cannot deny what I have felt.
I know that God is real, and that we are each His children. I am His daughter, and he reminds me daily of how much He loves me. He sent us all here to let us choose for ourselves what kind of eternity we want. But He didn't leave us here without help. He literally has given us every tool needed to make it back to Him and to have eternal happiness. The best part? We will mess up. We aren't perfect. And it doesn't matter. We can be forgiven for every mistake we have made; we simply have to put in the work. This is what the Atonement is for. The way the Lord can help us rid ourselves of every wrong decision; of every moment where we have experienced sorrow, pain or suffering. I have used this power myself, because in my life I have made many a wrong turn. But through the Atonement I am clean. I am guiltless. And I am happy.
I know that because of the Lord, I am who I am today. He is the reason I am married to the one man I was meant to be with for eternity, because with him I have the ability to experience true joy and happiness.
Knowing what I know does not mean that  my life is easy. In many ways, my life is harder for choosing to follow the gospel. But I know the difference between choosing the things of God and choosing the things of the world, and my life becomes significantly better when I choose what I know to be true.

New Understanding

This past weekend was like a break in reality for me. Gentry came home and we ended up spending the weekend with his parents in Delta relaxing and playing with their new puppy. I think because the weekend was so nice it made it harder to say goodbye to Gentry again for another week. I was not ready to come back to reality, knowing I had tests, quizzes, other assignments and work waiting for me. Needless to say, it was a rough trip home, and I was a mess all Sunday night.
My poor husband is the best, he was so patient to listen to me cry hysterically over the phone and go on and on about how stressed and frustrated I was with everything. Trying to finish school, being away from him, finding a place to live next year when I move up north with him, etc. He lovingly reminded me that it will all work out, and told me it would all be okay. I was so ready to give up on Sunday, you wouldn't believe it. I was at the point that I didn't want to ask Heavenly Father for help or comfort, I just wanted to be depressed and unhappy.
One of the things that frustrated me most was that I was having a meltdown... again! I think I've clearly had enough meltdowns in the past 3 months that I should be able to work through things without crying myself to sleep. Well, after I got up Monday morning I came to the realization: hard days are going to come. It doesn't matter how many you've had before, or how much you think you may have worked through an issue, they will still come. All you can do is try and ride the waves, and ask the Lord to help you get through as best as you can.
It will never be easy to say goodbye to Gentry. Every Sunday night my heart breaks when I know I won't get to see his face until the next Friday. And this isn't a trial that will be solved right away, this will continue until May when I'm handed that red degree folder from SUU and say goodbye to Cedar City. But I do know that somehow, the Lord will help us through this, He understands what we're going through, and He has a very good reason for why things are the way they are. Do I know that reason yet? No. I know parts, but not the main reason why Gentry and I have to be apart. I don't think I'll fully know until after it's over. And so for now, I'll keep trusting in the Lord, and looking forward to my weekends when I get to enjoy every second with this incredible eternal companion of mine.

Hard Days, but trying to Stay Strong

If anyone has not seen or heard of Al Fox (now Carraway, she's recently married) look her up on Youtube. She's what's being called now the "Tattooed Mormon", and she blogs and creates videos about her experiences and what she's learned being a member of the church. I've seen the majority of her videos, but I recently felt prompted to watch this one again; it's titled "Stay Strong: a parable". It was exactly what I needed on a hard night at work when I was especially missing Gentry. Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways to show how He is working in our lives, whether or not we want to acknowledge it at the time.

The past couple weeks have especially been hard trying to juggle working full time, school full time, and clinical hours that take up the majority of the afternoons. And then weekends are filled with spending the few precious days I get to spend with my hubby. I have struggled especially lately trying to understand the point of it all; surely the Lord wouldn't want me to be this unhappy? What could I possibly be gaining, because my degree, that makes only seeing my eternal companion two days a week, if that?
Last week I finally broke down and was asking (more like screaming) at Heavenly Father asking: Why??? I need to know why I'm doing this, otherwise I don't think I can keep going!
Slowly through working on my patience and having the Lord help me, I am starting to understand the reasons Gentry's and my life is the way it is. And to remember that this is not permanent. This year in looking back, will only seem like a blink of an eye in comparison to eternity. Right now I still feel like the weeks drag, and they aren't moving fast enough (28 more weeks until May) but it will end. And I am also discovering that while this situation is difficult, it is a lot easier with the Lord's hand in yours. Seems like common knowledge, but for the stubborn imperfect person that I am, it's something I needed to learn again.
The Lord never leaves us; we are the ones who walk away from Him. The best part? He always accepts us back, and He will always forgive us. As much as I like to be independent, I learn a lot that I cannot do this alone. Or anything for that matter. I'm so grateful for the Lord's influence in mine and Gentry's life, for the answered prayers, spoken or not, and granting the desires of our hearts.

Jameson's Endowment

My brother, Jameson, is getting ready to leave on his mission to Chihuahua, Mexico in November. He has been getting all his things together, and he went through the temple earlier this month. Gentry and I were able to be there, and it was a great experience all around.

Jameson and our parents

Jameson with our parents and our aunt and uncle, Arn and Ruth. They came when I went through the temple for the first time, so it was great that they were able to come for Jameson too.

Goofy pictures are always enjoyable! Sadly my father did not get the memo for this one.

And here's a normal one.

Gentry and Jameson

We're very proud of Jameson and his choice to go on a mission. You'll be a great missionary, little brother!

Keep Going

If anyone hasn’t read down far enough to hear about Gentry’s and my current situation, I’ll sum it up quickly for you. Gentry got a teaching job up in Midvale, Utah as a history teacher and head wrestling coach at Hillcrest High School. I have one year of the athletic training program left at SUU, so I am in Cedar. We currently see each other on the weekends.

To say our circumstance is difficult right now is an understatement. Imagine finding the best thing that’s ever happened to you, and then after only a year of being together, you find out you have to live apart and only get two or three days at most to see them. I realize that many wives go through this when their husbands join the Armed Forces, but as one of my good friends put it: “Rachel, you didn’t sign up for that.”

I’d be lying if I said this was easy. I have good days and bad days dealing with it, and then I have hard days. But I’ve been so grateful to the friends and family who have bent over backwards to help us make this as easy as possible.

I’m also especially grateful for the Lord and all that He’s done for us. He truly is aware of us, and we have definitely been relying on him a lot lately.

I recently read an interesting blog post. For those of you who haven’t heard of “The Tattooed Mormon” you should definitely check her out. Her name is Al Fox/Carraway, and she’s a public speaker and blogger.  I started reading her blog a couple months ago, and she had one story that I really needed to hear the other night. She talked about when she moved from her home in New York all the way to Utah, simply because the Lord told her to. Her family didn’t understand, she didn’t understand why she was leaving, and she said she cried almost the entire first part of her drive west. That night she stopped at a hotel and was praying to Heavenly Father, asking why she had to do this, why her, why now. Did He even care about her anymore? Was He even there? Her answer came after she stopped crying and yelling, and finally listened. Heavenly Father simply told her that He had a plan for her, and that she needed to keep going. That was it. Keep going. And so she did. She left the hotel right then, got back in her car, and drove over 22 hours straight, all the way to Utah, never stopping once.

I’d read this particular post of hers before, but this time, it was an answer to my prayers. Keep going. That’s my new motto through all this. Keep going. I may struggle the whole way, and have trouble trying to see what we’re going to gain from this year, but for now, I have what I need to move forward, and not stop. To just keep going. And guaranteed, if I stop, I know I’ll most likely curl up in a ball and cry and just wait until it’s all over. But the Lord has a plan for us, and while I don’t know what that is, I’ll keep going. And I’ll keep counting down the weeks until I graduate from SUU and get to move up north with Gentry. To never be apart again.

Conference Weekend

This year for conference we didn't have TV anywhere, so we ended up spending the weekend on Kurt and Jessi's couch, watching it on theirs. Sadly, we slept through almost every session; but I stand by my opinion that the General Authorities have very soothing voices, and with the spiritual atmosphere they bring, it's easy to relax. And when you're relaxed, I'm pretty sure about 90% of the human population falls asleep.
When we were awake, we had a great time playing with Remi and Wake. The baby time was definitely needed!

Arguably one of the cutest niece and nephews ever!

 I cannot even begin to describe how much I love this boy. He's so much fun to be silly, serious, and everything in between with!

Fall Time

While Gentry is up north, to help occupy his time he has been helping coach the football team. So what does that mean for me? That when I go up north, I get to watch a lot of high school football. These are all shots from their first game I went to, and as you can tell, I was there early and was very bored.

Gentry and I love Never on Sundaes; if you've never tried it, go do so... now! One weekend we didn't have any of the normal ingredients for regular, so we made a deluxe version... chocolate chocolate chip cookie dough, mint ice cream, whipped cream and hot fudge/caramel sauce! It was so good, so good in fact that we couldn't even finish eating it.

One of my aunt and uncles from back East came out to drop off my cousin at BYU-Idaho, and we got to see them! I haven't gotten to see any of my dad's family since early on in high school, so it was great to get to see Debbie and Norman. 

In case all you folks care to see, this is Gentry's classroom. Originally a room for the student body officers, it sadly has no windows; but, it is all his!

Wake's Blessing

Kurt and Jessi recently had their second child, a baby brother for Remi. They blessed him at the end of August, and we got to be there! Kurt and Jessi named him Gatlin Wake Gasser.

They are such a cute little family!

 The Labrum Family (Jessi's family)

The Gasser Family (Kurt's)

Camping and Weddings

Gentry moved up to Midvale the first week of August. To say it was hard saying goodbye to him is an understatement. And I personally found it was harder to wake up the next morning, knowing he wasn't there. I was ready to stay in bed and never get out again, not until the year had past.
But get up I did, and the next weekend we went camping with the Gasser family and got to see each other for those few days.

It's been so long since I've been camping, I hadn't realized how much I missed it. There's just something about being outdoors that makes you feel more connected to everything, especially the Lord.

We got to take a horseback ride with my in-laws horses, Dot and Dash.

Wayne and Pam had fun riding the horses around with the grandkids. Remi was with Grandpa, and Xander with Grandma.

Saturday afternoon Gentry and I left early from camping, got cleaned up, and went to my close friend, Emily's, wedding.

The wedding was gorgeous, and we were so happy for Emily and Jason!

 The new Mr. and Mrs. Ormond cutting the cake

And somehow Gentry and Amy's husband, Joe, dressed extremely similar!

Wrestling Camp

Because of Gentry's new position as Hillcrest's head wrestling coach, he decided to hold a wrestling camp to show his wrestlers what they would be doing throughout the next year. Gentry worked night and day planning this camp, and while there weren't as many boys there as we had hoped, they did well and seemed to have a lot of fun. Here are some pictures I took to show off a few on the wrestling team. 

Hard Decisions

Getting to make decisions together about our lives is something that Gentry and I have enjoyed during our first year of marriage. Some of them are easy, and feel as natural as breathing; others are much harder, and require much more faith and reliance on the Lord.

With Gentry graduating with his Bachelors, he was desperately trying to find a teaching job somewhere, anywhere. He applied for almost every position he could find on every job board, and didn't get one interview. Needless to say, it was extremely frustrating.
Finally, he got a call from Hillcrest High School in Midvale, Utah about a history teacher position they needed filled. We made the trip up north so he could interview, and then waited a few days to get a call or notification one way or the other. I was on a break at work when Gentry called to tell me that Hillcrest had offered him the teaching position, as well as asked him to be the head wrestling coach. (Just for reference, this is Gentry's dream job. He told me that if he could do anything in the world, he would want to be a teacher and wrestling coach). It seemed like it was too good to be true, and we both prayed and instantly felt that he needed to take the job.
So he's one of the lucky few, a statistic colleges love, students who graduate and get their dream career right out. What could possibly be wrong with that?
Switching majors halfway through my college career set me back a year, so while I'm in the athletic training program, I have one year left of schooling before I graduate. Because I am in a program, I can't transfer to another college because of possible prerequisites or requirements other schools may have that differ from SUU, and I would most likely have to start over and take even longer finishing my Bachelors. Gentry and I both agreed that with only a year left, I shouldn't quit the athletic training program when I'm so close to finishing my degree. (I should also note that the distance between Midvale and Cedar City is about 3 1/2 hours). So with many prayers and a temple visit, we came to the conclusion together:
Gentry would take the position at Hillcrest and move up to Midvale. I would stay in Cedar City for the year until I graduated in May. And we would see each other on the weekends.
I'll be frank: this is the hardest decision I've had to make. I just spent a year getting to know my husband and learn how to be together. And now I have to learn how to live without him, without getting to see his face smile at me every morning, to get a hug whenever I needed it. To say this was simple would be a lie; this choice was far from simple and easy. But at the same time, I have never received a stronger answer to our question: this IS what we are supposed to do. I know it's the right choice, just like I know that we'll learn and be stronger for it later.

First Anniversary!

It’s hard to believe we’ve been married for a year. I remember our wedding like it was yesterday, all the nerves and excitement—especially the happiness felt by looking at my eternal companion and knowing there was no one else I could love more. 

We chose to celebrate by spending a night at Anniversary Inn, going to the temple and aquarium, and eating lots and lots of good food!

Our room was themed Venice, Italy. They definitely treated us well!

P.F. Changs gave us free desserts for our anniversary; and not bad fortunes either!

I’d never done a live session before, so we went to the Salt Lake Temple to commemorate the day one year earlier when we took our special trip to the temple.

Alright, I have a confession: I seriously love aquariums. It doesn’t matter where, I love them all. On our honeymoon we went to the shark aquarium in Vegas, so we decided to check out the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy, Utah this year.

It was fun getting to see all the animals and critters that were around. Here are some of the best photos:

The last night of our anniversary getaway we went to Panguitch to see our friends, Laren and Kyle Bateman. Panguitch holds a hot air balloon festival every year, so we enjoyed seeing all the cool balloons.

It's hard for me to describe how I feel about Gentry. I can easily I love him with all my heart, but those words don't convey the amount of feeling and emotions that lie behind it when I say it. Gentry is literally everything to me, I didn't know it was possible to be this happy, or to be loved to the amount he does. Which is unfathomable on both sides. He is the one person I was meant to be with, and eternity just isn't long enough for me to spend with my eternal companion.