Because the value of friends who are family, is unmeasurable. Just as the value of family is unmeasurable.
I woke up today, just like any other day.
Actually, I was tired. Because last night I stayed up late at a friend's house for "art night", where I painted a picture of a mushroom, which... if I'm lucky, it might go up on their art wall!! (Which is a big deal)
This morning, I went to breakfast found some friends and ate with them until class.
I really had a lot of energy today so after class and eating lunch, I wanted to do something.
People were busy, and tired, and hungry, so I couldn't find someone who wanted to do anything.
Except one friend! So him and I went on a short hike where we got eaten by mosquitoes.
It is called the PCC Hike, PCC-Polynesian Cultural Center hike.
It's one of the not so man-made trails, back and forth through a creek till you get to the top and you can jump in by a small water fall.
It was a short hike, and afterwards, I still felt full of energy.
I went on a short run about a mile or so to Laie Point. I was pretty hot from the run, so I went there to jump off the cliff into the water.
Not to my surprise, there were a group of people there whom I had known and become friends with!
I jumped off once, and then as they left, I went on my way and finished my run.
I didn't bring my phone on my run, or else I would have gotten a picture of the most beautiful thing in Laie at night, the Laie Temple.
I wasn't going to run towards it, instead I was going to take a shorter route.
But something inside me prompted me to run nearer and towards it.
During the 5 block radius, I was staring straight at the temple and jogging towards it.
Everything was getting dark, but the darker it got, the brighter the temple became.
The Laie Temple is beautiful.
A place where even in the darkest of hours, it will be shining bright.
This week was a harder week for me, I like it here, but I was having a lot of trouble adjusting to my new life here.
I didn't have a kitten sleeping with me like in Ellensburg, I didn't have my sister sleeping right next to me, or my parents so near for my mom to make me soup, my favorite thing, and mostly the freedom and ability to get in my car and go wherever I want, whenever I want, whenever I feel like it.
Here it's like, I want to go somewhere, I take a bus, or I walk, or I run, or I find a friend who drives.
And this limited ability to go somewhere that I want to go is hard.
Especially when I just want a break away from everything going on.
School can be stressful, and honestly, sometimes I just get sad.
While also preparing for a mission, I'm swamped on where I start, who I should call, what I should do?
I've never done this before, and most of my friends here haven't filled out their information to get their plane ticket to the MTC, or prepare a bike for them in their area they will be serving.
Even if the people here are returned missionaries, their parents often just did the work for them.
But here, in Laie, many miles away from the Wenatchee civilization, I have become overwhelmed with the work that I have in order to be ready and prepared for my mission to Arizona.
But tonight, things were different. As I ran towards the Temple, things were lifted. I just stared for five minutes at the beauty of the temple. I just stared, and it was lovely. I just knew, that things were going to be okay. That I would be okay, and this place where I'm at right now,,
This place is my home.
I had the wonderful opportunity for my friend, Masaki to give me a blessing on Tuesday night. It had been a good day. But I had been so sad, and so overwhelmed.
The priesthood blessing gave me answers I wouldn't have expected, and comfort that I couldn't have imagined, and strength that I've experienced all throughout my day.
As I jogged slowly back from the Temple, I took out my earphones, and I listened to the sounds of my fellow classmates playing soccer, and the mother walking by with her child in her stroller, and I just had this 100 percent feeling that right here, right now, is exactly where God wants me.
That I am doing what he wants, that I am going to be OKAY! And that I AM OKAY! I am more than OKAY! I am great.
These people here aren't just my friends, they are my family, they are my second family; dear to my heart, and dear to my soul, this place is my home.
(Me jumping of PCC falls with a big smile on my face)
I know that God lives, I know that he is here, and that he is mindful of me and watching over me,
in Jesus Name,
-Amen
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