helping hands

Today I had the privilege to go with McKay's ward to help clean up damage from the hurricane.  It was cold.  It was beyond putrid.  But it was great.  We cleaned out the basements of three homes--we tore up walls, cleaned out mold, pulled up carpet, handled some gross unmentionables, and filled a lot of garbage bags with soggy debris.  But there was work to do, and so it went by quickly.

The first family we helped had four darling little kids, and they were so happy despite all that they had gone through.  (Their cute little 3 year-old was decked-out in pink, head to toe, and had silver nail polish.  She was adorable.)  Another woman that we helped lost her husband to a heart attack the week before the storm hit.  I honestly cannot fathom what life must be like for them having to deal with post-hurricane life.  Even though we helped, we knew that we would say goodbye to the mess and to the awful stench at the end of the day....but these people have to continue on with everything post-disaster as a part of their lives.  They have to clean, rebuild, and pray that it doesn't happen again.

This experience reinforced something that I have been learning during my time at BYU, and especially this last semester: We have been placed in our personal circumstances to serve.  We live in families and in communities because we are meant to help each other.  That is why we each have different talents, abilities, interests, and skills, so that we might build up our own lives through serving one another's needs.  God never meant for us to try to make it through life alone.  He fulfills His purposes and blesses our lives through others, and we in turn answer others' prayers by serving as a tool in His hands.  That's what I got a glimpse of today.  That lesson is why I was privileged to have this humbling experience.  I am so blessed.  And the only way I can thank the Lord and be worthy of these blessings is by serving Him.  

.....And I am really grateful for sanitary masks.  And warm showers.

  

after the storm

[Disclaimer: I hesitate to write this post as I normally would due to the topic.  I feel so much for those who received the rough part of the storm, especially those whose homes and lives were damaged.  I understand the somber/serious point of the hurricane, and it makes me sad.  With that being said, anyone who reads this please understand that I am not ignorant nor am I trying to make light of the situation--I am simply explaining how my friends and I dealt with the storm.]

We survived.  I can now say that I went running in a hurricane.  Granted, D.C.'s version of Hurricane Sandy was heavy rain, but still.  (Fun fact:  On Thursday I was talking to Amanda at work, saying that if it were up to me, I would have it rain enough that we needed to miss work, but nothing enough to cause damage/ruin any leaves.  And it happened.  I was/am happy.)

"Running in a hurricane??" you ask.  Why yes, yes I did.  Monday morning someone saw a tweet from Georgetown Cupcakes saying they were giving out free cupcakes.  I viewed this as a great opportunity to (a) get outside before things got bad, (b) go running through the storm, (c) try my first cupcake from this place.  (Which is supposed to be the best.)

It was pretty diablo good.

Our two days off were really fun.  We hung out in sweats.  Had a big spaghetti banquet.  Decorated pumpkins.  Danced.  Watched Signs.  Played werewolf.  Talked late into the night.  Talked all during the day.  "Worked" on our papers.  Dramatized leaks.  Ate treats.  Etcetera, etcetera.  

By Tuesday morning, everything was calm.  Tuesday also happened to be Emily's birthday.  So we gathered a group together and marched to Lindy's Red Lion for breakfast.

The storm also showed who my true friends/family really are:  mom, dad, Megen, Jane, Amanda, Tessa, Christian Leikam, Kaitlyn, and Laura (my old roommate).  So you all win gold stars. 

However, let not the storm divert from the fact that Halloween was this week.  We celebrated by walking up and down M street looking at all of the crazy costumes.  I have never seen so many people in Georgetown before.  On top of that, I have never seen any of the people who were there before.  It was a strange crowd.

Also, during work Amanda and I listened to Halloween music.

..........bring back any fond memories??

Last night we all sat in the lobby and stayed up late working on our papers.  I must say, this class is a very humbling experience.  Our professor is a tough grader, and it's tough to focus on homework with all that's going on/all that there is to do, but it is good.  I am learning a lot and growing a lot.  

I just got back from a beautiful run, and now we're off for an adventure.  I'll give my weekend report.......sometime.  Love you.

A stroke of luck, karma, blessings, etc.

I don't even know where to begin.  I am here, in Spain, and my hands are shaking because I am so nervous about trying to speak Spanish.  I just finished unpacking at my new home--my "mom" is very, very nice and patient with my Spanish.  She gave me a ton of pamphlets of things to do in Oviedo, and she has two teenage sons [ yep, you guessed it would happen to me mom, but don't worry, they're Stephen's and Michael's age ] and lives in the most beautiful area. 

I can already tell I will absolutely love it here.  When we were flying over Asturias, it was just green hill/mountains filled with trees and cute little villages.  And as we were riding on the bus there were blue houses splashed here and there--my kind of place.  And I live in the most beautiful part of town and there are peacocks in the park!  It's awesome.  And it is what will keep me hanging on until my Spanish improves.  I am just so blessed to be able to be having this experience, sometimes I feel a little guilty about it [ especially after how amazing London was ].

At first I thought I was doing okay.  I asked a man in Spanish where to get bus tickets, whether I paid with cash or card, and how much they were.  But then I went to go brush my teeth and accidentally went into the men's bathroom.  Worst part is, I finished brushing my teeth before I noticed that I was in the wrong room . . . I was looking for paper towels and instead found urinals and thought, "Hmm, that's not right."  Good to know I can sort of speak a new language but can't read pictures.

Anyway, the people in our group all seem really nice and I'm sure that once I get a hang of things it will be just splendid.

To be honest, I'm still giddy from what happened to us last night [ yes, even after sleeping in the airport like a hobo].  After meeting with Alexa for dinner at Kensington Creperie,

Megen and I decided to just go and see if there happened to be cheap tickets to Wicked.  [ We had helped a girl from Jordan find the right tube stop earlier on our way to the Portobello Market, so we were kinda banking on good karma to kick in. ]  With the encouragement from Alexa and Allison, we hustled over to the theater crossing our fingers that somehow, someway, something would work.

. . . I am so glad we helped that girl.

First section, great seats, student discount.  On a Saturday night!!  This is how we felt:

pure joy, disbelief, shock, excitement, etc.

It was amazing.  And Meg had never seen the play before so I was especially excited for her.

The rest of our day was good too.  Our kind friend Tony [ from the front desk of our hotel ] offered to give us cheap rooms when he heard we were sleeping at the airport . . . we would have done it but the only way to get out for our flight on time would have been a taxi so we said no.  After checking out, we just hit up the Portobello Market, got some great Indian food, and did a bit of shopping.  [ And don't worry, we were especially careful at the Indian restaurant so as not to repeat last year's Bombay House fiasco.  We asked them about 6 times if the food had nuts, they probably thought we were really annoying/stupid, but w. ]

Yay for nut-free naan and curry.