He's Just Fine

I wanted to say that Mike is doing great. I will put part of his letter in here and some pictures. I am so proud of him.

I do miss him so much and I am so glad that he is happy. I am happy that I can somewhat be a part of this crazy journey of his. I am one lucky girl.

July 29th..."Everyone here is just really nice and there are people everywhere we go. We will be riding our bikes threw areas and people will say "bless up" which just means god bless you. It's nice to hear that. We are teaching some really cool people and I will send you the picture of the little boy we are teaching. It's funny you will see the same people everyday here sitting in the same spot on the side of the street right in front of their house everyday. People here in downtown Kingston do not have much and in some parts they barely have a roof. I feel bad for them and just want to give all of them all my money. It is very sad. We are very lucky for what we have and we cannot take anything for granted. I am so lucky that I have you and my family. It is great to hear from you guys every week. I miss you like crazy, but I know that I need to be hear right now and I would not be doing anything more meaningful than what I am doing here. It is hard work, but it is very rewarding. Every time someone keeps a commitment it just makes you so happy because that means that they are getting closer to following Christ's example and being baptized. It is hard for people to comprehend how important being baptized is, but as long as you testify to them and they feel the spirit, they will know for themselves how important the things are that they are doing."


July 22nd... "I love it here so much. It is super hot and humid, so when we go to teach people on their porch, I am sweating and all the little kids ask me why I am sweating. It's pretty funny. People just do not sweat here. When we go to teach people, we have to yell to them from outside their gate. We can't go knock on the door, because everyone has their gates locked up. Also, all of our lessons are on peoples porches. We never go inside. It's nice because you get a little breeze. We ride our bikes a lot. The streets here are pretty busy, so we have to ride just along side the curb so we are out of the way. We are teaching a few people right now and things are going really well with them. I love my companion too. He is a great example to me and is very obedient, which is awesome. Oh we had district conference on sunday, which was sweet. President Brown spoke and called all the missionaries in the district up in front of the stand. We sang Called to Serve. It was awesome. Everyone in the congregation stood up as well and sang along. It was a very spiritual experience."

See Ya Never, Seven-Hundreds

A few days ago we got into the six hundreds. I am so happy to get to this milestone. We are doing really well and trying to love each other the best we can while being so far away. It helps so much that he is enjoying himself and doing his best. He is loving his mission and that makes me so happy. He is a wonderful example to so many people and I am lucky to call him mine. I hope that the next 23 months can go by faster than this one. I am sure they will - after all, this was the first one and we were just getting into the swing of it. I hope this time flies by. I love you, Mikey!

My Prayer

Heavenly Father, up above
Please protect the man I love, 
Keep him always safe and sound
No matter when or where he's found.
Help him to know - Help him to see
That I love him and he loves me; 
And then Dear Lord, help me to be
The girl that he would want of me.
Help me too, to always do
The things that prove one ever true.
Keep us now --- Keep us forever
Happy, Loving, always together. 
Grant me this, Oh Lord and then
I'll be contented forever, Amen.

One Decked Out MG Room

So, lately I guess you could say that I have been feeling very crafty. Yesterday, I got our first page in our scrapbook done for our first month, I decorated my journal, and I decorated my room. I got this great idea from another MG. She had put tons of pictures around her countdown. Here is the finished product. I plan to add more as time goes on. But, this is how it is as of now!

Today, I got even more crafty and wrote and painted on my wall. Plus, I put a chain link countdown on the wall to represent the weeks. I am all about these countdowns! On another wall, I write something each day that I love about Mike. Here are some pics! By doing all of this, it makes me feel closer to Mike and helps me to remember everything about him. I love going in my room.

I love doing stuff like this and I am really happy with how everything turned out!

I Watched Superman Fly Away

Well, here I am. Mike has been gone for a month and one day today. I still haven't written anything since he left. Shame on me. Tonight is the night. Maybe I will have a rare case of insomnia. I hope.

I want to start off by saying that the last few days went so fast. We had our Ensign Peak date on his last Saturday. There is a post on this blog about that here.

June 30th - Sunday was his farewell. It was insane. I truly never thought that the day would come that MIKE would actually be the one speaking at his own farewell. Mike and I had been attending so many farewells the last few months and I truly never thought the day would come where it would be him standing up there as I sat in the audience without him. I missed him dearly that day as I sat with no hand in mine. I knew that the hour would soon be coming where we would have to say goodbye. He did amazing on his farewell talk. I was so proud of him. But, honestly I could just not wait to give him a hug afterwards. After sacrament, I drove with him to his house. Everyone was already over for his get together. It was really fun. All of my family came too and my friends. They really know how to throw a party! Mike was very busy the whole day trying to talk to everyone. He would come and check in with me every once in a while to see how I was doing. That was very sweet of him. I was downstairs mostly, with my friends. Everyone stayed for a while. I got to meet his Uncle Pat and his wife. That was cool. They don't live here so I have never met them before. We got to visit with them for a while - such a nice couple! Everyone started to disperse. Once mostly everyone had left, Mike, Erika, and I talked to their cousin Cade and his wife, Bridgett. They are really young and haven't been married for too long. They were telling us how they met at school and they didn't even know each other until they both got back from their missions. They are so cute together. I told them how I planned on waiting for Mike. I thought it was really sweet, because when they left, Bridgett hugged me and told me that I can wait for Mike if I want to and that I don't need to listen to anyone who tells me I can't do it. She is really sweet. After everyone had gone, we watched Ethan do some fireworks. I honestly was not in the best mood. I was just wanting to have some alone time with Mike. Then, he asked me if I wanted to go play Kick the Can with his friends later. I did not want to say no, but I just didn't really feel like it. But, we went. Erika came with us too. It was a hard night for me and I just did not want to be with everyone. I felt very emotional. I wasn't being myself. When we got back, it was time for Mike to take me home. He was having his friends over for their last sleepover. I feel bad because I wasn't really talking to Mike on the way home and I was not very nice when he dropped me off. I just felt kind of bad because I wanted him to want to be with me rather than his friends. It was a hard night. I talked to Erika after and she was saying that Mike felt really bad about everything.

July 1st - On Monday, Mike came over and we just lay in bed for a while. He was just holding me and trying to make me feel better. We hung out with my family for a while. That was nice. Later we went to his house. They had a family party at the pool. That was fun! I got to see and talk to his family. It was kind of hard to on Sunday since there were so many people. Mike ended up swimming, but I didn't really feel like it. Instead I talked to some of his fam and play Uno with his parents. I love them. It was a fun party. When we got home, we relaxed and played one last game of Sorry (our fave) with his parents. They all went to bed. Mike and I had talked about having one last make out before he left. When everyone had gone to bed, we went down in his basement. We went in the room where the ping pong table is. A couple days before this we had a really good make out session in there and wanted to rehash it. We started to kiss, but I was overcome with so many emotions. I started crying. He just held me and he cried too. We got on the couch. I asked him if I could just hold him. We both cried like babies. As I held him in my arms like baby, I just felt so much love for this person. He was just so precious and perfect. I talked about how life would not be the same without him around and how everything would remind me of him. Then, he held me as we cried some more. It was getting really late, so he took me home. I will carry this memory with me forever.

July 2nd - The dreaded last day... Mike picked me up early, around nine. We went to our place, Village Inn for one last visit. We got our usual VIB meals. It was so nice. I was feeling so many emotions, but just trying to enjoy every inch of time that we had left together. I loved staring at him as we held hands across the table. I just wanted to shout and tell everyone that it was our last day together. I felt so vulnerable. We talked and laughed over our breakfast for what seemed like just minutes. Time would not slow down. After breakfast, we went to see The Internship. It was a really funny movie, but I had such a hard time concentrating as I sat there with a pit in my stomach. He bought me a smoothie at Jamba Juice after. He is the sweetest guy on this planet. After that we went to my house so that he could say goodbye to my family. We talked to them for a while and he asked if he could have some ramen noodles. He had those and we had our last visit with the fam. It was time for us to go back to his house. He started saying goodbye to my family and I just lost it. He held me and he cried too. I knew that my time to say goodbye was only hours away. My mom was crying too. He has gotten so close to my family, it was like him saying goodbye to his own. It was so emotional. We got to his house and watched TV with his family for a little while. That was not what I had in mind for our last little bit together. I could not stop crying. He was getting set apart at seven and we had both decided that I should not come to that. We not be able to have a proper goodbye after that and it would just be too hard. My friends were coming to pick me up at six. The time was coming and I was having such bad anxiety. We went in his room and held and kissed each other for the last time. When my friends got there, they had some of his cake and we took some pictures. It was then time to say goodbye. I had been dreading this moment for so long and it had finally come. I was standing in it. I walked to Erika's room and hugged her for so long and that is when I lost it the most. We all walked to the door. Tay, Madi, and Natalie gave him hugs and said goodbye. We all stood on the porch crying and he said, "Thanks for everything, you guys." We were all crying. They all walked away so that we could say goodbye. I can't even remember what was said in those last moments and it kills me to write this out because it is all becoming so real again. I do remember that he told I would do great in school and whatever I set my mind to. He told me he would see me soon. Besides that, it is all a blur. I could not let go of him as we stood on that porch. Nothing else mattered in the world and I wanted to curl up in a ball and hide. I told him that I couldn't just walk away from him so he walked me out to the car. My friends were all crying on the grass. We stood by the car and he said, "This is it, this is our last kiss." Then, he handed me my box of stuff and I got in the car. I watched him walk away and I felt my heart fall out of my chest. We all cried the whole way home. In the box he had given me was a shirt. I pulled it out and shoved my face in it. It smelled so much like him. He also left me a kendama, a letter, a thank you note to my family, his patriarchal blessing, kendama stickers, and a countdown. When we got back to Madi's house, he had sent me one last message that said... "I love you kenz. I will see you soon. You are going to do so great in school and everything you set your mind to. You are my love and always will be. Please don't message me back I am going to turn off my phone now. Just to get ready to leave. I hope to hear from you on Thursday. I know I will. Use the dear elder website. I love you kenz. You are my life." And that was it. That was all. It was done and he was gone. My friends took me to Yogurtland and Tay bought my ice cream. They were all very sweet to do that. They helped me so much. After that, we went to my house. Jessi and her kids were there so we all hung out. My mom was looking through my box of me and Mike's stuff and she started crying. She was saying how it is so hard for her to see her kids in pain. It was a hard night, to say the least.

                                     
So, that was it. We did it. We got through the worst part. Now, here's to the rest of this journey! I love this boy so much.

Twenty Four

Month twenty-four was a long one. Welp. I have decided to do another countdown type thing. Yes, I know I sound like a typical MG. I don't even mind. Them MG's are cool girls and they all are going through the same thing I am. So, I am making a scrapbook - a page for each month. On each month, I will have a picture of me with that month's number. I am just going to use those same pictures for my blog. Each month, once the month is over, I will put that picture on and describe how the month went for me. I will also share a memory of me and Mike. So, here's to the first one.


Please don't mind this very dreadful picture. This picture was taken the day Mike left and I just felt awful. I am very happy to say that I made it through the first month, though. It was really hard and it dragged on for so long. I am so glad that it is over. Maybe time will begin to speed up a little more. Mike is doing so well. He loves his companion and he says that they are really getting along well. This month he even tried chicken foot. He said it wasn't too good. It does help me to have him gone when he is actually enjoying what he is doing. He is one amazing man and I am so proud of him.

Ready for the monthly memory? Boy, am I!

Well, this happened back in May 2012. This seriously was one of our favorite nights. We have talked about it a lot. He loved this night too. This was back when our relationship was new. We had only been dating for about three months at this point. I remember Mike took me to see The Lucky One. I was so happy that he went with me and he actually liked it. It was so fun to watch it with him. I don't really remember what happened after that, but later we went to my house. We were sitting out on the swing just talking about so many things. ***Sorry if this gets a little juicy.*** We started to kiss. The way we kissed that night was as if we were the only ones in the world. It lasted for a long time. I am not going to get into any details on here, for we both know how it went and that's all that matters. What I wanted to say is that we both have talked about how we just felt so much love for each other that night. I knew that I loved him. I knew that I was to spend my life with him. It is nice to look back on memories. I like to think that it helps me to remember him better.

Bye-bye month twenty-four. I won't miss you.
Well, here's to another month. (Please be fast.)
One month down, twenty-three left to go!


All my love,

a very impatient mg,

Kenzie