Alone No Longer!

Yesterday was catch up on homework day.  So nothing exciting to report.

Well, that's not true.  Because EVERYONE'S HOME!!! :D

Just in case you couldn't tell, I am ridiculously excited about this.  The purple is a clear indication of my excitement.  Yesterday morning when I woke up and saw Caity, Courtney, and Christi in their beds I started to grin.  When I had to be quiet, I still grinned.  I grinned all the way through my shower.  I grinned when I couldn't turn on the light.

Y'know, I think I missed them.  

I can't express how wonderful it was to not eat breakfast and lunch by myself.  It's so nice to stay up a little later talking and laughing with the girls in my room even it means I don't get as much sleep.  It's so wonderful to hear screams and loud laughter from various parts of the house.  The Masons asked me how I felt about having it so noisy again and I just beamed and said, "It's amazing.  I love it."  They've said they're going to ask me again in a few days.  My answer might be different.  But for right now at least, I am so happy to have everyone back!  It's not that I was exactly lonely because I loved being by myself and hanging out with the Masons.  It just feels like home again.

It's been fun to be here while everyone was coming back.  I was able to stories before most other people.  The most surprising part for me was that several of them said they were jealous of me and all the things I got to do!   I was so jealous of all their Spain/Italy/Prague/Switzerland/who knows where else adventures.  And they were coming back envying me for my adventure, for being able to be alone and maneuver London and see the things here.  That was quite a shock.

I was also touched by their willingness to hear about what I did.  They were all off on crazy adventures but still wanted to know what I did here.  Also, I had written a note on the whiteboard that said, "Welcome back!  I missed y'all!" then signed my name.  As I went down to lunch today I saw that someone had written, "We missed you too!" and someone else had drawn a Facebook Like button.  A particular highlight was when I first saw Kaylee.  She came out and handed me a small bag.  She had bought me a beautiful necklace while she was in Rome because I wasn't able to be there.  We'd had some discussion about how much I love necklaces before.  I was so touched that she was in Italy and somehow managed to remember me.  

It's fun because having them gone for a few days made me appreciate how awesome they all are.  It made me wonder how hard it is going to be when we go our separate ways never to live together again.  But I refuse to think about it.  I'm just going to enjoy this while it lasts.

Have I mentioned that I'm so happy they're back?  

Today at church I had some interesting experiences.  I don't want to write about one in particular in detail because I know I'll cry.  It just made me realize how blessed I am to have the life that I do.  I owe my parents and a lot of other people a huge thank you for everything they have done for me.

Also in YWs I felt so bad for the new president.  She's a girl not too much older than me from Vietnam.  She's here on her own trying to figure out a new culture and how things work.  She kept looking at me for help during the lesson when things would happen but I'm a clueless kid.  I had no idea what to do.  Afterwards we talked in the hallway for a minute and she just looked at me in desperation and asked, "What do I do?  Did I say something wrong?  I don't know how to be a good leader for these girls."  I had no idea so all I could do was assure her that I would help in whatever way possible and that she was doing fine and would figure things out.  YWs today was a very eye opening experience.   I don't know what to do.  I hope Heavenly Father lets me know how I can be a help while I'm here.  I don't know what a clueless kid on the "small side of tiny and lacking in perpendicular" (from the Tigger Movie) can do but I'll do whatever I can.  But wow.  I've gotten a whole lot of things to think about today.

Oh yeah, and I spoke in Sacrament Meeting.  I don't think I really did that great but I had half the ward coming up to me to thank me for it.  A senior missionary who used to teach at BYU eagerly pumped my arm and said, "Now I know all about Zion!  Thank you!"  So that turned out pretty good I guess.

And everyone's back!  Yay!