I'm still here!

I've grown a foot or two, so therefore, I am qualified to go on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I got my mission call last week and I can't even begin to describe the emotional roller coaster involved with the mission paper work and the fact that I'm going on mission so soon. In mission prep at church, my roommate Curtis teaches it and told us "You'll discover emotions you never thought you had when you start the mission process." I testify (you see that, I'm preparing to talk like a missionary) that Curtis' statement is true. I believe that, perhaps, my best 'word putting' for my emotions would be: a feeling of excitement, calmness, utter terror, stress, relief, inadequacy, ulh(sound effect, not word)and a little bit of whew. So if you can possibly relate then you've also gone on mission or you've been keeping up with this season's BYU football team.
I've been called to the Málaga Spain Mission and geographically speaking, it's in Europe. I wanted to keep an open mind through the mission paperwork process so I told myself I would be happy with anywhere I was called. I may have been able to lie to myself but deep down I desperately wanted to go back to Europe, specifically Germany. If you can picture a map of Europe you'll notice Málaga and Germany are a little different. Although I didn't get Germany, I'm still extremely pleased with getting my call to Spain. I've done a little research on Málaga, Spain and I have a few fun facts for you. Antonio Banderas and Picasso are from Málaga and the weather is never above 85 degrees and never lower than 70 degrees. So in the words of Brother Frederico, (the first counselor in my ward) "BAY-CATION!" (he mixes his 'v' and 'b' sounds sometimes)
On a less positive note, there has been a lot of dramatics going on 'roud here' with my family home evening group. So in order to protect myself from any more drama, that's my only comment on the matter.
But to positive again, This upcoming week is the downhill point! It's been eight weeks since the semester started! I've survived one half and I think I can handle one more. It's gonna be a real struggle, but I think I'll be able to handle it. I'm not counting on it though, just hoping. I got my very first college English paper back and I was disappointed; I got a 95. You might initially believe a 95 qualifies as an excellent grade, but this paper was perfect! It has hilarious and structurally sound! Where did those negative 5 points come from?! At least now I have a little bit of cushion for my next paper!
Tomorrow I am having a reunion with some buddies from EFY from quite a few years ago. We somehow all kept in touch and one of the four of us is having his mission farewell address tomorrow afternoon. Another one of the four is here at BYU with me so the two of us are driving to Ogden to meet up with the other two. I'm very excited about it! I'll make sure we get a nice reunion picture.
My Birthday is this upcoming Friday and my 19th birthday marks the year I will have lived in the United states longer than I have outside of the United states. At eighteen years old, I'm at 9 years overseas and 9 years not. But on Friday I'll be 9 years overseas and 10 years not. However, I'll be going to Spain for two years so I'll still be up with years overseas! Not that it's really important, its just kind of a fun fact, just like how 'Jason' can be found in the first letters of July, August, September, October, November.

As a side note, and I'll probably have to make an entire other blog post for Mr.BYU, but it was last week and a totally blast. This is me with sasquatch and his wife.

And this is their first argument:


I'll have to explain some other time because tonight I am going to the ward talent show. Hopefully it will be good. Until next time 'Hasta luego' (I'm practicing my Spanish)