My First Year Waiting

Summary of My Year from Desiree Moore on Vimeo.

I'M HOME!!!

Well everyone, I am officially back in the good ole USA after 4 amazing months in China :) Which means I'll be updating my blog on a regular basis again! :)  

I just can't believe how fast time went. I swear I was just posting about how I was leaving. I could write a million paragraphs about all my experiences there. But that's probably a bit much huh. So I'll just tell you about my "coming home" experience.

About a week before we left, I developed a pretty nasty ear infection. I thought it would be gone before we left China. Well, that didn't happen. So I flew from Hong Kong, to Korea, to LA, to SLC with this infection. It wasn't so bad at first, but by the time we got to LA I was dying. So when we landed in Salt Lake I was in a lot of pain. But nothing beat seeing my family and friends :) I am so lucky to have other MG friends who surprised me at the airport. Ashley, Alix, you guys seriously rock :)

I also witnessed some soldiers coming home. And wanna know the cutest thing? I witnessed one soldier coming down the escalader and when he got to the bottom, his girlfriend ran up and hugged him. Right after that, he kneeled down and proposed :) Talk about making me antsy.. It kinda really made me want my boy home right then and there. 

Ok I got side tracked. Sorry. So then we left the airport and I went straight to the emergency room. I almost made it to 20 years young without ever stepping foot into that place. Dang my stupid ear infection.

(p.s. This was taken after the doctor stuck something in the ear and made me cry. I wasn't very happy)

They just gave me a ton of meds and sent me on my way. The next day I was nauseated alllllll day. I was so mad cuz I only have 2 weeks in Utah. But prayers really do work, and today I felt better. I am finally enjoying the Christmas season. I've got a lot of stuff to do in the next 3 days!

Basically, I'm just glad to be home :) It's so cliche to say, but there really is no place like home for the holidays :) 

(And just to update you, me and Preston are just better than ever :) We get to skype on Christmas and I'm awaiting a Christmas package from him. We're still more in love than ever :))

His Mission Call Year Mark

Hello World!!

I know I have been completely MIA ever since August 25th. But here's the thing. I am 100% a picture blogger. If I can't add pictures into my post, it just makes me not want to post. Which is why you haven't heard anything from me. I'm still in China. And yes, I can blog, but the proxy that I use to get to blogger won't upload pictures. 

But that is not the point to this post. This post is dedicated to the amazing missionary that is my boyfriend :) He has been gone 9 months, 1 week and 1 day. I was supposed to write about this on November 11th but I was on vacation. Want to know why November 11th is so special to me? It's the day my sweetheart got his mission call :) Which means... It has been over a year since he got his call. Now see, I don't know if I believe this. There's no way it's been a year since I saw him opening that envelope. There's no way it's been a year since I saw the look on his face when he saw the words, "Hungary, Budapest" and in honor of that, here is the link to the video of him opening it :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptGP69WRuPM

Now I really feel like we're getting close to the year mark :) and I know that once a lot of girls hit 7, 8, or  9 months, things usually start getting harder. Right? Well... Not for us :) I'm not even lying when I say we're only loving each other more and more with every day that passes. Which means, I know it's possible to not fall away from your boys. If any newer MG's are reading this, I want you to know that waiting really is possible, and easy sometimes :) Especially when you're as in love as I am :) 

Now that I've done this post about milestones. I'd like to throw in my countdown of the near future :) 

• In 31 days - I leave China, and come home for the holidays :) 
• In 37 days - It's Christmas!!! You know what that means... Skyping with him!! :)
• In 46 days - I hop on a plane and head to Hawaii to start school at BYUH
• In 83 days - It's his YEAR MARK!!!

I love life :) and my Elder Wright <3

It's TODAY!

It's finally August 25th!! You know what that means? I leave for China tonight!!!

I will hopefully still be able to blog all the time. If you would like to follow all the experiences and adventures I embark on while there, you can follow my China blog: http://desireegoestochina.blogspot.com/

But no worries, I'll still write on this blog :) just not as much... :) 

As far as me and my mish go, we are doing wonderful and still more in love than ever!

I highly recommend living your own life and experiencing different things while your missionary is gone. I know this experience is going to be one of the most amazing experiences of my whole life. 

I'm just so excited and wanna leave now! Just 5 more hours til I leave for the airport!!! :) 

We fly to California, then Korea, then Hong Kong and then finally China!

Wish me luck!!

39 Days-ish

I leave for China in about 39 days :) Am I freaking out because I'm so excited? YES! This week was training. I'm going with a fellow MG, Kaydee. We met a couple more people from our group going to Kaiyin. I can tell we're going to become great friends :)

I learned a lot and I cannot wait to get there :) 

<3<3<3

In other news, Preston is on his 3rd transfer today! :) You know what that means? Only 13 left! He is getting a new companion who is only on his 6th transfer. So they are both going to have to work even harder. I'm excited for him though :) Also, this past week he finally got my anniversary package that I sent him :) He said he was so amazingly happy. He even said it was the happiest day of his mission so far. Hopefully he was exaggerating about that though :) 

Another thing that happened this week was the Harry Potter premier. I had to work the midnight showing. I'd never seen so many people at the theatre in my life. All I could think was, "Where are we putting all these people? There's no way they'll all fit in our theatre" but somehow, they did.

(source: Kendra's Domain)

Honestly, this week has been one of the busiest weeks of the summer for me. I love it :) Time is flying. Staying busy really is key. I'm so happy every day and before I know it, I'll be at 6 months :)

p.s. I really love Elder Wright <3

"You've Been Accepted" CHINA!!! :D

I could not be more excited :) I got accepted to the ILP program to go as a volunteer and teach english to little kids in China this fall!! Aug - Dec :) I'm freaking OUT!!! :D

I got the acceptance email last week. But I got assigned a city today :) I kinda felt like I was waiting for my mission call! :p

It's crazy because Zhongshan is the city that I felt like I would enjoy the most, and it's the one I got assigned to! :) I got the email while I was waiting for the bus at UVU and I started freaking out. Pretty sure the people around me thought I was crazy. I'm just so happy! I thought things couldn't get any better, but looks like they have :)

WHY:

Why am I doing this you might ask? I am going with ILP to teach English for multiple reasons :) 

1) I want to travel! Preston gets to live in Europe for 2 years. I have to live somewhere other than Utah while he's gone :) 

2) Just because :) You didn't think I would just sit around and do nothing while he's gone did you? 

3) I want to experience a completely different culture. I'm obsessed with different places in the world and learning all about them.

4) I'm hoping to minor/get a certificate in TESOL (teaching English to speakers of other languages) which I will use when Me and Preston are married and move to Hungary :) And this is something that will teach me a lot about that, and also look good on my resume 

5) I love little kids! It's also a good learning experience. I know it'll help me learn some things that will help me when I'm a mother. 

6) I've always wanted to be a volunteer for something like this. If anything, I want to help change the world. Even if it's just one child at a time. 

INFO: 

If you aren't interested in knowing about the program, you can skip down :) ILP is a non profit organization based out of Orem and they send volunteers to Russia, China, Ukraine, Mexico and Thailand. All of them only go in the spring, and in the fall. The only summer one is in Mexico. So, they are all 4 - 5 months. Honestly, I was tempted to pick Ukraine because it boarders Hungary and I'd get to visit Hungary while being there. I could have been in the same place at Preston. But I prayed about it and China just felt like it's where I'm supposed to go :) Anyway, It costs $2,520. But get this, it covers your food, airfare and housing. That's cheaper than a semester of college. They provide 3 meals a day except for during travels. That's the other great thing, we get to travel everywhere! Ok not everywhere but we get to travel a lot. I'm probably most excited for the Great Wall of China :) We have a lot of free time. We only teach for a few hours everyday and the rest of the time is for us to do whatever with. We can also take Chinese, cooking and Kung Fu classes. Kung Fu!!!! I'm sooooo excited. 

Now it's picture time :) 

This is my city!!!! Zhongshan :) 

It's super green. I love it!

:)

This is part of the school

This is where teachers stay :) 

How could you not want to be around this everyday? :) 

<3

Video time :)

(this is a video from a former ILP group in China)

In other words. I just can't wait. I feel like I'm already in love with the kids. 3 1/2 months and that's where I'll be :) China here I come!!!! :D