My First Year Waiting

Summary of My Year from Desiree Moore on Vimeo.

Packing for Hawaii!!

Why did I procrastinate packing for Hawaii until the night before I leave. The same night that the Bachelor & Pretty Little Liars starts. I am regretting it... I started a little packing yesterday and this how it ended:

Packing makes me tired. I'm gonna have lots of fun tonight... :)

p.s. Who else is excited for those two shows? I know I AM!!!

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 :))

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!!

Welcome to Hungary!

Preston is officially in Hungary now :) WOW! The 10 1/2 weeks in the MTC went by fast :) I'm liking this :) But I really just want to use this post to brag about it :) He's one amazing missionary :)
Today was somewhat hard because I had the phone call yesterday, and I guess I'm experiencing the post phone call. I woke up sick this morning, and all day I've just felt, bleh. Also, knowing that I won't be getting a letter for a couple weeks doesn't help either. So here's the awesome part, my mom came in and told me there was letter from Preston in the mailbox! I thought she was joking. I received my last letter from Preston on Friday because Wednesday was his last Pday in the MTC. So how could I have another letter? But there it was!

He said he wrote this yesterday! He sent it out right before they got on the bus to go to the airport. He wasn't supposed to be writing that day, but he said he decided he must. I also love that he included the "kisses" For some reason it felt like a "P.S. I love You" moment :) I loved when he said,

"I really just want to tell you that I love you and that you mean the entire world to me! You have been the greatest blessing in my life! Honestly. You really have changed my life for the better"
and..
"So, right now (when you're reading this), which is probably Tuesday or Wednesday, I am halfway around the world! So we may not be close physically. We almost couldn't be any further away from each other. But at the same time, I feel right next to you. I'm always thinking about you and looking back at our memories. I hope that I can always keep you close mentally and emotionally. So that one day, we can be close to each other again physically. All you have to do........ is wait :)" 


I swear that sometimes our missionaries are prompted to say certain things. I'm just so happy :)

<3 <3 <3 So proud to call him mine <3 <3 <3

:D

he is SUCH a goofball :) I love it :) 

Lets hope the mail doesn't take toooooo long..

Go do the Lords work babe!!! :D

"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

Life