Why did I go to China?

Once upon a time, one of my brothers went to China to teach English and film at a university in Weifong. His plan was to only stay a year...until he met the PERFECT girl for him. Their story is quite cute and it really is crazy how similar these two are. So, she came home with him after his first year, and we all fell in love! Cheng is so delightful and we wanted these two to get married. So my brother went back for a second year of teaching, but this time to a more prestigious university in Qingdao. They announced they were getting married, and my parents wanted to go over for the celebration. Paying my own way, I tagged along to that wonderful country.
We got on the 14 hour flight, and we were already the minority of the group. The plane had such a Chinese feel from the music, people, how the flight attendants were dressed, the movie options, the food choices, and I was excited! We landed in Beijing, and we were met by Cheng running to greet us! I can not express how lost we would've been without Cheng communicating, translating, buying, and basically doing everything for these helpless foreigners:) Ha! We checked into our hotel, and went exploring in the alleys nearby. I kept saying how grateful I was that we weren't staying in the super westernized part of Beijing. I felt like I was getting the real deal experience! I think that first night I was pretty culture shocked with all the stares, smells, food, and SO MANY PEOPLE! But, luckily that wore off pretty fast:) We went to the Forbidden City, Red Square, the Beijing Orchestra, and lots of exploring in that history rich town! We had tons of yummy and "try only once" type of foods:) Ha! Then it was on to Weifang to meet Cheng's parents, and have that wedding! We met lots of people, were fed until we were going to burst, had a wonderful bike ride, and this is where I really learned to love the Chinese people and culture! Next was Qingdao where I stayed at Mason and Cheng's apartment, met their German friend Marcel, stayed up late telling stories, went to the beach, saw the university Mason teaches at, had a drunk Russian yelling outside my window all night, went on a beautiful hike, and where we had to say goodbye to Mason and Cheng only for a few weeks until they would come to the US for their wedding celebration here. We had to go through customs 3 times, resulting in some missed flights, so by the end of the trip it was good to be back:) I'll let the pictures tell the rest of our trip:

--DISCLAIMER--

The trip was clear back in June, and I was having a "I really am not getting along with this computer" type of night. So my order of things won't be really accurate, and I promise I have more pictures, I took videos, and that I wrote every detail of everything in my journal:) Maybe I'll update this post when I get back from Russia...
---UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE---
My phone like died when I got back from Russia, so not only are my China pictures gone, my Russia pictures are too...luckily I at least got these pictures (stay positive Annie) :)

Our hotel in Beijing.

We went to the Beijing orchestra. I was surprised at how different the instruments were than the ones in American orchestras.

At the opera house.

One of our exotic walks:)

Before we took the "chairlift" up to the starting point of The Great Wall.

IT WAS SO HOT! Luckily we had our Chinese fans to help cool off! Plus these watch towers were neat and refreshing.

BEAUTIFUL scenery. Not sure why I thought it was smart to hike straight up in a dress:) Plus we rode a slide down which was SO FUN but a little tricky in this attire:)

An example of the funny English translations we saw all over the place.

SCARIEST bike ride of my life! No one follows any traffic laws, and we had to cross 10 lanes of traffic.

Beautiful Wetlands that our 4 hour bike ride took us to!

Beautiful hike next Mason and Cheng's apartment in Quingdao. We explored a cemetery that was really unique and quite different from cemeterys in the US, but we felt disrespectful taking pictures.

Natural wells. People were just filling buckets since no one can drink the water in China, unless it's filtered.

TONS of people across this really long railing playing intense games.

So many people carry their life on these little bike/cart things.

This cute older couple was trying to take a selfie:)

We went to this really neat local park and there were all these couples dancing!

One of the alleys by our hotel in Beijing...early in the morning, so very few people. The night before it was chaos with cars and bikes and people going every which way in that tiny area!!!

More alley:)

This person made a raft out of some type of weed. It is common to see people using whatever they can find to make common things.

Cutest little couple! They made the sweetest speeches...Mason in Mandarin and Cheng in English, then the other translated! In China the brides wear a red dress, not a white one.

Love these people!

Cheng's cousin who started crying at how pretty and tall I was haha!

We decorated the venue for the wedding, and we had the fanciest meal...not sure what we ate but I know some of it was cow stomach and sea urchins.

The Chinese character for "double happiness" is used for good luck on the wedding day. This sign was everyhwere for the couple! This is Cheng's parents apartment. 

Cheng's parents Yongewei Zhang and Lixin Wang...some of the sweetest people I've ever met! We became good friends even with the language barrier.

These type of scultpures were EVRYWHERE in China.

Red Square

People really were NOT afraid to stare, take pictures of, or take selfies with the foreigner with blue eyes!!!

Forbidden City

Doors to the Forbidden City...touching these knobs gave good luck:)

Trying to casually pose by these monks:)

THIS PLACE IS HUGE!

I don't even know what this is...taking this picture I honestly felt like I was going to suffocate in all these people pushing each other in such a tight place!!!

Qingdao beach! Nice cool evening, so not too crowded.

Why do I do family history work?

This topic is very dear and close to my heart. It truly has changed my life...FOREVER!
Anyone who knows me knows how much I love to dance! I started taking dance lessons when I was 2, and was competing on a jazz team and a ballroom team. I liked practicing and getting the workouts in, and I was known for my flexibility(always being able to do my left and right splits), but my real passion was performing! Oh how I love the feeling of people watching you perform a dance you've worked so hard on! Whether it was at basketball games, 4th of July parades, school assemblies, recitals, competitions, or even just for my other teammates...it was my time to shine! I loved going full out in my moves and entertaining the audience with my faces...I LOVED IT! Well, it was the end of my sophomore year in high school, around the time when sign ups and tryouts for next year would start. I was thinking about it one day, and the feeling hit me SO HARD that I was not supposed to do dance anymore. I was supposed to do family history work. In all honesty it just felt natural and right. So I told my mom and she was confused, but she trusted me to make the right decision. So my Junior year started, but another year in dance did not. A pretty immediate blessing for my decision was that I got a bunch of new piano students and I got an amazing nannying job that I would not be able to have fit in my dance schedule. So time went on and I realized I had followed my prompting only half way...I needed to start family history work. My main line had been researched and had the temple work done has far back as it could go. (Here's a little bit about why we do family history work and TEMPLE WORK for our dead in LDS temples). So I went to the local family history center, but the sweet elderly lady didn't quite help me with what I was looking for. So I started doing indexing, which was a lot of fun. (Information about indexing HERE) . But I wanted the experience of doing temple work for MY family that I found. So, my neighbor said that she could teach me how to find my "cousins" and do their work. That day changed my life and thousands of others. That was March of 2015, and of right now in September of 2016 I have found over 2,000 names to take to the temple!!! I am addicted. I have stayed up past midnight multiple times because I found a whole family starting in the 1700's that need their temple work done! Their isn't quite anything like taking ordinances in the temple for YOUR own family. My addiction has sort of gone out of control, but luckily we have many friends and family that help do some of the names each week. I have also taught a friend how to do it for his family. I can not wait for the day when I get to meet these people taht I have found that need their saving ordinances done. This quote about family history has been fulfilled in my life:

“I promise you will be protected against the intensifying influence of the adversary. As you participate in and love this holy work, you will be safeguarded in your youth and throughout your lives” 

My prayer is that these people accept the true gospel and these ordinances that are done for them here on earth. I've been promised that they will. This gospel is amazing! So even if you aren't LDS, FAMILYSEARCH.ORG has so many resources that you can use for your family, it's unbelievable and amazing! Spend time with your family. Write down a story your grandma tells you. Write down your own story. Do family history work...the blessings are worth it!!!!

Why is my call so perfect?

Here's a link to my post all about why I'm serving a mission:) LINK
It took less than 2 weeks for my call to come!!! My brother and his sweet wife were staying with us, and they told me we should just check the mail for fun..it was here! I invited people to come later that night and my excitement/nerves were off the charts. My brother went to film school, and his sweet wife helped him make the perfect video of my call opening day...click HERE to watch it:)
Here's the sweet post my sister-in-law made when she shared the video:)

There are some very personal reasons why this mission is PERFECT for me, but for my sake I'll just share a few. I took French in high school, and I only lasted one trimester because it just would not click (no worries, I somehow still got an A;)). But I knew that learning a language would stretch me BEYOND and be so hard and challenging...which is why I wanted to learn one:) Tagalog is pretty crazy, and I've been using some lessons and practicing but...thank goodness the Spirit will be there to help push me along. Also, the chances of me having all native companions are very high. Native companions will make it hard to communicate, but push me to learn the language faster. Also, I know that because this is a third world country, I am going to see things that will break my heart. But this will allow me to learn from these amazingly strong people and help them come unto Christ!!! They need the hope the gospel brings, and in the meantime they'll be teaching me. NOW although I am so excited to be a missionary, see me change, and help others come unto Christ, I know that it is NOT ABOUT ME!!! It is about our Savior and Heavenly Father's children that NEED this gospel. It feels so right. This is where I am supposed to be going. This is part of Heavenly Father's plan for me, and all those that I come in contact with in the Philippines. I can't wait to serve:):):)

Why a mission?

In the October 2012 General Conference, our prophet, Thomas S. Monson, announced that the age that missionaries could serve will now be 18 for young men (previously 19) and 19 for young women (previously 21). Before that announcement, girls had to wait so long to serve that most of us didn't even really have it in our mind that we would serve..." if I'm not married by then maybe I'll go." was a frequent response from young women in the church. This change was huge! One statistic I found was that from 2012 to 2015 the percentage of LDS missionaries that are female went from 14% to 25%, and I wouldn't be surprised if it has grown since then. The announcement has blessed and changed thousands of lives worldwide.
My sister who was 18 at the time went crazy for excitement when she heard, and knew immediately that she was going to serve. This was common for many sisters. They shortened the time that they spent at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) due to lack of room. New missions were being opened up, and all kinds of records were set. My sister was called to serve in the Canada, Toronto mission, and she loved every minute. Reading her weekly emails made me want to serve. But I knew that if I was going to take this journey, I needed to do it because I got an answer, not just because my sister and so many around me were doing it. And so it began...

Dropping my sister off at the MTC. I promise our eyes are open...blurry pictures are the best:)

Throughout my high school years, I had decided that I would go to a semester of college, and then serve my mission (I wouldn't turn 19 until November, so it made sense). I applied to my 2 top schools, sort of planning on going to one in particular. Well, I didn't get in. I was confused at first, but I've learned to take the things thrown at us in life and say "It's not meant to be" or " Everything happens for a reason" because I truly believe that. Our Heavenly Father knows us better than we know ourselves, and His plan for us is greater than we could ever comprehend. Anywho, I got into the local university (Brigham Young University-Idaho), and I was waiting for my track assignment. Once again, I was planning on getting Fall in my track, so I could go to one
semester of school then leave. Here's a snippet from my journal on Sunday February 28, 2016:
"So this week, I got my track assignment from BYU-I. It was Winter/Spring so I couldn't start until next January. My immediate thought was that I could just put my papers in as soon as possible, and have my birthday be my availability date. I needed to pray, and I prayed that my answer would come through the scriptures. In my personal study in the Old Testament, I read about following promptings. Then , in family study, we read Alma 29. The very first verse talks about missionary work, and the rest of the chapter too! this means I get my call in July...YAY!"
Here's the first verse of Alma chapter 29 in the Book of Mormon:
 O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!
Amazing, huh? Here's a link to the entire chapter...it's so inspiring! LINK
So I started my papers in May, and submitted them on July 10:):):)