Sisters and School

I guess my sister Lizzie takes after me. She burned peanut butter and chocolate chips in the microwave last night. (She microwaved them for three minutes or so.) The kitchen smelled ALMOST as bad as the time that I burned my quesadilla. I guess it's prone to happen to everyone every once in a while.



So...school. Almost anyone who reads this blog (which isn't a high amount, I'm sure) would think that I'm incredibly indecisive. "First she decides to go to BYU-Hawaii, then she decides to stay at BYU-Idaho, and then she transfers to Hawaii afterall," they'd say. Now, I have my moments of indecisiveness and being noncommittal, but this time is not one of them. All I have to say is that the Lord's timing and plans are incredibly different than ours.



I am going to BYU-Hawaii because it's where the Lord wants me to be. I promise. :)

Here's the story that's been waiting:

Last April, our family visited Hawaii, and we happened to stay on the island of Oahu, which is where BYU-Hawaii is. We were about an hour away from the campus, but we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC), which is right next to the campus, and I did set foot on campus once or twice. We also went to the temple visitor's center quite a few times, which is also next to the campus.

I loved it there so much that I wanted to transfer. We talked to some people at church there who work at BYU-Hawaii, and they said BYU-Hawaii needs more Elementary Education majors, and some of the people worked in the admissions office-or had connections. ;) They said to let them know if I applied, and when I was done. So I started on my application while we were still there. But I stopped. I can't really say why, but I know that there was something that just wasn't quite right. (I was REALLY leaning on the Spirit, or at least trying to.) However, I never withdrew my application.

I ended up deferring fall semester at BYU-Idaho because I didn't have quite enough money to go, which you'll see turned out to be a good thing. I just worked during that time.

One night during winter semester, my roommate Tiffany and I were in the library. I had actually finished my homework, so I was waiting for Tiff. (Usually I had more homework than she did, so it was rather impressive that I finished!) Since I was waiting, I was on the computer. Somehow I found myself on the BYUH website. I was just reading stuff on there for fun, and I went to the admissions page. I started reading some information, and suddenly I was hit with the Spirit, which told me that it was okay now and that I could/should apply. I couldn't believe it! I didn't say anything to anyone, but I felt happy, and actually, a tiny bit scared.

That night, I went home and prayed to make sure that I was supposed to apply to BYU-Hawaii. I also prayed the next morning. Both times I wasn't really hit hard either way like I was at the library. All day long that was on my mind, and I just wanted to make sure that it was really the Spirit which told me to apply, and not myself, and asked Him for help to know. I had some time after a class, so I went to the Taylor Chapel to pray, read my scriptures, and meditate. I really had to make sure this was the right thing. Before I read or meditated, I just said a silent simple prayer, telling Heavenly Father how I felt the day before, and how I just wanted to make sure that was His will for me, and not just my high hopes or something getting in the way. I then meditated and read my scriptures, which helped. In fact, I came across a scripture in 2 Nephi 32:9. It's one of my favorite scriptures now. It really came alive to me just then.

"9 But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul."

Right then, I knew that I did indeed feel the Spirit at the library and that I needed to move forward with my application. So I did. And since I had started it 10 months before (AND HADN'T WITHDRAWN IT), I just picked up where I left off. All I needed to do was have an interview with my bishop and a member of the stake presidency.

Even though that was all I needed to do, I fixed my application essays, too. I went to library from the chapel, and worked on them for about two hours. When I got home everyone asked me where I had been, and I just told them the library. That appeased them enough (thank goodness)! I enjoyed keeping the secret to myself for a few days. It's kind of fun to have your own secrets, I found out.

I made an appointment with the bishop, and then with the member of the stake presidency. After the stake presidency interview, some of my roommates were suspcious, but I told them I couldn't talk about it yet. At this point, one of my roommates knew (out of 15...). Also, one friend Lindsay, who goes there, knew. I had to ask her some questions. Eventually I told my dad so that I could ask him if we should tell the people who we met at church that work there. He never really gave me an answer, but I decided not to tell them. I knew if it was to be, that the Lord would take care of it. But I made my dad PROMISE he wouldn't tell anyone, not even my mom.

I don't think I even had to wait a week for my admission status, although I will tell you that it felt a whole lot longer than that! There were nights of fitful and halfsleeping. I didn't even know you can worry in your sleep, but you can! Worry isn't really the best word for my condition during that time, though. Although I really did want to get in, I wasn't worried about it, because I was just leaving it up to the Lord. I would be happy to finish out my schooling at BYU-Idaho.

Now, I wasn't worried about getting accepted, but I had started to think about some other things, and became concerned. Finally, the Spirit said, "Don't worry about that right now! You don't have to worry about that until you get accepted. You'll find a way to make it work." So I stopped, and never worried again (about that).

Well, I finally got an email saying an admissions decision had been reached. My heart started racing. I spent a lot of time covering up my tracks so my roommates and other people wouldn't find out. That was okay, though, because the decision was made. I went followed the link, logged in, and read the word "Congratulations!" That was enough for me. I then thought, "Should I scream, or should I not scream? Should I or shouldn't I?" I finally decided to scream...and it came out a lot louder than I thought it would. My roommates yelled, "Are you okay?!" and came rushing in. I told them yes, and to wait just a second. I had a phone call to make.

I called Lindsay, and told her I was accepted. I promised her that she'd be the first I'd tell, and she was. I told her that I would call her back in a few minutes, because my roommates were slightly confused. So I gave the news to everyone, and all of them got really excited. Then I told my brother and my parents, and I called my other brother who didn't answer. We'll just say I was excited....

Actually, I was bouncing off the walls for the rest of the night. The next morning our ward was going to do baptisms for the dead, and I said I'd go. Needless to say, I got very little sleep that night. I think I amused quite a few people with my behavior, though.

The rest is pretty much history. That's the story of why I applied, and why I'm going there. As you can tell, I didn't make it the short version. It's the whole thing.