Ni Hao Ma?

Dear Mr. Mailman,

Whilst awaiting your arrival on December 23, 2010

I was privileged to receive a phone call from. . . .

Sister Julie Ann Holm!

She is my sister, and is doing amazing as a sister missionary in Rochester, New York.

She got permission from her mission president to call me

because i had been awaiting your arrival with my mission call in tow all day.

She and I had a nice chat about life,

and about how I was feeling before i received your mail.

It was amazing, and i love her tons and tons.

I have also been enjoying calling St. George, Utah home again.

I do miss my Hawaiian home, but it has been wonderful to be home,

to be reminded of all the awesome friends i have here,

and to spend time with my family knowing i won't have to leave them for a while.

I also got to visit some cousins and see some newborn babies

and get some Christmas shopping done for my parents =).

But mainly, i'd like to thank you Mr. Mailman sir.

Thanks for delivering a giant packet full of useful information

and a crazy and unexpected surprise.

The package you brought helped my friends and family join me as i found out that. . .

I have been called to serve for 18 months

in the Taipei, Taiwan mission!

I'm going to be learning Mandarin!!!!!!

I am so very excited to leave on March 30th.

and i'm also excited for you to please deliver

all of the fun letters and packages from my friends and family while i serve.

Thanks for your help in delivering my

crazy/awesome/wonderful/insane

mission call in the mail yesterday.

Love,

the future Sister Stephanie Holm

The Last Hawaiian {Everything}

let me just say.. for the record..

i have not expressed how incredibly excited i am about receiving a mission call.

believe me, i am!! i promise!!!

School is kicking my butt right now though.. so i can't even focus on it..

and i get my call NEXT WEEK!

sometimes i wake up and continue to ask myself "are you really going to do this?"

"can you do this?" "will every day feel like it's worth it?"

I'm just looking forward knowing that it will be very very hard.

and hopefully it won't be as hard as i'm expecting...

ANYWAYs..

Finals =

one choir concert

one english research paper

one 3 hour long english final

one history research paper

one small english archetype paper (what in the WORLD is an archetype? i've written half a paper and i still don't know....)

one history group presentation

one acting final

one typing of 12 mission prep journals

one mission prep final

and tomorrow i will be one HAPPY CAMPER!

LAdies and gents..

my room is packed (almost.. haha)

it has become a tradition that i listen to Wicked while i pack.

i did it several times in Georgia, Utah and Hawaii.

and i did it again for 2 hours yesterday.

This time while i packed i didn't feel all nostalgic like i normally do.

This move, for once, is peaceful.

I'm not tormenting myself about leaving.

I think in a way i know i'll be back here to graduate.

I'll miss my friends,

but there comes a time when life just needs to move on.

and mine is about to take a big leap of faith, and turn to the Lord.

Because from here on out, he's leading my every step. =)

I've had the time of my life here in Hawaii

and I'll never forget it, and i've cherished every minute just like i planned on doing.

Thank goodness for BYU Hawaii thats all i gotta say

back to finishing finals and packing.......

{Ocean Kisses}

One of my favorite things about Hawaii is when im laying on th beach and the ocean's beautiful waves crash, and the tiny sprays somehow float up like a saltwater peck on my cheek.
I'll miss this place.

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Dos Estories for you

STORY #1

Yesterday we took a trip into town to go Christmas Shopping at the Swap Meet.

I took Erin dean/best friend, my hometeacher Curtis Hansen,

and his roommates

Ben, Tade, and Clint.

We packed into the car and had a party.

I got some really cool stuff for me, including a really really cute

sterling silver ring, with a pineapple on it. Ahh its so cute.

Its funny because Erin and i had walked into almost all of the jewelry booths,

but when i walked into this one, i thought

"i'm gonna find something in here that i'm gonna love, and i'll keep it forever."

i usually don't wear jewelry, and if i do, i'm skeptical of what kind.

It's cute and i'm excited.

ok for the story.....

we went to see The Tourist at some theaters in Pearl City.

During the movie, i got up to go to the bathroom,

and changed my seat to sit on the end by the isle (we took up 2 whole rows cause there were tons of people with us by now)

this guy in front of me smelled SOOO Bad like alcohol.

In the middle of the movie, the guy stands up and kinda holds himself up with the chairs around him for about a minute he just stands there. then he sits back down.

2 minutes later he gets up and does it again, for like 2 minutes this time.

Then he stands all the way up, and starts to like stumble across the isle into this other guy.

so the guy kinda helps him up, and he stands up then falls

and SMACKS his head, really hard on an armrest.

SO hard that the whole theater stands up, because it echoed through the whole theater and was louder than the movie.

So the guy is like passed out in the isle, bleeding because he hit so hard,

and we're all trying to figure out what to do.

There were probably only like 20 people in the theater, half of them are my friends haha.

So the medics come, and we explain what happened. and it was terrifying.

Honestly i am scared of drunk people.

Alrighty

STORY #2

I had my mission interview today.

the official interview.

like the stake president's, when i'm done with you it goes to the brethren, interview.

like the, in 10 days i'll receive my call, interview.

which means...

dun duh duh duh duhhhhhh!!!

I'll receive my mission call the day before Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas to me!!!!! =) =)

{Catching Up} **Picture Overload

First there was our Thanksgiving Feast!

Roommates:

Bree (homemade rolls, green bean casserole)

Steph (Mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, texas sheet cake, lemon bars)

Olivia

Guests:

Erin Dean (Stuffing)

Chris Pfau

Crystal Bates

Ethan Linn (chicken instead of turkey.. they were delicious)

Scott Messick (drinks)

Ariel Leavitt (pumpkin pie)

The company was amazing, the feast was incredible, and we had a jolly good time together.

That night we drove all the way to Mililani to see Tangled too.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, I had to pick up my friends

Curtis Hansen & Clint Calder from the airport.

They spent Thanksgiving "roughing it" in Kauai.

We went into Waikiki and had dinner at CPK and saw all the pretty christmas lights!

We also had a fun beach day at Turtle Bay that Saturday.

We played some sand volleyball and soccer.

& ate some Ted's Bakery for lunch.. mmmmmmmm delectable!

The next weekend,

we found out that the school had spent $30,000 on this semesters

Fall Ball.

They were expecting 600 people

and only 97 had bought tickets the day before.

So we decided to convince a huge group to go.

To be honest, i've never even been asked to a dance. Ever. ha

and i've never been to a formal dance (besides my dance practicum for my social dance class)

I pretty much made Curtis and Clint be my dates haha.

and i saved a whole $3 because Clint bought his ticket with me

we were sort of a "fake couple".

The dance was actually really really fun.

we sang karaoke,

danced the night away,

and had a really good steak dinner.

It was definitely worth it!

I'm so glad i went!

I took a class called the "university chorale"

its the choir class that you don't have to tryout for.

(pre-mission decision, i was planning on taking this class, and then during winter semester tryout for concert choir..)

We had a concert, and these were our

Lovely Hawaiian Costumes =) =) haha

the concert was really fun. i loved the class,

i loved the costumes,

and i love singing, what could be better?

We took Christmas card pictures

and sent them out this weekend!

watch out!! you'll probs be getting one!!

6... count them.. SIX days left in my Hawaiian paradise home.

=( and =) i really don't know how to feel haha

In {Love} with Love

{Courage}

"Courage, not compromise, brings the smile of God’s approval.
Courage becomes a living and an attractive virtue
when it is regarded not only as a willingness to die manfully,
but also as a determination to live decently.
A moral coward is one who is afraid to do what he thinks is right
because others will disapprove or laugh.
Remember that all men have their fears,
but those who face their fears with dignity
have courage as well.”

-Thomas S. Monson

Brigham {Young}

“All I have to do is keep my spirit, feelings and conscience like a sheet of blank paper, and let the Spirit and power of God write upon it what He pleases. When He writes, I will read; but if I read before He writes, I am very likely to be wrong."

“When I look upon the faces of intelligent beings I look upon the image of the God I serve. There are none but what have a certain portion of divinity within them; and though we are clothed with bodies which are in the image of our God, yet this mortality shrinks before that portion of divinity which we inherit from our Father."

"The difference between God and the Devil, is that God creates and organizes, while the whole study of the Devil is to destroy."
-Brigham Young

Let's {Focus}

my posts lately have been really random.. oh well.

Do you know what? I love when I can see answers to my prayers right before my eyes.
Yesterday was a hard day.
Today was a cure for yesterday.

I am allergic to certain foods =(
the type of allergy that isn't necessarily noticeable.
I get extremely irritable, tired, and have tremendous headaches,
along with my stomach cramping for a few hours.

So I'm cutting those foods out... but it will still take a while to feel better =(


Guys... i can't focus on school anymore.
I'm so done with it haha.
I just want to sleep and play all the time.
I only have 16... count them ... SIXTEEN DAYS left in Hawaii.
ohhh goodness me, i don't know what i'm going to do with these next 16 days.

I can't think about leaving too much because it stresses me out.
I can't think about school too much because it stresses me out (and that leaves me never doing my homework... uh oh...)
I can't think about boys because it stresses me out.
I can't think about my mission because it stresses me out.
I can't think about going through the temple because it stresses me out.

What else is there to think about?!?!?!?

I just had Thanksgiving break.. but it was a short break that held me up
then Monday hit and dropped me on my bum.

I just want to get it over with to be honest.
I'm gonna learn to embrace this change.
Because we all know serving a mission
is an awesome reason
to leave school and friends behind
for a short little while.

Keep your fingers crossed
that i can focus enough
not to fail my classes.