I should do some updating

Many things have happened in the past week:

HARBOR campout
flying helium balloons to near-space
They let me be Launch Coordinator (I got a checklist!)
I have a souvenir from 102,000'
Science in the Parks at the Davis County Fair
getting sick Friday night
watched a movie in the girls bathroom while the guys used theirs as a science lab
Pepsi incident
cleaning pools of water out of my tent
yeah, mostly it's about HARBOR so I'll have to write about it in more detail sometime
Someone decided he wants to court me from long-distance
it was my mom's birthday (I'm taking her to a show tomorrow)
AND school starts tomorrow so I might be pret-ty busy for about the next 2 years

Feeling Productive

First a short bike update: I rode 13 miles up the hill to WSU on Friday in 1 hr 29 min. Hmm, I think that's longer than last time. Maybe because neither the bus nor I had any head start and so it passed me much sooner, then there was not as much motivation? That's my only idea. But honestly, I can feel myself getting better . . . happiness!

All right, today. I did feel very productive today. We went to my sister's house and helped her out with many projects. The things I did include:
painting the walls of the stairs to the basement
shimming a door and adjusting the door handle to make it latch right
painting a door frame
Removing various hooks, a towel dispenser, and a cabinet from the walls of the laundry room
holding a clamped rod while my sister cut it
hanging a rod in the coat closet
painting the door frame again
painting one of the stair walls again

Yeah, it was exciting :-) It reminded me of the time I built a house. This calls for a mission story! So, there's this family, and the father died. In the Philippines the viewing is often at the person's house. This family was very poor and their house wasn't that big, it was like, one room built of cinder blocks and then extended out with wood and tarps and stuff. In order to get the coffin into the house they kind of disassembled half of it (but it was still too small so they ended up putting him in their neighbor's house). Then they were still left with a half-disassembled house . . . so after the funeral for a service project my companions (Sister Molino and Sister Lemonsito) and I helped them build it back up! It was great. We found some long boards and nailed them up to things like a tree and an old bed frame, and filled in gaps with odd sized wood and tarps. Then we put some long boards up vertically and made a roof with one piece of corrugated steel, some pieces of bamboo, and more tarps. It was wonderful to be out working and serving like that, and they loved it too. Anyway, here's a picture.

On the left is a member that helped us, Regie. In the back is a neighbor, Dolores. There at the right is Sister Loreta David and 3 of her kids, Jennifer, Lorna and her youngest boy

push ups

I went swimming today and did my spitfires again. That makes 48 pushups! And 15 extra wall-push-ups this time, too. Weird thing--I think I do this weird twisty something when I'm doing push ups so that somehow my right arm does most of the work. I tried to straighten out a little and I felt like I was going to fall over left-ways. Hmmm.

And I bought textbooks today. This is how I squoze through this semester: 3 borrowed, 1 new, 1 used, and 3 from Amazon. Still over $300. I hate spending money. But I am applying for another job to boost my income! I need funding for my many adventures: trip to Chicago, trip to Europe, trip to Philippines, and next year my happy Presidential full-tuition scholarship runs out... This is why I don't drive places or go to the movies. Anything to save a buck ;-)

This number went down, and other stories

I rode my 10 miles to Farmington today, and it took 51 minutes. (last time it took 52). Last Tuesday was exciting, I swam for almost an hour and did numerous pushups, then I went running right after and did 2 miles! *evil laughter* I'm working my way up heh heh, and throughout the day I did over 8 miles on my bike. I was pretty proud of myself. Yesterday I took it easy and then I did my bike today, as already mentioned. I think I'm gonna get this running thing, ya know? It felt pretty good. At this point I think my weakest event will be the bike part--yes, I do it all the time, but that hasn't made me FAST.

And in other random news:
-I'm re-reading the Harry Potter series, now on book 4.
-I sewed curtains and mounted the rod in a cement wall using a new drill bit and some plastic thingies and the wall did not want to cooperate with me but I showed it who was boss!
-I'm applying for jobs, because I need money.
-The Ott planetarium is open this Saturday from 12-6 for free so come on down! Or, in most cases, up!

Oh, I almost forgot to mention what I did when I came home Tuesday. I made a halo-halo. It's cold and delicious, perfect for after all that work I did. Here's a picture. It was delicious.

Yeah I did stuff

Yesterday I rode my bike 7.5 miles and it took 36 minutes.

Answers to prayers...

can come in strange forms.

I've heard it put, that there are 3 different kinds of answers: 1.Yes 2.No 3.Wait a while. I might venture to put forth another--4.You decide. Or something like that. I've been trying to figure something out for a while and on 2 separate occasions while seeking guidance, the inspiration I was given came in the form of a scripture found in Alma 42:27

"Therefore, O my son, whosoever will come may come and partake of the waters of life freely; and whosoever will not come the same is not compelled to come; but in the last day it shall be restored unto him according to his deeds."

The first time, it felt pretty good. The second time, I can't describe. But mentally that's kind of hard to figure out anyway--searching for answers and that's what you get. It's okay now, the issue is resolved, but there's got to be a better way to understand what God is trying to say to me the next time around.

P.S. that happens to be my favorite scripture, back from the mish... (it's hard for me to quote it in English, lol) It has many applications and I hope you may find it useful someday.

Success! and double fail... with another success!

I ultimately decided to go to Bountiful again to try and get athletic shoes, and I did! It was as awesome as my cousin said! Then I tried to go to the temple and it was closed. Come to think of it, I tried to go swimming today and the pool was closed. But then I went to the mall to get some nice black sandals and I did!