July 31, Aug 1-2, 2014 YSA Trip to Huntsville/Pineview

Dear Journal,

I think I did that no-no thing where you either aren't very careful for what you pray for and/or you make some type of promise to God and God seems to have this sense of humor that replies, "Oh yeah? You think so? Well, let's just test that promise out shall we?"

I think it was my last entry when I was talking about me being on earth for a different purpose than the normal get married and have children, grandchildren, etc. And the whole death talk always gets me thinking about the fact the only things I have in this life are possessions and financial gain. I dont have the normal relationships that others may have other than family, not like my own family relationship, ya know? Anyways.... Then I started to think about how much I rely on those possessions, my car, my phone, my keys, my TV, my house, etc. And I think of the anxiety of losing it all or even some of it and think about how petty those thoughts/things are in the grand perspective of things. I can't take any of those possessions with me in the afterlife. Only the relationships and knowledge I have gained here on Earth.

So somehow I came to this conclusion that as long as I had a temple recommend, something eternal, some hope of eternal placement, that He could take any or all of my possessions away and I would remain faithful and rely on Him cuz those things dont mean much in the afterlife.

Boy, was I asking for it....

"If we wanted to place blame on someone for all the problems we have in our life and be able to kick them in the pants, we wouldn't be able to sit down for days."

So Friday, Aug 1, when I was up in Huntsville with the YSA ward hanging out a cabin and playing in the Pineview Res and I was attempting to go down a very shallow river, God decided to huck my phone into the river.

Some of us went to the Pineview Res and did the boating activities while some of us wanted to try out floating the river. We had two groups and needed someone to bring a phone in each group to call for a ride back home once we got out of the river. I didnt know someone else planned on bringing their phone so I put mine in two plastic sandwhich bags and put it in my pocket.

Unfortunately for me mostly, the river was really shallow. Lots of slimy rocks you can't keep balance on but your but slides over them none the less. Where we got in was a lot faster than it looked and I fell in. The first time I fell in and I lost everything in my pockets. Then I was playing catch up with my tube and simply ended up flopping down a swallow river being scrapped up the rocks. I finally caught up to my tube and found a spot that wasn't so fast in the river and climbed out. Scraps on my knees from being dragged, panic arising in my chest from losing my phone, panic of the river taking my control away from me, and relief I got my tube and got out. All overwhelming. And totally sucked.

I was done after that. Done for the day. Done with activities. Just done.

Three others continued down the river after a very short and hopeless search for my phone and two of us girls that had the most trouble in the fast, shallow river went back to the cabin. Lara eventually went down to the beach/res and played on the boat. But I didnt feel like it. I had stubbed my toe a couple weeks ago at the reunion and it was so swollen and sore and sliding around in that river on those rocks I stubbed that toe again and it throbbed. So I took a shower to get the icky from the river off me, grabbed some ice and iced my toe and knees and eventually fell asleep. Surprisingly I fell asleep with my mind going a million miles thinking about my phone and what I was going to do.

I felt much better after the nap tho. I had a plan in my head. I wasn't freaking out. I really wasn't freaking out for some reason. This is the first time I lost a phone. I mean seriously I have never lost or broken a phone since 2006 when Dad gave me my first phone. I take super good care of my ohones, enough they can last for 3 years like my last phone did. And I took it very well when I lost this one and was very calm about it somehow.

I borrowed a phone and called my dad and I said on a whim that if someone found it they'd prolly call him or mom and to be on the look out for numbers they dont recognize. I told them I'd call them back later to see if they heard anything. I said I'd give it the weekend for someone to find and then I'll have to activate my old phone and consider stealing Dads upgrade opportunity in Sept, knowing all this would cost me an arm and a leg. I have no insurance or warranty on the phone.

I seroiusly had no hope someone would find it. That river was too fast. It doesn't look it, but it was. I didn't even call my parents back that night to check. I was trying to convince myself to call them before I left the cabin the next day. It was just convienent, curiousity and boredom that I did call that Sat around 10:30am just after packing up to go and getting ready to go to the Ogden Temple Open House that I called.

And sure enough Dad said someone called and found it. Mom gave me the info of what campground they were at, said they were packing up to leave that morning, and a phone number. I called the phone number on someone elses phone and left a message. Then someone had the idea of calling the campground site/ranger and came up with the phone number so I took his phone and called and they said the group that found my phone was still at the campsite. woohoo! So I raced up the canyon to the campground to get my phone about 11am! Found out it was a girls camp that had found my phone. Juss happened to look and see, prolly saw the pink or white and picked it up.

And amazingly! The two plastic bags kept my phone dry and it was still working! The girls group was amazed too. "Hey, it still works." ohmygoodness.

Many many miracles and a lesson learned of one night without a cell phone. Someone finding it period was a miracle, second of all it still worked with my pathetic plan of 'waterproofing' it, and then me and them still being around that same day so I could come get it from them. All miracles.

Needless to say, I can't really say I had fun on the ward trip. If I wasn't panicked and stressed about my phone with no one who really cared, I was bored. Simply bored. For a cabin with activities and like 50-60 young singles, there was nothing to do. They did volleyball and tetherball, which I dont do. They had some type of bean bags you throw into a hole game that I played a couple of times, a couple of times by myself. They had nintendo, Wii, and Guitar Hero games to play upstairs but that was usually occupied by the group of boys that made upstairs their home. They had a massage chair I sat in most of the time and watched the boys play. They had a TV almost as big as the wall downstairs which no one used, until I got bored enough I put a movie in and watched. They had a hot tub which was only used at dark and everyone used it, esp after the long day boating and stuff. I totally lost my appetite when I lost my phone so I wasn't even eating to get rid of boredom. I found myself playing solitare on my old phone and wishing I had my book on my pink phone to read. I just started it on that trip on Thurs night when I got there cuz I was bored on night one, and Fri night I didnt have my phone or anything to entertain me. Boo.

I was tired from lack of sleep. Those kids dont go to bed until midnight, some stayed up til 2, and others stayed up til like 5am. I was tired from the panick and stress I felt. I was sore and hurt with my knees and toe still stinging and throbbing. I was bored and didn't want to eat anything for like a day and a half. And I didnt want to hear the less than sincere apologies for me losing my phone. There was like 50-60 singles there in that cabin and every single one of them had a phone and I'm sure not one really thought about how they would feel if they lost it down a river. (I wanted to take one of the many phones on the counter and hide it and see someone elses misery, mwhaha! But I didn't) As if I didn't feel stupid enough. I was drained and just wanted to go home. The only reason I stayed was cuz I wanted to see the Ogden Temple and that was the very last activity on this ward trip. So I stuck around.

But then I got my phone back AND I got to go to the temple! Couldn't get better than that!

The temple was amazing and beautiful, amazingly beautiful. A much better design than the old temple they had. I wonder if they will rethink the Provo temple now which was built similar. We went to Farr's ice cream afterward. How can you not go to Farr's after the temple in Ogden? My phone wouldn't stop ringing and texting of everyone trying to get ahold of me. But I got it quiet enough to go through the temple. I scarfed down huckleberry and raspberry cheesecake ice cream with a cone. It was my lunch. I missed lunch at the cabin cuz I was getting my phone up the canyon. I made it back just in time to head to the temple.

Then I carried on using my phone. I can't look at my phone now every once in awhile and think "amazing" or "crazy" its crazy that I still have you. And its crazy that no one tried to contact me until today when I had it back. Its all just insane. A miracle,a bunch of miracles actually.

I went up to Mindys in Brigham and talked her ear off and ate her food. Then I went down to Gmas and got my dog and ended up talking to Gma and Claine for hours as Claine browsed through houses he's interested in seeing/buying. Apparently Claine can stay in the state for another year so he thinks that warrants buying a house.

I finally got my dog and myself back home around 10:30pm that night and crashed.

All is well again.

And I prolly brought it all on myself too.