Happy Anniversary!

Okay, so here is the oldest of my un-posted, unfinished entries. This was dated 9/9/08 and is now almost exactly three years old. My how time flies. I find it funny that I didn't just go ahead and post it as is. I mean, I know that I really wanted to find some significant highlights to include for each year and possibly include some pictures, but come on Christina. Hmph. Also, I just realized that I have none of my mission pictures in digital format, so I wouldn't have been able to include them anyway. Hmmm, new project to look forward to, perhaps? Anyway, I don't know if this one is terribly exciting, but enjoy it anyway!

It has been ten years since the day I entered the MTC to serve a mission. Weird. Am I really that old? Piffle. Ooo. I just said piffle. Dangit, I guess I really am that old. Sigh. Well, Happy Anniversary, Rachelle and Heather (my two MTC companions), wherever you may be today!

Here are few highlights of the last 10 years of my life:

1998:

• Completed 1st semester at BYU after transferring from Ricks College - most miserable semester of my life.
  
• Submitted mission application and waited 7 weeks to receive mission call
• Learned I was going to the Lithuania Vilnius Mission, Latvian-speaking
• September 9, 1998 entered the MTC in Provo, UT, where I learned the language, the gospel and how hard missionary work was going to be
  
• November 11, 1998 arrived in Latvia - didn't understand very much
• 1st Christmas in Latvia filled w/ lots of new traditions, songs and food. Not long after, I threw up on a trolleybus. (One of my favorite stories...remind me to tell you about it sometime.)
  

1999:

• First baptism in February of 1998 - Trainer, Sister Jamison, and I witnessed two young girls (Kristīne Baradovska & Liene Meiere) and an older lady (Lidija Tarabukina) that we had taught, join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, through the waters of baptism.
• Learned A LOT of Latvian and continued teaching myself Latvian Sign Language from a small picture dictionary. Began to interpret for the Deaf family in the branch in Rīga (Bērgmaņi).
• Witnessed several more baptisms from teaching - many of them resulting from 6 week companionship w/ Rachelle: Sanita Janovska, Skaidrīte Bokuma, Evita Janovska, Dzintra Leonoviča.
  

2000:

• Witnessed several more baptisms: Hildegarde Brauna, Anda Saulīte, Zane Finstere, & Santa Lieģe. A couple that happened after I went home were Aija Vismiņa and Antra Gundarina.
  
• Returned home honorably from serving in Latvia.
• Began teaching at the MTC and started back at BYU again in the Linguistics program.
  

2001:

• Returned to Latvia with my former companion, Rachelle. We visited all of our wonderful Latvian friends. We met up with another former missionary, Kelly Draper, rented a car and drove up to Tallin, Estonia to see what they had to offer. Gorgeous medieval town with very nice people! We also attended the Latvian Song and Dance Festival that only happens once every 5 years. This was one of the most amazing concerts that I've ever attended (or series of concerts, I should say). We got to see our friend Agrita and a few others perform in that massive, massive gathering. I also got to hear Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga speak. I kind of thought that was cool, since she was the first female president of Latvia and the first female leader in Eastern Europe.
  

2002:

• I volunteered to help with the Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City. I worked with the Latvian team, but mostly just hung out in the Olympic Village chatting it up w/ some of the managers of the hockey team or wandering around trading pins w/ other teams. I did, however, get to go see the bobsleigh team compete. That was exciting for the first 12 seconds, which is about all I saw from our position at the beginning of the track. But hey, I was THERE!
  

2003:

• Graduated from BYU w/ a Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics, Minor in TESOL.
• Began working full-time at the Harold B. Lee Library at BYU as the Humanities Department Assistant. So many good memories here!
  

2004:

• I got engaged and unengaged.
• I'm sure there were some other significant things that happened this year, but I can't recall what they are at the moment.
  

2005:

• I traveled with two of my best friends Marin and Andrea to NYC, Paris, London, Venice, and Florence. It was a truly glorious trip! Too many adventures to name...girls, you know what we did. :)
  

2006:

• Applied and got accepted George Mason University to start Masters program
• Moved across the country to Alexandria, VA to begin a Masters program in Folklore at George Mason University.
  

2007:

• I bought my first new car that wasn't a pimped out Nissan Sentra. Woot! Love my Toyota Corolla!
  

2008:

• Traveled to Puerto Rico w/ some awesome friends and had some great adventures in spite of the fact that all of our planned activities were foiled by a tropical storm. So instead of swimming in the bio luminescent bay, we rented a van and drove around trying to find beaches that weren't too treacherous to hang out on, all the while singing Disney songs at the tops of our lungs.