'Pictures:)' by Sister Koroitamana

Heya Love! 

How are you? This week has been a great week I learnt alot of great lessons this week. One that really stuck out to me was that when we truly choose to do the Lord's will and not ours things really do work out for the BEST, we're more happier and we allow the Lord to help us become all that he created us to be. When we allow the Lord to really guide us we can become successful. I learnt this On Saturday night. Sister Matheson and I went with CJ and his Mom Maritza to the Visitors Center and they loved it! They are both not members but CJ's father is less active and is not really as involved in the lessons as we'd like. We realized that one of Maritza's main concerns is that she feels that the church is run by men and not really by God. She's had a lot of experiences where the members around her weren't really being the best Examples and she feels that the church is just like a business organization. The Sisters at the Visitors Center really helped alot! We shared about Prophets being called of God and how she can come to really know for herself if she really just prays sincerely and asks God. I loved that the Sisters at the Visitors Center were able to teach to their needs even though they didn't really know much about them. It just makes me really grateful for the Holy Ghost and how it really does help us help us Heavenly Father's children according to their needs. Maritza and CJ are great! we just love them so much! today is Sister Matheson's Birthday!!! So Maritza allowed us to come by her home and let her Maid do our Laundry. That was so nice of her. 

I just sometimes feel like time is just flying by so fast and before we know it it's already Monday again! Wow! this week we have truly seen a lot of Miracles in our lives. We've been meeting with Christina and her family regularly this week and they are just Amazing! We came over for our lesson on Friday and we got to meet her husband. (this whole time we've only been meeting with her and her kids) We got to finally meet her husband and is soo great! Wow! They are just a great family and are so prepared, His name is Pete:) We taught them the Plan of Salvation and they just loved it so much! They had both grown up with some sort of religious background and have always known of just a Heaven and Hell and have kind of always looked at God as a scary being. As we shared the Plan of Salvation with them we really felt that the Spirit was there and they really just beamed. We asked how they felt about it and they said they just felt so comforted in knowing this plan and Christina mentioned that the Moment we started sharing it with her she just knew that it was true. WOW! I really can't put into words how I feel about their family! I just love them so much! Yesterday as we waited in church for CJ and Martiza to come as well as Christina and her family to come! We were just filled with so much as they all came! I really felt like it was all a Miracle! We had saved seats for them in the front and so we all sat together. Christina, Pete and their kids all came and they also brought a friend with them! I just felt so good yesterday being able to be in church with all the people I've really come to love surrounding us. It was Perfect! We had a lesson with Christina and  Pete and their family later that night and they are all preparing to be baptized!!!! I'll attach a picture of them. At the end of the lesson as we all knelt to pray Austin who's 4 agreed to try and say the closing Prayer ( Prior to this he was always too shy to pray) but it was sooo cute to hear him say the Closing prayer. Mama it was sooo Precious! He is soo adorable! Christina Cried as she heard Austin pray:) I am really grateful for a loving Heavenly Father. I know and could feel him with us last night as we shared the Restoration. I know he was with us. We could feel him so close. Ah! What a wonderful feeling! We had our Ward Mission Leader Brother Hiatt with us and it's awesome to be able to work well with our members and help them, be more involved in helping our people progress. 

I learnt something really neat this week that is that 90% of any persons conversion occurs when we (the Missionaries) are not there. That really got me thinking about the importance of not only teaching people these wonderful truths but also helping them to receive revelation for themselves. I feel like this is something everyone needs in order to really be sure and steadfast in the Gospel. 

I reflected alot his week on all that has been happening in our area and I remembered my Call letter. There's a promise in there that says that if I really serve the Lord with all my heart leaving behind all thoughts of home and worldly thinking and truly just give the Lord my he would lead me to those who are prepared to receive his Gospel. I think of Bob and I think of Christina and her family and I really just feel that that that promise is true! As I reflected on this I just felt such a great desire to always be worthy of that promise. I know that Heavenly Father really does help me to my part. How are things on your side? What can I do to help you? What can I pray for? 

I Love you!!!

Sister Koroitamana

November 9, 2014

    I am the type of person that most everyday has a story to tell at the end of the day. This entry is a rare one in my opinion because I talk about my future. I usually write of things that have happened, not writing about the developing events around me, which have not happened. I have a lot of stuff to write about; although, it has only been one week. Not much happened on Monday, but we had a super fun Family Home Evening, playing smurf. Tuesday was an interesting day. After the weekend, where Jessica said that she would not like to date steadily, somehow I am hanging out with her more and our relationship is closer. Oh yeah. On Monday I was getting lunch at the crossroads, and she saw me, joining me for the meal. She accepted my invitation to join us for devotional. As I was waiting to walk with her into devotional, Brother Stutz (I introduced him last entry.) approached me, inviting me to be the coordinator of track and field in the Spring, because I sent him an email, saying that it would be disappointing to see the events of track be limited to long distance races according to his proposal. On Wednesday I began training with Devin Collins, working with him to establish a Ragnar team. It is interesting that I feel that I have now become a personal trainer because Jessica wants to run the temple to temple relay with my team. She is not a runner, but I am going to train her, starting tomorrow. I got a B in my accounting test on Friday. I am pretty proud of that. If the semester ended now, I would be in trouble, but I am optimistic that I can pass all my classes. There were more things that happened in my life, but I don't think that they are worth talking about.

    Since Jessica said that she did not want to date me, my week was kind of awkward because I ran out of dating opportunities. I sacrificed them for our relationship. I believe in dating one person at a time if you are pursuing a relationship. It would be weird to be dating around, when one is working out better than the others. I tried to ask out the other girls again, when I was dating more openly, but I realized that it is a little disrespectful to ask someone out about three weeks after your first date for the second date. God seems to be leading us together with the many opportunities which Jessica and I have seized this week. We had moments together this week counting more than the last few weeks combined. Most were coincidental. I don't believe in coincidences, so they were miraculous blessings of God. We saw each other twice on Monday, three times on Tuesday, and I don't know how many other times that we saw each other between Wednesday and Friday. I invited Jessica to join my Temple to Temple relay team on Tuesday, and, when we had lunch together on Friday, she confirmed her desire to run with us, which she held back a little during the initial invitation. Our relationship seems to be back on track. One thing that I learned is that I should not assume anything in relationships. I did not assume that our relationship is over, when we saw each other again after our conversation. We just carried on with our friendship as if it was continually developing. I might as well introduce her with her full name now that we are more committed to each other, for we decided to train together for the Temple to Temple Relay. Her name is Jessica Ledesma. It was nice to feel her embrace on Friday because she followed up on the Temple to Temple Relay invitation, saying that she would like to run with us. When we concluded eating our lunch, she invited me to walk her to her next class, which I did of course. I would never turn away time to be with her.

     I was in the MC, when Brother Stutz approached me about coordinating Track and Field. I don't recommend studying there; although, I got this opportunity to coordinate Track and Field by studying there. A couple of my friends passed by coming talk to me, and I got no homework done. My email proposed an idea to cultivate unity in the separate Track teams. My proposition was to have two distinctly different teams. One team meets at 6, and the other meets at 7. That would still not work to bring unity to the track teams. The other part of the idea is similar to what I did for my cross country team. That is to have a time to warm up together as a team and socialize. I put more ideas together and proposed them to him on Thursday. On Tuesday night on the previous week, I posted on Twitter a revelation that I planned to do. It was "I have a vision to change education, and I am going to pursue it. It's called capitalism!" This was my idea for promoting the Track Team with capitalism. I was planning to get sponsorship to fund the production of shirts; then, scholarships will be given to the winning athletes of each event with the profit of sells. These shirts will be used for advertising for the sponsors businesses, bring them to the companies with discounts for running shoes and whatnot. I also thought that if the companies provided breakfast and lunch during the track meets it can promote their business and Track and Field. Brother Stutz asked how I will promote each event's competition, and told him that offering an equal amount of scholarship money for each event will make the competition equal. He said that there won't be any scholarships though, and he shot down my idea to raise money for shirts because the school already fundraised, asking for thousands of dollars from the local businesses, and it would be disrespectful to allow additional representatives of the school to nickel and dime them so to speak. We had to compromise on my ideas. We could still make shirts, but it will not be profitable, and we could make additional shirts with the recovery of the investment in the shirts. Brother Stutz likes my ideas, hoping that I can begin early on the promotion. I would start now by organizing a Track and Field and Cross Country Association to foster a fellowship among athletes. The success of Track and Field will be dependent on networking.

     The Ragnar Team Assembly with Devin has required networking too.  Ragnar is a 200 mile relay. It was not my idea. Devin wants to do it, so we are organizing this team. The amount of teammates is the same as the Temple to Temple relay. We basically have a full team already. I think that we have seven runners committed. Since three of mine need to save up money, they are halfway committed. I seem to have become a personal trainer for the second half of my semester. I developed a workout schedule that I recommend. It is more conservative than what I did as a coach, but I believe that it will work. Jossy Reyes, a friend of mine who is going to run the Temple to Temple relay with me, said "I didn't know I signed up for this." This is the workout schedule that I recommended.

"Also since a lot of you are beginners, I recommend that you jog for about 20 minutes three days a week for a couple weeks with cross training of lunges and another exercise that I recommend. I can show you it, if you would like. 

After the two weeks, I recommend increasing the time of the work out to 30 minutes three days a week; then, add a fourth day of working out on the week after; the fifth day the week after that. Do that for another week, and increase the number of minutes to forty minutes after that. You guys will be fit. Always keep progressing."

I asked her what she did not sign up for. She said that she wants to do the Temple to Temple Relay, but this commitment surprised her. I told her that I did not expect this of everyone. It is just a recommendation. I am doing this routine with Devin and Jessica. It seems to be working well with Devin. He is surprisingly a powerful fast runner.

'Letting the Good Times Roll <3' by Sister Koroitamana

Heya! Love! 

How are you? How was your week?

This week has been a good long short week. We had Zone Conference this week and it was Awesome! as always. We learnt a tonne of really good things and as we've applied the things we learnt Sister Matheson and I have really seen so many great miracles that truly came from the Lord as we acted. On Tuesday we received a training about Sincere Prayer. I seriously loved it! I loved learning about the Power of our prayers once again and most especially the Power of sincerely saying it regularly and in Faith and not just saying it like a routine.That night Sister Matheson and I really tried to practice it and we were so amazed at the Miracles we saw in our lives that day. We had just gotten out of dinner and we'd been really praying that the Lord would help us reach our goals. We had dinner with the Manley Family that night (I love them so much!) and we came out and received a text saying that we'd just received a referral. We were sooo excited and super Happy. We had been praying regularly and really sincerely that we would find 2 new investigators that night. We went and contacted that referral and got to meet Tonya. She had gone online to try and get a Bible and she found Mormon.org so she requested a free bible there. She is sooo Awesome we talked with her about what we do as Missionaries and she expressed that just recently she'd been feeling a need to come closer to God and she's been trying to find a church that she and her family could go to. We got to share a little lesson with her and her daughter Taniyah (she's 14) that night and they just loved it! and allowed us to come back the next day! We did go back and taught her the Restoration and she just loved it and was just so amazed by it! We felt prompted to invite her to be baptized and she accepted a Baptismal Date!!!!! That was such a huge miracle for us.It was soo funny though because right after she accpeted to be baptized she thought for a while then said;" I'ma have to get me a new weave so it doesn't float up" hahaha we just laughed so hard:D  She really just strengthened my testimony that regardless of what our circumstances may be (however hard our area or circumstances may be) as we really pray sincerely and work diligently the Lord truly does Magnify our callings and he makes miracles happen! 
This week we also had the great blessing of Meeting Christina Aguyo. She is so amazing and truly the most special and prepared person I know, We had found her in the area book. The Sisters before us had met her in the Park and were never able to contact her again. We went by to check her out and she allowed us to come back! She is so special and I just know that God loves her so much! She had had a Mormon friend who had invited her to activities a while back and she's always loved how the Gospel was so family oriented. On Saturday we were planning to have a lesson with her and we were trying to find a member who could come with us but everyone that we asked were either sick or not able to. We prayed alot! to find a member who would be a good fellow shipper for Christina and we had asked a couple of the Sisters and neither of them were responding, Finally late Friday Evening one of the Sisters responded and she suggested that we try calling a new Sister that had just moved into the ward to come with us - her name was Sister Clark. We quickly asked Sister Clark even though it was getting kind of late and she quickly responded that she would love to come with us:) Wow! that was such a huge blessing and relief! We went by to Christina the next day and it truly was one of the most amazing lessons I've had on my mission. We were planning to show her a video of President Monson's talk from the previous General Conference called "Ponder the Path of thy Feet" and as we followed up with her on her understanding of the Restoration and she quickly mentioned that she loved the idea of Prophets and having a modern day Prophet today! Wow! we (Sister Matheson, Sister Clark and I) all just felt so much comfort knowing that truly this was the Lord's work and that he was leading us through his spirit to help Christina. We watched the talk with her and it was sooo amazing. I could definitely feel the Spirit present in our lesson and although kids were playing and doing their thing, I just felt so calm and reassured inside. I was praying so hard that during the lesson the kids would behave and not be too much of a distraction and through out the whole lesson they were just being really good. It was soo good. After the video we asked one of her sons who is 9 how he felt as he listened he said that although he wasn't paying full attention he just felt so calm:) Christina accepted a Baptismal Date for the 23rd of November and she and her son and her friend who she invited came to church last Sunday!!! She is really such a great example to me. I love her so much!!!! Can you please pray for her? 

I Love you Tonnes!

Sister Koroitamana:)

November 2, 2014

    Now that cross country is over, I felt a little lost during the first part of this week, so productivity was weak. My stake choir practices on Tuesdays. I am trying to work with tutors to learn more efficiently, but I don't know how accurate their knowledge is. On Thursday, we had our cross country banquet, and I Skyped an intern from LDS.net after because she wrote an article about me, and she attends BYU Idaho. On Friday my friends and I had a Halloween party. We had a temple day yesterday, and I have not had a temple day with the gang, which is Rachel Dunlap, Paige Dexter, and Jesse Kaupert. I have been stressing out all week about a midterm for my Mechanical Systems class because it is comprehensive. Although it is a take home test, it is not an open book and note. I did my first DTR on Saturday after the temple day. I told Jesse that the relationship that I had with the girl has not developed enough to be journal worthy, but it is my first "Determine the Relationship" conversation. I don't want to write about every girl that I date. Most in the past semesters have only been one date, but this semester has been better dating. My dating relationships are more enduring and realistic. My grades are improving slightly. I did not think that this journal entry would be that long. I am a simple, yet I took advice from a complicated, who is Jesse.

     This is a joke that we have because I made a PowerPoint for one of my classes last semester, introducing myself to a teacher. At the end of the presentation, I answered a question "What type of guy are you?" I said that "I am a simple." After showing it to a few people before I turned it in, Jesse was the only person to notice my grammar error. After my simple nature was revealed, I realized how complicated that Jesse makes life. Now because of him, my journal entry will probably be double in length.

    I love our stake choir conductor. She is the most amazing instructor that I have ever had. Her name is sister Andrews. She told her story of how she got into singing this week. I believe that she said that her singing range was so limiting that she took it as a challenge, enrolling herself into music classes at BYU Provo. There is a belief that the people that struggle the most to develop skills are the best teachers because they understand why people would not get things easily, and they are able to approach their instruction more personally. Sister Andrews is so funny because she describes the way to sing properly so explicitly most every day of practice. I have tried to explain it before. I am grateful to have been in her choir the past few semesters. The choir this semester is more exclusive, and she attended our sessional, having us sing to her as individuals in order for her to know our voices. The knowledge of our voices and talent will give her the ability to call us up to sing for conferences as a solo or duet. The Stake Priesthood session had a duet from the practice of this idea by Sister Andrews.

    The aid of a tutor seems to be a hit or a miss. I was hanging out with my roommate at the Math Lab, and a tutor of his was trying to help him with a problem for about ten minutes; all confused. The next tutor that he asked another question to answered his previous and current question in less than 20 seconds. I asked my tutor for my mechanical systems class about how to size pipes and the rules, but he had no idea where the theory comes from; although, he got an A- in the class. The one time that I had an accounting tutor session was effective.

    The cross country banquet was a lot better than the track banquet from last semester. It was very formal; not clothing wise though. I was wearing a normal t shirt, and I thought that it was funny because I was getting a lot of compliments for a fur hoodie that my older brother got me on his mission in Ecuador. I liked that my team all sat at the same table, and we were all goofing off. I am not really good in big groups that are not very personal, so I did not say much. We announced the top five boys and girls for their races and gave championship shirts. I should share the video of the race in this article. I look a lot more weak that I thought when I run. I think that I should work out my core more like I used to. Brother Stutz said that this season was one of the most successful, and he wanted to carry this over to track season next spring. After my last experience I don't think that I will do track this Spring. I am thinking of doing a relay race season, since a good friend of mine wants to run a Ragnar and I usually have a temple to temple relay team. This race has been designated to the Spring.  After the dinner and a slideshow of photographs, the coaches said speeches, and one was a little awkward and funny. My goofball team was not afraid to laugh at him. He basically said that he had fun and the season was the most fun that he had. My speech was good. I thanked my team captains and the team for enduring to the end, letting friendships develop. I won the championship race last season, but I did not get a championship shirt; plus, I did not have a full team.

     After the banquet, I Skyped with Natalie New. She is super cool. She is actually a writer, who is too good for blogging. She is interning at LDS.net, and she wrote an article about me. (http://lds.net/blog/buzz/entertainment/arts-and-culture/lds-singles-making-big-difference-world-blogging/) I like pushing the limits of who I can be friends with, so I gave it a try. She is a sci-fi novel writer like me, but she actually completed books, rewriting them multiple times. It was basically a first date. I hope to Skype with her more and meet her in the Spring.

     We had a Halloween Party on Friday night, and it took forever to get started and people left before that actual activity started. Rachel makes events slow, when she hosts. We played a murder mystery game of clue. We have done the same thing for the past three Halloween parties, so it is kind of annoying for me. Each year has a completely new group of people though, so I am the only person that have endured it every time. At least the game was different. I never played Clue before, so I was confused. Many people were confused. I did not get a clue, so I was supposed to couple up with another person. I was originally with my home teaching companion, and I saw his clue; however, Jessica, the date that I had a DTR with, became my partner. The clue game was held at the i-center. I think that the game was more interesting that it was set out to be. The clue that Sam Orr, my roommate and home teaching companion said that a individual was going to die next. Jessica and I decided that we watch out for her. It was funny because we went looking for our clue, having no success. We walked up some stairs and she was out of our sight for about ten seconds, and I remembered to look out for her. When I got her in my sight again, Sam was there, and he looked like she was about to kill her by a tap of the finger. We saved her though. He left us, and looking at clues, we had no idea what was going on; however, another group was totally dominating the game discovering ang understanding a majority of the clues. Jessica; Mystique, who was supposed to die; and I decided to set a trap to witness the crime of Mystique's murder. She set herself as a bait, and we watched from a far. Sam did come in about five minutes, and he was trying to lure her into an elevator. She did not follow him though. We spoke to Mystique about what he said to her, and she said that he was going up to the fourth floor. We decided with this information to go up to the fourth floor to see what he is doing, but Mystique wanted to go on her own to the other elevator on the other side of the I center. I don't know why she thought of that risk, but we did it. Jessica and I went up to the fourth floor, and we did not see her, hearing a disturbing noise from a lower floor. We assumed that she died, but we did not hear of it; then, walking around, we found that she did not die. The game was kind of messed up because other people had another game going on; plus, we did not know all the places and weapons that the original person could have died at and with. The conclusion was interesting because we needed to prove that it was Sam; although, we had little evidence besides his odd acts. We communed with the other group, and they said that Sam was acting weird around them too. We were grateful that they figured it out because we would have lost; plus, it turned out that Sam did not know that he was a murder.

     Yesterday Rachel, Paige, Jesse, and I went to the temple, and we attended an endowment session. I made an effort to commune with God and be prepared for the ordinance. My accounting teacher taught that Adam is a type of Christ because Adam chose to die for Eve, the bridegroom and church. The endowment was interesting with that knowledge. I had to go to the bathroom after the session, so I left the Celestial room with urgency. I waited after changing to my street clothing, and they were talking forever. I actually read a whole chapter out of the Book of Mormon. I told you last entry of my reading weakness. I went in to the dressing room to see, if they are even out of the celestial room. Jesse was surprised to see me still in the temple because they were in the Celestial Room until the next session came in. I did not intent for the temple trip to go until three o' clock in the afternoon, but we went to the Hickory after, and I got my favorite Big "S" burger.

     Jesse asked me to tell Rachel and Paige about a gift that I gave to Jessica. We were all thinking that our relationship was going well, and we were both interested in each other. My mother invited me to ask if Jessica would like to have lunch with me. I already had that planned, but she also invited me to purchase a small cute plant to give her. Since the Halloween Party was Peter Pan themed, I went on a run to find a savage necklace because I was going to be Rufio. When I was running home, I ran across a guy walking with a little cactus, so I stopped him, asking where he got the plant. He said that he got it at the MC. When I arrived there, they were about to close. I purchased a small plant to give to Jessica. Jesse wanted me to tell the best part. I did not know that there was a best part. The best part seemed to be that Jessica and I decided that I would need to remind her to water the plant weekly. I thought that Jesse was going to ask me about my plans and Jessica, when he asked about Jessica and my plant.

     During the endowment, I decided that I was going to have a DTR conversation with Jessica and introduce her to my mother, since it is her birthday today. My plan was to just visit her. It was kind of perfect because she came out when we met up, and we went on a walk. We had a casual conversation, and I asked her if she would like to date more steadily, since we have dated and hung out about eight times. She said that she doesn't have feeling for me, and she actually has a crush on another person. When Jesse told me that I should write about my first "Determine the Relationship" conversation, I said that I would have to write about my opinion on it, which is a big can of beans. I have a secret group of my closest friends on Facebook, and I said to them that "My DTR with Jessica proved once again that I should never date a Freshman." Straight up; Freshman are not mature. They are about having fun. I thought that Jessica would be different because she is twenty because teenagers are lumped into this opinion. Never date a freshman or a teenager. Let them do their crazy activities with themselves. The older generation, which I am a part of, does not have time to fiddle with inexperienced people in dating. If she was experienced, she would not that dating me more than twice, which is a good sign that she is interested in me, not hanging out with me so easily. She was somewhat a distraction from another friendship that I would like to have developed, wasting a few weeks. A couple signs that I saw before that indicated that she was not interested in me is that she readily paid for her ice cream yogurt and things when we went out. Also she said I had fun most times after I walked her home.

     One last thing that I have to write about that is happening in my life is that many people are producing media about me. Natalie was one. Malcolm, the founder's blog of the LDS Single Friends Facebook page, released a blog article about me. (http://malcolmravenclaw.com/spiritual-experiences/mormonysablogspot/) During the first week of school, Tamara Rawson, an athlete that was considering joining my cross country team, interviewed me for a Scroll article. Devin Collins is a film student, and he produced a film on me. The most recent project done on me is a project by Sam Orr. He interviewed me about my education experiences. He typed my words for a series of fifty question on 6 pages. I can put Devin's video below.

'Kepping that Attitude' by Sister Koroitamana

Hey Beautiful! 
Can you believe that it's another week already? Wow! I feel like time is just flying sooooo Fast! I don't even know where to start this week. Alot has been happening and it feels sooo good to get lost in this great work! I love it! I really do. This morning Sister Matheson and I had a great companion study (it's when we study together for about an hour) We were learning about the different types of Missionaries and how much our attitude in anything we do plays a big role. I mean I'm coming to learn that we can come to do Missionary things and do the things that we're required to do but if we don't have that right attitude than we're not really changing. I'll just come back and be the same person I was. I don't want to be like that! This morning as we exercised I pondered about a talk that we had read a couple of weeks ago when he had first gotten to Manhattan Beach. It's called "Create Success" by Elder Ballard. I loved it!!!! Oh if you haven't read it I definitely recommend it! It's so great. There Elder Ballard talked about how in anything and in whatever area we are called to serve in. Our Success is dependent on us! He said it's not the area, it's not the companion and it's it's not the time of year etc that determines our success. He said to be successful we need to have a positive attitude. I thought a lot about President Monson this morning as I reflected on this. I feel like as a Prophet he must have a tonne of things on his plate and a tonne of things that he's responsible for, and has to worry about but his apostles and those around him always mentioned that he always had a positive outlook towards life. I feel like maybe that's what helps him deal with things. I told Sister Matheson that maybe the reason why the Lord is giving us this opportunity to learn this principle now is that maybe later in our lives when we're going to be faced with a lot more things than just creating success in an area, we're going to need to practice that "Positive Attitude" to help us deal with things. 

One thing that's really been helping me have that Positive Attitude is prayer! Lots and lots and lots of Prayers. Sometimes it gets a little difficult to continue on and keep looking forward but every time I pray I almost immediately feel such a renewed strength and desire to serve. Prayer is such a blessing. Yesterday after church we were trying to reach our 20 conversations goal and just talk to everyone.We came across this man named named Rodney. He was walking his dog and it was getting kind of late. We talked with him for a little about God's love for him and asked how he had come to have such a great faith in God? He said he was atheist growing up and one day while watching the superbowl live his team won and he was sooo Happy!!!! He said everything was sooo crazy and loud and then suddenly everything slowed down and just went super quiet, he felt someone put their hand on his shoulders from behind him and told him "I've tried to talk to you so many times before and now I'm talking to you in the only way that you'll listen to me, will now hear me?" Rodney said that he just felt sooo good and knew that that was God telling him to turn to him in the only way that Rodney would listen. It was sooo cool to listen to this man's testimony and it really strengthened my testimony that God really does live and knows each of us individually as his children and he knows how to talk with us in a way that we get it.  Rodney is soo cool. He said he didn't know when he could meet with us again but he agreed to read the Book of Mormon. p.s please pray for him! 

This week we went on a lot of exchanges with our Sisters. They are so great! Miracles really do happen on Exchanges. On Tuesday we tried our very best to talk to everyone and it's so amazing to see how Heavenly Father really does help us feel motivated as we go out and work! we were able to see so many great miracles that day and I just felt like we really did come to feel real JOY as tired as we were as we tried to give the Lord our all. I am really coming to love this calling I love that I can feel Heavenly Father's love for each of his missionaries. I love this work! Sister Matheson was kind of feeling a little down this past weekend because we had come across alot of people who were really trying to bring us down. On Sunday Morning she just expressed how tired she was of feeling rejected. As I listened to her I agreed that it does get hard sometimes but I just feel so deeply that God knows who's ready. This is his work, all that he asks is that we pray in Faith and be willing to act on the promptings we receive. I know that that's true. I feel like this experience really just makes me so much more grateful for the Savior's Atonement. I just feel like in a little tiny way, we get to feel a little portion of what the Savior felt as he Atoned for us.

I love you so much! Please know that you are in my prayers and that you are loved!

Tonnes of Love!
Sister Koroitamana

October 5, 2014

     This semester is not chill as I said before. This is my hardest semester ever, and it was mistake to think that I can blog the world news again. Today is the 13th of October 2014. Cross country is going well. We won our first race. I am dating as much as I usually do. We had general conference and a Power to Become Conference the past two weekends. This seems to be my life summed up for the past few weeks. I got a new client that wants me to design her house.

     Maybe I will start by sharing a bunch of pictures of my Cross Country Team. They had to race without me this weekend because I attended the P2B Conference. I am humbled to say that my team has grown since the first race that we had. Tyre Russell recovered from her injury from running a marathon. Kyle Shaw joined us, and Amanda got another guy to join us. His name is Cody Lamoreau, and he is such a good sport. We were practicing running race pace. Tripping over a curb, he sprained his ankle. I am blessed with flexible ankles, so those incidents usually don't affect me, but he knew how to deal with it, recovering in one day. There is a special team unity and commitment that I am thankful for. I have a team captain for the following three teams: varsity guys, varsity girls, and junior varsity girls, and I am grateful for their commitment for the team. I depended on my team captains to get the team settled and ready for the race, and they were able to figure it out with minimal effort on my part. I was happy that we have such a deep team that we can still have a complete team with the P2B Conference, taking two of our fastest runners.

This is Cody. He looks intense when he runs.

This is Cory Hafen.

This is Conner Isham.

Intense Cody again.

This is Amanda Reaser.

The race is about to start.

This is Kiana Shurts. He is a great sport. Being injured most of the season, she always wants to run.

     I put my team first, training with each team once for every 4 days of the week. Josh Ray is my only junior varsity guys runner, and I am humbled by his commitment, keeping on coming; although, I let him work out on his own, since he can't keep up with the varsity guys. Last Monday was a little traumatic for me. Josh is great, but I had an experience that I never had before in the gym. I asked what he has been up to after the three mile workouts, and he said that he has done stairs once. Last week I showed the junior varsity the cross training exercises that I recommend, but they did not apply it. I am fine with that. They work out their success for the season. The maximum that I recommend new runners to run is three miles, and I don't know how each individual should work out because they are out of shape. They know themselves, so I let them do what they think is best. Since Josh did not have anything to show me, I coached him on his form, and we went into the gym. Josh looks like he is stronger and more solid. I told him that he should land on his feet when runs as if he lands on his feet when he does jump rope, and he said that his calves get really sore, when he does that. I know that happens, so I said that is how it goes. You will only be sore for only about a week.

     The traumatic experience in the gym was this. I have a favorite machine that no one uses that is really good to practice running for and strengthening the hamstring and butt. Josh went first, so I did dips. We switched on, and I did dips in between. I went to get some water after the second set, and my eyes started to black out. This has happened to me before, but all that I would have to do is sit down or just wait for a minute or so. This one would not quit though. I walked back to my favorite machine, and I was not recovering. I went over to Josh, telling him that I feel like I am going to pass out, after I attempted to do my third set. He decided to let me sit, and do another set before he leaves. I sat there for a little bit, and a guy asked me, if I was going to use the machine that I was leaning against. I looked at him, and I wondered how my eyes looked because they are darkened in my sight. I moved out of his way, and after a while I was not feeling well, so I laid on the ground. I felt that I was not going to recover, so I went to get help. I walked over to get help, but I could only make it to a stationary bike. I sat on it, and I was lying my head back. I must have looked really bad. I raised my hand up a few times, trying to get someone's attention, but no one came. When I recovered a little bit, I walked to the reception area, which was only about fifteen feet way. I told a guy that I need help, and I feel like I am going to puke. That came just as I attempted to walk. He sat me down, pulling a trash can up for me to throw up in. He was too slow though, and some got on the ground. He gave me some orange juice and some peanut butter crackers to eat as he asked some questions. I felt better drinking the orange juice, but I felt some nausea as I ate one cracker. I decided not to eat any more of those. After asking a few questions, he left me to rest. I was able to answer him completely, and I recovered somewhat from feeling that I was going to pass out. I sat there, and I was unsure whether I can walk home. I wanted another opinion because this never happened to me, and he was brushing the situation off as if it was common. He said that he puked as he was doing squats last week. I have never puked working out in my entire life, and I felt like I was going to pass out for like thirty minutes. I am surprised that no one helped me.

     I have two theories. One kind of makes sense, and the other almost makes sense. My first theory is a belief that my blacking out experience happened because I spun on a carousel with Naomi. I was very confident that I was no going to be affected by the spinning motion because I am usually not. I spun on the carousel for a few minutes, and I was so chill on it that I sat on the edge casually, where there is most force. I jumped on with the confidence that I would not be dizzy, and I wasn't; however, when we drove home from the park. Motion sickness hit me hard, and it peaked right when we turn in to park. I felt like I was going to puke when we turned, and I stepped out of the car before we stopped. I have only puked a hand full times in my life, so I had confidence that I would not.

     I am struggling really bad this semester. All four of my classes are heavy reading focused, and I need to understand the text deeply. The text for two of my classes with Brother Harker are professional, meaning that it is not written for students, but it is for construction managers. I don't know how to learn what I need to from the text. I did well on the first couple quizzes because we covered the information in class, but I have not kept up well. This is my first time taking upper level classes, and it is a totally different ball game from what I am use to; at least for the two classes with Brother Harker. I have grown up with learning disabilities, so I have lived with this struggle my entire life, but it is hitting hardest now. I have been triumphant with  classes for my first four semester, but I don't know about this one. Brother Harker, and my accounting teacher spoke to me personally about my struggle. I am seeking to get more accomodations. I requested a radical idea, where I have until next semester to learn the curriculum of the class. I feel like I am learning three professions at the same time from a book, and I am expected to learn it because I am tested on it.

     The Hawks has the two fastest runners, but my team still won the first race. I was so excited to see my five runners come in before anyone else's team, and I knew that my team had a high probability of winning the race. It was actually raining, and I did not do as well as I hoped because I let the mud and a short downhill slow me down. I was in the top pack pushing the limit, but I couldn't catch up after letting up on the downhill. We still won though.

     I don't think that I want to write about my dates yet. I think that this is all. I am not really one to write about conferences. I will say one thing about the P2B conference. One speaker was named Christopher Galbraith, and he found a great passion in banking, the stock market, and all of the money stuff. He asked around, and everyone told him that he was crazy for wanted to do this. I think that his first career pursuit was in banking. The principle that he taught us seem to come naturally to him. It is a form of networking, for he contacted people seeking informational interviews to learn about the industry of his interest. He did his research too. As his knowledge of the industry grew and he was about to graduate, he realized that he needed to go to the East, where the industry is mainly at, so he bought a ticket to meet the network of people that he made. He only knew them by phone, but his questions of inquiry was push his contacts to refer other people to talk to him as he asked questions beyond that individual's knowledge. Chris realized that these interviews are actually akin to a first interview with a company; therefore, an individual can create their own personal first interview. On his second time, coming to visit Wall Street, the people that he visited actually took him around to banks to recommend him for positions in their companies. Chris is an amazing networker. He did not work without failure. He said that, visiting Wall Street on Sunday at church, he ask people for contacts for businessmen in Wall Street, and he spoke to them, asking for informational interviews. He filled his whole week up with appointments; one for every hour. The example that he set for us and these informational interviews had him learn with the most earnest effort, coming up with questions of inquiry continually.

     Today is now the 19th of October. I am still struggling in my classes, and I have asked my mother to send up a copy of my IEP in order to get accommodations. I now have accommodations, and I am going to try to see if I can change my study habits to be successful this semester. I had two appointments on Thursday. My presence is somewhat growing on the internet; insomuch, Buffer, the app, company wanted to interview me for feedback on their application. We have one more week of the cross country season, and this weekend was a lot of work for me because we made shirts yesterday. We had a mile relay yesterday too. I had a lovely date with a sister that I met at P2B.

     My teachers were open for the standard accommodations. I wish that could accomplish as much as a normal person, but I am so much slower. I got my IEP in the mail, and set up an appointment with the disabled services center, facing my fate at 11 AM on Thursday. I had a proposition for the appointment, since I am so use to doing everything myself. It was to extend the classes that I am taking until the spring semester starts, giving me 4 extra months to learn and fulfil curriculum of the classes that I am taking. It is hard to face reality, and I was introduced to the tutoring center to rely on other people to accelerate my learning. When I was setting up an appointment for Monday with a receptionist, I must of look mentally exhausted perhaps a little depressed, receiving the fate and accommodations that I rest my life and hope on. My proposition is possible, but it is a hard pitch to sell.

     As I left in my mentally exhausted state, I was grateful for God, for he comforted me by placing many friends along my path. I met Katherine Zavala, who is in my electrical systems class; Macie-Grace Guthrie, who I met at the P2B conference and expressed interest in my architectural talent development; Cadison Shurtliff with her coworkers at the Crossroads; Macey Dally, a ward sister from last semester; and Alenka Batkova, a sister that I met who worked at the Crossroads. There were probably more people placed in my way, but I don't recall them at this time. I arrived home mentally refreshed.

     My social media presence was felt so much so that I told someone, who is trying to create a LDS Tinder website, that his social media campaign is lousy. His website has more than 2000 users, which is greater than my audiences' engagement; however, the twitter account of his effort has no followers, so if he did say something on Twitter very few people would see it. With that Tweet, the founder of LDSMatchUp sent me an email hoping to talk over lunch, but he is living in Provo, Utah. He said that he would like to pick my brain. I don't think that my brain has much to pick. I think that he hasn't called me because I have not given him my phone number...

    I skyped a guy from Buffer offering my insights. He asked very general questions about how I use the application. I told him some flaws and my application vision for Buffer. I would think that the application should offer logistical advise. For example it will tell you where and who your audience is that the time that you are considering to schedule the post. Just an idea.

     My cross country team and I decided to make shirts on Saturday, so I had to buy all the materials for the production on Friday. I felt like a wonderer, walking all over the town and carrying a bunch of stuff around. I was checking out all the stores that I thought that would have t shirts. I found matching t shirt styles for most of the people on my team that wanted them. I shopped around visiting Porter's, Walgreen's, and Walmart. Walmart had the most variety, but I visited all the stores at least twice. Carrie Jones, a runner on my team, thought that it was funny, seeing the locations pop around the town as I chatted with the team. After I thought that I bought everything, I visited the library to see, if they had equipment to cut stencils like an Exacto knife. Since they didn't have anything that I can borrow accessible, I had to walk back to Walmart and find dinner along the way. I found that what I needed, and, walking home, I walked down an iffy path.

     There is a path that leads to the road that heads straight to my apartment. It's a shortcut somewhat; however, there is no lights on the trail, and it was dark. I could have used my phone as a flash light, but I am a minimalist, not considering it. I was surprised to walk pass a couple. I don't know if the girl was walking with a guy, but that was a little creepy. A couple other girls on bicycles passed me too, and all who passed me were equipped with lights. An observation that I liked was the the girls on the bicycles were relieved of fear before they passed me, exclaiming "Oh, that was so scary." If they said it after they passed me, that would have disappointed me. I am grateful that I look trustworthy even in when I walk without a light.

     The team had a mile relay on Saturday. We were positive that we were going to win. The fastest runner began, and he concluded his leg in the lead. Our first runner was only about 20 yards behind him, and we were able to catch them in the second leg, and we lead it most of the race. Rhett Mullins was passed temporarily, and he passed it to Connor, who barely keep ahead of the Hawks. I took the baton from Connor. Running the anchor leg is pretty intense. I never ran one before, and I did pretty well. The fastest runner of the program felt like he was jogging compared to us. I sped off, and I was able to keep the lead for most of the mile. I did not hear him after a while, which happened the last time that I won this mile race, but he caught me on the downhill. I can be fast, but I don't have much of a kick.

     After the mile relay, the team gathered at my place, and we made shirts. It was with the same logo as I showed before; however, we had to modify and improvise it to be functional. Erin Enright was the most proficient at making stencils, so she basically made the activity a success. The mistakes that we made at first were funny. I had one sheet of paper, which had all the letters of all the members of the team and wanted a shirt.  At first I thought the letters would have to be cut out at the random locations of the paper, and Rhett did that, cutting out each letter individually; however, we realized that we don't have to cut the letters in the random order on the paper. Cody Lamoreau was put off, when I told him that. He had all his letters in a row, and he was still cutting them to individual letters. Rhett let the individual letters be a way of creativity as everyone else had one stencil for their entire name. Amanda Reaser was a little creative too. Cody made some mistakes painting his name on his shirt. He was hailed for his failures, for he laid his shirt on the ground to paint his name on his sleeves. He did not consider that painting as he laid the shirt on the ground would place his name on the inside of the sleeves. We made our shirts in a reasonable amount of time, and I completed my shirt after everyone else left, and I was happy because everyone left their stencils, letting me put all my team members names on my shirt.

     We wore our shirts at our championship race, which happened yesterday the 25th of October. I got third place, and I don't really have much to say about the race because another team totally dominated the championship races. Caleb coached the Hawks, and he coached with the wisdom beyond his own with a book and the advice of Brother Doug Stutz, an All American Champion coach and one of the last people to be indicted into the Hall of Fame of Rick's College. I was foolish enough to think that my wisdom was good enough. I liked the my team's morale was good the entire season though.

     The teams were much more well organized that last season, and the unity in all the teams are great. After the championship race, my team got together and had a full on good pancake breakfast with sausage, eggs, and chocolate chip pancakes with a caramelized sauce to put on the pancakes. The Viking team came to the meet with face paint, and they made socks. The winning team prayed together before the championship race.