New Calling

Today Shane and I had the opportunity to meet with the stake president and one of his counselors before church. All week we have been trying to figure out what we would be meeting them about. We thought it could be a number of things, but we were not expecting what we really got called for. The stake president asked us to share our testimonies and asked each of us if we had served a mission. Shane of course said yes and I said no. The stake president looked at me and said, "well, you get to!"  We were asked to serve in the Sutherland branch and to help grow our stake. We of course accepted, but were a little shocked. We along with 4 other couples will be serving there and will get specific callings there. There are about 20 people that attend that branch, so needless to say, we have a lot of work to do! I felt the spirit so strong today all through church and it was such an amazing feeling. The stake president said president L. Tom Perry asked how they were going to strengthen our stake and the stake president sought it out in prayer. He said 5 couples names came to them and ours was one of them. We now understand why we needed to move to North Platte. The Lord provided us a way to be here through Shane's job. Shane had applied for this same position at about 30 other locations and got an email back saying they weren't interested and he got 2 phone interviews with this DC in North Platte and got offered the job. I was feeling so foolish about thinking before that the Lord wasn't hearing my prayers and I sometimes felt like He wasn't there and here He was preparing us for this calling. It was prof to me again how things don't work on my time, they work on His time and His plan for me. He has blessed me so much and sometimes I don't really see it or recognize it. I know understand also why we haven't received children yet, He has something more important for us at this time, to help build up His kingdom and what a special blessing and opportunity this is. The stake president told us that this will change us and that it will prepare us for what the Lord has planned for us in the future. It was such a testimony builder for me and I am so glad we obeyed and moved here. I am scared and nervous, but I know I will have my eternal companion next to me and as long as I am doing what the Lord asks of me, I will be blessed and things will work out how they are supposed to.

North Platte

Our things got packed on July 18th and loaded the 19th. It was very nice not having to pack and load everything ourselves. We officially moved to North Platte on Wednesday, July 24th. We spent Saturday July 20th with family at my cousin Amaya's birthday party and said our goodbyes before moving. It was an extremely hard day for me; I cried like a baby all night long. Saying bye to my nieces about killed me! I will miss seeing them whenever I want and most of all I will miss them running to me and giving me big hugs. I will miss my best friend and sister Desirae and Derek and his family. Thankfully I got to see Des and the girls on the 23rd one more time. On July 21st we went to sacrament with Jen and Jake and the kids and after sacrament we took 4 of the kids with us to meet Caleb, Sarah, Mandy and Clint and their kids. We had dutch oven chicken and potatoes and later cobbler. It was good to catch up with everyone. On the 22nd we went with Jen and the kids to eat at crown burger for Shane's birthday. The 23rd (Shane's b-day) we drove back home to finish cleaning and packing up the last of our things. We stayed at my parents that night and started our journey to NE on the 24th at 6:30a.m. It was a long drive and we had 9 dogs in the Tahoe with us (our female had 7 pups a week previous) so we had to stop so they could run for a little while.  I was excited to get here and that night it hit hard again that this is now home and I needed to get used to it. I cried a lot that night too. On the 25th the truck arrived and 4 men brought all our things in our rental house and we started the unloading process. On Friday the 26th my mom and dad came to help us out and see the area. They were here for 6 days and we had a lot of fun. We went to Lake Maloney, Lake Ogallala/McConaughy, the golden spike, the fair and looked around the area. They left on Thursday August 1st at 6:45 a.m. It was one of the hardest days for me. I cried all day while Shane was at work. It was so much different without them here and I hated being by myself in a new place. I am so thankful for them and for all they do for me. I miss them so much!