eight days after the day i really thought it would come...

i was very surprised when i opened my call on thursday night because i was called back here:

to the england london mission! i still can hardly believe it.

here is the uk:

 

according to this breakdown of the island, england london mission is mostly east anglia, and then the southeast part of the southeast region, plus london. i just read some things about it and apparently it's mostly rural (surprise), is flat, and is essentially a huge bog! yay. my middle school was built over a bog.

this is kind of the only region that i have not really been to at all--the east anglia part, so that's cool.

 

honestly, i was pretty surprised that i was called to go somewhere that's been kind of the focus of my studies for my college life. i was expecting anything that would be
random, that i had no connection with, like most people who open their mission calls. but, this is so good too.

so. back to western europe for the fall?

i realized i never finished reading this:

which is unfortunate. so i am reading it now, highly enjoying it while i picture these two beautiful people:

i also like to read my own name over and over. it's mildly exciting.

the results of freaking out:

25 hours of work later:

when i look at certain parts of the window i think either of harry potter seven read in jim dale's voice, or the lord of the rings.

and i'm about to get on a plane to go back to the forest like this and see this girl:

as well as the rest of my fam :)

freaking out.

the sisters as missionaries!
jess in malaysia; cami in finland; lauren in poland

i didn't understand how nerve-racking it is to wait for a mission call until it was me. my spring term has suddenly been surprisingly low-key, and as a result, i have nothing to keep me distracted from thinking about my call day and night. on monday night i sat on my couch with my guitar because i seriously couldn't figure out what to do with myself and i was freaking out.

solution: yesterday i rode my little bike to the glass store, bought some glass, rode myself to the stained glass building and drew out a new pattern and cut up most of my pieces while i listened to harry potter or talked to my mom or rachel. for seven hours.

i need complete focus or i will go crazy.

i just fell completely in love

with this:

 found here

oops.

best weekend in the bay area

last weekend i went to the bay area and saw some friends that i haven't seen since the vienna airport or outside of the jerusalem center where we were sobbing at two in the morning and we drove away in our buses into the abyss of the night.

and then we met up in the sunny sunny land of the bay area where street photography is fun again:

also, i knew i was obsessed with mary, but i didn't know she was in like every picture i took of our friends:



eating our weight in chocolate at victoria's dad's chocolate factory:



fascinating conversation at the beach in carmel:




mmm. great weekend. thanks friends!

i couldn't be more proud if i were my mother

i fulfilled a life goal. i have a piece of art that i've done hanging in the hfac right now! our stained glass class has a show there right now and everyone was required to have a piece in the show. kamryn and i joked about the way we talked about getting our pieces finished to people who aren't in our class. "oh i have to finish this because it's going in a show tonight..." as snobbishly as possible. haha! little did they know...

Here was the inspiration for my piece:

which is from here:



which is on this:



it didn't quite turn out the same. so it's "loosely based" on the original design. ha. i realized that some things work better as tile than stained glass and i had to make a lot of adjustments. plus it was my first window...anyway. here it is:



i'm famous: