3 weeks left + turkey week

Wow oh wow, three more weeks here in good old Vilnius, Lithuania?! Oh?! Man, I am going to miss this country. BUT I am so excited to get back to the states. Since I last posted nothing much has happened. I am so sad that I am not going to be in the states for Thanksgiving though :( That is one thing I am really missing about being here because they don't celebrate it!

Lately we have been teaching our kids about thanksgiving! In my level 1 class we taught them all about what thanksgiving is, and what things we are thankful for. It made me want to reflect on what I am thankful for and share it with my kids but also with you!

1. The gospel-- of course!
2. My family <3 I miss them so much!
3. Cameras - I love capturing moments in time.
4. ALL my best friends :)
5. A dryer (We don't have one here in Lithuania)
6. My scriptures
7. Institute
8. My dog
9. My bed
10. My clothes
11. Heaters
12. Shoes
13. Church
14. Fresh fruits and vegetables
15. Airplanes
16. Temples
17. Facetime
18. Working Plumbing
19. Dishwashers
20. Medications
21. Milka Chocolate
22. Laughter
23. Fuzzy blankets
24. The Prophet Thomas S. Monson
25. My education

....and many more!! :)

Then after I taught them and we had a nice long discussion about we are thankful for, we made thankful turkeys! It was so cute, one of my students put my name on one of her feathers for her thankful turkey :)

I know its bad to have favorites... but... she is my favorite! She is the sweetest. Even though she can have meltdowns she always tells me how she will be when I have to go back to the States!!!

Anyways, this past weekend we had a 4 day weekend and just relaxed and went to Riga, Latvia! It was so fun :) We also went and saw the newest Hunger Games! IT IS SO GOOOOOD. Oh my goodness. 10/10, highly recommend you see it! Anyways, Riga was so cute! I loved it. We went to their big market they have there! It was so interesting and you really saw the locals. There was a meat market, fish market, flowers, hand made gifts... just everything! There was parts of animals that you should not eat... just saying. But it was a lot of fun. :) I am glad we went! I have now been to 8 countries in four months!

I seriously love Europe so much. I love all the colors of the buildings, the architecture, the history, just everything! I have learned a lot while living here that I would have never learned if I stayed in the states. I am so grateful for the time I have had here so far and am going to soak up the last 3 weeks I have!!! But... I am excited to go home :)

LIFE IS SO GOOD AND I AM SO BLESSED.

Happy Turkey week and always always always count your blessings!!!!

"You Are Special"

If you haven't ever read the book "You Are Special" by Max Lucado, you should. If you haven't read the book since you were little, read it again.

My mom always read this book to me growing up and I never fully understand or accepted the meaning behind it until the other day. I mean, I remember the meaning behind it but, I never fully understood.

This past week I read this book to the Pre-Language kids I teach and boy did it hit me hard and reminded me of something: You should NOT allow people's opinons/views of you or what you do either negative or positive affect how you act. Do your best, be proud of who YOU are. In the whole entire world there is no one like you. You are special.

If you don't remember exactly how the story goes, I'll give you a little summary. The story is about the Wemmicks who are small wooden people carved by a woodworker named Eli. He lived on the top of the hill that over looked their village. They had stars and dots that they would give out to each other. They would give stars to those who had perfect paint, who could run really fast, jump high, and anything that was "amazing". However, they would give dots to people who couldn't do all that and who had chipped paint.

There was one Wemmick named Punchinello. He tried very hard to be like the other Wemmick's who had stars all over them, but he never could. People would give him dots just because. But, one day, he met a Wemmick that had no stars OR dots on her at all. The other Wemmick's would try to give her stars or dots but they just would not stick at all. Punchinello was amazed and asked her how she became like that. She told him that it's easy, ever day she went to go see Eli up on the hill in his workshop. He decided that night, as he watched other Wemmick's giving each other stars and dots, that it wasn't right and was going to see Eli the next day.

When he arrived, he could barely see the top of the workbench. The stool was as tall as he was! He then shouted out that he wasn't going to stay here anymore! But then he heard a voice...

(excerpt from the book):

"Punchinello?" The voice was deep and strong. Punchinello stopped. "Punchinello! How good to see you. Come and let me have a look at you."

Punchinello turned slowly and looked at the large bearded craftsman. "You know my name?" the little Wemmick asked.

"Of course I do. I made you." Eli stooped down and picked him up and set him on the bench. "Hmmm," the maker spoke thoughtfully as he inspected the gray circles. "Looks like you've been given some bad marks."

"I didn't mean to, Eli. I really tried hard."
"Oh you don't have to defend yourself to me, child. I don't care what the other Wemmicks think."
"You don't?"
"No and you shouldn't either. Who are they to give stars or dots? They're Wemmicks just like you. What they think doesn't matter, Punchinello. All that matters is what I think. And I think you are pretty special."

Punchinello laughed. "Me, special? Why? I can't walk fast. I can't jump. My paint is peeling. Why do I matter to you?"
Eli looked at Punchinello, put his hands on those small wooden shoulders, and spoke very slowly.
"Because you're mine. Thats why you matter to me."

Punchinello had never had anyone look at him like this - much less his maker. He didn't know what to say.
"Every day I've been hoping you'd come," Eli explained. "I came because I met someone who had no marks."
"I know. She told me about you."
"Why don't the stickers stay on her?"
"Because she has decided that what I think is more important than what they think. The stickers only stick if you let them."
"What?"
"The stickers only stick if they matter to you. The more you trust my love, the less you care about the stickers."
"I'm not sure I understand."

"You will, but it will take time. You've to a lot of marks. For now, just come to see me every day and let me remind you how much I care." Eli lifted Punchinello off the bench and set him on the ground.
"Remember," Eli said as the Wemmick walked out the door. "You are special because I made you. And I don't make mistakes."

Punchinello didn't stop, but in his heart he thought, "I think he really means it." And when he did, a dot fell to the ground.

(end excerpt)

This story reminded me of how we should see ourselves, as children of God. God loves each and every one of us. We shouldn't care what others think of us because does it matter? No! The more we trust God's love and how he see's us, the less we will care what others think of us. The happier we will truly be. We are all special to him and that's all that matters. There is not one person that is going to be like us, and thats what makes us special. We matter to him and we should remember that what others think of us doesn't matter because we are all just people. There will be people in your life that may not like you and may say rude things to you, but what they say shouldn't matter. Your self worth should not depend on opinions of others. Love yourself, God and remember that you are a child of a loving Heavenly Father. If you don't know that now, I hope and pray that you may come to learn that.

"May all your dots fall silently to the ground, for if given by man, they only matter to other men. When given the chance, pass out stars, drop the dots in the trash." -Max Lucado 

"And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." -1 John 4:16

Here is a link to the full story where you can listen to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15QuHygLwFU

10 Day Vacation

Wow, okay so we just got back this morning from our 10 day vacation and boyyyy am I exhausted!!! I've gone to a total of 8 different countries now in the past two months. Next month, we'll be at number 9 because we're going to Amsterdam! Anyways, for our 10 day vacation we went to Frankfurt, Prague, Vienna and Budapest. It was all super fun and gorgeous everywhere. My favorite, was Prague and Budapest. Anyways, I'll tell about each country and what we did.

FRANKFURT:

We got to frankfurt Saturday morning and had to wait to check into our hostel and luckily when we got there it was around 11 am so we went and got lunch at this yummy Italian place called Vapianos! Its almost like a buffet but not and not as gross. You walk in and they hand you this card and you look at the menu and decide what you want (pizza, pasta, salad, or soup) and you go up to that certain station and they make it fresh for you right there and then you hold up your card to their reader and then you pay after you're all done. So in a way its like a buffet where you can order as much as you want but not a buffet in the way they make it fresh right in front of you! It was so good. I got a fresh small cesar salad and then a calzone. The calzone was HUGE! But so dang good.

Then, afterwards, Annie, McCall, Rebecca and I all walked around their old town and lock bridge to explore more because we didn't wanna go rest right away. I'm so glad we didn't either! We walked into old town and there was some dog show thing going on. There were dogs EVERYWHERE! Annie and I were in heaven (we both love dogs so much). Then, we decided to keep walking around after that and walked across their famous lock bridge and walked all along this flea market thing they had going on. But, really, all it was, was one big garage sale. It was really fun to just people watch and see what they would do. As we were walking back, this guy was selling jewelry he made out of silverware! So, I bought a fork ring! Its so cool. It reminded me of this bracelet Natalie has that she got in africa (her's is made out of a fork too!) Then we came back for the night, had the free dinner they provided and relaxed in our hostel and slept because we were so tired!

Sunday morning we got up and ate breakfast that was also free and then decided that we wanted to climb the lookout tower/church they had there. It was gorgeous and breathtakingly beautiful. We also found this random park to play in and it was so much fun :) Then Annie, McCall and I decided we wanted to go to the zoo there in Frankfurt. I am so glad we did because it did NOT disappoint. Wow was it amazing and HUGE! I loved it. I think that was my favorite day and the is something we spent most of our day doing because it was that big! We spent about 2.5 hours there. They had so many animals: Elephants, Zebras, Camels, Flamingo's, Tigers, Lions, Bears, Monkey's, Bats, Hippo, Rhino, and much much more! Then we went back to our hostel to hang out and wait for the other girls in our group so we could head out for our night bus to Prague!

PRAGUE:

Let me just say: Pictures do not do this place justice. We got there Monday morning and the city is just beautiful! Every building, the cobble stone streets, the colors of the buildings and rooftops. EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL! I love love love Prague! I want to come back. I need to come back! You cannot see everything you want to in just 2.5 days. You can't! We got there and luckily got to get into our room right away! I was happy about that. We then went to explore!

Annie, McCall and I went up towards Prague Castle and there were soldiers EVERYWHERE like hundreds. Maybe even more than that. We found out they were practicing some celebration? I don't really know. But, we finally got into the castle grounds and castle and wow oh wow it is HUGE! Apparently its the biggest one in the world which does not surprise me. It was so pretty! Just walking around the grounds was amazing. We then went into the cathedral on the grounds and that is beautiful! Then, walked into this christmas shop and it made my heart so happy. It was like Buddy the Elf or Santa threw up every where. SO MUCH CHRISTMAS STUFF! After that, we went to the toy museum they had there and that was way awesome! They had a second floor of just all barbies. SO MANY BARBIES! My little kid heart was so happy! I was a huge Barbie fan. We also tried this famous czech pastry called trdlenik's. SO YUMMMMMYY!!!!! Later that night we met up with the cutest girl in the world, Adela! She used to be in the same branch as Ian but moved away! She is one of my very favorite people and has a heart of gold. Goodness she is a sweetheart!

Tuesday we spent all day exploring and wandering around their old town. It was just a good day of finding different things and different views of the city. Maybe we got another Trdlenik maybe not.. okay we did. Well Annie and McCall did and I of course, ate off theirs. We also went to the dancing building. Ate at this yummy resturant and just had a good time hanging out enjoying the beautiful city we were in! I felt like there was so much we needed to see and do but not enough time! I have to come back!

VIENNA:

We got to Vienna around 4:30 and it was already dark out! It's crazy to me that we get daylight savings before everyone in the States. So, we took the metro to our hostel and had to walk a little bit but it was alright! We lucked out and got our hostel all to ourselves! It was a seven bedroom and there's seven of us so.. yeah you get it. Anyways, our hostel was super nice! It was like a hotel! After we got all situated we were starving so we went to eat at this burrito place which was super overpriced and they didn't take cards! I was a little bugged because I hate taking out money here because of all the fees! But you gotta do what you gotta do. So, after we ate dinner we walked back to our hostel and just hung out because we were all pretty tired from our bus ride from Prague.

The next morning we woke up, showered, ate the breakfast in the hostel and headed out to explore the city. We went to this palace there and it was HUGE! It was a "summer home", with 1,441 rooms! Then we went to explore the rest of the city. They didn't really have a old town there but all the buildings were really beautiful and still had the old architecture. We honestly just wandered around going into different cathedrals, buildings, and everything! We really wanted to do a carriage ride but it was 55 euros for 20 minutes. So, we were like uhh, heck no! Way too expensive. So we just kept wandering around. They have a lot of expensive shops and everything so we just looked at all the buildings. Then we walked in this farmers market we had which was cool to see all the colorful fruit and things they had there! That was pretty much our time in Vienna! We were only there one day because we had to take our bus to Budapest!

BUDAPEST:

We arrived in Budapest on Friday afternoon and immediately went to our hostel. Annie, McCall and I walked there because we wanted some fresh air after being on a bus. Budapest was one of my favorite places also! Everything was so pretty. Prague had different things that made it beautiful and unique and different from Budapest that made it my favorite. However, Budapest was my second favorite place though for sure! We got dinner at this pasta bar place which was super yummy! We then walked to see the parliament building at night and oh my goodness! It is BEAUTIFUL! Then we decided to ride on the ferris wheel they had there :) It was beautiful and so fun to see everything at night there! Then we came back to our hostel and ended up having our own room to ourself again!!!

The next day McCall, Annie and I decided to go to this yummmmmyy restaurant the other girls in our group went to last night (they serve breakfast all day there). It was super cheap and SO DELICIOUS. We got pancakes and hot chocolate! The hot chocolate was SO THICK. It was so good but I could not finish it all. It was way too thick for me! But, the whole meal was about $6 so I couldn't complain. Budapest is SUPER cheap. For meals we spent about no more than 6 dollars each time! So amazing! Then, we went to explore more of the city! We went on Castle Hill and it is HUGE. We didn't even see it all. All the fall leaves, and buildings made my heart so happy though. Something I really love about Europe is all the different colors of the buildings everywhere we go. The pastel colors, or the cobble stone streets just have so much character and history, I love it so so much. We also found this huge flea market that was full of souvenirs and homemade trinkets. It was so cute! Then, after that, we went back to rest a little bit and went out for dinner. It was halloween night and we did NOT want to be out in Budapest in the dark during that time... so we bought a box of pizza from this restaurant down the street and played cards and just talked the whole night. I love that I can have a night in like that with Annie and McCall and it be one of the best nights ever. Quality time is the best time. I love Annie and McCall so much and I am so incredibly grateful for them. I don't know how I got so lucky!

The next morning, we went to Heroes Square and just walked around a bit before we had to go to the airport to head back to Vilnius. I am so grateful for the time I have here to travel, see different countries and experience the world. We are very blessed in the United States. I am having the time of my life, and making so many memories that I will never, EVER forget. I love it.

I can't wait for this month when we go to Riga! It will be a blast!