inspiration vs. perspiration

this past month has been rather hard and trying on me personally.
today, i want to take a few minutes to each of you, though i don't know all of your names and say THANK YOU! your daily and weekly posts on the MG facebook site encouraged me a lot this week. there was no doubt in my mind about ryan, but lots of recent events in my home ward made me question my faith. so, on friday i got a letter from my mish and he could sense in my picture email that something was wrong, so he felt like he should write me. i hadnt told him anything yet about what had happened. so, to me it was a pure inspired moment.
i am grateful for the power of revelation.

the story of us

Hello girls! I am new to this blog and kind of a slacker when it comes to blogging so I am trying to be better.I love my man. Elder Dallin Chadwick Calvert. I though I should introduce us to get started so here is our story...

Dallin and I met when I was 6 and he was 7. We were in the same first grade class and I remember that the moment I saw that cute boy I had the biggest crush on him. His dad is really musically talented and would come to my ward to sing and Dallin would tag along. He tells me that he remembers during sacrament meeting I used to stare at him. That is something that I don't remember but I wouldn't put it past myself. Then when we were in 2nd grade he stood up in the lunch room, on a chair, and made everyone be quiet and shouted: "I love Taylor Spendlove!" He's so dang cute!

Time went on and I always had a crush on him, always. Seeing him has always made my heart beat a million times faster than normal. We've always been really close friends and nothing ever happened with our relationship beyond that for quite a while. We went to school together for 8 years and always stayed really close. The summer before our freshman year of high school we talked on the phone almost every night and without saying it I think we both still knew how we felt about each other. One night while we were on the phone he told me that he wasn't going to the same high school as me and I was devastated because even though our feelings for each other had never gone anywhere the fact that I got to see him every day at school was a constant in our friendship I was really going to miss.

As high school began I realized we were growing apart. I missed him so much and I don't know if there was a day that went by that I didn't think of him. I know that him going to a different high school was better for him because he made better friends but I hated that I couldn't see him every day like I really wanted to. I tried talking to him, I would text him and call him occasionally but he did't really seem to interested and talking to me. Eventually we talked more often and would catch up occasionally but it wasn't like it used to be. It broke my heart and I wanted to let him go so I tried by always having a boyfriend so I wouldn't think about what my heart really wanted all along.

Our junior year of high school I was dating a guy and Dallin had horrible timing. He told me that he still liked me and that he wanted to be with me. I wanted more than anything to be with him but I was dating this other guy. Well he found out, got really mad, and broke up with me. Dallin was there for me, as a friend, when I was going through this, but I don't think that "just friends" was possible. Our feelings for each other were too strong. One day after school was over Dallin had driven to my house and was waiting for me. He got out of his truck as I pulled into my garage. The second I opened my door he was waiting there for me, he pulled me in, and gave me the BEST kiss I have ever had! Finally, after 10 years, we had our first kiss. He came over to my house almost every night after he got off work and we would sit in his truck and talk and cuddle and kiss. I wanted so bad to be with him but it seemed like he was making every excuse for us not to be together and none of them made sense. I was so frustrated with him and I could tell that he was scared of loosing our friendship but I wasn't because I knew that the feeling that we had for each other could only make it better. After about a month of this he was suddenly too busy to come see me and too busy for me to come see him. I was so upset and made another failed attempt or 2 to let him go. He hurt me so bad and I didn't want to feel that any longer.

Senior year came along and I felt further apart from him that I had ever felt before. I was dating a guy who I thought made me happy. Everyone was trying to tell me that I could find someone better but I didn't want to listen to them. We went to prom together, I thought I loved him, but he didn't treat me right and he didn't really beg for me until it was too late. One sunday there was an announcement that my ward and Dallin's ward would have combined sacrament meeting and I got a text from him saying he was excited and thought that maybe our wards would be combined, a few weeks later, they were. I then traveled to Utah for 4th of July weekend and had no service where my grandparents cabin is located. After the weekend was over I had multiple texts from him and we talked the whole drive home from Utah. He was, for the first time, pouring his heart out to me. He told me that he still liked me a lot, and always had, he knew that I always liked him, and he told me that he wanted me to wait for him while he was on his mission. I was scared and reluctantly agreed. I didn't know if i was going to or not but I knew that I loved him. After I got back from Utah he called me one night and I went to hang out with him for a few hours but I still had a boyfriend (who was long-distance) so nothing happened. A few days later we went to see Eclipse together, I wanted so bad to hold his hand but no matter the love I felt for Dallin, I couldn't do it. I broke up with my bf a few days later and the summer ended not to long after and I left to go to BYU-I but not before we shared one last night together and one last kiss.

After I got to school Dallin and I were constantly texting and skyping every night. He got his mission call shortly after I left (I guessed where he was going) and he prepared as I went to school and we continued to talk and grow closer and closer. The idea of waiting for him became more and more real to me and I began praying about it. I went and surprised him for his farewell and we shared one last amazing night together and finally after 13 years he told me that he loves me. He tells me all the time and I now know that waiting is the right thing to do and the more he is on his mission the more I see us being together for eternity. I love him so much and I miss him every day but I know he's doing the right thing and I can't wait for the day when I get to be in his arms again!

Sorry it's kinda long but I know I love the long detailed stories about girls and their missionaries!

How I became Schatz

So I think I'm due to tell you all about how me and Ethan became me and Ethan. We are in the same stake back home, so we have known each other for about 7 years. We weren't really friends but he is a really good friend with my cousin so he knew my family and of me. When we were 14 we both went down to EFY the same week in Provo however we were in different sessions. For the last dance they combined our sessions. There was a girl ask guy dance and I was looking around for some cute guy to dance with. I see this guy across the way and decide that he is super cute and that I just had to ask him. So I went up to him and tapped him on the shoulder and asked him for the dance. We start dancing and I had no idea who he was until he asked, "Aren't you Jordan's Cousin?" I look at him and respond "Yeah how do you know that?" "I'm from Walla Walla, were good friends." It didn't dawn on me till then that he was in my stake, and yes I did recognize him. After that I was in love. But one of those you know its never going to happen in love feeling. Whenever I saw him at a stake dance he was always with this one girl so I figured he had a girlfriend. So I admired him from afar haha. It wasn't until my senior year that we became facebook friends and we talked every once and awhile and became friends. Later on in my senior year I had the chance to come up to Rexburg to stay with a good friend of mine and knew that Ethan and another guy from our stake were rooming together and I thought it would be fun to hang out with them. I did have a chance to hang out with Ethan one on one and things just clicked. The conversation flowed and things went great. I had to leave but missed my plane home and the only person I knew with a car in Rexburg was Ethan. So he rescued me from the airport. We hung out that night and I so badly wanted to hold his hand when we were watching a movie. I went home the next day but we continued to facebook each other and texted back and forth. I got up the guts to ask him to my prom cause I knew he would be home by then. The weekend before we went on our first official date. It was good but didn't go the exact way I planed. I ended up throwing up my dinner on the side of the road. But that's a story for a different time. We became official the week after prom and things have been going great ever since. How I got my nick name. We had been dating a couple of months when I got into a car accident. He came over (we live in two differen't towns and states for that matter but are only 45 minutes apart). to make sure that I was ok. I was really broken up about it cause it was my fault. Anyway we were laying on my couch and he was comforting me. He turned me around to face him and he said that he had the perfect nick name fore me. I asked him what that was. He said that it was Schatz. I just looked at him cause I had no idea what that meant. He smiled and said that it was German for treasure, and that I was his treasure. From that day on I've been Schatz. Even though he has been gone more than a year we are still madly in love. I'm so proud of him and the work he is doing in Australia. So that's my story. :D

[insert cute title here]

today i made a small little photo collage (all of these pictures, i can claim my own from my own photography).
my goal is to tell you a small bit about each picture -- hope you don't mind the read or the self-focus.
swings. this is actually an older picture that was taken of elder D and i's swing set at rexburg's very own smith park. it was on this swing set that we would talk, laugh, cry, hold hands as we swung, tell each other of our fears, our hopes and dreams. along with our swing set, we now have another song that we added to our collection: "falling in love on our swing set" (an edit of "falling in love in a coffee shop" by landon pigg).
as we all know, we have to have a lot of pictures in order to make it through the whole two years that our dear men are away from us and serving the lord. so, we get in all the photo ops that we can with us in the picture of course! this has to be one of my favorites, even if it is a tad outdated.
the salt lake temple has always been one of my favorite to shoot, as i am usually out there in the summer time or during the christmas season to see the lights (oh how they sparkle!) even though, i am still not sure which temple i want to be sealed in quite yet (as i still have a bit of time); i do know that the temple is my goal.
the last picture is of daisies, my favorite flower ever! it makes my day when i see them! no mater what size, color (other than pink) or shape....
what things help you remember your missionary? any fun memories?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day MG's! I love you all! Thank you so much for everything so far, these next two years are gonna be amazing with you :) Let's not be sad today...we have Valentine's, although they may be halfway around the world they're still out there and they love us. That's all, make today a good day, not a sad one :)

post office blues.

today, i went to the local post office (nicely located at the ACE hardware store across the street from me). i take my cute little flat rate box to mail to Washington [state]. the guy tells me lazily that the zip code doesn't exist. i find this really hard to believe. so, i tell him to keep looking as my package WAS going to get sent.
well, turns out the zip code truly doesn't exist. so, i brought the box home and conveniently used USPS.com to look up the city to find the right zip code. 
i found it and this time (in the new box) -- there's a note that reads: Keep sending me the wrong ZipCode if you don't want any more packages from your Valentine...lol.
poor ryan, he prolly had no idea....but it will go out tomorrow and go to the right place and to the right missionary!
what are you doing for your valentine? ♥

My Story.

I'm gonna give you guys a kind of cliff-notes version of my story (it's long and complicated to say the least).

Zack and I met my junior year of high school in a theatre class, we talked and I really liked him but he was dating someone else, over the summer they broke up so he was single when we back to school (now my senior year), we hung out a lot because we had mutual friends and he /finally/ told me he liked me on November 22, 2006 and so we started dating. (That seems like so long ago now haha)

I wasn't a member of the church but in May 2007 Zack and I had a discussion about the church and it sparked my interest, so he got me a Book of Mormon and I began reading it and having huge fights and issues with my family (but that's an entirely different story). On May 9, 2008 I was baptized and confirmed by Zack.

April 2009 Zack got his call to serve his mission in Eugene, Oregon and he would report to the MTC on June 10, 2009. We were both excited, scared, nervous, and freaking out. Zack and I had a rough-spell and he broke up with me a week after he got his call. I was absolutely heart-broken and he started 'dating' an old friend of ours. We didn't speak up until a week before he left, and then he came back and said he made a huge mistake and how sorry he was. So we tried to fix things as much as we could before he left...ever since then the whole waiting game has been one heck of a ride for me. Such a rollercoaster, and even after everything, I still love him so much it's ridiculous. I'm still not entirely sure if things will work out, but I'm hoping for the best. He comes home June 16 this year, so about 4 months left now. :)

Never thought I'd ever be in this postion but yes, I'm an MG and lovin' it :)

Hey everyone! My name is Megan Thorne and I'm from Las Vegas, NV. I guess now is as good a time as any to start blogging it up. Where to start? Hmm...how about the beginning? My missionary (Adam) and I met at "Get Connected" at BYU-I our first semester up here, Fall 2010. He got up the courage to introduce himself to me (thank goodness!) and from then on we were stuck like glue. We saw eachother every day and became best friends. After about 2 (impatient) months we finally went "official". Oh boy did I have a thing or two to learn about patience, and still do might I add. It all happened so darn fast, it's true when they say falling in love happens fast. It really does! Adam is currently at his home in Colorado waiting to leave for his mission in the Baltics. So technically he's not really gone yet but since I haven't seen him for a month and a half I decided I'd start "my wait" early. Especially since we decided to limit our contact in preparation for his mission. So we only communicate through emails once a week. It's basically like he's gone already. He reports to the MTC on March 9th which is also our 4 month anniversary! (I'm so happy it coincidentally happened like that haha) We're both pretty stoked. So far being an MG is in ways a lot easier and harder than I could have ever expected and I'm excited to see how our relationship strengthens from this experience. There's good days and bad, as we all know, but when I stop and think about it I honestly wouldn't want things to be happening any other way. I love my life, my Heavenly Father, and the many blessings He has given me. Especially the blessing of being loved by such a brave, strong, righteous young man. I've never blogged before and I'm really excited to see how this goes! I love writing so this should be tons of fun. I'm excited to share my stories with all of you and hear yours too!

i love my mish, what about you? ;)

There are a lot of followers and authors! We just need to get a-rolling on writing!
Well, my missionary's name is Elder [Ryan] Duvall. We met in our English 101 class at BYU-Idaho our first semester, freshman year. I was then dating a guy from high school and being in and out of abuse, but dealing with it and to be honest, I was scared to get out of it. Sadly, I was desperate. In this class, Ryan was sitting in front of us and he always would try to engage in conversation that a friend of mine and I always had prior to the start of class.
After the October General Conference, I made the long-distance call to the high school boyfriend and got the guts to break-up with him. I knew it would be hard, but was much needed. Funny enough, I started liking other guys (as is only natural). So, I had even more interesting stories to tell my friend prior to class. Ryan had liked and taken other girls out on dates. I, personally, had no interest in him as I thought he was annoying. How, how little did I know...
About two weeks later, we were assigned together in a group for a project. I was not excited at all. Ryan ended up forgetting about the first group meeting, and I was assigned to make the phone call/text to see where he was. Interestingly enough, he forgot to give us his cell number. So, I had to dig up his school email and hope that he would respond. Within the half-hour, he had responded and apologized for not being there. He had had a crummy day as he had burned the brownie treat for his FHE family (as he was the dad) and then he forgot about the meeting...Life in his world was just great. haha. (What a joke!)
I guess I wasn't mean enough as I let him off easy and offered to help teach him how to do simple brownies from a box. After that, we talked more and visited each other and became the best of friends. The rest is history as we eventually ended up dating the next semester before he left. And now, here I am with 17 months left to go and hearing from him in his weekly, personal, handwritten letters couldn't make me any happier.

I love my missionary because he helps me realize the eternal perspective on life and that I am a daughter of God with great potential. Never before had I had a young man tell me that and truly mean it. So, those weeks that I have had and (sadly will) most likley have again, are hard, but as I reread those letters of months gone by, I know of his love as well as the Savior's. Missionary work is of God. It helps create the men of this dispensation that this world needs.