Mission Addresses, and going private

So Here is the deal, I am leaving on my mission in 6 days, (More like 5 now). I thought I should post my addresses for all of you wonderful people who read my blog. I am going to see if my sister Stacey will keep my Blog updated while I am on my mission, so she can let you all know how things are going on my mission.

Here is my MTC address(effective till Nov 24th)

Elder Troy Joseph Love
Philippines Cebu Mission
Provo Missionary Training Center
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604

My Pouch Service Mailing Address (postcards, or letter folded in to thirds and taped at top only)

Elder Troy Joseph Love
Philippines Cebu Mission
POB 30150
Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0150
USA

Finally if you are feeling extremely generous My Packaging address or regular letters, that you want to enclose stuff to me!!!!!

Elder Troy Joseph Love
Philippines Cebu Mission
47 Salinas Dr
Lahug, Cebu City
6000 Cebu
Philippines

I cant wait to get letters from all of you!!!!

Also I am going private, so if you could send your e-mails to me at troyjlove1@yahoo.com that way you can still read my blog!!!

Saturday Scripture

Here is a scripture which I think is very wonderful, I have found that it is alot like the other scripture I love so much which is found in Alma 13:28-29, and as I was reading this I fell in love with it. It is a really good scripture!!

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Alma 37:35-36

35 O, remember, my son, and learn wisdom in thy youth; yea, learn in thy youth to keep the commandments of God.

36 Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and withersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy toughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let thy affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.

37 Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.

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So I was reading this scripture the other day, and the first verse we all know very well, but I like the next two much better, because it tells you if you walk in the Lords footsteps, you will enter into his presence some day, that is just way awesome too me!!!

Another Book of Mormon Placed!!!!

Yesterday, I had to go to a practice for a sepecialy number for an Institute Chorale concert. I have no car, so I had to take public transportation to the practice. While I was at the Front Runner station, a girl asked me if I had a phone she could borrow. Of course she had to ask the one person who didnt have a phone. We started talking, and I ended up telling her I was going on a mission. She graduated the same year as me, and she went to a school in Salt Lake. I asked her if she was L.D.S. and she told me that she wasnt, so just as the Salt Lake train pulled up I asked her if she would like a copy of the Book of Mormon, and I told her that she should read it, because it is a great help in my life. I happened to have a Book of Mormon in my back pack, and I gave it to her. She opened it while she went to get on the train to Salt Lake. I thought it was so cool that the opportunity just happened to come up, and I was able to give someone the chance to have the Book of Mormon. I really hope she reads it, and prays to know that it is true. It was a real blessing to be able to talk to her, and have a missionary moment with her. I cant wait for my mission, so I can have those moments all the time!!!

Going Through The Temple!!!

So I had the opportunity to get my endowments out yesterday, and it was the best expierience of my life. I feel so blessed to have the gospel in my life, and to have Temples surrounding the place I live. I felt the spirit so strong while in the temple, and you could feel such an absence of the advesary. I think it is the best thing that you can do when you are old enough, and worthy. I am so proud of my family, and so glad that they could all be worthy for the temple. I cant wait till Annie is old enough to go through, that way we can go as a whole family.

My Mission Call

I know that I am really late on this, because I am pretty sure most of you already know about my mission through facebook, but I thought it would be fun to post a video of me opening my call. I am so excited for my mission. It is definitely going to be the best to years of my life. I just cant wait to go into the MTC. I am so EXCITED!!!!!!

So there you have it I am going to be going to the Cebu, Philippines Mission. I am so excited. You also learned from the video that I will be leaving to the MTC on the 23rd of September, and that I will be learning the Cebuano language while at the MTC, and throughout my mission. I just cant wait!!! I am so ready to serve the lord with all my Heart, Might, Mind, and Strength. I am looking forward to the day to go into the MTC.

This is the Philippines Flag, just to show you all, I am pretty sure some of you already knew what it looked like, but I sure didn't. I think its pretty cool. I should probably look up the meaning of it. But there it is.

This is a digital image of the Cebu Philippines Temple, it is to be dedicated sometime during January. So I will be there when its dedicated. I think it is so cool, that they are putting a temple up in my mission while I am there. It is so cool that its getting put up in my mission, because my mission is so small. I am so ecstatic that this temple is going up in my mission.

Yellowstone Trip

These are some pictures and videos of my families Jackson/Yellowstone trip. It was very fun, and I dont think we had one major fight the whole time which is very rare on these kind of things, but like I said it was alot of fun and we all really enjoyed it.

Jackson Hole squirrel he was very funny,

he had this underground system and

kept popping up in different parts of the

square.

This is the squirrel I saw at the Cabin we

stayed at, he was very quick and agile. I

watched him climb up a tree, and then he

started making weird noises.

This is me and Annie at Old Faithful, we

were showing off our cool hoodies. She had

her Utah State one, and I had my Weber

State one. I think she is jealous that my

hoodie is cooler than hers.

This is just one of the gysers at Yellowstone.

I thought the bubbling was pretty cool, so I

took a video of it.

Another gyser I thought it was pretty cool

as well and it was sure acting up for me.

This was a cool waterfall in yellowstone, it

has a name, but I forgot what it was called.

So anyway it was a really cool waterfall.

Knee Surgury and Mission Stuff

Well if you didn't already know I had surgury on my knee, because I had a meniscus tear, that needed to be fixed. I had plenty of time to blog about it, but haven't. I am such a slacker on my blog. Anyway the surgury wasn't too bad, and I was working the same week of the surgery. I had to wear a brace for about two weeks, but I didnt wear it too much the second week I had it. I just couldn't stand for my leg to be stiff. I am doing alot better, and my knee feels good.

Another thing I have to talk about is my MISSION. I am so excited for my MISSION I turned my papers in on tuesday, and am anxiously waiting for a call. I am so excited to get out in the field and serve. I just know that this gospel is true, and being able to spread that to complete strangers, and see how it blesses their lives is going to be so awesome. I have already posted my mission thing on facebook, and have got an enormous response to where everyone thinks I will go, and I made a map of everyones guesses. It is so weird to think I will be going through the temple soon, and before I know it I will be on my MISSION. I am so excited!!!

Car Accident

Yesterday was a very eventful day. My dad woke me up an hour before my ward met, so I could be to church on time. I stayed in my bed for a half hour, then I got up and took a showere, which lasted to long. I ended up leaving my house 10 minutes late for church. I went to pick up Roxanna for chuch, but she had already left for chuch. When I approched the antelope/hillfield intersection the light was green, so I kept going. Up out of nowhere a Truck came speeding through the intersection, and I hit him in the rear right tire. I soun around, and He swereved to the side. I hit my head on something in the car, but it only felt like a tap. The driver of the truck got out of his vehicle, and came over to my car to see if I was ok. I could barely back my car out of the intersection. It was the craziest thing ever, I had never been in a car accident before, so It kind of baffled me.

After I filled out my report, my mom took me to the emergency room to see if my head was ok, they didn't take any x-rays, all they did was have me breath deeply, to see if my back and neck were ok. They gave me a muscle relaxer, and an anti-inflamatory pill. They then released me, and told me that I would later feel pain in my neck.

I went straight to my bead, and immediatly calls started coming, everyone was asking if I was ok. I felt very loved, because everyone was making sure I was fine. When my mom came back with the medication the Doctor prescribed, she told me that their were flowers at our house, with no name on it, I am not sure who brought them, but that person must know that my favorite color is orange, because they were orange tulips. I had a couple visitors, and they came to make sure I was fine. I recieved a card from my niece, and she wrote it all by herself. Today when we went to get the stuff out of the car, I took pictures. We had to talk to a rental car place, and to the insurance company to get a testiomonial from me. My neck is really stiff, and it has pain on one side, but my head has stopped hurting. I am glad that my life was spared, because if I had been a second sooner, I would have been gone. It is cool to see that the lord is looking out for me, and wants me to keep going down the right path.

Long distance Cooking

I was talking to Katrina who now is back at BYU Idaho, and I decided that I was really hungry, so while still on the phone we both decided to make personal pizza's so we both got out 6 or 7 rholds dough balls, and defrosted them, and made our own pizzas. Did I mention I was on the phone this whole time. We each put on different toppings, since we didnt have the same things in our kitchen, and we both took pictures of our pizzas when they got done.

At least I did anyway, I hope she took a picture of hers. I kept talking to her while eating the pizza, and when it was gone, I told her that I probably should go do my homework, and that I would post this on my blog when I was done, so here it is. My very own personal pizza, that I made with Katrina long distance. Did I mention that I also had to make a salad for a Choralaires party, and out of all the salads there, my pasta salad was gone first. I am starting to learn how to cook, and it is very exciting for me. I just want to make different things every day now, and make new things. I cant wait to show off my cooking skills in the mission field, you are jealous, I know you are.

Saturday Scripture

I love reading passages in the scriptures, because their is so much you can learn from them. This scriptures, is my wards theme for this year. I love this scripture, because it shows you that you can overcome the trials in your life, and that everything will be fine, if you just put your trust in the lord. I love the teachings of the scriptures.

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Alma 36:3

I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day.

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I know that it is really short, but it is so simple, yet true. I hope it can help you in your life, and that it will give you hope in things that are not going the way you want them to.

Spreading the Gospel

So I told you that I would post again when I placed a Book of Mormon, so here it is. I just have to tell you it was the scariest thing I have done. I was all nervous inside, but I knew I was supposed to give it to the person that I did. So on Monday morning, I woke up early so I could ride the bus to school. I heard a lot of stories about people placing copies of the Book of Mormon on public transportation, so I decided that I should wake up early to ride the bus. I rode the bus to Weber State and back, but had no luck even talking to anybody, I was so discouraged. I knew that I was supposed to place the Book of Mormon to someone that day, I just didn't know who, or where, or when. I went to work later, and all through work I was debating on who I should give the Book of Mormon. I got off work early, so I went to Maceys to talk to Katrina, because she just got off work, and we decided we should go to the neighborhood Walmart. I had a feeling that I should bring the Book of Mormon in with me. I have talked to this girl that works there, and I wasn't sure if she was LDS, so I decided if she was there, I would try to give the Book of Mormon to her. Well I kept walking past her check stand, and I just couldn't muster enough courage to go through her line. I was very nervous, and scared. I had really never talked to someone about religion before. I finally mustered up enough courage, and picked up a few groceries, and put them on top of the Book of Mormon. She rung up the groceries, and then when she saw the Book of Mormon, I asked her if she had seen it before. She said yes, and that she was raised LDS, but she fell away from the church, due to drugs and alcohol. When she decided to go back the people in her ward asked her how rehab was and they judged her. She decided not to go back because of how cruel her ward members were. She told me she didn't currently have a Book of Mormon, and that she would gladly take the one given to her. She said that she would pray about it, and read it again. She also told me that she was thinking about coming back to church, and that was the boost she needed. I felt so good after giving her the Book of Mormon, and I think I might go back in sometime, and invite her to my singles ward. I know that this gospel is true. I also know for a fact that the holy ghost really does prompt us to do things. If we heed to those promptings we will be blessed.

Come Home

Come home the father calls, come home my child to me. Come home the holy ghost will lead you to eternity. Lest we forget our home's with god this lovely earth it's seas and skies, and all things beautiful and true of heavenly father testify.
I know what you are saying right now, you are saying wow Troy can really write. Well that is very true, but sadly these words weren't written by me, but they are the lyrics to a song that the Ogden lds institute choralaires are singing. This Friday and Saturday is our spring variety show. The times are 7:30p.m. both nights, and a special matinee Saturday at 2:30p.m. I really want everyone to come and see it, because I have an acting part in the show. The theme of the institute this year is come home, so it seems appropriate that we sing the song which is written above. This show is sort of about the prodigal son, and it is a very touching show. I hope you all have the opportunity to see it. It will strengthen your testimony, and answer your prayers. Here is a sneak peek on one of the scenes.

SCENE 3
Jake: Who's stupid idea was it to go to Mexico?
Troy: How was I supposed to know that Mitch's car was going to break down?
Mitch: Well at least we made it this far.
Jake: Fillmore
Mitch: at least its not Ogden
Jake: whatever
Troy: So what do we do while Mitch's car is getting fixed?
Mitch: Lets set up our camp
Jake: I have a better idea, lets trash the camp.
Mitch: What
Jake: You know like Tarzan.

I hope you all can make it, it will be a great show. I invite all of you to come home, in the Ogden LDS Institute spring variety show.

Grand Opening

Today is the grand opening for the Layton Dick's Market store. It used to be Dan's, but we did a switch over. They are sampling like crazy over there. So if you want to check it out you should go. I work their and we opened yesterday, but today is the grand opening. Plus their eclaires, if you didn't already know, are the best. I love my Job, and I am just letting you know we have the best deals going on this week so come in and see me.

Friday Scripture

I know I am a slack off, but the scriptures really are important. The scripture of the week is......

Alma 13:28-29

28 But that ye would humble yourselves before the Lord, and call on his holy name, and ^awatch and pray continually, that ye may not be ^btempted above that which ye can bear, and thus be ^cled by the Holy Spirit, becoming humble, ^dmeek, submissive, patient, full of love and all long-suffering;

29 ^aHaving faith on the Lord; having a hope that ye shall receive eternal life; having the ^blove of God always in your hearts, that ye may be lifted up at the last day and enter into his ^crest.

This is my all time favorite scripture. I love the application of it. The more we read the sciptures, the more we grow to love them.

Blessings

Ok I know you are saying right now what happened to the Thursday scripture. Well I decided I will make it an every other week thing. I have had the best two days. Sunday is the best day of the week. It helps you become closer to our loving heavenly father. Their are so many things that can distract you from the bigger picture throughout the week. This blog is titled The Game of Life. I chose this title because of how important Life should be to us. The description of my blog, comes straight from my Journal. I am so glad to have a Journal, it helps me organize my thoughts, it also provides a therapy, and eases my pain, and sorrows. This last Sunday is a Sunday I will never forget. I made one of the best decisions, that will effect the rest of my life completely. That decision was to receive my patriarchal blessing. My blessing was so powerful, and I couldn't help thinking how much Heavenly Father and our Savior loves us, they know each and every one of us very well. I could tell how much our Heavenly Father loves us just through all of the blessings I received on Sunday, which will bring me even more blessings that are yet to come. Before I can receive my papers for my mission, my bishop has asked me to place a Book of Mormon. I have prayed about finding a missionary opportunity, and I will post my experience of placing that Book of Mormon. I am so glad for missionary work, and can not wait to get on the field, and serve god for two years. I love the blessings we receive through following the gospel principles, and I hope we can all live worthily so we can enter into the celestial kingdom to live in our Heavenly Fathers presence for eternity.

Thursday Scripture

I have decided to do a weekly scripture, the scriptures are an important part of daily life. I will post a new one every thursday.

Heleman 5:12

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

I hope this will help in our daily life. I know that the more I read the scriptures, pray and share my testimony, my foundation becomes stonger. Which helps me to fight satan with everything he pushes at me.

pounding out the notes

Music has been a very important part of my life. I have found that playing, or singing the hymns is very therapeutic. Music is such a blessing in our lives. In a way life is a lot like learning a new song every day. When you first start out a song, you don't play it very well, but once you practice the parts that are hard and keep at them, you will find that you can play that song better. Their are a lot of rough spots in life. If you work hard on a certain area that you are struggling with you will soon get better with whatever it is. I have found that in my life, the more you work on a weakness, the stronger you become. It may hurt at the time you are going through it, but once you are done the joy is very great. Just like on the piano, the notes start out all wrong and it is frustrating to play that song, but once you work at it, the song turns into a masterpiece. I love the trials we have been given, because every trial is a blessing, and we learn so much from each and every one of them. I hope that we can all make it through our trials, and return to our heavenly father again. He means so much to me. I know that he cares for each and every one of us, and I love him very much.

Finding Myself

I am feeling so lost in this little world of ours. I heard that sometimes you have to lose yourself completely, before you can find yourself. Life is such a difficult game. I cant imagine how much harder it could be without our loving savior. I know that our heavenly father cares about each and every one of us. I can really feel the pull of Satan tugging on me like he has never done before. I know that the force of Satan is the strongest right before, and after your mission. I just never imagined it to be this hard, everyday I face a new difficulty. As he pulls at me, and tries to push me in the wrong direction, the more I want to do what is right. Every time he pulls and pushes me though I feel a part of me falling away. Each day seems to get darker, and scarier. I love my heavenly father so much, and I know that he cares much about me. I just want Satan to leave me alone, I feel like a mess right now, and I am not quite sure what to do with myself. I love having personal prayer with our heavenly father to keep me focused on the right path. I love writing in my journal, although I don't do it often, because every time I write, I have the savior in my thoughts.I am so excited for the time to turn in my mission papers, and can not wait to get on the mission field. "For behold the field is white already to harvest, and lo he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not but bringeth salvation to his soul" (D&C 4:4). I am so glad of all the things I have been blessed with. I know that our heavenly father cares, and wants us all to return to him someday. No matter how bad Satan tries to tempt us, he has no power over us. I love the gospel, and I try to live by it the best I can. I cant wait to find myself on my mission.

Training

So I had the coolest experience at work yesterday. The supervisors decided that I was a really good cashier, so they had me train a new guy. His name is Nathan, and he is 20 years old. This was my first experience training someone in cashiering. He was very good, he learned really quick. I have a lot of fun at work, it is fun when you can teach others how to do something. It is way fun to have experience enough that they chose you out of everyone else to train someone. I am glad for the experiences I have had at Dan's although at first I wish I would have stayed at Macey's. I loved Macey's, but now I get the experience of loving Dan's as well.

Trials

So on thursday night I went to the doctors, because I have a cyst on my knee, and I wanted to get it drained. So my appointment was at 4:30, but I didn't even see my doctor till 6:30. He told me that he wast the right docter for this, and that I had to go to the orthopedics specialist. So they made an appointment to meet with the orthopedics specialist this morning at 9:00. I wated about a half hour till I saw him, and told me it could be one of two things. It could either be a cyst that happened from running, or I could have teared the cartlidge between the Knee joint, causing me to have a cyst. So if it is the first one, they just have to drain it, and everything will be just fine and dandy, but if it is the second one I am going to have to have knee surgery, and will have to use crutches again, which wont be to happy. He scheduled me to have an MRI, on tuesday to see which one it is. My first class on fridays is at 10:00 in the morning, so I was a little late to the class. I had left my bookbag at the school the day before, and thigs just seemed to not go as planned today. I got to my math class, and he handed back the tests, but mine was no where to be found, so I was stressed out all through the class, even until now. I went to work an hour early, because I looked at the schedual wrong, and got off an hour later then I thought I was supposed to. I love how I spoke about how I was so blessed to have trials in my last post, and in this post it speaks about quite a few of chain reaction trials. I am still very happy for trials, and if I think about it none of this really matters. I am very blessed to go through this, because I am going to feel so happy when all of this is over. What a blessing trials are in our lives, although we dont recognize them.

Wonderful Life

Not everything in life goes the way you planned it. I know that through all the trials I have had great and small. Life is a very confusing thing, at times you are at the bottom of it, and the next moment you are on top of the world. I have had so many struggles, but each struggle I have had has blessed me in some way. Every tunnel has a light at the end, sometimes your feel that there is no strength left within you. I know that I have experienced rough things, so I could be more happy. You grow through each trial you go through. I love looking at a trial like it's a blessing. Life is too short, and if you don't learn anything through the trials you have, then you are going to have a sad life. I have had the most Wonderful day, because I know now, for sure I have conquered one of my trials. After leaving Maceys to try something new, I felt so unhappy in my new work environment. I dreaded going to work. I didn't know anyone, I had to learn things differently then I previously had to do them, and therefore I made many mistakes. I missed all of my friends at Maceys, and I missed the way they did things. It has been exactly two months since I have started at Dans. I have learned so much in these two months about myself, that I didn't even know existed. I am a lot more happy then I give myself credit for, I make new friends very easily, and I grow to love people really fast. Within these two months I went from feeling like a worthless employee, to a first class help to Dans. Today I had an experience that I never had at Maceys. Someone waited in my line instead of going to an open check stand, because they liked how I treated them better. She wanted me to help her, instead of someone else. I have no clue who she is, but I must have done something for her to want to come to my line every time she comes. I felt on top of the world, because she thought I was a good employee. The rest of the time at work I was glowing. I was so happy that I had the experience of being #1 in someones eyes. I have made it through harder struggles then this, but I know now that choosing to work at Dans was the right choice for me. I feel so blessed that I have a heavenly father that love me enough to guide me in such a way that I don't get the whole picture, but learn that it was the best path I could have taken. I know that if we put our trust in the lord, and try to be more like Jesus, and strive to be perfect like him, we will make it to the kingdom of heaven. I am so glad of the blessings I have received in my life, even if it took a trial to realize it.

School

I don't know what it is, but I really enjoy school right now, it is so awesome. My favorite general class has to be Math 1010. Which seems very odd, but I enjoy it. I love figuring out how it works, and solving problems. Math is so much FUN!!! I enjoy the homework, because you learn how to do it well with the homework. I also enjoy my Social Work class, because It seems like an area I want to go into. We have to do 20 hours of Social Work related community service for the class. I am way excited to choose a place to do my service. I have already learned so much in my classes. My English 1010 class, seems like a review of High school, and even Jr. High English. It seems way too easy, although we do have to read a very boring book for the first semester. It is called Wordy Shipmates, and it is about how our society to day is still puritan. It is very hard to understand the book. You would have to be a history major to understand even half of what is going on in it. I love all of these classes, but every silver lining has a cloud. That cloud is botany. My teacher is a brainless, evolution driven teacher. Everything he says is totally against my religion. He says that everything on this planet came from air. I hate how he teaches false doctrines in class, and I definitely hope he doesn't test us on those false principles. So enough about generals, lets get into my religion classes. I am currently taking three institute classes, all of which I love and enjoy. My first class is Book of Mormon (first half). I love that we are learning about Nephi right now. We just talked about the revelation which Nephi received and how he was commanded that he should only write half of it. My second religion class is Choralaires. This is my absolute favorite class. You get to sing good songs, and meet a lot of people. We have so many highly spiritual experiences, and I enjoy how I feel when we experience them. My last class is held in the evenings on Thursday. It is my Missionary Prep class. It is so much fun I love the fact that my mission is coming up quick, and I can prepare for it while taking these classes.

Three Break Downs

Yeasterday I had an 8 hour shift at work. It seemed a lot longer then it should have been. When my shift was over my friends came to my work, so we could hang out. So we went outside, and went to turn my car on, and it wasn't working. I look straight at the lights, and I saw that I left them on. So my lights drained the battery dead. They were on for eight hours. So my friend Austin tried jumping my car, and it would not start. He then left, and took two of my friends home. I asked my fellow co-workers if they could see if they could help me jump my car, and that didn't work either. So Austin came back, and took me home. I told my parents, then went downstairs so I could post this on my blog, but the internet was not working. So I have a broken car, and a broken intenet. I hoped nothing else would go wrong. Well I woke up this morning, and my mom asked me if I had Come Follow Me on my I pod, but I didn't I told her how she could put it on my I-pod though, because I had to go to church. When I got home my mom told me that my I-pod froze on her. So I tried unfreezing it but I forgot how to so I asked her if she could fix the internet, when my dad and I wen't to jump the car. So I was with my dad trying everthing, and the car would still not jump, but when I got back the internet was working. So right now my car is still dead, and I am going to look into getting my I pod restarted. That is my week-end for ya. It gave me something to write about.

Hey I am back

So I gave blood today, and It wasn't purple like I thought it should be, but it was a deep red. It only took 6 minutes this time, so a little improvement. I am doing well in school so far, and I am going to work at keeping it up.