A See You later

A See You later

I've anticipated this day for a while.

But it took me by surprise.

Grandma has been a major part of my 25 years of life.

We traveled together, spent hours together, cooked together

I even spent my senior year lunch periods at her house with my friends.

It's all so surreal, thinking that eventually, it would happen

And now it's come and passed.

I was able to be with my grandma as she left this life.

It was a spiritual experience and I'm glad it happened so peacefully.

She is free of pain, that awful pain that tortured her body for as long as I can remember.

I could hear moaning in pain from upstairs when she woke up bright and early til she went to bed that night. I don’t think that anyone can really fathom the pain that she was in.

One Sunday she was getting ready for church, she was in pain.

I knew she was in pain, she couldn’t see and could hardly hear the speakers.

Grandma I said, Just stay home. She replied, I can’t then, I’ll get in the habit of not going.”

It was a lesson for me as well as many others who saw her faithful endurance.

She can see those beautiful pansies that she loves and she can hear now.

I'm sad, but so happy that she can now have a good quality of life.

Her independence was cut down little by little and she lost these abilities.

She loved her independence it meant everything to her.

I've been able to reflect on memories she shared and what she taught me.

She didn't have an easy life, she worked hard.

She owned her own restaurants and took care of her 4 boys.

Even though they were grown up, she didn’t stop caring for them.

She would get them their favorite treat or make them breakfast every morning.

Her selfless service never stopped.

She was without a spouse most of her life, but didn't complain.

She taught me that plates of food need to have color

To put yellow food dye in pancake batter

To put others ahead of yourself.

She was always thinking- Oh I could get a treat for ____, oh I need to get this for ____, Oh they like ______I'll send them those.

Don't make her mad, because boy did she have a fiesty temper

If you didn’t come back when you said you would, she would retort with a smart aleck remark.

“Did you get lost on your way down here?”

I remember she would send me stickers, I loved getting mail from grandma.

She and I would walk across the street, where she introduced me to Italian cream sodas with Whipped cream and sprinkles on top.

For my tenth birthday, she came into town and surprised me.

She would scare easily so cousin Amanda and I would hide and scare her

to get the most perfect reaction.

She loved her pansy flowers.

An ice cream a day is a must.

I would have slumber parties with grandma and I always had her tell stories.

She had great memories.

Tell me a story,

remember what you said.

You promised me,

You said you would

You gotta give in, so I'll be good.

Tell me a story,

remember what you said.  

She taught me how to make monkey bread.

She couldn't tell you any of her recipes

It was all a pinch of this and dash of that.

When I needed someone to talk to, she was there

She was my best friend growing up.

I told her my special secrets and she listened and would offer advice when I needed it.

She taught me how to play cards

She taught me that everyone is family.

We have a very complex, confusing family tree

But it didn’t matter to her, if you were blood or not

Come on over and she would talk your ear off and give you a treat

She would hold you and love you

She loved spoiling people

and I hope I can be the same caliber of grandma she was one day.

I'm going to miss that Illinois trip, Grandma.

See you on the other side.

Promise?

~Linz

(Sidenote: I wrote the original post the night of her death-June 22, 2016. The bold parts I added later). 

Haas, Virginia Irene (Shippee) “Ginny”
Virginia Irene (Shippee) Haas, known as Ginny to family, age 92, passed away peacefully while surrounded by family on Wednesday, June 22, 2016 in her home in Oakhurst, CA.
Born in Lena, IL on May 25, 1924 to Grover and Orpha (Wiley) Shippee. Virginia spent many years owning local diners and restaurants and later caring for children. She enjoyed cooking, traveling, spending time with family and friends, telling her life stories and spoiling her grandkids. Ginny was an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She was the coordinator of LDS lunch bunch, member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and a member of the Mountain Bear Club.
She is survived by: sons John (Tonya), Gary, James and Robert (Lisa) Haas; step-daughter Kathy (Rodney) Whitfield; sisters Lois Paulsen, Elsie Lobdell, and Orpha Schubert; 15 grandchildren and many great grandchildren. Preceded in death by her parents; brothers Robert & Leon; sisters Ruth Ingram, Sarah “Sue” Phillips, and Gerri Prince.

Some of Virginia’s favorites:
Colors: mint green /yellow/ lavender
Flower: Pansies and Violets
You can tell by the colors and the flower she had sweetness with a dash of spirit.

During her active years she enjoyed traveling:- she loved spur of the moment trips she was always ready and willing to go for a road trip. As long as someone else was driving.
Some of her fondest trips are to Seattle World's Fair, Cruise to Hawaii and Mexico, Wintering in Florida with her sister-in-law, Theresa, trip to England with her granddaughter Trish, Mexico for Gary’s wedding, and a Church history tour across the United States with two of her great friends, Joan and Anne.

Phone:-she loved to talk on the phone!

Family: She loved her family and always spoke fondly of her parents and her siblings, particularly her baby sister Orpha nicknamed “Pookie” who was her “doll”. Virginia spoiled “Pookie” buying her sister her very first bike.

While working as a waitress in Freeport, IL she met Perry and they were married November 18, 1948. Becoming an instant step mother to Kathy and having 4 boys she did everything from curl and twirl hair to Den Mother to cooking meals at all times of day or night. She particularly enjoyed spending time with her grandchildren and having sleepovers and teaching them to cook and play cards, dominoes and other games, and tell them stories of her or their parents childhood.

In 1969 she was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and was very faithful and devoted, she never wanted to miss church. She was a great example for anyone to emulate; failing eyesight, not able to hear well and severe neck pain did not prevent her devotion to her Savior.

Cooking - Virginia could cook anything, everyone when talking about her usually brings up how they loved her great cooking. She worked in many restaurants and cafeterias but owned Several restaurants the first one named the Wooden Shoe, later owning others named The Hillside, Bears Den, V&R Truck Stop and the Beanery

Collections- Some of the collections she had consisted of Salt and Pepper shakers, owls and lighthouses
Places lived: Lena IL, Freeport IL, Rockford IL, Lafayette Oregon, back to Illinois, Mesa Arizona back to Illinois, Boynton Beach Florida, back to Illinois, Pinellas Park Florida, back to Illinois, and finally settling in Oakhurst, CA. As you can see she was not fond of the winters in Illinois, but always returned to be near her family.

She never drove after Robert turned 15 ½ and got his driving permit, she had her very own willing chauffeur.

Virginia gave birth to 4 boys, but so many others called her mother, ma, mom, grandma, Virgie, Papa Ginny, Granny Grunt, MeMa or Grandma Ginny. The list is endless of those who “adopted” her and forever loved her and became her family.

Virginia not only was a great mother but a loving Mother-In-Law. NOW that's not an easy task, even when marriages did not work out she always kept a close relationship with her daughters-in-law, she loved and nurtured unconditionally. A phrase she lived by was “Once you were family you are always family.”

In the words of her sister Elsie “I will always remember Ginny’s life summarized into three categories: Food, Friends, and Family.”
She enjoyed being in the kitchen trying new things and winning the hearts of friends through their appetite.

Anyone she was around would soon be a friend.

Family was always important to her and she would always keep in touch by visiting or calling. When she had her own family she loved everyone of them and would keep us informed of how and what they are doing. She raised a great family.

There is not a child, grandchild or friend that does not think that they are her favorite! That is just the way she made you feel while you spent time with her.

She will be loved and missed by all those who knew her.

25 lessons

In honor of turning 25 here are 25 things that I have learned over my lifetime.

1. We live in a great country. America with all of its' negatives, is still a blessed country
2. God is aware of our needs
3. Seeing a psychologist doesn't make you weak or weird
4. Forgiving is hard. Really hard at times, but do it
5. Life is really short- cherish it
6. We all struggle with different things- no one is immune
7. Keep a journal, because you will forget. 
8. Read scriptures and your day will go better 
9. I still don't have my life figured, but neither do most people
10. You can make plans, but God has other ones
11. Boys are dumb, and they'll break your heart, but it heals...eventually
12. People will always ask if you have boys in your life, just smile and walk away
13. The world is a pretty place, explore it
14. Don't compare yourself to others, it will only make you unhappy
15. Life needs a dash of sass
16. Try something new once in a while
17. Pictures...take them, you can always delete them
18. Serving others = Happiness
19. Friends come and go, it's part of life
20. Your timeline is your timeline, it doesn't need to follow other's timelines
21. Satan is really good at making you think you aren't doing enough, good enough, or whatever enough.  YOU ARE ENOUGH
22. You have to take care of yourself first in order to make others happy
23. Make a bucket list and then Do It!
24. "Instead of saying "I don't have time" try saying "it's not a priority," and see how that feels."
25. Worrying doesn't solve anything, it just creates added stress, and most of the time things work out anyway

Hardships and discovery

Today as a family, we read Mosiah 24.

I have such fondness for this particular chapter. 

I can always recall the message and the memory that goes along with it. 

You see, it was some of the hardest three months, I had to endure. 

I was in a new place, with new people, and had to start from ground 0. 

I was alone, and while I had someone glued to my side 24/7, 

The aloneness was a crushing weight. 

I couldn't call up my friends or my mom and talk to them. 

It was just me. 

Some days the anxiety of it all, the pressure, the leadership, the differences

It was too much and I often found myself in the bathroom

crying and pouring my soul out to God. 

One Sunday, it got the best of me. 

Everyone had left the church building. 

I could feel the anxiety building up again. 

I went into the chapel and kneeled down and began to cry. 

I told God, I couldn't do it. I'm done. 

I opened up my scriptures to Mosiah 24 and began to read. 

10 And it came to pass that so great were their afflictions that they began to cry mightily to God. 

13 And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.  

14 And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.

It was in that moment, that I knew, really knew that God was listening. 

That he loved ME. That he cared. 

Things weren't perfect after that. 

But, I did meet wonderful people and the hardship did get better. 

This lesson and scripture has always been engrained in my memory. 

Find your own scripture and let it be "yours."

~Linz

Background + Some stories = Adventure

(I noticed this in my drafts, so I finished it up 1/20/16)

One thing I have come to realize 

Is that every single day here in Peru

Is always an Adventure. 

Something always happens. 

We are now in our second wave. 

We went from having 10 volunteers to now having 20. 

So that led us to get another apartment next door to us. 

I am so thankful we made that last minute decision. 

Things are pretty chaotic and crazy around here but it's a lot of fun. 

When we leave to go somewhere it's a caravan of white people.

We need 6-7 moto taxis to transport us. 

It's quite the site and people love to stare, take pictures, whistle and shout at us. 

Story #1

The adventure of today: Santa Sara is a school about 25 mins out of Piura in the middle of nowhere. When we are done with projects there, in order to get back into town, we have to hitchhike. This has led to many interesting experiences. Today we got a ride in this dump truck all 6 of us! Not only that but we got to help name the driver's 7 day old daughter. He wanted a biblical name so we decided on Esther. ‪#‎oneforthebooks‬

Story #2

As mentioned in the previous Story, Santa Sara is far away. 

To get there we have to travel to the market (mercado) and go to a street where some cars are. 

Also no one in Piura really has heard of Santa Sara.  

We pile in a small Volkswagen. 

The driver is very particular about his car. 

I was to sit up front with Erika. I got in the front seat first and then Erika. 

My body was over the gear shift, this was not going to work.  

We started to drive and I hovered over the gear shift. 

Quite uncomfortable, let me tell you. 

It was apparent the seating situation was not going to work.  

I told Erika to sit all the say in the front seat and I would sit on her lap. 

I tried to move and it failed epically. 

The taxi driver who seemed quite stern, laughed and laughed. 

We joined him, because the situation was quite hysterical. 

I was folded in half draped across Erika, my head sticking out the window resting on my bent arm. 

My butt was now hovering over the gear shift, just high enough that when the driver shifted, his hand grazed my butt every time.  

A bit awkward yes. 

~Linz

An update

I haven't posted in a while... it's been about two months. 

Sorry.
This semester has been insane. 

This post won't be rainbows and positivity. (Fair warning)

Ever have a day where it's not horrible

But nothing seems to go right?

That everything seems to be stacked against you

Where you are on the verge of tears?

That was my day today. 

In the past 24 hours:

I found out I might have a stomach ulcer 

I got a parking ticket

There is a roommate that is stressing everyone out, our apartment lacks the spirit which doesn't help. 

My jam this morning was moldy

I couldn't find an outfit where I didn't look like a whale

In the midst of trying on my 6th outfit the fire alarm went off and blasted my eardrums. I threw on an outfit and walked to class. 

Then it began to pour rain. 

I was drenched and heading to my least favorite class. 

We made goody bags to hand out to other people. 

Inside I felt horrible and I just wanted to go back to bed and start my day over.

Instead I had to pass these goody bags out to brighten people's day, when mine was the darkest. 

Peru Series: Home + water

I'm glad to be back in the states! 

Spending 3 months in Peru was such an adventure. 

I'll always cherish those memories. 

I made great friendships with my team members, 

Met cute Peruvian children, 

Saw a culture and land that is completely different from America. 

I think we take a lot of things for granted that we have here. 

Little things that are actually big things. 

Like, Running water. 

Taking a shower anytime you want, or a hot shower for that matter. 

A wash machine, not having to wash your laundry in a bucket. 

A dish washer. 

Clean drinking water thats always accessible. 

Even the poorest person in America has access to clean, running, water. 

It's a luxury in Peru. 

Water-Filling Station.  

Most people use donkey's as transportation. 

~Linz

July 4th in Peru

July 4th was a bit interesting in Peru. 

It's been a while since I have been able to be with my family and friends. 

2 July 4ths while on a mission and one in Peru. 

I was a bit homesick, especially after seeing everyone's posts about the 4th. 

We had breakfast at our Hostel and I was ecstatic to find they had a lot of "American Food"

Bacon, eggs, waffles. 

I just wanted to eat the whole menu! 

I made a reslove to try and eat as close to American food as I could.  

OUr hostel decorated with red, white, and blue streamers and balloons. 

We went to the beach, laid in hammocks, did a lot of relaxing. 

We looked at the lunch menu.

They had wings, hamburgers, nachos!

I told the bartender, I just want to eat American food. 

"Honey you are in America."

"Well, USA food then."

I ordered the Nachos, It was very different but good. 

Made with Nacho cheese Doritos. 

There was a down hill slump for a while.

My ipad charger was stolen, 

My arm broke out in Red, itchy, welts, 

The bus people lied to us and overcharged us because we were white. 

But, we did make it home safely. 

We decided that we should eat at Papa Johns, 1 of 3 USA restaurants in Piura

The other being KFC and Pizza Hut and even then there is a Peruvian twist on it. 

I got A calzone and cinnamon Rolls. 

We made teams to find ingredients for smores. 

That's american right?

We reconvened, laughed at what we are able to find. 

We had to get creative. 

They didn't have any regular hershey's chocolate just almonds or cookies and cream.

 No regular graham crackers either.

Everyone said the smores tasted off, the marshmallows had a fruity taste. 

We were content and happy though. 

It was a good day, something was missing though. 

Then we heard crackling noises. 

We ran to up to the roof and there was fireworks going off!

It was like being home and it felt good, the day was complete. 

~Linz

Cajamarca

We took a short break from Piura (June 3- June 8)
On Wednesday night we got on a 7pm bus and got to Cajamarca around 4:30 am. 

We were able to tour the city and to see the culture which is much different then Piura. 
The people were so friendly, humble, and kind. 

It is located in the northern highlands of Peru at approximately 2,750 m (8,900 ft) above sea level.

Ely took us down to teach us how to make stoves and to show us a different side of Peru. 

I believe we all in fell in love with Cajamarca. 

Not only was it beautiful with it's tall mountains, 

It was also cold and dry here.

(We were a bit unprepared for how cold it turned out to be)

We had to take things slow at first because of the elevation. 

That was rough and then half the team was sick. 

We ended up making 2 stoves for families.

This is a valuable resource because of the high cost of propane.

~Linz

A stove that is almost completed.

A Completed Stove- PC: Sarah Tonks

A new way

I want to do the next blogs in Peru a little differently. 

More about things I am learning and observing. 

A series type of blogs. 

I think this will be better than a daily log of what I did and
it might help you understand more about the life here. 

So if there is anything you want to learn or know more about

Comment or message me. 

I have learned so much in the month I have been here. 

It is so intriguing how our cultures are so different. 

Yet, finding those similarities is exciting. 

Enjoy!

~Linz

Week 3 in Peru

I apologize for the lateness of the post.

 It's a bit tricky to write blogs without a computer and constant wifi. 

Some Quick updates:

Getting sick is inevitable. 

The whole house is pretty comfortable with each other and their bathroom issues. 

The weather in Piura is constantly hot and humid. 

The fan is literally my best friend. 

We have a bakery down the street for us.

The mosquitos are what we have termed "Hangry" They are vicious and huge. 

There are dogs everywhere.

Ok now to projects:

We went to a rural school called Santa Sara.  

This is where the whole corruption and politics really bothered me. 

We began painting the inside of the wood frame add on to the school room.

We have gone back a few more times to fix it up and to teach the kids about recycling. 

Their entire playground is covered in trash. 

Ana headed up the project, we taught them a song, did an activity, and then had them go out and pick up trash and put them in the appropriate bin. 

They are so smart!

Next we toured a few orphanages to see if they needed any help. 

My favorite project that we have started is teaching English classes at another rural school.
Our class is very intelligent and it's so fun to hear them learn and pronounce words.
They love to ask us questions.
We showed them a $1 and they were so fascinated by it.
They love to ask if we are married or single.
And one boy learned the words Kiss me from a book.
He loves to use that on us ;)

Our english class

Teaching the kids about Recycling

~Linz

The work begins

Monday:

Today we had a meeting and met the mayor and we took lots of pictures. Meetings and pictures that seems to be the thing here. I was sick most of the day due to not eating when I should have. Later we took moto taxis to another meeting they fed us alfajores and chifles!

Tuesday:

Not a whole lot happened today. Sadie and I ventured out by ourselves and got bread from the bakery all by ourselves! I was pretty proud. Later we went and played volleyball with the local YSA. I played soccer with some kids.

Wednesday:

We did a lot today. We woke up extra early to catch a 7 am bus ride to Tambogrande which is about an hour away. We went to a lot of different schools and the kids would just swarm us. Poverty was a whole new level here where people lived in small stick huts. We made juice and cookie bags to take to the schools tomorrow. We met sister Meg a catholic nun who has been in peru since 1987. She runs a small physical therapy clinic for the kids. She gave us some word of advice: 1. Find God in the journey, He is there even in the bad. 2. Don't eat the street food, we only have a short time here and we don't want to waste it with Matasuma's Revenge.
Thursday:
Oh yes. Today was the day of our Jungle Safari Adventure.  We split into two trucks.  Some of us were outside in the bed of the truck.  We went to the mountains and then on a dirt road for over an hour.  Our driver thought he was the operator of the Indian Jones ride/ fast and furious.  I thought I was going to die or puke a few times.  We got lost and he kept asking people for directions and they would swing their arms like they were directing music.  He got frustrated because they would never point and tell him exactly. After crossing a fair sized river in the truck and Bo asking if we were in Africa, because she expected a lion to jump out. We FINALLY made it! We ate with the kids and danced with them and passed out treats.  They have a one room school house and an outhouse for bathrooms.
Friday:
After our work we got on a 11:30pm bus and rode to Trujillo about 7 hours away.  We stayed at a house and slept til noon and then toured the Chan Chan Ruins.  They were pretty interesting.  Trujillo is a much cleaner city than Piura.
Saturday:
We got up early and went to the Trujillo Temple Open house.  It was so beautiful! Also eveyone was taking pictures of us. Still trying to get use to that. The artwork and decor in the temple was stunning.  We went to another part of the ruins and then headed back to Piura.  

Week 1 in Peru: the beginning

Thursday: 

Check out http://www.benmanningphoto.com/blog his name is Ben and he is in our group and his pictures are phenomenal. 

The journey began 2:30 am Thursday morning. Flew to LAX then to Houston. Met up with Sadie had BBQ. I had no phone and the wifi wasn't working so I couldn't contact my parents. Felt like a missionary again. It wasn't til I was on the flight to Lima that it finally hit me and i panicked for a minute. What am I doing?! But it was fine I watched 3 movies on the flight and chilled for an hour if that gives you an idea of how long the flight was. We made it to Lima and it was so hot. We got our tickets from Lima to Piura but security wouldn't let us through til 1:30 am. So we found the spot were everyone was sleeping and chilled. I got 10minutes of wifi for the next 5 hours. We later moved to benches past security and slept. 

Friday:

Been up since 2:30 am Thursday. It's now 11pm Friday you do the math. 

Landed in piura and were swarmed by taxi drivers yelling taxi taxi taxi! Insane! 

Had a meeting with the cities economics and tourist managers. I was so surprise by their welcoming news, friendliness and eagerness to help us. They fed us banana chips and fanta. 

Went to a restaurant and had beef soup, jello and chicken and rice. All for $3 U.S.. The KFC serves black beans and rice as their side welcome to Peru! 

We did a lot of laying around we were all so tired from traveling and the heat just made us lethargic. Later we were hungry so we got hamburgers which were really good. Here in Peru they add papas fritas (French Fries) to their burgers.

Saturday: 

Sadie's bed fell apart around 5 am this morning. It was quite comical. We went back to the place we went to for lunch yesterday. It probably will turn into our go to place. Then we went to a club and went swimming it was so nice to not be dripping with sweat for a few hours! 

Here was a conversations with a kid in the pool it was so funny! 

It was said in espanol but I'll write it in English 

Kid: hola! Are you from Brazil?

We laughed do we look Brazilian I think we are too white!

Us: no from United States 

Kid: what are your names?

We told him he would leave and come back and ask us a new question each time. 

My favorite

Kid: do you speak French?

Us: no we speak English

Kid:oui 

Later that night we went to Rustica a restaurant where they had singing and dancing. We went to a club and got in the front of a line thanks to a friend here. Everyone looked at us sober Americans dancing and they didn't join in til an hour later when the alcohol hit them. It was quite entertaining.

Sunday:

Woke up early and went to church. That was challenging to not be able to understand a lot. Went to the primary with sarah. The girls kept saying you are so pretty. I like your hair and your eyes. 

If you want to see pictures that coincide with this post go to my facebook. It's too complicated doing it without a computer.  Apologies for the length too. Ciao! 

The WHY?

Next week I will be in Peru, living there for the next 3.5 months. 

A lot of people asked me why I am going 
So I thought I would share a few of the reasons behind the why.
Truth is there are a lot of reasons why I chose to go. 
First, a while back I wrote on my mirror to travel to a foreign country. 
Call it a goal, a wish, a desire. 
(Things happen if you write it down)

Second, My roommate came to me and said her friend (who will be the country coordinator) 
told her about this opportunity and then my roommate told me about it.  
I would have someone that I know going with me.  
Third, I am young and not tied down with anything. 
Fourth, It was a new adventure, something to get me out of my comfort zone. 
After serving a mission, I now have the added courage to do challenging things. 
I felt like I was getting complacent again, so I decided to take a step outside my comfort zone. 
I am doing something that will not only benefit my life
 but will help change other people's lives. 
Did I doubt my decision? Yes
Am I nervous? Yes
Am I sad to leave my family and friends for a while? Yes.
But in the end I feel the same when I made the decision to serve a mission.
Fifth, probably the biggest reason:
WHY NOT?
Anything can happen if you let it life is out there waiting

so go and get it grab it by the collar seize it by the scruff one

you've started living life you just can't get enough

Anything can happen it's official you can choose the super

or the superficial sally forth the way we're steering obstacles

start disappearing go and chase your dreams you won't regret it

Anything can happen Anything can happen
-Mary Poppins

~Linz

Accomplishments

Wow another semester down.  

It really is crazy how time goes so fast. 

This semester has been really hard/challenging and really rewarding.  

I have learned a lot this semester both about my self and others. 

I learned more about what I want and who I want to become. 

The challenge that I gave myself was eye-opening and inspiring. 

I accomplished a lot in 4 months. 

Here is a bit of a recap for you. 

I tried rock-climbing for the first time, thanks to a former companion who pushed me

 (just like old times)

I wanted to become CPR certified so I did. 

I became R.A.D. certified

I did my 4th 5K (with a migraine)

I made the decision to live in Peru for 3 months

My group and I presented at Research & Creative Works Conference, where we won 2nd place. 

I learned how to take blood pressure manually.
I volunteered at the Wellness center on campus.
I was a Student Ambassador and gave weekly tours of BYU-I.
I did something that required a lot of courage.
This semester was full of experiences that happened
because I was willing to leave my comfort zone.

~Linz