Sister Kaitlyn Renee Gibson

My mission call finally came and the journey to get it was very emotional. I have had such a strong desire to go on a mission for quite some time now but I still had my doubts. When I heard that my call was assigned, I still felt unsure about going. I was in no hurry to open my call until the day it was supposed to come. That was when I became really excited about it. (I even curled my hair so that my pictures would be cute.) I checked my email about every 10 minutes all day long to see if I had a package I needed to pick up. By 5:00 I was starting to get a little nervous because I hadn't received an email. I went to the Cannon to ask and they said that they had already contacted everyone who has received their calls and that it was a possibility that mine would come the next day.


 Well, my call did come the next day, but to Vegas. My loving family realized how eager I was to open my call that they over-nighted it to me. My call was expected to be delivered to the Cannon Center at 10:30 am Friday morning. From the time I woke up, I tracked that package until it said it was delivered at the Cannon. However, I never received an email saying that I had a package to pick up and the people at the front desk of the mail room said they never had a package delivered to them for me. So my call was temporarily lost. As a member of the Gibson family, I have grown used to important items getting lost in the mail but I still became an emotional wreck. I think it was because I was just so nervous about where I was going to be sent. That was when I realized how badly I wanted to serve a mission.

After hours of calling around and a short nap to calm my nerves, I got a call from the Fed-Ex driver telling me that he delivered my package to the wrong building and had it in his hands. All of my stress tears turned into happy ones as I ran to meet him outside of the Cannon Center. I didn't want to waste anytime opening it so I texted a few people to come over as I set up my laptop to FaceTime my family.

I was so nervous to open my call and I figured that I would cry, but never thought I would cry before I even started reading it out loud.

Dear Sister Gibson,
You are herby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Guatemala Queztaltenano Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 18 months. You should report to the Guatemala Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, June 11, 2014. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Spanish Language.

I couldn't believe it!! I thought for sure that I was staying in the United States, but I got called to serve in Central America. I am seriously so excited and couldn't have been any happier to be called to serve the people there. I am so excited to be sent to a place where I will be able to experience a new culture and language and I know that I will absolutely love it there. I can't wait to be a missionary. This church has brought me so much happiness and I desire so badly to bring it to other people. Guatemala, here I come :)

P.S. If you want to watch the video of me opening my call, check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mLT2kHnoZo

Sports Hero Day

Today I had the opportunity to volunteer for Sports Hero Day on campus. The day consisted of all of the sixth graders from 12 elementary schools (middle school starts in 7th grade here) that came to BYU for a couple of hours. In preparation for today, every student had to write an essay about who their hero was and what it means to be a hero. Then, they got meet all of the athletes and listen to speeches from some of their favorite players on heroism, teamwork, and goals.

It was an awesome feeling to be apart of such an impactful and inspiring event. The kids were so fun and I had a great time getting to know them. It amazed me how much these 12 year old kids looked up to us college students (even us non-athletes.) It just reminded me that we are all on this earth to inspire others and be a positive role model in one another's lives. We will have an impact on the people around us, so we might as well make it a positive and inspiring one.

Merry Christmas

I couldn't wait to come home for Christmas and see my family. On Christmas Eve, we had dinner at my grandparents house and had delicious mexican burritos. As we were opening our gifts from one to another, I realized that I enjoy giving gifts more than receiving. It made me feel great to see the smile on their faces. One nice gift that we all received was my aunt and cousin coming up from California to surprise us. 

Christmas morning the sister missionaries came over and opened their presents before the rest of the family arrived. We made everyone a big breakfast and enjoyed each others time  Later in the afternoon, we went and saw Frozen, which is now my 3rd favorite movie behind Tangled and Footloose. 

My sister and I used our Christmas money to buy tickets to Disneyland. My mom, sister, and I spent the entire day in the happiest place on earth. We bought the book that gives you clues to where all of the hidden mickeys are and looked for them as we waited in line. The day we went was the busiest day in the park all year, so the lines were crazy long. However, we just loved the atmosphere disneyland has. It was a wonderful Christmas getaway for all of us.

Finals Week

I survived my first week of college final exams. How I did it, I'm not really sure. I spent the entire week in the library until 2 am. Even then, I couldn't sleep because I felt like I needed to study more. In the end, it worked out well and I was able to get the grades that I wanted in my classes. Two weeks of vacation and I get to do it all over again. Yay college!

A Thankful Weekend

Thanksgiving break

couldn't have come at a better time. I had been looking forward to it for awhile. I couldn't wait to go home and see my family, especially with all of the recent events going on. Jules had to get an MRI on her knee because the doctor thought she may have torn her meniscus and my grandpa was in the hospital because he had a heart attack. Thankfully, both of them are okay. Needless to say, I was extremely thankful to be home, plus having a Thanksgiving feast was an added bonus. The food was delicious and I loved having my family and the sister missionaries over. It was also really nice to hang out with everyone and have some time to relax. During this time, I have come to the conclusion that home-cooked meals and watching movies with family are my favorite things to do. 

I was also extremely grateful that I was able to be home for my birthday. (It's crazy to think that I'm 19 now!) We went down to the strip and ate at the Sugar Factory, which was absolutely delicious! My burger was HUGE but that didn't stop me from having dessert. After dinner we walked over to the Bellagio and looked at the beautiful garden. I love the way they decorate it for all of the seasons. It was an awesome night.

Having to leave is never fun, but the good news is that I will be home for christmas in two weeks! I can't wait :)

 

A Fairytale Weekend

This past weekend, just like all of them, was awesome! However, this one will probably be one of my favorite memories. On Saturday, Hailey, Mallory and I decided we needed to take a well deserved study break. For weeks we kept driving past this cute prom dress store and decided now was the time. We spent two hours trying on some of the prettiest (and ugliest) prom dresses. We took so many fun pictures in them because we looked like princesses .

Saturday night, I also went on a really awesome date with my friend Trent. We went to Salt Lake, rented bicycles and rode to the temple. It was so beautiful. After, we drank hot chocolate and watched White House Down with Channing Tatum, who is also beautiful. So you can safely assume that it was just a beautiful night. Just kidding. But in all seriousness, Trent is a really nice guy and I had a lot of fun.

Our little fridge of accomplishments.

To our benefit, our dorm rooms come with mini-fridges in them. I am very grateful for this, because it is a wonderful way to keep my caffeinated beverages cold. This function is very useful but is not the only thing we use it for; our fridge is very versatile. I've used it many times as a stepping stool to hop onto my bed and it also holds our industrial printer on top.  These things are wonderful but the mini-fridge also serves as a place for me to hang all of my highest graded papers on. The fridge door consisted of two things, my 99% tap dance test and my 103% contemporary test. It only had these two things until today..... Now, proudly hanging on our fridge is my 100% psychology paper that I worked so hard on! I was super excited when I got the paper back today because I was slightly terrified to turn it in. Clearly my hard work paid off. I am so proud of that paper :)