updates, and ferry commutes

so, I am still working hard to make it to Salt Lake for Nationals in April, but first I have to pass my bronze free skate. I had a few injuries that held me back, but now i am going to hit it hard. I need to get my spins, especially my backspin and then we are there.
also I am getting really frustrated with my 2 hrs of commuting everyday, becasue i cant practice as much as i would like. Today was our skaing club hallowen party, so i left two and a half hours early so that i could skate for really- half an hour. but i also played off ice and had a blast. it was a great way to wind things down.
Yesterday I did a 20 min Jackie Warner Core excercise video to help me so i can center my spins better. That woman brings pain!!!! but hopefully results. i am going to try to update this weekly from now on, so hopefully someone follows.
peace out- mandi

a skating up date

So while i am here updating my life, I will also update skating. In July I won a gold medal at the Washington State Games/ Pacific Northwest Interclub Championships, for the adult pre-bronze level. I took a month off for my brothers wedding, and discovered I sprained some ligaments in my ankle. I was cleared to train "gently" so I am. I am now working on preparing to pass my bronze test in November, so that I can qualify for Adult Nationals in Salt Lake City in April, I will do this at Pacific sectionals in Las Vegas in Febuary. will keep you posted.

Freinds lost, Friends found

Jessica Wilson
Kim and me


So yesterday was a wake up call for me. First of all I either have food poisoning or the stomach flu, so I feel really great, but I decided to tough it out and go to work. My mom called me soon after I got there to tell me that she had heard something on the radio about a girl my age dying in an auto pedestrian accident in provo. The reason she was calling me, was she thought maybe I knew the girl, because they said she had a friend with her from Estonia, so there is a chance she had served in my mission. She told me her name was Jessica Wilson.

Now, there were two sister Wilsons in my mission, and i knew and love them both, but as missionaries we didn't often use first names, so it took sometime for me to be able to figure out which sister Wilson it was- Wal-mart wilson, or MTC wilson. one i worked with at wal-mart in logan, before my mission, the other was in the Missionary Training Center with me. Well in seconds i figured out it was Wal-mart Wilson because the other ones name is rachel, and she is now married so it wouldnt have been Wilson- duh.

The next problem was that we had no comfirmation that this was actually my Jessica wilson. Jessica and Wilson are common names. Estonian friends, are not common, but it is possibly that there is another Jessica Wilson in Utah that has friends in Estonia. So I started texting the few companions that I had in my phone, Hopeing desperatly someone could confirm or deny this becasue otherwise I wouldn't be able to concentrate on work. No one knew anything. I have restricted internet access, so I can't access facebook, or yahoo or anything like that at work. but I can look at news, and I lucked out and found the news article, Sadly, confirming the death of my friend.

Well, its not fun to find out your friend has died, but its better than wondering. The thing is, with the knowledge we have of the plan of salvation, we are sad but not hopeless when a friend dies. so its a shocked confused reaction. I remembered little things of my time I had to spend with Jessica. There were a lot of little days, no major memories. I remember working in the logan supper wal-mart with her. She was my red coat person CSM or something like that- its been like 6 years, so its hard to remember.

Its meaningful now, because that was the year before i left on my mission, so it must have been right before she left too, because she got out there like six months before me, but i quit wal-mart like 8 months before i left, before i was even thinking about leaving, so i lost touch, becasue we were just co-workers. and we didn't interact a whole lot, but i remember she was the nicest CSM in the place, and i wasn't intimidated by her, and i loved working with her more than anyone else when i was a cashier. but i didn't stay a cashier- i moved to clothing- so thats another reason i didn't see her as much.

at any rate, i dont remember hearing about her going on a mission or getting a call, and i probably wouldn't have though more than - oh thats cool, at that point in my life. But God blessed me with a few more cool opportunities to get to know that angel of a Woman.

it was really a year later that I saw jessica next. I got my call to the Baltic mission, and reported to the MTC on aug 11, 2004 to learn the lithuanian language. there were 4 languages in my mission - Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian, and Russian. I was there for 2 months, and then i was off to the Baltics. the mission home was in Riga, Latvia, so we flew into Riga. I was tired and sick by the time we got there. I hadn't slept for the first 24 hrs of our journy from the MTC, and i only slept from germany to riga, which for some reason made me have to vomit when i got off the plane in riga. That is the first memory i have of Riga, finding a plant to puke in becasue all the bathrooms were full.

I am not getting of subject, just wanted to set up, that comming into the mission home i felt like crap, and it was a strange new country with Babuskas sweeping the streets with witches brooms, and other such things i had never seen. it was fall, and it was freezing cold even compared to utah. I knew only the people I came with, and had no idea what to expect. Then they took us to the mission home to meet the trainers. didn't tell us who we would get yet, but it was nice because i walked in, an who should I see, but good ol Jessica from Wal-mart!!!! talk about tender mercies of the Lord. I was so excited to see someone familiar, it made all the difference in the world. we had a good catch up. Found out she was russian speaking, so i probably wouldn't see much of her, but still that friendly kind voice made all the difference to a scared Greenie.

I saw Jessica periodically thruought my mission, but not much. Sisters conference, Mission Conference. We weren't close friends, but it was just pleasant to see her whenever I could. After the mission I saw her once or twice at mission reunions, and I remember one time, I called the number on the directory and got her cell phone number from her parents. I called and chatted with her and caught up periodically after that. always the same pleasant uplifting voice and personality. Jessica was the person to call when you needed an uplift. we were facebook friends, and everyonce in a while i would see a cool pic or change in status.

I threw my phone in the toilet by accident one day(from the kitchen to the bathroom even), so i lost her number and a bunch of others, and with that, my reminder that she was there to call, to catch up with on facebook. Life gets busy, and you lose touch with friends from everywhere. every once in a while we get a reminder and see whats up, but really there are just too many people, in my circle at least, to keep up with them all. though i do try

so when my mom told me Jessica had died, I started contacting the few that were saved to sim on my phone. some of us knew her, some did not. everyone who did said how they remember how nice she always was. but also we started to talk to eachother again, like we haven't for years.

Another sister from our mission had been having sieziurs and was put in a coma a few months back while they sorted it out. she is in recovery now and doing much better, but i would have never even known, even though its on facebook, because i have over 700 friends- that i actually do know yes, so i dont get all the updates. I found out other people just had babies, or are getting ready to.

I talked to people on facebook and skype after work of course, that i hadn't talked to in ages because, Jessica reminded me not to get to busy for the most important part of life- People, and not just people, Freinds and family, those roses in our lives that have meaning, because they are ours and we know them- as the little prince taught in the book by st antoin exubery- my rose is important becasue of the time i spent with it, people and friends make places and memories important because of the time we spend with them and on them. Jessica made time for people.

Now, on annother note, its just been 8 days since the anniversary of the death of one of my roommates from cancer, and now we roommates remember, and some even post pictures on 9/11 every year of Kim, our roommate who died on that day. Its sad, and we miss kim, but perhaps on more purpose of death- for there are many- is to remind us to treasure up the friend ships associated wit

Life is good, even if it hurts sometimes

so last week was really horrible. I got injured skating, I had my heart broken, and then things got better. so now life is good. yesterday i got injured again skating, but this time it was just banging my knee on the ice. Last week I hit my head, and due to my pony tail my head bounced and i had whiplash. my neck still hurts just a little bit, but its a lot better than it was. my knee will be fine. I still dont like my job, but I can tollerate it. I used to have a job I liked, but it wasn't in the right location. I moved, so I had to get a job I didn't care for in hopes of getting a better one, then the ecomony tanked, and i have been waiting ever since. but i went to an indian restaurant today in seattle, and it was really good, so life is good.

an update on my life

So, Jill told me she only looks at the blogs of her friends who actualy write things. so i figured maybe i should write more than once a year. its almost time for General conference again, which is very exciting. i will be having a big conference party at my house. hopefully someone will show up. i think i am smarty- smarty that threw a party and nobody came. that happens alot.
any way- update on my life. Still working for Uncle Sam and Aunt Iris. dont really like it, but my boss is very nice. Nickolai is doing very well these days, as vanessa has started walking him twice a week. I started skating again. my coach is from Finland, and she is awesome, so i amgoing to learn some finnish too.
at christmas time i spent it working on my HHR, so i drive that around alot. other than that, i had a lot of church stuff to do, but then i moved to the YSA branch i am supposed to be in, so now i dont have a calling again. I actually miss my callings- i liked them. i liked being on activities committee, and i liked visiting janai and trisha. I miss all my friends in the other branch, but it saves me 40 min every church activity to go to the one close to my house. who knows what will happen. i still think it was the right idea for me right now. well here's some picks. now you are all up to date on my life. Not dating anyone. i have a roommate. i live in bremerton, wa now. and i enjoy my friends here, and miss everyone from lithuania, latvia, and utah.
oh, also last week Jill and Toni and myself took a ride the duck tour in seattle, then went to hard rock cafe. we had a blast. the pic is from that.
this saturday, i went with Janai to the temple for initatorys. it was very peaceful and realaxing. i love the temple. what a peaceful place.

hello

well this is for all my friends who like blogs. I always swore I would never do one of these , but i have decided now that I will. Today I am watching the General conference of the Church of Jesus christ of laterday saints. I will not talk long, but I would like to share what I have enjoyed so far today. Elder Cook told us Not to judge eachother, but that "our obligation is to love and teach and never give up" I really like that. I think that never give up can mean so manythings. first never give up on others, and their ability to change their lives for the better, and to come unto christ. Second - never give up on living the gospel of jesus christ. Third - never give up on yourself. so let us love, teach, and never give up.