Showing posts with label Mission Memories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mission Memories. Show all posts

Monday, November 8, 2010

I found them. I found them. I found them!

"Found what?" you may ask... and my answer is:
These!!

Many of you may not know that once upon a time I had a pair of shoes that I loved. They were Ox Blood Red Dr. Martins Mary Jane's with decorative die-cuts across the toes with a silver buckle. Such beautiful shoes.
I got them as a gift from a member of the Annandale Ward in Annandale Virginia. Her name was Sister Mertz. One evening while my companion and I were at their house for dinner Sister Mertz asked me what size shoes I wore. I answered that I wore 8.5 and she said she had some shoes in her closet that would probably fit and that she never wore. She disappeared for a short while and soon re-emerged with these shoes in her hand.
My shoes in their first and last trip to Washington in July 2009
It was love at first sight. The Ox Blood red caught my eye and my heart. They were perfect shoes for me, they fit perfectly, they were my style, they slipped on and off with ease. Ah! I loved them. I have even composed poetry about them. But Alas, as all things in this world go, they reached the end of their usefulness. They were pretty much dead in 2008, but it took me a whole other year to throw them away. I was so attached to those shoes.
Since then I have looked and looked to find a new pair of those shoes. I have bought shoes that might be okay, and shoes that were cute, I even bought a pair of Union Jack Boots that I love now, but they can't replace the shoes I miss. My sister-in-law even bought me red Mary Jane slippers to help fill the gap, but it just wasn't working.
Most of these shoes I have bought to replace the dead ones are junk. They have been Payless shoes, or clearance DSW shoes, and Target shoes... but they just don't cut it. One pair fell apart, one pair stretched so now they don't fit, and the other pair wreaks havoc on my poor knees.
Not to long ago at dinner I said to John "I need new shoes." and he didn't argue, stating that shoes are a necessity of life and if I need new shoes just buy some... He didn't know what kind of can of worms that opened. I decided that if I buy another pair of shoes I'm buying some GOOD shoes. While perusing the Dr. Martin website I found the shoes above. And I knew they were for me. So red, so shiny it was like being in the Mertz apartment all over again, falling in love.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Michelle Huppi Young

Michelle Huppi Young 1977 ~ 2008 SHOSHONE, IDAHO- Michelle Huppi Young, 30, of Shoshone, Idaho passed away Wednesday, March 12, 2008 in Twin Falls Idaho. Born in Logan, Utah, the daughter of Melvin Charles Huppi and Denise LaDine Johnson Huppi, she grew into a wonderful woman. She loved playing the clarinet and being a wife and mother. Michelle was in her final semester at the College of Southern Idaho and would have graduated with honors. Michelle served an LDS Mission in Washington D.C. She loved the Young Women in the Shoshone Ward and will miss them greatly. Michelle will be missed by her husband Andrew Young, her boys, Caleb and Jackson, her foster daughter, Maria, her brother-in-law, Allen Hanberg, and her parents Mel and Denise Huppi. Michelle was greeted on the other side by her sister, Maya, her brother, Mel, and her grandpas Huppi, Johnson, and Oyler. Services will be conducted at 11 a.m., Sat., March 22, 2008, at the Shoshone LDS Church, 507 N Greenwood St., Shoshone, with Bishop Gale C. Roberts officiating. A visitation will be held on Fri., March 21, 2008, also at the Shoshone LDS Church, where family and friends may call from 6-8 p.m., and again on Sat. one hour prior to the service. Interment will be held at 4 p.m. at the Wellsville, Utah Cemetery (friends are welcome). In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to: The Michelle Huppi Young Memorial Fund, at any branch of the Wells Fargo bank. Arrangements are under the care of Farnsworth Mortuary, 1343 South Lincoln, Jerome, ID 83338.
Published in the Salt Lake Tribune on 3/19/2008.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Oh Ye Mission Friends who read this ...

I got an email from my sister-in-law today:

I don’t know how much you keep in contact with Michelle Huppi (I don’t know her married name), but I just found out that she got really sick over the weekend, collapsed and is now in the hospital in Idaho. From what I have heard she is unconscious and not doing very well. They say she is breathing on her own, but the doctors say it’s up to her now. Just thought you would like to know

Keep her in your prayers, and I have her contact information. If you would like it please contact me. Thanks.
I called her house and as expected no one is home, but I left a message for a call back.

B-T-W
Her married name is Young.

Friday, November 9, 2007

Too Good Not To Share

I heard from another sister missionary today about certain things I have said on my blog in the past. I informed her of my blog in a mass email of the "2007 Getting to Know You" that I sent to some missionary friends today. She was kind enough to write me back and share her feelings with me and I would like to share them with the rest of you. Her name has been removed and there is a little language (fair warning) but here it is:

Hey Liz, well the comment about writing about hating certain missionaries made me curiously check your blog, and I am sorry but I have to say....I hated those sisters too. Especially Norman who was just an all out fake bitch, and Stringham...who was the sister who decided to make it her mission to get me sent home. I have however forgiven Stringy since then because I found that she got depressed and lonely and couldn't get out of bed at one point as a sister either.

Also, as for people always asking you about a baby....people don't seem to bother me with that....but I want to say that I think it is one of the most insensitive and idiotic questions a person could ask. Why do people think that is any of their business?

Well I guess that is all...since I am not a blogger yet I couldn't comment directly on the blogs. Oh, and the person that commented that you were rude is I think that annoying sister missionary that is like in love with President Wade, and her mission in general so I wouldn't feel too bad.

I wish I could have kitties, but they make me sneeze, Love ya


Tuesday, October 16, 2007

okay, you can't just leave it at that....

At the behest of a friend further details are in order...

I have to set this story up by first saying that it was a mission experience, and not a very good one.
I was on the 6 month stretch of going home and I was serving in Falls Church Virginia I had a companion named Sister Wilson, who I didn’t like very much at all. She was a lazy sister who didn’t do much work and mostly sat around the apartment whining about an Elder who she “loved” (the funniest part was when he, after being home for a few weeks, wrote her and told her he was marrying someone else and she only had a few more weeks to go before she also went home... Oh No!) I was Sister Wilson’s last companion, she had 6 weeks left when I joined her in Falls Church. And then there were our roommates who were: Sister Norman who I also didn’t like much and she was also very lazy and she would sit on the living room floor and eat out of a GIANT tub of cheese puffs every time I would see her. (Sister Norman and Sister Wilson were friends.) Then there was Sister Norman’s companion Sister Stringham. Sister Stringham was sweet. She was a “greenie” meaning she was in her first area and had only been out for a few weeks. She had an annoying habit of constantly picking at split ends which in it’s own way would drive me crazy. She and I ended up working together A LOT because the other two sister’s needed to be together.
But that has nothing to do with fat people or my story so we’ll move on.
One of the only days of the week I could get Sister Wilson to do anything was on Thursdays which was our service day. For service we would go shopping for a woman in the ward named Sister Day. She was house bound and couldn’t do it herself. Why you ask? Because she was HUGE. She lived in a tiny little apartment that smelled of kitty litter and old paper. She had tons of bookshelves lined with romance novels and piles of romance novels on the floor. There were stacks of old news paper and TV Guides. It was a ground floor apartment that was kind of laid out like this – The front door opened into the living room which was a large open shaped like an L. Looking straight ahead from the door you looked into the TV/sitting area of the living room. Looking to the right you looked towards the back of the apartment which had the kitchen, a dining area, 1 bedroom, and a bathroom. Just a note: since she was such a LARGE woman she couldn’t get to the door to let you in so the front door was always unlocked and she’d just holler “come in” or for us we’d just knock and walk in because she was always on the couch and knew we were coming, and the windows were always open.
Each week she’d have her shopping list ready for us and we’d hop in our car and drive to the nearest grocery store which was the Food Lion in Arlington to do her shopping for her. This list included various grocery items but it always included 10 cans of wet cat food (because apparently her cat’s couldn’t eat dry food), 2 lbs of peanuts for her to feed the squirrels that congregated outside her kitchen window, and 4 loafs of bread to feed the birds that fought the squirrels that congregated outside her kitchen window.
We also would take her a copy of the Relief Society message on Sunday nights. Well, one of these Sunday nights we stopped by Sister Day’s apartment to drop off her lesson. We knocked and walked in. “Sister Day!” we called to no response “Sister Day?” then looking to the right there she was in the bathroom sitting upon the toilet. “Sister Day?” we called one more time. But there was no answer. I looked at Sister Wilson and asked do you think she’s okay? And Sister Wilson said “She’s probably asleep.” So we backed out of the apartment and went about our evening vowing we’d go back in the morning and see her.
The next morning the first thing we did was go to Sister Days to pass along the Relief Society lesson and on the way there we joked about ‘what if she’s still in the same place?’ Lots of what-if’s.
Low and behold we got there and I was the first to walk into her apartment. Now picture this as a scene from a horror movie where the camera focus’ on all the little things before it shows you the terror lurking just out of site.
I walked in and did a slow motion scan of the room. I’m sure it was only a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity. The Cats were missing, the cat bowls were empty, there was an abundance of flies and there was silence. I turned and looked to where I had last seen Sister Day and there she was. From the way the toilet was situated, being such a big lady she couldn’t close the door while in the bathroom. So from the front door you could see her legs, large belly and most of her left arm. That’s what I remember from the night before. But this time I noticed that her fingers were a chalky blue and worst of all, SHE WAS IN THE SAME PLACE WE HAD LEFT HER THE NIGHT BEFORE.

Sister Day was dead.

What do you do when you find a dead body? We didn’t know, so we left her apartment and drove to our district leaders house which wasn’t far from where we were. We didn’t know what to do or who to call so eventually Sister Wilson called the Relief Society President, and I went in another room and prayed that Elder Gardener would come home and help us (but he never did). Sister Moran advised us to go back to Sister Day’s apartment and wait for her, she would call 911 and we’d get it taken care of.
We spent most of our day filling out police reports, and by the time we were done We Were Done so we went back to our apartment. That was quite the nightly phone call into the District Leader that night “hi sister’s how was your day?” “well elder gardener, we started our morning finding a dead body and then spent most of the afternoon filling out police reports. We didn’t get any contacts today, sorry.”
Turns out she had probably been dead since Saturday. She had a massive heart attack. Apparently there is a nerve that runs from your heart to your bowels and when this specific type of heart attack is occurring it makes you feel like you have to go to the bathroom and that is the end of it all.

Therefore, I do not like Dead Bodies or Fat People.

The end

Saturday, October 6, 2007

October Memories

October is full of wonderful memories. I have two very special companions who I got to spend one of the best Halloweens ever with. Sure, we were missionaries so we couldn't do anything really fun, but we made the best of it. We dressed up as each other if I recall correctly, I dressed as Suzy (I totally look awesome in orange), and Suzy wore one of my "old lady" suits and Holly.... well I don't remember who she was being? me maybe? I don't remember :) oh well.
We decorated our apartment door and we had plenty of candy to give away. In one of our "mental health" moments I had purchased a Halloween CD that we used to freak out our roommates. It was entertaining. I also recall that we had loaned our car to the Elders that day and we had to walk to the church to get it back from them and also to attend a Ward Halloween Party. As we were walking to the church Suzy asked me to carry her sweater and we were draping it over my bag when I fell off the street and damaged myself. :( I twisted my ankle and scraped my knees and I even sprained my wrist. When I get hurt I like to do a really good job of it. We were halfway between our apartment and the church so we figured we should just go the rest of the way and get our car back. So in the end it was a very exciting day. I love these two girls like family.
I was very blessed to have the companions I was given, good and bad, they each taught me something, either about myself, the gospel or patience.