Gratitude

Since Thanksgiving is right around the corner,  I thought that I would make a list of things that I am grateful for.  In matter of fact, a list of thirty things, because there are thirty days in November.  Clever... I know

1. My faith

2. My savior

3. My parents

4. My brothers

5.My friends

6. My health 

7. China

8. My education (even though it feels like I will never graduate)

9. My testimony

10. My scholarship :)

11. My bed.  It is very comfy

12. My job.  I work with some of the best people

13. The opportunity I have had to travel

14. My car

15. Missionaries 

16. Pumpkin chocolate chip bread and cookies

17. The weather.  This fall has been fabulous!

18. Water

19. Laughter

20. An answered prayer

21. The sun

22. Service- Helping someone else 

23. My freedom

24. The ability to read and write

25. Those who believe in me

26. Contacts- my sight is much better when I wear them

27. The ability to love

28. Music

29. Organization.  I have to be organized and I am glad that I feel this way!

30.  The experiences that have made me who I am today

Service

Who am I?

My name is Lindsay Walker and I love service. 

Mohandas Gandhi once said, "The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others."

 

 

I come from a very service oriented family.  My parents taught me at a young age that serving others was the key ingredient in finding happiness.  

 

 

My family 

Brother Jesse, Mom, Dad, Me and Brother Charlie

I am extremely close to my family.  I love spending time with them!  I especially love doing service with them.  I have a great relationship with my parents.  My parents are my best friends and I can talk to them about anything!  I also have a great relationship with my brothers.  We have fun times together.  My brothers are heavily involved in sports, and I am always their number one fan! 

At a young age, my parents had me serving in our neighborhood.  Our neighborhood gave me plenty opportunities to serve and be helpful in the community.  I would often find myself in my neighbor's yards.  I helped them mow the grass, cut the trees, or cleaned areas that hadn't been touched in a while.  My neighbors were always grateful for my service and that made me happy.  

One way that I was able to serve at a young age was through my church.  I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  The base of my religion is around serving others.  My church had

activities and events where I was able to serve.  I had the opportunity to serve in leadership

roles where I was an example to those in my group.  One event that I remember in particular was

when we went and served at the Road Home Shelter.   

The Road Home Shelter is a non-profit

organization that helped individuals and families whom experienced homelessness.  The main

goal of the Road Home Shelter is to help these individuals step out of homelessness and get

involved in their communities.  My church group was able to go and serve dinner to these

individuals.  It was a great experience for me as I saw the circumstances that these people were

living in.  Not only did I become more grateful for what I have, but I also learned to accept those

who are around me.  I was able to accept homeless people as individual through their unique

talents rather than characterizing them as someone who was homeless.

My Church Youth Group

Serving Dinner at the Road Home Shelter

My Brother and I Handing Out Cookies

 

 

  Now, I am twenty years old, and I have been able to have some experiences to serve with out my family or religious church group.  I have had the chances to go by myself and experience a new culture, people and way of life through serving others.  

My Humanitarian Trip to Fiji: 

 

While I was in Fiji, I grew to love the people that lived there.  I found a special connection to the Fijian people, especially the Fijian Children.

The purpose of my humanitarian trip was to build bathrooms in the A'milimili village.  The village that we went to had no flushing toilets.  They had only been using a hole in the ground.  We were able to build five outhouses which had a flushing toilet. The people were so grateful that we had come to do this for them.  I only was able to stay for three weeks but the outcome will last a life time. 

 

Out with the old...

 

In with the new...

My trip to China:

A couple of months after returning home from Fiji, I decided that I loved to travel!  I had such a wonderful experience in Fiji, so I signed up for another service oriented group to travel to China.  My trip to China would last six months.  I went to teach English in an Elementary school.

Going to China was one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life.  I would never change it for

anything.  I was surrounded by the loving Chinese

people and was brought in through their culture.  Life in China is extremely different from life

here in America.  I had to adjust my way of life, to the Chinese way of life.  I learned new things

each day and slowly began to accept the Chinese people and their culture.

 

 

My First Grade Class

 

The Chinese

children that I taught were great examples to me and accepted me for who I am.  They were only

five to six years old but they had a big impact on me.  I didn’t think that such young people

would change me as a person, but they did.    

  

Because of my incredible experience teaching in China, I have decided to become an Elementary School teacher.  Becoming an Elementary school teacher is one of the

best ways that I can think of to continue with service.  I am looking

forward to helping children grow and learn.  My main goal is to be a good example and role

model to the future generations of children.  I am looking forward to the opportunity in helping

shape children become the best people they can be.  Throughout my life, teachers have always

had a great influence on me.  It is now my turn.   I hope to be a great influence on someone else’s

life.    

I have found my passion in life...

 

and that is SERVICE!

   

Halloween

This year I had a great Halloween!  I dressed up three different times:

As a Mexican...  
                                                    

just husband and wife

we had a fiesta, turns out that everyone wanted to be Mexican . 









As a yearly calendar...

Valentines Day, St. Patrick's Day, Mother's Day, Fourth of July, 24th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, 

and last but not least... Christmas!

As Snow White...

This by far was my favorite of the three.  I even had all of my dwarfs with me!  It was so much fun to get all dressed up and act in character.  We would all walk in a line, and the dwarfs would sing " hi ho!"  It was awesome because people asked if we would take pictures with them.  and we even found the wicked witch! 

Halloween was a success!

Fall

Well, it has been exactly a month since my last blog post.  I haven't been very productive with the whole blog thing.  I absolutely love reading other people's blogs, and hearing what is happening in their lives.  I just have the hardest time thinking about what I should say or what people want to hear.  So, I don't write.
Last month, I was extremely stressed out.  I was freaking out about my future and I didn't know what direction I was headed in.  A month later, and I can say that I am stress free!  I began to channel out my stress and stay super busy instead.  This has helped me a lot, and I am no longer stressed.  Well for now at least.  I am sure things will get more stressful once I graduate from SLCC.  Getting a career, and deciding what you want to do with the rest of your life is simply n.o.t. f.u.n.

But, I would like to tell you about a really neat opportunity I had a couple of weeks ago.  I don't mean to brag about my Grandma or anything, but she is an incredible lady!  A couple of weeks ago, she received the Child Advocate award of the year.  There was a very formal event at the Grand America Hotel.  My dad and I were able to go and be with her while she received the award.  I was really excited because we got to dress up all fancy.  I don't think that I have dressed this fancy since high school dances!  It had been awhile!  There was a dinner at the event, along with a live auction.  It was a very special night and I was very proud of my Grandma.  I was overwhelmed as I watched my Grandma receive her award.  Hundreds of people in the crowd stood for her and cheered.  She is a remarkable woman.  I hope to be just like her when I am a Grandma.

 





And, I recently had Fall break!  I was able to go to St. George with this girl:

 There were about fifteen of us all crammed inside one household.  It was such a fun trip!  We stayed up late and partied during the days!  I don't think I got much sleep, but it was definitely worth it.  One of my favorite things that we did was we went to a cave where we splattered glow stick liquid everywhere.  We splattered it on ourselves, and on the walls of the cave.  It was unreal!  We played hide and seek, and it was so crazy because we blended into the cave surroundings.  While hiding, if you did not move, you looked like a rock.  It was so cool!  We also went to Zions national park for a day.  We hiked Weeping Rock, and to the Emerald pools.  My favorite part of this day was that we were able to meet people from all over the world.  It was fascinating to see all the different types of people that had traveled thousands of miles to see national parks in Utah.  I think that I might take the national parks for granted.  My new goal is to hike more often and take advantage of the beautiful surroundings that Utah has to offer.  Especially the mountains.  Speaking of mountains...
the leaves are changing, and I couldn't be more happy.  I LOVE fall. 

Worry Wart

If you know me, you know that I am a worry wart. 

I stress about a lot of different things, and tend to worry. 

Lately I have been extremely stressed.

I have been stressed with life.

Stressed with my future.

Stressed with work.

Stressed if I chose the right major.

Stressed about simple things...that I should not be stressed about. 

I have been trying to turn this stress around and change as a person.

I don't want to be a worry wart for the rest of my life and always feel stressed and worried.

I want to be someone that lives a care free life.

which means...

I am going to try and look towards the positive and

I am going to try and see the good in everything.

‎"Things will work out. Keep trying. Be believing. Be happy. Don't get discouraged. Things will work out."-President Gordon B. Hinckley

Reunited

Last weekend, my dear friend, Kendra, came down to Utah from Canada!  Kendra was in my group when I went over to China.  It was so good to see her!  We were able to get some of the girls together for dinner.  It was fun to be able to catch up with each other's lives.  I had missed them a lot and so it was fun to be reunited again.  We talked for hours at Cafe Rio, I am pretty sure that they were about to kick us out.  It was reassuring to know that everyone misses China as much as I do!  I am not the only one, and it was nice to know that we all felt the exact same way. 

A couple nights after dinner, a few of us got together again and headed down to Provo.  We roamed around Provo and had ourselves a wonderful night.  We went to this upbeat place called Sparks.  They serve non-alcoholic beverages.  I got myself a Berry Martini and it was delicious.  Each of us got a different drink and it was fun to taste each one. 

I love these girls so much!  I am looking forward to our next get together!  Maybe next time us, Utah girls, will make our way up to CANADA!