Missionary Work

Missionary Work

There has been such a huge push for missionary work recently. I've been feeling a little like, why?What's the point of this missionary work? Are we really just trying to convert people to make our church grow in numbers? Is it just for bragging rights and power on who's got the biggest church in the world?

 And then I read the prophet Alma's conversion story today...

Alma 36

14: Yea, and I had murdered man of his children, or rather led them away unto destruction; yea, and in fine so great had been my iniquities, that the very thought of coming into the presence of my God did rack my soul with inexpressible horror. 

17: And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world. 

18: Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.  

19: And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.

20: And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!

k hold up, can you just FEEL for this guy! He's "in the gall of bitterness" racked with "inexpressible horror" in SOO much pain. 

And then... 

He says he's filled with as much joy as the amount of pain he was just in?! Can you even imagine that much joy? That is the kind of joy I long for and strive to have every day. K, continue...

21: Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as my joy.

22: Yea, methought I saw, even as our father Lehi saw, God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels, in the attitude of singing and praising their God; yea, and my soul did long to be there.

23: But behold, my limbs did receive their strength again, and I stood upon my feet, and did manifest unto the people that I had been born of God.

Here's the kicker:

24: Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance; that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be born of God, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.

Alma had labored for a LONG TIME. And I (and my husband) can tell you, it's not easy. 

Missionary work is not easy! 

But he experienced such pain, and then such great joy, that he doesn't want anyone to experience the pain he had to experience. And more importantly, he wanted them to experience the joy he got to experience. There is something so intriguing about that joy. That joy that made Alma's soul long to be there with God and His angels, rather than coming back to this earth life. 

Alma's conversion story is amazing. We are told that, "when you are converted, strengthen thy brethren."  THAT is why we are doing missionary work people! It's not for bragging rights on who brought the most people to church. It's not JUST to increase numbers.  It's because we have been converted, born again, and we LOVE our brethren. And we want them to experience the joy that we have felt.  Our conversion, and our love for our brethren may not be as great as the prophet Alma, but we can surely TRY to get there. Strive to love our brethren. Pray for them. Serve them. And we will be filled with a desire to teach them the joy that we know.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Cool Kids at the Drive-in

Yesterday was full of festivities. We went to Mom and Dad's to watch BSU cream CSU (Go Broncos) and partake of Mom's bomb dot com homemade pizza.  Then Jake and I, Jessie and Nick, and Janie met Jon and Kaylie at the drive in. We jam packed the back of the truck with blankets, pillows, and  Jessie's sweet monster sac.  Needless to say it was quite comf.  

 The first movie was Abduction with Taylor twilight man in it.
Quote of the night:
 "Good thing Taylor Lautner's hott or that movie woulda sucked." -Nick Drzayich

    We had a few technical difficulties. Jake was ticked cuz he was lip reading half the movie...we've gotta figure out a better sound situation for next time.

 The movie was terrible, but we had a party anyway...pounding starbursts and kit kat's and jammin out to "5 little monkeys jumpin on the bed."

AND...the second movie was nast, we left 5 minutes into it. Word to the wise...DON'T go see shark night. 

Thanks for stoppin in!

Love, Jake and Liss

Table Drama...More Catch Up

Classic Story

It all began with a phone call from my cousin Dawn.  "I've got an old table and chairs taking up space in my garage.  If you want it come down to Utah and get it ASAP," she says.  This was before we got married so we were quite anxious to get some stuff for our new apartment.  So...We sattled up my parents suburban and rented a uhaul so we would have enough space to bring this awesome table home.  

 What you're looking at here, is how much room that table ACTUALLY took.  You could say we were a little over anxious.  

The table had fingernail polish and stuff on it so we brought it straight over to Grandma and Grandpa Mead's. Grandpa is an awesome wood worker man (can't remember what those are called at the moment).  So he re-stained the top of the table for us. It looks amazing! Thanks Grandpa!

More Catch up...HBD Jake!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAKE! (ahem...last december 13th)

 As stated in my previous post...chef failure. But here's the ice cream cake I made Jake for his birthday.  Slightly on the ug-town side wouldn't ya say? :) But it still tasted pretty good.

 Amber's amazing photo skills

 What a hunk.

 Poor little guy...tried SO hard to get 'em all out on his first breath. There's always next year! 

Love ya babe. 

First Apartment

Welp...I'll admit. Not the greatest blogger. But I feel like it's gotta be done.  So here's a little catch up on the life of Jake and Liss.  

mmk...after we got married we settled in our FIRST APARTMENT! Here are some pics. We loved the little place. This is where I learned how to be a wife. Mastered that....now what?

 This was around christmas time. Complements to my mom on the Christmas decorations. (I had none so she gave me her leftovers)

 The tv was jake's pride and joy at the time. He's since moved on to cooler things...aka iphone, imac, etc.

 This was my makeshift christmas tree. (If you can't tell...it's a lamp wrapped in stuff my mom gave me.)

AND last but not least...MY pride and joy...the kitchen. This is where I learned how to be a cook. Failed. 

But still trying!!!

The Story of Jake and Liss

The Meeting.

It all began in the Spring of 2010.  There I was, crying in my car (reasons have been deleted from this script to spare the reader his or her sanity) when along came my friend Brady with his friend Jake Thompson.  There must have been some sort of comfort that came from seeing Jake’s face (subconsciously knowing he would eventually be my husband) because I quickly got out of my car so I could go talk to them.  Yes, Brady introduced me to Jake not knowing the damage he was about to do….wink wink. We had a quick conversation, then we were on our way. After that, there were a series of random meetings in which Jake and I would have one of those awkward, “hey I know you but not well enough to have a natural conversation with you” conversations in passing. Just a quick funny side story...one of those "conversations" happened at the gym.

I was working out right where that girl in the white t-shirt is (Just to help you get a visual) :)

  
Jake was on his way to basketball tryouts and he saw me working out so he started running on the treadmill next to me to talk.  Well those of you who know BYU-Idaho, if you're not wearing the "approved clothing" you're destined to get kicked out. And...Jake wasn't.  haha so halfway through our conversation Jake got embarrassingly kicked off the treadmill while trying to flirt with me. I was so flattered. The things a boy does to try and talk to a girl. ANYWAYS...finally, Jake had had enough of this nonsense. He rounded up his friends Ryan and Spencer and went on a mad hunt through the library to find me.  They just happened to be on the second floor of the library looking at another girl thinking it was me, when I turned the corner and saw my friend Spencer standing there with Jake.  Now THIS was the conversation of a lifetime, we talked about friends, work, wakeboarding…..wakeboarding?? "Yes I’d LOVE to come to your house in Boise during the 3 day weekend and go wakeboarding with you and your awesome friends!!" There was the intro….HE GOT MY NUMBER!!  Then it began. I went back into the math lab, slaving away, and a surprise text from Jake came, ahem “Hey so I’ve been hearing a lot about this Alissa Armstrong. Don’t be surprised if you get a call later for a date this weekend.” HAHA I was super twitterpated and kinda excited!

The First Date.

May 7, 2010.  He didn’t really have a plan. I think his only plan was to win me over by his hard to get nature.  He picked me up and we went straight over to Spencer’s baseball game. We had GREAT conversation….he was REALLY easy to talk to.  I don’t think we watched a second of that baseball game (sorry Spence).  We found out that my family is good friends with Jakes Grandpa, and I watched his Grandpa do his Elvis impressions when I was a kid.  Small world.  I also memorized the names and fun facts of all his siblings and parents. (Jake was impressed at my memorization skills) When we got bored of sitting at the ball game, we decided to head over to the farmers market.  After seeing everybody eating the Sewell’s corn on the cob (Corn on the cob smothered in mayonnaise and cayenne pepper nacho libre style) 

NAST

we decided it was time to get some REAL food.  We were driving down “walmart street”  when we saw my sister and brother in law walking into papa murphy’s. We turned around so we could go in and say hi to them.  (This is the fun part)  We decided, "lets walk in holding hands so Diana (sister) will freak out (my idea…)  That was the first time we held hands….on our first date…how romantic.  We walked in, and turns out….Diana didn’t even recognize me so I had to freak out on her first…AND Jake knew Ryan (brother in law) because they were on the same basketball team.  Kinda crazy huh?  Another funny side story...They were having a little sale or something on the pizza so Jake got one. But we didn’t want to eat it for our dinner because we wanted to be by ourselves. Now…come to find out…this is TOTALLY unlike Jake to spend money on something for no reason. Anyone who knows Jake knows exactly what I'm talking about…still boggles my mind why he did it.  So we left papa murpheys, still had no idea where to eat. After a long process of deciding, we decided mill hollow.  This is when I found out Jake’s the pickiest eater ever.  WE were at MILL HOLLOW the best sandwich place in town….and he ordered….drum roll please….a barbeque chicken sandwich….with nothing on it.

NAST AGAIN!

  

Needless to say, I felt bad for making him go to mill hollow with me.  There, we talked a lot more…the talking just wouldn’t stop! Jake memorized the names and fun facts about all MY siblings

Left to Right: Ryan, Diana, Brodie, Jacob, Emily, Matt, Mom, Tommy, Dad, Alissa, Greg, Jake

(he wasn’t nearly as good as I was)….and we talked a lot more about life…what we wanna do….what we’re into….that kinda stuff.  After dinner, we went to his apartment and watched his roommates devour the pizza Jake was gonna save for tomorrow (he was ticked) and hung out for the rest of the night.  We had a mini dance party and a hand stand contest...of course I lost and Jake won. 

The dating.

I kid you not….within the first couple dates…Jakes friends had made him 1. Show me his awesome dance and hand stand skills 2. Sing and play the guitar for me. And 3. Showed me a video of Jakes wakeboarding skills.  Holy Cow this kids got talent! (That’s huge for me)

Welp…we “dated but didn’t date” that whole summer semester (May through the beginning of July)  He liked me…but I wasn’t sure…cuz I had just gotten out of a relationship and didn’t want Jake to just be rebound. I had to date around a little bit before I knew.  One fun thing we did is we went hitchhiking for a date.  The game was to ask for rides to the farthest and craziest places in Rexburg.  We got a ride clear out to the duck ponds, then somehow we got over by the interstate.  We had to get back in town  and this guy passed that I thought I knew….so I went and knocked on his window at a stop light…turns out I didn’t know him. Bombs away…we asked him for a ride to Ramirez. MOST AWKWARD DRIVE OF OUR LIVES!!! Usually the people were kinda friendly and we could make conversation….not this guy.  We’d talk to him and we’d get one word answers back as if he was TICKED we were in his car.  So we just stopped talking and he dropped us off without a word spoken.  I will never forget that car ride…we laughed about it for days! We had a blast dating. Our favorite thing to do was go to the “secret park” in Rexburg and watch movies on his laptop or just sit there and talk. He also taught me how to wake board (another one of our favorite things to do) 

 We had the same sense of humor, competitive wit, and we just loved being around each other.  I would tell people all the time how we could be best friends but I could never be his girlfriend…I just wasn’t feelin it. For some reason…I just couldn’t commit.  I felt so bad doing the roller coaster with him I decided to break it off one weekend.  That night…we’re hangin out…havin a blast…when I realize, I’m ACTUALLY getting butterflies right now….I ACTUALLY am starting to like this kid…I think the thought of loosing Jake as my best friend made me want to be with him even more.  After he left that night, I decided to break off ties with all the other people I was dating and only date Jake.  Best decision I’ve ever made.  But this is where JAKE’S game started.  Now that I wanted him, he was going to make ME work for it. 

The first kiss.

End of June- Beginning of July.  I wanted to kiss him soooo bad! We’d be cuddling or something and I’d PURPOSELY strike up conversations about kissing….you know…first kiss stories…worst kiss stories…stuff like that. NOTHIN.  He wouldn’t even make a move! I finally got so frustrated with it, I’d open up about it.  “Just put your face close to mine so I can pretend like I’m kissing you,” I’d say.  Still nothing. The nerve. Finally one day we were at the “secret park” (mention earlier) dinkin around and I finally succeeded!! I made him kiss me! He was planning on waiting til we went to Boise for the 4^th of July to do it on my birthday. But he failed. Mwahaha

The Proposal (September 2, 2010)

Jake and I talked about it and decided we wanted to get engaged before school started in September.  AND Jake’s family was in Hawaii 2 weeks before school started.  So there was a 1 week window that I KNEW he would be proposing in.  Yet he was bound and determined to trick me so that I was surprised when he did it.  I thought, there’s no WAY he’s going to trick me, I knew he would be proposing on one of the 3 days that I was visiting his house in Boise.  So he told me we would be going to dinner on that Friday and kind of implied that he wasn’t even going to try to trick me because of the situation we were in.  He also told me that he wouldn’t even be getting the ring til Friday morning and that I would have to hang out by myself at his house Friday morning while he goes to get it.  So I thought, there’s no hope, I’m just not going to be surprised, Friday it is.  Thursday evening we went to walmart to do more registering and we were supposed to have dinner with Jessie and Nick later that night.  Jordan (Jake’s little brother) called in the middle of that and needed our help because he had to boat up at black canyon lake and had run out of gas. We were his only option so we headed up there and Jake called Jessie and Nick and told them to eat without us.  On the drive to Black Canyon, Jake was getting ticked! He said, “I really wanted to go to dinner with Jessie and Nick, but now we can’t because Jordan ran out of gas again.”  I couldn’t understand why he was so mad, so then I thought, maybe he’s mad because he was supposed to propose to me at dinner that night but Jordan just spoiled the plans. Turns out his anger was a cover up, he was trying so hard to not be excited.  We got to Black Canyon and walked down the hill, and there was the boat, decorated with lanterns, sparkling cider, roses…and snacks.

 I was so excited! He tricked me. We drove out into the middle of the lake where he proposed in the sunset. It was SO romantic.  I love that boy. 

The Engagement

Stories to come.

Marriage.

We were married October 23, 2010.  I didn’t sleep a wink the night before. It was a beautiful day. My wonderful sister, Diana, and my mom did SO much putting it together. Diana did my pictures diananyephotography.blogspot.com, cake, flowers, and decorations.

 And my mom was a HUGE support. They're seriously the best.  It was awesome to have all our friends and family there to support us. Thanks everyone! My favorite part of the day was when Jake surprised me (again) and sang the cutest love song to me at our reception.  He sang “Out of My League” by Stephen Speaks accompanied by…himself….on the guitar (one of my favorite songs in the world.)  It was beautiful. He’s so talented.

So we moved into the apartment here in Rexburg that we’ve been living in since we got married. It’s the perfect little apartment for us.  It’s a two bedroom apartment so Jake has his office space and we have our own closets in our bedroom!!  Here I’m learning how to cook and clean like a real wife!  There’s always laundry to be done and a meal to cook and that’s different for me. I used to only have to do laundry maybe once a week and I would eat peanut butter and jelly all the time.  Now I have to do laundry at twice the speed….and Jake HATES peanut butter and jelly. Danggit! But we’re both learning and it’s going really great.

The Honeymoon.

We went to Play Del Carmen, Mexico on our honeymoon. We stayed at an all-inclusive resort there…with all you can eat food. It was the life! When we checked in Jake asked the guy if we could get an upgraded room since it was our honeymoon.  There had been an explosion at the hotel a couple weeks before, so there were a lot of people who changed their reservations, leaving open rooms. So we got an upgrade! We got a room closer to the beach with a Jacuzzi in it!  

SO TAN!

ok this was awesome.  It was too windy and stormy to get the free kayak. So we had to drop 40 bucks on a jet ski. Best decision we ever made. :) The waves were HUGE so it was a blast.  Jake was really freaking me out on a couple of his runs...I thought we were gonna die.

So obviously we didn't want to spend a ton of money on all the expensive excursions. So Jake and I decided to find our own way to a place where we could snorkel. We took the shuttle from the hotel to the city. Then found a bus from the city to akumal. We're riding this bus with all the locals (no tourist...pretty scary)and we keep passing all these stops. I thought for sure there would be a sign or something when we got to our stop so we would know where to get off. But no sign. So at the next stop jake got up to ask the driver where our stop is...turns out THAT was our stop. Jake saved my life that day. We'd still be lost in mexico if it weren't for his bravery.  Anyways...we got off the bus and it looked like we were in a wasteland. Nobody ANYWHERE. So we started walking toward what we thought was the direction of the beach (still no signs that said anything about our location). After much walking,  we finally started to see civilization. We found a place to rent equipment and snorkeled our little hearts out. 
Snorkeling was an adventure also.  We saw tons of turtles and cool stuff. The coolest thing was the thing that scared the crap out of us.  A friggin sting ray swam not but 5 feet from us. We were DONE. Swam away as fast as we could and returned to the hotel for safety.