Great News!!

(I think so at least...)

I got a job!!!

'Where?' you might ask. .... With LDS Family Services!

To answer your question: yes I do have to end my missionary service to be employed for them.

Let me start at the beginning.

Right before Thanksgiving a part time secretary got another job elsewhere (she needed benefits and therefore needed a full-time job). Now it's quite the process apparently for LDS Family Services to know whether or not they're going to hire someone new. Mainly because it's not completely up to them. They need to get approval from downtown "higher up" people on whether they can hire- and how many people they can hire. Approval is apparently based on a formula (based on what exactly I'm not sure- but it supposedly justifies whether or not our office really needs another secretary or not).

Anyhoo- one day while I was there, Gail (the manager of the 'support staff' as the secretaries are known by) asked me, "What if we hired you?" I laughed in her face. I completely blew it off because I thought to myself, 'Hello- see the badge on my shoulder? I'm a service missionary!' But that comment from her got me thinking- 'What if I did actually apply and got hired? Mmm- maybe I should seriously consider this!'

I went back and asked them (Gail and the office manager- Kris) if they were serious and what they truthfully thought about me applying for the job. They both were so supportive and Kris was practically begging me to apply- which made me feel really good. It's nice to know they enjoy having me there as much as I enjoy being there. :)

Soooo- I went for it! I submitted my resume 2 days later, had an interview a week later (which was 2 days ago) and got the official job offer later that same day. I have an appointment scheduled with my bishop this Sunday morning to get released from my service mission. My official start date will be next Wednesday, December 26th.

Interestingly enough- I'll be there for less hours a week than I was as a service missionary. As as missionary I was there 24 hours a week. As an employee I'll only be there 19 hours a week. And I'm honestly sad about that fact. I really do love spending my days there and being with all the amazing people there. But I'm so happy knowing this experience won't end in a year or two when the mission would've been there. They're stuck with me indefinitely! ;)

This whole experience has just left me grateful and in amazement of how the Lord orchestrates and plans out our lives. So glad to know He has a plan and is in charge. Life is good!  

Gender Equality Within the LDS Church

So gender equality within the church has been on my mind a lot lately. This was brought about by the Facebook event/page "Wear Pants to Church Day". Basically a group of women are trying to draw attention to perceived gender inequality in the church by wearing pants instead of a dress/skirt to church. I'll say this about it: I personally have never felt in any way discriminated against or second class in the church due to my gender. And I don't feel the need to wear pants to outwardly demonstrate my equality with the men also in attendance. However, if women choose to wear pants to church- while I might not agree with their choices- I will still love, respect, and welcome them.

Through all of this, I was introduced to this amazing article that talks about the stance and doctrinal perspective the Church has on gender equality. I believe every church member (and really- even nonmembers who might have misconceptions about this issue and the Church) should read this article. For me it explained so many different things clearly and simply, and answered many questions I've had for a long time (especially concerning Adam and Eve).

It's a little long, but I promise well worth the read!!! Here's the link: I'm a Mormon Because I'm a Feminist

Draper Temple

I am continually grateful at how blessed I am to be a part of the Gospel. Especially when I go to the temple. And can I just say how much I love going there?! There's just no other place on earth like it. So much beauty and peace to be found there. I love it. It was fun going inside still light outside and then come outside to it being dark and having the temple all lit up. The Christmas lights on the surrounding houses especially added a nice touch to the whole experience.

Service Mission Update

So it's been awhile since I've talked about how my service mission is going. I'm very happy to report that all is going really well! I've stopped feeling so overwhelmed by everything. I finally feel like I've found a good rhythm and that I have a good handle on what I'm supposed to do while I'm there. I get asked a lot: "So what exactly do you do?" Let me answer that for ya.

• I make confirmation calls for the appointments the next day.
• When clients come in they take an assessment called an OQ (Outcome Questionnaire) on a Kindle Fire. This assessment tracks how clients progress through counseling. In order to set up the OQ on the Kindle Fire, we need to input their birthday & unique medical number. Therefore it's my job to print out a Column of Appointments (list of all the clients coming in for the day) for the following day, and write down the clients medical number next to their names (birthdays are already printed out on the Column of Appts.) I usually do this as I'm making confirmation calls. No sense in writing someone's medical number down if they're just going to cancel on me! ;)
• The OQ scores are tracked in the program called... OQ Analyst (clever huh?). It's my job to put clients information into this OQ Analyst program so that when we program them into the Kindle Fire- a test will come up for them to take! 
• We also use programs called Advanced MD and Blue Step. Eventually Blue Step and OQ Analyst will be able to "talk" to each other. In order to do that- I have to take the client's medical number and put it into a special place in Blue Step along with the specific OQ test they're taking.
• I know that none of that may have made sense to anyone else. If not- just know I do some stuff on computers with some numbers. ;) Also- no worries... we keep each clients information confidential. I promise.
• I work on Adoption Study Summary write-ups. (Occasionally I've even been able to sit in on interviews with adoptive couples.) When adoptive couples go through the process, they have to write up answers to several different questions (questions about their childhood, their marriage, their education, etc.). I take the answers that they've written (which have already been entered into the computer thankfully!) and write it up into a more comprehensible (in the sense that it flows together), condensed, legal document. This document is taken to court during the adoptive process. Not sure if it's before or after a child is placed with them.
• I scan in adoption and clinical paperwork into the computer.
• I answer phones (my least favorite part, because you never know what you're going to get when you answer the phone. And I hate when someone calls in and I don't know how to help them. But that still just takes time and practice. I'm slowly getting there with this one.
• Any other odds and end tasks they ask me to do (like make copies, organize the playroom, go to meetings, etc.)

So yeah- somedays I can stay pretty busy and other days are slower. But overall I still really enjoy going and serving. However I've realized I don't enjoy serving because of what I do. I mean scanning papers isn't that stimulating if I'm being honest. I enjoy serving because of who I'm with. I honestly LOVE the people there. Yes, I have some favorites. But I genuinely like every single person there. I even love the security guard who comes into our little office to see how we're doing and who talks to me as I sit at the main front reception desk. They are all wonderful people.

Speaking of the front reception desk. Remember how I was complaining about that? Well I've made some interesting discoveries while doing that. 

• I discovered I really really enjoy being able to look outside. Inside the Family Services office there are no windows except for in the therapists' offices. So it's nice to actually see outside while I'm at the front desk. 
• I discovered it makes for some pretty great people watching sometimes. Kids sure do love revolving doors. Enough said.
• I discovered I like sitting at the front reception desk on Wednesday nights, but not on Saturdays. On Wednesday nights it's only from 5:30-9 pm and is a great way to break up the day and give me a change of scenery. Plus the security guard comes and talks to me the majority of the time. So it goes by super fast. However, on Saturday's it's from 8 am- 5 pm and it's only just me by myself. Gets kind of lonely and boring on Saturdays. Luckily I only have to do the 2nd and 4th Wednesday & Saturday of the month at the front desk! But it honestly isn't nearly as bad as I originally thought it would be.

So in summary- the service mission is going great! I've gotten over being completely overwhelmed and am now just enjoying the experience. I truly am so incredibly grateful for this opportunity to serve. However- I have a suspicion that I'm gaining a lot more out of this experience than anyone else. But isn't that true no matter how/where you serve? 

The gospel is amazing and I'm so blessed & grateful to be a part of it!!