Life As I Know It: Así Empieza!

It's been a little while! I'm in the reconstruction process of my blog, so bare with me for a little while while I get this thing back in shape! :)

Life as a returned missionary has been pretty crazy… Between getting off that airplane and seeing my family (best feeling ever!), to meeting/re-meeting the cutest niece and nephew ever, to crashing my car (let's not do that ever again…), to being with my fantastic family and being able to call/text them whenever, to Harry Potter marathons, and seeing old friends/mission friends, to just being able to take a nap, and of course being back at school and having fantastic roommates, let's just say life has been good to me. I even picked up a few family history tricks from my Dad and my Grandma Tuft. :) I've also managed to go skiing (and now have an awesome thumb sprain), start running again, and lost a few of those empanada & rice-eating and soda-drinking pounds. :P

But, just like all RM's, there's the obvious things that I miss: living in Chile with those amazing people, speaking Spanish, meeting and teaching new people every day, eating those empanadas and rice and chicken, the bread!, my companions, and of course, the constant, guiding influence of the Holy Ghost. I even miss not being in the hot Atacama Desert this summer (our winter…).

There's a few things that have really stuck out to me within the past few weeks. One is that life is not meant to be easy, but we are meant to have joy. School is also not meant to be easy, but can also be very joyful. :D Two is that sometimes you have to loose yourself to actually find yourself. As cliche as that sounds, oh how true it is!

Last night, we had the opportunity to listen to Elder Quentin L. Cook from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, which was incredible. He talked a lot about which path we choose. And the path we choose is very, very important. One thing I loved that he shared was about two men that were examples to him in his life, both of which passed away about the same time. Both men served LDS missions, married beautiful young women, and graduated from college. However, the two men chose different paths. One was more career- and money-oriented, and the other was family- and Gospel-centered. He was able to attend their funerals, and was struck by the stark contrast between the two funerals. One was a happy and joyful occasion, where the Doctrine of the Gospel was taught, and obviously lived, by faithful members of the church, held at a church building. The other one was held at a funeral home, and many successful businessmen and prestige people were there, but there was no joy or happiness in the meeting.

As I thought about those experiences, I also thought that I am in a similar circumstance to choose. I get to make the some of the same decisions those men chose many years ago that affected their lives for better, and for worse. Random little tangent, so I have have a very AWESOME roommate named Andi and she let me borrow a book called Tell Me About it, Sister! that's 100% for RSM's and you should all read it, at least RSM's... and in there she talks about imagining our own funerals, a bleak concept, I know… :P But seriously! Who do I want to be remembered as? Am I doing the necessary things to become such? So when life seems a little bleak and you're getting a little down, just remember your funeral. Hahaha… :P Who are you becoming?

I'm in my own process of becoming. But there are some things I do know! My name is Kristen. My name is also Hermana Tuft. I am a citizen of the United States of America, but I love the Chilean people with all my heart. I am a Choral Education major (I think…). I love my family and have great friends. If you asked me what new music I like, I probably couldn't currently tell you. I'm working on that. :) If you asked me what my hobby right now is, I probably couldn't tell you that either. Does reading textbooks count….? ;) But I love life, I love my Savior, Jesus Christ, and I am a Returned Sister Missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.