Out of the Light: Our Move to St. Thomas, VI: February 2017

Dear friends,

Some of you know this and some of you don't, but my husband and I are moving ourselves to St. Thomas, USVI. Why there, I am still not so sure why, but we will find out together! I hope to keep you informed, share some pictures and stay in touch. Over time, all things will come into focus, and it will all be worth it!

This week, Trent and I did a lot! We drove home from visiting Trent's sister's family in Las Vegas, NV on Monday; Tuesday was a blah day; Wednesday we drove to Tijuana, Mexico (from Desert Hot Springs, CA, our most recent residence) to each get one root canal apiece (yuck!); Thursday we cleaned the garage, packed and visited Trent's aunt and uncle in Palm Springs; Friday I don't remember; Saturday we packed and packed and packed, I almost had a mental breakdown, prayed, packed and packed some more...and then we went to an LDS stake conference in Yucca Valley.

So I'd like to say a little about stake conference:

Saturday was one of those days I just wanted someone to come and take my place so I could just lay down and sleep 'til it was over! I had some moments when I just couldn't do anything anymore. But I kept going. I kept going because my niece, Lilly, was so happy and kind, because my husband gave me a hug and prayed with me, and because I really wanted to be ready in time to make it to stake conference. And we made it! Trent was so tired and hungry, but he took me anyway. We sat in the very front of the chapel and heard the most beautiful speeches. During the first song, "Love at Home", I cried because I remembered my mom singing it when my siblings and I would fight. I heard the mission president of the Redlands Mission and his wife, the temple president and his wife, and Elder Christoffel Golden share some beautiful, perfect, uplifting, relieving words and inspiration. I felt the greatest sense of peace and relief that overpowered the feelings of grief I'd felt the rest of the day. I felt bad that Trent was so tired, but it was worth it.

Today, we went to the second half of stake conference. Again, it was wonderful, especially because I was sitting with my husband, his sister, his brother, our sister-in-law, and my niece. Afterwards, I said goodbye to some friends, shook the hand of Elder Golden (a golden man! He was so awesome!) and found my missing bag. We said farewell to Trent's brother, sister-in-law, and niece, and started out on our journey after picking up Casey (Trent's sister who is coming with us to the USVI.)

I loved our drive! We snacked, I read Elder Golden's "Valiant in Our Testimony of the Savior" (from the Ensign magazine), talked about church experiences, and I asked lots of funny questions (like, if you could have a wild animal as a pet, what would you choose?) We made it safely to Trent's sister and brother-in-law's house in Las Vegas, where we will be 'til Tuesday night, when we will board a plane to St. Thomas.