year in review

2012 is now officially over.  2013 is the new year.  I hope I can have as good a year as I had in 2012.

So this year began for me having just had knee surgery to take out some extra tissue that was in both of them.  I had felt discomfort in them while serving in the California Riverside Mission.  I have never been a super active person, and riding a bike about 15-20 miles on any given day was not very fun.  We have 2 huge hills in our area, and we lived on the wrong side of them both.  We had to ride over one or the other to get to most of our area.

So the discomfort soon gave way to pain, and within 2 weeks of arriving in the area I was unable to walk without quite a bit of pain.  We had president interviews, so I told him how much pain I was in. Within a day we got a car to drive.

Well, my pain did not go away.  I struggled with it for 4 weeks in Menifee, and got transferred to Corona.  I spent 4 weeks there and had to come home.  That was extremely hard.  I was unsure if I was going back out. If I was, I wanted to go back as soon as possible.  I am a very impatient person, and wanted an immediate answer.

Well, to make this short, I did not go back on a mission.  But the first 3 months were confusing.  I became a member at the sports academy in Logan  and started exercising and swimming like crazy.  I took 2 months of physical therapy, trying to help my knees get strong enough to go back on the mission.  I was in better shape than I've been in for years, but the knees still hurt today.  I have trouble being on the knees, kneeling, squatting, or staying on my feet to long.

About once a month from September 2011 to March 2012 I met about once a month with the Wellsville Stake President, President Evans.  He kept trying to get me to go back out on the mission.  I wanted to, but would not unless my knees were fully healed.  They still hurt in March.  I remember one night visiting with President Anderson, who said things that caused me to become extremely angry.  He said if I didn't go back on the mission I'd regret it for the rest of my life.

I was so upset I felt like never going back to church again.  I had tried for 2 months in the mission to get better, and that didn't work.  I came home because I was useless as a missionary.  I literally sat at the apartment in Corona, or got dropped off at a members house all day everyday.  It was so annoying.  I wanted to badly to go out teaching and tracting.  After a month of sitting all day a week straight of tracting sounded like a blast.  To most missionaries it probably sounded like torture.  But to me it sounded like a ton of fun.

So because I was told this, I felt like what I had done in California was useless.  It wasn't like I was quitting on the Lord.  I still desired to go, but felt like I was unable to go back.  I did NOT want to go back only to sit again.  That was terrible.  I felt so bad that I was making someone babysit me.  But what President Anderson's comments did was make me think.

It made me think about how much longer I was going to wonder about my ability to serve as a missionary in the future.  I had been home for 6 months, not knowing.  I hadn't realized how much stress this was causing. I was so stressed that I was becoming physically drained.  I had no energy.  I was tired of this stress.

So I thought and thought, and prayed about what to do.  I came to the conclusion that I should not try to go back out anymore.  I was not giving up hope, but just not having that be my primary focus.  I had tried, and felt good about my effort. I think that it was the correct decision.

When I told President Evans this he was not very happy.  He kept trying to help me change my mind, but eventually gave his support to it.  I spoke to the High Council on March 11 to report on the mission.  I had my homecoming March 18.  It was a very small affair, unlike my farewell.  I hadn't wanted that many people to come to my farewell, and wanted less to my homecoming.  I kept the invitations private to only a few friends.

After the question of going back on the mission had a solution, I turned to job searching.  As many can confirm, job searching these days can be very discouraging.  There aren't very many jobs that people just starting in the workforce that pay well, and are available.    I searched a few weeks before I found anything.

During the first months of 2012 I was helping out once a week with a TJYC class that was taught by Heather Hansen.  I was not really helping that much.  I was more of a student than a mentor.  But I enjoyed the class immensely.  Heather is a great teacher and a great mentor.     She and I got talking about books, which we both love.  She allowed me to borrow a book called the Jackrabbit factor.  I've blogged about this book before.  This book helped me out a lot when searching for a job.

Basically the book is about a man who learned the secret of getting what he desires.  He had to believe that what he wanted was there, then go find it.  With not being able to find a job, it's hard to believe that you can find one.  But once I realized this, within a week I got not one job, but two!

The first job I got was at Artic Circle as a cook.  They needed someone to help during the lunch rush.  I had never worked fast food before in my life.  I has been a good job.  I didn't get many hours to start, but I got a lot during the summer.  What I love about Artic Circle is that they are willing to work with my schedule, which has become difficult.

The second job I got was at Comfort Inn.  The address is in Logan, but it's a few miles south of it.  Whenever I try to tell people where it is it's always hard.  But it's by the Common Cents gas station  I became a breakfast attendant, setting out the continental breakfast each day.  The jobs worked well together because the breakfast job started at 5 am, and Artic Circle started at 11:30.  So the schedules never conflicted.

Just before I started working I went to General Conference in Salt Lake City.  It was the first time in my life I had been.  I went with my friend Brian Baker.  It was an awesome experience.  The seats in the conference center were tiny, though.  My knees still hurt when cramped together.  I need leg room to stretch them periodically.  I was squished during the whole session.

Well, starting April 2 I went to work.  For April and May I worked maybe 30 hours a week.  But in June, July and August I worked probably at least 50 hours a week at both jobs combined.  Someone else was hired to do breakfast on the days I had off, but she quit within a few weeks.  I outlasted 3 other breakfast attendants during the summer.

I started doing days at Artic Circle, but soon worked some nights.  I learned how to clean during pre-close, and how to close as a cook.  That was pretty fun.  So my summer of 2012 was basically work and little play.   I remember one two day stretch where I worked from 5 am to 10:45, then 11 to 5 pm.  I had an hour break then back to Artic Circle to close from 6 til 1 am.  I had breakfast the next morning at 5 so the next day I worked from 5 am to 10:30, and 11 to 5 pm.  I was so tired after that I slept 12 straight hours.

But my summer did include a few fun things.  My best friend Taylor Hansen came back from South Carolina to Logan for a month before he left on his mission to Quezon City, Philippians North Mission.  That month was a ton of fun.  I was with him almost every day.  It was super sad to see him leave though.

This year 3 of my friends have left on missions:  Jeremy Gardner to Tallahassee Florida, Taylor Hansen to Quezon City North Mission and Sean McNees to California San Bernadino Mission.  Sean's is right above the Riverside Mission.  I am proud of each of them, and wish them success.  When each left I realized what each of them meant to me growing up.  I had some awesome friends.

Well, as summer wound down my work schedule did to.  The girl who worked breakfast on weekends, and the other girl that did 2 days a week quit at the same time.  So I was the only person able to set it out.  I did that for 13 straight days.  I realized I hate doing breakfast.  It's annoying to have to help guests make waffles, make eggs, and do the same thing for 13 straight days.  A night auditor was quitting during this same time, so I convinced my manager to let me take that job.

I stared as a night auditor in the middle of September.  The other auditor, David, had a skin condition that made his arms peel all the time, and he always left a pile of skin flakes whenever he worked.  Everyone hated working after him.  It was pretty disgusting.  He also viewed some inappropriate things while at work.  To keep it short, he got fired.  I feel sorry for the guy, but he should have tried to clean up his skin, but he never did. I caught him asleep a few times when I came in at 5 am.

David gets fired at the same time as the two breakfast attendants quit, so I am doing both.  That is hard.  I had to train Elena to do breakfast, and Chelsae as night auditor.  I liked that I had that responsibility.  I was super glad I got this night job.  It's been fun to get paid to sit and blog, read, play League of Legends, and watch movies.  I love it.

So this is where my years ends.  I worked a ton, decided not to return on the mission.  The main themes of my year.  I returned to visit the mission a few weeks ago, and saw the ocean.  That was a blast.  I went to St. George twice to pick up Daniel and take him to Elevation.  I still have not found a wife, ending this year single as I have for the previous 20 years.  3 of my good friends left on missions.  I went to 4 different temples, including the open house for the Brigham City temple open house.  I finished the year reading 140 books.  My goal was 155 but I fell 15 short.  Oh well.  I still read a ton.

All in all, 2012 was an amazing year.  I have learned a ton and grown a lot.  I love learning.  I love friends, and want to make many more.  I hope 2013 will be as good, if not better than 2012!