My name is Taj Bert Anthony

My name is Taj Bert Anthony, I don’t know my birthday, but I think I might be two or three years old. I was living in a small quaint kingdom when I enchanted Servants Mom and Dad. They originally went to visit one of my lesser siblings. The one I call Dad had lost a kitty and wanted to fill that space of his heart with a powerful ruler like myself. My brother was not very nice to them nor as charismatic or as handsome as I, so mom negotiated the ransom for my presence to reign as king of their house. My first days were so confusing because everything was so new. They didn’t let me explore the outer confines of my kingdom for weeks, but when they did I got lost in a dungeon also known as the neighbor’s barn the whole night! My loyal servants looked for me and I had to yell as loud as my little lungs could. They heard me and I allowed them to escort me back to the safety of my palace. I occasionally explore the palaces around mine also known as, the neighbor’s houses, and because they do not recognize my grace nor can they comprehend the blessings of my presences they are forced to call my loyal servants mom and dad to escort me back to my kingdom My other servant Mike is nice. He occupies one of the sleeping chambers in the basement of MY house. Months after I first graced my kingdom I acquired a new subject, her name is Diana, I could tell she liked me (well who doesn’t?) she would pick me up and hug me so hard, and then she would give me kisses. I am nice that way, I never complain, but I do lick her kisses off my fur….human kisses….disgusting!

Diana Does not know how to respect my personal space!! I am a fair and generous ruler when well served, I disdain servants who are not aware when my food is out, and when that happens I rule with an iron fist, razor sharps claws and my ferocious meow. I like ham, but not any kind of ham, of course, the ham I like is smoked. One of my servants (whom I call mom when I am in a good mood) tried to give my delicate palate some type of honey ham… What was she thinking? I immediately rejected that atrocity and demanded my other ham. These humans needed a lot of training to meet my needs. I did the same with the male servant (dad) when he tried to put me on diet food. I am a full figured specimen, I am not fat. However, I do love them very much. I like to be around them, of course I don’t tell them this, rather I pretend to be supervising the day-to-day activities of my kingdom when I want to be near. In my kingdom I have a multitude of sleeping chambers to choose from. When I am not sleeping I like to go outside to entertain myself. There are these little insignificant creatures called mice that I enjoy playing with. Apparently my humans subjects do not like them either so I receive extra praise when I kill those mice things. Unfortunately, the new servant Diana DOES NOT like any living creature to be hurt, I found this out the hard way after one particular successful hunting excursion. On the return home with my trophy in my mouth, Diana saw me and oh boy she went crazy. She even dared to take MY mouse away from me, she picked me up and took me inside the house. That is dangerous behavior to be exhibited in front of king.

This is the mouse that got away, first time ever because because of servant Diana! They brought another cat into the house, her name is Molly. She was never a problem and could never match my extraordinary power; I've had her under my control since the day she arrived. Every once in a while I will chase her to remind her who is the master. However, she seems to be more cunning than my human subjects in her attacks on my kingdom. She likes to pretend that she likes me by giving me warm kisses and when I least expect it she slaps me on the face (I do not understand females). Molly belongs to Diana and Mike; thank goodness she came and redirected the suffocating grasp of servant Diana. Servant Diana still manages to capture me once in a while. She picks me up and hugs and kisses me, but this is understandable considering how beautiful and attractive my personality is.

I have to say that Molly(a.k.a Moller Fredette)is very pretty! Diana and Mike went to California (I am amazed they did not ask for my authorization) for an internship and I think the older servant saw an opportunity to get rid of me because I got sick and they took me to the vet, but the vet could not figure what was wrong with me and they sent me home. I was getting better but still had a fever when the female servant then tried to poison me with Ibuprofen. It was a deliberate assassination mission I am sure. But I survived. I do have to say that I have had a good life. I feel sorry for other kitties like me that do not even have a home to stay warm, and the other who live in cold shelters. I love my humans so much. On November 18th I got hurt. My most faithful servant Dave found my little body and respectfully picked me up. I heard him saying how much he loved me. I love him too, and I am sorry I could not tell him thank you, and how much I do love him in human words. I was having fun outside and suddenly I was out of my body. I got angel wings though (way cool, now not even the birds can escape me). I am currently in kitty heaven waiting for them to serve me here too. While I have begun to formulating strategies to accumulate servants here, I don't ever expect to be served as well and as faithfully as my servants Sherrie, Dave, Mike, and Diana served me. I miss their petting my belly, but I rejoice in the fact that I would never be shaved again.

Please DO NOT share the last sentences on facebook.. it would be very debilitating to my royal status if other subject were to find out how I felt about my servants. P.S I love my humans! See you when you get here!

The story of Rudy

I follow this lady's blog and rescue group and I loved this story, it is hard to put into words the way I feel about animals because a realize that not a lot of people are like I am. I see a lot more that pets in them, I see souls and divine creatures of our Heavenly Father. I just want you to know how much I love ALL of them. I hope you like the story. ***I see a dog, and my heart breaks into a million tiny pieces that fall at my feet as teardrops. The dog is skin and bones, and his spirit is completely shattered. The dog has been beaten, tortured, and starved. The dog has been subjected to the bone-chilling cold, the scorching heat. The dog knows all too well the feeling of hunger, pain, and suffering.

This dog has lived his entire existence on a 3-foot chain. Never touched by a caring hand. Never hearing the words, “Good boy.” Never free to run or play. Never able to escape the abuse… This dog has been beaten every single day, for as long as he can remember. This dog has lived his entire life in a state of sheer terror… never knowing when the next blow would come. Never knowing what he would do to trigger the next beating… This dog watched… as his family packed up all of their belongings, and moved away… without him. This dog waited… for weeks on a chain… for them to return for him. They would never return for him. This dog waited… with hopes, dreams, and love… he waited… This dog ends up at the pound… where he is immediately placed on death row. He is again restricted from running and playing, this time by a cage. He is again terrified for his life… as he should be… he doesn’t have much time… This dog waits, as day after day, no one stops at his cage. He sees the children run for the cages with the cute little puppies, and then watches the pups leave with their new families. He sees a family pass him by, to visit the dog in the next cage over. At first, he thinks they are stopping for him, and he goes to greet them, tail wagging. As they play with the neighboring dog, he sits… watching… waiting… longing for his turn. And then, he watches, as the other dog joyfully prances past him, on her way to a new home. For days, this boy gets up to greet every family that comes past his cage. He waits eagerly by the gate for his turn to show that he’s special. And no one ever stops for him… Eventually, he stops getting up. Day after day, this dog waits. He sees the others, one-by-one, heading out the door… but it’s never his turn. He watches each person pass him by, but he doesn’t understand… He doesn’t know that his emaciated frame makes others look away. He doesn’t know that his eyes don’t shine due to the years of torture. He doesn’t know that his coat is dull from improper care, or that he smells because he’s never had a bath. He doesn’t know that he is of a breed that doesn’t stand a chance. And of a color that is all too common. He just knows that he wants to go home, and he is beginning to understand that it will never happen for him. And so… he waits… with shattered hopes, dreams, and love… he waits… to die. On the day his time runs out, I arrive for him. As I approach his cage, he doesn’t even lift his head. What’s the use? No one is here for me. No one wants me. Why doesn’t anyone want me? When I stop at his kennel, he barely looks up at me. He is certain that I couldn’t be there for him. No one has ever been there for him. I look into his cage. I see a dog, and my heart breaks into a million tiny pieces that fall at my feet as teardrops. I see a soul so wounded, so broken, that he has given up all hope. On this day, I am there for no other reason than to save his life. I know that I am there to take him, but he doesn’t know that. He waits for me to keep walking on to the next dog, but I’m not going anywhere without him. I open the gate, and say, “Come on, buddy. Let’s go home.” He has no idea what this means. He is unsure, afraid, and heartbroken. For days, he has waited for someone to come for him, and no one ever did. Now, he is waiting to die… he assumes that’s why I’m here. So, I bend down. I gently touch his head. And I say, “It’s your turn, buddy. Let’s break outta this joint.” As I loop the leash around his head, his tail slowly begins to wag. He follows me, timidly, with uncertainty of where I will lead him… On death row, you walk one way to die, and the other way to live. He and I, headed down the path of the living. And I watched the smile spread across his face, as we stepped out into the sunlight… This dog… was my Rudy. The dog who would eventually steal my heart more than any other pup I have ever known. This dog, was the most special boy that ever lived. And he was sitting on death row, waiting to die. Until that day, Rudy had only known abuse and heartbreak. From that moment on, he never knew pain again. Rudy’s time with me was so full of happiness, that he never stopped smiling. Every day, he thanked me, with a love so powerful, it will stay with me forever. On July 8, 2010, Rudy died of a sudden, unexpected heart attack. It was the worst day of my life. But on that day, I stood over Rudy’s lifeless body, and I didn’t see a dog. I saw my son. I saw my child, my heart, my life. I saw a once-forgotten soul, who will be remembered forever. I saw the reason for everything I am, and everything I do. I saw a boy who didn’t die in the pound, but rather lived in my heart. And so, on every trip to the pound, I look for him. Another Rudy, is waiting to die. Another broken spirit has given up. Another lost soul will become yet another statistic. Unless… we save them.

Prepare for a long entry!!

Ok. The last thing I wrote on my blog was concerning my horrific experience with English 2020 online. After I finished that journey I had enough time to do whatever I wanted; luckily, an old couple from the Webb Schools (the place where Mike did his internship) was looking for someone who could take care of their dog Gracie. When Mike asked me I could not believe someone would let me play with their dog limitless hours, I said yes without even asking what kind of dog, where, when or anything. If you know me you would know that I would have done it for free, but the couple offered to pay me. So, it was even better, I got to live in a beautiful home, play with a dog all day and I got paid to do it. That was the beginning of my career as a dog sitter for the rest of the summer. Her name was Gracie and it was a lot of fun, I would say she is fat, but her owners like to call her a full-figure girl. I loved her and I miss her a lot.

She is a mix of Chow and Golden Retriever; she loves bacon treats, chase squirrels, and run through her mom bushes.

While we were taking care of Gracie Mike got an email from a French teacher who was also looking for someone to take care of her dog while she was on vacations in Europe. I immediately instructed Mike to say I would do it, but somebody else wrote her first..;( We left Gracie’s house on a Sunday, the same Sunday I lost my wallet with the money her parents had given me in advance!! Oh well, didn’t I say I would have done it for free? The next morning Mike woke me up saying that the people who were going to take care of the French teacher’s dog could not do it anymore and she needed to drop off the dog that same morning. I was so happy!! That is how we met Luna, our favorite dog of all time; we believe she is a mix between cocker spaniel and a golden retriever. She went to obedience school so she was almost the perfect dog, I said almost perfect because she doesn’t chase balls, other than that we absolutely love her, she was a loving, fun and obedient dog. I miss her too.

Luna looks like a puppy but in reality she is 9 years old, every time I would take her for walks people would compliment my beautiful puppy, then I would tell them the real age. One day we forgot to take her out to the bathroom and she peed on the floor and mike yelled at her, she was so sad that she went to hide behind the toilet. I felt so bad, she was a sensitive doggie.

She would sleep in between mike and me, she has nightmares and she also snores a little bit.

Luna is needy, but not too much

As some of you may imply, somebody else heard about me and Mike. Another family asked us to take care of their black Labrador. This time we had to take care of Luna and the new doggie Raven at the same time for one week, but they were really nice to each other. Moreover, Raven is so old that she can barely walk and she didn’t care about Luna at all. Raven is a black lab, she is 12 years old and she has problems with her hips and her skin. I thought I was going to be bored if I could not play with her, but after a couple of days I decided that I was going to make her life better no matter at least for two weeks. Because her hips were so bad, she constantly uses her elbows to stand up or to lay down. I noticed that she was leaving blood marks on her deck so I decided to wrap her elbows with flexible wrap and using women’s pads as cushion (Mike thinks this is disgusting, but they were new). Her family had a big container in the back of their house for her to drink water, but as I was observing her I realized that she had a hard time walking up to it, so I decided to fill a little bowl with water every day right next to her, she drunk the whole bowl every day. Her owners told me that she liked one egg on top of her dog food every day, and that she probably would not eat the first days. They had some wet food for her in case she didn’t eat enough. After the first day I started feeding her wet food, dry food, AND her daily egg and she would devour everything. I know some of you are going to think I am one of those people who is a little bit too over the top with animals, but I really enjoyed serving this doggie and meking her feel a little better.They, too, have age pains and loneliness. By the time we left I knew she was grateful, she would walk up to my window every morning and stared at me, and when I would change her bandages she would give me kisses, or maybe I am just crazy. I miss Raven too.

Raven likes people to talk to her, she listens carefully ;)
After we finished taking care of Raven we only had one more week in California. On our last day with Raven Mike got ANOTHER call from someone needing dog sitters, I could not be happier. This was a very wealthy family with two old dogs. Scottie and Katie

These doggies came with super specific instructions, they had special food and each of them eats different amounts, they take medicine twice a day. I really enjoyed taking care of them because I realized that there are a lot of people like me that sees their pets as members of their families and treats them with respect and consideration. Scottie has a bad shoulder but he loves chasing the ball, so I would throw the ball at him five times and then we would swim in the pool so his shoulder would not hurt. Katie is the pack leader, she is very serious and she like her food a little wet, she does not like her medicine in the bowl of her food because she likes her medicine dry. Scottie doesn’t mind, I would put his stuff all in the same bowl. I miss playing with Scottie in the pool.

I had a great summer, it was very difficult at the beginning and as you know I had a hard time taking a class online, but after I got done with that I enjoyed spending all day with all these wonderful friends.

Almost at the end of the summer I received an email saying that I was the recipient of the College of Humanities Language Dean’s Merit Scholarship. This is very important for me because when I first got into UVU every time I wanted to apply for scholarships people would tell me that scholarships are given to people who are actively “involved” in the college community. However, the people I knew had scholarships were people who were always at the parties and social events and they did not have good grades, they were only social people. I was discouraged because for me it was most important to spend time studying. You all know English is not my first language, thus I have to spend more time studying than a regular student. That is why I am so happy I was given this scholarship. I do think that it is important to be ivolved in the community so you can gain experience, but at the end the most important thing for me is studying (you have no idea how nerd I am). This scholarships was given to me because my academic standing and it will cover half tuition this fall semester and also spring 2012. I am so grateful.Now that I ot the scholarships I feel more confortable with my grades and my progress so I decided to spend some hours volunteering, I am currently working in a certification to be a spanish translator-interpreter and so I will be volunteering at parent-teacher conferences,parent-teen mediation sesions, and small court claims. I am excited to serve.

Mike did a great job this past summer, his boss and the people he worked with loved him. They would come up to me and say, “Is Mike your husband? Because he is a great boss, we love him; he is very nice to us” I am so proud of him. He would probably hate this so don’t tell him this but I am going to share with you pieces of the letter of recommendation his boss wrote for him.
“”Mike Anthony has finished his 14 week internship with us here at The Webb Schools. After understanding one another’s goals and expectations, I put together a meaningful packet listing goals and other opportunities. I do have to say that Mike did an amazing job and is a great problem solver!
After Mike presented a plan of action for each of these goals, I released him to move forward with the problem solving process. One of these problems was our custodial crew’s lack of willingness and overall understanding of team cleaning. Mike created forms and systems while working with our custodial supervisor to ensure she was the owner of this change. He called and held meetings to ensure the custodial crew was being communicated with. He let them provide advice and helped them feel that they were part of the process. He found videos on the internet that helped explain the process and even found videos of crews who went through the exact same thing, experiencing the exact same growing pains.
He taught them about engineering standards and the importance of why. When the crew was in disbelief about some of the standards, he setup mock bathroom cleaning sessions and showed them it was possible. He also played their advocate and was able to get the crew some more efficient cleaning tools and other resources in order for them to meet the engineering standards.
Having gone through the process, he was finally able to create laminated schedules for each of the custodians and went through a practice session. We will finally start team cleaning next week!
Mike’s accomplishment was reported to many of the board members and they couldn’t have been happier with our progress! I reported being able to save approx. 200hrs. / year using this program.
Another one of Mike’s projects was to design and bid the front entrance to one of our dorms which sits towards the front of our entrance. He was able to work with our CFO on the project and even get a little advice from our campus architect and campus landscape architect. He did a great job and came away with a project that has been approved. We weren’t able to get approval quick enough for it to go out to bid so we plan on starting this project during Christmas break (see attached).
There were a few other things that he did for us but it was easy to see that Mike had many strengths. He was hard working, he kept on task and met the deadlines he was required to meet. He was willing to try just about anything and wanted to learn. Mike was an innovator and figured out how to make it work.
All in all, Mike was a great hire and he proved himself well. The client appreciated yet again, another great BYU intern. Our campus loved having Mike and his wife on campus as they made a very good impression.
I would definitely recommend Mike for hire in the near future. Mike will make an excellent manager and may have been my best intern yet!
Mike left here to go to one more semester at BYU but he enjoyed SDX and hopes that Sodexo will have a position available where he can continue to grow and build a solid foundation.””

Mike is busy with school and work and he is also being a teacher assistant to the director if the facilities management program at BYU. He has had several talks with at least five companies and most of them have expressed interest on hiring him. I pray to our heavenly father that we may use wisdom when choosing Mike’s first job. He wants to get a master’s degree from Georgia Tech, so we will be watching for jobs there. Wish us luck!!

In March of 2010 I went to the UVU health center to get a physical exam in order to get insurance. While the doctor was conducting the study she felt a large mass in the right side of my neck. She sent me to get an ultrasound which results said it was an enlarged thyroid gland. I was sent to an endocrinologist and she told me that it was a MASIVE goiter and that it needed to come out. At that time I did not have insurance of course and I could not have the surgery done. I was already engaged to my beloved husband and after we got married we both enrolled in the BYU student health plan. To our disappointment they told me that they could not cover my thyroid treatment because it was a pre-existent condition, so we had to put it on hold one more time. Months went by and Mike decided to try again before we left to California, they said I could be covered (why? I do not know)so we decided to get a second opinion since I was concerned about paying for surgery. The second endocrinologist did ultrasounds and a needle biopsy, which I do not wish for anybody, she also recommended surgery. Uncle John told us about a doctor who is an expert in thyroid surgery and we decided to try with him. I went into surgery the 26th of August, it was one of the hardest things I have been through but I am almost 100% recovered. I am so grateful for my husband who took care of me, he would feed me, hold my head, give my medicines, help me shower, comb my hair, he even cooked me soup. I had no idea how often I use my neck muscles.Three week after my surgery I got the pathology result and the enlarges thyroid was not an enlarged thyroid, IT WAS A 5 cm. TUMOR!!! It was benign, so no cancer!! I feel good that all that is behind me now. After four days I felt ready to go back to school and work. The first day I went to school I decided to ride the bus back home and I was ready to cry and get off in the next stop, every time it stopped I had to hold my head back and every time it started going I had to hold my head again. It was very painful. It is amazing all the little details that we ignore about our bodies.

I AM BACK!!

I said I was going to be writing constantly on my blog; unfortunately, I enrolled in an English class (2020) that was so hard that I found myself crying out of frustration more than once. I usually like school, but I have been going for so long that I am beginning to hate it. I started college in 2005 as a Marketing and International Business major, but I took two semesters off because I could not pay my tuition. I was not as good at school as I am now, and I could not get a scholarship (the only way you can get money to go to school) so I decided to work full time. When I was half way through my major, Mike and I decided that I was going to come to The United States to continue my education. I spent two semesters in the English as a Second Language program and then one semester as a regular student taking general classes. After my first semester I had to again take a semester off because we could not afford the 6000 dollars for tuition as an international student. So that means that I have been going on and off, and at times I feel very discouraged. I am dying to be a mom but at the same time I know that it will take me even more time to finish school and that would break my parents' hearts, their main concern when I was coming here was that I was not going to be able to finish school. I do not mean to complain, but taking classes when English is not my first language is very challenging. Summer schedules did not help either, I had to write a 15 pages paper in one week. I felt like I was not going to make it, but I did it. I got a B+, and if you know me you would know that a B+ plus is not a very satisfactory grade for me. This is my First B+ in the two years I have been studying here, but I am grateful I did not fail the class, and more importantly I did it without Mike’s help. Well, that is the main reason why it took me so long to post something here. I will try to do it more often now that I am done with school until Fall semester.

March & April, A Summary of Two Months

March and April have been interesting. Grandpa Larsen died on March 5th, my birth day; it is interesting because I feel that from now on my birthday is going to have a different meaning. I will always remember the day he passed away. I have spent a great deal of time thinking about him and his legacy in my life. His legacy to me is like the furniture he built for his grandchildren, he did not build that furniture especially for me, but my kids are going to be able to see it, enjoy it, and probably pass it on to the next generation. His furniture is like the gospel principles he taught to his family, I am sure he was not thinking of me, but because his example was as strong as those pieces of furniture I get the blessings too. My grandparents died before I could remember them, so, Mike’s grandparents are the only grandmas and grandpas I have ever met, and I feel so grateful for their kindness and love that they showed to me since the first time each one of them met me.

We went to Aunt Karen and Uncle Jeff farewell, I am very excited for them to go on a mission, I have a special place for Aunt Karen in my heart, I have never felt like a beautiful woman, and I was not big on the idea of having engagement, and bridal pictures because I thought I was not going to look well in them. However, she was willing to spend hours with me and Mike making sure that our pictures were perfect. I am so grateful for her love and service. I love her so much and I will miss them but I know serving a Mission is what the Lord wants them to do.

On March 24th I attended a talk given by this young man Kyle Maynard. He was born without arms or legs. I was in tears the whole time just thinking how silly people can be, we are always trying to excuse ourselves for our failures. And here he is a motivational speaker, a terrific athlete, and an inspiration to people who think that they are the ones with limitations. I am so grateful for opportunities like this. He said, “I believe God made me the way I am in order to show people that there is no amount of adversity that a single person cannot overcome if they fully trust themselves and trust in the will of Jesus Christ. And in time, I learned that I had to trust and believe in myself on the mat, and, even more importantly, I learned that I had to trust fully in the Lord my Savior, no matter the circumstances. I prayed, and God delivered the answers. I may not have wanted to listen to those answers at the time, but I know they were the answers He intended for me to hear”.

I have been very busy with school this semester, I am not taking a lot of credits but it is difficult for me. I am not trying to complain, but when you are trying to read, understand, and write in a second language it gets a little more complicated. I particularly struggle with general classes, the fact that I am not interested in some subjects, and that most of them are not extremely necessary for my major made them even harder for me. I guess I have to learn to live by the rules of this country.
Last Sunday I receive an email from an honor society at UVU asking me to write an essay to see if a qualified for a book scholarship, I am a member of this international honor society, its members have excellent grades and are the top 10% of the student body in the university, and the scholarship was for Latino students, so, I could not use that on my essay. I felt that I would not get it because besides my grades and my Latino blood I do not have any other especial skill. At least that is what I thought, the next day I got an email telling me that I had gotten the scholarship. It is important to me because sometimes I feel that I would never finish school, that English is too hard, and that I am not smart enough. At the end I realize that my mind is the only thing that limits how far I can go.

Mike and I are heading to California on the 30th of this month; he is going to be doing an internship during the summer in a boarding school. I am excited and at the same time a little scared because this is going to be the first time being by ourselves, and I am so used to Utah that I don’t know if I am going to like another state in the country. The good thing is that I am going to be warm and that I would probably be working too.
My Gospel Principle

I said I was going to talk about the gospel principles in my life, I was just thinking about tithing. Back in Mexico my parents live on what they earn every month, they never have extra money to go on vacations or to go shopping, which is the way I grew up. When I started learning about tithing I was a little bit apprehensive about it. I could not understand why people who are very poor would have to give money to the church when they can hardly survive with their paycheck. It was really hard to me to start paying tithing, as well as the other principle; I had to act on faith not really knowing if that was really going to bless my life. I was paying for school, books, clothes, and I was also helping my parents with the bills at home, so I was very resilient to pay it. It is still hard, I think is going to be a while until I become used to the fact that everything I have belong s to the Lord. Mike’s mom told us one day that tithing is not something she does, but rather something she is, and that is my goal, not to pay tithing, but become a tide payer. We are very lucky that we are living in Mike’s parents’ house and we have not had any problem paying our tithing. But I know that as we star living on our own we are going to face problems that are going to challenge our willingness to pay tithing. I pray that we are always strong and faithful, and I know that by doing what the Lord requires from us we are going to get the blessings.

Modesty

I was talking to a lady from my ward, and she asked me if I was writing my experiences as a convert to the church, I said, “Yes, but I feel like a have to write something about each specific principle I have learned”, and she said, “I think you should do that”, so, I am going to share with you the way I felt when I first learned about specific gospel principles. Now that I think about it, this might help you if you are trying to teach somebody these principles.
Modesty: This is the first one that came to my mind because it was the most difficult to exercise, and the last one that I understood fully. As you know, I am from one of the hottest cities in Mexico; the temperature there can go up to 116 degrees in a summer day. Having said that, you can imagine that the kind of clothes that people use there is very light. So, I would only wear sleeves in winter, or if the blouse was extremely cute. I liked to wear miniskirts, and little shorts, I was the opposite of modest (oh, I forgot about the bikinis). I do not even remember when was the first time I heard about modesty, but I remember that it was introduced to me by Mike. He told me that women were supposed to wear sleeves and that whatever they wear in the bottom should at least cover their knees. Did I already mention that I thought he was the weirdest of the weirds? I was kind of offended; I told him that for me that was an unfair way to judge people. I do not remember what he answered, I probably ignored him.
The second time I heard about modesty was in one of the missionary discussions, once again I got offended. I could not understand why people would think I was a bad or a good person based on the sleeves on my blouse. I did not understand the fact that the way you dress tells a lot about yourself and your principles. When Mike told me that boys have bad thoughts about girls that they see dressed immodestly my answer was: “That is their problem, not mine”. Poor Mike, he tried so many times to make me understand that I was not being judged that I just stopped talking to him about it. I decided to charge against the poor missionaries, who are always very polite, I asked them if they would consider me as not worthy of the blessings of the church because of the way I dressed. I was mad; I told them that I was sure God loved me no matter what I was wearing. They said, “Yes, he does”, and then they asked me. “But, would you feel comfortable wearing immodest clothes in the presence of god?” They got me on that one.
At that time, I was working in Zara, which is a very prestigious Spanish clothing store (Crystal knows what I am talking about). As the second manager, I was entitled to a full wardrobe every season. I worked there for four years, so I had a lot of clothes, immodest clothes. How could I get rid of my clothes? I know this might sound so superficial, but at that time that was a big deal.
The time came when I decided to get baptized, I realize that I was completely okay with everything about the church, I knew it was true. Even though I did not understand the modesty issue completely, I decided to be obedient and started dressing according to the church teachings. After a couple of months I was reading something about the prophets and I felt the confidence that what they were saying was true. Prophets speak the word of God. Therefore, how could I question the modesty principle when I know they are right? How could I believe one thing and denied the other when both come from the same source?
I know that if you are obedient, the lord will bless you with knowledge and assurance. I still struggle when I have to buy clothes just because I am still attracted to the things I cannot wear. I am still learning and I am not perfect. I am trying to be obedient and I know that my testimony will grow as I keep the promise I have made to the lord.

Elmyra Duff?

Mike told me a few days ago that I was Elmyra Duff. I fought him a little bit but as I was looking at my pictures I realized that...I kind of look like her. I am spechless.
P.S. While Mike might think that I'm squeezing them, I'm really hugging them.

At the door of the temple

Since the day I was baptized I had been waiting for that big moment, that physical reaction, when your mind, heart, and soul tell you that this is the true church. I knew it was true but I had never felt it, in that way, until the day I got married.
Back in 2007 when I was debating whether to join the church or not, the sole idea of leaving my whole family “outside” of my wedding ceremony was terrifying, but I managed to talk to my parents about it. Although they were very upset and sad, they tried not to be hard on me and accepted and respected my decision. I thought that was it, I thought they were all right with it and that they had understood. They thought that too.
The process to get a visa is very hard and you get emotionally tired of being at the consulate waiting for your turn. It took me almost five hours and all the time the people there treated you like one of the immigrants trying to jump across the border. Anyway, I convinced my parents to try to get a visa before I applied for residency. I knew that one of the reason they could reject your visa application is if you have a family members in the states who you could possibly stay with permanently, it is obvious to think I guess. They went to the U.S. embassy on July 14th, it was 11 days before our wedding, and could you imagine how nervous I was? The day they went in I went to work and was so anxious that I would start to cry thinking they would be rejected. If the government denies you the visa it is like a bad record on your passport. Well, they got the visa, and thanks to my two angels (Dave & Sherrie) my parents got here a week and a half later.
I could have never imagined what was about to happen. The day of our wedding we were all too busy getting ready that I didn’t have time to think about what I was going to tell my parents just before entering the temple. So, there I was in front of the temple and just before going in I felt this overwhelming feeling, my heart felt like it was going to come out of my chest and tears were running down my cheeks. I felt the spirit telling me to go back and tell my parents what I knew. I went back to where my mom was sitting, my dad wasn’t there (he was too busy taking pictures of the beautiful Manti temple), I shared my testimony with my mom that day for the first time. It was very emotional and I couldn’t stop crying the whole time after that.
We got married on July 23th this year. It was an incredible experience, but also a tough one. I had to leave my parents outside of the temple and nobody on my birth family could be there with me. It was just me and my ancestors on the other side of the veil, the ones who have been waiting for me to make this decision, to choose the right and follow the lord. My whole life has changed since March 23, 2007. I found the most wonderful man I adore him and could not have a better husband and eternal companion. He makes me want to be better and he has done that since day one. He eats the food I make, and when we are sharing Mexican food he lets me put hot sauce all over the plate and not just in my part even though he is just about dying by the second bite. He lets molly (our cat) sleep with us because he knows I love her. I am grateful for him and for everything that has been given to me. I love my new family so much and I am also grateful for them. I am especially grateful for the beautiful pictures Aunt Karen took, you are so talented and I thank you for giving us those beautiful memories.
I know that as I pray and listen to the spirit the Lord will guide and direct me. He knows what is best for me and I will always trust on him.

Mom, I am going to Utah!

I came to Utah for the first time in August 2008. And here is where everything changed. I already knew that the church was good, I knew that it was going to change my life, I met Michael’s family and I started wishing a family like that, I remember saying to myself: “I want a family like this one” I wanted my kids to be close to god like Avram was the day I met him. But I was afraid that I didn’t have a strong testimony yet to tell my parents that I was going to get baptized, I didn’t want them to think that this was all about Michael. I was afraid. I was praying to gain a strong testimony, to be able to understand the Book of Mormon, nothing, I could not get an answer.
I felt that I had to have some spectacular answer to my prayers (something like the first vision). But nothing happened. I had to instead proceed with the small whisperings of the spirit that did continue to guide me. I think it would have been easier to have some big sign from the Lord but I decided to act on the small promptings I received. I just knew it was the right thing to do.
While I was here I met a wonderful man, Brother Arturo Morales. I remember the day I talk to him very well, I remember the way I felt when I stepped into his home, but what I remember the most are the words of comfort and the extraordinary testimony of what my life could be if I just made the right decision. He told me that I didn’t need to know by memory the Book of Mormon, and that I did have a testimony because I knew the church was good, I knew that it was going to change my life and because I had read the Book of Mormon and that I knew that the things I read there were true. His testimony and the spirit I felt that day made a great impact on my decision to get baptized and I want you to know how grateful I am for him.
That was the answer to my prayers.
When I returned home from Utah I knew I wanted to be baptized. I tried to drop hints that I wanted to be baptized but I was totally ignored. Then came what I call round three. I had to tell my parents that I was going to be baptized and I wasn’t asking for permission, again. My heart melted as I witnessed the hurt, disappointment, and anger in my parents’ faces. I got baptized six months later I came here. And even though I was going against my parents will I felt confident because I knew it was the right thing to do. I was acting upon answers to prayers.
My Dad started hating my visits to their bedroom. I had prayed for the wisdom and courage to face my parents when Mike and I decided it was time me to come to Utah to live and go to school. How could I ask my parents to let me leave? During the fourth round I once again saw the pain and hurt on my parents face as I followed the impressions that I had been given to leave home, learn another language and to live in a different country. That was another hard decision, I left my home, my parents, my brother and my sister, my beloved pets, my lifetime friends, but once again I was blessed with a wonderful family that was waiting for me here, I remember my first day here in Dave and Sherrie’s house, she told me: “I want you to feel like this is your home” and let me tell you something, there has not been a day that I don’t feel like that is my home, or that I am not loved and care for and I will be forever grateful for that too.m

This is our story

Everything began on Friday March 23 rd 2007 when I met Michael for the first time not realizing that my whole life was about to be turned upside down. Kika my friend had felt bad for a gringo she saw walking down the street early that day. She had stopped and given him a ride and invited him to a party that night. He had agreed to go. I was not going to go to the party but she convinced me to go along. That was the first time I met him. I thought he was very strange because he wasn’t drinking at the party (as I was not a member of the church that was very weird to me). When I asked him why he wasn’t drinking he told me it wasn’t good for the body and that he was a member of the Mormon Church. I didn’t pay attention to him that day. A few days after he found me at work and asked me on a date, so I went. We went on a second date and during the date he told me he wanted to show me place in Down Town Merida (where I am from). He took me to the temple. That day I thought he was the weirdest guy ever because when we got their he told me we couldn’t go in. I kept asking myself, why would he take me to a place and then tell me I couldn’t go in?
The more I learned about the church I realized that the time would come that I would be forced to make a decision whether to proceed or turn back. I had to face many fears. I think the first was persecution, I was afraid to have my parents and my social circle watching me becoming a different person. I thought they were going to reject me, or even worst, they were going to make fun of me. My next fear was going to church alone. My friends would not go with me, I was afraid to even ask my family to take me, I didn’t know anyone and I thought it was weird. I kept thinking “this is a weird church”, and what made the experience even more difficult was that nobody would talk to me, I know I wasn’t a modest girl, but I didn’t know I wasn’t. Anyway, I had to go because I had promised Michael that I would try to learn and understand his religion. I faced many more fears opposing my own religion, my parents, my social life, asking my boss to let me have my free day on Sunday. I felt so alone, sad, and scared. I started having the missionary discussions and they challenged me to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. I did pray and as I read it I knew from the very beginning that the book could not made-up. It was too elaborate to be something that someone just wrote. It didn’t take me a lot of praying to know that this Church was true but it did take me many prayers to get the courage to act upon the feelings that I had. Knowing what I knew I felt like living in a lie if I did not do something. I still remember the many nights in my room trying to pray and trying not to cry to loud so I would not wake up my sister, I thought the world was going to kill me if I dared change religions. I was soon to learn that when I acted on the promptings of the spirit the Lord would bless me and guide me. I had to go against my parents that I love very much. The Lord blessed me with great courage when I had to face my parents. I had that courage because I knew I was doing the right thing even though my parents told me I was not.
I was praying often to help me to find the courage to go against my parent’s traditions. As you might know I was born in a Catholic family. The time came when Michael asked me to come to Utah, he wanted me to meet his family and see how he lived. I had to make a decision again. The first horrible experience I had to face was going to the US embassy. The entire process took 5 hours and after they took mug shots, finger prints and had me remove my shoes, I faced a man that depending on his mood that day would determine if I could come or not. After all the process to get a visa I prayed to heavenly father to help me find the way to talk with my parents about coming here. They had thought I would be rejected at the embassy and they were not concerned until I got home and had the visa in my hands. I have always been a good daughter, I always ask for permission instead of just letting them know what my plans are, so I did what I thought was correct and they said no, “you can’t go there, we don’t know them and if something happens to you we can’t go there and help you, you are not going”. I call that the first round.
I prayed again, and the next day I went to my parent’s room and told them that I was going no matter what, I told them that I knew these were good people, that Michael loved me and that I needed to meet his family. They said no again. My sister called me frog eyes because I was cried so much that my eyes swelled up. I call that the second round.

Getting to know me!

Well, this is my first entry ever!! . I feel that I have to introduce myself since the majority of you don’t know a lot about me. I am the newest addition to the Anthony family, Michael and I got married in July 23th 2010. I was born in Mexico City but when I was 7 my parents decided that it was best for us (my brother, sister, and me) to move out of that city into a smaller and quiet one. I grew up in a beautiful and quiet city in the southeast part of Mexico and there is where I fell in love with warm days and fresh air, I also fell in love with my beloved husband in that city. Since Merida is in the coast I got to eat fresh fish and I had tropical fruit all year, like mangos (I love mango). My mother is from Mexico City, her family came from Spain. My father’s family is from Mayan ancestors 100%, so I am an interesting mix. My childhood was very normal, my dad was very strict on schedules and was always working very hard; we liked to spend the weekends together my mom was always cleaning or cooking. Both of them taught me how to work to get things I wanted since we weren’t a wealthy family. They also taught us honesty, chastity, respect for each other, and all the values I try to live each day of my life. I spent my teenage years dancing and going out with friends I started paying for my school when I was 17, my first year on college I worked full time (sometime in Mexico that means 10 hours) so I struggled. I absolutely love animals, I feel that we should respect them, love them and that like us they are precious creatures that our heavenly father created so we weren’t all by ourselves on earth and also for us to learn to share and respect other creatures, I know, maybe I love them too much. My favorite color is pink; I have a hard time choosing another color when I have pink as an option. In 2007, when I was 21 years old everything changed, I fell in love with a Mormon gringo, my family is catholic and so was I. If you want to know our love story, which comes along with the hardest but most incredible decision I have ever taken (becoming a member of the church) stay tuned…