Our Savior's love.

God does not hate Nabisco for posting a photo of a gay pride Oreo cookie. God does not hate any single person that is a part of the LGBT community.

There is only one God and that same God loves every single person, being, and soul. In fact, He loves everyone perfectly, completely, indefinitely, and infinitely. God cannot love any single person that has lived, lives now, or will live any less or any more than He already does.

"No death, life, angels, principalities, powers, things, heights, depths, or creatures will ever separate us from God's love, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord." -Romans 8:37-39

Think about it.

♥ Melissa.

P.S.: If you're wondering what I'm referring to, please read/see this.

I'm such a bad person.

It has been exactly two weeks since my last update; shame on me!

• Three weekends ago, I asked Derrick Hall (our ward's choir pianist; I'm in ward choir) to the girl's choice dance. Friday, January 27th was the actual dance! I went with my classic red dress, diamond grey tights, straightened hair and new suede wedge heels. I was please. It was a group of us, about 8: McKenzie and Todd, Emily and Jordan, this other couple whose names I always forget, and us. We all met up and drove over to The Thai Kitchen; DELICIOUS food but ridiculously SLOW service. We literally waited OVER an hour and forty minutes before we got our food and one of the girls got her check BEFORE she got her food. Needless to say, they didn't get tipped very well. It wasn't all bad, though, because we were talking the whole time and it was great. We then went to the dance. Derrick and I aren't very big on dances, but it was still fun! There were chocolate and caramel fountains (more like slow cookers filled with chocolate and caramel) and delicious Rice Krispies squares to dip with, among other various, dip-worthy sweets. There were A LOT of people from the ward and it was just fun!
• This year has been SUCH a good year health-wise. Last month, Sarah, Liz and I (roommates) got/renewed memberships at Gold's Gym. We got THE sweetest deal: $320 for 14 months, which ends up being $21/month. Unlimited everything: machines, classes, Cardio Cinema (a movie theatre with treadmills, ellipticals, etc. instead of seats), pool, sauna, etc. So I usually go to the gym with Sarah Monday for Cardio Cinema, Tuesday for Zumba, Thursday for Zumba, and Liz joins us Saturday mornings for Cardio Cinema. IT FEELS SO GOOD TO BE ACTIVE. I definitely feel those endorphins release! Not to mention I have my Contemporary Dance class Tuesdays and Thursdays at school for an hour each. I LOVE DANCING. I LOVE ZUMBA. I LOVE THE TREAD MILL AND ELLIPTICAL. I LOVE THE GOOD KIND OF PAIN AND SORENESS THAT RESULTS FROM ALL. It really just does feel good. Not to mention my legs are getting so tough and toned and nice from it all. And I have loads more energy.
• I've signed a contract for next Fall/Winter! Sarah, Liz and I will be moving into condos across the street, so we'll still be in the same ward. I really DO love my ward. I also love the place we live in now; Liz and Sarah aren't fans of the thin walls and noise pollution, though. I really don't mind. We've gotten way close this semester, though, so we totally want to live together! 
• Our condo for next semester is WAY sweet; I have the private room, Sarah and Liz are sharing the shared room. I ADORE the private room so much; SO much closet space and it's just going to be so nice to have my own space, again. I've had my own room since seventh grade, I had the private room at Wyview freshman year at BYU. This year is the only year I've shared a room with someone for months at a time since who-knows-when. I cannot WAIT to have my own room, again. It's pricey but it WILL be worth it. Words cannot describe how psyched I am to have my own room, again.
• Our condo also has two floors, two bathrooms (a full upstairs and a guest downstairs), a washer and dryer (hurray for not having to pay to do my laundry, anymore!), underground parking (not that I have a car to park), storage space in the underground parking lot, a new dishwasher (good for Sarah and Liz who always use the dishwasher), a legit, working fireplace (I've never had one), and the most adorable landlord ever, George. It's going to be nice going back to only three roommates total (including myself, as it was at Wyview); MORE ROOM IN THE FRIDGE! I really am excited for this place and really am glad we're staying in the ward :)
• So I'm only working five hours a week, now, which I am SO happy with! Now I can actually hang out and do stuff Saturdays and Friday mornings; I used to work all day Friday from 10a-9.45p, and Saturdays 4-9.45p. Now I only work Fridays from 5-9.45p. Did I mention I'm working with my roommate Sarah? I am and I love it.
• I super duper very much adore my class schedule. It is the best thing.
• Besides Indian and Thai food, I have added Pho to my favorites. Pho is a Vietnamese noodle dish. I got the chicken pho with Heidi and Liz at the Pho Noodle House. IT IS SO RIDICULOUSLY DELICIOUS. I also had Boba tea, which actually isn't tea AT ALL. It's just a slushie-smoothie kind of drink. So I got the mango boba and it literally tastes like a slushie.
• It's been really odd this year. Like Spring. Very, very, very little snow.

♥ Melizza.

Random news:

• Two days ago, I was approved for a student credit card! Woohoo for building up credit and growing up!
• I can't believe we've only been in school for two weeks.
• I ADORE MY SCHEDULE SO MUCH. There is not a single class I am taking that I don't love.
• LDS Marriage & Family with Brother Goodman (with whom I took Mission Prep freshman year) is my teacher and wow. Just wow.
• I love being sore. Is that weird? No. Sarah (my roommate) agrees with me. It's that good sore when you know you've been working hard. In my case, dancing hard. I LOVE my Contemporary Dance class. I am always sweating bullets afterward. And sore.
• I am working ALL day Friday. And I mean ALL day: 10a-9p and that isn't even including closing, which takes longer.
• I am working Saturday night, too. With Sarah, of course! I work Fridays with her, too.
• Liz, Sarah and I are absolutely LOVING living together. Now that we know each other, we are getting along ridiculously well. I love them so much. We're praying about finding an apartment (staying in the ward boundaries, hopefully) where we can all three live together (but we want to move out of this one).
• Speaking of praying, we've started apartment prayer. Sarah and I thought of it. Our minds are ridiculously in sync this semester, it's weird. Apartment prayer usually only consists of Sarah, Liz and I because Ashley's always with Oliver (they are dating).
• I have been eating peanut butter sandwiches every night for dinner the past few nights. And no, I'm not going to plead the lame "I'm a poor college student" excuse; I have money to buy food and I buy good food. PB sandwiches are all I want to eat for dinner! It's weird! It's because I eat two granola bars throughout the day as lunch; my body, however, craves PB sandwiches for lunch, and me not giving my body PB sandwiches results in me eating them later in the day.
• Today, I forced myself to eat broccoli-cheddar soup, though. Yay me!
• This Portrait Photo class is DEFF pushing me out of my element; it's all in the studio (for the most part) and working with lights. BUT IT IS SO, SO FUN!
• I should probably go to sleep. It's 12.30 am, I still have studying to do, and I have to wake up for a 9 am class. And no, I will not plead the lame "I never get any sleep because I'm a college student" excuse; I SLEEP WELL! Minus Tuesdays and Thursdays, my long days.
• I need to buy more milk, more orange juice, more bread, more granola bars, more grapes and tomatoes, red and green peppers. Hurray for healthy eating!
• It really is SO important to whole-heartedly do daily scripture study and pray on your knees multiple times a day; I have been finding myself relying on it more than ever these past two weeks- not because I have some major issues or problems and not because I need to check it off my "list", but because I want to. I sincerely want to and it's filling my heart with that desire more and more. God is just revealing such amazing, great things in my life and teaching me so much. It's unreal.
• I adore Indian food. It's probably my favorite.
• "Because I have been given much, I too must give."
• I just really love my life.
• It's ridiculous how much I love my life.
• I am so thankful God gave me life.

I treat this blog as a journal of sorts, if you haven't noticed. I enjoy it very much.

♥ Melizza.

Definitely missing my best friend right now.

Elder Mark Daniel (or, Elder Marky Mark Daniel as I like to call him) has been serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for the past eight months and has about sixteen months more to go. He has been doing ridiculously amazing work for the Lord and I am so, so proud of him.

I sent him this big package for his six months in that included: two GIANT jars of JIFF peanut butter, a bunch of candy, Oreos to dunk in the peanut butter, EFY/Church music (he totally needed it), a card/note of awesomeness, little cut outs of him and me attached to orange straws, and a few other little things. Gotta start planning what will be in his twelve-month package (with time so it actually gets to him on his year mark)!

But really, he is so focused on the work. He is so focused on our Savior, Jesus Christ, which is what life is ALL about. He has always been such a man of God and such a righteous Priesthood holder, ALWAYS upholding his callings.

I miss him. So, so much.
I have always said I have wanted to marry a Mark.
I look forward to him coming home May 2013 :)

April 2010. ATL, Georgia. MoProm.

He made this for me about a year ago and put it on my desktop before he left.

♥ Melizza.

Since I've been home for exactly a week,

I have:

• gotten my hair trimmed. I desperately needed it.
• taken Christmas photos with my family (not all of it, but the ones I live with most the time at my mom's house.

My baby sister Monica (7) and I

Bottom: Monica. Middle (left to right): Joey, Mikey, me. Top: Michael.

• spent tons of quality family time... with my family, of course.
• gone to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (WWoHP) @ Universal Studios' Island of Adventure for the second time. MY SIBLINGS DIDN'T REALLY LIKE BUTTERBEER. IDK what's wrong with them. I can't get enough of that stuff.

• bought my roommates their Christmas gifts from WWoHP. They're going to love 'em! I also bought us a bottle of pumpkin juice to share in our apartment :) It's so yummy.
• gone caroling with the ward and ward member missionaries. It was super fun, touching, AND we handed out about four or five Book of Mormons/Books of Mormon (ever since the movie "The Best Two Years", I've seriously questioned what the right plural form of the "Book of Mormon" is, hah).
• seen Joeffrey, Josephine's older brother! He returned from serving a full-time, two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in NYC, NY. It was SO good to see him! He's changed so much :)
• read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire (by Suzanne Collins) in their entirety. I've started Mockingjay. I'm seriously in love with these books and I can't WAIT for the movies to come out. My mother's read 'em, my brother's read 'em, my other brother's reading them. They all loveeee 'em! They are seriously such a good read and I would highly recommend them to EVERYONE.

• fallen head over heels for Peeta Mellark (if you've read The Hunger Games and are a female, you'd understand). I think them picking Josh Hutcherson to play Peeta for the movies was an absolutely perfect choice. I'm so psyched for the movie to come out!

• thought about what I'm making/getting my family tomorrow while I go shopping for Christmas gift-making supplies! I'm excited :)
• discovered that the Double Tree hotel gives you fresh, warm cookies whenever you stay there. SO YUMMY.
• found out that DAVID ARCHULETA IS GOING TO SERVE A MISSION! Watch the video of him announcing it this Monday at his show in Salt Lake City, UT:

Cool story: my mother knew about this a week before he made it public. My mom is friends with his aunt, who was the one who told my mom. She told her to keep it under wraps until he announced it, though. AND I've met David Archuleta. My double claim to fame! hahah not really.

• made delicious Buckeye Balls with Jackie and Manda!

• Received pretty swell gifts from Nelly and Jackie:

From Nelly: this adorable purple bow headband and equally adorable coconut piggy bank (it has shells for hooves and its butt/tail unplugs to take out the coins)!

From Jackie: this super awesome "I am T-Pain" mic (I've promised to record and dedicate a song to Jackie and her sister Johanna with it) and Awkward Family Pet Photos (from the same guys at http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com).

I've had a pretty swell, wonderful Christmas break with my family and Nelly, Jackie and Manda thus far :) I can't believe it's already been a week! Two more and I'll be thrown into a super busy schedule of making art and working at Tokyo Sweets at the Provo Towne Center!

♥ Melizza.

I just got through one of the hardest, busiest days of my life.

AND I DID WONDERFUL!


I really am grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ, who is always there lifting me up, supporting me and being my strength.


Seriously.


Before intimidating obstacles, I ask myself, "How in the world will I get through this?"
After conquering those obstacles, I ask myself, "How in the world DID I get through this?"


And I know it's ALL because my Savior has already carried the burden for me.


I can do hard things. 
All things.
Because of my Savior! 
It's so beautiful to have that knowledge and assurance in my life.


"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Philippians 4:13


♥ Melizza.

Yesterday, I met David Archuleta.

And got him to sign two of his Mormon Tab Christmas albums, four flyers, and two of the LDS Living magazines with him on the cover. NBD (no big deal).

♥ Melizza.

P.S.: He's even cuter in person.
P.P.S.: HAPPY LATE THANKSGIVING! I hope you all spent it with wonderful people and food :)
P.P.P.S.: HAPPY LATE BLACK FRIDAY! I hope you all scored deals as amazing as I did :)

Early birthday gifts from my mama!

Throughout the week, I've received these in the mail individually. Each have gotten me super excited and made me smile.

1. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. Childhood favorite. I remember my math teacher reading this to us in class back in 4th grade. Fun read with super awesome illustrations. I highly recommend it.

2. Hayao Miyazaki's "Howl's Moving Castle". My favorite of his and one of my favorite movies period. SUCH A BEAUTIFUL FILM. Yes, it is animated and anime. Even if that isn't your cup of tea, I recommend it because it WILL make you swoon for Howl. Hayao Miyazaki is a film genius. SO much depth.

3. Probably Hayao Miyazaki's most well-known film, "Spirited Away". Also makes you swoon. So, so beautiful.

I turn 20 years young on Friday. Feels surreal. I am no longer in the teens, which I have been for the past  seven years. For the next ten years, there will always be a 2 leading my age instead of a 1.

I will be a score old.
I will be two decades old.
I will be a fifth-of-a-century old.

20 is the new 21.

It's kind of, sort of a big deal in my head, but I'm not making it a particularly big deal; just a yummy Indian dinner with my closest friends here, and Cocoa Bean + country dancing the next day. I am very much looking forward to it :)

♥ Melizza.

Wales Study Abroad summer 2012!?

I think so!

1. It's the cheapest Study Abroad BYU offers because you stay in legit Victorian homes that are way cheap.
2. You take a week of Welsh at a university there.
3. You go over to England and Scotland, too!
4. Two of my roommates, Liz and Sarah, both went on it last summer and said it was the best six weeks of their lives.
5. CASTLES.
6. FOOD.
7. ACCENTS.
8. VISITING THE CHILDHOOD HOMES OF J.R.R. TOLKIEN, J.K. ROWLING, JANE AUSTEN, ETC.
9. VISITING THE PLACES WHERE THEY FILMED THE COURTYARD AND HALLWAY SCENES OF HARRY POTTER.
10. WATCHING A PLAY AS A GROUNDLING AT THE GLOBE.
11. TRAIN AND BUS RIDES.
12. EVERYTHING.

I still need to apply for it, but I'm very much considering it :)

Don't know where/what Wales is?

It's part of the United Kingdom- the southeastern end of the UK.

It shares an island with England and Scotland.

It's the little green chunk.

♥ Melizza.

SUPER GIANT MEGA UPDATE!

I'll mash up the last few weeks in this whole post!

• Over a month ago, McKenzie and I both went on a double date to one of the Homecoming dances, where Dylan had asked her and Tony had asked me. They even made us breakfast for dinner (including delicious banana french toast), since Tony knew breakfast was my favorite food. That's where McKenzie and I first met and we've basically been inseparable ever since.
• Over four weeks ago, McKenzie and I decided to double again but THIS time, WE asked the guys on a date! She asked Rick, a family friend that goes to UVU, and I asked Lauri, a friend from the ward. He's Finnish, teaches Swedish at the MTC and is the Elder's Quorum president in our ward. I swear he's going to be a General Authority one day, hahah. Anyway, we "picked them up" and brought them over to McKenzie's apartment, where I had made this DELICIOUS chili for dinner and McKenzie made equally delicious witch finger breadsticks (she even put almond chips at the ends of the breadsticks to look like nails. So legit). We then had a graham cracker-haunted house-making contest between the couples! Rick and McKenzie made a classically awesome, two-story haunted house and Lauri and I made a super awesome coffin with fingers sticking out of it. To wrap it all up, we visited Rick's HUGE house (that he owns!) and went to my favorite spot in the canyon to tell scary stories. It was freezing, but it was fun :)

Lauri and I

McKenzie and Rick

McKenzie and Rick's Haunted House

Lauri and I's haunted coffin

• Three weeks ago, I photographed Jess + Adam's wedding at the Mt. Timapanogos temple. It was my first time there and it was absolutely gorgeous! I also photographed their wedding in Highland/Alpine, Utah, where the fall trees, leaves and colors are DIVINE! Emma (who was second shooting for me) and I ran into a Jake, a friend from the ward, who apparently is Adam's cousin! I also ran into Stephen Fabiano, a friend from back in Florida who knows Adam from when they lived in Georgia.

Jess and Adam.

Jess and Adam.. and Jake.

• Two weeks ago, I photographed Jordan + Blake's engagement photos up the Provo temple and Provo canyon. I LOVED this photo session! Jordan is also from Florida and was my roommate at the last EFY I went to in St. Petersburg the summer before I started here at BYU, so over a year ago. They are SO adorable and I LOVE Blake! He's a convert and he's on FIRE. She did well :)
• I went to the Men's and Women's Choir concert two Fridays ago. It was amazing! Men's choir killed it. I went by myself, too. Weird of me to say, but I've always wanted to go to a show/movie by myself just once to see how it's like. It was not bad at all, nor did I feel lonely in the slightest. I've mostly always been comfortable on my own :)
• Two Saturday mornings ago, my Elder's Quorum and Relief Society went skeet shooting. It was my first time and it was super fun! I didn't hit any of the clay disks, but it was still way fun. I hope to go again sometime this year!
• That same Saturday night, McKenzie, Val and I went to a Mocktail Masquerade, where we met up with Lauri, Spencer, Emily, Tori and Lawrence. 'Twas fun, though we were barely there for more than an hour. McKenzie, Val and I had SUPER sweet masks we had bought earlier that day at Taylor Maid, the super awesome costume store in Provo.

Val, McKenzie and I (in the red, of course).

I'm silly.

Look how much my hair has grown!

These are my new favorite tights.

• I don't know if you all knew, but I'm a FHE "Mom" in my ward. Halloween happened to fall on a Monday night, so I was super psyched because I KNEW what I was going to do for my FHE "kids": I was going to make them Butterbeer (you can find the recipe at an older blog post of mine here)! Everyone loved it, of course. It was extra creamy and delicious this time, if I do say so myself. I had all the Harry Potter soundtracks playing in the background as my kids walked in my apartment for FHE that night and all throughout the lesson and Butterbeer drinking. For the lesson, I had cutely typed out and printed quotes from the Harry Potter series and had us all give "mini lessons" about how each one applied/tied into Jesus Christ and His Gospel. It was SUCH a great lesson! I was dressed as Hermione, wand and time turner and all. I'm so cool, I know.
•  This year, a goal of mine has been to send my family and close friends back from birthday packages. My brother's 18th birthday was first, on September 3rd, and he loves to read so I sent him a card and two of my favorite books: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde and Crime & Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. My mom's birthday is on Halloween and she turned 46 this year, so I mailed her a birthday package complete with: tiramisu hot cocoa mix (she loves tiramisu), a cute Willow Tree journal (she loves Willow Tree stuff), a Halloween-birthday card, a bag of candy corn (her favorite candy), a bag of Kit Kat (her other favorite candy), real Fall leaves from around campus in all different shapes, sizes and colors (she LOVES fall and the leaves- the red are her favorite).. she LOVED it! :)
•  Goodbye, October. HELLO, N O V E M B E R! 
• Where did the semester go!?
• Last Friday night, I went on two dates with the same guy in the same day. We had a lunch date at the MOA (BYU's Museum of Art) where we shared a fontina cheese panini and each had our own bowl of pumpkin-squash soup- which reminded me of Indian food in that it was oddly sweet, but delicious all the same. Then he asked me to go to the Planetarium on campus that night for the November Sky Show. It was all fun!
• This past Saturday, my brother-in-law Kanta picked me up and I spent the weekend at my sister Raiza's apartment with her three kids, Kayla, Mia and Kai. They also have a new cat whose name is Kevin and he is the MOST adorable thing ever. He is so funny and fixated by running water- he will sit at the toilet and watch it flush, then climb up to the sink when you're washing your hands. It was a crazy weekend but so fun and so nice to be with family! I went shopping at the Gateway (best mall in Utah) by myself Saturday night and helped make delicious peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and it was all awesome. The reason I went was to photograph some food for Kanta (which I happened to eat while photographing). I guess I ate wayy too many sweets, because I woke up in the middle of the night only to pass out and throw up twice :/ I hate throwing up. But I DID watch Something Borrowed with Raiza! I LOVED the movie, despite it cursing lots and being very suggestive. 

Kevin the kitty!

My niece Kayla, Kevin and I!

Dat kitteh <3

• I received two Priesthood blessings in two weeks. First I was sick with a cold, then I was sick with the upset stomach I mentioned above. I am SO grateful to have the Priesthood in my life and worthy Priesthood holders to give blessings! My home teachers Aaron (also my FHE son) and Stephen (they're actually cousins) gave me the first and Tony and Matt (they both served in Tampico, MX) gave me the second about a week later. They're all from my ward and I'm SO grateful for them!
•  My voice teacher, Joseph, was saying how when we first started voice lessons, he couldn't really tell where my voice would go, but now that he's heard it he can see my voice filling up auditoriums; it has a lot of color and overtones, apparently. That's one of the best compliments EVER!
•  I'll be sending in my audition CD to the School of Music December 1st! Wish me luck!
• I'm SO psyched that there's only a week left of school until Thanksgiving Break! I'll be spending Thanksgiving at Raiza's :)
• Also, country/country swing dancing has become one of my favorite things to do every Saturday. It's super ridiculously fun.
• Also, it's Veteran's Day today.
• Also, it's 11/11/11 today. REMEMBER TO MAKE AN EPIC WISH AT 11:11 pm tonight!
• Also, I turn 20 next Friday. Nine days. Isn't that insane!?

Thank you all for bearing with me and this insanely long post! You all are great. Happy weekend :D

♥ Melizza.

Dinner tonight.

So I don't know if you guys knew this, but I'm half Boricua (from Puerto Rico) and half Colombian. I know I may not look it, but I am fully fluent in Spanish (both the Puerto Rican and Colombian kind, hahah) and am quite skilled in cooking Puerto Rican, Colombian and Cuban food.

One very typical Colombian meal is arepas (patties made of cooked corn meal and flour, very similar to a Salvadoran pupusa) with chocolate de mesa caliente (hot chocolate that comes from hard, block chocolate and way better than any American chocolate). It's really good with carne de falda (skirt steak) seasoned with sazon completa (complete seasoning) and other things.

Arepas are basically my favorite breakfast, lunch and dinner. So good for any meal of the day because you can pair it perfectly with lighter or heavier food, depending on time.

My friend Rob from Florida served his mission in Paraguay and has never had arepas! Understandable, since it's in between Brazil and Argentina. Still! THEY'RE DELICIOUS.

So he's coming over and tonight's dinner will consist of:

Arepas

Carne de falda

Chocolate SOL

It will be the yummiest thing ever and it will make me miss home, but I'm so psyched for it!

¡Hasta luego!

♥ Melizza.

Elder Mark Daniel's e-mail to me today:

"MELISSA!


can I just say, that you are fantastically, marvelously, expectacularly, seriously, awesome?
Enserio, you are wonderful. Don´t EVER forget that!! :) I miss you a butt load and all our amazing jokes and whatnot. Thank you soooo soooo much for being Meli :) So we had lunch at a member´s house the other day, and their daughter was blasting taylor swift from her room and it was SOOOOO amazing!! haha for three reasons, number one, it was taylor swift in argentina, two, it was should´ve said no, and so I thought of nichole337, and three, I was like, freak, I miss Meli SO much!


BUt yeaahhh :) you´re soooo much more awesome than me. No chiste. Hope your semana is FANTASTIC!!


I miss you and I love you Meli loo!
Elder Marky Mark"

My thoughts:

1. Ridiculous goofy smile on my face.
2. He is doing such beautiful, great work on his mission in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
3. I am so proud of him.
4. He is one of the best examples in my life.
5. I miss having my best friend nearby.
6. Mark has been on his mission for five months, already! Oh, how the time FLIES.
7. I pray for him and those he teaches every day.
8. I'm thinking I may not NOT want to spend eternity with him.

Meet Gary,

This is my Pug-O-Lantern. Yes, you read this correctly. 
Created tonight with a kitchen knife, carving knife, an X-Acto knife and my bare hands.
This is probably the piece of art I've created that I'm most proud of. 
Dead serious.

Challenge: Carve the most creative pumpkin you can within the month and send me the photo link; I want to see it! Push yourself to create more than you think you can. I was surprised with this pumpkin. I doubted I can do it, but here it is!

♥ Melizza.

I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

http://mormon.org/jesus-christ/

♥ Melizza.

“I don’t want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone’s garden. I want to be there with children’s sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived.”

—	Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Thoughts on a mission.

So I legit, seriously think I plan to serve a full, year and a half-long mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I want to dedicate that time to bringing people to the fully restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I don't choose where to go; the Lord would call me to serve where He wanted and needed me. I could serve speaking English, Spanish, Tagalog, or any other language He would want me to speak and teach in. I have to be 21 years old to be able to serve this mission, and that's a year and a month away, but it's never too early to start thinking about it. If I decided to go through with this, I would submit my papers next summer and be able to enter the Missionary Training Center (MTC) by November, when I'll be turning 21.


It's all very exciting :}


♥ Melizza.