Moving Away

July 25, my family began our own journey west. We are temporarily relocating to Colorado to be closer to job opportunities and extended family.

Just like the pioneers, our trek was anything but smooth going. 20 minutes out of Fort Wayne, our tire was punctured by some foreign object and it took us about two hours to attain a new tire. Then, there was road construction on I-80: we drove 14 miles in 45 minutes. Then we had no service and couldn't find accommodations for the night until we found a rest stop with free Wi-Fi. We stopped for the night just east of Des Moines, IA, when we usually would have made it to at least Grand Island, IA, six hours to the west. Which meant we had a lot to make up the next day. The drive was much easier, except for 17 miles east of Sydney, NE.

I-80 led us under an ominously dark sky, where rain began to pelt us. Within moments, the rain was so thick we couldn't see the front end of our van at some points. The wind threatened to push us off the road, and hail beat against us. My sister could feel it when she rested her hand on the window. On the road before us, the water swirled in mini whirl pools inches deep. The temperature fell from 96 to 72 in seconds.
Finally, we could see blue sky darting though the rain. Slowly, tentatively, we pursued the sunlight. Eventually, we broke through the storm and into the clear, sunny countryside.

Glancing back, we confirmed our fears: We had just driven through a tornado. Just a few miles away from I-80, a gigantic funnel reached from the plains to the heavens. Sure, driving through it was terrifying, but afterward I rejoiced for more than my life--I had been able to witness a TORNADO. I've always had a perverse desire to see a tornado in real life, and there I was, a survivor of a tornado attack.

Of course, I took pictures. They don't do the real thing justice, however.

At 7:17PM, my family safely reached my grandparents' home in Fort Collins, CO. It's good to be home.

Pioneer trek

July 19-21 was Pioneer trek. The Fort Wayne Indiana Stake combined with the Toledo Ohio Stake for this momentous occasion. I partially/almost/did pass out four times due to hypoglycemia and heat exhaustion (the temperature hit record highs that week: high 90s, early 100s F) but I made a lot of friends and had a great time with old ones. It was an enlightening and wonderful experience despite the trials. I know that if we do what Heavenly Father wishes, it will be a positive experience in the end.

Since we were not allowed to take cameras, I don't have any of my own. But I found these of my sister Molly on Facebook:

Adirondacks, Boston and More

July 11-17, my family drove out to Boston, MA to visit my sister and her husband, who just moved there for school.

On our way out, we hiked through the Adirondacks. Gorgeous.

The first day in Boston metro, we visited Concord and Lexington. We saw Walden Pond, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery (Author's Ridge, the grave sites of Louisa May Alcott, Nathanial Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, and Ralph Waldo Emerson), Minute Men National Park, The Old North Bridge (where the shot heard around the world was shot), the old Manse, The Hillside/Wayside House, Alcott's Orchard House, etc.

The second day, we hung out on Revere Beach. The waves were great for body surfing, and resembled root beer because of the large amounts of kelp in the water. Which was fairly disgusting. The Revere Beach Sand Castle Contest was going on and we saw some pretty fantastic sculptures.

We walked the Freedom Trail on the third day. We witnessed a reenactment of a musket shot and climbed the 294 stairs to the top of the Battle at Bunker Hill monument; we toured the Old North Church; Paul Revere's house; the old cemetery; and the USS Constitution, aka Old Ironsides. Old Ironsides was arguably my favorite; I felt like I was in a Pirates of the Caribbean movie or I had gone back in time. The ship was majestic, intimidating, and elegant. Our tour guides were Navy officers in period dress. Made me want to join the Navy.

We also toured the Holocaust Memorial in downtown Boston, which was heart wrenching and extremely powerful. I definitely recommend it.

Mom and I decided to enter a downtown Boston market for some fresh peaches. We were...welcomed...by a true Bostonian couple. After he threw a few expletives at us and taught us how to package peaches so that we wouldn't be so stupid, the man told us to take our produce and get the H-E-double hockey sticks out of there. Mom and I felt our Boston experience was now complete.

On our way back to Fort Wayne, we made a few pit stops in Kirtland, OH and Palmyra, NY. Always a pleasure.

Nauvoo Trip

July 8-9, my stake presidency took all the Priests and Laurels in the Fort Wayne Indiana Stake to Nauvoo, IL. We left on Friday at 4:30AM, drove the 7 hour ride to Nauvoo, toured the city, saw the Pageant, ate dinner at the Nauvoo Hotel, bought fudge, and drove back home at midnight. Our parents picked us up at 7:30 Saturday morning. It was one heck of a trip! I made a lot of friends and had a great time spending time with old ones, too.

Nauvoo is such an incredible place.As we walked past the temple, I was transfixed. I literally could not take my eyes off it. There is such a feeling of reverence and sacredness as I've only felt in places like the Sacred Grove. It is one of my top Get Married In temples, for sure.

Squid!

On July 4th, we went to the Great Wall Buffet for my mom's birthday. I figured, since I will be living in China for four months, I should get used to the peculiarities of the cuisine, so I tried squid. The taste was fine, but I could not get past the texture or the strange white cord that ran through the center of the tentacles.

China Fundraiser Update

I recently received an email from the lady who runs the accounts at International Language Programs; she informed me of all the donations that have been made in my name for my trip to China. ILP donations alone (excluding garage sales and personal donations) I've raised $955! My parents and I have split the cost of what we need to raise ($1210 each) and my side has been covered and my parents' side is getting close to being paid off!

Thank you so much to all who have donated to my cause, and anyone who has helped in any way at all. (Thank you to everyone who will help us!) I very much appreciate you and your efforts; you are a huge blessing to my family and me.

If you would like information on how to support my cause, you can call me at 801-897-0826 or email me at breatheonlylove@live.com or comment on this post!

And/or you can send a monetary donation to

International Language Programs
299 East 950 South
Orem, UT 84058

Please make checks payable to ILP and make sure to add: Jillian Newell, China, Fall 2011 somewhere on the envelope or inside the letter. There are official contribution forms that I can give you if you are interested. (I can also send you my official fundraiser letter.)

You can also check out ILP at www.ilp.org or call them at 801-374-8854 or email them at office@ilp.org.

Thank you so much!

Ready to Move On

My family is moving to Colorado. We spent this weekend packing, scrubbing, cleaning, and moving. This is my bedroom...or my old bedroom. I'm ready for a change.

2011 Girls' Camp

This year I had the privilege of being a 3rd Year YCL (Youth Camp Leader) at Girls' Camp. I was over the sweet 1st year girls; they were so helpful and excited to be there that we all had a blast. I will miss my girls and many of them told me they wished I had another year at Girls' Camp so that I could be their YCL next year. So sweet!