What do you get...

...when you cross the last week of May with BYU?
Answer: EFY *COUGH*brats*COUGH*
They've invaded. And they are going to be here all summer so I get 4 weeks straight of them...Honestly, when I went to EFY here, I barely had a clue the students existed. Now that I see the situation from a completely different angle, I see the full truth. They practically dominate our conversations! I'll be good though, I promise.

A few more scenery shots that I sprinted to just in the nick of time:


The Cannon Center has made some nice progress recently. Outside they poured a new sidwalk by the tunnel, began work on underground piping and such, and started an interesting brick pattern:

The biggest changes were inside though: lots and lots of carpet:
It's getting close for me to leave BYU for awhile. I hope I get most of the changes before that time comes!

They also made progress on the pool demolition and the...well...whatever it's going to be:

We heard a fantastic fireside from the 1st counselor in our stake presidency on Sunday about temples. A couple interesting facts from that meeting-I found out our stake currently contains 1 ward. I think this will be the only time in my life that that will ever happen to me! I also talked with the speaker afterward (because this was actually the 2nd time I'd heard his talk; I heard it 3 years ago at EFY!) and talked with him about Argentina since he served his mission, and as mission president, in Chile. He tells me I'm going to run into a lot of people that are content with their lives and aren't necessarily searching for anything more. This definitely helps me with what I need to be focusing on in my preparations.

Got the call!!!

I know I just posted a blog yesterday, but this is such good news that I have to post it now!

Thanks everyone for the support through all these years! I just received the call tonight (May 8) and I'll be serving in the Argentina, Salta mission! Spanish-speaking mission and I report to the Provo MTC September 2!

The church provides a "pouch" service to send me letters. To use this service, you are only allowed postcards or 3-fold single-sheet letters taped at the top (not in an envelope), sent to:

Elder Jeffrey Ryan Powell
Argentina Salta Mission
PO 30150
Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0150
USA

and then the address for packages in the field is

Elder Jeffrey Ryan Powell
Argentina Salta Mission
Los Eucaliptus 75
4400 Salta
Salta
Argentina

that's straight out of the book; lots of lines I know

I will have a PO Box in the MTC, but I don't know it until I actually go there, so I'll keep you posted! Another option is to use www.dearelder.com ;)

I'm extremely excited to have received this call and I can't wait till the time comes!

Photoaholic

I went for the same walk as I did 2 blog posts ago (a week ago) to get more pictures of the Cannon Center and couldn't resist taking more scenery shots!!!

I want to interject here: it's amazing what a week of sunshine can do to the flowers here. Below I have pictured a flower bed from 2 blog posts ago (taken on a cloudy, rainy day) and the same flower bed today (a sunny day)

Huge difference if you ask me!

There has been major progress on the Cannon Center, both outside...

...and inside...

The constuction workers have decided to spread out as well--they have started demolition on the Helaman pool... :( Never got to use it once......even though I had the opportunity fall semester...

I found this guy being built too. For those familiar with the area, Budge is to the right, Merrill is towards the bottom-right, and the Cannon Center is to the left. Not sure what it's supposed to be yet, but I'll keep my eye on it.

Overall lots of changes being made!

Still no word on my mission call yet. I suspect my parents of not telling me that it's actually at home, but I've been silly and haven't called and asked since Sunday. I get to go home today though so I'll know for sure!

uhhh.....5/4/09

I've complained about this before, but coming up with a title to every entry is a little ridiculous sometimes! I got a little bored so I felt like posting a quickie blog for your viewing pleasure!

I was walking out of the WILK today (the main student center; got lunch from there today) and realized something that normally wouldn't be too significant except for one detail attached to it: in the 2 times I've been to EFY here and the many, many, many times I've walked by this location in the past 2 semesters (8 months), I never noticed that the bricks made a Y-shape!!!
I saw it and was like "Are you kidding me?!" I should pay attention a little bit more I guess!

I also recently acquired a certain piece of sheet music...

It was impulsive........perhaps it will serve some purpose........someday...(written with pictured face on ;) )

I'm getting better at racquetball thanks to the class I'm taking! Watch out world, you're going down!

I'm desperately hoping my mission call comes in this week!!! My papers were submitted by my stake president 2 Wednesdays ago so yeah!! I'll definitely post on here once I get it! I'm especially anxious because many of my BYU friends have been receiving their calls in the past week. Don't wanna be left behind!

One Spring Afternoon...

...I decided to go for a little walk


That momma duck did not stop staring at me while I was taking this picture...I took a few steps back in the process! :P

I now have friends who have moved away asking me to keep them updated on the Cannon Center progress! So, as now requested, here's the most recent:

I'm sorry I totally spaced and didn't look for any changes inside, but I'll get on it soon ;)

Now to appeal to my mother--yes mom, I'm eating well:
I made dinner tonight! :D Chicken and Rice, a fave of mine. Realized halfway through the oven-cooking I forgot to cover it with aluminum foil! Unfortunately we didn't have any in the apartment! Good thing the Creamery was right next door! One grocery trip later, and another half hour of prep, and voila-dinner for 6 guys! It was extremely delicious. Thanks for the package!