Sunday, December 30, 2012

A Christmas Phone Call

My missionary, Elder Jonathan Telford, got to call home using Skype on Christmas Day!

Christmas Eve I spoke with my parents, telling them that I was planning to go when he called and that I needed to be from Salt Lake City to Springville at 10:30 am.  My parents were very supportive of me, so they allowed us to wake up at 6:45 Christmas morning to open presents, have breakfast, and enjoy our time together as a family.

Oh Christmas morning was amazing!  I got some fantastic gifts - some expected, some complete surprises!  We sat around the Christmas tree next to the fire's glow.  We made a lovely wrapping paper mess and enjoyed each other's company as well as watching each face light up with pure delight at our Christmas surprises.

When the opening was finished we sat down together for a traditional delicious Christmas breakfast.  We had homemade waffles, sausage, and eggnog.  (It may not be the most healthy, but we can get away with it once a year!)  Over breakfast we laughed and talked and laughed some more.  After eating I hopped in to take a quick shower, fix my hair and make up, load up my car with grand presents I received and booked it down I-15 south to Springville.  Though I didn't need to be there before 10:30, I rushed and made it by 10:15 easily!

There the Telford family waited for the call.  As one of ten children, it was a blast to see everyone gather there to open presents together.  Under the tree there were dozens of gifts (some even had MY name on it!) to pass out once everyone had arrived.  As we were waiting for Jonathan to call and the rest of the family to arrive, Jonathan's sister Lara called on Skype so her family could join in the fun also.  It was a lot of fun getting to talk to her and the rest of her family, but I was getting anxious.

About 10:45 the rest of the Telford clan that lives nearby arrived and we all traipsed upstairs to unveil Hannah's Christmas present.  Her siblings had painted her bedroom, added some shelves, and a bit of other decor.  Holy cow it was so incredibly sweet of the family; Hannah really deserved this beautiful gift.  Then we proceeded downstairs once again to gather around the tree.

We passed out gifts, everyone got to open something.  I was so blessed to be thought of by pretty much each member of the family.  I truly am so grateful to have their love and support and I love to call them family of my own.

Finally the moment came - Jonathan called us on Skype around 11:15 or so and we got to see and hear him!  I could hardly contain my excitement and I sat up next to the computer for the entire hour just watching him and listening to his voice.  Boy, I miss him!  Hannah pulled out a Christmas present to me from him and I got to see his expression when I unwrapped it.  Out of the box fell a sweatshirt that I've had my eye on for months!  He knew the perfect gift and I am soooo grateful that he's been so amazing and watchful.

We continued talking about his missionary experiences so far in Colorado.  His parents both sat with me and the four of us had a great conversation.  I almost feel guilty for hogging him so much, particularly since in the mission rules they're only supposed to call family ... but I will be family someday... :)

When it finally came time to say goodbye it was bittersweet for me and tears clouded my vision, but did not fall.  He hung up and his brother sort of squeezed my shoulder to say, "We're all here for you."  His sisters gave me hugs, and I just felt so loved.

I'm so grateful to have found not just an amazing man, but also an amazing family.  They're all so supportive of his mission, and of me as I support him as well.  I love the Telford family and I can't wait to officially become part of it.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

See you in Two Years!

Whew, it's been a while since I've updated my blog!  I apologize for that, but at the same time... I've been so busy with life that I just haven't had time and I DON'T apologize for that. :)

2 1/2 weeks ago my best friend and love of my life entered the Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT to prepare to serve the Lord for 2 years though an LDS mission.  Although I know I will miss him immensely, I know that this is the right and best thing for both of us.  Sure, a lot could happen in two years.  We will both do a lot of growing, but I'm going to wait for him.  I've never wanted anything more in my entire life, and I know that someday we'll end up together.

Yesterday I got a very unexpected phone call.

I was on my lunch break from work and I had just dropped off a parcel to be sent to him at the MTC before he leaves on Monday for Brisbane, Australia.  I was sitting in the drive thru at JCW's and my phone started ringing from a number I didn't recognize.  The conversation went something like this:

Me:  Hello?
Other end:  Charity??
Me: Yes!  (I knew I recognized the voice... but was a little hesitant to believe it.)
Other end:  This is Jonathan.
Me:  [JAW DROPS!]  Wait, what?  Are you okay?
Jonathan:  Ya, sorry I need to be quick - do you have a pen and paper?
Me:  [Frantically searching through the glove box] Ah, give me a second.  What's up?  Why are you calling? Are you at the airport today instead??
Jonathan:  No, there was some trouble with my Visa; apparently some forms got changed recently and I have to fill out some more stuff.  This happened with at least 4 other guys I know... maybe 8?  Anyway, I'm going to be in Colorado Springs, Colorado for my first transfer for 6 weeks.
Me: What??  6 weeks?
Jonathan:  Ya, at least.
Me:  Are you supposed to be calling me?  Are you okay?
Jonathan:  Well I tried calling Mom, but she didn't answer.  I needed to tell someone so the family would know that I'll be in Colorado, but that's all I know.
Me:  You don't know your address yet?  ... Are you still calling on Monday?
Jonathan:  My flight leaves at 6:00 AM, so there won't be time to call.
Me: Is it because you don't want to call so early, because... if you're allowed I get up early anyway...
Jonathan:  No, I don't think that they give us time when it's that early.  But when I do fly to Australia I'll be able to call again then.
Me:  [Starting to tear up a little...] Oh okay.
Jonathan:  I love you.
Me:  [Slightly sobbing] I-I love you too....Don't worry about me, I'm not really crying.  But I do love you.
Jonathan:  I love you too, more than words can even say.  I'll see you soon.
Me:  See you soon, I promise.
Jonathan:  Okay, I love you, bye.

Wow.  So he'll be in Colorado until January 28 (at least).  Hopefully in that time the Visa clearance comes through. It should, since they approved him before the paperwork change, right??
Well, his real Christmas care package is already waiting for him in Australia - hopefully they'll hold onto it until he finally arrives.

Life is crazy.  I do believe that there is a specific reason why this happened.  There's a reason he's going to Colorado.  Maybe there's someone there that needs to meet him.  Maybe Australia isn't ready for that much awesomeness.  ;)  Only God knows why, and I'm already trusting his judgement so much - it's just time to put even more faith in His timing.

All I know is that I love my missionary whether he's in Provo, Colorado Springs, or Brisbane.  :)

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Where is Elder Telford going?

Alright followers, I apologize for the hiatus I've taken for a while, but life's been pretty hectic busy!!  Here's what's new.  Elder Jonathan Levi Telford got his mission call!  Now before I tell the story, I want you to take a guess.  Where do you think he's going?!



Okay, story time.

Jonathan has been preparing for a mission for quite a while and finally was able to put in his papers on July 3.  His family has been unaware that all of this was going on except one sister, Megan.  She was the one he had on his side to help circulate rumors of his choice to not serve a mission.  It had been going pretty smoothly and the three of us were able to convince most of his family that he was going to marry me instead of serving.

Jonathan got ordained to the office of an elder on Sunday, July 15.  By this point, his family knows something is going on.  Will it be a mission or marriage?  One of his brothers-in-law questioned him about it and up until this point Jonathan could just easily avoid the question, but this time there was no way.  He had to straight up lie to Jacob.  Dang, we wanted to avoid that at all costs.

The morning of July 15 Jonathan's bishop told him that he checked the status of his call.  The First Presidency had received the papers and had made a decision.  The call should be leaving Salt Lake that week, so we were anticipating getting the call on Wednesday, July 18!

Tuesday rolls around and Megan decided this was a good time to spread the word that Jonathan wanted to have a family meeting the next day to make an announcement.  Megan passed along the message to everyone to be supportive no matter what his announcement would be.  The family is freaking out at this point.

Wednesday arrives!  Jonathan is super anxious (who wouldn't be?).  He probably checked the mailbox 5 or 6 times in the morning.  Finally the mail came!...without a mission call.  :(  Now Megan, Jonathan, and I are freaking out.  What do we do?  We can't reschedule the family meeting without giving away our secret.  So we came up with a new plan.

The family met at Cassie's house around 6:00.  There they all started guessing, what is this big announcement?  Half thought mission, the other half guessed marriage.  Jonathan and I arrived around 6:30 all dressed up, and I was carrying roses we bought on the way (for a dramatic entrance).  The family is all anxious and curious.  People begin to get impatient so we were rushed to the backyard so Jonathan can make his announcement.  He and I stand there - he says some pretty words to me, gets down on one knee and says, "Charity Perry, I love you.  Will you marry me?"  He pulls out a fake engagement ring.  I pretend to gasp while I hear real gasps from his brothers and sisters.  I reply, "Yes...but..." and then he stands up to hug and kiss me.  Everyone starts clapping, but hesitantly.  I finish my sentence, "...but there's something you need to do first."  He smiles and says "You're right."

He grabs a scythe out of his briefcase, walks over to his younger brother and says, "Jacob gave me this as a reminder of what I'm working toward.  That the field is white and ready to harvest.  I'm now passing it on to you because any day now I should be getting my mission call."  More gasps and louder cheers come from his family now!  Cassie walks up and gives him a big hug, then one for me.  The rest of the family follows with words of "congratulations", "best of both worlds", and "welcome to the family"!

Everyone asks to see my ring so I explain that we're not actually engaged, but I am promising to wait for him.  They call me family now. :)

Jonathan pulls me away from the crowd so we can put his suit coat in the truck and just get a second away from everyone.  He grabs my left hand and says, "this is a pretty ring" and pulls it off my finger and starts searching his pockets.  His face falls and he's getting agitated again.  Things have been downhill all day, so now he's really upset.  Searching his pockets again, he finally finds what he's looking for and slips a silver ring with an emerald onto my finger.  It's gorgeous!  My real promise ring - not that junky piece of costume jewelry I bought years ago.  So we rejoin the crowd and all start making our guesses where he'll be going.



The next day we continue to hope that it comes because we've heard of other cases where people have received their calls on days other than Wednesday.  Again, no call.  We wait until next Wednesday... still no call.  By this time we're all getting disappointed.  Jonathan calls the Post Office, the bishop; the bishop calls the mission office.  Meanwhile we have no idea what's going on.  We resign ourselves to another week of waiting.

Thursday, July 26 Jonathan calls me around noon.  It came!  The Telford family gathers again and those who live far away are on a skype call with us.

"Dear Elder Telford, You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  You are assigned to labor in the Australia Brisbane Mission."  AUSTRALIA!  The cheers begin and die down again so we can hear the rest of the letter.  English speaking, and he is to report to the Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, November 28.

 

Now Cassie and I are extremely excited!  Jonathan gets to come with us to Walt Disney World in September! Woo hoo!!!!



Brisbane, Australia.  I can't believe it.  I'm so excited for him because I know this is one of the greatest missions in the world - everyone wants to go!  I am also excited because I have a friend there currently who will be able to inform us about the mission, the culture, and the entire experience.  I'm just so excited!!

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Busy, busy, getting dizzy!

This summer has been an amazing one thus far.  I've been extremely busy, but having so much fun!

Work is a blast.  I love my co-workers and the random times that ensue.  We play "guess the [Friends, Disney, Arrested Development] character", "guess the accent", and HOT LAVA!  You should stop by some morning and try to figure out which game we're playing based on our amount of laughter!

Camping has been abundant.  Alright, I've only been on 2 camping trips this year, but that's a lot in comparison to last year.

I spend pretty much everyday with Jonathan and that's always a blast.  He's my best friend ever!!!  We go biking, hiking, swimming, yard-sale-ing, etc.  We build stuff, we explore Provo and the surrounding area, and sometimes we just relax with a movie.  I love that kid.  :)

Now I'm saving to go to Walt Disney World with Jonathan's family!  (Jonathan may or may not go, haha!)  It's going to be so great!  Unfortunately, I don't quite have the "saving" down.  I just went shopping. :)  Fun for now, but I'm going to need money!

...That's about all I want to say now, but I'll try to post again soon!

Friday, March 2, 2012

I truly have an amazing life

If it seems that I haven't been blogging in a while, you're right!  Sorry folks, I've been a tad busy and haven't given a second thought to my blog for weeks.  Let's catch up on a few things, shall we?

First off, this is Jonathan. :)  He's the guy I can do crazy, silly, stupid stuff with and he keeps me around anyway.  Ya, I kinda sorta like him a lot. 



For our first date he took me to the Gateway Mall where we stuck clothespins to people, praying they wouldn't notice until after we took off.  Who does that?  I knew he'd be a keeper if he was up for crazy stuff like that. 

Next up:  the Disneyland TinkerBell Half Marathon!
Holy cow, this was an experience I'll never forget.  I ran, and ran, and RAN!  I was just praying I'd cross the finish line rather than be picked up by the golf cart and be carried across.  I started out with the mindset of "just run for the first mile, then you can take a short walk break", but instead I was pushed along with the others.  I didn't want to look like a quitter.  I kept running with the pack!  (Plus, the millions of encouraging words  that hit me from all sides helped out a bit as well!)  I kept running and running.  I probably didn't stop running for 5 miles before it was time to slow down a little. 
The course was amazing.  We got to visit some of my favorite memories... We ran backstage, weaved through the park, and tore through downtown Anaheim, including right past my old apartment building.  As the sun came up and we got a little toasty we didn't stop.  We wouldn't stop!  So what if we're exhausted?  So what if we get a little red?  We kept running strong! 
Mile 11:  The longest I had run previous to the race.  It became my most hated enemy.  My feet started to hurt, but was I going to let that stop me?  No flipping way!  I had come so far, there was no way I was going to let a little thing like pain slow me down.  I pushed through the pain.  I ran harder!  Mile 12:  One more to go!  Push it, girl!  Mile 13:  So close!  Just a teeny tiny bit more now!  13.1!!!  FINISH LINE!  I crossed with my head held high, and my feet on fire.  I had just accomplished something that not many people can say they've done and some people can and will never be able to do.  All it took was a little faith, trust, and pixie dust.
And I didn't just finish.  I came out 6789 of 10213 finishers.  My goal was 3 hours 30 minutes, but my official race time came out 3 hours, 3 minutes!  Definitely one of my best memories that I will cherish for an eternity!


So what have I been up to since then?  I've been doing a lot of pondering about the upcoming summer and next school year.  I have decided to keep living in Provo, rather than moving to Salt Lake.  I've been looking for a new apartment, and I've found a great one.  I will be living at Carriage Cove in a private room, paying almost the same amount as living at Raintree in a shared room.  There are so many reasons to switch and I'm so glad I've found a place that will be so great for me. 

Oh ya, one more thing:  I just got back from ANOTHER Disneyland vacation.  :)  I know I'm spoiled.  This year, because it was a leap year, Disneyland came up with an amazing promotion:  "One More Disney Day".  That one extra day of the year turning into 24 extra hours of Disney magic!  The park was open February 29 at 6 am to March 1 at 6 am.  (I wasn't one of those crazy people who spent the entire 24 hours there.)
My parents, 2 cousins (1 with his family), aunt, grandma, Jonathan, and I drove down to Anaheim, and spent 4 amazing days at the park.  We saw the amazing fireworks, rode almost every ride we wanted (excluding the monorail, omnibus, and the swings), visited Mickey Mouse, watched World of Color, and my favorite:  Fantasmic! (at a special showing at 1:00 AM!)
And it was even better than the typical Disney magic.  I was there with the most amazing guy.  We had so much fun!  I'm glad I found someone that can be almost as crazy about Disney as I am (or at least that he supports my craziness).  We had so much fun this week.


Now it's time to be back home, to get back to my "normal" life.  Really, I know that my life will never be "normal".  I have a wonderful life!  I have a great family, an amazing boyfriend, and the best friends a girl could ask for.  I love my life!  I couldn't have asked for better, and I thank my Heavenly Father for it everyday.