Peace Out!

Here's my "See ya later!" post!

Only 8 more days until I enter the MTC to serve my mission in Orlando.  So I'm going to start updating my mission blog, which you can follow at sisterlakeshagood.blogspot.com.  My mom will post all my emails to it.

Things I'm going to miss while I'm gone:

• My family!  They're the greatest!
• My puppy, Bear
• All my many friends, especially those who will graduate and move on while I'm gone.  Thank goodness for facebook to keep us together when I'm back!
• My guitar, affectionately named Abu (because it's a Jasmine brand.  haha)
• My car, affectionately named DeeDee (because it's cute, spunky, and black, and I'm cute, spunky, and have a black name)
• My piano... not affectionately named anything... but I still love it!  Maybe I'll come up with something good sometime.
• Some of my favorite music: Colbie Caillat, Michael Buble, Indie music, country music, most pop music, stuff like that.  Pandora's my favorite!  (random funny story:  as soon as I typed "Pandora's my favorite" the Pandora station I was listening to froze.  Haha.  I guess it doesn't like me as much as I like it.  The little rebel!)
• College!  I really do love it!
• And on that note, just Rexburg in general.  I never thought I'd say that, but I have SO many good memories of that place!
• Movies.  'nuff said.  
• Normal person clothes.  I'm a sucker for a good pair of jeans!
• Un-frizzy-ish hair, thanks for the dry Idaho air.
• Idaho for that matter.  This has got to be one of the most beautiful states there is!  I LOVE the mountains, rivers, forests, all that jazz.
• MAYBE the snow... at this point, I can't wait to get away from it, but who knows what I'll say when I'm in 90 degree weather with humidity.  Haha
• Playing random games with my family.  Like the one time we burst out into a rousing game of duck-duck-goose at the dinner table.  :)  And the many, many laughs we have together!
• (Get ready for the nerdy side of me...) My Rubik's cubes.  My 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, sphere one, pyramid one, flat one, electronic one, my Disneyland one... yep, I'm a geek, and proud of it!

Even though I'm going to miss all these things, like I said, it's just "See ya later!"  I'll get EVERY one of these things back in just 18 short months.  That makes it much easier to part with them!  But if I wasn't going on my mission, then I wouldn't get these things that I need/want.

Reasons I'm excited for my mission:

• FLORIDA!  Tropical, sunny, warm, paradise
• Spiritual experiences, all day, every day
• I'm going to come back a MUCH better person than when I left.
• New cultural experiences.  I've always wanted to experience life outside of Idaho.
• I get to bring peace and happiness to people's lives.
• I'll learn more about myself
• I might get to see an alligator!  I've basically been obsessed with them for some reason ever since I got my call.  Haha.
• Who wouldn't want to be on the Lord's good side?  haha
• I'm going to be a Sister saving the world, one person at a time!
• I get to wear my Savior's name on my chest, every day.
• My testimony is going to grow so much stronger!

I don't even know what else amazing is going to happen to me on my mission.  But I know one thing.  Without it, I wouldn't end up the same person I will be.  And I want that person!  I can live without all the things I'm leaving behind.  Like I said, I'll get them back in a year and a half!  So bring on the mission!

This is LaKesha Good, signing off, and Sister Good signing on!  So see ya later!

Best Job EVER!

2 1/2 years ago, I got a job at Transitions, Inc. in Idaho Falls, which is a State Developmental Disabilities Agency.  I worked as a therapy technician helping adults with special needs.  This was the summer before I went to my first semester at college.  Before I got the job, I was completely lost about what I wanted to major in.  I couldn't think of anything that held my interest enough to make a living out of it.  I was so confused and didn't know what direction to take.  Once I'd been working there for about a month, it hit me.  I absolutely LOVED my job!  I found myself excited to go into work every day.  So I decided to major in Special Education.  And that's one of the best decisions I've made in my life!

Between every semester at college, I'd come back and work.  Then last summer, I heard that it was closing. I was so incredibly disappointed!  My favorite job was suddenly gone.  So I put in applications at different places, and the first day I went job hunting, I got an interview at The Adventure Center, which is the same type of thing.  I was so blessed to get that job!  I absolutely love it, just as much, if not more, than Transition's.  They're both good companies, and I work with amazing people at both.

It's a very high stress job at times, and definitely a hard job to do, but I wouldn't trade it for anything!  Why do I love it so much?!  Well, here's the reasons!

Every morning when I walk into work, I'm greeted by my clients with huge smiles and high fives and people exclaiming, "Kesha's here!"  It's the greatest welcoming party ever!  It literally makes the day shine brighter.

This is the most rewarding job EVER!  These amazing children of God want to be just like everyone else, and I get to help them learn new skills that will help them on their way to independence.  Seeing them make progress is the greatest feeling ever!

I think these guys teach me more than I could ever teach them.  I learn something new every day!  Some people teach me to be happy about everything.  They show me that it's easy to have a smile on all day, and that it's easy to smile at someone else and make them happy.  Others teach me patience.  It's OK to do things differently.  I've learned to slow down a little.  Things don't have to be as fast paced as the world is becoming.  I've learned that I can do hard things and do immediate, urgent problem solving.  I've learned how to look at EVERYONE as a child of God.  I've learned to count my blessings and to be grateful for the abilities I have.

I've been truly humbled by this experience.  I've developed a love for every single client, even the ones who might be hard to love sometimes.  It's so hard not to love them or be frustrated with them for too long.  Impossible even!  They all have such sweet spirits.  I can't wait to get my degree so I can do even more!

Satan Ain't Getting This Chick!

I think I have the BEST possible calling in my ward.  I get to be a Sunday School teacher for the 14-year-olds.  First of all, it's a tender mercy from the Lord that I got this calling.  I want to be the best possible missionary I can be, and two months left isn't very much time to prepare for it.  There's SO much I still have to learn!  And I think for me, my biggest challenge is going to be getting the lessons together and knowing what I need to say.  So I've been praying for something to help me with my mission preparations, specifically in this thing.  And then I got this calling!  There's a new Youth Curriculum that the church just came out, and it's AWESOME!  It's actually really similar to the BYU-Idaho Learning Model.  It helps me to have flexibility in what I teach, and gives many discussion opportunities.  Like I said, perfect practice for my missionary lessons, right?!

I was putting my lesson together, and the topic is something that I'm SO excited to talk about! It's finding the Lord's hand in your life.  This is something I have a strong testimony of.  I believe that everything that has happened to me has been led by the Lord.  Even the things that have been disappointments to me.  I've had rough spots in my life where things just didn't seem to go the way I wanted. There have been times when nothing has seemed to go right.  I've been discouraged.  But as I've pressed on, I've realized that no matter what the problem is, it will ALWAYS turn out right in the end.  Things always turn out better than I could have ever hoped for!  All you've got to do is believe that the Lord's hand is guiding your life, and that His plan is better than your plan.  One of my favorite scriptures is Isaiah 55:8-9- "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."  This scripture has helped me in so many different situations!  It reminds me that there's always a light at the end of the tunnel.  It reminds me to have no fear.  Just be patient!  A better turnout will ALWAYS happen, as long as we have the faith to endure it.

This lesson also reminded me of something we did when I was a Student Ambassador at BYU-Idaho.  At the end of every shift, we'd gather around and tell a tender mercy we recognized as we did our 2 hour shift.  This experience helped me realize that there's always something the Lord's helping us with, whether it's a simple thought of how to do something, an idea of what to say, or anything!  Tender mercies are always there, we've just got to look for them!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B4El4B9LVw  This is one of my favorite videos!  Check it out!  Then check out the tender mercies in your own life!  I promise, they're there!

I'm just bursting with happiness over this lesson I get to give!  And I'm just bursting with happiness over all of the things the Lord has helped me with!  When the Lord's on your side, nothing's gonna get you down!  Satan will probably try harder to get you down, but who cares?  My goal's to annoy Satan.  He can suck it up and go back down to his pit of misery, because he ain't getting this chick!  My favorite quote: "Be the kind of person so that when your feet hit the floor every morning, Satan says, 'Crap.  She's up.'"