Costa Rican Craziness

Dear Sis. Johnson the Greatest,

Well, since we didn’t get a big email from you last week, all I have to go on from you is the few lines that you wrote me about how you will keep buggering on and how you love your new area and companion. At least, that’s what I think it said. I’m writing this to you on the plane from Houston (I was there again!) to Salt Lake, so I don’t have internet.

I’m glad that you’re liking Beaumont. What’s with all the French names? I don’t like French. Too many letters to express one vowel sound. Suriously. Hopefully, it’s better than the name.

Since I don’t know what to write to you, having no idea of your needs due to the lack of communication, I’ll just tell you about my week.

Well, I was in Costa Rica all week. Monday through Thursday we worked with our NGO, Friday we went to a research facility called CATIE, Saturday we went to this amazingly beautiful beach, and today we went to church and now we’re coming home. (Side note: the lady in the seat beside me is totally singing along to her iPod. Little weird, but whatever….) I can’t tell you exhaustively what we did, but here are some highlights.

So, the NGO we’re working with is called AED (this stands for something in Spanish, but I’m not sure what.) They are THE name in Costa Rica for corporate social responsibility, or CSR. That’s when companies recognize that they don’t operate in a bubble, and that they have to be mindful of the external effects that they have on the environment, economy, and community.

So, they basically teach companies how to be more socially responsible and do those things. They have member companies who they give trainings and tools to to measure sustainability. It’s super cool, and they do some amazing things. All week we talked with AED, met with their member companies, attended some of their trainings, and visited some of their more independent projects.

One of their projects is this amazingly complicated bridge between the ministry of education, the teachers’ unions, individual schools, and some private businesses to create this amazing information system that is changing the way public education is run in Costa Rica. It’s called PIAD, and it’s rung by this guy named Luis who is a lawyer and has a PhD in development economics, so we got to talk to him for an hour, and he’s kind of my non-profit, social development hero. If I explain more the technical details, you’ll get bored, and I’ll sound really nerdy, but suffice it to say that he’s cool.

We also visited a food bank that they helped start with Wal-Mart, and attended several of their training workshops. My Spanish is such that these were mostly non-comprehensible, and hence kind of boring, but I tried to not doze off.

One time we were trying to make it to this cement company to get to one of AED’s workshops, and the directions we got told us that it was close to the disco place called La Rumba, so we got out of the taxi there, but then the actual place was like 2 kilometers away, so me and my teammates ended up walking down the side of the road in our professional clothes, and asking everyone we met where this place was. Jess and I got a cool pic where we look like sister missionaries walking down this random road in our skirts and backpacks. Made me think of you. We saw some cows, and it was actually quite pretty, but we were about an hour late. Honestly, nothing we could have really done about it, though.

So, we basically went to trainings and meetings all day, and let me tell you it was quite a different perspective on international development. Most of the other teams were working in slum neighborhoods or with school kids, but we were going to fancy business meetings that always featured 30 minute long coffee breaks with little sandwiches, and the most amazing guanavana juice. (Seriously, you should totes try some.) Kylan, Jess, and I were just like, “Yep, this is development work. We’re eating quiches and sitting in air conditioning.” It felt more like a high-end business trip.

AED was super nice and gracious to us though, setting up all sorts of meetings and going way out of their way to help us not get lost; unfortunately, not so successful on that last point sometimes. There are amazing people doing quality work who really want to help others all over the world. I’ve met them everywhere I go. Like, Luis with the school program, could probably be making a lot more money doing something else, but he’s dedicated to what he does and feels like he’s making a real difference, which he is. That’s inspiring. It’s cool people like that. They give me hope.

We tried to get into the national football (soccer) stadium to see part of the under-17 FIFA women’s world cup, but we got there too late. We did strike up a lovely conversation with one of the ticket hawkers, before we realized tha the game had started at 2:00, instead of 3:00, and that there was only 20 minutes left. He was a rather attractive young guy with a great smile and awesome tan. We were joking with him as Jess (who speaks great Spanish) and Prof. Turley (who speaks 10% Spanish) haggled over ticket prices. When we went to leave, I went to shake his hand, but he refused and said that in Costa Rica women don’t shake hands they kiss. He then pointed to his mouth or cheek, and cheekily said, “You choose.” I got all giggly and embarrassed and said that I couldn’t, because you know, boyfriend and stuff, but then everyone was like, “you should have done it!” Missed opportunity I guess.

The workweek accumulated with us staying up until 12:30 on Wednesday to try and come up with some topic ideas to pitch to AED to next day that we could work on. People were getting a little tipsy, and I got to know my classmates and Professor Turley better than I ever thought I would. Can’t say I didn’t kind of enjoy it, though.

Friday we finally left San Jose to visit this research institute where one of Professor Turley’s friends work. The institute is also a botanical garden where they do all this amazing research on best agricultural practices. We got a tour of the garden, and I’ve never been so amazed by plants. I feel like everyone he pointed out did something super cool. Plants that were natural mosquito repellants, plants that ate bugs, a leaf that was a natural sandpaper (which Jess later discovered was great for rubbing calluses off the bottoms of your feet), seeds that could change bitter to sweet in your mouth, every kind of flour and fruit imaginable, not to mention the drugs. That’s right, they had all sorts of crazy hallucinogens that I’ve never even heard of, but some of the ones that we did see were cocaine (boil three leaves for five minutes and drink for five hours of crazy energy!), morning glory (the most hallucinogenic crazy drug of them all), and this “natural viagra” called the black something….

That’s right. Plants do all sorts of crazy things. Whoda thunk.

That afternoon we listened to Prof. Turley’s friend and her colleague present their research. I’ve been thinking more about research and doctoral work, and it seems really cool. Who knows….

Saturday we got up at 5:00(!) to drive to this national park that had a jungle beach, meaning that the jungle went right up to the beach. It was amazingly beautiful (pics included), and we had a great time doing playing on the beach stuff. A raccoon stole my Dorritos out of my bag, the little bugger.

Sunday we went to church in San Jose again, which was great. They have an amazing little ward there. Made me wish I could understand more what was actually being said. I love the church.

Well, your quote this comes from me because I have no internet to look up some Dr. Who wisdom for you. It’s from said late-night brainstorming-what-the-crap-are-we-going-to-tell-AED-tomorrow-they’re-so-amazing session. I come out of the bedroom frustrated that I didn’t even have time to talk to Daniel that night on Skype:

Tonya: I’m so frustrated that this is taking forever and you (Prof Turley) just got here and we have nothing, and I don’t even have time to talk to my boyfriend! Grrrr.

Everyone else: *stares at Tonya

Prof Turley laying splayed out on the couch: Uh, sorry.

Tonya: *acca-awkward*: Oops. Well, let’s think of something….

We then proceeded to complete in 20 minutes with Prof Turley what we’d been brainstorming about for 5 hours over the past two days. Sometimes, you just need an expert.

I love you,

Tonya 

We saw some crocs just hanging under a bridge.

Jess and I would have been great companions.

We got lost and saw some cows. 

The school that we visited with PIAD.

The beach was pretty. 

Costa Rica and Stuff

Dear Sis Johnson the Coolest,

Heya, sis. Sorry for the crappy emails for the past few weeks. I'm going to write you a quality one now because I'm in for the night and it's only 9:30. Oh, and I love you. 

Where did you end up getting transferred to? How close was I to you when I was in the Houston airport? I liked that airport. They had a Jamba Juice, and there was a group of precocious, violin-playing teenagers from Boulder who were on our flight to Costa Rica. They played their violins in the terminal, and everyone thought it was cool, but I thought it was kind of weird. 

Anyway, I hope that you weren't too heart broken about leaving Lake Chuck. I figured you were probably out of there because you'd been there for like 6 months, and most of the time you don't stay in an area for longer than that. 

So, how's your new place? How's your new companion? Are you senior companion? Training? Just being awesome? You have been out for more than 10 months. That's a long time, but you still have miles to go until you rest, so as Churchill says in that one Dr Who episode KBO, "Keep buggering on."  

So, I'm writing to you now from our hotel in San Jose, Costa Rica. But before that let me tell you about my crazy week!

So, Monday and Tuesday I was in DC. I went to the conference on Monday and learned some cool stuff, then came home and wrote a paper. Then Tuesday I had my interview with GAO in the morning. It was a panel interview with three women, and they were all super nice. I wasn't sure how I felt about it, but the next morning I got an email with a job offer. 

WHAT?! I know, right?! The next morning! I've never heard back that quickly from any interview, and it's the federal government. So, now the problem was that I had two amazing offers and only one summer to do them in. My life is so hard, right? 

So, I wanted to job share and do half the summer at Sandia and half in DC, but Sandia said no because of the long process behind getting a security clearance and getting trained and everything wouldn't make it worth it, so after much consideration, I went with GAO, so I'm going to be in DC for the whole summer, which is going to be AWESOME!! 

So, that happened. Change of plans. 

Then, I did a whole bunch of school work to get ready  for coming to Costa Rica this weekend. On Friday, I tore up the town. I went to Daniel's concert, which was amazing! Then we went and ate tacos with his friend Marley, and then we went rock climbing.

Then we drove to the airport Saturday morning at 3:30 in the morning, which was ridiculous, but worth it because we got here at like 2:00 in the afternoon, and that was when I was in the Houston airport. Fun fact, Costa Rica is in the same time zone as Utah and Colorado, just a bit farther south. 

After we found our way to our hotel, we went down town where we ate dinner and wandered around, taking in the sights and sounds. San Jose is like every other large city in the developing world: noisy, crowded, stinky, dirty, and with people every five feet  all yelling trying to sell you stuff. In this case, socks, ripped DVDs and mini snickers bars out of a shoe box. No idea, how she came up with that one.... 

Then today we went to church in the morning. We found the building kind of OK, Prof. Turley was concerned because we were all in different taxis, and he didn't want us to get split up, but then it turns out that it was an old, unused building, and there was definitely not anyone having church there, s on the cab driver's suggestion, we drove around for another 30 minutes until we finally found a iglesia de los Mormones. 

Church was great. I got about 30% of sacrament meeting, 5% of Sunday school, and 60% of relief society. It depended on who was talking. All the members were super nice, and they were celebrating the birthday of the relief society, so everything was about how awesome the relief society is. 

After church, we drove up into the mountains, which was a beautiful drive, and then went to a volcano that was so beautiful we couldn't even see it. No kidding, though, there was too much sulfuric steam to really see anything but a white wall. But there was a cool lake at a crater where the volcano used to be before it got all hipster and decided that the cool kids were about a half mile away on the other side of the mountain. 

So, we saw that, and then we went to this place called La Paz. It had waterfalls and a wildlife refugee. There's pictures below that will do a much better job of explaining than me. It was beautiful, and exactly what I pictured when I thought of coming to Costa Rica. 

Then, we stopped for some yummy food on the way home. Costa Rican food is mainly beans, meat, and rice, so... my favorite things! 

Tomorrow we start to work for real, and meet with the non-profit that we're consulting with. Here's hoping it all goes well! 

Your quote this week is from Dr Who, the best show, again. It's from the one when the Doctor's supposed to die, but then they get caught in an alternate space-time thingy where all of history is happening at once. Dr. Who's trying to set Rory up with Amy in this alternate reality,

"The Doctor: The loyal soldier, waiting to be noticed, always the pattern: why is that?

Rory: Sorry, sir?

The Doctor: Your boss, you should just ask her out. She likes you. She said so.

Rory: [Dryly] Really, sir? What did she say?

The Doctor: Ah, she just sort of generally indicated —

Rory: [Turns and looks him straight in the eye] What exactly did she say?

The Doctor: [Stuttering] Well, she said you were a Mr. Hottie-ness... and that she would like to go out with you for texting and scones. [Smiles hopefully]

Rory: [Stares at him] You really haven't done this before, have you?

The Doctor: No, I haven't.

I love you!!

Tonya

Craters

Dear Sis. Johnson the Greatest,

I'm so glad to hear that you're working so hard and having such great success. It sounds like you've hit your stride as a missionary, and you know what that means! Soon, the Lord is going to throw you a massive curve ball.

It sounds like setting all those goals and doing all that planning really paid off. Keep up the good work and keep annoying your companions with your cool laser pen. It's totes true, though, that the Lord is in control of your timing and puts you not just where you need to be, but sometimes infinitely more important, when you need to be there.

Things that are happening here: well, last week was fun. Daniel and I went to swimming in the hot-spring created crater in Midway on Thursday. He got a groupon from his sister for Christmas. It was fun. The water was the perfect temperature, and there were lots of people doing their scuba certification stuff there. I can take pictures underwater with my new phone case. That was probably the funnest part.

On Friday, we had a full night. We went to see "The Importance of Being Earnest," which was good, but not as good as the movie with Reese Witherspoon, Collin Firth and them all, but still hilarious and a riotous good farce. I love that play. Then, we went and ate delicious tacos, went climbing and hung out. Quite a good evening.

Saturday Daniel was working, so I went to a Jerusalem Center reunion with Brooke and then did some shopping because I'm going to be in DC this month for a conference, which should be neat! There's an American Society for Public Administrators, and they have an annual conference, which is in DC this month. I applied to be a fellow, and got accepted, so I get to go for FREE!! 

I can't believe how fast time is flying. The semester is more than half over, and I'm going to be out of town most of March. Oh yeah, I'm going to Costa Rica with my economics of international development class March 22-30. We're going to be consulting some NGOs down there on best ways ti implement their policy objectives based on research that we've done. Cool, eh?!

The trip came as a total surprise when our econ professor was explaining our last project for the semester was to work with NGOs in the field. He said we had two options: one was to stay here and work with this local NGO and the other was to work with one of five NGOs in Costa Rica. We all freaked out  pretty hard core as he went on to explain that the Ballard Center was subsidizing our trip, and that we only have to pay $300 for the whole week.

WHAT?! So, I'll tell you all about Costa Rica. I'm working on my Spanish now, too, but it's pretty rusty/non-existent.

Sunday was a great fast Sunday and stuff, and the rest of the week was pretty much me running around madly trying to do everything that I need to for school.

Your quote this week is from the "Importance of Being Earnest" when Algy is explaining "Bunburying" to Jack in the first act, "The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Modern life would be very tedious if it were either, and modern literature a complete impossibility!"

I love you!

Tonya

P.S.The first pic is a pic of a solar flare taken with different types of cameras.

The second is me and Daniel underwater

Going U-Kray-kray

So, I am by no means  an expert on the situation in the Ukraine, but I did find some interesting tidbits that I thought would be neat to share.

The Economist had some suggestions for what the West  can do to help the Ukraine retain its independence and avoid becoming a Russian satellite state again:

"A military response to Russian aggression or the threat of fast-track NATO membership for Ukraine are unthinkable. So the West will fall back on lesser, diplomatic measures in an attempt to isolate Russia within the international community. First, all seven of the other G8 members could say they are not going to Sochi unless Mr Putin backs off. Secondly, the US Congress could substantially widen the application of the so-called Magnitsky Law to include Mr Putin and his Kremlin cronies. Thirdly, trade sanctions could be applied including work to begin freezing Russian banks out of the international financial settlement system. Fourth, a UN Security Council resolution could be prepared condemning Russia for aggression against an independent country that might attract the support of China (always first to denounce intervention in the affairs of a sovereign state) even though Russia would, of course, veto it. Last, the West needs to show ordinary Ukrainians that it will back the new government and that it, not Russia, can offer a path to prosperity." The Economist 3/2/13

Also,  I love Stephen Colbert's take on the situation. Although a few days old, I just like seeing Putin in a dress.

Craziness!

Dear Sis. Johnson the Snazziest,

Well, I at least think that you're snazzy. I'm sorry that you spent your birthday planning for eight hours. That seems a bit excessive to me, but I guess planning is a good thing?

And you are totes the Doctor.

Did you get the pen? Is it not super cool?

This week has been kind of crazy as illustrated by the fact that I have to go to bed soon so that I can get up tomorrow morning to write, not edit, write a paper that's due  tomorrow about Sendhil Mullainathan. If you don't know who that is, that's OK, neither do I. Yet...

So, here's a brief rundown in bullet form

• Monday: woke up in Vegas, went climbing in Red Rock Canyon. It was awesome. Daniel, Nathan, Nate, and I climbed for about three hours. I led a 5.10b. The rocks were awesome, the weather was perfect, and we got in for free because it was a holiday. Thank you dead presidents. (pic included of me leading the route)

• Tuesday-Thursday: lots of school. I took two midterms on Thursday which is more than I thought I would get done. Not fun.
• Friday: Daniel and I went and saw Walk Off the Earth in Salt Lake. They were playing at the same place that we saw Lindsey Stirling. They were AWESOME! They have great stage presence and put on an awesome show, just like I knew they would. (pic included)

 

• Saturday: Daniel and I doubled with this other couple and went climbing up Rock Canyon. The other couple had never been climbing before. I was going to lead the climb because Daniel didn't want to, but then this giant rock came tumbling down the hill and hit me in the leg. I wasn't even climbing. I was just standing there, and it hit me smack in the thigh. The guys climbing below us all winced and asked if I was OK. It hurt a lot, so I took a minute, and shook it off and then lead the route because I am THAT hard core, and I figured that if I didn't climb it then no one would get to climb it and there goes the point of the trip.. (pic of my awesome bruise included)

• Saturday night: went to a cougarettes concert with the roomies. They are really good at what they do, dancing that is. they are all white, from Utah, have danced since they were three, and their moms all own dance studios. Rather homogenous.
  
• Sunday: Today was fun. I went to church, hung with Daniel and skyped the parental units.

  

  It's now a little more purple than this...

So, that's what happened.

You quote this week is from The Fault in Our Stars, which I can't remember if you read or not, but should if not, when you get home, "Pain demands to be felt." Kind of gloomy, but true, I think.

I love you!
Tonya 

Of Dead Presidents and Las Vegas

Dear Sis Johnson the Twenty-year-old,

I hope you had a great birthday! How did you celebrate? I hope it involved lots of delicious food and presents. Did you get the cool pen that I sent? If you didn't, please go pick it up from wherever you pick up packages. It is awesome. It has both a 4gb USB drive and a laser pointer. That's right. A laser pointer. Whaaaat?! I figured you could use it to play with small animals when you are very carefully not touching them as per Dad's instructions. Hopefully it works. It seemed like one of those things that might not be the most reliable. 

Also, you're 9 months in, which means that you might finally be feeling like you have some idea of what you're doing as a missionary. This surely means that you are about to get transferred or put in a leadership position. We have received instructions from your mission president not to make you trunky, so forget that I mentioned you coming home. "You didn't hear anything."

It's great that your comps with a ginger. I keep thinking of Dr. Who every time he regenerates saying, "still not a ginger," but he does like his ginger companions. Donna and Amy are both pretty gingers.  

Anyway, I think it's awesome that you're having good teaching times. It sounds like your investigator pool has filled out a bit. That's good. The longer you are in an area, the more fluctuations you will see in your teaching pool. It's like the economy, it comes in waves. That's right. I just made an economics joke.  

So, it might surprise you to hear (or maybe not considering the frequency of my little adventures) that I'm not in Provo at the moment. I'm in Las Vegas. Daniel and I decided to elope. Please send gifts to my Provo address.

Pscyh! No, a girl in our ward is from Vegas and she invites a bunch of people down from the ward to visit her family every year, so we came down to enjoy the company and Red Rocks Canyon, which is a super popular climbing area just outside of town. We drove down yesterday afternoon because Daniel is in men's chorus and had a concert yesterday morning. 

It was a great concert. I got to see Daniel do the haka because they sang a Maori song and combined it with an abbreviated haka. It was excellent. 

On the way down to Vegas, we stopped in St George to do some climbing. We got lost trying to find the first spot we wanted to go to (this happens a lot. I feel like I spend 80% of my climbing time figuring out where the heck we can go.) So, we gave up after a few minutes and drove back down the road to a crag that was easily accessible from the road. We only had time to do two routes. Daniel led his first route outside, and I led a 10.C. Then the sun was setting, so we got on the road and kept driving to Vegas.

When we got here, we ate some dinner and then we headed down to the strip where we were going to get frozen hot chocolate, but then it was $11 a cup!! And we was like, "Ain't nobody got money for dat!" Instead, we just watched the fountain show at the Belagio and were entertained by this street magician who did some impressive sleight of hand with two red foam balls. The people you meet in Vegas. 

I forgot how diverse the rest of the world not-Provo is. It was good to see people from different walks of life. I did realize that there is a whole culture involving the consumption of alcohol that I just don't understand. I think that's OK, though, but it does create an understanding barrier between me and all the people who spend $30 for a yard-long margarita. 

Anyway, we went to church this morning and now we're just chilling together and getting ready for dinner. Tomorrow we're going climbing, and it's going to be awesome! I will send you pics. 

Other things that happened this week was a great Valentines day with Daniel. We went out on Thursday because Daniel had to work on Friday. The near-hour long wait was worth it partially because Daniel  and I read The Economist while we waited. That's right. We're nerds. 

After dinner, we went to see the Saratov Approach at the dollar theater. This movie is about two missionaries who get kidnapped while serving in Russia. In the end, the kidnappers release them after the Church and their family refuse to pay the ransom as it would set a bad precedent for kidnapping hopefuls all over the world. 

It was kind of a miracle that they didn't just kill them. You should see it. It's neat. I think you're probably at a low-risk for kidnapping as you are not in Russia, so no worries. 

I wish that I could update you on the Olympics, but I know nothing. I've only seen two events: the men's slalom skiing and the men's long-program skating. This Japanese guy in the most hideous, sparkly shirt I've ever seen won. This cute half-Chinese Canadian came in second, so that was nice. I think that men's skating is n excuse for the world's costume designers to show off all their worst designs at a venue where no one can tell them no. Blech. 

Your quote this week is from when the Doctor introduces himself to Rose for the first time, and talks about how awesome he is:  " It's like when you're a kid. The first time they tell you that the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it 'cause everything looks like it's standin' still. I can feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinnin' at 1,000 miles an hour and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at 67,000 miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're fallin' through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go...That's who I am."

I love you!!

Tonya 

Classy Murder Mystery Banquets and Lead Tests

Dear Sis. Johnson the Sassiest,

Admit it. You're sassy, you sassy pants. I bet you're a sassy missionary too. I'm so glad that you get to stay in Louisiana for another 6 weeks. That means that you'll be in Lake Charles for 6 months, right? I was in Roi Et for 6 months. Roi Et was the smallest area in the mission for sisters, and I swear I invited every street in that area by the time I left. I think Lake Charles is a little bigger than that.

How's the new comp? Crazy that you're still in a three-some. How did the last one go? Did you adjust to having three people teaching? Was it like a party all the time? Three people is so much more fun than two.

I can't believe that you're  going to be 20! And the last Johnson child leaves tennagedom. That's it. I'm officially old, and Mom and Dad are ready to retire. I hope you do something awesome for your birthday like eat some ice cream or jumbo or cake or something. 

I am so grateful for your service and know that there is no other way that you could better be spending your time. What you're doing now has eternal consequences for you, your investigators, your companions, the members you serve with, and your family. Missions are so awesome. 

So, thank you and Happy Birthday. 

Anyway, I loved those stories  about the little boy praying for his Mom and accidentally finding that less active. How are Michael and Randy doing? The Lord is totally leading people to you because you are totally prepared and worthy to teach them. 

As for things going on with me, it's been a pretty great week. I had lots of tests (well, that wasn't part of the greatness) I didn't do so well in budgeting because all our prof said about the test was that it would be over everything that we'd learned so far, and then he and the TA went out of town for the week. Lamesauce. The other test went better, I think. Finance and budgeting were the two classes. I know, you're excited hearing about it. 

I found time to go to a basketball game too this week. We watched our cougs trump the Santa Clara Broncos (no, not THE Broncos who also got trumped but in the superbowl. Please take a moment of silence... It's OK though because everyone still loves Peyton Manning. I saw an article about it on the internet, so it must be true.)

Aside from studying, I went to a "classy mystery banquet" with Daniel. One of his friends from school wrote this whole mystery story, and then he invited a bunch of people to a fancy banquet. Every guest had a role assigned and we went around trying to found out who the "murderer" was and what not. 

It was pretty amazing. There were about 50 people there and the host knew everyone's part and how it all fit together. Daniel was a German scientist working on cold fusion, and I was a German oboist, who was playing in the Berlin symphony. Daniel put on this great German accent for most of the night. It was great fun, and I discovered that in addition to being a great Hermione Granger real-life-double, I also make a great bitter, German oboist.So, that was fun.

Last night I went to the ward Valentine's Day party. They had amazing fondue. Then my roommates and some guy friends from the ward went and got amazing tacos from that place that Dallin took us before. Yum, yum, yum.

This morning I got up painfully early for a Sunday and went to Music and the Spoken Word at the tabernacle in Salt Lake. My visiting teacher is in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir now, and it was her first time singing in the broadcast, so a bunch of us went up to support her. She sounded great! And looked great in their little half-mumus. 

The most ironic part of the whole venture was that no guys came. There were about 13 girls and no boys. Story of this ward. I did hear that some of the guys in the ward, upon seeing the picture we took in the tabernacle with all of those amazingly beautiful women sans men, said, "Dang, man! We should have gone!" Yes, you should have. 

Church was good and then Luiza made dinner and we had a lot of people over. All in all, fun was had. No tests this week too! Yay!

Your quote this week is from the Doctor again. I'm in season 5 now with Doctor the 11th and Amy Pond. I'm loving it more than ever. This is from the first episode when he finally comes back for Amy.

 Amy Pond: I thought... Well, I started to think you were just a mad man with a box.The Doctor: Amy Pond, there's something you better understand about me 'cause it's important and one day your life may depend on it: I am definitely a mad man with a box.

I love you!

Tonya 

Knew it. 

A Word on Hermione Granger

So, I totally don't have time to be doing this with a presentation in an hour and a test tomorrow, but I have to add my two cents to the Hermione-Ron-Harry debacle that's been cantering around the internet.

As some of you know, I consider Hermione to be my fictional soul-character. If I were to be any character in literature, it would be her, and I think we have a lot in common: amazing hair, a love for learning, an immense fear of failure, and an intense drive to succeed at whatever is thrown in our path.

Check the hair. 

I remember when we were waiting for the third book to come out, and our home teacher predicted that Hermione would be with Ron and Harry with Ginny. At first, 12-year-old me was shocked! Hermione was so awesome, she totes deserved the hero!

Then I grew up and thought about it more and realized that Hermione and Ron were a great fit for each other. Here's my reasoning why:

Hermione needs a yin for her yang. She needs someone who can tell her to chill out, help her laugh at life, and stop her when she's being too ridiculous. Ron is exactly this person. He has always been able to simultaneously infuriate her and make her laugh. He helps her realize when she's taking herself too seriously, and will help her maintain a perspective when things don't go perfectly according to her well-laid plans. Opposites don't always attract, but Ron and Hermione do in all the important ways.

Don't get me wrong. Hermione and Ron will definitely fight. In our organizational behavior class, we called this storming. It's a part of team building and a necessary part of growing together as a team, or in a relationship. The great thing about Ron and Hermione is that they're not afraid to fight with each other. They're going to get all their issues right out in the open, yell about them for a bit, and then find a way to come together and resolve them because they love each other and want to make it work.

Ron, under all his character flaws is a very loyal friend. Only intense love and loyalty could motivate him to continue to live under Harry's shadow as a best friend. Albeit, there is a point where his delicate ego can't take it anymore and he leaves, but the best part is he COMES BACK! Relationships are about forgiving each other and helping each other grow. Ron is loyal enough to stick with Hermione through the thick and thin. He may storm out for a bit, but he'll come right back.

I could go on, but homework, studying, and my own life is calling my name. Maybe despite all the other reasons. I think Ron would be with Hermione because personally I would go for Ron over Harry, or anyone else in the books. He's not perfect, he's rough around the edges, but he's willing to learn, grow and forgive with Hermione, and I think that's what's important in a long-term relationship.

Curly-haired Woes

Don't get me wrong. Most of the time I love my curly hair, but sometimes.... not so much. Sorry for the occasional awkward language of this post. It was too accurate not to share. 29 Things People with Curly Hair Can Never Do.

Happy Chinese New Year and Other Things

Dear Sis. Johnson my Favoritest, 

I can't believe it snowed in Louisiana. Are you freezing? I really hope that you went out and bought some warm clothes. I'm sure Mom can put some more money in your account in the interest of you retaining the use of all fingers and toes. I bought a pair of nice boots earlier this winter because I was tired of my feet being so cold. I would recommend investing. 

I'm glad that you're taking members with you when you teach. Sometimes a member friend can literally make all the difference with an investigator, especially when you're  working to overcome linguistic or cultural differences. I can't tell you how many times on the mission we were asked if there were Thai people at our church. We would reassure them that we were the only white people, but having a member there ups your cred about 1000%. 

Are you getting transferred? Is is transfers week. I predict that there is a 70% chance that you are getting transferred. There's my "phayagoning" skills coming in handy. "Phayagon" means to prophesy in Thai, and it's  what we would call it when all the sisters in the mission tried to predict  where and when we would be transferred. Since there was only about 20 of us it wasn't that hard, but I suspect  that your mission has many more sisters now. 

Anyway, keep up the good work. From my accounting, you've been out more than 8 months, which means that you're coming up on your half way point. This is when you've been on the mission so long that it feels like forever, but you still have an eternity in front of you. Don't worry, it'll fly by.  

I remember looking at the airport signs in Bangkok and thinking that I would never actually go there, and then, BAM! It happened, and I was like, "Wait... WHAT?! What happened to my mission? I want it back!" But some days, hours,  moments will be longer and honestly a struggle, so just keep on fighting. In Thai, they say, "Suu Suu!" It literall means, "Fight, fight!!"

Things here are going good. This week was kind of low key too. I did a lot of school stuff all week as per usual. I'm learning all  sorts  of interesting stuff about government finances and budgets.... Said no one ever... 

Just kidding. It really is interesting to learn about where all the services we take for granted come from and the process in deciding what gets provided and how. Interesting... but occasionally a little dry. 

Other things. Thursday Daniel and I played racquetball. I'd never really played,  so he taught me how and then proceeded to beat me soundly twice.  

Friday night we went to see "The Book Thief"  together. I'd already seen it  and read the book, but Daniel hadn't. He cried at the end. I re-read the book this week too. The book is so much better than the movie,  but the movie  is excellent too. 

Saturday I went to a Chinese New Year Party at the Wilk. 

The Party in A Nutshell:

The Wilk ballroom has been set up with lots of round tables. There's a large screen  at the  front broadcasting the Chinese Times Square equivalent of a New Year's celebration.

More Asians than I've ever seen in  Provo  mill  around waiting in line to get food,  which according to my friend Liz, is Americanized Chinese food, which she would never eat in China.

The walls and ceilings are adorned with red Chinese lanterns and random banners with indiscernible Chinese characters on them. 

I wait in line behind a pack of teenage Asian girls who occasionally  look up from their banana-cover cell phones to communicate with those around  them. 

After we finally get food, a variety show of sorts starts, which, of  course,  features lots of karaoke. This may sound very stereotypical. Yep. My favorite part was when they made white people who couldn't speak Chinese get up in front of everyone and sing along to Chinese songs with sound-cancelling head phones on. The point was to have someone in the audience guess the song. I played this before, but we called it Helen Keller. If  you're wondering why, try it.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Today was a great fast and testimony meeting. Fasting is hard, but it's always worth it. I'm sure  you've  heard that the Broncos lost the super bowl. A more accurate description would be the Broncos got smeared across the field by the Seahawks. 

Daniel and I stopped watching after the Seahawks  were up 40 points in the 4th quarter and read the Economist together on my iPhone. So, that was disappointing, but like a true sports fan, we lift our heads and say, "Well, there's always next year."

Your quote this week is  again from the Doctor. Love him. It's from the last episode with the 10th Doctor when the Doctor's bringing the alien salvage ship into the atmosphere so he can stop the Master and save planet earth, " There's an old Earth saying, Captain. A phrase of great power and wisdom and consolation to the soul in times of need. Allons-y!!" 

Just remember that next time you're feeling down about missionary work.

Allonsy!

Tonya

Why are Mean Girls quotes on Harry Potter memes  the funniest thing on the internet?

I know.