One of those days

I woke up this morning after finally falling back asleep in the middle of the night, my mind racing about the tests coming up in my classes and my complete lack of any time to study or do anything necessary to mildly succeed in my schoolwork.

You see,  I got a job :)

I am a teacher at the MTC!

Yes, that is mine! I am really excited. This means a lot to me, first that I have the opportunity to be back with missionaries again! And that the Lord trusts me to teach them :) And, that I am strong enough to have such a full schedule.

That's what brings me to the title of this post... today, I left for work at 7:30 am. And I didn't finish with classes until I got home. At 10:00. At night.

It was a long day.

It was the type of day when you accidentally get in the down elevator when you need to go up, and then you get out on the wrong floor, and then you realize that you didn't pack any food. So you go to the bookstore in the MTC, and the most filling and nutritious food available is a giant bag of Cheeto's and a can of V8. 

And then, you are late to your 1:00 class, and your phone dies, and your cord is broken, so you buy another cord... which means you are late to your 2:00 class. And then, you fall asleep on the floor of the Marb, in between rows of seats while someone behind you is studying. So you wake up 20 minutes later with lines all over your face and run home to change your clothes before your 4:00 class, and realize you should eat something other than Cheeto's today, so you shove some rice down your throat and run back up to campus... and arrive late to that 4:00 class. But, don't worry, you are on time to your 6:00 class. And you have a square of chocolate to keep your stamina up. And you are on time to your 7:00 class, which goes until 9, and in which you learn how to break off mens' heads who are assaulting you. And you study fairly effectively in your 9:00 class with a new friend and an old friend, with whom you finally form a study group.

And then, exhausted, and after three hours of desperately watching the clock, you run home. 

But a friend needs you, so you stop by. And then another friend needs you, so you go there too. And then your other friend makes you pancakes. And then you get home and sit on your bed and realize that there is a quiz due in 4 minutes. So you take it... and you ace it. Almost. You missed 1.

This is me and my friend Spencer, after a super long day, sitting on the stairs as we awaited our delicious pancakes made for us by the one and only Spencer Bunnell (in the jacket on my left):

And you also get to talk to Alex Nielsen, in the red.

And this kid, Spencer Manning, comes over to chat. And my friend in the green with the never ending patience and huge heart tells me about his rock awesome day :)

And you realize that your day right now, after complaining about how long it was, and how tired you are, is the opposite of what it was one year ago from today.

Last year, on this day, I had just been admitted to the hospital after waiting for a flight all day, which thankfully did not come, and going into critical condition that evening. My companion, after carting me down 3 flights of stairs when I couldn't move my face or swallow anymore, was sleeping with her head on my hospital bed and her hand in mine as we awaited the doctors to finally decide that I was a patient worth paying attention to. 

If you ever doubt or question whether God performs miracles, remember me.

My life is a miracle- I am beginning to teach my first district tomorrow at the MTC, on the anniversary of the end of my mission, and what seemed like life as I knew it. I love God. We have to trust Him, that the hard things are the good things sometimes. 

I want to only learn to trust Him more.

How grateful I am that today, I could have 'One of Those Days.' Let us never take 'those long, hard, tedious days' for granted- for they are most often a gift granted to us from a loving Father.