General Conference!

Okay, so since finals week is arriving Monday...I know that my stress levels will be even higher than they were during my last post. I've come to realize that I need to remember the happy times in my life, the times that truly gave me great joy such as serving as a full time missionary in the Brazil João Pessoa Mission and marrying my lovely wife Whitney. I've come to the conclusion this past week that since I decided that I wanted to get married and fulfill Heavenly Father's will, I decided that I should take on ALL the responsibilities that come with it instead of allowing my parents and in-laws to help. However, I've also noticed that they both are quite stubborn when it comes to things like that. I also realize that I have a lot to learn in the aspect of following the promptings that Heavenly Father gives me.

Today I was contacted at work by a guy that is very nice and kind who basically is offering me a job. I was quite estatic and I felt that it was an answer to my prayers and invited him to come over to explain what the job was exactly. I explained to Whitney what was happening and she was a bit skeptical as I was deep down but I was more excited to get into a job that would be beneficial for my family and I. I had been praying about it all day that Heavenly Father would help me discern between a good opportunity and one that would completely destroy my fiances. Unfortunately, this opportunity will destroy my finances if I continue or "give in" but I did receive an answer to a prayer it just wasn't the prayer that I thought it was. We had a good conversation when he first came over, but as he was preparing to share the movie that explains everything he made a comment that I will never forget. He said, "I don't know what it is about you but I just felt like I could talk to you and so I did." The answer that Heavenly Father gave me was a remembrance from my mission and what some of the families had told me as I taught them. They told me, "I feel so comfortable in talking with you. I feel like I can talk to you and you ALWAYS have the answer!"

Okay, so I don't always have the answer but I definitely have something about me that makes people feel comfortable when they talk with me. Having that thought in my mind it is a great confirmation that this major change that I am making, is something that Heavenly Father wants me to do. He doesn't want me to be completely in the medical field as a doctor which has been my dream since I can remember. He doesn't want me to be a Pulmonologist, lung doctor. He wants me to be a Marriage and Family Counselor. The major that I have decided to change to is Professional Clinical Emphasis in Marriage and Family Studies. It is just what I need to do. If people feel comfortable around me, than why shouldn't I use my talents to help as many of Heavenly Father's children return to His presence by helping them with their families or marriages that seem to be not working out the way they are supposed to.

I may not be super smart, as I know I am not, but I know that when Heavenly Father tells me to do something I will. If I don't follow the promptings that Heavenly Father gives me I would not be as happy or as blessed as I am today, even with all of the stresses that are in my life. I have a beautiful wife that I wouldn't have if I didn't follow the prompting I received to marry her, nor would I have a baby girl coming into the world in three months! I  wouldn't have served a mission to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with many awesome people that I love and miss dearly! Nor would I have the wonderful blessing and opportunity to work in the Temple every Saturday from 9am to 430pm to assist in weddings. I am so grateful for the promptings that Heavenly Father has given me.

Now for my reasoning for the title of this post, it is because tomorrow(Saturday) and Sunday The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is having its biannual General Conference where we have the privilege and opportunity to hear from a modern day prophet who is Thomas S. Monson. He is a man called of God to guide us and direct us in these latter days! I am ever so grateful and excited to hear his counsel and the counsel of his counselors and also members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles who are disciples of Jesus Christ! I am excited to find answers to questions that I have had and hopefully receive confirmation and more guidance for the things that I will be doing within the next 6 months! If anyone reading this would like to check out what the Prophet of the Lord has to say, you can go to www.lds.org and watch any of the 4 sessions! They are on Saturday from 10am to 12pm MST and 2pm to 4pm MST. Then on Sunday from 10am to 12pm MST and 2pm to 4pm MST. It is a wonderful opportunity but if you can't watch them at those times, that is okay because the recordings will be on this same website after the session has gone through. They will also be posting the conferences in PDF format if you would like to read them instead! It is a wonderful opportunity and I encourage all to watch at least one session this weekend! I pray for the well being of everyone and I hope that everyone receives many blessings from our Father in Heaven!

Hope...

Life is full of interesting events...I wish that I always knew the correct answer to things but for some reason I don't. It is probably better that way. I am excited for this day to end as it has been a pretty crappy one with no motivation to do anything. I hope I can find a new job soon and I hope that during my week of break that I will be able to rest up and have no worries. I hope that I will have the opportunity to have fun and not worry about anything! I hope that next semester won't be as hard as I am anticipating it to be. I don't understand some things that happen in my life or reactions that I get. But for some odd reason they happen and I have learn to live with them. Heavenly Father is really creative! He knew that we would have these "interesting" experiences and I think He hopes that we always succeed.

Stress sucks. haha It is so true and I'm able to take in a certain amount but after that amount, I no longer am able to handle it. I think we get over loaded with things and we can only take a that certain amount. Once that amount hits it seems that nothing goes right. What's funnier is we are supposed to help one another in our goals, trials, etc. Yet sometimes, I think it is some people's goals to make others lives that much more complicated. Yet I know, this too shall pass. Therefore, I think its better to go to bed and not worry about things for the rest of this day and tomorrow will be better! :)

Well...since its been a month I guess I should post a blog...haha Well Whitney and I recently have switched wards. A ward is basically a congregation from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and it is basically a form of a family unit, in a way, kinda. Anyway, our boundaries were changed and we experienced our first Sunday in the ward today. It was super quiet as there were a total of 8 babies and two or three pregnant ladies, one being Whitney. We came from a ward where basically everyone had a kid in the ward so of about 75 families each one had at least a kid. There were a couple families in the ward that had three or four kids. But it was super quiet in our new ward and no one really talked to us. We hope that things change and that we will be welcomed a little better. I don't think Whitney will have much of a problem as the Relief Society(the biggest woman's organization in the world) Presidency already contacted her this past week and she received a visit today. I on the other hand wait to receive any contact from the ward. I hope that we get some visits as we still haven't been visited by any home teachers since we've been married, going on 7 months. I hope that I get a calling in the ward to be able to learn people's names and such but that may not happen as well as I work in the Temple every Saturday. But at least Whitney is being included as that is more important for her to feel welcomed than me. I'm able to get through any situation or make friends with people even if they don't want to! ;) haha

This past Friday we had some friends come over and it was a sort of "open house" type deal and it was VERY interesting. It was primarily Whitney's friends that came but I learned a lot about a major that I never would have considered that actually sounds like something that I could/would enjoy to do. I'm going to be changing my major to Marriage and Family Studies with an emphasis in Professional Clinicals. In other words, I'll be helping marriages and families become better and stronger and hopefully I'll be able to work with LDS services which would be AMAZING!!! I feel that it is something that it is something that Heavenly Father would approve of. I loved helping families on my mission come unto Christ and perfect their marriages and I think that this will be a wonderful continuation of that! :) Also, with these friends coming over I have an "in" with a grocery store nearby that would be wonderful to work at! It will build my resumé and I'll also be able to work during the breaks! I'm excited! I have to turn the application in tomorrow as they are hiring real soon!  I have a lot to do as finals week is approaching and way too much to do. But life continues no matter what and Heavenly Father NEVER gives us trials that we cannot handle! I am super confident of that and therefore I know that it is possible to return to Heavenly Father's presence as long as we do what He asks of us! I hope you have a great week or time until I write again...oh and our baby Julia Rose arrives in about 3 months! :)

Fun Making Plans

What a weekend! It's hardly over! I've been telling everyone about our daughter! :) Saturday I had a busy day until about 4pm doing some various things and then I came home and Whitney and I lounged around as I was doing homework. I was trying to get homework done early but of course that didn't happen because I didn't have the desire too; however it did get done! :) Then today Whitney and I went to church and looked at all the cute little baby girls and how they were dressed. We got excited to dress out little girl up for church! We came home from church and I had to shovel because we got a couple inches of snow! It was nice however the shovel I used SUCKED! IT was all curved nicely to supposedly help move the snow but it didn't get anywhere near the cement! So I shoveled with that as my neighbor shoveled up after me! lol...Then I went inside ate some lunch and fell asleep. I woke up at 3:19pm and I was supposed to be in a meeting at 3:20pm at the church....luckily we don't live to far away! haha but it was good! Then Whitney and I decided to start cleaning the baby room, yet we didn't get very far. We hung up curtains in our living room and now it looks like people live in our apartment! LOL! We had some mac'n'cheese for dinner and we watched "The Work and the Glory 1" tonight which was good! And then Whitney made a cookie monster which is DELICIOUS! It is a chocolate chip cookie baked with vanilla ice cream on top of that, and than whipped cream on top of that with chocolate syrup and caramel drizzled on top! You should try it! SO GOOD! But very rich!

Then Whitney and I started talking about Julia's dress for her baby blessing and we started designing it. It's going to be a white dress with daisies on it! It's going to look very pretty and hopefully my sister in law will make it for us! ;) Then Whitney and I got on to the topic of opening up our own bakery! Go figure! LOL We started talking about selling cookies, bars, brownies, pies, possibly bread and some cakes but no specialty cakes. I even started looking at getting a minor in Culinary Arts to open this business! LOL But then I realized that my credit limit wouldn't allow it. However, we are still thinking about opening it up and I will just go to school to learn about some techniques as I will be taking business classes for my Healthcare Administration major...We'll have to see where that takes us but it would be cool to have a family business! lol...maybe? We were thinking of maybe having a little restaurant with it and making some different meals for lunch...that should be interesting but then we weren't sure if we needed some type of permission to make certain recipes that we found online or that we found in cookbooks or whatever...its an interesting question that I've never thought of before...lol

Tomorrow Whitney and I plan on going shopping in the morning for our dear Julia! We're really excited! Hopefully we can buy a swing and possibly some really cute dresses for when she gets older! We found this really cute dress at sears that is on sale and I'm hoping to find it in the store but we'll have to see if they have it still or if I have to buy it online. If so, I'm wondering how much it will be to ship or if I can find a cheap or rather free way of getting! LOL It is a SUPER cute jacket! Here is the link: http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_077F2633000P?prdNo=24&blockNo=199&blockType=G199

I just think that all need to see it! haha Well I hope ya'll have a good president's day and relax! I know I'm going to and hopefully get ahead in my homework! :) That always seems to be my goal but I never accomplish it! lol

It's a GIRL!!!

Well, this morning we went to the doctors to look at the ultra sound to figure out if we were having a boy or a girl. We woke up anxiously for this awaited day! I had a little chat with the baby to make sure that this is the one time that it was okay not to be modest but from after the ultrasound until forever they need to be modest! haha I also told the baby that he/she needed to cooperate and if he/she didn't than they were going to be grounded until they were born! LOL anyway, the baby cooperated and we were looking at the Ultrasound and Whitney and I thought we saw something and we were pretty sure we were having a boy. However, when it was time to find out the sex the nurse person said that it was definitely a girl! I was little sad because I was sort of set on the cars theme in the bedroom but I am super excited to have daughter! She'll be a daddy's girl and she will definitely be dressed in very cute stuff! I'm really excited! Whitney and I went to McDonald's for breakfast to celebrate and we called our families! I went to work and told EVERYONE that I saw! lol it was a lot of fun! Now I'm trying to get myself to write a three page paper for one of my classes and once I get that written Whitney and I are going to go shopping and find some cute girl clothes! I'm really excited to be able to dress up my little girl! Oh when we were looking at the ultrasound pic we were thinking about naming our daughter AnnaMae, however while looking at her picture, we decided that she doesn't look like an AnnaMae and she looked more like a Julia Rose. Therefore, her name will be Julia Rose Teig. We are very confident that should be her name. :)

Major decision in life

I've been contemplating many things this past week. I've been trying to figure out why I am working at the job I have, why I'm following the educational choices I have and how I am going to get through everything that I need to. It's been interesting to work in food services on campus and struggle with a supervisor that never is pleased and constantly says things to my coworkers about how poorly I do my work; plus being compared to a previous employee who apparently was a saint and could do everything possible within a smaller allotted time than I have been given. I've been trying to figure out why Heavenly Father would give me this sort of job and then I need to look at the blessings I've received from all this stress from my job. I noticed that I have enough money each month to pay for rent and the bills. I gained a great friend that is supportive and backs me up when people/supervisor is talking trash about me behind my back. And I have had the wonderful opportunity to have these trials to get me to strengthen my relationship with my Savior, Jesus Christ.

Being an expectant father has made me look at things in a different light. I need to worry about how living conditions will affect my new son/daughter. I need to worry about having enough money to make sure that we can afford food, diapers and all of those other baby things required. I have my mind always thinking about something. I came to realize how thankful I am for my father. He worked and is still working as hard as he possibly can to make sure that my sisters and I have a good life. Even though I am currently married and expecting a child, I have noticed that he is still trying to do things to make sure that I have all my basic needs. My father worked from 4 in the morning until about 1pm so that he could be at home with us when we got home from school. Because of that sacrifice that he has made until I went on my mission when his position was eliminated and now he has to work random hours and he random days. He doesn't have a set schedule like before nor does he have the opportunity to not work on Sundays which he really doesn't like doing as it breaks one of the ten commandments. Yet, due to my father's age, he continues to work with his body that is falling apart and his backward hours. I thought this week that I need to still work next semester even though all my classes are from about 9 am to 5pm....which cancels out most food services jobs except the ones from 4 -7 or 8am...therefore I need to sacrifice my sleep in order to have a roof over my families heads and food on the table until I am able to graduate with my associates in Medical Assisting and earn enough money and get a more stable job. However, that is still referring me to the fact that I need to some how figure things out. I know that Heavenly Father has provided a way for me to get to the point that I am at. I know that He will continue to guide me as long as I am doing His will.

I'm just not sure what I need to do or how to do it. There are so many things and professions that I would love to be however it is not quite possible. I would love to get a million bachelors degrees but no one would want to higher me because of my many degrees. I currently am learning what Heavenly Father means when He will walk me through and help me with my education choices. I need to figure it out however I need to put forth my best effort and make sure that I am doing my best before I can expect any help from anyone else. Now trying to figure out how to get all of my work done in the time allotted with a job and soon to be baby. Hmmm....who knows...I'm sure I'll look back at this post and be ever so grateful for these trials and thoughts that I have had and went through. I am positive that everything will work out as it has thus far. I am positive that if Heavenly Father could guide me to my beautiful wife and help us to get married in a short amount of time, then I'm positive that He will guide me with other less important decisions in my life.

I'm super excited to post on here tomorrow the sex of my first born! We find out tomorrow morning at 9am and I'm not sure if I will be able to post before I have to work at 1045am due to the many phone calls that I have to make. I am so grateful for my Savior and for suffering for my sins. I am thankful for my many trials that I am able to learn and become a better person from them! I hope that I can become a better person and do the things that the Lord commands me to do. I hope that I am able to magnify my callings and make sure that all things are perfect or on their way to perfection. I hope everyone that reads this has a wonderful day!

Marriage and other stuff....:)

Well, I guess I haven't written on here for a while....at least a week. LOL anyway, a ton has happened since I last posted thus me not posting. However, I'll keep you updated. Lets see...I'm not actually remembering a whole lot that happened but Thursday was completely and utterably horrible. I was stressed out to my max primarily because of my supervisor but that's another story. He's a jerk. However, I really came to realize that Heavenly Father truly has His hand in every situation. Between work and going home to complete my many, many assignments, I had a good conversation with Him and things didn't get easier or even better but I definitely felt and knew that things would be okay. I prayed to have a better day on Friday and I did! I got most of the stock put away and I got a ton done at work before I left which made me feel wonderful, except my supervisor still found SOMETHING to complain about. I really don't like him and I really hate being treated poorly for something that I can't deal with. My job is stressful but I need to keep it until I can find another. I feel bad because I'm constantly tired and I only work a four hour shift a day. It's ridiculous. I went and did some research on some plants that the university was selling and I was able to figure out what would work best in our home. I didn't buy any because I was waiting for it to be closer to Valentine's day. Whitney and I went to our friend Katie's house and met her parents who are SUPER nice! We made and ate French Bread Pizza and her mom made brownies for us! PLUS, we learned how to make cinnamon rolls and it was GREAT! I ate SO MUCH! We also watch 'She's the man' which is a HILARIOUS movie!

Saturday Whitney and I stayed at home and inside, in our pajamas for most of the day. I got some homework done but not nearly as much as I wanted. Nor did we leave the house until 8pm! We visited some friends for a little bit and came back home to do nothing again! haha But it was a much needed relaxation time for me!

Sunday Whitney and I were invited to go over to our new friend's house that came over on the 5th! We ate lunch with them and ate some Stirfry and had this delicious amazing brownie/ pudding dessert! Oh it was to die for! :) Whitney went and visited one of her friends as well. We also went to Church in the morning before lunch and everything else! haha I can't forget the best part can I? lol anyway, we stayed home for the remainder of the day and we were so so full that we didn't want to eat until about 1am...we need to get a better sleep schedule! HAHA

Today has been a good day! I bought Whitney a bouquet of Daisy's which is her favorite flower and I also bought her a Hyacinth plant. It looks like a lilac flower except for the flowers are bigger. It is way unique! She was surprised and it made me happy. She's also starting to like surprises now! ;) We had plans for some friends to come over for Family Home Evening, a night spent towards talking about the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our families. We originally were going to have some friends over but they cancelled due to illness, so we had some other friends over and it was so much FUN! We talked about having a covenant marriage and giving 100% of ourselves to our spouse instead of having a contract marriage and giving 50% of ourselves. It was really neat to share thoughts and express our love for our spouses and for our Savior! I also had a religion class today which was very inspirational to me today as we talked about covenant marriages as well. The two talks that we had to read for today were by Elder Hafen and Elder D. Todd Christofferson. This is Elder Bruce Hafen's talk: http://www.lds.org/ensign/1996/11/covenant-marriage?lang=eng&query=covenant+marriage I'm not sure exactly how to share things on here. So if any two of you know just let me know how to do that in a blog! haha thanks! This is the other talk by Elder D. Todd Christofferson: http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/04/the-power-of-covenants?lang=eng&query=power+covenants 

These two talks were great and I just love knowing that we have the opportunity to have eternal families. That we are able to make covenants or promises with our Heavenly Father and we will be able to be with our spouses and children for an eternity! I love the hymn "Families can be together forever" the verses go like this: "I have a family here on earth, they are so good to me, I want to share my life with them through all eternity. Families can be together for ever, through Heavenly Father's plan. I always want to be with my own family and the Lord has shown me how I can, the Lord has shown me how I can. Even while I'm in my early years, I'll prepare most carefully so I can marry in God's Temple for eternity. Families can be together forever, through Heavenly Fathers plan. I always want to be with my own family, and the Lord has shown me how I can, the Lord has shown me how I can."

In Portuguese it is like this, "Uma familia tenho sim, eles sao tao bons pra mim, Quero viver com eles pra eternidade assim. As familias poderao ser eternas, no plano do Senhor, pra com eles viver pra sempre eu merecer. O Senhor mostrou-me o que fazer, O Senhor mostrou-me o que fazer. Enquanto ainda jovem sou, eu irei me preparar pra que no Templo do Senhor eu possa me casar. As familias poderao ser eternas, no plano do Senhor, pra com eles viver pra sempre eu merecer. O Senhor mostrou-me o que fazer, O Senhor mostrou-me o que fazer." I just love this hymn. It is a hymn that I had the opportunity to sing on my mission and I was able to share it with various families. They were prepared to hear about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and when they heard this hymn they knew that they could have their family for an eternity! I am so thankful for my mission but most importantly for the knowledge and opportunity to have an eternal family. I am so thankful for the opportunity to be a father in July and in 4 days we find out the sex of our baby! I am elated to know that Heavenly Father is a kind and loving father, I hope I can be like Him!