“The Wall”

My man is simply…adorable. I went to the wall today and I picked a little piece of paper that just had a YouTube address on it and a little note at the bottom that said “Made me cry a little :)”. When I got home, I went to the address and this is what it was…

I don’t know what is trying to hint at ;) but I hope it’s the same thing I’m thinking too :) In any case…

I want this.

I want exactly what this girl has.

I want to be shaky, have my heart beating out of it’s chest and freaking out knowing that my two year wait is almost over and that my missionary is minutes away from being back to the place where he belongs…in my arms <3

Hey Mike :)

A member in the Bydgoszcz ward had Elder Raines over for dessert before he left to Warsaw for his next transfer. She put this cute silly picture on her blog :)

I kinda love him…a lot

I Love Him :)

So I got a letter in the mail yesterday from my missionary! Which doesn’t really happen much because to save postage he sends my letter with his parents letter. So it made me SUPER stoked to see this letter! All that was inside was this…

A simple tag that made my whole day! :)

I love my Valentine <3

Double Digits!

My amazing missionary has officially been out for 10 months! I could not be more ecstatic about this! We are finally in double digits! What an epic milestone! It has been the hardest month yet though. Luckily I have loving friends and family to help me through the difficult times.

Super excited! 10 down, 14 to go!

Dang, I have one handsome missionary!

He got my Valentines Day package!!! Yay!

So what’s new with my mish?

Transfers are coming up! And where could Elder Raines be going this time?? He is going back to WARSAW!! I have been wanting this to happen for the past two transfers! Also he is now the Warsaw Zone Leader! :) I am so so sooo proud of him!!! He is such an amazing missionary and I am just so proud of him! Oh yeah! The most exciting thing that has happened is that Elder Raines and Elder Dodge hit the Standard of Excellence! This is a super big accomplishment for a missionary! This is what they did in a matter of only a week!

• 2 Baptismal Dates
• 3 Investigators in Sacrament Meeting
• 5 Lessons with Members Present
• 2 Other Lessons
• 3 Progressing Investigators
• 4 Contacted Referrals (hardest thing ever)
• 2 New Investigators
• 4 Lessons with Recent Converts or Less Active Members
• 10 Books of Mormon Handed Out.

How amazing is that!? He’s super excited and wants to accomplish it few more times during his mission! I’m so proud of him for that! He is such a hard worker and I know that he gets that from his father. I love how dedicated he gets when he sets his mind to something.

2 more months and we’re on the downhill of this journey!

It’s Been 1 Year!

It’s seriously already been one year!?! Well, this is weird to say but that sure snuck up on me! Officially on February 8, 2012 is when Mike got his mission call. That is a day that I will never forget. I remember being super nervous, scared, excited, sad, happy and anxious all wrapped into one. It wasn’t until the moment I heard the words, “Warsaw Poland” that it truly set in that my best friend would be gone for 2 years. That I wouldn’t be able to text him, call him, or even see him. That the only way we could communicate would be through letters. I knew that I only had 2 months to spend with him and I was going to make each moment count.

Here’s a couple pictures from that day…

 

Everyone's guesses

Dear Elder Michael Christian Raines,

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 Warsaw, Poland mission!!!!

 

My favorite picture of Mike and my nephews :)

 

You’ve got that one thing <3

I’m so in love with this kid! There’s never been a doubt in my mind that he is the one for me. I’m grateful to have him in my life. I’m the luckiest girl in the world.

We’re that much closer to half way to home!

Valentines Day as an MG

For Valentines Day I didn’t get flowers, candy or jewelry. I didn’t get to hug my boyfriend, be with him or even get to see him. But what I did get was EXACTLY what I needed and was the most perfect gift ever :)

For those of you who don’t know, my amazing boyfriend has created a wall of goodies for me. You can go back to read my old post, The Wall to get a better idea of what it is. Anyways, when I went to 'the wall’ today I found a big paper. I honestly was expecting to go on a little scavenger hunt to find a cute present or something like that. I was kind of disappointment when it was just a plain old piece of paper with words on it. (Yes, I realize now that that was super selfish and ungrateful of me). As a read the paper my heart was filled with so much joy and so much love. This was an amazing letter. How could I not be happy to receive this from Mike? Also attached was a instructions to look on his flash drive and find something special. Here is what I found…

This was honestly like a slap in the face. How could I be disappointed about not getting flowers or material things, I got something 5,000 times better. I got to hear my missionary’s voice. I got to hear him tell me how much I mean to him. This was exactly what I needed.

It’s also super crazy how he made this so long ago but it is perfect for what is going on in my life right now. For the past few weeks I’ve been in a really bad funk. I’ve been down in the dumps and totally not feeling like myself.I tried everything that I could to get out of it but for some reason, I was stuck. After hearing his voice and words of encouragement, I’m back to my old self :) He probably doesn’t even know how much he helped me this past week.

“If it’s not better now, it will be.”

“There’s only one way to go when you’re down, up.”

“Everything is going to be okay.”

 

I’m lucky to have found my Forever Valentine <3

p.s. I love you