The Last Six Weeks

Written by Nikki:

Ben and I have now been here in Ohio for almost 8 weeks.  We still wait patiently for transplant.  I have to continually remind myself that it will happen when the time is right.  I admit to having an inner struggle with myself between enjoying my time here with my son, and wishing the transplant would happen soon, so that I can return home to Utah and get back to the rest of my family there.  With this inner struggle comes the realization that either way my family will not be all together again for quite some time. Even when I do get to return home, Ben has to stay here for at least a year.  It's a hard reality to deal with sometimes.  

School started in Utah last week and I had a sad moment.  I love my job, and usually when the summer comes to an end I am sad to see it go.  This year, not being there to go back to school and see all the students and co workers I've grown to know so well gave me a serious feeling of missing out.  Crazy I know! Who is sad to miss out on going back to school?!

Ben and I have had some fun experiences.  I am getting to know people in the ward here and making friends.  Ben is getting involved in the Singles Branch. A few weeks ago some sisters from the ward invited me to lunch and that was really fun! I really enjoyed getting out and getting to know some of the sisters here better.  Ben and I also received an invitation to have dinner at the home of the Bishop.  Bishop Moss and his wife are very friendly and kind.  The sister missionaries joined us and that was a fun night.  While we were at the bishops house I saw a picture of their family on the wall and we discovered that Bailee knows their Son and daughter in law.  It really is a small world. 

One of the highlights of our weeks here is our friendship with the full time missionaries.  We have started feeding the Elders and the Sisters on a regular basis.  It is such a blessing for us to spend time with them.  We enjoy the spirit they bring and the friendships we are developing.  It's a nice change of pace to have conversations with someone other than each other two nights a week. I forget to get a picture every time we are with them. I will remember this week! :-)  We have made friends with two different sets of Sisters and one set of Elders. It's so different here because this ward has 3 sets of full time missionaries they provide meals for.  This gives the members of the ward plenty of opportunity to serve the missionaries.  The missionaries are also in church every Sunday so you really develop friendships and get to know them. Hopefully we can find ways to assist them in their work here. 

We are trying to stay busy.  It can be a challenge sometimes.  The amount of adventures we get out on depends on Benjamin's day to day health.  Some days he feels up to a short trip somewhere and some days he doesn't have the energy for it.  So we enjoy Netflix a lot on those days. 

Here is a list of the little things that we get excited about:

   *  Dinner with the missionaries

   *  Outings to the grocery store

   *  Packages from home

   *  Mail from home

   *  Merlin on Netflix

   *  Sherlock on Netflilx

   *  Movies on Vudu

   *  Mini adventures out

   *  Puzzles

   *  Naps

   *  The Xfinity app
   *  Marco Polo with family and friends
   *  FaceTime

Here are some of the things we have been up to:

We took a little outing the the Quarry for the Kirtland Temple.  It was a beautiful spot with many trails to explore.

 You can see the marks from the hand drills or chisels in the rock.

I absolutely loved this meandering path through the trees.  Everything is so green here. 

One of Ben's go to treats when he's feeling good is Munchos.  These are delicious and hard to find in Utah but seem to be almost everywhere here in Ohio. 

Being here in Ohio I am really missing the harvest of my garden at home.  I love fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash, peppers and cantaloupe. Fresh garden vegetables are one of my favorite things about summer.  Luckily we have found a few Farmers Markets around the area.  It's not quite as good as going out to your own garden but it's nice to have access to fresh fruit and vegetables.  One of my favorite buys from the Farmers market has been the fresh peaches!  They are delicious!  The cantaloupe here isn't as sweet as at home, no matter where I buy it, it's just not as sweet.  This has dumbfounded me.  Benjamin of course googled it and told me he read that Cantaloupe grown in a dryer climate is typically more sweet.  Who knew? 

 Here is the view from our apartment.  View number one is from the parking lot looking away from my building.  The building I live in looks just like the building on the right.  The stormy sky... this seems to be how the sky looks a lot of the time.  

 The next two are the view from our balcony. 

Ben and I finally made a visit the Historic Site in Kirtland.  It was nothing short of Amazing!!  

Here we are at the Newell K. Whitney store.  The school of the prophets is on the second floor of this building.  It was amazing to learn that Joseph Smith received revelations for over 40 sections of the Doctrine and Covenants in this building and in the Newell K. Whitney home. (pictured below the store) The original desks he studied at are still here. 

The Saw Mill.

 The Ashery 

Ben and I have driven to Lake Erie a few times.  There are many parks along the banks of the lake that are nearby (withing 15-20 minutes) So we have been visiting some of these parks. 

The Bishops wife loaned me a puzzle and it was actually something I quite enjoyed.  My brother Jimmy White and his family sent me a puzzle too, it looks harder!  But I am going to tackle it.  This puzzle was 1000 pieces.  I tried to get Ben to help me but alas I did this one on my own. 

Thank you for all the prayers and support offered to Ben and I, and to our family in Utah.  It's funny how life happens sometimes.  A year ago I would never have thought I would find myself in this place doing what I'm doing.  I remind myself, I know Heavenly Father has a plan and we are where we need to be.  So for now we continue to carry on, and find joy in our journey here in Ohio. 

Friends, Strangers, and Everything in Between

Written By: Ben

To start I apologize that it has been a few weeks since I have posted/written anything. So to recap on the recent events. Over the last two weeks I have been able to get out some and see things, but sadly I have spent probably nine days out of the two weeks being quite ill. My health has been really quite a rough adjustment since we have been here in Ohio, but luckily it seems to be leveling out some. Now to some of the actual events of the last little bit. Just over a week ago I had the opportunity to get out and see downtown Cleveland, and spend some time with a new found friend from the Singles Branch out here. We had a great time and it was good for him and I to get out and have some "bro" time. I had a few doc appointments, in which we discussed my health and determined just to keep things status quo until organs arrive. 

Mom and I still try and get out and see things a few times a week, and these last two weeks those things have been: Lake Erie in several locations, farmers markets, parks, historical sights, and the usual places like the grocery store. I will go into more detail about this last Saturdays adventures. I had the opportunity to go out and do some work with the Elders in the area, but sadly all of the appointments fell through, and we got yelled at by a grumpy older lady... Lets just say it brought back some funny and suppressed memories from the mission. They felt bad I am sure, so they invited me to go with them to a party for a member of the family ward. I figured why not, and we went to the party. It ended up being a birthday party for a lady who had turned 100! She was awesome, she decided that for her big 100 she wanted to fly in a helicopter since she had never done so. Not only that, but she was also presented with a key to the city, and yes it is an actual key. So that was really cool, and it was nice to meet some people that go to my Mothers ward and who live in the area. 

After the party, I went and parked in the parking lot of the Kirtland Historic sights, and just thought for a few moments, and realized that mom and I should check them out. So I called her, ran home, replaced fluids, and then we went to the historic sights. I should probably clarify, when I say historic sights in this instance, I am referring to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Historic Sights in and around Kirtland, Ohio. Sister missionaries serve missions here and give tours and greet tourists/guests. It is a really beautiful place, and there is an amazing spirit there as well. Mom and I arrived around 6 pm and were greeted by a senior missionary who asked as a few questions and invited us to was to watch the little 20 min introductory video they have before you take a tour. We got there just after a video had started in the main theater, so they placed us in a secondary upstairs theater that is used when there are a lot of people. After the video a companionship of sisters came in and took us around the sites. We had some really great spiritual experiences with these awesome sisters and it turns out we live inside their proselyting area, so we will hopefully be spending more time with them in the future. That in a nut shell pretty much sums up the events of the last little while.

Now on to the part where I do my best to be honest and open with my feelings and spiritual impressions of late. So I hope I never offend anyone or cause people to think ill of myself or others, that is never my intention and if it ever does happen I apologize. I am not very skilled at expressing myself at times and I hope I can put things into perspective without sounding ridiculous or overly dramatic. To be frank, I have been extremely blessed as of late. Even though my health has been poor at times, it could always be worse, and there is always something to be grateful for every single day. On that note I would like to thank everyone who has supported my family through all of this. They are indeed one of my greatest treasures and blessings, and each time you watch over them, care for them, or pray for them, you truly bring great peace to me during these semi troublesome times. I have been so blessed and fortunate to know great people, this week I was reminded of my old coworkers. They are some of the nicest and most caring people I have met. A few in particular I will talk about, without mentioning their names though. One of these coworkers is a man I look up to quite extensively, he is caring and thoughtful of others, even if he does not openly express it at times. He and I do not share the same religious beliefs per-say, but he has never judged me for mine, and has always made me feel included and part of the group. He took me in under his wing so to speak when I first started working at the college (Salt Lake Community College) and made sure I was being efficient as a teacher and helper, yet also making sure I was looked after and my needs were met. I cannot explain how grateful I am for him. He continually checks on me even today; even though I am now more than 1500 miles away, he still makes sure I am doing okay. It is truly amazing the bond you can form with seemingly unexpected individuals that will change your life forever.

I could truly talk forever about many of my old coworkers from multiple jobs or even other scenarios of my life, but it would take ages, and probably bore many of you, so I will resist. I do wish to discuss two more though. These two girls, when I first met them seemed completely different yet the best of friends. They accepted me so willingly the both of them, and truly treated me as an equal (even though they are both geniuses). One is kind of in your face, tell you how it is type personality while the other is quiet and timid. Both are beautiful and so compassionate to the people they help in school and with life in general. To tell the truth they both kind of scared me when I first met them, but both in their own ways quickly made me feel accepted, and even loved. Again I could go on about these two for a very long time, and I have only scratched the service on how amazing they truly are.

I wish I could tell you all more, and I am sure I will over time, but for now I am going to continue on with something that has been on my mind a lot, and ties in with what I shared above.

Don't be afraid to talk and honestly interact with people.
Strangers may often be friends we have yet to learn to love. Indeed they can be friends we have just not had the opportunity to interact with.

This is what I will touch on and wrap up with.  The three people I mentioned and truthfully all the people I grew to love; not just at the college job either, but every job I have had, or any group I have been a part of have come into my life simply by either me engaging and interacting with them or them interacting and engaging with me. You will never know the lives you touch by simply smiling and getting to know people. I have had the opportunity to speak with people from all over the world and from all walks of life. I have gotten to know some of the following people just by talking to seemingly normal strangers or people I ran into in different scenarios and places: A man who helps design and build NCAA basketball stadiums, pilots, rocket scientists, actors, war heroes, athletes, musicians, artists, big business owners, race car drivers, church leaders, and many seemingly normal people with incredible stories and amazing lives. I once fell asleep on the arm of a poor guy who ended up being a super cool Air Marshall. I felt like an idiot, but ended up getting to know an awesome guy with an amazing life. This really only names a select few of the amazing people I have come to know. People say that my dad and I have this sort of luck that we always get to do amazing things or meet amazing people. When truthfully we just talk to people, be kind, be gentleman, and do our best to be polite and courteous. Now this might be a bit of a side note, but we are definitely not always like that, we have bad days, are grumpy, and sometimes just don't want to talk to people, but in general we try and do our best. One of the amazing things is, is that is enough!!! In fact many times simply trying is more than sufficient.

I cannot express how many amazing things I have been able to do just by talking with people and putting yourself out there. Now like I mentioned I am still very much learning how to do this, and I can be absolutely terrible at it at times, but I am learning and always trying to be better at it. My family always says: "You can never have too many friends in this world". I am a big believer in this. The funny thing is, many of us let opportunities pass us by in the form of people we could/should have talked to or things we could/should have done. I know it can be really hard, and believe me I struggle with it often, but I promise it will pay off. Even and especially the three people I mentioned above who could have simply kept on with their lives, and probably been just as good without knowing me but have truly helped me and inspired me to be a better man, and I hope in some tiny way I have helped them as well. Now of course their are always exceptions and caveats to just about everything, but I will not focus on those in this post, or probably any other. Again I stress the blessing these people have been in my life; along with all the others who have taken the chance to get to know me even just a little. In my opinion, half (or maybe even more than half) of the reason we are even here on this earth is to impact others lives and let them impact ours, whether through subtle often unrecognized ways or large earth shattering events. The people I have met and gotten to know are and will probably continue to be some of the most worthwhile (so to speak) blessings in my life. I hope to keep getting better at interacting with others, because lets be honest, at times I have the social grace of a dead fish, but hey we all gotta learn somehow right? To finish this thought off, I have been profoundly blessed by many of you who are reading this, and many who may never. Whether you are reading this or not, I will never be able to thank you enough for your thoughts, prayers, hopes, and love that I have experienced by getting to know you, or by hopefully getting to know you in the future.

Anyways I apologize for the extremely lengthy post (or at least it feels lengthy), but it has been nice to write about recent events, and some of my feelings as of late. I will probably write again soon, at least that is what I hope to do. Well thanks for reading, hopefully it didn't sound too ridiculous or anything. I hope it helps in some way, and more than by just letting me ramble on for a while. Anywho take care and I will write again soon.

Love, Ben