Blessings of a new Graduate

So I finally found the ambition to start a blog and sit down and take the time to post something. This being my first post the only thing I can think to write about is pretty much about my life in general right now so I though I would tell everyone about my summer and the major life changing events that have taken place.

So starting at the beginning. As most of you know I just barely graduated from high school and wasted absolutely no time moving out. I love Mom and Dad more than anything in the world and living with them really wasn't as bad as we all made it out to be while we grew up, but I think we can all agree it was simply time. So in the last week of May I moved a whopping 30 miles away to the thriving metropolis of Pocatello.

I've come to realize that I am in a small percentage "premies" that move out before their mission. And on top of that I've lived in more of my own apartments than most do in their first year after their mission. Although the number is only up to two, I still think it's quite the accomplishment. I've also come to realize that the Lord has had a huge part in my current living situation and the lessons I learned because of my previous and current ones. When I moved out I moved to a small apartment complex called the Green Properties, a.k.a the Ghettos. The apartments weren't bad, especially for an 18 year old in his first apartment. The only setback was that it was summer and I only had one roommate, who was from Nepal and a non-member; which I'll have you know, is kinda hard to relate to. Having absolutely nothing in comman, I didn't experience that bond that you have with your roommates when you live together, it was simply a living arrangement.

Only having a summer contract that ended on the last day of July, I decided I needed to find a different place where I would have a better living situation, but it still being the middle of June or so, I hadn't put forth any real effort yet to find a new place. On a lonely Monday night I forced myself to go to FHE and was instantly blessed. After the activities were over a few people from my ward were hanging out on the grass outside our apartment and I decided to join them. As I talked to Jason Rasmussen, my elder's quorumn president and current roommate and close friend, I found that he lived in a small basement apartment and needed to find to or three roommates. After finding that in our worst case scenario my rent would still be cheaper than school year rent at the Ghettos, I instantly told him to count me in, not even having seen the place. About a month ago I moved into the new place and have three roommates that are all RMs and were already in my ward, so I didn't have to go through the get to know you stage. The apartment was also in the boundaries of the ward I was in, so I don't have to go to another ward. It's been so nice having roommates, especially since they are LDS. Jason is one of my best friends and we've become very close the last few weeks.

Life over the summer wasn't too bad and consisted of nothing but work and play. Moving out I had a job with a flooring contractor named Mark Helmandollar and quickly learned how to lay different types of flooring; mainly carpet, but also including VCT tile(don't ask me what the VCT stands for cause I couldn't tell you), laminate, and vynal(otherwise known as linolium: they're pretty much the same thing). I absolutely loved working with Mark, Wayne(his partner), Ryan(his son that is John's age), Kelsey(his daughter that is a year older than me, who I actually dated in high school and is one of my closest friends). Needless to say, the reason I liked it so much was because it wasn't just working all day, but it was a lot of fun and games with a little bit of labor involved. Although this has been my favorite occupation yet, I found that we only worked one actuall full time 40 hour week all summer, and as much as I loved that, it wasn't enough to pay for an apartment, cell phone bill, and groceries, all while attempting to save money for a mission. So it came to my realization that I needed a new job that paid more than $8 an hour and would offer 40 hours a week. So one night I was talking to Jason, who happens to be a pharmacy student, and he said that the pharmacy he worked at was losing all of their help cause school was starting and they would probably hand the job to me without question. So a few days later I went in for an "interview," which I've found is as simple as filling out my W4's and signing some papers for my pharmacy technician's license, and vuala, I had a new job in a matter of minutes. I worked for Mark for three more weeks and last week I started working at Keymed, Inc. full time. I had no idea it was so easy to get a job, but I'm not complaining.

Within my first week I have learned most of what I need to know and have actually started enjoying what I do, which I should probably explain. Keymed, Inc is a small, closed door pharmacy that provides drugs for assisted living homes. So in lamen's terms, I package drugs for old people, which really isn't quite as bad as it may sound. Being the only full time technician, I've become the guy that knows everything that goes on in the pharmacy and does the bulk of the work. It's really not a hard job, but is mostly about knowing what you're doing. My boss Rachel loves having me there all day everyday cause with one person being there the whole time, there's a lot less confusion. I've learned more than I ever wanted to know about drugs and constantly have names of drugs running through my head, but I've decided it's well worth the money.

Not to abrubtly change the subject, but I was never any good at paragraph transitions in school, so this is the best I can do for ya. On the 4th day in August, I had my most traumatic experience yet. Although in our family using the words "traumatic esperience" my sound humurous, I say it in all seriousness. Like I said, on the 4th of August I had experienced my hardest trial yet, when my girlfriend of ten months broke up with me. Having seriously dated my best friend for ten months and then suddenly losing it all in one moment has taught me so many life changing lessons.

The first lesson I quickly learned is that sometimes you don't have a single friend for family member here on this earth that can make you feel better, but with the help of the Lord, you can have no one and still feel comfort. I've never been one to kneel down and say a prayer when I have a hard time but I decided then to make a change. Everytime I was down or felt like just staying home and bawling(yes, I'm a Fullmer, and we cry, more than most typical guys) my eyes out, I would kneel down in humble prayer and pour my soul out to the Lord. Every time I would say a prayer like that, I would shed a few tears, and upon finishing, would pick myself up again and keep trudging on. It soon came to my attention that as a missionary, I will feel that lonliness very often, but that the Lord is always there for me. Because of this experience I no longer have any doubt that I can get through those two years and I have a new understanding and stronger testimony of the power of prayer.

The next thing I learned is that all the answers we will ever need are in the scriptures. About a month previous to the breakup I was finally able to get myself into the habit of reading my scriptures daily and I was committed to sticking to that habit and was determined to not let my grief or depression change that; theser weren't good enough excuses to me. At the time I was in Mosiah reading about King Benjamin's speech. As I tried to read I couln't for the life of me concentrate on this chapter and I didn't want to just read without getting anything out of it so I decided to randomly open my Book of Mormon and read something new and different. As I sifted through the pages, my Book of Mormon opened to Doctrine and Covenants sectoin 88. As I looked at the heading and first five verses, I felt the Lord's love so stronly as the first word I saw on the page was Comfort, the one and only thing I could bring myself to ask for at the time. As I read those first few verses, I began to understand that everything I felt and was going through was happening for some partially unknown reason and that however little I understood why or how, all of it is for my eternal good, and that the Lord wanted and was going to help me through it.

Today is seven weeks to the day of the breakup and I am still struggling, but I know that the Lord has helped me tremendously in so many ways and if I remain faithful he will continue to do so. This "traumatic event" has changed my life forever and has lead to many other life changing events and experiences and I am truly grateful to the Lord for that.

Before I go I want to add my fantastic news that most everyone knows, that I was given M. Priesthood and ordained to the office of an elder in the Priesthood. Interestingly enough, it was just in time for our ward's yearly assignment to do hospital visits. In doing so I had the opportunity to anoint a man who had his hip replace that morning and was able to take part in a priesthood blessing. I think that was the most nervous I've ever been but It was so awesome to have the opportunity to excercise my priesthood, and in my first week with it nonetheless. Anyway, I love you all and hope you leave some good comments. Only 39 days until I can submit my papers. Woot Woot!!!!!