What Lays Ahead

I've publicly declared this upcoming summer "The Summer of Adam." I've been looking forward to it for some time now, and I've begun to map out what it is I would like to accomplish during this Summer of Adam. My first intention is temple work. My parents recently shipped me a slew of our family names that are in need of temple work. I very much look forward to completing that, and I will. I very recently started taking institute more seriously and have started to attend more regularly. I'm 4 classes away from graduating institute so I will be taking those 4 classes over the summer. I very much intend on cultivating existing friendships and creating new ones. I plan on hitting up the pools of Provo on a very regular basis and I am still very much determined to get my 2 mile time down to 12:00. There are several 5k races over the summer and I plan on participating in as many of them as I can! This will mark the first summer since I've arrived in Utah (some 5 1/2 years) in which I have not attended school, but just because I won't be in school doesn't mean I won't be able to learn. I'm already beginning a compilation of books I would like to read over the summer. I will still be working so I will not have as much free time as I might like, but if I plan and budget appropriately I should be able to take the last 6 to 8 weeks off of summer to fully enjoy my last few bites of Utah. My ward last summer felt as close to family as I think a ward can, and I will try to do all I can to duplicate that this summer. As it stands, I will be leaving Utah in the early morning hours of August 4th or 5th. I would very much like to take a few church history related detours, but that is still up in the air. I should arrive in Tennessee no later than the 12th and will start my first year of pharmacy school about 2 weeks later. It'll be quite the drastic change for me, but I'm very much looking forward to it. This entire process has been made entirely possible by my Savior.


Just prior to the Fall semester of 2006 I was 3 semesters away from graduating. I had just gotten out of the Los Angeles Temple when my friend called me. He had just gotten out of his orientation for dental school. He was kind of complaining about something he was told about during the orientation. He was told that he would be required to go through 4 years of schooling without being able to wear shorts! I proceeded to tell him how miserable that was and that I wouldn't be able to do it (seriously!). Soon thereafter I wished him luck and the call was ended. No sooner did I hang up when I received a feeling that I needed to change my major and go into a medical field. It was a strong feelings. Even so, I tried ignoring it and even tried discounting it altogether. As it persisted I found myself resisting. I argued, "I'm a year and a half away from graduating!" I continued, "It'll take me so long to finish if I change now. I probably couldn't do it even if I decided to!" The feeling, however, persisted through my objections. After fervent prayer I logged onto my school account and, one by one, deleted all the classes I had previously registered for. I didn't so much as know what classes I needed to take. After a few phone calls to friends I had signed up for a full time semester under a completely different major. That was 2 1/2 years ago. Between then and now I have gone through rough patches where I didn't know if I could make it. This past summer I began the application process to pharmacy school. The requirements were high; high enough to not know beforehand whether or not schools would have me interview, much less accept me. I sent out approximately 14 applications. One by one I began receiving invitations to interview at the various schools, very literally across the country. As of today, I have received 9 invitations to interview! My first two interviews were at schools and locations I really wanted to end up in! Yet, both such interviews, the locations and the overall experience were missing something. I then interviewed at a school that I had more or less applied to on a whim. It was East Tennessee State University. I had never been to Tennessee before or anywhere even near it. I wasn't even able to spend a full day in Tennessee, but it was still long enough to offer a peaceful feeling... a feeling that I suppose can be vocalized as, "This is home!" This whole journey is not one I had envisioned for myself, but I know it's what Heavenly Father has envisioned for me. I'm still a ways away from completing the journey, but the light at the end of the tunnel is beginning to come into plain view. I'm very much excited for this journey.