46 DAYS ...........

You don't really take people seriously when they say that time will fly, until it already has. I mean, I still have about a month and a half, but I feel like I opened my mission call like yesterday. And it's already been 11 days. But I am happy to say that I have only had ONE meltdown! This whole getting everything done- packing for 18 months, appointments, tying up loose ends- on top of trying to spend as much time as I can with my busy family was really starting to get to me. So I've tried to organize a to-do list and we're going to do a last family vacation before I go so everything is all good.

But seriously, everything is so much better than good. I'M GOING TO HUNGARY! still feels like a dream and I am quite the obsessed little researcher, trying to get a feel for the people, the country, the culture, and even the language (not very successful in figuring that out on my own...but "Jó napot kívánok!" means "good day!") hahah I don't think I have even started to realize how hard I am going to have to work to learn this language and preach the gospel in it too!!! But it's an adventure to say the least, and I love adventures so I'm ready! Check back with me in a couple months and see if I have the same attitude and motivation ;)

              hi I love my fam cuz they take me on day outings to my favorite place.

With all of this getting ready, I have tried to start changing my lifestyle one step at a time. Luckily the lifestyle that i have right now won't be too big of an adjustment to missionary life, but one of the only things I've realized is that I won't be connected to the world for 18 months. Other than an email once a week, I will not be able to take billions of pictures and put them on instagram or have everyone follow my adventures on snapchat. 

"Hi, I'm Brooke and I'm a social media addict."

In this day and age, I feel like the majority of people are just like me, and don't want to admit how addicted they are. I have started trying to ween myself off by deleting Twitter and Snapchat and it's crazy how weird I feel! My thoughts are literally tweets and I go on my phone to go and tweet them! I have such a problem. Tonight, my brother and I were driving out to my grandparents and I wanted to take a picture to put on snapchat so my friends could see it. Wait, so my friends could see a picture of me driving to my grandparents?! Seeing it from an outside look totally makes my motives seem quite stupid. And also having this time before my mission to step back and see what was controlling my life has really put things in perspective. 

So for those that have their mission papers in, or, like me- already have their call- I would start to prepare to disconnect from social media! I don't believe in taking it all away at once, because we all know that would be too painful. but I also don't believe that going ham on the social media accounts will make anything easier. So maybe start with the ones you can handle letting go of. That was twitter for me. But then snapchat (super hard for me) but keeping something to keep you sane. and then as time gets closer, keep one just to let people know about your farewell and such! Just an idea for ya. 

I preached enough for one night! I'm still working on my own suggestion and I can tell you its pretty darn hard! I am not one to say social media is bad and to stay completely away from it, but I do think the priority of social media should not trump things like family time, good conversation or a beautiful view. It's great to be connected and to share wonderful things about your life, just don't let it take over! 

And (as google translate says) in Hungarian, we say "jó éjszakát" or goodnight :) xoxox, B