i am so blessed...

two things have happened in the last two days that have made me realize just how blessed i am.

i've been watched over and protected by my heavenly father while in alaska and i have also had a prayer answered.

yesterday while i was at work i was working with the bander. we were trying to move a pallet onto the saran wrapper and so the conveyor belt was moving. we also had another pallet being filled up with cans. i was helping with the pallet that was being filled with cans which meant that i was walking on the moving conveyor belt. i went to look at the clock and slipped. on instinct i put my hands out in front of me to catch me as i fell. the magnet was down and i grabbed a piece of the magnet.

bad choice.

the magnet let go of a layer of cans and when it does this the magnet shoots back up and locks while it moves back to pick up more cans. the magnet locked and clamped down right on both of my middle and ring fingers. it didn't catch my whole finger it caught me right at the tips of my fingers. barely above where my finger nail starts.  it scared me so bad and i looked at shelby who was running the magnet controls and yelled for him to shut it off. he turned it off and after a few hard tugs we were able to pull my fingers out.

i know it doesn't sound very intense but after it all happened i learned a few things. as shelby was trying to pull my fingers out he told me that he knew someone that had the same thing happen to them. the only difference was that when the magnet locked it cut the mans fingers off. i know i know that really wasn't something that shelby should have told me while my own fingers were stuck in the magnet but you get the point.

after my fingers were released adel and roland couldn't stop telling me just how lucky i was. the magnet didn't even make my fingers bleed. i still have all four fingers, and finger nails. my fingers aren't cut open and bleeding, they're just a little bit swollen and bruised.

as i went home that night and called my mom to tell her the story i realized that i wasn't "lucky" i had been blessed. i thought about how too many things just had to go so perfect so that the magnet didn't literally rip my fingers off. 

simple things like:

-the fact that when i fell i didn't put my whole finger under the magnet, i only had a little bit of my finger in there.

-when the magnet locks shut it instantly moves back over to the table to pick up more cans. had it done this i wouldn't have been able to move over with it because there was a pallet in the way. the fact that shelby was able to hear me clearly and turn the magnet off so fast is still unbelievable to me. not only that but when you run the magnet controls you also have to pull out more banding so you aren't always standing right next to the controls. the one and only time shelby was standing right next to the controls was the time when i needed him to be there the most.

-the fact that i stayed calm the whole time. i didn't even cry. usually when things like this happen i burst into tears and freak out. i don't know how i stayed so calm but i am so grateful that i did.

why i was not hurt more seriously than a few bruised fingertips is a mystery to me but i am so grateful that i was ok. of course i had to wait until my second to last day of work to get hurt, go figure, but i know that i was watched over. it gave my mom a little scare but don't worry i am perfectly fine i promise.

plus after that i got to work the easy job!

the second story deals with dallin. he gets to email me every monday. a few weeks ago he emailed me and said that he wanted me to give a book of mormon away to somebody in alaska before i left. he told me to pray about who to give it to and i would get my answer.

well i'd been thinking and asking who i should give it to and until two days ago i still had a whopping no one. i was beginning to freak out a little bit because i only had three days left and i didn't know how i was going to accomplish the task dallin had given me. then georgi, a guy i work with, asked me to go on a walk with him.

on our walk we were just talking when georgi started telling me about partying and drinking. he asked me if i liked to party when i started explaining to him that i didn't drink or party. he was amazed. he then started asking me more questions about my standards and he couldn't believe it. we then got into like a two hour long conversation on religion. georgi told me that he didn't believe there was a god but then he went on to say that sometimes he wonders why we are here and if there really is something more to life.

we kept talking and we got into the whole tithing issue. georgi

as we were walking back to peter pan he asked me to be completely honest with him in his next question. i said i would and then he went on to ask if i thought more or less of him because he didn't believe that there was a god. i told him that i didn't think any different of him. i told him that i believed in my religion with all of my heart but we were both entitled to our different opinions and beliefs.

and then georgi shocked me.

he then looked at me and said because of you i want to read your book.

(the book of mormon if you hadn't guessed)

i was so happy! 

one problem. i got home and realized that i didn't have a book of mormon to give him! i called my mom almost in tears because i didn't know what i was going to do. there wasn't enough time for her to ship me one and i just did not know what to do. my mom then told me to look in the phone book and find the howard family's number.

(the howard's are the family that invited us over on sundays.)

so as soon as i hung up with my mom i went and found their number. i called  them and they hooked me up with the missionaries number. i called the missionaries and nobody answered but i left them a message asking them to call me back.

well last night tiff and i decided to stay up until 4 watching grey's anatomy because we knew that we didn't have to work today. so my plan was to keep my phone on vibrate and sleep in for as long as i wanted.

well this morning i woke up randomly at a pretty early hour and i started thinking to myself that i shouldn't go back to sleep, i needed to stay awake. seriously not even 5 minutes later the missionaries called me back! had i been sleeping i would have missed their call!

i answered and we talked and it was figured out that i would meet them at safeway where they could give me a book of mormon.

seriously fastest mile and a half i've ever run!

i got the book and i was so happy! i'm going to write in it and give it to georgi tomorrow night before i leave.

my prayers were answered and it was the best feeling ever. i know that while i've been in alaska heavenly father has watched me over me. he has blessed me in so many ways and my testimony has been strengthened so much.