My new club

Living in Rexburg in the winter has it's downfalls.  I woke up this morning to more snow.  I've pretty much convinced myself I'm going to live in Florida after I graduate where it's warm all the time.  Icy streets is another.  And the fact that you have to walk in the street with the cars because when the streets are plowed, all the snow gets pushed to the sidewalk so there are huge piles of snow that are impossible to walk on.

However, there are many good things about living in Rexburg.  The people are awesome.  I love being able to walk on campus and smiling and saying hi to people I don't even know.  My roommates especially have become some of my best friends even though I've only known two of them for more than a month.

But perhaps my favorite thing right now about living in Rexburg is the fact that OSSO (the organization that sent me to Ecuador in the fall) is based in Rexburg.  Because of this, there are many girls that go to school at BYU-Idaho who were also volunteers.  I love it because we have an instant connection with each other even though most of us don't know each other because we volunteered at different times.

These past few weeks, because of the economic crisis, OSSO has been hurting for donations.  OSSO is not only responsible for providing volunteers for the orphanages in Quito and Cuenca, but they provide so many of the resources for at least one of the orphanages.  Because of the depletion of funds, and the decrease of the amount of volunteers, OSSO has been threatening to shut down a city and decreasing the amount of resources that are given to the orphanages.

So, because of this, all the girls that volunteered who are attending BYU-Idaho have gotten together and formed a group to help raise money for the organization and "our" kids.  We had our first meeting yesterday and it was so fun brainstorming ideas for fundraising activities.  It was awesome because none of us knew each other but we bonded right away because of our common interest.  Not only did we brainstorm, it was also fun exchanging stories and talking about things that only a fellow volunteer would understand.

I'm so grateful that I was able to meet these wonderful girls and I hope that not only we will be able to help OSSO but that we will also be able to become better friends.