March 17 - 18, 2013

Faith.

Yeah, that's right. Faith.

I saw a quote in my journal that said "Faith has a lot to do with feeling awkward...even at the end of my mission there were awkward moments."

I think this is true. and I think that awkward isn't the only feeling that can come when we act in faith. Many times nervousness also can be present. There is sometimes the fear of the unknown. There is the uncertainty of what will happen next. But, if you have faith that something will happen, that something good will happen, you've got to act on that even if it puts you out of your comfort zone.

Obviously an example would be missionaries out on the street. They see someone working in their backyard and walk over to the fence to talk with them. They have faith that God will put people in their path for them to teach. The person in their backyard may think "this is the weirdest thing that has ever happened to me." And it may be awkward, but the missionaries acted on their faith. And the person may not even be receptive, but if the missionaries never talked to them, it would have automatically been a no, so why not try?

There are many other examples in our daily lives where acting on our faith may be hard. But if we ask for a blessing and don't do our best to receive that blessing, how can we expect it to come?

And that is all I have to say on the matter today. Mmmm bye now! Oh and here's a good talk by Elder Bednar: Ask In Faith

March 16, 2013 - Do Good

Wow, as I have been reading my journal I have realized that there is so so so much that I can share from my mission every week. So, just fyi I will probably not be putting a whole week each week, but I will be writing lessons chronologically from my journal. That probably won't phase any of you, but like I said, just fyi.

We all struggle with receiving answers to prayers, if you have never struggled with that wow, that's impressive. But I think it is safe to say that we have each struggled at some point.

So, how do we follow the Spirit if we are having a hard time receiving answers? and how do we receive answers and what are they? How can we distinguish? Was it me? Was it the Spirit? Was it the devil?

It can be stressful sometimes. But, we can know that "when [we] dedicate [ourselves] to the Lord, He will not let [us] down." -Elder Bybee. If we are trying our best to follow, He will take care of things. Start filling your life with the things that you know to be true and good principles of the gospel. As you become more spiritually minded, it will be easier to determine what you should do because your connection with God will be greater.

Elder Bednar says to quit worrying if it is the spirit or if it is you (the source of the answer). He says that as long as it is good then it'll be ok. As long as you are being a good girl or a good boy and are doing what you feel is right, we can know that things will work together for our good. If something good comes into your head to say or to do, do it. Have confidence in it, do it, throw it out there and see what happens.

As we build our relationship with God, we will become more and more like Him. We can become one with the Lord just as the Holy Ghost, Jesus Christ, and the Father are one. We can reflect them in our countenance. We can walk with Them. We can be bright, we can do what's right. When we become so much like them the Lord can trust us to do things more fully like He does with Nephi in Helaman 10. The Lord says "...all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will." Nephi didn't have to worry if it was him or the Spirit that inspired something because he wouldn't have asked for anything contrary to the Lord's will. Wouldn't it be great to get to that point? Where we desire the Lord's will so much that we will sacrifice anything to do it? That we will have complete confidence in Him?

To wrap up "Let the Lord...hold the reins in your life...give yourself over to Him and you will have a happy life." -Br. Neubert.


I know that this is true, that as we come unto Christ, we can be perfected in Him. It is a lifelong journey. And we mess up often, but it is well worth it. Just think of the wonderfulness that comes from walking with Christ. Keeping the commandments really does bring joy.

March 6- March 15

As I hit the 2 year anniversary of the beginning of my mission this week, I came up with a brilliant idea for my blog posts for the next 18 months. :)

Relive it every week. So here we go!

Lessons I learned from March 6, 2013 - March 15, 2013

As I read through my journal and notes from those days, the things that stood out to me were these:

• As you lose yourself in the work, the Lord will take care of everything. Questions that can trap you are these- Am I inspired? Did I do it right? Do they like me? All of these take the focus and put it back on you. Instead focus on what you can do to help them "what can I do to help them?"
• Trust God, it will all work out
• It's ok to make mistakes- no one expects you to be perfect right now.
• Like a house that is being added on to, there is some breaking down that has to occur before the building up

http://www.skywriting.net/inspirational/poems/the_lad_with_the_lunch.html

Now to expand a bit more. God will not ever tell you that you are inadequate. He takes what we have and He uses it for His purposes. What we have is always enough as long as it is our best. John 6:9 "There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?" As the story continues, Christ takes the loaves and fishes, blesses them and feds five thousand men, plus women and children and there were left overs! At times we may look at the crowd and say "what are my five loaves gonna do?" And the Lord says "My child, what you have is enough. Trust me." And wham-o. He fulfills His purposes with your meager offering. Your best offering. 

When life gives you lemons, you start to make your lemonade, and then God says "wait! I need you to make orange juice" Your brain then says "uh right. Like that's gonna happen...ok. We'll try making orange juice." You then find somewhere in the depths of your refrigerator a few oranges. A man walks up to you and reads your sign that says "Lemonade 5 cents" and promptly asks you for orange juice. You are prepared because you followed the Lord's prompting. (this may seem a little hard to follow...) But, basically, the Lord knows all of His children personally and will use each of us to help each other in the ways that He needs us to. He knows and will use the resources that we have to help, we just have to be prepared to change our ways to follow His even when it seems odd. 

Hey, but you may make the mistake and didn't make the orange juice. That's ok. No one is perfect. There is time to grow and become better. Maybe the next time you will make orange juice when the Lord asks. If not, just hit the reset button and promise to do better. Don't get down on yourself for the mistakes you make. Let them make you want to become stronger and better. 

That being said, sometimes we slip up quite horribly. Old habits die hard. Breaking down the walls of the house so you can add onto it, or changing your lemonade recipe to be an orange juice one, or .... whatever it may be will take time to perfect. Change doesn't happen over night and that's fine and dandy. Be patient with yourself. Be patient with others. Change takes time. As long as we are doing our best, we are in the right. We are in the line of our duty. We will be fine.

Come What May and Love it

So this isn't because I have been reviewing my journal, but I have been thinking about this for quite a while.

My mission president's father was Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin. 

There is a talk titled the same thing from him... Come What May, and Love It

Anyways, now that that is out of the way, I will begin my post. 

While on the mission I often wanted to be in control of what was going on. I thought many times "I am the Lord's missionary! Why isn't He making this easier for me?!" Other thoughts were similar "Why does everyone cancel on us?" "Why don't they get it?" "why is every door being closed?" "Why does it have to be raining when I don't have my umbrella?" Etc. 

Thoughts are super powerful and gratitude is one of the best things ever. When we are positive and see the good in our lives, we are soo much happier. The more negative we are, the more it seems that we have a rain cloud over us constantly. 

President W. would always say "If you wake up on the wrong side of the bed, get back in bed and wake up on the right side of the bed." When he was asked how he was able to be happy day after day, he would simply say "I wake up and decide that today will be a good day. And it always is."

The last few days have been a bit colder than it has been previously. Today we even got snow here (I know, all you in NY would be happy to not have snow at this point.) Many friends and acquaintances began to complain about the snow and the cold weather, and I thought to myself "Hey, we can't change the weather, and it's actually really great that we are getting moisture now..." I also thought a lot about my mission too. I have never experienced a winter like I did on my mission. I now love snow and cold because it reminds me of NY. As the snow came down tonight, I stood in it and looked up to the sky. I breathed it in, I laid in the snow, made a snow angel and spun around. How enjoyable snow can be! 

There is so much that we can not control, so why try? Come what may and love it. We can be agents unto ourselves. We can choose to act and not be acted upon. We can choose our thoughts and actions. We can choose how we react to each situation; if we want to respond with anger, sadness, laughter, or joy. 

Buddha said "Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional." We can choose how we react to every thing. Laugh or cry, well as Sister Hinckley said "crying gives me a headache." haha. So, laughing is usually what I pick. :)

We can all find joy in each situation. Way harder to do than say, but as we practice, it will become a habit. Like Elder Scott says (and I know I have quoted this before) "We become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to be become each day." 

I'm going to keep this short, but I do love how I have been able to see recently the power of positive thinking. I encourage all of you to begin now to try and be more positive in your life. It's definitely worth it. :)

Trust in the Lord

I know this is basically what I wrote about last week and that I have been writing a lot about trusting in God the past few whatevers. But, this came to mind to write as the blog post today and I feel like sharing it.

Alrighty. In July we had a Zone Conference and the main topic was "align your will"

What does it mean to trust?

Well, here are some necessary elements for trust....

• Risk/possibility of harm
• Expectation of safety
• Give up control

Risk- Often we are asked to do something and questions like these come to mind...What if I look like a fool? What will happen if I do that? No one will like me... I won't like the change. I don't know what to say! How are they going to react? 

Many times with risk, we have a fear of the unknown. We have feelings of uncertainty. We have to take a risk. Our missionaries said that risk is anything you put on the alter of sacrifice. You are going to sacrifice your comfort, the known, to trust in the Lord.

Expectation of Safety- There are angels about you, the spirit will guide, God won't let you down.

There are promises all over the scriptures to those who trust in the Lord and do His will. Sometimes we are afraid to keep a commandment (remember risk?) but we just have to trust that the promises will be fulfilled that the Lord has made with us.

Give up Control- This is when you give Him your all. You submit to His will and fully rely on Him to keep His promises. You hold nothing back. 

I think about the trust fall...If you haven't heard of a trust fall, go look them up. Basically one person falls backwards into the arms of someone standing behind them.

Remember, that even if the promises don't seem to come, trust that they will come in due time and give the Lord your all. 

Some things that were mentioned in the conference to help us learn to trust God more were these: Put more on the alter, believe more, and rely on Him more. 

There is a skit online by Onetimeblind where Christ asks the girl to trust Him in a trust fall. She refuses to trust Him at the end because she can't see anyone behind her. I think this says a lot about when God asks us to do things and we can't see the end result. That's what is hard. That takes faith, that takes trust. And it is always well worth it.

Meekness and Humility

I was flipping through one of my mission journals today and I came across an experience or two that made me think of humility and meekness.

The first one was last March when I was struggling with something. I humbled myself and asked for a priesthood blessing. After the blessing I felt so happy.

I then read the rest of my journal entry for that day, and as I read I reflected on how humble those two Elders were and are. I don't know what it is like to be asked to give a priesthood blessing, but I can imagine that it is a humbling experience. You are asked to be the mouthpiece of God to one of His children. It isn't just a prayer in front of a congregation, but the Lord speaking directly to an individual. Wow. One must really be in tune with the spirit in that situation and must be submissive enough to say the things the Lord wants said instead of what they want to say. It blows me away every time.

Another journal entry in July was reflecting on the talk "Meekly Drenched in Destiny" by Elder Neal A Maxwell. I wrote down this sentence: Being meek doesn't mean you are a doormat. Often we realize that those that are meek and humble are submissive. We don't always realize though that they are submissive to God's will and His gospel, and not always others. Someone who is meek and humble can also be steadfast and immovable. They remember that it is better to save one soul than it is to save one's face.

In Preach My Gospel chapter 6, this is what it says about Humility

"Humility is willingness to submit to the will of the Lord and to give the Lord the honor for what is accomplished. It includes gratitude for His blessings and acknowledgment of your constant need for His divine help. Humility is not a sign of weakness; it is a sign of spiritual strength. When you humbly trust Him and acknowledge His power and mercy, you can have the assurance that His commandments are for your good. You are confident that you can do whatever the Lord requires of you if you rely on Him. You are also willing to trust His chosen servants and follow their counsel. Humility will help you as you strive to be obedient, to work hard, and serve selflessly..." (emphasis added)

 This quote is awesome. Just saying. Read it over and over again. It's great. When I read this quote, I ask myself these questions: Do I submit to the will of the Lord? Do I give Him the honor? Do I know that I need His help? Do I know that whatever He asks me to do is for my good? Do I follow Him willingly, knowing that whatever He has asked me to do, I can accomplish?

I know this is short, and I know I didn't go into great depth on this subject, but I hope that what I have written can spark some thoughts in your minds and hearts. I know that submitting to the will of the Lord, trusting in Him, is amazing and that as we truly humble ourselves before Him, there is nothing that we can't accomplish.