Service is a gift

This week was good. I got back on my feet and learned some good things. I am so grateful for the gift of service. Yes, doing service is a gift. 

I remember on my mission I sometimes really really wished to be in a leadership position so that I would not focus so much on myself and my stuff. I wanted to be there for others. I wanted to serve. Why? Because I understood the blessings that came from serving others and thinking about them. About half way through my mission though I never really got another chance at a leadership position. 

Or at least that is what I thought. Just because I wasn't in what I thought was a leadership position, didn't mean that I wasn't a leader to those around me. My example, my tag, and my experience automatically labelled me as a leader. People looked up to me just because I was a missionary. I was a leader.

As a leader, I prayed for those I had potential to influence. I prayed for those under my care. I prayed for those around me. I prayed for the members. I prayed to receive inspiration of how to help those I interacted with. I was so focused on others that I truly lost myself in the work. I truly loved. I truly cared. And as a result, I was happy and I was taken care of. I didn't have to worry about my own life. I saw how blessed I was every day as I served others. I forgot my troubles and I trusted that God would take of them either by helping me overcome them, or helping me to realize that they weren't really troubles in the first place.

Those are some of the many blessings that come from service. Service is a gift. And I am so grateful for it.

Book of Mormon-short testimony

On my mission, I served in an area where there was a member that had such a powerful testimony of The Book of Mormon. He changed my outlook on missionary work.

I wanted to hand out the book to everyone that I came in contact with. It had impacted my life so much, and I just wanted to share it. It was awesome. As I concentrated more on the Book of Mormon in my teaching and finding techniques, the work hastened.

The Book of Mormon is a blessing in our lives. It can influence us for good. It can give us peace in times of darkness. It can shed forth light in our pits of despair. It can lift us. Well, the book itself can't do those things, but the message and the spirit that come from reading the book with a open mind and heart can. If one is willing to read The Book of Mormon and read it with the intent to receive an answer from God, they can and will receive that answer.

March 23rd 2013- Elder Bednar

On March 23rd 2013, Elder Bednar came to our mission and we were able to have an All Mission Conference.

There is so much that he said that carried the spirit to our hearts. As long as our hearts and minds were opened, we learned so much from this meeting.

I don't know where to begin or what to say about this meeting or how to convey everything I learned.

One topic that was prominent in the conference was agency and being agents unto ourselves as well as allowing others to be agents unto themselves.

If you want to get an idea of what he told us about this topic, check out his "Seek Learning by Faith" or "Ask in Faith" talks.

I loved realizing that I don't have to react in certain ways, I can choose how I want to react and learn. I can act in faith. I can work towards goals that I want. I don't have to sit around waiting for something good or bad to happen to me and then decide how I want to react. I can take things into situations and plan and prepare so that I can learn more. I can pray with real intent-real intent to act upon my answer, no matter what it is. I can choose to have faith in God and in His timing. I can own the doctrine, not just know it.
I can ask the Lord "will you show me who I really am?" and then be willing to ask as well "what can I do to improve?" and then be willing to do what He directs. I can learn to preach the gospel instead of giving talks. I don't have to be in control as long as I am under His control- I can choose to be spiritually self-reliant. I can act in faith, knowing that He will fill my mouth. As I ask questions, not only in my own study but to others as well, I can help them become agents unto themselves too. No one really wants to be talked at or have things shoved in their faces, but as they are taught truth and are asked questions they can have light bulb moments, they are guided to the truth and then they will own the truth and the solutions to their questions more fully. guided discovery is a great thing. As we step back and ask the question "what do they [or I] need?" and wait, then the Lord is able to teach us so much easier. Silence is often when the Spirit will speak to us. And it takes patience and effort to really teach and learn in this way, but as we do, wow. The changes that come are great.

Another thing I wanted to touch on from this conference was this concept. I don't know if I am quoting Elder Bednar quite right, but this is what I wrote in my journal that day: (someone asks about returning home)

"When the day comes when you ask 'what is wrong with me?' remember the answer is that there is nothing wrong with you. You were just an effective missionary. Your focus is changing a little more inward, and it's awkward. It will be a hard transition, but you can do it."

There is nothing wrong with being an effective missionary. The transition will be hard, but we can do it. I believe this is true with all transitions in life, just remember, that nothing is wrong with you. Nothing is ever wrong with you. As a friend once said : "you are not broken...there may be things to learn about yourself, there's always changes to make..." You are not broken. God doesn't make mistakes. You can be refined sure, but remember that you are loved. As I was writing this blog post, I happened upon this quote online and I thought it would be a good way to close. Just strive every day to do your best and you will be fine. Remember my post from last week? Yupp. Just keep on trying. You got this. I don't know who I'm writing to, but there you go. Keep pressing forward. The night will end and there will be a beautiful sunrise.

March 20th ish 2013- Failure...

As I thought about writing this blog post, I actually didn't want to, mostly because I want to go to bed... yeah...

So this will probably be pretty fast. Sickness calls you know..

As I reflected in my journal, I was pretty discouraged at the beginning of my mission because we would set goals and rarely meet them. I didn't understand why we would set such lofty goals if we really didn't think that we would meet them. What was the point of trying? We were failing.

This brings me to what I want to talk about. This morning I sent out a thought of the day from a dear friend "There is no such thing as failure, just temporary setbacks."

Another friend responded saying that they believed that the only time you fail is when you stop trying. (and here's an awesome talk too... Latter-day Saints Keep on Trying)

And a quote from Confucius: "it does not matter how slow you go, so long as you do not stop."

So in all of these cases, we weren't failing as long as we were trying our best. We had no reason to be discouraged because we were succeeding, not failing.

It was a temporary setback. Just because we blew out one of our tires didn't mean we couldn't get it fixed and do better the next day. If we had failed, we would have given up, and never tried to get to our destination. We would have stayed inside all day and took off the missionary badge. But we didn't do that. We got up each morning, studied and prepared for the day and honestly did our best. Therefore we succeeded. We did not fail.

The gospel is to have faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, to repent, to be baptized, to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and to ENDURE TO THE END.

You keep going. No matter what. Hold tightly to that iron rod and press forward. Sure, you will stumble and fall, but you get back up and you keep going. Another quote by Confucius "Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." Yupp. You just keep going.

And I did my best today, it didn't equal my best on a normal day, it didn't even equal my average, but I did my best in my circumstances, and therefore I did not fail. I succeeded gloriously with what I was given.

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.