In A Nut Shell

Wow... I have not blogged in a long time. Sorry :)
These last weeks have been filled with so many miracles. It has been incredible to see how the Lord is truly hastening His work at this moment in time! I know that we can all do our part in helping others come unto Christ each and every day, we each have a role to play!

Here in Mesa there are many amazing things happening. Many times there are miracles each day, we just have to open our eyes to what the Lord has given us. I am grateful for the chance to Open My Eyes. There are people around us each day who want to change, an invitation many times is exactly what is needed to help them do so.

Recently there have been two large life changing events for me out here on the mission. One was a baptism of a young man named Cali and the other was the Gilbert Temple Open house I was blessed with the chance to attend.

This is Cali. He is a 17yr old young man who was really guided by the spirit in finding out truth for himself.

Cali - 18 January 2014

Now let me tell you a little bit about Cali's story. This young man has always had a knowledge of God, he has always felt directed to do good in his life, yet had never found his belonging in Church. A few months ago he began attending a LDS church class that was offered at the local high school (called Seminary). After learning a little there and attending church a few times he felt the need to learn more of the gospel so he met with the missionaries!

When we meet with people we invite them to ask the Lord if things are true, we ask them to find out for themselves what things they need to change in their lives to find happiness. Well that is EXACTLY what Cali did. He asked and found his answer for himself. A 17yr old boy changed his life around and followed the example of Jesus Christ and was baptized.

I wanted to share just a little bit about what he thought. This is from a FB posting he put up a few weeks before his baptism.

For the past few months, I have been doing many things to learn more about that LDS church. I've been asking friends questions, going to seminary, attending church, and even having missionary discussions. Throughout all of this, I have learned so much. Most notably, I've learned that all of this has made me feel a way I have never felt before. Its amazing. Learning, praying, reading, all of this has made me happy beyond belief. I love it so much. I love the beliefs, the morals, the people, all of it. I have even come to find that many of the beliefs and morals that I've had and developed through my life are reinforced in this church. They aren't crazy as many ignorantly believe. They are not to different from other christians as they are themselves also humble christians. I have wanted for a very long time to be baptized into a church, and I have finally found one that I love. As my friends and family, I'm not asking nor do I expect you to agree with my beliefs, but I do wish for you to support me and be happy for my decision as it is making me happy. So if you have any negative comments, please keep them to yourselves. Anyways after many months of hard thought about this, learning, and praying, for the reasons I've mentioned, and many more spiritual feelings I could not describe, I have officially decided to be baptized into The Jesus Christ Church of Latter-Day Saints.  — feeling ecstatic.

No matter who we are, no matter our gender, our age, our background, Jesus Christ wants us to follow him!

Baptism is the first step. Cali, if you read this know you are not done now!!! There is so much more to learn and understand in coming closer to Him.
Now comes the TEMPLE.

I had the chance to go to the Gilbert Temple Open house!The temple is such a beautiful special place. It really is the Lord's house. Inside the temple we are able to learn exactly what our Father in Heaven has in store for us. We are able to grow closer to him and find answers to questions we may be struggling with.

I know that the temple is the Lords home. Here are some pictures of the open house I was able to attend!

The Gilbert Arizona Temple 

On the way!

Going outside the Mesa Mission... we crossed the border! (with permission)

Sister Shana joined us 

Each temple has an inscription: Holiness To The Lord. The House of The Lord 

I love it here

Beautiful windows all over the Temple

The Farley family came too :)

Pure beauty

Baptism.
                             The first step.
                             Temples.
                                                                                   The Lord's House.

With Jesus Christ we can find true happiness in this life. I know this with all my heart! 

Mistakes.

Mistakes. Lets face it. No matter how hard we try and fib ourselves, we all make them!
Even missionaries make mistakes! In all we do we try and follow the spirit and follow the example of Jesus Christ, but sometimes mistakes are made.

The other day my companion and I made a mistake. It was not a big one, but it was a mistake. Here is what happened...

Dinner time. Next to teaching lessons it is the best part of being a missionary. We have the chance to eat with people in Mesa who just want to serve us missionaries. This was the funniest turn of events for dinner in my life.
Sister Weedman and I had been in communication with the family who we planned to eat with earlier in the day over text messaging. They asked what kind of food we felt like. Personally I wanted nothing! I had been sick for a few days and nothing sounded good so I left it up to my wonderful companion to decide. The decision was made, Hawaiian Haystacks was the verdict. In the course of our little message conversation we let the family know I was a bit sick just so they did not expect me to eat much and with that our chat concluded.
4:50pm rolls around, almost dinner time! We had just finished having a fantastic lesson with one of our dear friends and we were on our way to find nourishment. Sister Weedman is about to do a dance at the thought of having her favorite meal, I am just praying I will make it through the night!
5:00pm We knock on the door and a kind sister answers and leads us into her living room. We take a seat and chat for a little thinking that it is just a pre-meal chat. As minutes goes by we realize no food.
5:10pm Both sister Weedman and I notice the kitchen is empty, no smell of food anywhere. Something is wrong.
My mind starts racing. One of two things happened. She forgot, or we are at the wrong house!
A Mistake Has Been Made. Not a life altering one, but a mistake none the less.
I said a silent prayer as to what to do to get out of the situation. Right then this sister asks about the people we had been teaching. I quickly perked up and mentioned needing to check the phone for a message about a lesson that night. As I pulled the phone out of my bag I saw a few messages, one of them from the REAL family we should have been eating at. Somehow I showed the message to Sister Weedman and we ended our conversation and were on our way.
5:12pm In the car we busted out laughing at the sheer awkwardness of our whole conversation with these people. Going to a home expecting food and finding nothing can give you quite a shock! We had not read the messages earlier in the day well enough to realize that this sister had planned to bring us the food since I was not feeling very well! She was waiting for us at a random house to come and pick up our meal.
As we met this lady we realized that the home we were at was indeed her home, those were her parents who we had a nice chat with, but the plan was for us to eat at our own home so I could get a little extra rest and not feel bad by not eating much. We all had a good laugh over the silly mistake we had made and it turned out to be an answer to my prayers in being able to get through the night without feeling overly sick!

Again, not a huge mistake, but it was a mistake. I have learned many different things on my mission and one of those being everybody has times where they make poor choices. Mistakes are a part of life, but so is getting over the mistakes! With the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can move past our mistakes and look forward to a brighter future. I know that our Savior loves us and wants us to be happy and by putting all trust in him! Mistakes are made, and that is okay. It only means we are human :)

Happiness

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" 

-Philippians 4:13

I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. It really helps me to just be happy! Yeah, sure, life is hard. It was not made to be easy. However, we can gain joy in the difficult things as we learn to grow and overcome. With Christ we can do all hard things! I know that to be true. 

The past few weeks of missionary life have been hard. I have formulated my own secret plan of success in becoming happy. As I have applied some of these things I have really seen a change!

How to be happy according to me :)

Happy with my Friends :)

- Realize you find it in the little things!

- Think positively about E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G.... The people around you and yourself included.

- Take time to do the silly things you love.

- Substitute any negative thoughts with positive ones.

- SMILE

- Do not have unreasonable expectations set on yourself.

- Do not over do it. 

- Read scriptures for at least 5 minutes OR more a day!

- Pray as often as possible.

- Set aside time to think and ponder.

- ACT on spiritual promptings that are felt.

At times we get down, but turn to Christ. He is there to help build us up! As we do so he will give us the success we need! I know this is true. The other day I was just down. I do not know why, but it was just not a good morning. Right before I left the house I decided to just 'get over it' and turn to the Lord. I knew if I just let him lead me I would not only find happiness, but also comfort and peace! I found it :) I felt his love so strongly that day as he helped me get through the day!

Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you succe`ss. -Alma 26:27

Walking on Water.

Today I received some pretty insightful personal revelation as I was studying! Because it was so meaningful to me I decided to share it with the world!

So. Many of us know the story of Peter walking on water. The disciples were in a ship doing what they do and a big storm came around. Really early in the morning the disciples saw Jesus walking on water! In the account in Matthew it says

"when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear" (Matt 14:26).

First of all I think I would have been scared too! How many of us have actually seen anybody walk on water. Fear soon left them as they heard the savior reply

"Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid" (Matt 14:27).

What a calming thing to hear.

           Be

                 Not                             

                              Afraid

Peter had fear. It soon left him. He wanted to be with the savior. He wanted to walk with him. He did so.

After a bit of walking on water that fear came back to Peter. He began to sink. Peter calls for help.
"Lord, save me" (Matt 14:30). Christ IMMEDIATELY stretches his hand out and saves Peter.

Now here is where I really connected some personal dots. . .

The next thing we read is "And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased" (Matt 14:32). So... HOW did they get back into the ship?!

Christ. Carried. Peter. Back.

Not sure how. It was done someway.

Our savior, Jesus Christ, has physically carried people back to safety. If he has done it once, he continues to do it today. He can, does, and will carry us when we are in times of need. I know this. I have felt this time and time again! We have no need to fear. He is always there for us.
Life is full of things that we do not know. I have zero idea what is in store for my life. I have my own thoughts, dreams, and wishes... but who knows what will happen. Rather than being fearful about what will happen in my life, my heart is calm. I feel like I am walking on that water with the possibility of sinking at any moment, yet I do not sink because I am being supported by a loving Savior.
He lives. I know this with all my heart!

Follow. Just do it.

Obedience.
"In a spiritual sense, obedience is doing God's will." The Guide to the Scriptures

I have been doing a lot of thinking about this lately. Without being E.X.A.C.T.L.Y obedient we can not follow the example of Jesus Christ.
Recently my studies of Christ have lead me to LOVE the scripture found in Matthew 9:9 

"And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him."

 What are we doing to follow him?

Exact obedience. That is what this passage teaches us. Matthew could have sat there and said "hmm... give me 5 more minutes and I will be right there" or even "maybe later". He could have even answered with "no" but he did not. 

                               He arose.
  

                                            He followed Christ.

These past few weeks here on the mission I have had a growing opportunity. Many times I have felt like Matthew. Just sitting and waiting to be directed as to where to go. Last week I was blessed with the chance to be reassigned to a new area in Mesa serving with a new companion, Sister Weedman.
The both of us were brand new to this area. In mission language we call this "white washing". It was my 6th time white washing an area so I was ready to start working hard! Being new is an amazing chance to pause and let the Lord direct you with each step.

"Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to they prayers."

I know I saw the importance of this as we began to work. Yet sometimes the Lord throws us a curve ball that is unexpected...

We received a call telling us that the new area we were assigned to was going to be changed. Rather than working with the people we had already met we were to move immediately to another part of Mesa and take over 2 different areas. At first I thought it was a joke... but no. The Lord needed us only for 6 days in that one place and now we are starting from scratch once again.

Thinking of this experience I realize how vital it is to trust the Lord and be obedient. We could have questioned and fought as to why we were being moved, but we did not. We could have gone with sadness or even a bitter taste in our mouths, but we went with knowledge that the Lord puts us precisely

  where we need to be when we need to be there.

Christ invites us time and time again to FOLLOW him in all we do. He invited his disciples, those in Jerusalem, those living in the ancient inhabitants of America even. He continues to invite us. I know as we strive to follow him in all we do we can find true joy and peace in this life and the life to come!

Here is a wonderful bible video depicting another example of those who straight way went and followed Christ!!

To watch more Bible Videos go here :) 

Bible Videos!

Conference

General Conference!

Amazing. Inspirational. Uplifting. Edifying.

The Prophet Thomas S. Monson.

Ridiculously  

Exactly

What

I

Needed 

To

Hear.

Enough Said. I loved every little bit about conference.

I have tried to pick a favorite talk, but I can not. I have attempted to even narrow it down to a few and come out with little success. I know that these people have been called of God to give us the guidance we need in these days. What a blessing to be in a world with such guidance and direction.

We have a living prophet today. Not only is that a blessing, but so are the Apostles of the Lord that are called. This church is organized just as it was when Jesus Christ was on the earth. I know these men receive revelation to give to us today!

Listen for yourself to General Conference

Prayer. A beautiful thing.

Today I had a wonderful experience with prayer. This morning I hopped on the computer needing to access some information I had put onto my little travel drive I carry around. Usually it is always in my purse in a pocket next to my chap stick... today that was not the case.

I could not find it ANYWHERE! To me this felt like I was losing memories from the last year of my life. All of my saved pictures from my mission were on this and a ton of documents from studies and letters I had received were there as well. My heart sank, and it sank fast! 

I ran to my locker here at the Visitor' Center and looked through all my stuff. No travel drive. I checked both computer rooms and all of the computers. No travel drive. It was so heart wrenching.

I tried to put it out of my mind and continue on with my day thinking it would show up eventually.

A couple hours later I found myself back at the Visitors' Center again needing my travel drive. In our back room a few missionaries were studying and I asked if they had seen it. One missionary, Sister Hamstead, explained how she too lost something super important this day; her debit card! She suggested that we all kneel in prayer and ask for the Lord's help. A beautiful prayer was said by Sister Avanesjan and we continued to work. 

About 2 minutes later I was once again in one of the computer rooms searching for another missionary. As I talked with them I asked if they had seen my little drive. Sister Horrutiner looked at the computer (which happened to be the VERY SAME ONE I had used this morning when I found my drive missing) and pulled a drive out and said "is it this one?" 

IT WAS FOUND! 

I know lost things are always found...well normally... but what really amazed me was how quick it was found after a prayer was offered in faith. 

"Thus God has provided a means that man, through faith, might work mighty miracles;..." The Book of Mormon, Mosiah 8:18

I love these opportunities to see how aware Heavenly Father is of me. He really does know me and wants what is best for me. We are all put through trials in our life. Some small like misplacing a simple travel drive, others larger like losing loved ones or feelings of loneliness. As we turn to Him at times of need he helps us! These times are here not to punish us, but to polish us! I have learned that we all have these Mountains to Climb, we have difficulties to hurdle, we have bad days to get past and we can do it with his help! Especially with prayer. Lots and LOTS of prayer! 

He knows us. I promise you that. Turn to him and see for yourself 

:)