you're invited...

to learn more about my mission! haha :) 

like any good first-grade journalist... i've decided to write out the "5 W's + H" of my mission {please tell me i'm not the only one who learned those in elementary school haha}

WHO 

Jesus :)

missionary me :)

Here's the thing... it's really not about me. It's mostly about Jesus, and it's mostly about other people. :)

WHAT

A mission is a voluntary act of service to God & humankind. We serve with the sole hope of making life better for other people. :)  My purpose will be to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. I'll be waking up early, studying my scriptures, meeting new people, sharing my testimony of Jesus Christ, teaching the gospel, and inviting people to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and follow His example :)
I'm dedicating this part of my life to Him as completely as possible, so I'll be very selective about the music I listen to, I won't be on facebook or twitter or anything, I won't be using my phone, and I'll just be emailing my family once a week. Every one can please write me letters though! :) :)

WHEN & WHERE

I report to the Missionary Training Center on November 14th. I'll be there for a couple weeks, and then I'm headed to the Wisconsin Milwaukee mission for 18 months! :) 

HOW

I'd like to quote a Book of Mormon prophet here:

"Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in His strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever." Alma 26:12

He is how. :) 

WHY

I first considered serving a full-time mission when I was like... seven. But mostly just because my aunt was the age to go and she was thinking about it. She didn't end up serving, but the idea stuck and it felt good :) So I've sort of always planned on it, and experiences during high school and college have only strengthened that desire. 

Then, while I was working at efy, it became less an option and more a necessity haha. I felt and still feel very strongly that a mission is where I need to be as soon as possible. The gospel of Jesus Christ is something I love more than anything, and I can't think of anything more important that I could be talking about or more beautiful that I could be doing.
 I know that God lives, and I know that He loves & is aware of us. Some people don't know that. How can I not at least try to share my happiness with them? Jesus Christ atoned for the sins of the world. Because of Him, we all can have hope. How can I not share this hope with people? God has a plan for our happiness. We can be with our families forever. There is life after death. There is a purpose to our life here on earth. Somethings are too important to keep to myself.

While I was at efy, my angel Amanda shared with a group of us a verse that hit me as very few verses have before or since. I knew I wanted to serve a mission, and my application was already in the works, but I was struggling with how much I'm going to miss the things I love... my friends, my home, my family... even stupid stuff like my music and my clothes haha. The Savior's question to Peter - Lovest thou me more than these? - hit me SO HARD, and I knew my answer. I knew that this is why I'm leaving everything else I love behind. I love home. I love my friends. I love my family. But I love Jesus more. And He has asked me to feed His lambs. So I'm going.

"Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of Him to declare His word among his people, that they might have everlasting life." 3 Ne. 5:13

From my call letter:

"The Lord will reward you for the goodness of your life. Greater blessings and more happiness than you have yet experienced await you as you humbly and prayerfully serve the Lord in this labor of love among His children. We place our confidence in you and pray that the Lord will help you become an effective missionary."

aaaaaaaamen! WISCONSIN HERE I COME. :) :)

praise God time :)

Sometimes I just have to praise God for His goodness :)

1. I had the most a m a z i n g job this summer that I loved. I met life-changing, wonderful people and got to experience the spiritual goodness of efy for seven weeks ~ three more than expected and all with the northwest team, my favourite people :)

2. I got to travel and see the most beautiful places that He created :)

3. I get to live in the beautiful pacific northwest, my favourite place on earth :)

4. I get to live with my wonderful family, and my family is wonderful :) 

5. I'm enrolled in a wonderful university that I get to return to after my mission

6. I feel very much at peace with my decision to not attend school this semester and to go home and prepare for a mission. :) 

7. I have enough money for a mission, and then some. I had enough with my job at efy, then I got additional weeks, and then I got home and have had three different job offers that will allow me to earn almost $3000 in two months. God truly is a God of abundance, mercy, and overflowing love :) :) 

8. And of course I always have to praise Him for my Savior, Jesus :) love love love love love. Knowing Him makes me oh-so-happy :) :) 

What does it mean to be a child of God?

Hello friends :)

As part of my job this summer working with efy, I got to take some nice long car trips with friends :)
~ fun fact about me ~ 

Sky & Katie :)

I love talking with people. It's seriously my activity of choice, listening and thinking out loud with someone. 

And so on one particular car trip, I got to talking with my friend Sky about the issue we and some other friends have with the oft-taught idea that all girls are "princesses." Certainly, this is true. We know that we are all "children of the Most High" (Psalms 82:6) and I think that this knowledge of who we really are is very important for us all to have, especially teenagers, who seem to struggle so much with self-worth and the source of their identity. However, my worry is that we sometimes stop too soon. "You're a princess!" we declare, never following up with what it means to be a princess.

To Whom then can we look to discover how children of the King really act? Why, Jesus of course! (Seems like He's always the answer, isn't He.) :)

Like His Apostle Simon Peter, we "believe and are sure that [He is] that Christ, the Son of the living God." {John 6:69} There isn't any better example of One who truly is the Son of God, and knew it. So what did He do, this Divine Son of God, when He was here on earth?

He washed people's feet.

He "went about doing good," yet was despised for it. {Acts 10:38}

He "walked the roads of Palestine, healing the sick, causing the blind to see, and raising the dead." {The Living Christ}

He came to serve.

As John records,

"Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded." {John 13:3-5}

In other words, knowing who He was, where He came from, and where He was going impelled him to serve.

This, being a child of God means that you have been called to serve.

As Christ Himself taught,

"Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." {John 13:13-15,17}

You are a child of God. The supreme Governor of the universe, the Creator of everything, the all-powerful, all-knowing, infinitely loving God is your eternal Father.

What this means is that you can be like Him. You can be good, and pure, and happy as He is. :)

What this means is that you are loved.

And what this means is that you and I have been called to serve. Go, and do as Christ did :)



**for another example of how children of a king behave, go here.** :)

this is a fact

God loves His children 

He even (especially?) loves His teenagers
He loves them so much He won't even let people like this -->
mess things up for them. :)

This summer working at efy one of the huge lessons that I learned was that God loves and is aware of His teenagers. Feeling Him work through me to touch their lives was the most incredible experience.

A metaphor:
In the Book of Mormon, a prophet called the Brother of Jared "did molten out of a rock sixteen small stones; and they were white and clear, even as transparent glass; and he did carry them in his hands upon the top of the mount, and cried unto the Lord, saying...
"Behold these things which I have molten out of the rock. And I know, O Lord, that thou hast all power, and can do whatsoever thou wilt for the benefit of man; therefore touch these stones, O Lord, with thy finger, and prepare them that they may shine forth in darkness."
...And it came to pass that when the brother of Jared had said these words, behold, the Lord stretched forth his hand and touched the stones one by one with his finger... And thus the Lord caused stones to shine in darkness, to give light unto men, women, and children, that they might not cross the great waters in darkness." {Ether 3:1,3-4,6; 6:3}

"Stones to shine in darkness."

That's how I feel. :) I'm just a stone, but God works with stones, and if I allow the Lord to touch me and His Light to shine through me I can shine in darkness :) My job is just to become as transparent as possible.

God is so powerful that even we in our weakness can't hold back His awesome work from progressing. His love and His power and strongest, period. the end, amen.

"No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing" ~Joseph Smith

efy

this happened:

and i'll never be the same :)