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. :) :)

mission decision

Tomorrow, I'll turn twenty-one. 

For me this age has always meant -- not drinking -- but serving a full-time mission for the church of Jesus Christ.

And as of two days ago, the age requirement for young women wishing to serve a mission has been lowered to 19.

& I'm so grateful.

I'm grateful to be here, now, preparing to serve a mission, and not earlier. When I look back at my 19- and 20-year old self (okay, I'm still technically twenty), I see a lot of naivete... which isn't to say that I'm completely grown up now, but the past two years have been years of immeasurable growth for me, and for that I'm so grateful.

I'm grateful to be going now and not then.

I'm grateful for the lessons I've learned about living on my own

& feeling alone

& finding joy

& coming closer to God

& forgiveness

& loving others

& I know that I still have many more lessons to learn, and that my mission will be a time of incredible growth for me. 

But I'm just so grateful for the time that God has given me to grow up unto Him

I'm grateful that I got to attend BYU for two years - what a growing experience that was! 

I'm grateful for the opportunities I've already had to share the gospel with people I love, & for the opportunity I had to work at efy

And I'm so eternally grateful for the people He has put in my life, who have taught me to love & trust & forgive & be happy.

I feel very confident that this is the time for me to be serving. not earlier, and not any later. 

That being said, I'm absolutely ecstatic for all of the 19- and 20- year-old girls who will now have the opportunity to serve that much sooner, who might not otherwise have had the chance to serve at all. God works through our weakness, and he'll work with these teenage boys & girls just as He will work with me. God is a God of miracles :) 

As a woman, I have never felt less than absolutely loved & respected in my church & in my faith. Full-time missionary service is a priesthood responsibility, and something that I've always felt passionate about and known I wanted to do. I'm glad I get to serve now, and I'm excited for the teenagers & young adults I will be privileged to work with in bringing about God's purposes :) 

I believe that God still speaks through prophets & apostles today.

I believe that this decision was reached by men who speak with God.

& I'm so excited to watch His purposes unfold :)

--

~ from the press conference {which i highly recommend watching if you're interested} ~

"God is hastening his work, and he needs more and more willing and worthy missionaries to spread the light, and the truth, and the hope, and the salvation of the gospel of Jesus Christ to an often dark and fearful world... This announcement... is not about you [young people]. It's about the sweet & pure message you are being asked to bear and the ever greater numbers God needs to bear it. ” –Jeffrey R. Holland

:)

10/13/12 EDIT: my friend Joyce Tran wrote this post about the same thing and it describes me perfectly so go read it, amen. :)

true or false

i guess what it boils down to is does God love me, or doesn't He?

(hint: He does.)

I once said that I would die before I denied that I know God loves His children.

And now the question is, will I live that?

Will I move to Wisconsin for Him?

you're darn tootin' I will.

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 :) :) 

holding hands

The other day I learned something that completely blew my mind and changed the way I think about a lot of things. I'll try to walk you through it :)

First of all, this scripture:

For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. {Isaiah 54:5}

Thy Maker is thine husband. The metaphor the Lord chooses to use for His relationship with us is husband & wife. Interesting.

Let's next look at two of the ten commandments:

Thou shalt not bow down thyself to [idols], nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God. {Exodus 20:5}

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife... nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s. {Exodus 20:17}

Doesn't there seem to be a discrepancy here? God calls Himself a jealous God, then commands us not to covet. How can this be? Look closely at the commandment not to covet... not to covet what, specifically? Thy neighbour's wife. Here's the thing though... we aren't "His neighbour's" wife. We are His, by covenant and by marriage. He is jealous for me. I am His. He bought me with a price & by covenant I am His. Thank God, literally! What love He has for me. He will never break that covenant.

Jehovah Himself said,

"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness...

For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee." {Isaiah 41:10,13}

"Other comforts fail and comforts flee," as the hymn says, but He will not.

Neal A. Maxwell taught,

"God has no distracting hobbies off somewhere in the universe. We are at the very center of His concerns and purposes." [Compare this with the god Baal in 1 Kings 18:27, who might've been off on a journey or sleeping somewhere in the universe.]

I need to be as devoted to Christ as He is to me. Jesus comes first, above and before everything and anything else. No "holding hands" with anyone or anything else! And no cuddling with my fears. This is what it means to be faithful.

Being the bride of Christ takes faith. It takes faith to choose Him first, run to Him first, turn to Him first. 

Remembering this metaphor He gave has taught me a great deal about my relationship with Christ. For example, husbands pay for things. Jesus paid for everything; my job is to let Him and stop trying to pay for things myself. He already suffered for sin, I don't need to suffer for it again.

Being married to Him, I get to go where He goes. It's almost like a marriage visa ~ I can be sealed to Him and brought to heaven because of the covenant. My job is to cleave unto Him, keep my covenants, love Him, be faithful to Him, & put Him first in all things. :)

I feel my Savior's love :)

I Am with thee

Sometimes, days are rough. Yesterday was rough. Sometimes I'm just crippled by how not-good I am and how much I wish I were better, but I'm not. So sometimes I cry in my car. Which is dangerous haha. So then I go home and open up my scriptures and pray and read about Jesus.

I was reading in Isaiah 41 last night when something stood out to me...

Fear thou not, for I AM with thee. Be not dismayed, for I AM thy God. I will strengthen thee.

The Great "I AM" is my God. He is all powerful & infinitely, powerfully loving. He has the strength to strengthen me - be not dismayed. I AM is my God, & He is awesome & powerful. ♥

I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, fear not, I will help thee. 

I don't need to be afraid of not yet being all the way good. The Lord, my God, will help me. He is the only One who can, and he can. He has all power, both in heaven and in earth. (Mosiah 4:9) 

He created me. He knows me. He can fix me.

When Moses asked "Who am I?" God answered "I will be with thee."

I AM that I AM can be translated as "I will cause to be what I will cause to be." He has the power to bring about righteousness for those who follow Him.

Jesus is the bridegroom, & the bridegroom takes care of His bride. All things that He has, she has.

Fear not thou, for I AM with thee. I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee. For I the Lord the God will hold thy right hand. Be not thou dismayed, for I AM thy God. I will help thee. ♥♥♥

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.** :)