My Call to Serve.

So I'm back! I know its been a while. On August 5, 2015 I received my call to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have been called to labor in the Canada Winnipeg Mission. I report to the Provo MTC on September 30, 2015.

I have had a lot of mixed feelings upon opening my call. Many of my family and friends guessed that I would serve in South America or out in the Pacific somewhere. Pretty much the guesses were:
1. Warm
2. I would stand out as a Redhead
3. Foreign
I only got one of those. I was with the majority of guesses in my own thoughts. So when I read Canada Winnipeg it sounded strange. I knew I was called by an apostle of Christ and that Canada was were I was supposed to go, it just seemed foreign compared to the guesses I had received and the thoughts I had been having.
So now I'm 19 days from entering the MTC and I know that Canada Winnipeg is were I am supposed to be going. I know and I have been called by an apostle. I was so disappointed in myself for not having a great spiritual confirmation when I opened my call or even that night as I prayed. It has taken weeks of study, searching, and seeking to have the confirmation I was seeking.
My heart is filled with a great love for the people of Canada and for those that I will go and serve. I am so excited that I have been chosen to represent my Savior Jesus Christ. As inadequete as I feel at times I know that through His help and strength I will be strengthened to be the best I can be. I know He lives, I have felt the power of His atonement in my life. I know He loves each and everyone of us and as we rely on Him, He will help us in any situation we find ourselves in.
I'm not going on a mission in 19 days. I am simply expanding the one I've already been serving. I've been a missionary my whole life, now I will get to share that all day everyday.

Patience

Hey Everyone!
So I've been thinking a lot about patience lately, and how I am severely lacking in it. My mission call was assigned last Friday, and I have been going crazy, longing, hoping, praying, and wishing for it to get here. Yet, its still not here.
Chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel is all about developing Christ-like attributes. In there it says, "Patience is the capacity to endure delay, trouble, opposition, or suffering without becoming angry, frustrated, or anxious. It is the ability to do God’s will and accept His timing. When you are patient, you hold up under pressure and are able to face adversity calmly and hopefully. Patience is related to hope and faith—you must wait for the Lord’s promised blessings to be fulfilled.". 
I had never realized how patience was connected to hope and faith. I've known it was waiting and trusting in the Lord's timing but it had never clicked that, doing that was having faith and hope. 
The most important aspect about patience in this chapter, I think, is where it says, "You must be patient with all people, yourself included...". I tend to have more patience with other people. I tell myself that I don't know what they are going through and that I need to be patient with them. Whit myself, I know exactly what I'm going through and yet, I don't give myself the time I need to work through and overcome challenges. 
Being patient is hard. But I know that when I am patient and when I simply trust in the Lord's timing I am blessed beyond measure. I have found that I would not have understood or accepted what it was that I was told or given, if I had been told or given that thing, when I wanted it. The Lord knows whats best for each of us. We need to trust that. Trust Him. 

Trials!

Hey there!!!
I've been thinking a lot about is the different trials we all face. A big trial I face is doubt. Doubting my decisions, whether its the Holy Ghost or just my own thoughts, and pretty much anything else. I have a hard time going on less than 100% knowledge.
There is an experience I would like to share. In July 2011 I was able to participate in a trek with my stake. I was so excited! It was going to be the best week ever. As it got closer and closer I got anxious about which family I was going to be placed in. There was a certain couple from my ward that I absolutely adored and I wanted more than anything to be in their family. I was very that first morning to discover that I had been placed in that family and to also have been made sister with a best friend from school and a role model of mine. This week was looking up.

As a family we were given 2 five gallon jugs, one for water and the other for Gatorade. Early the first day we finished our Gatorade and filled the jug back up with water. We continued on our way, thinking nothing of it.
After a time, we realized we had taken the wrong path and had to backtrack 1.5 miles to get back to where we needed to be. By this time it was late in the afternoon, we had been up since 4 am, walked extra miles, and were out of Gatorade.
It was so hard. We weren't going to make it. Ma brought some water to my sisters and me at the front of the car, grateful we quickly passed it around. But didn't get very far. Because we were not drinking water. The water bottle we had been given was full of Gatorade.
We pulled over to the side of the trail and opened up our jug. We saw it filled with Gatorade. It was the most glorious sight to behold. At that moment, we gathered together and Pa said a prayer of gratitude. We were so grateful for this miracle in our lives.
Even though it has been 4 years since this experience, The strength of the Spirit that I feel has now dimmed. I know that miracles are real. God blesses His children with what they need when they need it. He loves us so much. And while it may be hard sometimes it is always worth it. The trials we experiences will bring us so much joy.
Ether 12:6 teaches us"ye receive now witness until after the trial of your faith." I know the witness will come. With faith and patience all will be well and it will all be worth it in the end.

Faith and Prayer

Hi Again!!
Somethings have been on my mind a lot recently namely faith and prayer. These two principles are interconnected in many ways.
First off, we show our faith by praying. This shows our Heavenly Father that we do believe He is there and that He can hear us. In the book of Enos we find a remarkable story about the power of prayer. Enos prayed all day and into the night for forgiveness of his sins. After a time it is granted unto him. Verse 8 tells us how it was done, "And he said unto me: Because of thy faith in Christ..." Here again is a way that they are connected.
To receive a remission of one's sins is to become whole again through the power of Christ's atonement. We gain access to this through prayer. It is a part of the "ask and ye shall receive" principle found throughout the scriptures.
Jumping more to faith. We are taught a lot about the principle of faith in Alma 32:21, "And now as I said concering faith - faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore, if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true." We can be told certain things are true or correct our whole lives, for various reasons. But without exercising faith, and asking we will never know for sure.
One last thought. President Gordon B. Hinckley taught, "Of all our needs, I think the greatest is an increase of faith." The power of faith is real. It can and will lead to a perfect knowledge of things. Likewise, prayer is an incredible gift that we have been given. It will help guide us in everything that we do. By even exercising the smallest particle of faith, in kneeling and asking our Heavenly Father a question, blessings and answers will come.

Enduring to the End

Hey there!! I figured that starting at the end, is a great way to begin my blog that will hopefully last for a while.

Enduring to the End

What does that even mean??? The word endure means to suffer (something painful) patiently. When something is said to endure it is said to last forever, or at least of a great length of time. If something, like a statue or a painting, can endure then why can't we as individual's endure?

In the LDS church enduring to the end is the fourth principle of our gospel. It comes after we make the covenant of baptism and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. In 2 Nephi 31:14-20 (found in the Book of Mormon) we read,

"14 But, behold, my beloved brethren, thus came the voice of the Son unto me, saying: After ye have repented of your sins, and witnessed unto the Father that ye are willing to keep my commandments, by the baptism of water, and have received the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost, and can speak with a new tongue, yea, even with the tongue of angels, and after this should deny me, it would have been better for you that ye had not known me.

 15 And I heard a voice from the Father, saying: Yea, the words of my Beloved are true and faithful. He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.

16 And now, my beloved brethren, I know by this that unless a man shall endure to the end, in following the example of the Son of the living God, he cannot be saved.

 17 Wherefore, do the things which I have told you I have seen that your Lord and your Redeemer should do; for, for this cause have they been shown unto me, that ye might know the gate by which ye should enter. For the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost.

 18 And then are ye in this strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life; yea, ye have entered in by the gate; ye have done according to the commandments of the Father and the Son; and ye have received the Holy Ghost, which witnesses of the Father and the Son, unto the fulfilling of the promise which he hath made, that if ye entered in by the way ye should receive.

 19 And now, my beloved brethren, after ye have gotten into this strait and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save.

 20 Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of  hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life."

These few simple verses teach a great deal about this important principle. I know that as you participate in and follow commandments of Jesus Christ that your life will be blessed. I have seen it happen in so many ways. We may not always recognize our blessings for what they are, but God always blesses those that keep His commandments.