Nineteen Post's to a better 'but'

FOR STRENGTH OF WHAT?! FOR STRENGTH OF YOUTH!

While I was trying to decide what to blog about it hit me, literally. We had taken a sharp turn in the car and a FOR STRENGTH THE  OF YOUTH pamphlet flew into my lap. I would LOVE to share my experiences with FOR THE STRENGTH OF THE YOUTH.

FOR THE STRENGTH OF YOU

Now,  THE "BUT". I remember the High School days when I would be asked to do many things that would potentially lead me to some awful outcomes. I would always start my sentence with "I WOULD BUT, I CAN'T." After reading the FOR THE STRENGTH OF THE YOUTH pamphlet. I came to realize it is not the "but," but it is the BLESSINGS that are available to me that give me a reason to follow these standards.

Even the Nature loves FSOY

  In any good book I usually start with the Title Page so I can understand clearly WHAT I am reading and WHY I am reading it. The First page in the FOR THE STRENGTH OF THE YOUTH pamphlet is from the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They are the Men who lead and guide this church, as I read this I realized how MUCH they care for the YOUTH, and how much they LOVE us! Throughout this message it is mentioned that these are merely GUIDELINES. That is something I love about this church. It is our choice to do these things. All of the GUIDELINES in this pamphlet are to only benefit and bless our lives. I think of it like a coupon, we don't have to use them, but when we do the cost is less and we can afford to buy more. When we CHOOSE to follow these guidelines we will enjoy more blessings in our lives and live in a happier state!

    Message from the First Presidency

Our beloved young men and women, we have great confidence in you. You are choice spirits who have come forth in this day when the responsibilities and opportunities, as well as the temptations, are the greatest. You are at the beginning of your journey through this mortal life. Your Heavenly Father wants your life to be joyful and to lead you back into His presence. The decisions you make now will determine much of what will follow during your life and throughout eternity. Because the Lord loves you, He has given you commandments and the words of prophets to guide you on your journey. Some of the most important guidelines for your life are found in this pamphlet. We testify that these principles are true. We promise that as you keep these standards and live by the truths in the scriptures, you will be able to do your life’s work with greater wisdom and skill and bear trials with greater courage. You will have the help of the Holy Ghost. You will feel good about yourself and will be a positive influence in the lives of others. You will be worthy to go to the temple to receive holy ordinances. These blessings and many more can be yours.

We pray for each of you. May you keep your minds and bodies clean from the sins of the world so you can do the great work that lies before you. We pray that you will be worthy to carry on the responsibilities of building the kingdom of God and preparing the world for the Second Coming of the Savior.

The First Presidency

  

Throughout the next few blogs I want to share my experiences of how I learned all of these different guidelines. I remember a lesson I had in Young Women's (the program for youth in the church) about FOR THE STRENGTH OF THE YOUTH. My leader had us cross out the TH of youth and read it as FOR THE STRENGTH OF YOU! She taught us that these things we are learning are not just for our YOUTH but for our LIFE. It does not matter the age of someone, these principles will always apply. I would LOVE to hear how these principles have played a role in your life.

I liked this picture because the trees look like they form a gate. When we follow these GUIDELINES we enter into the gate that helps us stay on the straight and narrow path that leads us to eternal life.

I know its true and its for you!

check out www.mormon.org   :)

You can also order your own free copy of the Book of Mormon!

Thank you for cutting me down!

On my First full day in Palmyra, New York, my Mission President Jack R. Christianson took us to the Sacred Grove. Where Joesph Smith Saw God the Father and His son Jesus Christ. It it such a beautiful place that fills me with such peace. President Christianson let each of us take some time to ourselves in the grove where we could pray about the mission that laid ahead of us.

I walked out and found a bench facing a tree that had been cut down. At the time I felt it was very fitting for the situation I was in. As I sat on this bench I prayed to God asking him WHY things had turned out this way!

THE WHYS!

1. WHY he had me learn Albanian, one of the hardest languages to learn, and then did not give my body the strength to make it to Albania.

    2. WHY was it that I was the ONLY one that had to leave my new mission friends that got to actually go to Albania.

3. WHY was I not good enough to accomplish what the Lord had sent me to do.

4. WHY do I ALWAYS FAIL!

5. WHY ME!

As I sat there and prayed, I remember a Talk that was Given in the last General Conference given by By Elder D. Todd Christofferson.

“As Many as I Love, I Rebuke and Chasten”

He referenced a a talk about a current bush given by  President Hugh B. Brown that changed my WHYS into ANSWERS.

President Brown talking to Elder Christofferson...

"He told of purchasing a rundown farm in Canada many years ago. As he went about cleaning up and repairing his property, he came across a currant bush that had grown over six feet (1.8 m) high and was yielding no berries, so he pruned it back drastically, leaving only small stumps. Then he saw a drop like a tear on the top of each of these little stumps, as if the currant bush were crying, and thought he heard it say:

“How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. … And now you have cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me. … How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here.”

President Brown replied, “Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and someday, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down.’”

After thinking of that I  REALIZED that God was cutting me down. I do not know why, but I know that he has a bigger and better plan for ME. As I was wrapping up my prayer I realized how grateful I was. My WHYS turned into ANSWERS.

THE ANSWERS

1. THANK YOU for LETTING me learn Albanian and keeping me in the USA where I could get the medical care I need.

    2. THANK YOU for giving me the opportunity to develop even more friendships in NEW YORK.

3. THANK YOU for helping me realize I CAN DO ANYTHING.

4. THANK YOU for teaching me one failure leads to another SUCCESS.

5. THANK YOU FOR LOVING ME!

Life can be so much BETTER when we take a different perspective. I do not know what God has in store for me, but I know he is my "GARDENER" and that he is the one that will help me grow. All I can think now is the same as President Brown. "Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for cutting me down, for loving me enough to hurt me." I know that Heavenly Father has us go through hard things to shape us into the people we NEED to BECOME. I am So grateful for the chance that I had to be cut down so I can grove in the WAYS the Lord needs me to.

Who knows maybe I will turn into a tree like this one day!

Through the Window...Through the Door

So easy :]

As a Sister Missionary one of the BLESSINGS that we RECIEVE is the ability to study the scriptures for an hour a day, called Personal Study. So every morning from 8 to 9 we get to DIVE into things like the King James version of the Bible, The Book of Mormon (Another testiment of Jesus Christ), and Ensigns (Church Magazines). It is seriously like CHRISTMAS every day, to just sit down and read and have no other cares in the world.

The creen would not come out!

Today I was reading in the Bible in St. John chapter 10  http://lds.org/scriptures/nt/john/10?lang=eng (if you want to read it :), and it just HIT me. It was talking about how we need to enter through the DOOR and not the WINDOW. After reading that my first thoughts where how do I usualy enter a house, the answer was the DOOR. I thought of times when I have had to use WINDOWS and those have not always been the ideal situations. Seriously think about times you have had to use the WINDOW....Some may because you got locked out, your keys are lost, it may or may not be your apartment, or maybe you SNEEKING out. In all of those situations it is a solution but not the easiest and even the cleanest. Think about how easy it would be if we could just use the DOOR.

Dont get Stuck in the window!

I started to think about my favorite people in the world the YOUTH. They have so many things comming up against them. So many times they are pressured into drinking, drugs, and things with chasity. I remember how hard it was to say no to things like that because I wanted to do what my freinds were doing, I wanted to fit in. However as I watched people "CLIMB IN THROUGH THE WINDOW," I saw how much harder life was for them. I had many freinds who would choose the "DOOR," and I was able to see how happy their lives were. I now have a new perspective when it comes to making decisions that will impact my life and the lives of others.... Am I using the DOOR or am I climing through WINDOWS. Another way to look at it is how would my parents react if they caught me climbing out the WINDOW late at night, my guess is not good.

In John it talked about how Jesus Christ is the door, I thought that if Jesus was inviting me into his house I would want to use the DOOR and would not be sneeking in through the WINDOW.

Now the DOOR and WINDOW can represent MANY different things, that is something I LOVE about reading the scriptures we can relate it to our lives....Feel free to COMMENT and give your thoughts or if you have questions!

Dream Big

One of my Life Ambitions is to join a Motorcycle gang and ride across the United States on a Harley. Today as we were walking the streets talking to people I met a man named Mike. He was working on his Honda Bike. He had torn it apart and rebuilt it. I asked him why he had to rebuild it. He said that some of the parts were bad and that it was not working right.

Mike asked us what we were out doing. I told him that we were out sharing a message about Jesus Christ. He continued to tell us that nothing made sense, there were so many religions and that a lot of things have been messed up through time. I had to agree with him. We started to tell him about the GREAT APOSTASY. We talked to him about how when Christ was on the earth we had all of the truth. Just like when is bike was brand new, it ran perfect and brought him the most happiness. However when he got in a wreck some of it got pretty beaten up and it did not work. A lot of the parts still were okay but all together the bike just did not work! I found it so similar to when Christ died. There where still many truths on the earth, but none of them had all of the pieces.

My friend Mike, said how he was frustrated with his bike and how it was broken. So he decided to break it down and fix it back up. After a few years he was able to fix it completely, and today was the day it ran for the first time. He said we must have been the luck he needed to get the bike running! It makes perfect sense to me when relating it to how the Church of Jesus Christ was restored to the earth again today. There was a boy named Joseph Smith who wanted to find truth. He did the same things Mike did to fix his bike. Joesph read the Bible while Mike read a Bike book. Joesph pondered and prayed about it and acted upon the words in James 1:5. Mike acted upon his readings and fixed his bike up again. 

Mike helped me to understand that there were so many good beliefs on this earth, but non that had the full truth. I know understand completely that Joesph Smith was called of God to "put the Bike" back together. 

I know how much it has impacted my life. It is like Joseph gave me my Harley, he gave me this Gospel through God the Father and His son Jesus Christ, and now its up to me to make my dream come true :)

One day :)

Like A Child!

child

   -a person between birth and full growth;

–noun, plural chil·dren.


I love children! When they come into this world they are known for being cute, eating a lot, sleeping a lot, and having their diapers changed all of the time. They are needy creatures! However as they start to grow they start to learn. Something I envy is a  child's ability to learn things so fast!

I worked at an Elementary School for three years before retiring to serve an 18 month mission. At my job I was able to work with so many age groups. I found that the younger grades were able to pick up on material a lot faster then kids even in the older grades. It always makes me think WHY and LUCKY! As I have a reached a ripe old age of 21, I am finding it harder and harder to learn and break old habits.

                                                              

 The finest traits of little children are everything Jesus held them up to be: “For of such is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 19:14).

We must BECOME like a CHILD again if we are going to learn and accept anything in this life and if we are going to have any FUN! We should NEVER be AFRAID to go act like a child. It helps us to develop our creativity and honestly gives us a break from this world that is so INTENSE.

This week I took my own advice and bought a PuSh PoP and went to a playground for lunch. We played on some of the toys and were able to just let free.

HONESTLY, go be FREE and PLAY

I love this quote from Jean A. Stevens

"Our Father in Heaven, in His great wisdom and love, sends His spirit sons and daughters to this earth as children. They come to families as precious gifts with a divine nature and destiny. Our Heavenly Father knows children are a key to helping us become like Him. There is so much we can learn from children."  -www.lds.org

I know as we BECOME as little children and LEARN new things whether it be about religion, school, language, computers, sports, we must use our "Child Brain Powers" and that is when we will truly learn.

GO PLAY!!!!

http://www.mormon.org/

i am a MORMON who loves to PLAY

Going Green TO BE clean again :]

About a week ago Sister Wilkinson and I and quite a few others went and helped out at Cameron, a Place of refuge for those who are struggling in life. We got to paint the cafeteria! The goal was to make it a place where its guests would feel more comfortable and welcome. I think we accomplished that idea and made it a home sweet home for those who don't have them!

Synetra and her son Trinity who are getting baptized  this Saturday!

We started out by taping up the walls, prepped the paint, got the ladders out. Before we started to paint Cameron's Kitchen, I thought it looked pretty good. The walls were WHITE and it was a pretty nice joint to come and eat. At the beginning I thought, it already looks pretty nice why would we need to change it? We had a lot of work ahead of us, even though I didn't think the room needed it, I decided I was going to help paint and wait for the end results.

Sister Wilkinson and I

 As the painting continued I was still a little bit shy about how it was going to turn out, and how it was going to make the place look better. However as time went on I was able to see a change in the room. It started to have a warmer feeling, and you could tell the people that were painting where even starting to feel more comfortable in what they were doing.

I love my aggies :]

After about 5 hours of fun, we were done! I was shocked out how it turned out. It looked AMAZING. It was a complete turn around. I felt a little bit ashamed because of my thoughts and feelings at the beginning. Thinking that something that already looked good, could not look any better. BOY I was WRONG!  It was now even more beautiful then before and only with a bit of work :]

The Fourth City Missionaries. Wilcox, Larsen, Me, Wilkinson!

As Sister Wilkinson and I were driving back to the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints, I started to think about some of the people we had run into earlier in the week. Whenever we would try and share our message about Jesus Christ, they would say, "ITS OKAY, I AM ALREADY SET." What I have realized is that, we may feel "SET" in life, and already lead a wonderful, HAPPY life, but I have learned for myself that when I decided to live the Gospel Of Jesus Christ my life went from the WHITE walls that were pretty nice, to come to have the Green Walls that were Perfect, welcoming, and beautiful. I was no longer "pretty nice." Some times we have to have the courage to get out of our "SET LIVES" and see if Jesus Christ really can give us green walls. I know that he can because he gave me green walls, and through Jesus Christ I was able to be clean. Just like it took courage to put PAINT MUSTACHES on, have the courage to check out www.Mormon.org and let it paint your walls green :]

I DO WHAT I WANT!

In life everyone has a life theme. Mine is I DO WHAT I WANT. I know it sounds a little bit CRAZY, and sounds a little bit DANGEROUS, but I DO WHAT I WANT! Let me explain how my life motto works for me and how I came upon it.

 Last summer I worked as an Especially For Youth (EFY Summer Camp) councilor. We had a valiant group of teenagers who were truly in the midst of their teenage years. I remember those years, because they were not to long ago. They were ROUGH years, and I commend and encouage any teenager that is going through those years right now. All that I can really tell you is that they end eventaully and your get to be an adult! At this particular week at EFY I wanted to instill CONFIDENCE in the youth that I was working with. I tried to help them understand that when we face hard decisions, we need not be ashamed of choosing the right but confident in it. I wanted them to fully understand that other peoples opinions did not matter, but only God's.

Remeber that :)

As a retired teenager I know how hard it is to be confident in the things we are doing. We can not hide it, they are so many peers that are judging us. Peers DO talk about us behind our backs, peers can be MEAN. We do not Always get asked out on dates, We do not always get what we want.

After learning that crucial lesson of we do not always get what we want is when I started to change my perspective and build up my confidence so that I could do anything I wanted to. How I did that is simple. I learned that I was a DAUGHTER OF GOD.  I learned that through many trials, many nights at the Latter Day Saints Program "Young Womens", and many hours reading the Book of Mormon and nights on my knees praying to God to know if....

1. If he exsisted

2. If He loved me

3. If I was special

What I came to find out is that God did Exsist, that He loved me and that I AM speacial. Once I understood that I can honestly say that I got a lot happier and had maybe too much confidence :)

I know that I DO WHAT I WANT is a big phrase, but by learning that I was a DAUGHTER OF GOD I knew that I could DO WHAT I WANT because I knew that it was what God wanted me to do. I was able to follow the FOR STRENGTH OF THE YOUTH phamplet, because I knew God loved me and he gave it to me for that reason. I knew that we hard decisions did rise that I could DO WHAT I WANTED!!!

As teenagers that is when you get to learn how to make decisions. I know that sometimes we make decisions that are not the best and can leave us feeling pretty crappy inside and somtimes outside. Thats where this life motto comes in one more time I DO WHAT I WANT, we can choose how we feel. When we are feeling bad about ANYTHING, we can choose to CHANGE our thoughts for the better.

When we are MAD we can choose to be HAPPY.

When we are not happy with life, we can STOP, RE-EVALUATE and CHANGE it.

I promise as you do, you will be happy. Never let someone elses words hurt you, just reply with im sorry you feel that way (in a kind way) and then tell them you DO WHAT YOU WANT. I will finish with this, I DO WHAT I WANT, and the things I want to do follow the FOR STRENGTH OF THE YOUTH pamphlet, I want to go to CHURCH, I want to get an EDUCATION. I want to be able to have a FAMILY some day. I want to make my PARENTS proud. I want to be ME!

I DO WHAT I WANT AND I LOVE IT!!!

My Mom : ]

Mom's are amazing. They are what I like to call "Female Stallions."

I was thinking about my WONDERFUL mother today, and relived a moment when I knew

she truly cared and that she loved me. About a year ago I went in for a major surgery, I had to get my appendix out, my gallbladder, and get some burning done. It was my Spring Break and my Mom had come to Logan to help me through it (because all of my doctors where there). She made the long drive, she made sure I was ready, she took me to the hospital and sat the long hours in the waiting room. When I left the hospital I was in a lot of pain, I watched her as she tried to be very careful while driving, as women usually are :)

We were both going to stay at Grandma's House that night and then go back to Boise for the rest of the week. The room I was staying in was my Uncle's, Uncle Bret. He has downs syndrome and loves his routines, and I am great at messing up routines :) I was in a GREAT amount of pain that night and was puking. Every time I would finally fall asleep my darling Uncle Bret, whom I love, would run in and say "Clare, all better go home!" He did it multiple times through out the night. Finally, my mom came in, as I was crying, because I was in so much pain, she calmed me down and then got her pillow and laid on the ground outside my door and gaurded the door the rest of the night. She was my guardian and my protector. In my lowest moments of life she has been there for me guarding my door, she is my mom!

That is a Mom's Job. It doesn't matter if you are a working mom, a stay at home mom or an empty nester. Know that you will always be your childs protector. It is so sad that we only celebrate Mother's Day one day a year, they should be celebrated everyday of the year! I love ALL mom's and hope they know that they have a DIVINE role and should always remember that and cherish it. I would give anything to be half the women that my mother is, she is a Female Stallion :]

and i love her <3

Girl Time!!!

This week I went and visited one of my little friends! I love working with the youth, nothing brings me greater joy. I love this girl in particular. We have seen her a few times since I have arrived. This time I thought we could go in and share a lesson with her about adding the basics to our lives and that it is the basics we have to keep up on if we want to be happy.

Since I have come on a mission I am very into painting nails and being fancy, it must the fact I get to wear a dress every day! At this visit, we decided to start with the basics of beauty, our nails. It was kind of hard because she is a nail biter and there was not to much left but we made it work and they turned out super cute!

 
 

As I started to paint her nails we began to have girl talk. We talked for awhile and then I remembered my favorite nail polish analogy! The thing with nail polish is, it does not last forever. Us girls can put it on and in about 4 days it has been chipped, faded and even our nails have grown out. It is defiantly a tough job to keep our nails looking good. We talked about how with our nails we have to re-apply polish all of the time for our nails to look good!   No matter what we do we have to either take the polish off and start from scracth or keep adding on. 

 We talked about the basics of the Gospel of Jesus Christ while we painted nails. We talked about how we can't just pray once a week and be happy, it something we need to do every day and multiple times a day so that we can have that GOOD FEELING with us all of the time. Then we talked about reading the Book of Mormon and how it is something we need to do every day so that the effect does not wear off. If we choose not to do these things that is when life gets harder and our trials seem to over come us.

 She was very receptive to this, we left her with her own copy of the Book of Mormon with a recipe to a perfect day.

1. Pray Morning and Night 

2. Read from the Book of Mormon

3.Pray before reading and after reading the Book of Mormon so that we can have questions answered.

4. When that is done, look in the Mirror and say "I AM A DAUGHTER OF GOD, AND HE LOVES ME!"

I think it is VITAL to teach young women the basics of the gospel. I think it is SO important to teach them that they have value and worth in this world. That there is someone that loves them, their Heavenly Father. A young women who truly understands that they are a DAUGHTER OF GOD can really see the bigger picture in life and in the end, lead a happy life. I love the youth ALL around the earth no matter their faith, I care for each of them and hope that they KNOW with out a DOUBT that they are a child of GOD and he loves them!!!!!

My toes her Hands so cute :)