Yesterday I felt a strong prompting to call one of the families I had worked with in my first area. I decided to listen to the prompting. It was such a good feeling to talk to someone from my first area and to hear how things were going. In the conversation we were able to talk about him and his wife going to the temple. They had both worked SO hard to get temple recommends, and they had succeeded. However they had another stumbling block to over come. They needed money to buy the temple clothes so that they could attend. I felt so bad, because I knew they were ready, and all that was holding them back was money. I told him to pray and Heavenly Father would make it happen. I explained to him, he just wants to see if we will exercise faith. The key part that we discussed is trusting in the Lord. Last night, I was able to pray for his family to find a way.
Today, while working at the Joseph Smith Farm I received a phone call. It was him calling me to tell me of a MIRACLE! He said that he had just gotten off the phone with the missionary that had baptized him. The missionary told him that he had been saving up money for them so they could go to the temple. I know that because he exercised his faith, his prayers were answered. Him and his wife will now be able to be sealed for all time and eternity in the Palmyra Temple this month. When we exercise faith, blessings Will come!
“Change is an essential part of life’s experiences.”
- Elder Steven E. Snow
Youth, you face MANY changes. Many changes start with your body...Some of you will get tall, some of you will stay short. Your voices will change, you WILL gain weight, but these are all things that are just going to happen and so we have to LOVE it. As you get older temptations and pressures become a lot heavier. It all starts when you turn 12 and walk into Junior High. You are entering a new school, making new friends, and learning new things. It just sounds like A LOT of change because it is! To be honest with you change is going to be something that continues to happen to you. When I first went to college MANY things changed. I had a hard time with the big changes, until I picked up a Book of Mormon. I realized as everything around me changed, the Book of Mormon did not. I knew I could dive into Nephi building a ship and feel like nothing had changed. I came to realize how LUCKY I was because, I had been given something that DOES NOT CHANGE.
“Many of these changes come as we naturally make our way through our earthly journey. Our lives change as we progress from childhood through youth and on into adulthood and finally old age. Schooling, missions, marriage, employment, and retirement are all examples of milestones of change.” - Elder Steven E. Snow
Youth....GOOD NEWS...Things are going to keep changing. CHANGE is a good thing. When we come to a big life change and think of it as a NEW opportunity we can make it into something new and exciting. Always remember when you come to a change, think positive and make it Right :]
“Be Involved in good works. Or, in other words, be willing to work”
-President Hinckley
"It's bird, it's a plane, it's a Mormon!" We grew up hearing all about SUPERHERO'S. All President Hinckley is asking us is to become like these Super Hero's...Involved in a good cause. I know that we don't have special flying powers, or the power to be invisible, but I do know that Heavenly Father has given us each the ability to work. We need to be the ones who are willing. I know that whenever SPIDERMAN had go out and save the world, he was not like "ugh another damsel in distress," but he was willing to go save people lives. Now, each day we have opportunities to serve. How we handle the challenge, is up to us.
We need to become these SUPERHERO's. We need to be INVOLVED. Whether it is with church, school, family, friends, or work, we can not sit back and let the world pass by. We need to be aware, have our shields up and Nerf guns ready to go when the time is right. I can promise all of you, that if you are willing to do what is right, then Heavenly Father is only going to help you. Like the Book of Mormon say, be engaged in a good cause!!!
Today, my companion and I were talking about the
act of being still. I thought to myself, what does that even mean? We came up
with many different thoughts, maybe not moving, not speaking, not breathing,
pondering or completely clearing our minds. I thought back to my days
of doing Bikram yoga or hot yoga. I remembered the pose called the Savasana. It is the pose you do
after an intense yoga move so that your body can rest. It was my favorite one;
weirdly it was the most challenging. You had to lie completely STILL
with your hands by your side and you were to clear your minds completely.
You had to BE STILL. After thinking of that pose, I realized why it is so
important that we need to "BE STILL!" It is so we can rest and take
in all of the good things. If we are always moving then we are missing out on
things Heavenly Father wants to show us.
After thinking of that pose, I realized why it is so important that we need to "BE STILL!" It is so we can rest and take in all of the good things. If we are always moving then we are missing out on things Heavenly Father wants to show us. About three weeks ago my companion and I were driving around trying to visit people. We were pretty upset because all of our appointments fell through. As I sat in the car, I pulled out a sheet with names on it from about two years ago. I just sat and looked out the window, thinking what are we to do. Instead of talking we just sat there and were still and it felt right, like we were suppose to wait. After about 10 minutes, I pointed to two names and said we must see them.
After trying to see the first lady, we realized she had moved. Upset again, we stood still. The only thought we both had was go to the next house. We wanted to continue but everything was fighting against us. I said a silent prayer, asking that we would have a miracle. We got back in the car and drove to the next trailer. There was a lady waiting outside, she waved at us and the first thing she said to us was..."I just prayed and asked for someone to help me stop smoking and you showed up!" We told her we were trying to visit another lady, she asked her name and she said "Oh that's my daughter." That was the first time I realized how important standing still is. We were able to help two families that day because we stood still. When we stand still we can listen to the Holy Ghost and he can guide us.
We live in a world that is chaotic, full of drama, and has many ups and downs. All I can tell you is that we ARE going to face adversity and it will NOT be fun...unless we make it!
Throughout the beginning of my mission I hit many rough patches, that I did not handle very well. All that was going through my mind at the time was "My life is so hard...." Everything was going wrong, there was no fun, and it was not what I expected. I decided I needed to LIGHTEN UP! I could make the situation better if I changed my attitude. I decided to take a new perspective.....to be positive...When I took that attitude, EVERYTHING CHANGED. It was the best thing I could have ever learned. When things get tough, all you can do it laugh and be positive about it. It is much easier to smile then to frown.
I remember a time that I had to "lighten Up." It was my last year of girls camp and me and my friend had brought our own personal kiddie pools so that we could stay "cool." On the first night two of the first year girls stole our pretty blue pools and hid them. When we woke up pool-less, we were pretty upset. All we could think about is how we had spent $10 dollars on those things. So we went on a hunt to find who had stolen our pools. Finally two girls came forward and had said they had taken them and they had broken them in the process. They looked pretty sad about it, so I decided that the way they could repay me was to give me a hand and foot massage. They agreed. Last they came to my cabin and said we even brought our new strawberry lotion. I laid down and they started to rub my feet and hands with their new lotion. As I was being pampered I fell asleep. Later, when I woke up and went outside and looked at my hands and feet, I realized that they were bright RED. Later I found out that they had put red koolaid in the lotion, and that my skin had been died...At first I was SO MAD. I had senior pictures that week, and I looked like a fool. This picture was taken before it was funny... as you can see :) However I decided I needed to "LIGHTEN UP," when I did, I realized that it was a pretty good joke. Instead of getting angry at them, I decided to become their friends. We were able to have a wonderful time at girls camp, and now we laugh about that time the died my skin red.....
Why is it, that in life, we make the easiest things the hardest things? Prayer is one of those easy things. We can pray on a plane, in a train, or in the rain. We pray so that we can develop a relationship with our Heavenly Father. When my companion and I teach prayer, we describe it as a relationship with one of our best friends.
Now
think about your best friend....
*you can tell
them anything
*they are who you go to when you need to talk
*they are who help you
with your problems
* you can always go to them and ask
for a favor
*we always thank them
for the things they do for us
*we
are continually building a relationship with them
My Albanian District :]
That is what our Heavenly
Father is there for. If we were to treat it just like talking to a friend,
we would want to do it all of the time. I learned a lot about prayer while in
the Mission Training Center. In the midst of a reassignment from Albania, I had
to pray to make sure I was supposed to continue. They had told me it might be
better for my health to call it quits... I knew it was not really a decision I
could make without turning to prayer. Those many days I went without a mission
call i did not just say prayers, but i prayed. I poured my heart and soul out
as if I was talking to my best friend. After saying a prayer, I would just
sit and listen to the promptings that would come from the Holy Ghost. I can
tell you prayer became easy, my answer had come. I knew I needed to continue no matter where I was called, and it would still be hard, but my answer was to just go forward and keep praying.... All I can say is that through that entire experience we became best friends.
Motra Reynolds, Motra Vati, Motra Read
“You need His help, and you know that you need His
help. You cannot do it alone. You will come to realize that and recognize that
more and more as the years pass. So live that in good conscience you can speak
with the Lord. Get on your knees and thank Him for His goodness to you and
express to Him the righteous desires of your hearts. The miracle of it all is that
He hears. He responds. He answers not always as we might wish He would answer,
but there is no question in my mind that He answers.”
thy God shall lead thee by the hand,
and give thee
answer to thy prayers” (D&C
112:10)
-President Hinckley
I have found that working with children is a very humbling experience. They always remind me that we must become like a child if we are going to learn as quick as a child. In the above picture, I was doing math with a little girl. We were trying to count to 20. I asked her "what would help you?", and she said, your freckles. All I could do was laugh, who would have thought to use my freckles to do math. She showed that shes was willing to learn and she would do it any way. I had to humble myself and let this little girl use my face as her counter. What I loved about this analogy, is that she asked and she was given. It was not the most conventional way but she rolled with it!
“I believe the meek and the humble
are those who are teachable. They are willing to learn. They are willing to
listen to the whispering's of the still, small voice for guidance in their lives.
They place the wisdom of the Lord above their own wisdom.”
-President Hinckley
What President Hinckley has said is be be teachable. There is nothing more teachable than a child. They are so willing to learn because their knowledge is increasing. When we listen to the still small voice that is when we get the best answers. We can try our hardest to do things on our own, or we can ask and listen to what our loving Heavenly Father wants for us. When we do that, it is when we get the best results. When we are humble that is when we are blessed. In the beginning I did NOT want to serve a mission. I really wanted to stay home, finish school and find a stallion to start my life with. However I humbled myself and listened to the Holy Ghost and ended up exactly where I needed to be.
"You who are members of
this Church must have a loyalty to it. This is your church. You have as great a
responsibility in your sphere of action as I have in my sphere of action. It
belongs to you just as it belongs to me. You have embraced its gospel. You have
taken upon yourselves a covenant in the waters of baptism."
-President Hinckley
I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints. I have learned the valuable lesson of being true to the church that I belong to. I remember one of my first weeks in High School, a boy had asked me about Mormon's. I decided to tell him all of the negative things that I thought about the people in it. Inside I could feel my heart drop, but was so angry at the people. Earlier that week, I had been greatly offended and as a 15 year old I took it pretty personal. So I decided to take it out on the church. I had easily forgotten that the people in the church are not perfect but the organization is and so was Heavenly Fathers love for me. I can tell you that to this day I regret not standing up for my beliefs. Now as I serve in the sacred sites of Palmyra New York, I get to bear testimony of the church and its organization. I get to stand in the top of the Peter Whitmer home where the first church meeting was held on April 6, 1830 and tell how I came to know that the church was true. At the end of every tour, I stop and say a prayer, thanking my Heavenly Father for letting me come here and testify of the truth, I know that I can not make up for the things of my past, but I can do my best now.
Through out my youth I found it very hard to get along with members of the church. It was stuck in my mind that Mormons, as a whole, were judgmentalpeople and that I did not fit into their category. As a teenager those are pretty common feelings. I decided to do whatever I wanted to do. This included not reading my scriptures. It was not until my second year at Utah State that I decided to read the scriptures. My best friend had started to meet with the missionaries and they asked her to read the Book of Mormon. So I decided to secretly accept that challenge, that I had never before conquered. I finished it for the first time on my 20th birthday. I knelt down and prayed, and received the perfect birthday present, an answer. It was true, and I was at peace. I had come to know for myself that the things in the Book of Mormon were for me. I could see within myself a change for the better. I realized it has nothing to do with people in the church but things I gain from the church. Now I get my second chance to be true. I get to share my testimony of the Book of Mormon and how it changed my life and saved me. I can tell you what it is like to not have it in your life as the corner stone, and it is something you do not need to experience. Last week I got to go to the Hill Cumorah where the plates were found, and as I stood in the middle of the Forrest, I heard a whisper just as I did on my 20th birthday, Its all true...
"Be true to your own convictions. You know what is right, and you know what is wrong. You know when you are doing the proper thing. You know when you are giving strength to the right cause. Be loyal. Be faithful. Be true, my beloved associates in this great kingdom"
“The Lord has made us attractive one to another for a great purpose. But this very attraction becomes as a powder keg unless it is kept under control. It is beautiful when handled in the right way. It is deadly if it gets out of hand.”-President Hinckley
My Friend, Rica Molet's, art work, this is me on fire!
This was my favorite part of President Hinckleys talk. He was very up front and forward about dating and relationships. We are going to think others are HOT and that isOKAY! Our job is just to make sure we keep that "keg" under control.
When your a missionary you TAKE on your Saviors Name...better be worthy of it :]
“You
young men (I will add women) who plan to go on missions must recognize that sexual sin may keep
you from that opportunity. You may think that you can hide it. Long experience
has shown that you cannot. To serve an effective mission you must have the
Spirit of the Lord, and truth withheld does not mix with that Spirit. Sooner or
later you will feel compelled to confess your earlier transgressions”
-President Hinckley
When I decided to go
on a mission I was about 20 1/2 years old. Before that I had ABSOLUTELY no DESIRE whatsoever to serve. However
because I listened to the prophets, leaders and my parents council I was worthy
to serve. While in the Mission Training Center (and I was there long enough to
know) there were many missionary's who went home because of their
past transgressions, it always comes out. If you have messed up, fix it and get
over it! Do not let it haunt you for the rest of your life, use the atonement
and understand that your Heavenly Father loves you. Please DATE, and DATE a
lot, but just remember don't cross the line.
“My
dear young friends, in matters of sex you know what is right. You know when you
are walking on dangerous ground, when it is so easy to stumble and slide into
the pit of transgression. I plead with you to be careful, to stand safely back
from the cliff of sin over which it is so easy to fall. Keep yourselves clean
from the dark and disappointing evil of sexual transgression. Walk in the
sunlight of that peace which comes from obedience to the commandments of the
Lord”
-President
Hinckley
Youth, DO NOT become a hazard. When you think you are going to get in trouble, you probably are. That is the Holy Ghost telling you to run, so you better run fast. I am learning now, that as I am obedient I find success, I KNOW that as all of you are obedient you will find success in your relationships.
“I must also say a word concerning illicit drugs. You know how I feel about them. I don’t care what the variety may be. They will destroy you if pursued. You will become their slave. Once in their power, you will do anything to get money to buy more. ”
-President Hinckley
You always have a choice......
“I was amazed while watching a television
program to learn that parents introduced drugs to their children in 20 percent
of the cases. I cannot understand what I regard as the stupidity of these
parents. What future other than slavery for their children could they see in
them? Illegal drugs will utterly destroy those who become addicted to them.”
-President Hinckley
While
serving a mission I have been able to see MANY people with addictions. It is truly
the hardest thing for those we teach to overcome. The addiction runs their
lives and controls them completely. It can be anything from alcohol, cigarettes
to hard drugs. President Hinckley is right when he says you become a slave.
Recently, we taught a family about the Word of Wisdom. At the end of it they
brought us all of their cigarettes. We gladly took them so it was no longer a
temptation. Even though the temptation was gone they have still had problems, the addiction overcomes you and you feel you can not say no.
I have been
able to teach the Word of Wisdom a lot throughout my mission. After praying about a particular woman we were working with I had a dream. In my
dream we had sat down with her and she had put all of her cigarettes on the
table. One by one we took a sharpie and we wrote things that she was missing
out on life because of her addiction. When I woke up, I realized that was my
answer. Later that day we wrote on the cigarettes with her and in the end it
helped her toquite smoking.
If you feel the need to try something that you KNOW you shouldn't, stop and pray. Ask your loving Heavenly Father to give you the strength to overcome the temptation...Don't become a slave to something that will only cost you.
My Little Brother Max and I... a hug is my drug :]
“My advice, my pleading to you wonderful young
men and women, is to stay entirely away from them. You don’t need to experiment
with them. Look about you and see the effects they have had on others. There is
no need for any Latter-day Saint boy or girl, young man or young woman, to even
try them. Stay clean from these mind-altering and habit-forming addictions.”
