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…Trust In God…

COME WHAT MAY AND LOVE IT

“God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.”  The Lord Jesus Christ is our partner, helper, and advocate. He wants us to be happy. He wants us to be successful. If we do our part, He will step in.

He who descended below all things will come to our aid. He will comfort and uphold us. He will strengthen us in our weakness and fortify us in our distress. He will make weak things become strong.

-Elder Worthlin

Handing in my key :(

If there is one thing that I have learned while serving the Lord, it is to TRUST IN GOD. For the past few months, I have still been pretty sick. I have been able to receive many PRIESTHOOD blessings, which is a HUGE comfort to me, to know that my Heavenly Father loves me. I recently received the news that I will be going home early…I am receiving an Honorable Medical Release and will be going home in the middle of November. It has been a heartbreak to know that I was only able to serve a 10 month mission, but I do know that I did my best. I have come to know my Savior Jesus Christ; he has held my hand through every moment that I have been in pain. He is the only one that truly knows what I have been through; he has made my burden lighter.

My Testimony :)

When I heard the news my whole life changed once again, but my past has prepared me for this new challenge. All I have known for the past 9 months is serving the Lord. I felt like I was not ready to go back to the real world and move on with school. As all of the feelings of doubt crept into my mind, I remembered the talk that Elder Worthlin gave…Come What May and Love it. At that moment, I decided to not focus on things I did not get to do while serving, but focus on the many things that I have accomplished and the many things I can do when I get home! I have no idea what will come for me in the next few months, but I do know that it will be God’s will and I can still be a missionary without a black name tag. I know that there is a reason for everything and that even though I will say many tearful goodbyes, I will always remember the good things that have come from serving the Lord.

I know many of you are WONDERING if I will still blog… YES of course! You can expect me to keep posting :)

 

Tears Trail to Tender Mercies

The Principle of Compensation

come what may and love it...

“The Lord compensates the faithful for every loss. That which is taken away from those who love the Lord will be added unto them in His own way. While it may not come at the time we desire, the faithful will know that every tear today will eventually be returned a hundredfold with tears of rejoicing and gratitude.”

-Elder Worthlin

Youth, there are many times in life when you just don't get what you want. You may not get asked to the prom, you may not win the big game, and you may not think life is fair...to be honest, at some points it is not! As all of you know, in the beginning of my mission, I was reassigned to serve in New York. At first I thought this is an AWFUL time in my life to be sick. All I could think was, give me another chance! It was an experience that came with many tears. I was ripped away from friends, desires, and experiences. I was heartbroken... When I got to New York, I thought that, all was lost. However, I continued to be faithful and serve the Lord. As I did, I was able to see how the Lord was compensating me for that loss. I was able to learn HOW TO have a good attitude even when things are hard.Through out my mission, I have been blessed to meet thousands of people and bear my testimony to them. I have been able to see people change their lives because they came to know Christ. I have been able to witness TRUE HAPPINESS. Heavenly Father truly knows how to compensate us, maybe not in the way we want or the timing, but it is what he needs us to have. 

come what may and love it :0

(c)LV2011

http://www.mormom.org/

Miss Grumpy Pants

Seek for the Eternal…Come What May and Love It!

“Learning to endure times of disappointment, suffering, and sorrow is part of our on-the-job training. These experiences, while often difficult to bear at the time, are precisely the kinds of experiences that stretch our understanding, build our character, and increase our compassion for others.”
-Elder Worthlin

   Youth, we are going to have MANY times of disappointment whether the disappointment is about big things or the small. We are going to feel sorrow every now and then and in the end we WILL learn from it. I love how Elder Worthlin described these times of trial, it is our on-the-job training. So the next time your parents tell you to get a job you can say living is one....just kidding :)

Last Thanksgiving we had a family contest, to see who could build the best gingerbread house. My sister Emily, and my niece Madison were on my team. We only had 20 minutes to complete the house and so we had to work FAST. At the end we had to do a presentation of our gingerbread house. As you can see, we are not the most talented builders...My niece Madison did not think it was as funny as we did. She was experiencing the sorrow of losing the contest. It was something that she had really wanted to WIN! After losing the contest she turned to her mother to find comfort. Her mom was able to get her to calm down and realize it was just a game. In that short moment she was able to have an experience that was hard for her and she had someone to turn to. Just like Madison was able to turn to her mom, I know we can all turn to our Heavenly Father when we go through something we are not used to. Heavenly Father puts us ALL through DIFFERENT trials for a reason to see if we will turn to him :)

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(C)LV2011

COME WHAT MAY AND LOVE IT

COME WHAT MAY AND LOVE IT!

I recently came upon Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin's talk "Come What May and Love It." While serving a mission, I have realized that you can NOT always control what happens in your life. There will be times where we get a curve ball and we just don't know how to hit it. I looked back to my sophomore year of college when I really learned this lesson. After months of a constant pain in my stomach a doctor decided it was time for surgery. When he proposed the date, I realized it was going to be Spring Break. I had already gotten tickets to go to California, but I decided my health was probably more important... I can tell you I was not a happy camper! The day I went in for surgery, it all hit me. I would have 5 incisions in my stomach, and would not be able to really move for a week. Through all of this the only thing I could think of was... WHY ME!?!?!

Right before I went in for the two hour surgery, I said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to teach me something valuable from this experience. All I can say was, HE DID! When I woke up the first thing the nurse said to me was, “Well I guess it looks like it is time to get you out of here!” I was barely conscious when she told me to get dressed. All I could think was seriously?! I cannot even move! My beautiful mother helped me get out of the bed and let me sit in the recliner chair as she helped me get dressed. She thought it would be a good idea to pull the lever on the side of the chair...bad idea... It was like the scene from Sweet Home Alabama, I flew forward and I could instantly feel the pain shooting up and down my incisions. At that minute though, I decided instead of getting mad at my mom, I would laugh. Even though it HURT, my Mother and I laughed and laughed...Throughout the recovery of that surgery there were many times I just felt like crying, but I decided to rely on the Lord and LAUGH.

"The next time you’re tempted to groan, you might try to laugh instead. It will extend your life and make the lives of all those around you more enjoyable."

-Elder Worthilin 

Bulls Eye!

Bulls Eye!!!

"As we go about living from day to day, it is almost inevitable that our faith will be challenged. We may at times find ourselves surrounded by others and yet standing in the minority or even standing alone concerning what is acceptable and what is not. Do we have the moral courage to stand firm for our beliefs, even if by so doing we must stand alone? ...It is essential that we are able to face—with courage—whatever challenges come our way. Remember the words of Tennyson: “My strength is as the strength of ten, because my heart is pure.”

-President Thomas S. Monson

Dare to Stand Alone

YOUTH, you will face challenges every day, like President Monson said, it is inevitable. We cannot PICK and CHOOSE the trials we go through, but we can CHOOSE how we get through them. It is our attitude and pure hearts that will help us make it through the trial. I know that many of you are “looking the bull in the eye” right now. What I have come to learn is that through the atonement, Heavenly Father will give us that strength we need to get through the unfortunate events. It all starts with our FAITH! Our FAITH in the atonement will give us strength as we stare the adversary in the eye…

Now the question is how will you face the challenge?

CLV(C)2011

www.mormon.org

PICK A TEAM

CALLED TO SERVE

“This is a life-and-death contest we are in, young men, so I am going to get in your face a little, nose to nose, with just enough fire in my voice to singe your eyebrows a little—the way coaches do when the game is close and victory means everything. And with the game on the line, what this coach is telling you is that to play in this match, some of you have to be more morally clean than you now are. In this battle between good and evil, you cannot play for the adversary whenever temptation comes along and then expect to suit up for the Savior at temple and mission time as if nothing has happened…My young friends, we need tens of thousands of more missionaries in the months and years that lie ahead.”

-Elder Holland

This last General Conference Elder Holland gave a great talk about the young people needing to step up and serve missions. YOUTH its time, PICK A TEAM! We cannot sit here and play for the adversary; we are too good for that. I can tell you that preparing for a mission spiritually is hard, but it can be done! It is not something you can do over night, but it something that takes years! Use the time you have in seminary to learn the stories of the scriptures, memorize them, and live them. A mission only lasts a short time; you do not want to spend the full time, learning the basics. You are going to be called to serve. It could be anywhere, speaking any language. The only thing that will prepare you is your standards and a strong testimony... Youth, its time... Pick a team and play your hardest, all we need is one last victory!

Elder Vaterlaus, Sister Vaterlaus, Elder Vaterlaus 

***In January I was able to enter the MTC with my Cousin who is serving in Mexico, and also my brother who is serving in Argentina***

Elder Hollands Talk...READ IT!

Special thanks to Sister Carver and Sister Correia my old companions who were willing to get the band back together :)

 CLV(C)2011