A Priesthood Blessing

   Once upon a time in a science class my teacher put me next to a girl I knew...this girl became my best friend in the whole wide world. She has been an example to me for so many years, she is incredibly smart and beautiful and wonderful. I wouldn't be on my mission today without her influence in my life...and she sent a tender mercy for me to share with you!

    A few weeks ago, I moved back up to school for my senior year. The tender mercies have
been many so far; the one that stands out most in my mind right now is something perhaps seemingly simple: a priesthood blessing.
   
    By the end of my first week of school, I was exhausted. Change is always difficult for me, and so far this semester has proven no exception. Try as I might, it didn’t alter that I had all-new roommates, a ward I hadn’t been a part of before, and a significantly smaller support system at school than I had expected. As wonderful as the people around me were and are, I felt so alone. I didn’t know where to turn. I’d received a priesthood blessing the night before moving up to school, one that had provided wonderful guidance, direction, and comfort, and because of that, I didn’t feel at first like it would be appropriate to ask for help again, nor did I particularly desire to admit how much I was struggling. It seemed that with all the love and with all the tender mercies I’d already seen that week, that I should really be able to make things work without having to ask for more. Once I did start to contemplate asking for a priesthood blessing more seriously, I also realized I wasn’t sure that there was someone I’d feel comfortable asking to give me a priesthood blessing in the area, either. After a day or so of this all being in the back of my mind, I finally prayed, and asked Heavenly Father to guide me. I didn’t know what to do; all that was left was to trust that He knew better than I did.
   
   After I prayed, a friend came to mind, someone I could feasibly ask to give me a blessing and with whom I was comfortable enough to be humble enough to ask for help. Once I realized this, I gathered my courage, prayed he was home, and walked across the parking lot to ask. Again, my prayers were answered – he was home. I explained my situation, hoping I was sufficiently coherent, and asked if he would be willing to give me a priesthood blessing. My friend, good man that he is, was very willing, and gave me a priesthood blessing.

    In this instance, the tender mercy was two-fold; circumstances fell into place to ask for a priesthood blessing, and I was able to receive a priesthood blessing. Knowing that I could ask for such a priesthood blessing and then receiving a priesthood blessing that promised comfort and strength, though seemingly a small thing, made the most amazing difference for me that week. Though sometimes small, tender mercies are a loving Heavenly Father’s way of letting us knowing that He is there, He is listening, and He knows me and you.

  

Many Waters

Yesterday in my personal studies, as I was reading the Book of Mormon, I was seeking for revelation. I am in Ether in the Book of Mormon. The beginning of Ether to be more exact. It is the story of a family that God preserved and led and guided at the time of the tower of Babel. God told them to "go forth into the wilderness" into "that quarter where man had never been".

How scary would that be to be commanded to not only leave your home but also to go where no man had ever been before? I don't know about you but that would be pretty scary, but in that same verse it says "And it came to pass that the Lord did go before them, and did talk with them as he stood in a cloud, and gave directons whither they should travel"

If I was going into an unknown, uncharted place, There is no tour guide better than the Creator of the World. So off this family goes into the wild blue yonder and the Lord leads them across 'many waters'. When they got there, they pitched their tents and decided to stay for 4 years, even though God wanted to take them somewhere better. He wanted to lead them to a promised land. They didn't ask God's opinion though...they aparently didn't ask him anything because at the end of those four years the Lord comes down in a cloud and chastens the leder of their group for THREE HOURS. Then he tells them to go and build barges so that he can take them to a promised land. The place where he wants them to go.

I have heard this story MANY MANY times. I know it by heart, but yesterday as I was reading it, It finally connected in my mind. I always talk about how God has a plan for me, what didn't click before is that God is going to keep leading me across many waters until I get to the promised land that he wants me at. Sometimes I am really slow to realize that I probably haven't reached the promised land and that I should always be petitioning God to help me know where he wants me to be even if I don't always think I want to cross those waters. Sometimes I am nice and comfy in the Tent I have pitched on the beach next to the water I just crossed and I don't want to cross the next lake to get to the nice little cottage he has in store for me.

Earlier in my mission I learned about how "Good is the enemy to Great" How true is this? Just because we are good where we are at doesn't mean that where we are is where we will be Great. I know that as we all strive to be where God wants us to be, we will be not only good, we will be GREAT!

Consecration

    I remember when I was getting ready to go on my mission and I got the topic that I was supposed to speak on in sacrament meeting before I left...it was about consecration. I didn't really like that topic, I wanted something that I could talk about more easily, something that wouldn't take a lot of time and thought and consequently, I gave a not so great talk. I didn't prepare and because of that my preparation did NOT positively prevent my poor performance. 

    My farewell talk topic makes me laugh just a little now and think about how God really does have a sense of humor, because consecration has truly become the theme of my mission. In my very first interview with my zone leaders they asked me about the difference between consecration and sacrifice, one of the departing missionaries that I admired talked about consecration in her testimony before she left to go home, I have studied and read and focused on what really becoming consecrated means, and recently we, as a mission, took a pledge of consecration. My answer of what consecration was at that point in the beginning of my mission when I was asked about it with my zone leaders wasn't necessarily bad, but it isn't what it is now. I think that I have come to understand a little bit more of what becoming consecrated means, although I know I still have ALOT to learn about it.

Sister Mitchell, Sister Wright, and me after we had a Moroni moment in making our pledge of consecration.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught,

"We tend to think of consecration only as yielding up, when divinely directed, our material possessions. But ultimate consecration is the yielding up of oneself to God. Heart, soul, and mind were the encompassing words of Christ in describing the first commandment, which is constantly, not periodically, operative (see Matt. 22:37). If kept, then our performances will, in turn, be fully consecrated for the lasting welfare of our souls (see 2 Ne. 32:9)."

   Consecration is an enormous task! It is one that I don't think I will ever fully be able to undergo, but it is something that as I have strived to do through this past year or so I have known greater happiness than I have before. There is such great happiness, happiness that I can't even describe, in submitting my will to God's will. When I am willing to do whatever it is that God would have me do I always learn that what he has is better. When we are consecrating ourselves we have the peace and happiness that comes from knowing that we are helping our Father, the one person who gives us everything.

   How do we become consecrated though? It is such a deeply personal commitment that I don't really have an answer on the how except to share a few of the things that I have done in my efforts to dedicate my whole self, all of my talents, my will, my mind, and everything that makes me me.

One thing that a group of missionaries and I did recently was to bury our weapons of war. We took little paper swords and wrote on them what we are going to bury that is not in line with God's will. It was something physical that we could do that would help us to remember that we can leave behind our weaknesses and the things that keep us away from becoming who God knows we can be.

My Weapon of War (before I buried it)

    Another thing that I have done is a 40 day fast...don't worry It isn't 40 days without food, anybody who knows me knows that I would get way to grumpy to do anything good within the first 2 days of that... A forty day fast is when you pray and you ask Heavenly Father to help you know what things he would have you do or what things he would have you stop doing over 40 days and fast for the spiritual strength to do those things and over the forty days each morning pray for help to become better and each night give Heavenly Father an accounting of what happened and how you are doing on the different spiritual goals you have set.

    I know that yielding up your whole soul to God is really scary, I know it is really hard! I know that what we learn from trying is important and it helps us as we continue to try. I know that the journey of becoming consecrated is long and an uphill battle but there is also so much joy that comes from it. You get to see beautiful moments in your life and others lives that you know are all orchestrated by God. You get to watch others come closer to Christ and learn to follow him more closely as you have consecration as a goal, because, just like in everything else, Christ is our perfect example of consecration. He understood yielding and submitting his heart to God. His perfect example of a Thy-will-be-done attitude inspires me and gives me direction in my own path of consecrated service of God.

I hope that this week you will ponder in your heart your level of consecration and think about how you can learn to submit a little bit more to God's will. I know that in doing so you will find greater joy and peace in your life.

Service

    A couple of Days ago as Sister Wright, Sister Mitchell, and I were driving down the street we witnessed something that was truly amazing. We were driving up the road and we saw some construction. There was a blind man who was walking down the street and was headed right in to the construction zone. We were a little worried about this man and were watching to see what we could do when we noticed a very nice car that had pulled over a little bit ahead of him. We saw a man get out and run toward the blind man. It was such a testimony builder to see good people in the service of their fellow men.

 

    There is a classic scripture in Mosiah 2:17 that says "And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."  

  

   How does serving others serve God? Well if we go to another scripture in Moses 1:39 we read "For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." God's purpose is to bring us closer to Him, to prepare us to meet him and when we serve we are helping to bring about God's purpose in more ways than one.

   Service is an amazing tool that God has given us to bring others to Christ. When we serve others we are helping God in his purpose. When we help others with either temporal or spiritual matters we are helping them to draw closer to God. It is hard for people to focus on the spiritual when their temporal needs aren't being met. That is one reason why it is so important for us to follow the example of Christ in serving and blessing others.

    Another way we are in the service of God when we are serving is it gives us the opportunity to become more like Christ. Christ spent his whole live in the service of others and if we are to become like him and to be true followers of Christ we need to follow his example and bless the lives of others.

  

    I know that I have been blessed more than I have given when I have served. There have been times in my life when I have been grumpy or mad when I left to go to a service project and when I have come home the bad feelings were just gone. I know that as we focus outward on those around us, we become happier, the people we serve become happier, and even if it is a small way the world is changed, because we are changed. We truly do become more like Christ. I am grateful especially for these two new companions who serve me everyday!

Take a minute today to look for someone you can serve and to thank someone who has served you!

1 year

"...Time only is measured unto men." Alma 40:8

 

 

   Even though I know that God doesn't look at time the way we do, today is a day that I am measuring. I have officially been out in the mission field for 1 year! Isn't that crazy! I remember the feelings I had at the beginning of my mission like it was yesterday. The excitement and homesickness and just feeling a little bit like I was in the middle of a dream. Being a missionary was something that was always so far out of my plans for myself and it didn't really feel real until I had been in the field for a couple of days. After those couple of days I was convinced that I wanted to be dreaming. I didn't want to be where I was at and I didn't know what I was going to do.

  

   On preparation day I sent out an email to my brother saying how I knew I was supposed to be on a mission but it was AWFUL. He sent me some great advice that helped me to understand some of my options with what I could do with my mission, I could come home, or I could learn about sacrifice and consecration.  After a lot of crying and praying in a closet, I decided to have a deadline. I told Heavenly Father that if I didn't love being a missionary by October 15th I was going home. I know it sounds a little dramatic and petulant, but 18 months seemed impossible! 3 months seemed, reachable. I could sacrifice 3 months and then re-evaluate.

 

   Sure enough, as I focused more and more on the service I was giving and trying to follow more closely the example of Christ, I forgot about my deadline and learned to love this incredible work. October 15th passed, then November and December until now... 1 year later!

 

   I have learned so much about consecration and submitting my will to God's will. I keep learning that really the only way to find true and lasting happiness is to be where God wants me to be. I am so grateful for this opportunity to devote all my energy, time, and talents to serving God and Jesus Christ and bringing others closer to them! I LOVE my mission now! I love sharing the truths that have given me so much happiness and peace in this life, especially about families. I love that my family has been sealed in the temple so we can be together forever! That is one of the most incredible truths that we have again been given and I am grateful that I can leave my family for this time to help other families be together forever! I know that I am a daughter of God and we are all children of God. He loves us so much and I love him. I love my Savior Jesus Christ and I know that all of what I am doing and the opportunities out there for me and my family are because of him! I know that Jesus knows who I am, he knows what my challenges are and he is there to lift and to bless me. I know that he is there for you too! This is one of my favorite videos that reminds me how important Christ is in EVERYTHING that we do because ultimately, He is the center of the Gospel that I am sharing.

 

 Watch this video and then take a minute to pray about who you can share it with...then, act! Share it . . .you'll never know whose life you can bless until you take the action first.

 



Slurpee

 

 

   Look at my beautiful companion and I with our Slurpees? Don't we look so happy? Of course we do, the question is why do we look so happy? It could be do to the delicious cold and sugary slush, or it could be because of the kindness of a random stranger.

 

   Yesterday Sister Christensen and I had spent a long time outside and needed something to cool us off, so on our way home we stopped at 7-eleven for a quick slurpee run. As we were staring at the spinning machines deciding what flavors we wanted, the cashier started talking to us until another customer came up to pay. As she was ringing the other customer up, I decided on a flavor and quickly filled up my cup and went over to pay. As I walked up and was pulling my wallet out the cashier said,

 

"That man just paid for both of your slurpees!"

 

and pointed to a man who was getting ready to pull out of the parking lot. I hurried to the window to wave a thank you and watched him drive away.

 

    I don't think a slurpee has ever tasted so good to me, not because I chose a superior flavor but because of the kindness of a random person who became an instrument in God's hand to deliver a tender mercy to two hot and tired sister missionaries.

 

    I am so grateful for the Christ-like acts of those around me, both those I know and those I don't. One of the things that I have learned and am still learning about on my mission is the potential for good each one of us has. Things like this make me have a greater desire to be a blessing to others!

 

 

Who can you be a blessing to today?

July 4th

 

Fireworks at the MTC

    Happy Fourth of July! The 4th of July is my favorite Holiday! I love July, I love celebrating with Ice Cream, BBQ's, and Family and Friends, and I love History!  Last year I got to celebrate the 4th in one of the most amazing places in the world, the MTC (Missionary Training Center). What an appropriate place to celebrate. Because of our independence I have the freedom to worship God the way that I feel is correct and to go out and share it with others as well!

As one of our church's Articles of Faith states "We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may."

I am grateful for the sacrifices made by all of the individual's involved in obtaining and keeping the freedoms that we are privileged to enjoy in this country! God Bless America!