I love Chocolate! I love the way it melts in my mouth and makes me happy. It can calm any troubled soul and excite the down. It can bring peace and quiet in the hectic home. It can really solve any problem. I remember when we were in Germany and no matter what mood we were in we had chocolate. If we were happy we got a piece of chocolate. If we were angry we got a piece of chocolate. Yup, you guessed it, if we were annoying, patient, cheerful, or sad we got a piece of chocolate! I don't know how I didn't come home 20 pounds heavier but it was a wonderful trip! It really did help us in any situation. Of course as I thought about this it reminded me of Christ. No matter what situation we are in Christ is there to help. He is there to calm, excite, soften and mold. He is the one we can rely on in times of trial and in times of glory. He is the One. I have recognized too often in my life I have sought Him in the negative side instead of all the time. He really is there to be our guide. He is rejoicing with us and crying with us. We just have to accept His presence always. I am so grateful for His life and love that always surrounds us. One of my favorite scriptures says
Nothing can separate us from the Love of Christ. And nothing will keep Him away from us. I hope to become better at acknowledging His presence and love no matter what mood I am in. I love my Savior!
When you think about a heart what do you think about? Not the broken heart that happens after a failed romance, but the actual heart that beats inside of you. I think of the incredible power that one organ holds. It is the source of life. It is the way we continue to function and thereby live. It is the center of everything we do. We are constantly reminded to remain heart healthy. There are even specific cereals for that kind of thing! The heart really is central to our life.
Isn't it interesting then how much emphasis Heavenly Father gives to us to give Him our whole heart. He asks for the heart, might, mind and soul. He asks for a broken heart and a contrite spirit. He always includes our heart. So what is important about our spiritual heart. The heart is the innermost desires, attitudes, affections, and thoughts. If we are really giving God our hearts then we are giving Him everything! We are giving him our spirit and we are giving Him our life.
When I have read the scriptures recently I have been able to see the power of the heart. Whether it be through people hardening their heart or having a broken one, the power of where our heart lies has been magnified. I am so grateful for the opportunity and choice to give God my heart. How have you been able to give God your heart?
One of my favorite Hymns is Come Come ye Saints. I always thought it was interesting how the song ends. The phrase All is well is repeated after talking about such things as toil, fear, journey, and even death. The phrase is repeated over and over again. When my sister came home from her mission in Poland, she taught me that when translated that phrase, all is well, come out to be It's not so bad! What an fun change! Instead of everything being well in times of trials it is actually just not so bad. I can handle that. I can think that way. I can change my opinion of knocking of doors for 4 hours from ugh to it's not so bad! This changes any situation. It really is not so bad. I wish I would have applied this lesson earlier on my mission and even in my life. Here are just a few examples.
Being dropped from the sky while flying in the part of Wendy... it's not so bad!
Not having a car in college . . . it's not so bad!
Having over 100 mosquito bites on my legs last summer. . . it's not so bad!
Having to have our car jumped 6 times in one day . . .it's not so bad
Of course all of these examples are small ways that we can apply that principle. Being away from home and from family is really not so bad when compared to the joy I can bring to others. So on and so forth! This principle can be applied anywhere. A wonderful quote I heard this weekend was, "The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay" (The Refiner's Fire). No matter what is going on in our life it is not so bad when we remember it is helping us become acquainted to God.
One of my favorite prophets in the Book of Mormon is Nephi. That man is a rockstar. He goes through so much turmoil and crazy and yet he is still so positive and diligent. In comparison, his brothers are the murmurers. They complain about everything! They never stop. It can get really annoying to read. Something I realized today is the why behind this story. Lamen and Lemuel have no real relationship with God. They are looking for answers from the world and not from Him. Nephi has a magnificent vision (1 Nephi 11-15) where he sees everything. Everything! No wonder he has a better attitude. He just sees the whole creation of the world so no wonder he just goes and makes a bow or builds a ship. He gets the eternal perspective. For him it is nothing because he just saw the glory and power of God.
I have lost that eternal perspective a lot! I have become the murmurer. I have seen that happen to me a lot out here on a mission. I forget what a short time I have to serve God and focus on the horrible hour of talking to no one. I was the worst when I was a teenager at this. That one moment my mom wouldn't let me be with friends overcame the hours of time spent with them before hand. We all do this in our everyday life. I mean lets think about this. We are children of God. We are on this life to learn how to be happy living with God again for eternity. That is pretty amazing! We are commanded to have joy and to love life. So why do we always nitpick at the moments. Lamen, Lemuel and Nephi all lived the same life, but it was Nephi that chose to live it happy. One of my favorite scriptures read, "
In reality all God asks of us is to live our live in a way we can be the happiest. We can chose as Nephi did to look at the positive and be happy! Or we can become like his elder brothers and be miserable. It really is up to us to choose.
We live in such a world today. Everyone is seeking to have the coolest clothes and own all the name brands. The world has this ideal being that everyone wants to become. Everyone is in someway trying to fit the mold, even if their life motto is to break it. We are individuals with unique attributes and personality traits that make us amazing to God. We are to embrace the very eternal nature we have within us and run with it. I am different then you. That is a fact. You are different then the person sitting next to you. Thank goodness! If we were all the same this would be a very boring world! God needs us to be different so He can use us in different avenues to build His kingdom. We must each seek inside of us for the individual gifts, talents and abilities that make us unique. I don't want to be you. I'm sorry! I want to be me. My quirky, demanding, crazy me. Yes, I can still improve upon that but it will remain me. That is something I am so grateful for when it comes to my mission. I have learned to become more like my Savior without losing those characteristics that make me me.
If God wanted us to be the same He would have made us that way. I am a ginger who has the spunk to prove it. I love singing, eating chocolate, and reading a good book. I could never play a single sport and be perfectly content. I am very different then you, but I am the way God made me. We are each unique and we all have the ability to reach an eternal potential. If you help me to get there, I will help you! Sister Dalton said speaking to a group of women, "As daughters of God we are each unique and different in our circumstances and experiences. And yet our part matters---because we matter."
I hope each of us can really identify the talents and abilities God has given us so we can develop our individuality!
This week was intense! We had a HUGE snow storm. I am not joking. It snowed almost 16 inches! How crazy is that! We were informed that we were not allowed to drive in this terrible weather and so what did we do?? Well to be honest I would have been fine with some Hot Chocolate, but instead we trudged through the snow and shoveled out cars. We were outside for 3 hours digging out 6 cars from the parking lot. It is just not a good idea when a snow plow comes through and pushes all the snow against the cars. I was in snow up to my waist! It was so much fun! We bonded with a lot of our neighbors as we all came together to dig out each others cars. We had some laughs, falls, colds, and a wonderful time doing service for one another.
I am so grateful for the acts of service we can provide for one another. It really is the best way to get to know one another and to develop charity for those around you. It is also a ton of fun! Just imagine 8 people with brooms, ice scrapers and a few shovels going to town! It really was quite entertaining. The best was being able to share the light of Christ through the small acts of service. Derek A Cuthburt once said,
Running. Oh running. How I hate you so. You hurt my legs and you make me run out of breath. You leave me sore and beat up and you don't even care. You tear me down and yet your purpose is to build me back up. You are truly just mean. Yet, I seem to still use you everyday. I have seen me become stronger and more in shape, but do you have to do in such a painful way. Oh running, I really do quite hate you.
I have really really come to hate running. As you might have already noticed. It is painful and quite boring. However, I keep running every day. I know it is good for me and at sometime I will begin to see the benefits from it. Isn't this how most trials are in our life. We really don't like them and they prove quite difficult and yet we keep going because we know in the end it will be OK and we will probably be much better off.
It reminds me of a time on my mission where my dear companion, Sister Lochridge, had staff infection. She got it her first weekend into the mission and it was rough. At the same time I injured my ankle quite badly and we were out for a while. It was rough! We both really didn't understand why this was happening and why we were in such a struggle bus. We wanted to be working and helping the area and instead we were sick and injured. It was a hard time for us both. And yet we learned so much! We were able to come together and really support each other. We are very close and will always be! We needed these trials to come together and we have been a support for each other ever since. I love that woman and I am so grateful our transfer together was so hard because it made us both much stronger.
We all go through trials when we don't understand why things happen the way they do. That is just going to happen.
You know those days when you look back and realize that you are in a crazy world. I have been thinking a lot about how missions are just WEIRD! They send out 2 young people into the world together and leave us totally alone. We wander through random cities talking to strangers. We eat odd food and we have some terrifying adventures. There are things that just only happen on a mission. Let me give a couple of examples.
Your companion gets staff infection at the same time you have a major ant invasion.
You have a literal movie moment when a bus drives by and encases you in a wall of water
You meet people from 10 different countries... in one day!
You have "nature" living in your back yard (his name is gus gus)
You grow to love the outdoors as you live in the most incredible place during the fall season.
You are sick for 2 weeks in a row and still fight to go out and work
You feel like you sinned for even thinking of getting on facebook
You learn that study time can be a dangerous time
You learn that the best cell coverage comes in the middle of nowhere on a metal bridge
You end up in the ER
You happen to lock the key of your car in the trunk.. just the key.
These are just a few examples of things that have happened on my mission that have brought be great joy! I love when we can find the joy in the moment. The best thing we can do is laugh. It alleviates stress, depression, and worry. It helps us to feel the small joy that our Heavenly Father feels endlessly. These are just a few moments that make me laugh and bring me joy as well as teach me great lessons. What have you seen in your life that has made you laugh?
I remember when I was in the lovely town of Herndon. My companion and I were diligently knocking on doors. As we knocked on yet another "empty" house, we turned around to step down the stairs and down I went!! The ground was slippery as it had rained all day and I fell hard! I attempted to jump right back up and my companion immediately pushed me back down. "I can see your ankle swelling. Sit down" She yelled quite loudly. I was so mad that I had fallen and as a result we had to stop working for the rest of the night. I had sprained my ankle quite badly and it needed time to heal. It was so irritating! Isn't it always frustrating when we fall? Whether it be physically or spiritually we fall all the time! We can not seem to stay on our own two feet! Over and over again we go down. Sometimes down curbs, sometimes down cliffs. Something I read today gave me the comfort I needed.
The Lord will uphold us as we fall. It is an absolute promise that we will fall in this life, even the first people on earth did! It is also an absolute promise that the Lord will uphold us with His hand. We can not fall too far or to long for the Lord to not be able to reach us. He is always always there. President Uchtdorf gave a wonderful talk where he discussed this very idea.
What a beautiful thought. We can all relate to a toddler trying to walk and that is exactly how Heavenly Father sees us. We can keep trying. We can keep standing up and walking. Let us try not to fall, but when we do we can know that God is outstretched to help us up and cheer us on.
This week was a week of firsts! We had a fabulous transfer meeting in which we watched a movie. Yup. The whole mission together watched a movie. That does not happen very often!! It was an exciting day! We had the opportunity to watch the Saratov Approach. It is an incredible movie about missionaries in Russia who are kidnapped.
Now tangent for a moment and think about the brand new missionaries in our mission. There very first day in the mission field they watched a movie! Not just any movie but one about kidnapping...those poor missionaries.
Ok, back on track. The movie was a wonderful opportunity to learn and I just wanted to share some of my thoughts and invite you to all go watch it!
First, I learned how much God is aware and personally involved in each of our lives. He watches out for all of us in our individual trials and afflictions. He will provide a way for our escape.
Second, God has prepared a plan for us and He will give it to us but usually it will be in the last minute and after we have created multiples of our own plans. This way He allows us to be prepared for the plan He has in store.
Third, there is no bad reason to serve God. We can do it for family, ourselves, or for Him. The real importance is in doing the work. Sometimes it is much harder then other times but just keep hanging in and get it done.
The movie was truly amazing. I cried, yes even me, I laughed, and most importantly I felt God's love. The light and joy that comes from God's love will always overpower the darkness in our lives. I testify that God lives and He is involved in our everyday lives. We will all go through hard times. Hopefully none of us will be kidnapped in Russia! But whatever our trials God will help us.
This morning we woke up to a beautiful sight! Everything was covered in ice! The leaves and grass were incased with ice and it was beautiful! The light would hit it just right and everything would sparkle. It was just splendid. It was a wonderful reminder of the beauty of nature. This world is incredible! It is the one most magnificent creation of our Heavenly Father. Just one of them! For a God who created all things I am shocked He spends so much time focused on us.
This idea was reiterated in my studies this morning. Psalms 8: 3-4 says,
"When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;What is man, that thou art mindful of him?"
Why is God mindful of us? Lets be honest. We are pretty foolish 99% of the time. We mess up continually, we have negative attitudes, we hurt one another, we aren't very good at focusing on God or even showing we love Him. Basically we are all just struggle buses. And yet, He still is mindful of us. Everyday. Another scripture I read this morning was in the book of Ether that says,
We are literally EVIL continually!! And yet God still commands us to pray to Him and to ask Him for help. He is a very very loving, merciful God. When I think of all of the blessings and beauty of this world, I will now forever think of the fact that above all these things God is thinking of me. And God is thinking of you. He loves each of us. He is there for us and He is always mindful of us.
Of course as I thought about this it reminded me of Christ. No matter what situation we are in Christ is there to help. He is there to calm, excite, soften and mold. He is the one we can rely on in times of trial and in times of glory. He is the One. I have recognized too often in my life I have sought Him in the negative side instead of all the time. He really is there to be our guide. He is rejoicing with us and crying with us. We just have to accept His presence always. I am so grateful for His life and love that always surrounds us. One of my favorite scriptures says
