For me, and for you!

We were talking with some of the missionaries in our ward and the question came up "What is the motivation for missionary work? Why do we do it?" Everyone knows that serving a mission isn't easy, so why stay?

Upon further discussion, one of the Elders asked, "what do you think of when you think of the word 'Atonement?'"

Each of us came up with different responses. Forgiveness. Love. Acceptance. Mercy.

When it was my turn to respond the words "for me" came to mind. The Atonement is for me. I need it.

I need forgiveness. I need to repent--daily. Forgiveness if for me. Christ loved me enough to take on my sins. My pain. My suffering. It was personal. It was intimate. It was for me. The Atonement showed Christ's love for me. The Atonement is there for me to accept. The Atonement provided mercy for me.

The Atonement is as much for me as it is for you. It's there for you to accept, to feel loved, to feel forgiven and to be wrapped in the arms of mercy. It's there for you whether you choose to accept it or not. It can relieve pain. It can heal hearts. It can mend relationships. I can testify of that. I have felt it, I know its power. It's for me, its for YOU. 

"Fortify and Strengthen the land"

I know I promised to write more about the Plan of Salvation and I will.

But today, I want to share something that I learned in my scripture study. A couple days ago I was reading and I ended up skipping a couple pages that "I didn't really want to read." Then today I was reading and I got up to take a call and when I came back the pages had turned back to those few that I had skipped. So "fine...I'll read them" haha!

Anyways. It was Alma 48. Its not like its bad or anything, I'm sure there are many people who would say this is one of their favorite passages of scripture. The Title of Liberty etc. Its great, don't get me wrong, I just didn't feel like reading about it at the time.

So anyways, now that I'm being called to repentance I decide to read through it. A couple things stuck out. The first thing being in verse 9:

 "And in their weakest fortifications he did place the greater number of men; and thus he did fortify and strengthen the land which was possessed by the Nephites." (Alma 48:9)

Clearly its talking about war, but I think its interesting to note that he says they "place[ed] the greater number of men" in the weakest places which strengthened them.  In our own lives, we have those "weaker places" and that is where we have the most need for putting "more people" or stronger defenses. There's not as much need to put an army behind a strongly built wall, but maybe our walls have some weaker places and we need to start strengthening those areas first.

I have started to find some pretty big gaps in my wall but I know that those things can be over come because we all have our "red foxes."  (look forward to reading a post next week titled: Red Foxes)

I wouldn't be a missionary if I didn't invite you to act! Sooo, I invite you each to think about your 'wall' what are your weaker spots and how can you fortify them?

A Plan for Us All

Every time we're walking on the streets I look in peoples faces and wonder...do they know why they're here? Do they know what their purpose is on Earth?


For those who don't know, I apologize. It never occurred to me before that this was knowledge that I had been so deeply blessed by. However, knowing this information is what gives me purpose and meaning in life. So, for the next few weeks I'm going to talk more about this. To begin, this is a brief overview of what we refer to as the Plan of Salvation.

Life Before

Before this life, we lived with God. We were his spirit children. That is why we often refer to him as our Heavenly Father. While we were there, we learned of his plan for us, or the Plan of Salvation. This plan included the opportunity to have a body, to learn from our own experiences Those who agreed to this plan came to Earth to have this opportunity.

Life on Earth

When we came to this Earth, we knew it would mean forgetting our time in per-mortal life  and being out of God's presence but Heavenly Father still gave us the opportunity to feel His light. The light we feel helps us to know good from bad, right from wrong. Additionally this light helps us to recognize truth. This allows him to help us a little in our choices to give us some guidance and direction.  Making choices means we also make mistakes. Heavenly Father He knew this would happen and so he provided a Savior, even Jesus Christ. Christ came to the Earth, and through his Atonement or sacrifice, we can be forgiven.

Life After Death

When we die, our spirits are temporarily separated from our our mortal bodies. We go to a waiting period where we have additional opportunities to learn and to teach. Everyone will have an equal opportunity to learn about Christ and to accept His gospel. Then we will be Resurrected, just like Christ was. Our bodies and our Spirits will be reunited and we will be judged according to our deeds.

I know God lives. I know He allowed us to come to this Earth. I know that through Christ we can be forgiven and live with God again.

Hope Unto Faith

My first time on exchanges and while we're chatting with this family I started to think that the lesson we had planned was to bold. It might be ineffective or even misinterpreted. So what now? My companion is just meeting this family for the first time, I'm supposed to lead the discussion and now I don't even know what to say, let alone how to tell my companion that I don't think our lesson is a good idea. 

I quickly flipped open my scriptures wondering what message we could possibly share. As I looked down at some of the scriptures I had marked, one in particular jumped off the page.

 "How is it that ye can attain unto faith, save ye shall have hope?" (Moroni 7:40).  

This was the scripture I would use. But how would I apply it? I really had no idea but as I started to speak the Spirit took over. After reading the verse, I asked, "what role does hope pay in having faith?" They went on to speak about various life experiences that their hope in the Savior lead to their faith being strengthened. The process of sharing those experiences allowed us to get a better understanding of their testimonies, the experiences they had with the Gospel and most importantly, it allowed them to recall experiences where they felt the Spirit which invited a very strong Spirit into the room.

This conversation led to another question:

"How can you better show your committed to God?" 

Their responses brought us into the very topic I had avoided and proved to me that I am not the teacher. I don't know what they need to hear.

It was a testimony to me of the power of the Spirit. Where the topic might have been dodged by my desire to be discrete rather than bold, there was a needed boldness and God made it happen. While there are still concerns that need addressing, I have felt the Lord work. I know they felt the Spirit. I know they know where they need to be. I know they know they can do better. More importantly, they know that God knows they can do better. 

Prone to Wander

Today was the first day I felt a little anxiety at the realization that I am a missionary.

It's funny cause several times people have said to me that they have these moments where it just seems completely unreal. Today, I understood what they meant. I'm what? I'm a missionary? I'm where? I'm across the country? When did that happen. It wasn't 4 months ago that I wasn't going on a mission. How could I possibly be here now, today. How come its getting hard to remember how life was before this?

Slowly but surely, my life becomes the mission. I can hardly remember what it was to be a normal person anymore. How is that possible? It wasn't that long ago that I was looking at the missionaries thinking "hey, listen to them, they're the missionaries!" People couldn't possibly be thinking that about me now.. could they? 

There is a mantel. There is a definite mantel. 

So what was the event that caused the anxiety? It was the realization that missionaries aren't perfect. I feel allll to often the words in the song Come Thou Fount are truly the words of my life. "Prone to wander Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love." 

Its amazing though, because it has become a testimony to me of this work. The things we say are often less then significant, however, the Spirit comes. The Spirit comes and it teaches. Teaches our investigators. Teaches the members. Teaches us, the missionaries. We're given a small amount of training but that training revolves around--listening to the Spirit, inviting the Spirit, and testifying with the Spirit.

Priesthood Power

The MTC is a high stress time for most missionaries. It seemed to be a fairly normal cycle of "what am I doing here? Can I possibly have made this decision? Am I supposed to be here? How can I EVER be the missionary I'm supposed to be?" 

One particularly stressful day, our teacher stopped the lesson he had planned and started to talk to us about the importance of following the Spirit. He said, "the lesson I had planned for you today, is apparently not the lesson that your Heavenly Father has planned for you"

He then invited our District Leader and one other Elder to come administer a blessing to a distressed Sister. Being newly ordained Melchizedek Priesthood holders, neither had been the one to give a blessing before. This was a new experience for everyone. Our teacher then went though the steps of administering a blessing and anyone in the class who had the desire to have a blessing given to them were then given a blessing. 

The blessings given that night were felt by each member of our class. Hearts were comforted and the love of our Father in Heaven was felt as heard the words spoken by worth Priesthood Holders.

It wasn't long after that, when we sat in General Conference together listening to this talk. "There exists today a great need for men and women to cultivate respect for each other as sons and daughters of God and reverence for our Father in Heaven and His priesthood--His power and authority. He has a plan for us, and when we exercise our faith and trust in His plan our reverence for Him and for His priesthood power and authority will be strengthened"

When was the last time you received a blessing? Its worth taking into consideration. Those who hold the Priesthood will be blessed by having the opportunity to use it and we will be blessed with the words spoke by our Father, through His authorized servants.