Tender Mercy

This week, we had a very special Zone Conference where we were able to gather together with two other zones at the Plantation chapel to gain training and do team-building activities. I felt like I was at EFY! It was great! One thing about that day that I enjoyed the most was a quote that Pres. Hale had posted during his training on prayer and revelations:

In the gospel of Jesus Christ you have help from both sides of the veil and you must never forget that. When disappointment and discouragement strike - and they will - you remember and never forget that if our eyes could be opened we would see horses and chariots of fire as far as the eye can see riding at reckless speed to come to our protection. They will always be there, these armies of heaven, in defense of Abraham's seed. ~ Elder Jeffrey R Holland

This quote stood out to me the most. I love that thought, to have the host of heaven at our side giving us strength and protection. That night, when I was about to go to sleep, I realized that I had forgotten to read my Old Testament pages for the day. I was so close to waiting until tomorrow, but a promise is a promise; and I want to finish the Old Testment before March ends, so I got up and this is what I read:

And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. ~ 2 Kings 6:15-17

That was amazing!! I was right at the chapter where Elder Holland had referred to in his quote. I love tender mercies!!

Bind the Lord

And again, I say unto you, I give unto you a new commandment, that you may understand my will concerning you; Or, in other words, I give unto you directions how you may act before me, that it may turn to you for your salvation. I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.

This past week, we had Personal Priesthood Interviews with President Hale. Also, we had an amazing training done by Elder Holland (Assistant) and Elder Isom (former Assistant). There is no end to the miraculous learning available to us in the gospel! The focus of the training was on D&C 82:8-10. I never fully understood it until this week. It's amazing!!!! The Lord gives us a new commandment of how we may act before Him. What is the commandment? To bind ourselves to the Lord so He may bless us! We are commanded to make a promise to the Lord so He will be bound to our words. Understanding this scripture and adding to it all we have already learned about being exactly obedience and knowing that God is a God of Truth, we will work miracles. There is no doubt about it. I can't believe we have lived in a nation of so little faith for so long. We must search the scriptures. It says it all there. We know these things. It's connecting it in our minds and acting upon it. We also discussed how a goal is a desire of our hearts. If we're going to set a goal, it better be our heart's desire, or there is no point in setting it. As missionaries, the desires we have in our hearts for our ward and our investigators are inspired by the spirit. We now are expressing the desires we have and binding ourselves to the Lord so that we can bring miracles to pass. I love it! I know it will happen. I must act my part. I must seek the guidance of the spirit to know what actions I must take, but if I am exactly obedient and do these things required of me, the Lord is bound to fulfill my desire for this ward! :-D

Well, it's been quite a week! A few highlights:

We are officially the Boca Biking Sisters as of last Wednesday. If the sun is out and the wind isn't blowing too hard, we are out and about meeting the people on the street of Boca Raton! The weather has been a bit interesting since the wind keeps blowing, the temperatures decide to be cold one day and hot the next. We even got some rain! That is a good bike story! We started our day biking to a neighborhood west of us that didn't look too far on the map - find out it is a 40min ride on our bikes. We visit two members and find out that the day has a 80% chance of rain! Oh well! We continue forth on bike heading now to east Boca to some investigators. As evening approached and it was time for us to switch to car - since Sis. Gardner doesn't have lights on her bike yet (and it's not safe to ride bikes in the dark) - we started to head home. Too bad we were now about 40min east of our apartment. And, it started to lightly rain. Oh dear. We were a bit worried about that, but onward on our bikes we go! We may have also made a few stops on the way trying to meet potentials, but no luck. Finally, when we came into the front gates of our apartment, the clouds open up and down POURS the rain! I just had to laugh! The Lord was looking out for the Boca Biking Sisters! He didn't want us to get wet so He waited until we were safely in our apartment complex. Precious!! I love tender mercies like that!

On Saturday was the yearly deep cleaning of the Boca Chapel. When we arrived, we had the choice to clean the windows or clean the font. Yep! We chose the font!! The second counselor of our ward has never seen that font cleaned before, and we could tell. Plaster, dead spiders, water turning yellowish brown ... we had some work to do. It was really fun to do! We had a few funny moments - like thinking the drain was clogged and using a plunger to try and fix it when really the drain switch was in the closet with the valves. So now, we can say that the Boca Raton baptismal font is clean and ready for our upcoming baptisms :-D

On Valentine's Day, I can't say I noticed a difference. One of the young girls in the ward gave us a cute Valentine Heart on a stick, but that was about it. So, as we were heading home that evening, we started craving chocolate cake. Lo and behold, there was a devil's food cake mix in our cupboard. Then, we had a box of cocoa that had an amazing recipie for chocolate frosting. Yep! We have a nice size cake still at home that we munch and nibble from every now and again! I'd say it was a great end to the day!

For next Sunday, I will be talking in church :-D It'll only be for about ten minutes, but I get to talk about my favorite thing -- my family history ... as it pertains to conversion stories of my ancestors. I'm excited! And I'm glad that I made all those cute little bookmarks of my ancestor's conversion stories and some other family history prep things I did before coming on my mission.

Also, I did receive my package just this morning. Thanks!! I especially loved getting a grapefruit and navel orange from our trees from home! Yay! Was the lemon from the store or did our lemon tree survive and actually produces lemons now?

Lots of love!! Take care! We continue onward in the work! I love being a part of the "Year of Jubilee" here in the beautiful Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission! We will create a Mission of Miracles as we continue in the faith!

The Miracles of Members

Hello from the Boca Raton Family History Center! :-D Typically, we go to the Broward County Library just south of our apartment, but when our reservation time came, all the computers had froze. And so we were unable to get online. Thankfully, we remembered that the Family History Center is open Monday mornings so here we are at the Boca Chapel in the Family History Center!

We were extremely blessed this week with all the meetings that were held. On Tuesday was a special "Preach My Gospel Training" by Brother Tracy Watson of the Mission Department. It was a great experience focusing on teaching with the spirit, asking inspired questions, and applying everything back to the gospel so we can teach like prophets! Then, we had Zone Counsel the next day where we continued to discuss what we learned at the Training and we had Bro. Lustig of the Stake Missionary Representative who taught us more about "Harvesting the Field" as we continue to strengthen the members of the ward - focusing on less actives and part member families. It is a wonderful program that is about getting the wards involved in missionary work, showing the members that it is their responsibility to prepare others for missionary visits. So far, it's slow going, but soon it will spark into a great program.

I am really seeing all these examples around me about how it is extremely important for members to be involved in missionary work. I keep thinking about it, and I am surprised at how little I knew about my purpose in life. I always thought it was to be a strong member of the church by living well to the commandments of God. The three-fold mission of the Church states: Proclaim the Gospel, Perfect the Saints, Redeem the Dead. Well, the missionaries called to serve missions were proclaiming the gospel, I was improving myself to work towards perfection, and I was doing temple work when I could. Now I'm thinking, the prophets themselves have said that every member is a missionary ... so proclaiming the gospel isn't only the role of called missionaries: it's for all of us! Perfecting the saints isn't about our own lives, but when you lose yourself in helping others you find yourself. Also redeeming the dead is a missionary work in itself bringing those who have already passed on the opportunity to accept the gospel. Our three-fold mission of the Church is focused on MISSIONARY WORK!!! I thought that was awesome! Our purpose in this life isn't to go to school and work and church. It isn't learning for ourselves about the mysteries of the scriptures. Our purpose as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is to invite others to come unto Christ. We talk about accepting upon ourselves the Christ-like attributes. But how many of us realize that when Christ was on the earth, He was sharing the gospel with everyone he would meet. That is an attribute of Christ - being a missionary! Of course that doesn't mean all of us should be full-time missionaries. It means we should be more willing to talk about our beliefs with friends and co-workers, giving out a pass-a-long card to store clerks or security guards, inviting neighbors and friends over for meals when the missionaries are available. The door to tracting is closing. That came straight from the Mission Department. Soon, missionaries will be unable to go door to door hoping someone will want to hear the gospel from a stranger. We met a guy a few weeks ago who said he never would have listened to two people knocking at his door, but because he had a friend who invited him to church and offered him a Book of Mormon, he is now interested in learning about the gospel. It all comes from us. We already are good examples by our actions and way of living, but we need to pray for courage to open our mouths. Especially since Satan is working so hard on this world to keep people from mentioning the name of God or Jesus Christ in public. We must fight against Satan. We must realize that in the name of Christ, we are able to overpower anything the adversary tries to throw our way. I really hope I can remember that when I finish my mission. A prophet once said that soon there will no longer be a need for set-apart missionaries because the members will be those missionaries. Now is the time to find our purpose and live it.

A great event that just happened yesterday was tracting into a woman who decided to read from the Book of Mormon because her co-worker offered it to her. She wasn't very interested in talking to us until we learned which member of our ward had given her the book. As soon as we started to talk about the member, she opened up and was excited to talk more with us. She even showed interest in having us come over and teach her more. People will easily dismiss and close doors to two strangers, but when there is that connection with someone they know, they open up and are willing to listen and learn. Again and again this week we've met people who have a friend who's a member or a sibling who's investigated the church. The more connection to the church they have, the more interest and time they give to us as missionaries. It is the members that bring success and growth to the Church. I see that and know it to be true. Kick away the fear, for fear is not of God. Give an invitation to a friend, family member, co-worker, acquaintance to come to church, to come to an activity, to read the Book of Mormon, to check out mormon.org, to listen to the missionaries, to come to the Family History Center. There are so many resources available to us! Let's use them!

And now I am done ... for a time ... It was just exciting for me to see what I need to do in my life to change. I love how we are focusing on our purpose as a missionary and how that helps me see what my purpose is for life. Oh the great insights that are found from studying the gospel!

And I can't end without saying: HAPPY 100TH ANNIVERSARY BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA!!!! Boy Scouts is amazing! My future husband better be an Eagle Scout! :-D

Stake Conference

It's a nice, rainy day here in Boca Raton. I am starting to feel like it's Utah, hot and humid weather one day, rain the next. Always keeping us on our toes! And soon both Sis. Gardner and I will be on bike! This next week, Sis. Gardner should have her bike delivered to her and off we go! Some goals we've already planned for is one in seven days will be an all bike day - no car whatsoever. Another plan is to have a tracting fast, going a full week without tracting, meaning we will ride our bikes up and down the roads of Boca making contacts with those people walking around. I am so excited to get out of the car and start being amongst the people!

The Lord has truly blessed us this week! We've met some great potential investigators, we continue to help those we are already teaching, and we are working towards two baptisms for the month of February. I am so excited to finally attend a baptism!

Sunday was the highlight of our week as we had Stake Conference! Wow! It was a satellite broadcast from Salt Lake City, and we were privileged to hear from four great speakers:

Elder Larry W. Gibbons:
This is a time for Faith, not fear
God has already armed me for the trials ahead
"This is the Lord's work ... why don't you let Him do some of it"

Sister Elaine S. Dalton:
Generation of Destiny
Firm stand on the side of virtue
Resist Sin, Endure Trials, Hear the Spirit's Guidance

Elder L. Tom Perry:
King Benjamin's Address
D&C 20:5-12
The Lord's Glorious Gospel Plan

President Henry B. Eyring:
We are accountable for our wandering relatives - bring them to the gospel
Sent to rescue our kin - try in faith
The biggest barrier is fear - be as a child in innocence, humility, and willingness

We were blessed to have three of our investigators attend and hear these amazing talks. It truly was a tender mercy for me to share this experience with an investigator. I pray that they were able to feel the spirit and get something out of it that touched their hearts.

All is well in Boca! We continue forth the work! We are continuing our "Year of Jubilee" and working towards becoming more unified as missionaries, more challenging and testifying missionaries, more focused on the blessings of the Book of Mormon, more like our Savior Jesus Christ. I love being here! I love the great people the Lord has put in my path! I love these many tender mercies that the Lord blesses me with daily!

26 January 2010

I heard that Arizona got rain that has beat records from the last twenty
years. So, in the last twenty years, Florida gets the worst cold front and
Arizona gets the worst rain. That just makes me laugh!

All is well here! A new transfer will begin tomorrow and I am staying in
Boca with Sister Gardner! We're excited to continue the work here because
we have some great investigators we are working with! The Lord has truly
blessed us this past week. Of course not everything is going as planned,
but we are planting the seeds and now we need to have the patience to follow
the Lord's time.

Something silly that I am really excited about is the fact that I just
started my 100th page in my journal!! I feel it's quite a milestone for
me. I'm already halfway done with my first missionary journal! (And this
is the 8 1/2 x 11 journal pages!) Something I am really trying to do is
make worthwhile journal entrees. I'm learning each day how I need to
improve. I'm actually impressed by the fact that I have not gotten behind!
But it helps that I tally my Standard Works reading goal each morning in my
journal so that makes me catch up. (Which, bytheway, I've already read over
750 pages! It's so much fun! I actually will say there are a lot of
interesting things found within the book of Leviticus ... and I love how so
many of the D&C sections apply to missionary work which I can apply straight
to me as a missionary :-D

I just found out my bike will be delivered to me this afternoon, which I am
really excited about (Although we were hoping to get to go to transfer
meeting so we could pick them up at the Mission Home). We won't be on bike
quite yet - as Sis. Gardner's bike hasn't come yet. But I've been tempted
to get a bike since my second year in college so it's just exciting to
finally have one! Now we'll have to find out how to organize our area to
focus more on biking instead of driving. With a new senior companion and a
new driver - we both have gone over our miles - 1200 miles so far this
month! Ooops!

It truly is going great! I love it here! Lots of Love!

Onward

It's interesting how I have so many ideas of what to write home when I'm in bed about to fall asleep, but as soon as I sit down at the computer to start typing, all the ideas escape me ... so I will turn to my journal for ideas ...

We have been truly blessed this week with investigators! So many of our lessons have been amazing and each day we are finding people with such promising fruit. I definitely prefer when people come up to us - or seek us through referrals - than us trying to find that needle in a haystack through tracting. But amazingly enough, we've had new investigators through both ways. Being a missionary, we definitely experience all sorts of personalities. Some people are nice enough to listen to us but not interested in progressing, some just tell us they are not interested, others are down-right rude to us just because we wish to talk about our Savior, Jesus Christ. Thankfully, I am able to just let some remarks run off me like water. I am a collector of opinions, so I don't let other's comments bother me too often. There are times we can laugh off an interesting tracting experience, others we shrug off and continue forth, but every now and again, there is an extremely rude and uncalled for reaction to our desire to share the gospel. It gives us a touch into the life of Jesus Christ. How much sorrow He must have felt to see so many people reject him and persecute him, yet he still had that charity to suffer for their sins. It is truly hard to imagine having to endure that. But then I remember those times of joy when someone is interested in hearing our message, an invite into their home, a desire to learn, a commitment being kept ... then I know our work is truly worth it.

This last summer when I was an EFY counselor, I sat in on a class where the teacher had shared a few scriptures about suffering. One always stands out to me ... John 16:20-21

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.”

I love that! I do not know from personal experience the pain that goes into being pregnant and in labor, but how true it is that even though it can be the most excruciating of pain, all of that is forgotten when a child is born. The joy of bringing a new life in the world overpowers any thought of the past pain. That fits right along with opposition. The more we experience the pain and sorrow and difficulties of life, the greater we will understand the joy and the love and the beauty of those moments of God's tender mercies. How great will be our joy in the next life as we continue to endure the struggles that are thrown at us during this time on earth. We must have faith and trust in the Lord. We must be diligent in following the straight and narrow path. We must turn our desires and knowledge of the gospel into actions so we may become those elect saints, those choice people, those great and noble spirits of God.

TENDER MERCY: I TRULY HAVE A DESIRE TO LEARN AND TO GROW. I WANT TO SEE MY POTENTIAL AND TO OBTAIN IT. ALTHOUGH I HAVE MANY BAD HABITS THAT I NEED TO OVERCOME, I AM GRATEFUL FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE THE LORD. TO HAVE WONDERFUL EXAMPLES OF MISSIONARIES AND MEMBERS AROUND ME TO SHOW ME THE WAY. AND BY HELPING OTHERS COME UNTO CHRIST, I BETTER UNDERSTAND HOW I MYSELF CAN BETTER AND MORE FULLY COME UNTO HIM.

Elect Saints

Wow! This week was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!! In so many ways! And the best part of it was that it all is centered around Personal Priesthood Interviews. Wow! And it didn't start with my interview with President Hale, but with the discussion I had with Elder Olsen while waiting for my interview. From those two discussions - President and Elder - I have a 360 degree perspective change on missionary work. I probably can't fully explain everything that I learned! But I'll share a few things.

This year, we are focusing on the Book of Mormon. Of course we know of its importance, we know it answers questions of the soul, we know it is the keystone of our religion ... but knowing is so hollow. What is important is to understand and do. I need to understand how the Book of Mormon is my own personal keystone and then make the Book of Mormon the keystone in my life. It is true that without the Book of Mormon, we are just like any other religion. If Joseph Smith didn't translate those golden plates, he wouldn't have had the question about how we are to be baptized, therefore he never would have received the Aaronic Priesthood from John the Baptist, therefore there would be authority on this earth to restore Christ's full gospel. Wow, there is a thought to ponder. I believe most, if not all the revelations from the Doctrine and Covenants are answers to questions. The Lord does not just give us what we need. We must first ask for it. Joseph Smith read in James 1:5 that if he lacked wisdom, he needed to ask God. He acted upon that scripture, and the First Vision occurred. How many restored truths of the gospel was received from reading the pages of the Book of Mormon and asking a question to the Lord? What is my life without, that I could receive if I but ask? We need to liken and feast upon the scriptures - which means to do it, not just know it.

Another thing I learned was that we are finding the elect saints. "And ye are called to bring to pass the gathering of mine elect; for mine elect hear my voice and harden not their hearts;" (D&C 29:7). Not only are we finding those people who are ready, but we ourselves must become elect saints. Just because we are born into the church doesn't me we are saved. We much hear the voice of the Lord and act upon it. I see within our ward here in Boca who are the elect saints. Who know their purpose, who share their love of the gospel, who are following the words of the prophets, and who are striving to live as Christ did. I want to be that. I want to make sure I am an elect saint. And then I want to know how I can help others become elect saints.

So, that is two things I learned from my discussion with Elder Olsen. Then, I went into my interview with President Hale. There, I learned something I really needed. I have two personalities: one for when I'm in public - righteous, social, happy, willing to do anything for anyone; then one for when I am at home in private - introvert, stubborn, apathetic. The more I think about it, the more it ticks me off. Why is that? Why does my worst attributes come out around close family and friends? I don't want that! I want to be the same personality no matter the situation. President had told me who he sees me as, what he knows I can do - basically he stated my potential which is something I have been searching for. As he spoke, I realized I may appear to be like that in public, but when I'm in the apartment, I don't act that. I'd rather have the other companion plan everything. I'd rather be to myself and not share anything. But not anymore. I have no excuses to hide now. President sees who I can become and the Lord knows of what my potential is, so now it is time that my companion sees me live my potential no matter where we are.

This week has been amazing! I am being more active in decision making, I am showing that "Mesa Fire" that President describes me as! I am trying to work on having faith that people will invite us in, faith they will keep their commitments, faith that they want to be baptized. With that, the Lord is blessing me with seeing that occur. Right now, we are working a lot with tracting and finding, but each day, the Lord gives us a tender mercy. We begin to see those elect who are ready to hear the gospel. With the new year resolution to focus on the Book of Mormon we are loving talking about it and focusing on it. I am actually finding goals that I can set for myself and the plans necessary to accomplish it! And that is not a skill I have! I am so excited for this year of jubilee! It is going to be amazing! I can feel it! All I need is to continue for with faith and the desire to continue towards my potential and the potential of this mission.

TENDER MERCY: I AM GRATEFUL FOR THE PEOPLE WHO ASK HONEST QUESTIONS. THAT IS THE ONLY WAY WE CAN REALLY KNOW WHERE WE STAND. IF I WANT TO IMPROVE AND GROW, I HAVE TO STOP JUSIFYING AND ASK BRUTALLY HONEST QUESTIONS TO MYSELF. I AM LEARNING DAILY FROM EACH MISSIONARY I MEET HOW I CAN BECOME A MORE CHALLENGING AND TESTIFYING MISSIONARY. TO APPLY THAT TO MYSELF, I HAVE TO ACCEPT THOSE SEEDS ON FERTILE SOIL SO THEY CAN GROW. TO TRY AND JUSTIFY SOMETHING IS TURNING SOIL INTO CONCRETE. I WANT TO CONTINUE TO LEARN AND GROW FROM EVERYTHING I HEAR FROM OTHER MISSIONARIES. I AM GLAD THAT THE LORD IS CONSTANTLY TELLING ME HOW I CAN IMPROVE AND HAVING PATIENCE WITH ME AS I SLOWLY START TO RECOGNIZE AND LEARN THESE THINGS.