D&C 124:49

Verily, verily, I say unto you, that when I give a commandment to any of the sons of men to do a work unto my name, and those sons of men go with all their might and with all they have to perform that work, and cease not their diligence, and their enemies come upon them and hinder them from performing that work, behold, it behooveth me to require that work no more at the hands of those sons of men, but to accept of their offerings.

Homecoming/Farewell Talk

Homecoming/ Farewell Talk

Good Afternoon brothers and sisters. I am so glad that I get to be here with all of you today to give a homecoming and farewell talk. Doing both these things at once is a new experience for me and I’m sure for you too. But it is beneficial for me because you guys have no expectations.

            First off, I would like to share with you about my time as a full time proselyting missionary. I absolutely loved my time in the MTC. It was uplifting, spiritual, fun, busy, hard, and for me it was also a trial. When you hear a homecoming talk you usually get to hear all of the amazing experiences that missionary had out in the field, and not about their time in the MTC which was far behind them. But for me as my time as a proselyting missionary was short, you get to hear about the amazing Missionary Training Center. I want to give you all a little overview of a day at the MTC, every day was not like this and other missionaries had different schedules. But here is what it looked like for me, wake up at 6:30am and get ready, have a planning session with your companion going over the day’s activities. Then breakfast! After you go straight to class which is 3 hours long. Then back to the cafeteria for lunch. After lunch, we usually did personal study, companion study and then we would have work out time, following that we would have dinner around 4:30 after which we would have another class from 6-9. At 9pm we would go back to our residence and get settled for the night write in our journal and go to bed at 10:30. Our days were busy, but going through the motion of the days and passing through the weeks I knew that this schedule was inspired and everything just worked.

            There are so many incredible things that I learned, it was hard to narrow it down to just a few of my favorites to share with you today.

Something that I have noticed looking back at all of my notes and reflecting on everything I learned is that everything relates to the MTC theme which is “Become as He is”. This theme is everyone’s goal, to become like our brother Jesus Christ. I would like to share with you 3 examples of ways I learned this.

The First day in the MTC is just about the Longest Day Ever, yet I got there at 1:30 pm. As I walked from classes to workshops I couldn’t even count the amount of times other missionaries would say “Welcome to the MTC” or would offer advice – This may be because the new missionaries wear a bright orange dot on their name tag (that may or may not be named a dork dot) and they got bombarded with similar encouragement when it was their first day, nevertheless I felt so happy and loved walking around getting lost. Even throughout my time there the amount of people who are there to help and who want to help you is incredible. Whether it be teachers, leaders or most importantly other missionaries, everyone, if they know it or not shows an immense amount of Christ like love.

I had an amazing district who taught me so much. During out first district meeting we talked about this theme. We thought of and talked about different ways that we can become like the Savior through teaching his Gospel. The Savior taught through parables, by example and my favorite by service. Every Sunday we come up with a district goal. And one week it was to serve, specifically your companion. In that week, I saw every Elder and Sister in my district try their hardest to accomplish that goal. I would find Sisters when their companion would step out of the room to go to the bathroom rush over to their bed and make it for them, I would see Elders bringing their companion their favorite dessert after a meal, And I saw my companion serve me so faithfully by writing me notes and buying me chocolate when I would have a hard day.

I had the wonderful opportunity of being at the MTC during the New mission president’s conference. This meant that for my first Sunday Night devotional we got to have 11 of the 12 apostles attend. We had the opportunity to hear from Elder Quentin L. Cook. He spoke about the 4 Loves for missionaries. Love your companion, the people you are called to serve, your mission president and his wife and most important Love the Lord Jesus Christ. He said this statement that stuck out to me, “When missionaries are more interested in their own progress, they will not have the same spiritual experience. We need to serve and focus on our investigators needs.” Looking back through this devotional this was my favorite thing I wrote down because although it is directed to missionaries it still applies perfectly to me and to all members as well, if you change just a few words. “When members are more interested in their own progress, they will not have the same spiritual experience. We need to serve, focus on (and I would add love) others.” This is the great commandment to Love others! And of course, how perfect that it all relates back to the MTC theme to “Become as He is” Do you think Jesus Christ was ever focused on his personal progression? No. In 3 Nephi 17: 5-9 it says, 5 And it came to pass that when Jesus had thus spoken, he cast his eyes round about again on the multitude, and beheld they were ^ain tears, and did look steadfastly upon him as if they would ask him to tarry a little longer with them.

6 And he said unto them: Behold, my bowels are filled with ^acompassion towards you.

7 Have ye any that are ^asick among you? Bring them hither. Have ye any that are lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or ^bleprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner? Bring them hither and I will ^cheal them, for I have compassion upon you; my bowels are filled with mercy.

8 For I perceive that ye desire that I should show unto you what I have done unto your brethren at Jerusalem, for I see that your ^afaith is ^bsufficient that I should heal you.

9 And it came to pass that when he had thus spoken, all the multitude, with one accord, did go forth with their sick and their afflicted, and their lame, and with their ^ablind, and with their dumb, and with all them that were afflicted in any manner; and he did heal them every one as they were brought forth unto him.

 Jesus Christ Loved and served others he focused on their needs rather than his own. To Become more like Christ, we need to Love, serve and minister to others.

So, to the big question of why am I here? Starting the 2^nd day of being in the MTC, I experienced depression, and throughout my entire stay it just kept getting worse and worse. There would be times when I would stare off and not be able to move, when I couldn’t physically or mentally get out of bed. It was hard and it was something that I have never experienced before. Before I had some anxiety, but I knew how to help myself when I would start getting anxious. But this was completely new for me. Right after that 2^nd day and talking to my branch president that night I immediately got an appointment with a counselor who was the biggest help for me as I tried to figure out this depression. I met with her and a doctor regularly trying to help me get better. During the end of my first full week I was told that I needed to stay 2 weeks longer in the MTC, this was so I could be more closely monitored as I had just started a new medication. This was very difficult for me when I first heard it, I was originally so excited that I only had to stay at the MTC for 3 weeks and that I would be leaving with my companion going to the field together. After I had some time to process this I knew that it was what I needed to do and that although it was a bump in the road this was what the Lord would want me to do. To take care of myself before going out and teaching his gospel.

As we all know that was a bump in the road before I took a complete detour. The day my whole district left to go out into the field I was having yet another bad day. Towards the end of this day after talking to my counselor, doctor, branch president and dad assessing that I was still declining and not getting better like I should have been, I decided that It was best that I come home to get all of this figured out, so here I am.

There were so many things that helped me get through my hard times in the MTC. One particular day I remember being so overwhelmed and that day I studied so hard during my personal study. I read Ether 12:27 and from that point on I tried to make this verse my kind of anthem for myself. Ether 12:27 reads… 27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their ^aweakness. I ^bgive unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my ^cgrace is sufficient for all men that ^dhumble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make ^eweak things become strong unto them.

After reading this verse I wrote down this statement for myself and on the top of this page I wrote in a big box “Always remember these things” the statement says, “I came unto the lord my becoming a missionary. He showed me my weakness that I am going through here at the MTC (depression). He gave this to me so I can be Humble before the Lord. Because of Christ’s grace I can become Humble. When I continually become Humble before the Lord and have Faith in Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father, He will make my weaknesses strength. And that gives me Hope”. I love that word HOPE. Hope means to have a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. While I was in Utah this past week I got a new ring that says Hope and the date that I entered the MTC. I know that no matter what trials we go through, no matter how hard life can be, whether we are having a good day or a just not feeling it, no matter what, there is hope. This gospel brings us So much hope. In this little book that I read when I got home about making it through the hard-middle moments of life it says: “If you are in a middle moment, if a dark cloud hangs over your heavy heart, if your mind is filled with worry, know this ‘You cannot sink farther than Jesus Christ can reach. I bear testimony that as long as there is one spark of the will to reach, he is there”. There is hope in this gospel because we have Jesus Christ, who is the Savior and redeemer of the World he suffered for each one of us. He loves each one of us and is here to help us return back to our Father in Heaven.

            Coming home and being heartbroken that I didn’t get to serve in Omaha and finish my mission, I decided to talk to others like Alex Baker and Elder Bramwell to hear what this Service Mission is about. I decided that this is the what I want and The Lord wants me to be doing. I am so blessed to have the opportunity to be serving a church service mission. Although I may be nervous because I don’t yet know all that I will be doing, I do know that I am excited to be able to continue my mission as I serve others here in San Diego.

Although it is hard for me to remember sometimes, I know that God is in control of our lives. I know with my whole heart that this church is true. I am so grateful for the Plan of Salvation, the Perfect plan of Happiness, that gives me direction and hope. I am grateful for temples and the sacred and beautiful ordinances that happen there, that families can be together for eternity. I am grateful for Jesus Christ’s Atoning sacrifice for me, that he knows exactly what I am going through. I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who, helped me get through so many hard times through small and simple tender mercies, Weather it was through singing my favorite song or putting people like the McBeth’s and Hunters in my path in the MTC just when I needed that extra boost. I am grateful for this gospel and am so excited to serve the Lord as I serve others. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen

Detour

Hello amazing family and friends,

As many of you know about 3 week ago I returned home from the MTC. I experienced depression while at the MTC and couldn't get it enough under control to continue. So with the support of my counselor, doctor, branch president and parents I made the decision to return back home to try and get everything figured out. I was heartbroken returning home and leaving a mission I had so much desire to serve. 

I am so blessed with the opportunity I have right here in San Diego to be able to continue to serve as a missionary for the Church Service Mission. I am so excited to continue to serve and am grateful that I can do that while staying at home and trying to figure this depression out. As I am doing my best to try and push myself forward (with lots of help from mama Owsley, and Bishop ;)) I just wanted to share this information with all of you. Today in my homeward I got to give a homecoming and farewell talk and will be sharing that on a blog that again the wonderful mama Owsley made for me.(sistersarahowsley.blogspot.com) Going forward I will still be doing weekly emails from my regular gmail (Sarahowsley@gmail.com) as a way for me to journal and be able to share with you all the wonderful experiences I'm sure I will be having as I serve the Lord by serving others. 

Thank you all so much for your love and support!

Sister Owsley

Tore up the temple

So first i should start with a subject line explanation. The Provo temple is closed all of July for renovation, our district was chosen to help clean is what they told us, but it was more like moving furniture and ripping out carpet which was satisfying. 

This week we had a great devotional. It was with Sister Cottam and she was head of the committee for planning and doing all of the murals for the new buildings here at the MTC (which are amazing BTW). Her devotional was all about being ourselves on our mission. She made us all write down what we were/ who we are (like sarcastic ummm yeah thats all I got haha) and then told us to circle some of the attributes that we want to keep with us on our missions. It was so awesome and a good reminder to be true to who I am.

This week not going to lie has also been rough for me. But with all that I have been going through I have been so incredibly blessed with an amazing branch president (and wife), mission president (and wife), district, and teachers who all care so much and who are literally always there for me and are willing to help me in all the trials I have been facing.

I was finally able to have a good day yesterday and I was so grateful to be able to feel the spirit multiple times. The 3 main times were during class, personal and companion study. Each one of those times we were talking about the Book of Mormon, the word of God. I am so incredibly grateful for the Book of Mormon and how much guidance it can give. One of my favorite scriptures on this topic is 2 Nephi 32:3 I encourage all of you to go and read it, and to find a small way to appreciate or learn more about the Book of Mormon. It clicked for me the other day when reading this verse. For me I receive answers to my prayers when a random hymn pops into my head and it always gives me so much peace or when part of a scripture pops into my head also making me feel better and ready to handle a difficult task.

I am so grateful to be here in the MTC and absolutely love everything I learn. I hope you all have had a great week and are enjoying the heat back at home!

love,

Sister Owsley

P.S. Utah is crazy on the 4th fireworks never stop going off, also disappointed with the stadium of fire, firework ending not nearly as cool as grape day park haha.

P.S.S. Funny moment of the week our TRC (investigator) is from australia so she has a sick accent we were leaving and she was expressing to sister Tuala and I how she is super protective of us and she let us know that if anyone is mean to us she will kill them in the crouch for us. Haha it was so funny our teacher was also in our lesson and we laughed for a solid 20 minutes after.

1.our district with teachers

2. 4th with the sisters and all the decorations our moms sent us

3. 4th with our district president the Garlics 

4. This one is for you dad

5 & 6. The sisters :)

Floral Friday....it's a thing

Hello everyone! It has been a beautiful week here is Provo! First off i would like to say thank you thank you thank you! I have received so many emails and they all brighten my day!

So Saturday night sister Tuala and I got to meet our new future mission president and his wife. President and Sister Ence. Getting to chat and meet them was exactly what I needed. President Ence gave some inspired words on how we will use preach my gospel, the Book of Mormon and the Spirit in all that we do! And Sister Ence reassured us that we are all in this together and reminded us how cool it is that we get to all be new "green beans" together. That when we are feeling discouraged or homesick then they are probably feeling those same things too. It was such a cool experience to meet them before entering the field!

Wow Sundays are 100% the Lord's day and just about the busiest day here at the MTC. Today was especially special our devotional tonight was with all missionaries and new mission presidents and wives. I did not want to be in the choir cause you know... Owsleys don't sing but I participated in it and wow, I am grateful that sister Tuala made me go haha! Singing just at practice was amazing being surrounded by the spirit! But man the devotional its self was such a cool thing to experience. Elder Cook spoke and the main theme was love. And you could feel the love in that room (especially since there were 13 apostles there!!!! How cool is that). After I also got to say hi to the McBeths which was so nice seeing someone from home. This day was spiritually busy. But today I realized and came to the conclusion that there is no other place I would rather be!

This week has been one with lots of emotions and trials but in all of those I do see small tender mercies each day. On Wednesday sister Tuala and I were studying the Plan of Salvation and it was hard for her to focus which made it hard for me to learn and study effectively, I was feeling down about that study and right when we were about to leave a worker asked if this new sister could sit with us until her companion got there, we agreed and I knew I recognized her but I couldn't remember from where, finally it clicked and it was Sister Jimenez who served in our ward just one month ago on a trial mission! It was so nice to see her and give her a little advice. Also after not feeling very great about that plan of Salvation study the next day in class guess what we studied? Haha it was so perfect and after asking LOTS of questions I felt like I understood it way better! We have had 2 TRC (investigators) appointments so far and they both have gone great! We have taught about God's love for her and the Plan of Salvation. 

In class on Friday we read in Ether 12: 27 we have read this verse many times before but yesterday morning it just really hit home and applied to me perfectly. This week has been a pretty big struggle for me and lot of changes have happened. I will now be staying at the MTC for and additional 2 weeks, so 5 weeks in total. This change has been hard and not going to lie there have been many tears. But through this challenge I know that this is still where I am supposed to be and this extension is still God's plan for me! Ether 12:27 is a verse that gives me so much hope that the Lord can and will make my weaknesses strengths, if I am doing all that I can to do his will for me. 

I love you all so much and am again so grateful for every email I have received.

Sister Owsley 

P.s. Floral Friday is 100% a thing and I love it

P.s.s. I JUST FOUND OUT THAT THEY HAVE DAIRY FREE ICE CREAM (I cannot wait to try it haha)

Email #1

Hello everyone!

I still cannot believe that I am already emailing, and that I am a missionary... It is awesome! Not going to lie the first few days at the MTC are a little rough. Think of when you started freshman year of high school and had no idea where you were and what to do. But I feel like I am finally getting the hang of things and I am loving every single thing I learn!

My companion is sister Tualatamalelagi... yeah I still cannot pronounce it fully but we call her sister Tuala for short. She went to BYUH and lives in Sacramento (yay California girls) she is such an amazing sister who has such a strength of relying on the savior.

Classes and workshops here are so wonderful and uplifting. The first day we taught investigators as a large group and yesterday sister Tuala and I taught our first practice investigator which was such a cool learning experience. In our morning class yesterday we talked about Jesus Christ and having Faith. Christ is the word of God and the word of God is the seed that it talks about in Alma 32:28,29. I loved learning about this little connection that If we plant Christ in us we can grow our Faith.  Sister Tuala and I are trying to read through each pamphlet and get familiar with them. Let me tell you all that these pamphlets are so amazing and inspired! We both have such a love for them and can see how much they can bless us in lessons that we will soon be teaching.

Yesterday was such a joyful day! With lots of feeling the spirit, practicing lessons, and exercise(finally). It was so nice and the district I am in is starting to become really close which helps a lot in classes as we share thoughts! 

Today was such a great day as well, we starting the morning by going to the temple( where I felt so much peace and love) once we were done sister Tuala had misplace her wallet and she felt pretty nervous because she had everything in there, as they were looking for 15 min with a worker i said a little prayer that we would find it with ease so we could continue on, we finally went to a desk to check the lost and found and there was some one walking up to us with the wallet. The power of prayer works people!!! And then we got taco bell for lunch :) 

I love this gospel so much, I love feeling the spirit so strong everyday, this is a gospel and a message of so much joy that I will be sharing for the next 18 months and I am beyond grateful for this opportunity I have. I know that we are all Children of our Father in Heaven and he loves us so much that he sent his son, Jesus Christ to come down to this earth to die for us so that we can return to live with him someday. 

Love you and miss you all <3

Sister Owsley

P.S. THEY HAVE ROOT BEER HERE!!!!!

P.P.S I love getting emails throughout the week we can read them on any day, but can only respond on Saturdays which is my P-Day.
PICTURES :)

Farwell Talk

Hello Brothers and Sisters as many of you know I have been called to serve in the Omaha Nebraska mission. I am beyond excited to serve the Lord for 18 months and still can’t believe that I enter the MTC in just 3 days. When my dad told me that my farewell talk would be on Father’s Day and my topic would be fathers my first reactions was “really of coarse my dad gave me this topic, and why couldn’t I have gotten a topic like service or faith?” But the more I thought about it the more I realized that this is the topic that I needed to study.

            First let me talk about my dad. He is loves to scare people, is funny, unpredictable, sarcastic, and quick witted, he has a genuine love for service and will drop everything if someone needs his help, he loves problem solving and decision making, my dad loves people but hates crowds, he loves getting to know others by hearing their stories. He loves every person in this ward and gets excited and sad when you guys go through happy times like when the seniors graduate or sad times like when you lose a family member. But the most important thing is that my dad loves this gospel he always tries to keep the spirit in our house whether it be by blasting church music or leaving his scriptures on the table. He has been an example to me of someone with a strong testimony with the trials he has been facing I have never seen him rely more on our Father in Heaven than now.

Now I would like to talk about our Father in Heaven. He may not hate big crowd or like to scare people but he does love serving others. He is caring patient, understanding, and he loves all of his children Writing this talk I got to thinking more about our loving Heavenly Father and the different ways that he has taught me. I have identified 4.

 The first way I would like to talk about is through our Families. In our family, we are taught from a very small age how to sit up, how to talk, how to eat, and how to share. As we grow up we get to learn more and more by watching our parents or older siblings example and by listening to what they tell us to do. I have personally learned many things from my family. I’ve learned how to be sarcastic, how to feed a crowd, how to make the best chocolate Chip cookies, and how to love guacamole. I have also learned how to always serve others, I’ve learned how I should always be a shoulder to cry on. I’ve learned how to work hard. I’ve learned that family should always come first. I have learned how to love the scriptures even if they are sometimes hard to read. And I have learned to always rely on our Father in Heaven.

The 2^nd way Heavenly Father has taught me is through leaders. Each member of the church has the privilege of having leaders that they can look up to for guidance, support and spiritual uplifting lessons on Sundays. I have had some amazing teachers in this ward from nursery through young Women’s and relief society. I am so grateful for all of them and although I may not remember every of the lessons I was taught I do remember every Sunday them being there. I am also grateful for the leaders that I have had who put their heart and soul into making sure that we have learned while feeling the spirit in the experiences we would have in activity days at mutual and at camps. Going to girls Camp up in Zion this week as a leader has made me appreciate everything that leaders did for me when I was younger way more. Every one of these experiences helped me become who I am today and helped me learn more about who I am -  A daughter of our Heavenly Father.

The 3rd way is through the scriptures. We are so blessed to have the Book of Mormon in this church that has many stories and parables. We can learn so much through all of these and can turn to them when we need guidance. I love the story in the Book of Mormon of Nephi Building a ship. Nephi is commanded by God to build a ship to take him and his family to the promised land. Nephi did not know how to build a ship or where to find the tools and material to do it, but the Lord said that he would show him and he did. Laman and Lemuel, Nephi’s rebellious brothers did not believe that the Lord told him to do this so they didn’t help, they were angry at Nephi and wanted to throw him in the Sea. But the power of God was so strong in Nephi that when he touched them the Lord shocked them and at that point they knew that God was with their brother. They repented and helped Nephi build the ship. I have learned from Nephi in this story. I have learned to trust and rely on the Savior, D&C 68: 6.

The 4^th and last way that I would like to share with you is through prayer. Sometimes I think we can all take praying for granted. We get into this routine during our prayers of saying maybe the same things over again and not really thinking about it, I think that it is good to remind ourselves that when we pray we are having a 2-way conversation with our Heavenly Father, and we can receive blessings and answers through them. When I was up at school at BYU-Idaho I had some of the best roommates. From the start of the semester to the last day we would try as hard as we could to do roommate prayer. We would all gather usually around 12 or 1 at night and we would kneel together for a nightly prayer. The end of my first semester we were all planning roommates and figuring out who was staying for the following semester, we all got along so well that we wanted to stay together. The only problem was that 2 of us were not on track for that semester. My other roommate changed her track so she could stay and I was the only one who was off track that semester. Every night we would kneel down and pray together in that roommate prayer and in our individual prayers we were all praying that I would get the override so we could all stay together. Through lots of prayers and doing all that I could to talk to the admissions office I got the override and we all got to stay together. Every one of my roommates has blessed my life so much and I am so grateful for their loving faithful examples to me. And I know that the power of prayer works.

I have learned so much in my 19 short years of life and I am grateful to for all of the experiences that have shaped me into the person I am today. Each of these 4 things has blessed my life so much and has played a roll into my decision to go on a mission.

I would now like to share with you how I came to my decision of going on a mission.

In primary and Young Women’s, we would always have missionary lessons, and sometimes in those lessons the teachers would ask us to raise our hand if we were planning to or wanted to serve a mission. I was never the one to raise my hand. Yet here I am.  My decision to serve a mission came rather quickly, yet during that decision-making process took an eternity. Ever since the first time I got to school, there was always something telling me that a mission was an option and that I should pray about it. But being the stubborn person that I am I put it off. Finally, last semester I decided to pray about this decision. The next Sunday I was at church and the spirit had been so strong during the sacrament I looked up and read scriptures on missionary work and the thought of a mission would not get out of my head all through church. Before relief Society began I was talking to my roommate Lexi and I mentioned how I was feeling overwhelmed after her asking me what was up and me again being stubborn and not wanting to admit it I whispered to her the word mission and we immediately of coarse started crying. This is when the thought started to get real. But if you know me you know that I am a very indecisive person so for me this wasn’t the end of my decision making only the beginning.

Later that day I facetimed my dad and asked him a very hypothetical question that if someone came into his office and was thinking about a mission what would he do or what conference talks he would tell people to read. He was pretty shocked and excited we talked for a few hours that night about missions and how I still wasn’t sure. He said to me Sarah, no one is going to make this decision for you, there is not going to be a conference talk that says, “Sarah Owsley needs to go on a mission.” And your bishop isn’t going to call you in and say, “hey Sarah go on a mission”. Sadly, I knew he was right. He encouraged me to do 2 things from that talk the first was to go and pray specifically in the temple and the second thing was that I need to make this decision with faith, hope, charity and love.

So that is what I did. The next day Lexi and I decided to go to the temple together. I brought my scriptures and a journal and was also prepared to do baptisms. As we were walking we ran into one of our friends who asked where we were going when we answered the temple, all you adults have been going to the temple for many years can probably guess what he told us… that the temple is usually closed on Mondays. But determined we continued walking. Once finding a bench on temple grounds in the probably 35-40-degree windy weather I opened my scriptures and began to read in what is now my favorite chapter in the Book of Mormon: Alma 32. I was prompted to read this chapter and absolutely loved every verse I read but I will share with you just two. The first is verse 21 that says (READ) I love the hope that this verse gives that you do not have to know everything to have faith, but you do have to have hope. The second verse is 41 which says (READ). I took this verse personally that if i have faith with great diligence and patience then I will find my answer. This day at the temple sitting outside the door in the freezing cold is one day that I will remember forever because of how close I felt my Father in Heaven and knew that he is rooting for me to make this decision.

With patience and diligence and more patience I did all that I could to live in line with what my Father in Heaven would want me to do. A couple weeks had gone by and there were many times where I drew complete blanks, and would go back and forth thinking about this decision and trying to figure out what I should do. After talking with my sister, she told me to start recognizing when I would have the doubts and when I would be excited and egger to serve. I noticed that the doubts came when I was alone, maybe on my phone not doing anything great and the eagerness came when I would be reading my scriptures, and hanging out with my roommates, and doing uplifting things. To me this was the answer that I needed when I was doing the things that my loving heavenly Father wanted me to do I knew that I should go and serve and when I felt doubts it was when I was alone and easily tempted by Satan.

once I recognized this I knew that going on a mission is what my Father in Heaven wanted me to do. Within the next week I had completed all of my paperwork and within the next week after that I had completed all of my interviews and my papers were submitted.

As you can tell this decision was not an easy one to make but through the help of my Father in Heaven and my Dad I was able to constantly be reminded on the things necessary to make this decision wisely. I am grateful for my dad who is such a sarcastic, funny, thinks he’s cool, dad. Who has always taught me to turn to Christ in times of troubles and that 1 Nephi 3:7 which says (READ) will always be our family verse, and it happens to also my missionary scripture. I am also grateful for my Heavenly Father and the love and patience that he has for me and all of his children, that he wants us to return to him again someday.

I am so grateful to have grown up in this amazing ward and be surrounded by so much love and support. I am thankful to my family and for always making me laugh and cry and for always knowing that they are there for me, I am going to miss them so much. I would like to close with my testimony that I know that this Church is true, God lives and he is real. If we turn to him we can be guided through our trials because he has a plan for us, it may not be what we ever expected to do but his plan is great and it is the right way. I would like to close with this poem that I found at Deseret up at school when I was going through a rough time, I try to either start or end my scripture study with this:(READ)  In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.