I am feeling so loved today. Spencer, Isaac, and I had an open house tonight at our church so that we could explain all about what we will be doing on our missions to the people in our community. We talked about basic missionary life (for example: missionaries get up at 6:30am, study and get ready for the day, leave the house around lunch time, then go out and invite people to come to Christ, dinner, teach more, and then go home and prepare for the next day) and shared two little video that explains what our church believes in. Then of course when we were watching, the download paused and we could only watch half. So here are the links!
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-02-2000-mormon-missionaries?lang=eng
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-02-1020-what-mormons-believe?category=missionary/introduction-to-mormons&lang=eng
At the end we bore our testimonies. My thoughts were turned towards just wanting everyone to know that this is where God wants me to be. He has opened every door for me in order to reach this point in my life. There have been so many people that have influenced me and who have helped me become who I am today, and many of those people were in the audience. I just wanted to squeeze everyone so tightly after the meeting because 1: I was so happy they were there, and 2: This was our goodbye.
The spirit touched hearts, tears were shed, and reality is setting in. It seems like I have been telling people about my mission for so long, but I never thought the day would come, and now look at me: I’m into single digit days!
As we were cleaning up, a sister missionary who serves in the Sioux City area pulled me aside and gave me the greatest advice. She said to be yourself and be real. That’s when people know that you really do care about them and that they aren’t just a number checked off in the book. God gives us each different talents so that we can bless the lives of others, but if we are ‘robots’ who just teach the doctrine and not focusing on the people we are teaching then we loose the whole point of why we are serving. “Don’t forget yourself and go to work. Find yourself and go to work.”
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-02-2000-mormon-missionaries?lang=eng
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-02-1020-what-mormons-believe?category=missionary/introduction-to-mormons&lang=eng
At the end we bore our testimonies. My thoughts were turned towards just wanting everyone to know that this is where God wants me to be. He has opened every door for me in order to reach this point in my life. There have been so many people that have influenced me and who have helped me become who I am today, and many of those people were in the audience. I just wanted to squeeze everyone so tightly after the meeting because 1: I was so happy they were there, and 2: This was our goodbye.
The spirit touched hearts, tears were shed, and reality is setting in. It seems like I have been telling people about my mission for so long, but I never thought the day would come, and now look at me: I’m into single digit days!
As we were cleaning up, a sister missionary who serves in the Sioux City area pulled me aside and gave me the greatest advice. She said to be yourself and be real. That’s when people know that you really do care about them and that they aren’t just a number checked off in the book. God gives us each different talents so that we can bless the lives of others, but if we are ‘robots’ who just teach the doctrine and not focusing on the people we are teaching then we loose the whole point of why we are serving. “Don’t forget yourself and go to work. Find yourself and go to work.”
The three amigos since like... forever.
Boy do I adore this bunch.