Miracles Happen
April 28, 2014


First I have to tell everyone about the most amazing miracle to ever happen. From my last area, there was a lady that I talked about who had a daughter on a mission. The other night I got a call that we were having a special fast for her to be baptized on Sunday (yesterday). but... she was not on date to be baptized. The missionaries were having her pray about being baptized but she said that Sunday was way too soon, but the missionaries were filling up the font and going for a miracle.

I wasn't expecting any news until Sunday night, but a few hours after we started our fast I got a text that said that SHE IS BEING BAPTIZED BECAUSE SHE PRAYED ABOUT IT AND SHE KNEW IT WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO.  I AM SO HAPPY TO SAY THAT LAST NIGHT, SHE WAS BAPTIZED. OVER A HUNDRED PEOPLE CAME!!!!!!!!!!! Miracles are so real and the gospel is so true. The hastening of the work is happening NOW! It reminded me of a scripture that someone shared at transfer meeting this week,  it's in Romans 13:11-12 "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light." I love how it says the armor of light! The light of Christ is something that we all need and something ! I've been thinking a lot about how to really guard ourselves with the armor of light. I found the perfect scripture! Its in Jacob 4:6-7 and it says "wherefore, search the prophets, and we have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy; and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken, insomuch that we truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea. Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things."

I want you all to take a minute and reread that scripture. We have been given a prophet today and we are PROMISED that if we search his words, we will have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy- and the definition of the spirit of prophecy is a testimony of Jesus. We have been given a prophet today so we can have many revelations for our lives and know our Savior! We can know so much about our life if we just ask our Heavenly Father. Once we do that, we can conquer anything and have faith that is unshaken. Our Maker has not left us down here alone. We have so much power at our fingertips and it's up to us to find it. Search the scriptures with the intent of getting your questions answered. Pray like your Savior and Heavenly Father are in the room. Listen in church as if it were Christ teaching you. We are all His servants and we have such an important work to do! We need to tell everyone that the day of salvation is at hand. The joy that this gospel brings is so amazing!

We were able to have an amazing sacrament meeting on Sunday! Our investigators showed up that haven't come the whole time we've been here. It was all centered on Christ. I am so excited for this next week....we have NO free hours! Every single hour of our schedule is taken up by teaching and service. I'm so excited to be here and I'm so excited to be a missionary. I also never want to leave this area. Also the best moment of this week was when a little girl said the closing prayer for us, "dear Heavenly Father, thank you for sending the dictionaries to come teach us." HAHA YESSSS.

Have a great week!

Because of Him

April 28, 2014

First, we moved into a new house and I'm staying here another transfer! which I'm super excited about. My companion was pretty sick this week so I'm not sure what to say!  So a while ago I talked about a part member family that we have been teaching, where the dad is less active and we are teaching the mom. It was the family where we got to hear the wife pray out loud for the first time. We got to teach them again this week! They have been going through some really hard times lately, so we decided to teach a simple lesson- faith in Jesus Christ. It was awesome because the husband's brother and his wife were there for the weekend. 

We were asking the wife about her feelings when she had prayed that time before, and I loved how she explained it. She explained that when she prayed, she felt a relief wash over her. She felt like she had let a lot out, and felt everything just was lifted from her and that a load was lifted from her back for a time. I was so happy that she described it in this way! because truly that is why Jesus Christ did the Atonement for us. So that if we let Him in, we can feel our burdens being equally yoked with our Savior and Redeemer. I know our Savior to be the Redeemer of my soul. I know that through everything that I'm going through in my life and on my mission, He is fitting me for the life above. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, miracles are possible. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is indescribable, but I know that it is real. My soul has been healed through Him. My testimony can be described in two words- HE LIVES. He lives and He loves us and because of Him, we are healed. We are able to share our burdens with someone who loves us more than we know.   Please watch  "Because of Him" on mormon.org

I was reading Joseph Smith history this week and really reflecting on his experience. For those of you who don't know, Joseph Smith came across the scripture James 1:5 in the Bible when he felt confused about which church to join. The scripture says if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. So when I was reading Joseph Smith history, verse 26 stuck out to me. It says that "I had found the testimony of James to be true- that a man who lacked wisdom might ask of God, and obtain, and not be upbraided." All of a sudden everything made sense. He said the "testimony of James". When I think of a testimony, I think of a statement of truth that someone shares with others. there are spiritual experiences that we have had and we cannot deny, and we share these experiences through statements of truth. Every single sentence of the scriptures is a prophet's testimony. Every single sentence is a statement of truth- with a spiritual experience behind it that the prophet would not deny. It made me see the scriptures in such a different light- every story told, every verse- there is a spiritual experience that someone has had, showing the vast variety of miracles that are possible on this earth. James said that if you lack wisdom, you can ask of God because James KNEW that He would answer, because God answered him. The scriptures are so valuable because it shows how much God loves us and how much he wants to give us! 

I want you all to know my testimony. I know that Christ is my Savior and He atoned for the mistakes I make every day. I know that prayers are answered, especially if we listen. I know that I am loved and that I once knew my Heavenly Father and Savior in the premortal existence. I know with all my heart that the Book of Mormon is true and it's the word of God. I know that I will live with my family for eternity in heaven by living the gospel here on earth...and I know that I love being a missionary!

We Chose Jesus Christ

April 14, 2014

This week was THE BEST! So as you can see in the picture this family got baptized! IT WAS THE BEST BAPTISM OF ALL TIME. Not really because all of them are great but I was just so happy this weekend. President and sister Murdock (mission president and wife)  came and all of the missionaries came and all of the family getting baptized friends from out of town and all of their friends from the ward were there too! We were surrounded by so much love. After they were baptized the two girls got finished getting dressed first and they came out and sat with us while people were bearing their testimonies. I asked one of the little girls if she wanted to get up. When the missionary up there sat down she ran up to the front! She bore her testimony about how she knew that the church was true and that they would return to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again someday. Then we looked at her sister and she looked TERRIFIED haha. But then I saw her face change and she stood up and ran to the front also, with the biggest look of determination I've ever seen. She bore her simple and powerful testimony that she knew it was true and she was so happy. It was the best few moments of my life and I couldn't have asked for a better day.

This week we got to do a lot of service and this one lady in our ward had some chickens so we may have had a photo shoot with the chickens instead of doing the yard work. 

ALSO this week we got to teach the best lesson ever. I don't remember if I wrote about this last week or not! It is this young couple who have 2 kids and they are so great. They both have Christian backgrounds and are so open to what we have to say. We taught them the restoration and told them about the Book of Mormon and when we told them that its about Christ coming to the Americas the husband was like WHAT? He said his  mind  was blown and couldn't get over it and was so excited to read it and they said that they'd pray to know that its true and we gave them each their own Books of Mormon.  Iv'e never seen anyone so excited to hold one before. He was trying to read it as we were teaching. Then we got to go back and teach them the plan of salvation and it was a million times better! Not really but it was awesome and when we were done I asked them what they thought about it and they said it filled holes that they have always wondered about! They were so excited about it and said they completely know everything we said today is true. It was the best thing ever and I love being a missionary and I want to do it forever. But I shared with them the scripture in John 14:26 that says the Spirit brings all things to our remembrance and the reason that they love it so much and it seems familiar is because we once knew this plan. The wife was like "WHAT? THAT IS SO COOL!" she was so excited about that and was so amazed by everything. I have been reading a lot about the pre-mortal life and about what happened there. Because we are all here on earth WE ALREADY CHOSE JESUS CHRIST! and when we feel the Spirit or hear another's testimony of Christ it rings a bell deep within us because we already knew Him once. We chose Him, and part of being here on earth is choosing Him again. Our Spirits are so important and strong! Heavenly Father created our Spirits and He made them strong. Never give up on anything in your life! There is always hope ahead in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It has the answers! Have a great week!

Everlasting Beginnings
April 7, 2014

This week was general conference! I thought a lot about what was said, because they talked a lot about love and family and obedience, and we saw a lot of examples of that this week. I was sad because we saw a lot of people who were just struggling, and I didn't know how to help them. They were struggling with feeling like they didn't  have self worth and  didn't even feel like children of God.  They didn't understand how to have a relationship with Jesus Christ, but something that they all had in common was that they loved their families. They loved their children. As hard as it is to get along with their family, that's something they held onto in these times of despair.

I thought a lot about how to help someone have a relationship with Jesus Christ. It was frustrating me because there is only so much I could do. There is only so much that I could say. Something stuck out to me from conference in Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk. He said that there is something inside each of us that RESISTS endings because endings are not our destiny. Anything that happens on this earth is simply an interruption or a pause here on earth, something that will be continued in the eternities. I testify to you that we are here on earth in families, not so they could be torn apart and broken, but because we are sparking an everlasting beginning. We are developing something that will last forever. There are only everlasting beginnings. I think it's really cool to think about that. Before we came here, we lived with God in a state of eternity. We didn't understand beginnings or endings. We had to come to earth to fully understand what that meant. It's like reading a book - you can read all you want about something like skydiving, but you will never truly understand what it's like until you feel it for yourself.  That's part of why we had to come to earth. We heard about earth, about beginnings and endings, but we didn't fully understand until we came here. Now living on earth, we don't understand fully what it means to live forever in eternity. That's the beauty of life after experiencing earth - we will be able to comprehend both perspectives. This life is important to realize that what we do here truly matters.  It matters if we are obedient. It matters if we love our neighbor. It matters if we go to church. It matters if we hold our families together. It matters if we try. But it also matters to our Heavenly Father if we're happy. It's not something that might affect us for eternity, it WILL affect us for eternity. The apostles did a good job of raising this voice of warning in their talks- but they also did a good job of reminding us that it is never too late to start trying now, because of the miracle of the Atonement. Like Gary E Stevenson said, it's never too late - so long as the Master says there's time.

There is time, but it is limited. The world is becoming a place where love, purity and faith are the most important attributes a child of God can behold. That is why the prophet asked us to love each other because love is lacking in this world. We are to prepare ourselves for Christ's coming and this is what we need. I don't need to worry about how to help someone have a relationship with Christ- all I can do to help them get there is love them as Christ would and show them the way through obedience to the gospel, and it will come.  I have seen this work through so many miracles this past week! We get to witness a family coming closer together and to their Heavenly Father through the ordinance of baptism this weekend. They are so happy and ready for the gospel and I am so thankful I get to be a part of their lives! I can't believe how much happiness missionary work has brought me and I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only place to find true joy in this life. I love every minute of being a missionary!

Preparing for the Lord to come again
March 31, 2014

This week I got sick and died but it's okay because the gospel is true and I read a lot while I was sick. Well, update on our family that's getting baptized! She was set on date to be baptized April 19th and the other day she was so excited she wanted to move it to the 5th!!!!!!!! We told her that we couldn't possibly teach her enough in that time so we settled on the 12th. I love being a missionary.

While I was sick I read a lot of things and found the coolest talk in the entire world. It's by Elder Holland and it's called "Preparing for the Second Coming" BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT WE'RE DOING!  Preparing for the Lord to come again. This missionary work stuff  isn't just for nothing. The Lord is truly coming again and He's coming soon and I'm so excited.  The talk was about how all of the great prophets and followers of Christ in the past have known about our day. They all lived in really hard circumstances and the gospel failed every time. Each time there was a prophet, it failed. Even when Jesus Christ came to earth, the Son of God, people still rejected it. But we live in a time when the Gospel has been restored and it's been prophesied that it WON'T FAIL.  Elder Holland was talking about those people in earlier times.  He said, "Great men and women in ages past were able to keep going, to keep testifying, to keep trying to do their best, not because they knew that they would succeed but because they knew that YOU would."  how powerful is that!  He said that God and all of the holy prophets are watching us because this is the greatest time that has been spoken of ever since the world began.  The hastening of the work is for the reason that our Savior is coming back to earth. It's time to strengthen our families and it's time to strengthen ourselves. We live in a day that is joyful and will end in victory. We are fighting a war where we already know who is going to win! Jesus Christ will prevail. Why wouldn't we want to fight that war?!  Elder Holland said that "we have a responsibility to prepare the Church of the Lamb of God to receive the Lamb of God- in PERSON, in triumphant glory, in His millennial role."

When you look at it like that, callings in the church become more important. Sharing the joy we have becomes more important. Serving others becomes important. Strengthening ourselves and preparing for eternal life becomes more important. Heaven is a continuation of the ideal home, and this life is the time to prepare for that.

The other day we were visiting a less active family. I was sitting there listening to them talk and I started feeling this overwhelming feeling that I needed to be bold with this family because they were important. I asked the dad what it would take for him to come back to church. He went into a spiel about how he thinks a lot of people at church are hypocrites. What came to my mind was this talk. I told him that he was needed at church. He was needed to come be a great leader in the church, to lead the youth and help them realize the blessings of the gospel. I told him that there was a shift going on in the church, and Heavenly Father is calling all of His children back to Him. Our calling as representatives of the Savior Jesus Christ is to build his kingdom here on earth in preparation for His coming. We are the ones designated to do this special work. I know what Elder Holland says is true and I'm so excited to see the prophet speak this weekend. WE HAVE A PROPHET TODAY! how exciting is it to think that he has the same power and authority as someone like Moses or another prophet in the past. We are so blessed to hear him speak to us so LISTEN! It will change your life. HAVE A GREAT WEEK

Our Advocate
March 17, 2014

Sorry I ran out of time to email last week! This week I have been really humbled and I have learned a lot about my Savior in ways that I don't know I could have learned any other way.

Something that I've learned being out here in Grand Junction is that there is a lot of hardship, depression and trials, but I also know without a doubt that the Savior is REAL and that He is perfect.  I've thought a lot lately about how He is our advocate, and I've thought about what that means exactly.  I don't think that I've truly understood until this week. There is this lady that we visit, who has recently been coming back to church. She grew up in the church, but left a long time ago. She has had a long hard life of abuse, hardship, and heavy drugs.  She has two kids, and she really really wants them to have a good foundation. When we go to teach her it's kind of hard sometimes because so much is going on with her kids and its really loud. But we had a really spiritual experience with her that I will NEVER forget. We were teaching her the plan of salvation, and she stopped us and said that she had a question. The room was quiet, I think for the first time ever. She asked about the spirit world. She felt like she had done things in her life that she could never be forgiven for  and of course our initial reaction was to tell her that Heavenly Father loves everyone and that she will be okay. But then something told me to slow down and think about it more. She started to tell us more about her life and that all she can think about is the time that her dad yelled at her and told her that she will be the only one left behind. That she won't ever make it to the celestial kingdom with her family, that it's too late for her. That she had done things that cannot be repaired. That she shouldn't even try because it won't matter.

I think that we all feel this way at some point or another, just in different degrees. That maybe nothing matters- why try because we feel so down or that we'll never be good enough or that we will never be as good as another person. We all feel different emotions- and that is OKAY. What happened next is what really made me realize how perfect the Savior's love is.

I looked straight into this woman's eyes and saw the hurt. I saw how sad she was and how she wanted her family to be together forever and all of a sudden a huge wave of love came over me. I started talking and I started to cry as I told her that as a missionary, I was a representative of Jesus Christ and I now understood why Jesus Christ was called our advocate. I told her that I imagined standing next to her in front of our Heavenly Father and telling Him all of the wonderful things that she did for her kids. To tell Him how hard she's trying to read her scriptures. To tell Him how I would do anything for her to be able to feel happiness again and to be forgiven. I wanted to plead for her. I wanted her to be forgiven.  I KNEW in that moment that the Savior loved her.

It hit me why it was so important to have a relationship with our Savior. Not only can He bring us happiness, but He will be our advocate one day when we have the chance to meet our Maker. No, we are not perfect, but that is why we have a Savior. So that we can be perfect one day. Through Him we can live with our families with eternal happiness. All He wants us to know right now is that it's okay because He is here. He truly knows who you are, and He is waiting for you to find Him in your life. Ultimate peace comes from learning our relationship with our Savior. It's not a scary thing to learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's an amazing thing that will change your life. I absolutely love my Savior and I'm thankful for all that He's done for me so that I can be happy. I don't even deserve it! 

The Biggest Week of Miracles

March 3, 1014

I always start my emails really excited so I tried not to start with the same opening line but I can't help it because THIS WAS THE BIGGEST WEEK OF MIRACLES. We found 9 new people to teach and doubled our number of lessons! AND EVERY SINGLE ONE WAS A MIRACLE. I literally don't understand why we were so blessed this week. but I feel like I am on top of the world right now and I want to be a missionary for the rest of my life. I truly feel like my faith is shooting through the roof and I've never been so happy. Brad, the guy that got baptized last transfer JUST GOT THE PRIESTHOOD ON SUNDAY! Everything is great.

So I guess the story I want to tell this week is another continuation from last week, about the family with the husband that grew up in the church and the wife did not- who we taught the restoration to. I guess it would be easier to use their names. They are the Short family. It was probably the MOST powerful lesson I have ever been in in my life. We taught the beginning of the plan of salvation. My favorite question to ask people is, what do YOU think it was like to live with our Father in Heaven before? If you just take a minute and think about that, it's really amazing.  I think the peaceful feelings that we feel when we think about it is God reminding us about what it was like and that we can return to that one day. So the wife, I'll call her Sister Short, hasn't really ever prayed in her life. At the end of the lesson, we taught her how to pray. We told her that Heavenly Father wants to hear from us so badly. We compared it to her kids by asking her how she would feel if her son was having a problem and she knew it, and she knew he was struggling, but he wouldn't talk to her about it. She said she would feel sad and she'd want to help him, but she also said that she knew she couldn't if he didn't come to her and ask for help. She also knew that if he did come to her, she would be willing to do anything for him. She just needed him to ask. It's the same exact thing with our Heavenly Father. God put us down here on earth in families so that we can learn the relationship that we can have with him. He gave us relationships so that we could understand how they work. We taught Sister Short how to pray, then asked her to say the closing prayer. She was like WHAT!? then sat there and thought about it. She looked up and said, I'm going to have to do it aren't I? her husband immediately said yes. I thought it was really cool that he wanted to hear her pray. Her son came over to her and she wrapped her arms around him as she began to say the first prayer she had ever said out loud. She started off her prayer just thanking Heavenly Father for us, and for her family, and for simple things. then she paused.  The Spirit had never hit me harder in my life. She started to cry. I knew that every single person in that room felt it. I felt a warmth and a strength come over my heart. It felt like God had put a blanket over the whole room. It was something so unimaginable, something so real, something that was truly feeling the love of God. She was in tears as she thanked God for her family, for all that they had,  for the wonderful love that her husband has shown her, for them getting out of debt, and for her children. She felt the Spirit so strongly and God had answered her prayers in abundance. I now understand the scriptures that say that He POURS His Spirit among His children. It was something that I wanted to feel forever. After she prayed, I opened my eyes and every single person had tears streaming down their faces. Even her husband. Her husband who has felt guilty about things that he has done, who didn't feel like the Lord would love him. He knew too, that God loved him and his family. There was no denying it.

There is no doubt in my mind that this is the truth. This gospel brings families the GREATEST JOY in the ENTIRE WORLD, if you will let it. Like the Book of Mormon says, Heavenly Father is pouring His Spirit out among His children because He wants us all back. He wants them to feel of the great joy that we just barely get to taste in this life. He gave us the Book of Mormon because it holds truth. It is the truth, and it is light. It gives us light when it seems like everything else is dark in our lives. It gives us light because it IS another testament of our Savior Jesus Christ. I just want you to all know that Jesus Christ is your Savior. He died so that we could go back to return to live with Him and our Heavenly Father. I know you may hear that a lot, but take a minute and think about it. Without Him, we would not be able to return to live with God. We all need Him in our lives. No unclean thing can return to live with God, so He prepared a way for us to come back. that's why He's given us the Savior and Redeemer of the world. That's why he's given us the simple path of faith, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. You can feel the joy that I feel every day in missionary work by following this path. By doing those things that Jesus Christ came to show us how to do. Baptism is the way to eternal life. So this week, just think about how much that would mean to you to get there. How much it would mean to you to know that there was a path to peace in this life and in the life to come. and then think about what step Christ would want YOU to take next in your life.

What I heard this week I really liked- the Restoration of Christ's gospel is WHAT we believe. The Plan of Salvation is WHY we believe it, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost) is HOW to get there. how to get back to our Father in Heaven in the Celestial kingdom to live with our families.

One last story that I want to tell this week, that our ward mission leader told us. He said he was in line with his brother who, when he was 9, waited to shake President Monson's (the prophet) hand. At that time, Pres. Monson was an apostle of the church, he wasn't called to be a prophet yet. His 9 year old brother got up to the front and handed President Monson a Book of Mormon and asked him to autograph it. President Monson said, I can't autograph it, it's not my work! but he wrote him a little note in the front cover. He said that his brother refused to open it until they got home, he didn't want to ruin the surprise of what President Monson had chosen to write in the front cover of the Book of Mormon.

This is what it said,

"Your testimony is the autograph of the Savior." -Elder Monson