WWJD?

           Once a week my old companion and I had the amazing opportunity to go and play games with some incredibly amazing people. Now these people may appear the typical elderly people, but oh boy they are more than just that. They have Alzheimer's. They stay in the facility where they live all day and as you can guess they get pretty bored, even if they forget they were bored.... Our service to these awesome people usually includes playing games and having conversation. The point is, these people can't do anything for us. They usually don't even remember us from the previous week. I have been going to that facility for close to 6 months now they always comment on my hair. "Wow your hair is sure long!" "Does it take long to wash?" "Is it hard to comb?" "Do you ever braid it around your head?" I answer ALL their questions and they ooh and aww for a while and then sure enough 5 minutes later. "WOW your hair sure is long!"

. . . . I have learned to keep my hair pinned up.

            These amazing spirits who can no longer take care of themselves are some of the sweetest people I have ever met! I love so going to that facility! It makes me happy knowing that I can make someone else happy, even if they can't do anything for me. They need constant help and I, a young missionary who is not medically smart in any way shape or form have no way to help them other than playing dominoes or bingo with them. Even if they don't remember me a week later, or even five minutes later I am always grateful to have been able to go and play with them!

            Jesus Christ was a perfect example in this aspect he would help those who could do nothing for Him.  After all he was the Son of God! He can do anything! Yet he chose to help those who could not repay Him. He chose to heal those who were sick, afflicted, blind, or leprous. He was the perfect example to all of us and we need to try and follow his example! This video is another example of how we can help those who can do nothing for us. I just thought it was so wonderful how others can give of their time to help those in need. After all we should all ask ourselves. What would Jesus do? :)

Swimming Through Life

I'm going to tell you a story. Sit back! Get your popcorn, candy and junk ready! This is gonna be so fun!

Once upon a time there was a little blonde girl. This little blonde girl LOVED to swim. So one day she and her family decided to go swimming at this ULTRA COOL SWIMMING PARK close to her house. She had lots of fun going on slides and swimming in the pools and trying to hold her breath longer than the other kids and then she discovered the BRAND NEW AND SHINY swimming pool just for kids. Oh yah. This pool had cool things that could shoot water, a playground surrounded by water, squirt guns, and a really cool slide that you could go down. What made this new swimming pool even better was that it was JUST FOR KIDS! That meant the little blonde girl didn't have to worry about getting run over by adults, or nothing! So she took off! Her mother told her she would wait for her on the side of the pool right here right next to this big red umbrella so when the little blonde girl had her fun she could be reunited with her mother.

Well this little blonde girl had the time of her life! She swam and she swam and she would occasionally look over at her mother by the big red umbrella and her mother would wave back. She enjoyed the time she had in the kid pool. It was like she was grown up because she was swimming all by herself! She played for what seemed like hours and then ...whew, her arms grew tired. She just wanted to go and lie down on a towel and eat a hot dog. Yes. That seemed the appropriate thing to do after all the fun she'd had. So she looked over to where her mother had been and...Oh no. Her mother was gone! She'd been abandoned! How could this have happened! Why didn't her mother love her enough to stay with her! Maybe there had been a mistake, she wandered around for a little while on the side of the pool by the big red umbrellas but it was very crowded, after all it was a BRAND NEW POOL! Who wouldn't want to be here playing on all this awesomeness! She looked and she looked but she couldn't find her mother amid all the other people and children! She was really starting to worry now. Why would her mother leave? Was she going to be stuck here in the water park during the entire night? What would she do if she didn't find her mother!

She decided to do what she knew was best...which obviously was to go to the front of the water park and watch every single person who went through the gate to leave and make sure her family didn't get by without her! This is a perfect plan she thought, but she was still upset at the idea that her family, especially her mother, would leave her! She wandered toward the entrance and was so upset that her mother wouldn't watch after her! At the thought that her mother would actually leave her, she let her braveness go and burst into tears. A young man who worked at the water park came and asked the little blonde girl what was wrong, and she quickly explained the situation. At the same point when she had given up all hope she saw her mother walking toward her. Oh my goodness! She was saved! She asked her mother why she would leave her!? Didn't she know she was scared and lonely and she was young! She wasn't supposed to even be alone!

Her mother quickly explained that she was watching the little blonde girl the entire time! Her mother had seen her play for a long time and then she saw her wander away and get confused and her mother had followed her. Her mother had tried calling her a few times but the little girl couldn't hear because of all the other people having fun at the water park! Her mother had seen her looking worried and talk to the man who worked there and then burst into tears right before she made it to the little blonde girl. As they were once again reunited the little blonde girl once again felt safe and loved. They walked together back to their safe little area and had an enjoyable rest of the day

So...why did I just tell you that super awesome story? Well because let's face it. It applies to every single one of us! How often are we just enjoying our time here on earth and our Heavenly Father is safely watching over us? Sometimes we  look to Him every now and see that yes He is there but since I am doing well financially, emotionally, and physically, I don't need Him right now. It's not until we go a little too far off the path and get lost that we realize that we do need Him! Not just sometimes but all the time! Sometimes in life we get a little confused, sometimes we wander off the path and we get lost and when we go a little TOO far is when we realize that we are lost. When there are too many other distractions in life it is hard for us to recognize our Heavenly Father in our life. We need to get rid of those distractions in our own life and see what it is that can make us more aware of His hand in our life. We need our Heavenly Father and we need his comfort and guidance. When the little blond girl was lost she didn't know that her mother was walking not too far behind her. How true is that for us? When we think we are alone, when we think we are not important to Him, when we feel like no one is there for us, our Heavenly Father is there! Sometimes we just need to turn around and look for Him. We need to realize that we are lost and that if we simply turn back to our Heavenly Father we can feel that love and acceptance that we need. The lord truly knows what is best for us. I know that Heavenly Father loves us, I've felt it so many times in my own life whether it was just a quiet prompting or a knowledge that He was answering my prayers. Heavenly Father is always there for us. He knows what is best for us, and he knows what we need! All we need to do in our life is look towards Him in all things and He will be there!

 

Lesson from a Fire Escape.

                 This morning has been of epic proportions. My companion and I are always up to something ridiculous, so we should have known this was coming. We decided this morning we were going to try and save some time! First off, some background info. Usually when we go to the parking lot we have to go down three flights of stairs and ALL the way around the building. OR there is a fire escape, with convenient stairs, coming right to our window that leads to the parking lot. The choice of the fire escape was certainly the "most efficient" of the two choices! So we decided in order to "save time" and "get to the Lords work" faster that this was the BEST PLAN EVER! Alas. I should have known it would end badly. You see, it started off great, we were having such a fun time climbing out our window on to the fire escape. We successfully got to our car and grabbed the needed items. We even met some missionaries of another faith while we were down there and had a nice conversation with them. The job was successful, we went back up the fire escape successfully and then....DISASTER STRUCK! Somehow...my companion decided to FALL in the window instead of step in, which in turn pulled down the lamp, broke the light bulb, knocked over a chair, moved the fridge, tore a hole in her shoe, scuffed up the other, and got rug burn all up her legs. Meanwhile I'm outside on the fire escape holding a heavy item, which makes me almost fall off the fire escape with laughter. Oh my goodness!

                  

                 But wait. . . . that way was easier. It was more convenient. It seemed like such a fool proof plan! We were going to be safe and we were going to be successful...or so we thought. This whole experience reminds we of something we read in the Book of Mormon. In Alma Chapter 47 we learn of a man named Amalickiah. Now Almalickiah is not a good man. He has intentions to become king by killing off all the other people in line before him. Not cool Almalickiah. . . .not cool. The way he plans to do this is by tricking everyone. At one point Amalickiah tries to trick Lehonti, the leader of the other group, to come down the mountain and talk to him. Well, Lehonti is not being fooled by Amalickiah. He KNEW that Amlickiah was bad news and he KNEW that he was going to be safe if he just stayed up on that mountain. But when we continue reading in Alma 47:12 we learn that Amalickiah is not okay with just sitting and waiting at the bottom of the mountain. He tells Lehonti he will be safe! It's just down the mountain a little way Lehonti, why not go down? You'll probably be fine! But no. Lehonti was fixed in his purpose with a determined resolution! Alma 47:6 He won't go down that mountain! Then Amalickiah decides he will go up the mountain, nearly to Lehonti's camp, and convinces Lehonti at that point to come down the mountain with his army. Lehonti saw no reason to not go! He could bring his armies with him, and he would be SO CLOSE to his camp that everything would be okay. But. Alas. Lehonti was tricked. He thought he would be safe, he thought he would be fine if he took his armies with him, and the thing was he was safe for a while, until he was betrayed! He would've been safer if he stayed up on that mountain!

              Truth is, there is probably almost always a "more efficient" way to get things done. But are we going to be hurting others or yourself to do it? Are we going to be spiritually safe at the end of the day? Wouldn't you rather go the safer way and not have to deal with the after math, which for us meant cleaning up our apartment and sweeping up glass and all sorts of chaos, so instead of leaving a little early to go out and do missionary work we had to stay in and clean! It was obviously not worth it. Are we ever choosing the more "socially acceptable" way with our friends? It's just a little way "down the mountain" you might think you can go right back up but as my companion and I learned, there are always consequences. Do we ever do the things we KNOW are not safe and tell ourselves that we can make it alright? We won't get hurt, we will only do it the one time. Of course my companion and I are alright. We are safe besides a few scrapes and bruises. But we could have been better off! We could have been perfectly fine! Don't let the desire of the more efficient way keep you from being the most spiritually happy you can be!

Why have this Diaster. . . .

. . . .when you could always be THIS happy! :)

Lesson learned from the fire escape? Don't go down that mountain. Stay strong in what you know to be true! The safer way if always the better way both physically and spiritually.

Called to serve!

Mission Baby!
I never ever wanted to go on a mission. Ever. I always thought I would never be good at it. I thought there were plenty of other girls out there who could and would do a much better job than me! Yet, here I was, telling my family I was going to go on a mission! It seemed as if I had no choice. I felt like God was telling me to go on a mission and let's face it, you can't deny God. I put in my papers (like an application) to go on a mission and 6 weeks later I received a letter back from the prophet telling me I was going to sunny Pennsylvania, Philadelphia! Next thing I knew I was shipped to the Missionary Training Center and was taught how to teach! Three weeks after that I headed out to the east coast. I met my companion (because missionaries always teach in pairs) and we were assigned to work in New Jersey.

A Taste of the East Coast
Now, I've never been to the east coast, let alone Jersey. It was definitely a shock to the system at first, but then after a while I got used to the differences. I learned to love Jersey and all the people in it! One of my first weekends in New Jersey we had an appointment to teach a member of the church, but we had some extra time. So we decided to do what missionaries do best. Talk to people! We wandered down the roads until we got to a fairly busy road and talked to some people about the gospel. Something I find about the east coast is that most people are "busy". Usually when we try to share a message about Jesus Christ they choose to ignore us and walk by. I must admit that is a little frustrating at times but I always remember; We are missionaries! We have been called of God to do this work! When that doesn't cheer me up I always remember to go back to the scriptures and remember "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13)We continued walking trying to find those who might be interested and we run across a man showing pictures. Well...turns out he wasn't showing pictures. He was a little bit..we'll say interesting. He kept talking about all these crazy things and trying to prove that the bible was not true. Something we are taught as missionaries is to never "bible bash" because let's face it. That doesn't do any good! Usually people who do "bible bash" just want to argue and you could be there for hours! This man was definitely one of those type who just wanted to argue.

Lesson Learned
Eventually we got away from him and headed to our appointment. I just kept thinking..."Wow. This church is so true! There is no way that any of the stuff that man said could be true. God loves us and he wants what is best for us! He isn't out there trying to scare us into doing what is right! He truly has give us the way to return back to Him through His son Jesus Christ!  He has given us this gospel so we can learn what to do to return to Him" Just like it says in (3 Nephi 27:13)! This gospel is true! I couldn't wait for the adventures I was going to have telling people about this message! First week on my mission=SUCCESS!