A Daily Glimpse, What I Do as a Missionary

I love being here as a missionary!  I love the work and the service I am able to give here.  I know being here and the blessings I have felt is something I would have never anticipated.  However, I think for many people there may be a little bit of a mystery about what exactly I do as a missionary every day, both for members and those who are not members.  As we are a part of new mission, how we work is a little different than what has been standard missionary procedure in the past, different than what most members are familiar with.  And I assume most non-members do not have much of an idea of what being a Mormon missionary entails to begin with.  So hopefully this will be something interesting to everyone who reads it!  I want to first talk about why I am here, then what do we do here as missionaries, and last, how we do it.

I am here because I love being a missionary!  I am here because this church is true.  I am here to share with others the blessings and comfort I have found from Jesus Christ in my life.  I feel blessed with the trials and struggles I have had in my life.  They have helped me better understand the role of Jesus Christ in my life.  We all have times of difficulty, and times when we feel we have more than we can handle.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is designed to help us with the struggles we have.  Trials and hard things are a part of Gods plan for us.  It is through relying on Jesus Christ and His gospel that we can use these struggles to come closer to God in our lives.  As I felt abandoned, I was able to find He was there for me.  As I felt lost, I have been able to find direction from Him.  As I was confused, I have found understanding from His gospel and His plan for us.  Because this has been such a blessing for me in my life, I am now here as a missionary to share it with others.  I am here because this is something which will bless and help the lives of all those who accept it.  I am here to help others find the same lasting joy and peace in their lives despite the challenges they have.

Which Is The Way We Ought To Go?

I have found many times that the most successful ventures we have in life are those we take the time to plan and prepare for.  We can plan for homework; we can plan for our days.  Planning is a principle for us to find success in our lives.  It is when we neglect to plan that the hopes and aspirations we have are not able to come to fruition.  Planning is nearly impossible if we do not have a goal or objective we are planning for.  I feel many times planning helps us to realize the goals we have and helps us focus on achieving them.

I am reminded of Alice from Alice and Wonderland by Lewis Carroll:

"Cheshire-Puss," she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider.
"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.
"I don't much care where---" said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.
"---So long as I get somewhere," Alice added as an explanation.
"Oh you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."

As the Cheshire cat says, when we don’t care where we are going “it doesn’t matter which way we go.”  Does each of us know where we are going in our lives?  Do we know what our purpose is and are we planning on going there?

Finding Some Light Because of Cancer

I love the video at the bottom! :)

“The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, they whole body shall be full of light” – (Matthew 6: 23).  Have you ever noticed how some people just seem to have a real glow about them?  Some people, all we have to do is make eye contact with them and suddenly our day is just a little better.  These people seem to expel sunshine from their face, something truly angelic.  I notice for myself, as I meet these people in my own life, I am drawn to them, and I have a desire to be close to them.  I do not believe this is happenstance, but rather a part of something which they have truly a part of them.  The source of this inspiring light is Jesus Christ.  He is the light we need to let shine for all men.  I know as we focus on serving and following Him, the periods and pieces of darkness in our lives can made clean and whole through the sacrifice and atonement of Jesus Christ.

Striving to make the light of Christ a part of us takes a daily effort on our part.  It is a continual effort of putting off the natural man, and turning, and then yielding our hearts to Jesus Christ.  Just as cancer can erode us physically, sin also can damage us spiritually.  Just as recovering from cancer is more involved than a simple pill, repentance also is much more than a simple confession in our lives.

We're Off To See The Wizard, Because . . . ?

Reading novels and watching movies is something which has always brought a lot of joy to me in my life.  I love getting into a story, to learn and grow with the characters.  Many times, I think it seems their lives are so much more exciting than the life I have.  But then, now I think of it, my life has not been condensed into a few hundred pages or few hours.  The stories of each of our own lives really are something far more intricate and detailed than any book could completely tell.  But, what is the quest we have all embarked on?  Do all of us realize what our purpose here on earth is?  We aren’t slaying dragons, we aren’t saving the earth with our super powers, and we aren’t trying to find a wizard to send us home.  What is it we are doing?  What has God designed for us to accomplish, and how can we do it?

Many of the stories and adventures we read give us an example and have many parallels to our own lives and the things we need to do, although, I am not sure how many of these have been intended.  In particular, the classic story of The Wizard of Oz gives us a great example of some parallels in our own life.

In the beginning of the story, Dorothy is taken to the Land of Oz.  Although not entirely sure how she was able to get there, she knew where she needed to be.  Dorothy’s experience in the Land of Oz was not a permanent situation, much like us, we are all trying to find our way home.  Dorothy had the path paved for her; there was the yellow brick road which pointed the direction for her to go.  It wasn’t easy for Dorothy to follow the path, there was an evil witch chasing her providing obstacles along the way.  She met a scarecrow, a tin man, and a lion, each who had a quest and need of their own.  They were all able to support and help each other in their journey.  They learned many things, including the reality of the “Wizard,” to support each other in the struggles they had, and how to overcome their own fears and doubts.  But, even after all Dorothy did and learned, she was still unable to make it all the way home.  She found herself powerless to continue where she wanted but was able to find the power outside of her through the ruby slippers.

When Looking for God in our Lives, Hindsight is 20/20.

For most people the Holidays are a time of happiness and joy.  Despite the lack of sunshine, the cold weather, and the other stresses which come with the Season, it is a time of warmth, giving, and love.  On the left is a picture out of the front door of my families home in Colorado last winter.  It is no coincidence that to start the Christmas season we have Thanksgiving.  I have often heard testimony of others; as well in my own life how when we take time to count our blessings we are able to see how much the Lord has blessed us in our lives.  I remember our Branch President shared a curious verse which illustrated this point in one of our meetings.  This comes from the Old Testament with the Lord talking with Moses in the Tabernacle.

Exodus 33: 23 “And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.”

Proclaim the Gospel in a Blog

With the recent changes we have seen in our mission I think creating a blog has been one of the things I have found myself enjoying the most.  I love having the creative outlet, and I love using it to share my testimony and relate it to stories I enjoy telling.  While I am by no means a perfect blogger, I thought it might be helpful to include a few things I have found to help me as I think about blog posts.  This screenjelly goes over some blogs I noticed and have found helpful.

The attached document I mentioned is below.

Prezi Presentation

So, this presentation has taken me a lot longer than it should have to finally get it done.  But, it is finally done now.  It is just a brief overview about what we understand the Gospel is.  It is having faith in Jesus Christ, repenting, being baptized, and enduring to the end.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ on Prezi