Monday, March 4, 2013

Stories and Lessons

First of all, if you're not going to read this whole post, at least skip down to the last story in it. I promise, it will be worth it! ;)

I have had the most incredible week.

Every church lesson, mission prep lesson, and story I have heard has just been amazing and left my heart completely smiling!

First was Sunday.

I was a part of history! Sunday was the VERY last Stake Conference that was to ever be held at "The Golden Toaster".

Now, for those of you who are wondering what in the heck that means, it's the on-campus stake center that is here at Utah State University. It's a LANDMARK. And after this semester, they are tearing it down and the lucky individuals that live in our dorms will be attending the new stake center that is right across the street.

I'm so sad to see the toaster go.... Although I was only here for a year, it's crazy to think about all the testimonies that were made, the laughter and spiritual experiences shared, the friends that were made, and the soft spot that a building can bring into our lives.

My brother attended church here, and for some reason that was always such a cool thing to know. When he was my age, when he was struggling with some of the same loneliness that I feel from time to time, he was in this same building.

Anyway... it was a historical day.





Stake Conference was absolutely phenomenal! It was allllllllll about missionary work. Which makes COMPLETE sense after President Simmons announced these numbers.


This time a year ago, there were 60,000 missionaries out in the field.

Right now, there are (wait for it) 120,000.

When Summer comes, from OUR STAKE ALONE we will have sent out..... (wait for it)

500 missionaries. 

FROM OUR STAKE ALONE.

That sends goosebumps all up and down my skin.

So put your right hand in, and your right hand out.

And forget the Hokey Pokey.

Missionary work is what it's all about.

The talks and testimonies hit right at the heart. Just some insights I gained:

What are things that I can do to PREPARE to PROCLAIM?
-Have a testimony
-Know that we have not received all there is.
-Know that the Lord will not give answers if we don't ask Him the questions.
-Involve my parents in the process (attend temple, and scripture study together)
-Come into the mission physically and emotionally ready
-Learn skills to take care of myself (cooking, laundry, cleaning etc.)
-Exercise (Couch potatoes make horrible missionaries)
-Have a positive mental attitude (It comes in handy while dealing with difficult investigators and companions)
-Look your best (when we're confident in ourselves, we focus better on others)
-Go to sleep early and rise early (Early morning hours are hours of revelation)
-WORK

The Gospel is not just the truth to certain individuals. It is EVERYONE'S TRUTH

1. Listen to the Holy Ghost
2. Get out of your comfort zone
3. Remember who you are.

Whooooooo for Stake Conference <3
--------------------------------------------------------

In mission prep today we also had an amazing lesson about FAITH and REPENTANCE.

Our job as missionaries is not to tear others down, proclaiming that what they believe is completely wrong and that they need to join us, the true church, in order to be saved.

Heck no.

Our job is to become experts in SEEING other peoples faith, and adding to it.

"You bring with you all the good that you have, and let us add to it" - President Gordon B. Hinckley

Another gospel truth I learned today in Mission Prep was about repentance.
We usually only see repentance linked with sin. Yet we are told to repent daily.

Does this mean we sin that often? Well, we might... we are human.
But repentance is not just linked with sin.

We see the traditional repentance cycle:
-Recognize what we did was wrong
-Feel sorrow or guilt
-Pray for forgiveness
-Do /restore
-Commit to never do it again.
But this is not all repentance is.....

-Find repentance in the Bible Dictionary- Here it states:

Repentance is: "a change of mind, i.e., a fresh view about God, about oneself, and about the world"

Repentance is also linked with light.

While reading during scripture study, we might repent in this way:
-Recognize the good
-Feel joy
-Pray in gratitude
-Do become Godly
-Commit to SHARE what we know

And there it is.... always learning!
------------------------------------------------

Now my mom just called and told me a sweet story that I just MUST share.

THE BEST STORY I've heard all week.

One of the lady's that lives next door to my home is a sister missionary down at Temple Square. She does Family History work down there and often gets to travel in the underground tunnels. She has come across some of the quorum of the 70 every once and a while. But this last week she had a whole other experience.

She was walking around down there, when one of the tunnels was taped off - this was not normal. She stood and waited for a few minutes to see if someone would come to move it. While waiting, she saw headlights from a golf cart coming down the other end of the tunnel.

As the cart approached, she noticed Pres. Uchtdoft driving the cart with Pres. Monson in the passenger seat. She just stood there, stunned.

I mean, wouldn't you be stunned too?? ;) Two of the sweetest men on planet Earth.. riding up to you in a golf cart!

The cart stopped right in front of her, and President Uchtdorf motioned for my sweet neighbor to come towards him. He held out a tray, smiled and said "Pick one!" In the tray were a bunch of..

See's chocolates. ;) (I just love these guys)

She picked one, said thank you, they exchanged 'good day' greetings, and the cart took off.

She continued to stand there, kind of dumbfounded. :)

(wait for it)

(it gets better)

Then all of a sudden, almost the entire Quorum of the 12 Apostles came running down the tunnel behind the golf cart. All of them! And you have to remember, these men are like 90 years old.

Greatest. Story. Ever. Right???

After my neighbor told my mom this, she asked what day this was.

This happened last Thursday about 11 o'clock.

My call was made last Thursday about 9 o'clock.

My neighbor then said:

"They were just all SOOOOO excited about where they chose to send Megan that they were running around handing out chocolates to everyone!"

Let's be honest, that's probably not the WHOLE reason. ;)

I'm stoked to open my call in a few days.

WHOOOO I love this gospel!!!!

No comments:

Post a Comment