Why Serve a mission?

When I was 15 years old I listened to the mother of a close friend talk about serving a mission. For the first time I remember really wanting to serve a mission when I turned 21. I just had to hear hundreds of missionaries sing "Called to Serve" in the MTC! Time went on, and I prepared for the different eventualities of life. When the age sister missionaries could serve dropped to 19, I was super stoked! I was 19, almost 20! I could go early! Well, it turned out that wasn't the time for me. November of 2013, I felt strongly like I should reconsider the mission idea. I did, and the pieces of the puzzle fell into place :) This is all really nice, but it's not really the WHY, it's more of the HOW.

So WHY am I choosing to dedicate 18 months of my life away from my family, friends, school, and a closet full of clothes to talk to people in Missouri? Well, 33 years ago, 2 male missionaries started talking to my dear sweet Momma. The message they shared with her changed the course of her existence, and our family. I'm so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and the knowledge I have of who He is, and what His plan for His children is. I can't help feeling like if I choose not to share this message with others that I'll be ungrateful for the amazing gift that I've been given. I've also been blessed with some talents that I'd like to give back to the Lord. As much as I love my family and the other things listed above, I love my Heavenly Father and Savior more. They have called, so I'm answering.

Monday, December 22, 2014

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Hello Everyone!

This week flew by! We were able to witness so many miracles. It was awesome. It never ceases to amaze me how aware the Lord is of His missionaries.

Funny Moment: Last night when we were tracting and this little boy said to us, "You know it's late, so you should probably go home and go to bed." It was pretty hilarious! Kids are just so honest. We laughed about it and thought, "Is it really that obvious how tired we are?" haha For the record, we didn't go home and go to bed. We kept tracting :p

Tender Mercy time! For the past few weeks I've been looking for a cheap pair of mittens to try out since gloves don't do much for my pour circulation. Well guess what? We found a pair for 53 cents at the thrift store we do service at. Yahoo! They were just for me :) Now I have mittens! Mittens are the best. Also, they're mittens!

Another tender mercy from this past week was I got to spend most of a day in Springfield with my STL and trainer Sister Barret! My companion Sister Martinez went to the temple, so I was in Springfield with the STL's and another sister whose companion was at the temple. It was EXACTLY what I needed. The Lord is so great! He answers my prayers, even if it is in different ways then I was expecting.

Our ward is so great! Yesterday a sister gave us a whole box of food and groceries. Another sister gave us fresh pears! Best thing ever! We're just so taken care of. The Lord is so good!

We added some more religions to our long list of people we've talked to . We talked to a Buddhist family, along with a Muslim lady this past week. Super cool! Champaign has a surprising amount of diversity.

Friday was such a day of miracles! An RM sister from our ward came to a lesson with us. So great! I love learning from other missionaries. Afterward, we went to see someone we had tracted into and given a "He is the Gift card". We asked her if she had watched the video yet, but she hadn't. Without really thinking, I blurted out asking her if we could come in and watch it with her. We didn't think she would let us, but she did! It turned out her first grandson had just passed away that day. We were able to bear testimony of the love God has for us and the plan He has for families to be together forever. It was awesome :)

Later that night, we had an RM who speaks Spanish and a Laurel in our ward who also speaks Spanish come with us to visit our Spanish speaking investigators, Victor and Maria. It was so cool! I don't understand Spanish perfectly, but I was able to understand WAY more than I would've been able to if I wasn't a missionary. They told Maria that we were representatives of Jesus Christ, and it was amazing the power we could feel of their words. So cool!

I know the Lord lives and loves us so much! He cares about the details of our lives. He wants greater things for us than we could even imagine! He's helped me so much as I've humbled myself and turned to Him for help. I know He can help you too with all of the things you face because He's helped me. I hope you have a wonderful week! Merry Christmas to all! And to all a good...day!

Lots of love and support,
Sister Janea Edgel
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