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.

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

The Gospel can truly fill us

Hello Everyone!

Guess what? This was another great week filled with learning and lots of walking, knocking, and talking :) Missionary life for the win!

So funny Story: Saturday night we were out tracting and handing out the wonderful Christmas Cards, and this lady answered the door, and she was sooo drunk! It was pretty funny. She just went on and on about how she loved Jesus. We asked her if we could share the card with her, and she was like, "YEAH! I LOVE Jesus!". Oh man! The Word of Wisdom is a great thing :p

Another funny story from tracting this week was we totally accidentally tracted into a Roman Catholic Cathedral! You have to understand, there are SOOO many churches in the Midwest! So many of them are just converted houses. There was no sign out front. It looked like a normal house. It was pretty funny though! We left a card with the Lady who answered the door. I hope she liked the video. It's so great!

This past week I got to go on exchanges with my trainer Sister Barret! It's so cool that she's my Sister Training leader. It was fun to get to catch up with my mission "Mom" and be reminded of some of the good things she trained me to do. It was exactly what I needed! It was just a good reminder that the Lord is aware of me and my needs :) He knows and loves me!

The members here are so good to us! Last Monday we had a member who let us do our laundry at her house. So nice! The Bishop's wife also bought me some special lotion for my hands since they've been cracking so bad with the change of weather and all the doors we've been knocking on. There are just so many wonderful people in this world!

This week we were able to have legit Thai food and Mexican food! It was the best! A member's wife is from Thailand, and so she cooked us Pad Thai on Tuesday night AND let us take home some left overs! It was so great! I was in heaven. I've been craving Pad Thai since before I went into the mission field :p We also had some members from Mexico cook us Chile reysomethingos. I don't know how to spell it, but I knew how to eat them! So fun :)

I decided to start a gratitude journal this week to remind me about all of the times the Lord answers my prayers and all the good that's going on. It's been so helpful! For some reason, I was resistant to do it at first, but once I did, I felt the spirit so strong! If you are struggling to see the good, and just feel like you endure from day to day, I HIGHLY recommend it! It's been such a blessing already. Once I start counting my blessings, it's hard to stop! There are SOO many! It also makes it a lot easier to recognize the answers to my prayers.

I got to give one of the trainings in District Meeting this past Thursday. It was all about Finding, but I focused mainly on developing the faith to find. It was sooo good for me to learn more about that. I decided to recite "the Living Christ". It was really cool to do it as a missionary. It was a good reminder about why I'm really on a mission. I'm here to help people come to know the Savior EVEN MORE! So many people don't have a knowledge of our Savior and what He can do for them in their lives. They go from day to do, just looking for something, they don't always know what. They feel empty inside, but like they can fill that gap on their own. Well, we can't. We can't fill it on our own. We can try, but we can only fill it with the Savior's help. His TRUTHS are what fill us up. Satan's lies distract us momentarily and we think the hole's gone, but it's not. Only living the gospel can TRULY fill us and help us be made whole. What a wonderful knowledge that is! I'm so grateful that I know that. I know that Christ is my Savior, and advocate. He KNOWS I can make it and do good things! I am so grateful I get to be a missionary during this Christmas season. It's not always easy, but it's so worth it!

Every week things get better! We find more potentials, we get more organized, we meet more less actives who will let us in, and our testimonies of the Savior grow stronger.

I love you all and hope all is well with you. Keep on being your awesome selves! Have a super day!

Lots of love and support,
Sister Janea Edgel
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