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.

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Sometimes flying shoes break the ice

Hello everyone!

I hope you're all having a lovely summer and surviving the heat (if you live in Las Vegas) and if you don't, well I still hope you're surviving it! We are thankfully thanks to my handy dandy water bottle! And a car... There are some perks to being a Sister Missionary!

So this past week we've tried riding the bus more often when we can. We got on the bus one day and we quickly found seats and I decided it would be a good idea to cross my legs. Well, apparently my leg strength is stronger than I imagined, or my feet shrunk, because I accidentally catapulted my shoe across the bus! It was super funny and slightly embarrassing. It did break the ice and allow us to talk to the people across from us though!

On Tuesday we decided to go try a potential we haven't seen in a while. The last time we went we had met her mom and referred her to the Elders in her area. She was so awesome! Well when we knocked on the door her Mom came to the door again! She said, "I can't believe it! I haven't been here since I met you last time. You know I had just wondered if I'd see you girls again." The crazy thing is we hadn't been back since that time either. It was amazing to see the Lord directing us to go and talk with her. We were able to have more in depth conversations this time, and hopefully the Elders will get to start teaching her soon. So cool!

Yesterday we were on our way to see some members when we passed a street I knew we had a potential living on. We tried the potential but they weren't home. We saw some people out for walks, so we decided to talk to them. They weren't interested, but we thought we'd knock on a few more doors before getting back in the car. We did, and we met this girl who is a nurse for the lady of the house we knocked on. We talked about receiving answers to our prayers and she was super interested. She said she was looking for an answer to a question and was going to call her Aunt about it that night, but then we just knocked on the door. So cool! The Lord truly is preparing people for us to talk to.

Earlier this week in my personal study, I was reading in D&C 95:1 where the Lord says, "Whom I love I also chasten that their sins may be forgiven." Well, lately I've been praying for humility and to know how to improve, and boy did God answer my prayers! Yesterday so many things went wrong. The most members I've ever had in my mission came up to us to tell us little things we had done wrong the past week and could do better. It was so hard for me! I'm sharing this because I want to tell you what happened after: I finally had the power and determination within myself to change and become better! It hurt so much in the moment, but once I was finally humbled, I could feel the promptings of the spirit so much stronger! So whenever you're "chastened" or humbled, remember it's because the Lord loves you and is trying to help you improve! Use it as an opportunity to grow and move closer to God.

I love you all! Thanks for all you do! Stay awesome! Have a super week!
Lots of love and support,
Sister Edgel