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, September 24, 2015

Sept 7th, 2015 So many miracles

Hello Everyone!

I hope you had a lovely Labor Day! We sure did. Sorry for the day late email, our library was closed yesterday. It all works out!

So this week was FULL of me being awkward. We were talking with this Bosnian family (for those of you who don't know, St Louis has the greatest population of Bosnians outside of Bosnia. Just a fun fact) and we prayed with them and were headed on our way. One of them extended his arms to me to give me a hug and I panicked! I said, "Sorry, I can only hug you" and he looked at me and was like, "Okay, then give me a hug" and then I realized what I said and I was like, "Oh no, I mean I can only shake your hand!" It was pretty hilarious and embarrassing.

Another funny moment from this past week was another prayer! So the lady we just started teaching is learning to pray and it is seriously the best thing ever to hear her pray! The 2nd time she ever prayed out loud she said, "Hey Heavenly Father.....(her prayer)... alright, talk to you later. Bye!" It was so great! I seriously love her. She's learning so much and growing so much! AH!! I love being a missionary!

This week we saw SOO MANY MIRACLES! Yeah for miracles! So we were running late one day because we started teaching this young mom, and it took longer than we expected, and we missed our bus. Then we had cleaning checks, and then because we were low on miles we had to walk 1.5 miles to the appointment. We showed up, and we were like 1.5 hours late! Even if we're running late, we've decided to still try to talk to everyone. So we got to the apartment building, and there was this lady, we'll call her Reese, sitting in the front. We did our little shpeal and she seemed mildly interested, but mostly consumed in her thoughts. Well, as we were talking, the girl we had come to see, CAME DOWNSTAIRS and so we got to talk to BOTH of them! It was so great! When we were leaving, "Reese" said, "I feel so much better now! Ya'll really helped me." It was great. She was supposed to come to church, but didn't make it. When we went back on Sunday to see her like we had scheduled, she said, "Today was the worst Sunday ever, and I know it's because I didn't come to church!" We had a great lesson with her. Our ward had a picnic yesterday and she came with her boyfriend, and her step sister and her 2 kids. It was so great! Her Step sister just moved here and is looking for a church too! AHH!! Miracles! God is so cool!

Another neat thing that happened this week was the friend of a less active in our ward gave us a couch! It's awesome! We had a member come and help us move it into our apartment. Well, the next day we were planning on helping another less active family move. We only had like 1 hour, and we just picked the time that would work with our schedule. When we got there, it was the perfect time and they had THREE couches that they had to move. Because we had just moved our couch the day before, we knew what to do, and the situation was WAY less stressful than it could have been. It was so neat to see how God gives us experiences so we can bless others. Our lives truly are not our own. We are here to help one another and that's part of the reason we go through the things that we do.

I love being a missionary! I am so sad to be leaving St Louis. My "baby" Sister Bishop will be training! I'm so excited for her! I will be going to Columbia, Missouri, and I'm going to be a Sister Training Leader. I feel so under qualified, but I know that I'm going to meet more people that I will love and who will continue to change me. Alright everyone, let's get out there and go to work! Have a super week!

Lots of love,
Sister Edgel
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