I’m grateful for the reminders Facebook sends every day
from past events in your life. It is nice sometimes to look back and see all
the things that you’ve done and also how much you’ve changed. This past month I’ve
been receiving reminders of how 3 years ago I was preparing for one of the best
experiences of my life. Yes, I’m talking about my wonderful mission in
California, Santa Rosa. I don’t think I will ever find the right words to
express my gratitude to my Heavenly Father for giving me the opportunity to
serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know
everyone says this but, from the bottom of my heart I can say that my mission
changed my life forever. I think of my life so much and I know that it would be
so different if I didn’t have the gospel and also If I wouldn’t have served a
mission.
A mission is a learning experience. Every day you learn so
much. If I could list all the things that I learned during my mission, I could probably
write a book about it. Perhaps one day I will but, right now I will only focus
on some of those things that I learned.
My mission helped me to have a stronger testimony. Before my
mission, I thought I had a testimony and I did but, now that I can see the
difference, I know it wasn’t as strong as I thought it was. I remember that my
first transfer in the mission I had the hardest time because I didn’t know the
scriptures very well. Every door I knocked, it seemed that people were
attacking my beliefs. I’m not going to lie, that was really hard on me. There
was a day that I was very confused and I am ashamed to say that at some point I
doubted if I was preaching the truth. Thankfully, I did something about it and I
was in the best place to do it. I immersed myself in the word of God, I started
reading the book of Mormon and the Bible like you have no idea, my prayers
started being super meaningful and I asked God to please help me confirm that I
was in the truth and if I was where I was supposed to be. The answer didn’t
come immediately but, it came and what I wonderful feeling that was! A
testimony is like a flower, if you don’t take care of it, it will wither. I can
testify now with all that I have in me that I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is
true. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true, that
the Book of Mormon is really another testament of Jesus Christ and that God has
a plan for all of us and it’s called “The plan of happiness” so don’t forget to
be happy because although we are here to be tested, we are also here to be
happy. I know these things with all of my heart and knowing these truths have
brought so much peace and happiness to my life.
My mission helped me to be
happy. Before my mission my happiness was okay. Sadly, my high school years
weren’t the best. I was still nice to people but, for the most part I was always sad. When I got out of high school, I started to feel a little better but, still
there were times that I felt so depressed. The worst thing was that I
really didn’t know what to do about it. Perhaps I knew, I just didn’t know exactly
how to apply it to my life. In my mission I got to know the real person
that I was. I discovered that I was actually not a sad person but, that I was a
happy and energetic woman. My mission taught me that happiness is a decision that
you make every day. “If you want to be happy then be” (Leo Tolstoy). Of course,
there will always be times when things get difficult and sometimes you will feel sad and you will need to cry and it's okay, sometimes you just need those moments but, just don't dwell on them. We can always do something about our
difficult times. I
love this quote from Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin: “Every life has peaks and
shadows and times when it seems that the birds don’t sing and bells don’t ring.
Yet, in spite of discouragement and adversity, those who are happiest seem to
have a way of learning from difficult times, becoming stronger, wiser and
happier as a result.” I love being happy and now I know what I need to do to be
happy. All the things that I did during my mission made me very happy. Because
all I did was to serve my brothers and sisters around me. Every day I had goals
and a purpose and I never really focused on myself but, when you do these kind of things although you aren't focusing on yourself, they help you become a quality person, a better child of God . And even when things were hard in my
mission, I knew that I just needed to put my whole trust in my Heavenly Father,
do my very best and just keep on going with a smile on my face and a positive
and a happy attitude.
My mission also taught me to not worry about things I can’t
control. There are a lot in our lives that we can control but, there are
certain things that it doesn’t matter what we think, say or do, we just don’t
have control of them so then don't worry about that. Think
about it. There is nothing you can do. Well, actually there is something you
can do; don’t worry about it and just do your best. Believe me, it will help you be more happy.
I also learned that it doesn’t matter what people do, how
they look like or what they say, you can always choose to be kind and nice to
them. How you treat a person says a lot about who you are inside. It doesn’t
matter the circumstances, you have the power to choose how you want to treat a
person, how you want to react towards a certain situation. You have the choice
to be who you want to be. It’s up to you. Some people might say: Well, that’s
just how I am but, that isn’t true. We all choose how we want to be. Every day
we can wake up in the morning and say a prayer to ask Heavenly Father to help
us be kind, nice, helpful and just true disciples of Jesus Christ who radiate
pure love. What a wonderful feeling is to know that we can choose who we want
to be. I don’t think we realize how much power we have. We have so much power. We
just need to choose to use it wisely.
Last, but not least, my mission taught me to be bold. I have never had a problem with socializing with people so contacting in my mission wasn't really a problem for me. I love people, they give me energy and make me feel happy. However, I had another problem, I was afraid to extend commitments to them. I didn't want to pressure them so I just wouldn't be as bold as I should have been until one day I finally understood that commitments help people progress towards the gospel. I'm sure I knew that, I just didn't understand it. One day I just decided that I needed to be bold, still loving and kind but, bold otherwise; my awesome investigators were never going to progress. I feel that after I started practicing this on my mission, things changed and I started seeing great results. This quality that I gained during my mission has helped so much in my life. Because now I am more willing to take risks in life. If you want something and it doesn't come to you then you have to go for it. If you have a question; ask. If you feel like saying something; say it. Don't be afraid because fear will only take away the things that you most want in life. Heavenly Father wants us to show our faith. How do we do that? We need to act. Do your part. Even if the result isn't what you wanted, you'll feel happy that you did you part any way and one day you'll be able to look at God and say: Father, thou know that I did everything I could. It didn't work out but, I did my part. Believe me, even when things don't go the way you wanted them to go, it is a wonderful feeling to know that you did everything possible to fulfill your dream.
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