EXCITING NEWS!!

The layout of this blog will change in about a week. I'm about to serve a full-time mission for my church in Buenos Aires, Argentina (the South Mission).

Here is a little snippet by the church about missionary work:

"Imagine you found a cure for cancer. How urgently would you spread the news of your discovery? Who would you tell? The gospel of Jesus Christ is the cure for so many of life's ills that Mormons want to share the good news of eternal life with the same urgency.
The Lord's Church has always been a missionary church. Jesus Christ's life was the perfect example of missionary work. During His ministry on earth, he taught the gospel at all times, in all places, and to all kinds of people. Jesus taught the educated men in the temple, the sinners, the faithful and the unbelieving. He also called apostles and other disciples to preach the gospel so more people could hear about the blessings of His gospel. Most of their preaching during Christ's life was to their own people, the Jews. After Jesus was resurrected, He visited His apostles and sent them to preach to the gentiles. He commanded them, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15)."

I feel so excited to be able to be spending 18 months of my life serving people and helping them to find this healing. I will be sending weekly emails to my mom who will post the experiences here!

I know that this church is the Lord's church, and that He loves us. I know that everyone can find happiness and peace through His restored gospel.

Judge Not: Behind Every Face is a Heart

I love this video. It very effectively illustrates how we can't tell how people are feeling.
Imagine the man with a malignant tumor erupts in anger over the phone with a friend. If the friend knew about the tumor, might he be understanding with the man's anger?

There's a funny story my mom has told to me about her friend (put into my own words):

"Someone once told me that they don't get road rage. Whenever they started to feel angry they would think about why a person would do act that way. Like if someone cut her off, she would think 'Maybe they're having a baby.' When she shared this with me, I determined to do better.
"Surely enough, I was driving sometime later when a car whizzed around me--scaring me out of my wits! As the anger built up, I remembered what I'd learned. So I angrily yelled out the window, 'HAVE A NICE BABY!!'"

I love the line in the song "Lord, I would Follow Thee" that says "In the quiet heart is hidden sorrow that the eye can't see." We could replace the word 'quiet' with angry, gossiping, vicious, vengeful, unfaithful. Something drove those hearts to become that way. That doesn't mean what the person does is acceptable. It isn't.
But when someone is drowning in sorrow and sin, will it help them to abandon them--to shun them? Will it help them to add your own anger and judgement to the load that's dragging them down? When the woman taken in adultery was taken before Christ did he throw a stone at her? NO!

"He who is without sin, let him first throw the stone." 

"When my son Jack* was 14, he pierced his ears, quit going to seminary, and refused to go to church.
My husband and I tried everything we could think of to change this attitude. Nothing seemed to work. Jack was angry at the world and at us. We came to recognize that all we could do for him was display charity—the pure love we had for him. But we were amazed to see many other people abundantly extend love in ways that significantly helped my son.
Jack’s brothers and sisters were the first to show charity. His older brothers repeatedly invited him to social activities with their friends, even when having a little brother tag along might not have been popular. His older sister lived across the country, and she called him regularly to just chat.
Jack’s grandpa Oscar also made a huge difference. When Jack started choosing a different path, Grandpa Oscar began calling him once a week, and they talked about everything from horses to school to motorcycles.
Next door to us lived the Carlton family. They had a son who liked many of the same activities as Jack: rock climbing, hiking, camping, and ballroom dancing. Although Jack didn’t attend church, the Carltons didn’t exclude him. Rather, they welcomed him into their home, shared meals, and were interested in his activities. Their continued love and support were critical to Jack.
When Jack was 15, he decided to do a project for his Eagle Scout Award. Jack’s Scout leader, Brother White, opened his wood shop and spent hours with Jack and my husband building a large box in which to store food for horses. This helped Jack to earn his Eagle Scout Award.
We have also been blessed with wonderful bishops. Bishop Noble not only visited with Jack in an official capacity but also invited him to go on mule rides and hired him for odd jobs. When a new bishop was called, he recognized Jack’s needs and received inspiration on how best to meet those needs.
The members of our ward also showed great charity. Every time Jack attended church, our neighbors and friends greeted him warmly. They didn’t criticize his long hair or his choices; instead they shook his hand. In the neighborhood they were equally kind. One neighbor called Jack when she had odd jobs. She told me often what a great worker he was and offered to write letters of recommendation for him. Each of these acts of charity helped strengthen Jack’s self-esteem.
Each person who crossed Jack’s path with love played a part in helping him remember who he is—a wonderful son of our Heavenly Father. Collectively, these acts of charity blessed Jack’s life in incredible ways. At the age of 22, Jack decided to begin attending his local student ward. With the help of yet another encouraging bishop, he subsequently received his patriarchal blessing and was ordained to the office of priest in the Aaronic Priesthood.
I will be forever grateful to the people in our ward, our neighborhood, and our extended family who treated Jack with love. I know that charity, the pure love of Christ, can touch souls when nothing else can."

In contrast, I was at a meeting where a young man who didn't usually attend church showed up. He sat with his family until the bishop asked if he would like to pass the sacrament. The boy explained that he couldn't because he hadn't worn a white shirt and tie--the usual attire for boys participating in the sacred ordinance. The bishop said that he felt it was important that the boy pass the sacrament that day, and he gave him permission.
But when the boy went up by the other youth, they sent him away (and rather rudely) because he didn't have the white shirt and tie. Now maybe these youth were also hurting or were confused, but this boy left the church building that day hurt and embarrassed, and he stayed away for a long time.

There are so many people out there who are drowning. I hope that when you see someone struggling today that you will reach out to them--try to give them some comfort. I know that as we strive to have the charity Jesus Christ has for us we will be able to find it.
I know that Heavenly Father loves us and will be able to show us more love and shower us with more blessings than we could imagine as we move closer to him through our actions and our love.

Beautiful Story of Love

A hospital nurse led a tired, anxious serviceman to a bedside in the emergency wing. “Your son is here,” she said to the old man lying on the bed. She had to repeat the words several times before the patient’s eyes opened.  

Heavily sedated due to his heart attack, the old man dimly saw the young uniformed Marine standing outside the oxygen tent.
He reached out his hand. The Marine wrapped his toughened fingers around the old man’s limp ones, squeezing a message of love and encouragement.


The nurse brought a chair so that the Marine could sit beside the bed. All through the night, the young Marine sat there in the poorly lighted ward, holding the old man’s hand and offering him words of love and strength.
Occasionally, the nurse suggested that the Marine move away and rest awhile. But he refused.
Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Marine was oblivious of her and of the night noises of the hospital — the clanking of the oxygen tank, the laughter of the night staff members exchanging greetings, the cries and moans of the other patients.
Now and then she heard him say a few gentle words. The dying man said nothing, and held tightly to his son all through the night.


Along towards dawn, the old man died. The Marine released the now lifeless hand he had been holding, and went to tell the nurse. While she did what she had to do, he waited.
Finally, she returned. She started to offer words of sympathy, but the Marine interrupted her. “Who was that man?” he asked.
The nurse was startled. “He was your father,” she answered.
“No, he wasn’t,” the Marine replied. “I never saw him before in my life.”
“Then why didn’t you say something when I took you to him?”



“I knew right away there had been a mistake, but I also knew he needed his son, and his son just wasn’t here. When I realized that he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son, knowing how much he needed me, I stayed."

Judge Not: Eating Cookies

A friend of mine, returning to South Africa from a long stay in Europe, found herself with some time to spare at London’s Heathrow Airport. Buying a cup of coffee and a small package of cookies, she staggered, laden with luggage, to an unoccupied table. She was reading the morning paper when she became aware of someone rustling at her table. From behind her paper, she was flabbergasted to see a neatly dressed young man helping himself to her cookies. She did not want to make a scene, so she leaned across and took a cookie herself. A minute or so passed. More rustling. He was helping himself to another cookie. By the time they were down to the last cookie in the package, she was very angry but still could not bring herself to say anything. Then the young man broke the cookie in two, pushed half across to her, ate the other half and left. Some time later, when the public-address system called for her to present her ticket, she was still fuming. Imagine her embarrassment when she opened her handbag and was confronted by her package of cookies. She had been eating his.
~~Reader's Digest, Dan P. Greyling

 I love this story. It's a wonderful example of judgement being switched into understanding.
But imagine what the story would have been like if the young man hadn't been kind. What if he had snatched up the bag? What if he had yelled at the woman, maybe even calling her a thief? The woman may have responded in anger of her own--she didn't know they weren't her cookies.
How different could this story be, if the young man didn't chose to react with love instead of judgement or anger.

What about your story? Do you have a person in your life that acts out or acts angry? Maybe all you need is some understanding.

Another story tells of a mother whose son wet the bed every night. She got so angry! Hadn't he learned by now how to go to the bathroom? But no matter how much she lectured or scolded, he continued to wet the bed.
Many years later, doctors discovered that this mother's son had a serious medical problem. One of the symptoms of that problem was bed-wetting. 

How might this mother feel, hearing that all those years her son had wet the bed, it was only his body reacting to a sickness? If she had been able to find understanding with her son they might have discovered the problem early, or at least she and her son could have had a better and stronger relationship.

I know that a lot of anger, frustration, and resentment can be avoided if we strive for understanding. Heavenly Father can bless us with understanding or at least with patience until we can receive that understanding.