Run for the Prize!

A while back while sitting in a lesson with J.J. a member, he suddenly said, "Plan for the best, Expect the worst." His comment had my mind reeling for the next couple of days. How does one plan for the best but yet expect the worst? "Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain." 1st Corinthians 9:24 Thinking about this scripture makes me think of running, now for most of you who know me I DO NOT like to run, I will do it but only if I have too. Now this scripture does not refer to us running physically (although, if you do run in a race...you want to be in first place to obtain the prize.) but to us it means running spiritual...

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It soon shall pass.

For the last couple of days I have really felt the love of my Savior for me. I have come to know that he loves me and knows me and he truly did die for me by name. Although I know this, I still struggle some days to even keep my head up in the dark, deep, churning waters. Yet, "I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love." (2nd Nephi 1:15) How is it possible to keep afloat on our belief and faith on the Savior Jesus Christ admist the storms of life? Although I am no expert on exactly how (since we are all different), I know the way that he has helped to keep me afloat. In Helaman 5: 12 it says, "And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is...

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Because of my Mother

This is my Mother, Lucy Servellon Lately, I have been thinking about my mother and the great impact she has had on my life. I am not trying to sound biased or anything, but my mother is the best mother that I could have ever asked for. To me, she is the best mother in the whole entire world, no the whole entire universe. Because of her, I am who I am today. So this blog post is dedicated to her. My mother came from humble circumstances in El Salvador. There she was prepared to hear the message of the restored gospel and both her and my Grandmother Cruz were baptized. My mother, has not had an easy life, she has had to work her whole life to be where she is at today. She now works as...

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The impact of kindness

Lately, I have been thinking about compassion, kindness, and love. This last week Sister Cluff and I had an encounter that shocked us and brought a new level of compassion into our missionary work. We were headed to an appointment when we felt impressed to take a different road. As we headed that direction we had to stop at the stoplight and right in front of us was a Patriot Gas Station and there lying on the gravel parking lot was a man face down. We both looked at each other and wondered if he was even alive! We saw that plenty of people would walk up to him, look down at him and then walk away. The Store Manager even walked by and didn't do a thing. When we arrived we asked around if anyone...

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Pornography...there is Hope

For a while now, I did not know what I wanted to "blog" about but very recently I saw a facebook status regarding pornography. It hit me home for me and I felt impressed to write on pornography. Pornography is a very sensitive subject for many and for me. We can all see that there is unintentional ignorance when someone simply has not been through an experience like pornography themselves. It's not a bad thing, they just don't know what the addicted person is going through. Pornography as defined by Merriam Webster is: "material (as books or a photograph) that depicts erotic behavior and is intended to cause sexual excitement." This definition gives us an idea of what pornography is. Elder...

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You are never alone

A look of the stairs as I headed to the top P-day this last week Sister Tucker and I along with Elder's Merrill and Cannell decided to go to the beach. As we walked down the long flight of stairs to the beach, I saw a bunch of rocks and realized that we were headed in that direction for our activity. We had to climb the rocks. I am not much of a climber, I don't like to do it but in order to do the activity I had to climb. First, I want to mention that I did not have the right shoes, I was climbing rocks on flat slick shoes. Climbing with shoes like that did not improve my attitude on climbing rocks, I chose to be unhappy on this task which made the task seem impossible. Every rock...

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The Power of Hymns

For those of you who do not know me well enough, I love music and when I say love it, I mean it. I LOVE music! Music is power in my eyes. Power, because it can say what I cannot express, music has a way to touch our hearts, it has a way to bring the Spirit into our lives. Jay E. Jensen stated, "Hymns are “an essential part of our church meetings. [They] invite the Spirit of the Lord.” They often do this quicker than anything else we may do. President J. Reuben Clark Jr. said, “We get nearer to the Lord through music than perhaps through any other thing except prayer.” Music has power, more importantly Hymns have power. This last Sunday I had the privilege to sing in sacrament meeting...

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An improved vision

These are my actual glasses! This week I had the chance to go on Exchanges with Sister Cluff. It was an amazing exchange! I realized that the vision I had for myself, was great but at the end of our exchange, my vision had improved. There are many times that we lose sight of our goals, our purpose, and our vision. We tend to do good, when we could do better! Don't get me wrong, doing good is great but when you can do better, why not do it? That is what hit me the hardest as we went about our day in Eureka. I could do better, so why not do it? I relate this to being able to physically see. I usually wear glasses, why? Because I can't see. Imagine if I decided to not wear my glasses for a day?...

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Peace

I have been contemplating peace this whole week and how we are all yearing for peace in our lives and that peace brings us comfort. There have been times in my life where I have searched for peace and have not found it but I look back at those moments in life and I asked myself, was I looking at the right source for peace? President David O. McKay said, “The peace of Christ does not come by seeking the superficial things of life, neither does it come except as it springs from the individual’s heart.” He said further that this peace is “conditioned upon obedience to the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. …No man is at peace with himself or his God who is untrue...

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United in a cause!

This week has been incredible! We have been working on unity now, more than ever! Which brings me to the topic of unity! Unity is so key to missionary work, the spirit of unity not only helps your companionship but your teaching. In Mosiah we read: “And he commanded them that there should be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another” (Mosiah 18:21). This week we had a miracle that brought more strenght to our companionship! We have an investigator who when we saw last Sunday was struggling with Word of Wisdom but we reassured him that...

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There are no dead ends

 This week, while visiting a less-active or trying too anyways, Sister Tucker and I ran across a sign at the end of this street (pictured on the right) that said: The Dead End. Now, don't be mistaken this is not what usual Dead End Street Signs say, this one however, was special. We have all felt at some point or another in our lives that we have hit, if you will, "The Dead End". We feel as if there is no way that we can turn back, no way we can get out and no way we can make it out. During these trying time in our lives we may forget that there is a way out! This way out is only made possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Having hope in our Savior will help us endure to the...

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Temples

There is not just one word that can describe how wonderful Temples are. Temples are the Holy House's of the Lord. His spirit resides there and as members of the Church of Jesus Christ we have the privilage to work towards entering the Temples of the Lord to make sacred covenants with our Father in Heaven for ourselves and more importantly for our deceased ancestors. These covenants that we make within the walls of this Holy House are essential for our salvation and for our deceased ancestors. Silvia H. Allred stated, "The covenants we make with the associated ordinances we receive in the temple become our credentials for admission into God’s presence. These covenants elevate us beyond the limits...

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Patience is a virtue!

This week has been a great week! A week very memorable, especially for how much patience I needed and had developed. I had the chance to go on exchanges to Petaluma with Sister Simnitt. The most memorable experience from this exchange was Thursday and Friday morning. Thursday was the most patient trying day. We had planned the night before to visit many Less-Active, Potential Investigators, and Investigators. As we started our day, house after house no one was home. We felt defeated! By 2:45 pm we were tired! We had found no one that we had planned to see! We wanted to badly to speak to someone! To teach a lesson! President Uchtdorf in the April 2010 Conference says on patience, "Patience—the...

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Miracles do happen!

This week has been an amazing week full of miracles! It is amazing to see the miracles that happen in our everday life! They really do happen! This week we met with an investigator for the Eureka 2 area Elders Carter and Mqueen, this man's name was Louis. He is from Mexico and I am the only bilingual sister in my zone and area at this time! So as Sister Tucker (my companion) and I drove to his apartment, I practiced my spanish and taught Sister Tucker the first lesson on the way there. Once we arrived, and met the Elders  We walked directly to his apartment. When he opened the door I immediatly loved Louis! He was so kind, nice and welcoming! He let us in and with in minutes we started...

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We are all Enlisted

As the title says, We are all Enlisted! This is our time to give a year and a half to two years to the Lord. Is it possible to Enlist in the Army of God? Of course it is. This is a minor sacrifice to the infinite sacrifice our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has done for each of us.  Jeffrey R. Holland an Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saint spoke during a world wide General Conference in October 2011, "Do I need to hum a few bars of “We Are All Enlisted”? You know, the line about “We are waiting now for soldiers; who’ll volunteer?” Of course, the great thing about this call to arms is that we ask not for volunteers to fire a rifle or throw a hand grenade. No,...

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