real growth isn't easy

And thus they labored, with all diligence, according to the commandments of the Lord of the vineyard, even until the bad had been cast away out of the vineyard, and the Lord had preserved unto himself that the trees had become again the natural fruit; and they became like unto ^aone body; and the fruits were equal; and the Lord of the vineyard had preserved unto himself the natural fruit, which was most precious unto him from the beginning.
Jacob 5:74

What a blessing it is to have the scriptures and to have them teach us what is true. Recently I have had the opportunity to learn about "Real Growth" in ourselves and in the church. This is what the Lord wants for us his children-he wants us to progess and to become who he knows we can become. Also that one day we can become one as a church-that we can be Zion, a people with one heart and one mind. But this is not easy sometimes it is the hardest of times that we grow the most. Also it is important to recognize that we can never stop, we must always be trying and moving forward no matter what obsatcle come in our way.

For myself this is what I have been experiencing. I having been feeling the Lord working within my heart to change my motives and to change me a bit at a time into the person I should be. I have also been trying to realize what I need to change and be willing to do something about it. At this time I am probably experiencing some of the hardest times but when I remember who I am and who I represent at all times with or without the nametag-I remeber and I have a hope that it is all worth it. It is becasue I have glimpsed and felt what the Lords wants for me and I will never be able to forget it. Pray and ask the Lord for help to see a vision of where he wants you to be and then ask him to help you get there. I promise that as you and the Lord work together you will become the person you should be.

The Holy Ghost

“True conversion comes through the power of the Spirit. When the Spirit touches the heart, hearts are changed.When individuals . . . feel the Spirit working with them, or when they see the evidence of the Lord’s love and mercy in their lives, they are edified and strengthened spiritually and their faith in Him increases. These experiences with the Spirit follow naturally when a person is willing to experiment upon the word. This is how we come to feel the gospel is true”

Elder M. Russel Ballard, Preach My Gospel p.93

It comes as a still small voice most of the time, but even more it comes as a feeling. A feeling to go talk to someone or to give them a call. Also another role of the Holy Ghost is to purify us and make us more like Christ. It is the Spirit that changes our motives and allows us to truly do what God would have us do. When we are constantly trying to do our best and when we ask the Lord for help, it is the Spirit that works with in our hearts.

I have been experiencing this in my life, when you pray for help from the Lord he will send His Spirit and as I have felt this in my own life I know that the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true and it has been restored in its fullness to the earth once more. I have come to know because of these feelings that come from the Holy Ghost. If you find that you are sad or don't understand a question or principle pray to the Lord for help that His Spirit my work with you so that you can learn what God wants for you.

a way of life

Living the gospel of Jesus Christ is not just going to church ever once in a while or picking and choosing what you like abouth the chruch. When you are a member of the Chruch of Jesus Chrsit of Latter Day Saints it is who you ARE! You are a disciple of Jesus Christ and therefore must live your life the way He wants you to, so that you can be the person that he knows you are. Here is an example of young girls living what they believe in...

Look up in the sky

Lately I have been experiencing a cloud obsession. Can you blame me? 

Well this was a Sunday afternoon and we were on our way to a dinner appointment but we had to stop and well I wanted to take some pictures these are my favorites. 

Then a couple days later I found a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 59...

15 And inasmuch as ye do these things with ^athanksgiving, with^bcheerful ^chearts and countenances, not with ^dmuch ^elaughter, for this is sin, but with a glad heart and a cheerful countenance—

 16 Verily I say, that inasmuch as ye do this, the ^afulness of the earth is yours, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and that which climbeth upon the trees and walketh upon the earth;

 17 Yea, and the herb, and the ^agood things which come of the earth, whether for food or for ^braiment, or for houses, or for barns, or for orchards, or for gardens, or for vineyards;

 18 Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the ^abenefit and the ^buse of man, both to please the eye and to ^cgladden the heart;

We get the pleasure and privilege of being here on this earth and to be surround by beauty that has been created by God.  So as a wise man once said,

" It's better to look up."  

President Thomas S. Monson

So this past week has definitely was a bumpy one. I am not sure why but I just felt a little bit down almost like something was missing in my life. Then I go to read this from President Thomas S. Monson regarding the anniversary of 9/11. That was what was missing...a more firm belief in my Savior, it reminded me of the Hymn " More Holiness Give Me"

More holiness give me,
More strivings within,
More patience in suff’ring,
More sorrow for sin,
More faith in my Savior,
More sense of his care,
More joy in his service,
More purpose in prayer.

I really now have a renewed desire to come to know my Savior and to have more meaningful prayer.

"There was, as many have noted, a remarkable surge of faith following the tragedy. People across the United States rediscovered the need for God and turned to Him for solace and understanding. Comfortable times were shattered. We felt the great unsteadiness of life and reached for the great steadiness of our Father in Heaven. And, as ever, we found it. Americans of all faiths came together in a remarkable way.
Sadly, it seems that much of that renewal of faith has waned in the years that have followed. Healing has come with time, but so has indifference. We forget how vulnerable and sorrowful we felt. Our sorrow moved us to remember the deep purposes of our lives. The darkness of our despair brought us a moment of enlightenment. But we are forgetful. When the depth of grief has passed, its lessons often pass from our minds and hearts as well.
Our Father’s commitment to us, His children, is unwavering. Indeed He softens the winters of our lives, but He also brightens our summers. Whether it is the best of times or the worst, He is with us. He has promised us that this will never change.
But we are less faithful than He is. By nature we are vain, frail, and foolish. We sometimes neglect God. Sometimes we fail to keep the commandments that He gives us to make us happy. Sometimes we fail to commune with Him in prayer. Sometimes we forget to succor the poor and the downtrodden who are also His children. And our forgetfulness is very much to our detriment.
If there is a spiritual lesson to be learned from our experience of that fateful day, it may be that we owe to God the same faithfulness that He gives to us. We should strive for steadiness, and for a commitment to God that does not ebb and flow with the years or the crises of our lives. It should not require tragedy for us to remember Him, and we should not be compelled to humility before giving Him our faith and trust. We too should be with Him in every season.
The way to be with God in every season is to strive to be near Him every week and each day. We truly “need Him every hour,” not just in hours of devastation. We must speak to Him, listen to Him, and serve Him. If we wish to serve Him, we should serve our fellow men. We will mourn the lives we lose, but we should also fix the lives that can be mended and heal the hearts that may yet be healed.
It is constancy that God would have from us. Tragedies are not merely opportunities to give Him a fleeting thought, or for momentary insight to His plan for our happiness. Destruction allows us to rebuild our lives in the way He teaches us, and to become something different than we were. We can make Him the center of our thoughts and His Son, Jesus Christ, the pattern for our behavior. We may not only find faith in God in our sorrow. We may also become faithful to Him in times of calm."

President Thomas S. Monson, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

faith that is still growing

So you might think "oh she is a missionary, she has so much faith" What missionary doesn't in fact what member of the church doesn't? Well I am definitely learning that in this life we are learning to walk by faith. Yes it is hard and sometimes I even think to myself " Is this really worth all of the hard work that I put forth?" And every single time I ask myself this question the answer is always YES. I was actually reading in Ether 2 and 3 in the Book of Mormon, about a man and his faith. How he asks God to help him with his problem-go read it!

Well I  was definitely humbled this morning and realized that i am not fully relying upon the Lord for the things that he wants me to do. But I am here to stand before you today things like this happen, because we need to know what we need to change and improve upon in our lives. It reminds me of the story of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price Moses 1--God humbles Moses but at the same time ennobles, strengthens him,  God gives him confidence and power. This is the way the Lord works and yes it is hard but is is worth it. Keep it up look forward with faith with a perfect brightness of hope and a love for all men. 2 Nephi 31:20

tender mercies

Yesterday it was made very evident that the tender merices of the Lord surround us. I mean the sun, finding your scriptures in your backpack when you thought you left them at home, a wonderful dinner from members and the laughs you have together. But seriously they are all around us. Here is a scripture 1 Nephi 1:20

 20 And when the Jews heard these things they were angry with him; yea, even as with the prophets of old, whom they had ^acast out, and stoned, and slain; and they also ^bsought his life, that they might take it away. But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender ^cmercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of ^ddeliverance.

It is because of our faith in Chirst that we can have hope and can look forward with a positive attitude and there by seeing all of the good things that are in our lives. I promise that anyone who wants to see the Hand of the Lord in their lives will find his hands. Just look around you.

“Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?”
President Henry B Eyring-Count Your Blessings, October 2007

the light the gospel brings

This past week I have had a couple instances where I have been talking about the church or about the message of the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and how we really do have a purpose here on the earth and as I am talking people's faces just light up! one instance was it was late at night and we had just enough time to talk to one more person, so we saw some people, two men and a woman, on their porch and we just went over and began talking to them. While we were talking I noticed that the face of the woman was lit up, she was listening to my broken Spanish, she felt something different.

People already for a moment feel something different and there is now more hope in their lives than perhaps they knew they could have. The Gospel of Jesus Christ brings happiness to those who are willing to listen and follow what the Lords commands. This is why I am on a mission to help people see that they do have hope and to bring them closer to their Savior, Jesus Christ. We exsist and ulimately our purpose is to have joy in this life...

"Adam fell that men might be,

and men are that they might have joy"

-2 Nephi 2:25, The Book of Mormon

the begining

Currently I am serving in Napa as my first area and I love it. I love just about everything in Napa! The people that I meet are probably why I love it so much here.
But anyway, this blog is about my experiences as a sister missionary,(who is stateside and trying to learn spanish) and I hope that you will enjoy reading about them.

First thing it that I have already had so many miracles put in my path while I have been in Napa. Even last night we were walking to our car and we got contacted, someone stopped us by asking how and where we were learning Spanish. We then kept talking, and of course we talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and know we are going to go visit her. There have just been so many experiences that denote that nothing can stop the work of the Lord.

Even this morning we went to go to a lesson and also to check up on another person we teach and this morning we had made a goal to talk to the people we meet on the street. So on our way to our appointment we said hello to a man washing his car. Well neither of the people we wanted to visit were home so on our way back to our car we stopped and talked to him. Good thing we stopped and talked, we talked about who we were, missionaires and what our message was. Then he was the one that asked us for a pamphlet and then if we knew someone who was offering english classes, of course, that's us! Going to stop by again tomorrow.

Well I know these two moments might seem pretty small but it is a reminder that we do have a loving Heavenly Father who knows each of us personally by name and knows what is going on in our lives. I also know because of this knowledge, God has a purpose for each of us why we are here on the earth and that he provided a way to return to Him. That way is through Jesus Christ.

Here is a video that always lifts my spirts