Pre-Mission Photos!

My talented friend Cory Jensen took a series of "Sister Missionary" photos for me. I'm really pleased with  how they turned out! :) Here's a few

 

 
 


https://www.facebook.com/pages/CoryMJensens-Cross-Hair-Photography/591937494156617

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/111682222624239015325/albums

34 MORE DAYS!

34 MORE DAYS!

GAH! TALK ABOUT CRAAAAAZY! About a month left until I enter the MTC and start my greatest adventure and journey! It's crunch time now and my "To-Do" list seems to be getting LONGER with each passing day! Wait a minute guys... Isn't it suppose to get SHORTER as the days become fewer? haha. So many things to do and so little time, but I don't mind! I like being busy and I'd tomorrow if it was an option! 34 more days until I can call myself a sister missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints♥ 

Missionaries are amazing♥

I love missionaries! More recently my love for these amazing guys and girls has increased. Partly because I have realized that missionaries are my age! Its crazy to think that I could have grown up with these kids and been great friends with them. Makes me think of and miss my own friends who are serving missions right now. And partly because I have learned so much from them! I leave for the MTC before I get the chance to take a Mission Prep class at institute so the awesome sisters and elders from my ward have taken me under their wing and have been great at giving me lots of tips and advice and helping me prepare! I totally love these kids! :) I am so thankful for all their examples and I've been so blessed from meeting them! I hope that I can be as amazing as they are as a missionary! ♥

Sister Byam and Sister Thayer

Elder Smith and Elder Lindemann

Elder Watson and Elder Caten

Sister Carroll and Sister Byam

"The 5,000 Days Project: Two Brothers"

The other day I came across a documentary on BYU TV called "The 5,000 Days Project: Two Brothers"
and oh my goodness I loved every single second of it! Everyone, even if not a member of the LDS church should watch it! Just be prepared to have a box of tissues handy! My emotions were crazy while watching it. I'm so happy I came across it and will probably watch it at least once a week!

In this documentary, Rick Stevenson follows the lives of two brothers, Luke and Sam Nelson for 5,000 days. We get to experience with them, their adolescent years and watch them grow in their education, dreams, struggles, relationship as brothers, and in their faith as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. These brothers are so real, they don't hold anything back and with emotions so raw, you can't help but fall in love with them. Truly uplifting, inspiring and a MUST SEE! I promise everyone will enjoy it and come away with something from it.


Watch it here: "The 5,000 Days Project: Two Brothers"

Or watch it right here on the blog! :)  
                                   

An Answer To A Prayer!

 I have an amazing Institute teacher! This woman is an answer to prayers and such a blessing. It was the last night of class for the semester, my teacher, Sister Anderson, comes up to me after and hands me a folded piece of paper and says with a gentle smile: “For your mission” and walked away. I unfolded the paper and it was a cheque for $100 I sat frozen in my seat with tears welling up in my eyes. This woman is amazing. She’s a fantastic teacher and I learned a lot from her this semester. I’ve only known her for 7 months and we never really got that close, I would show up for class, participate where I could and then leave to go socialize. She barely knew me and still gives me a cheque! I saw her later in the parking lot before she left and had to run over and give her a big hug. I hope she gets as blessed as I am to have met her.  

Prayer works you guys. I have been struggling to come up with money for my mission as I lost my job right as my mission papers went in and then I had to use the majority of my savings for bills that came up. I have been worrying about how in the world I am suppose to have money while I'm on my mission. The other day I was having a mini panic attack just thinking about how I am suppose to come up with money in the less then two months I have left. I just fell to my knees and cried to our Father in Heaven. Pleading with him to show me some hope and help me to come up with some money and then I go to institute and get truly blessed! This is truly Fathers way of reminding me that everything is going to be OKAY! I say "remind" as my Patriarchal Blessing states that I will have all the resources to serve a mission when that time comes. There's no time to be forgetting the blessings and promises that your Patriarchal Blessing holds! I am so thankful that I have a Heavenly Father who listens to me cry and rant and talk and puts up with me and answers all my prayers.♥ 

THE DISTRICT

One of the Pre-MTC Training requirements is to watch series 1 and 2 of The District. Before I watched the videos (6 in total) I was told by some friends that they were boring and corny. Because of this, I was sorta dreading the three hours of video that lay ahead of me. But boy were these friends wrong! The videos are anything but boring and corny! I wrote over five pages of notes from the videos! I loved every minute of both series but have to admit that Series 2 is my favorite. Even if you aren't planning on serving a mission, I highly suggest watching the videos. They are great and full of things to think about, take to heart, practice and love. I love how the videos aren't scripted and are so real, we get to really see what a missionary and their investigators go through. While you watch I guarantee you will be invested in these Elders and Sisters and be rooting for them! I laughed, I cried, I was frustrated, I celebrated and I cheered alongside everyone on the videos. I can watch them over and over again, and I know you will too! I have learned so much from The District videos and it's helped me to feel more confident as I've seen just how true and rewarding the work can be when I go out with the sister missionaries in my ward. 

Something cool to add, I was talking to one of my best friends who was recently in the MTC and he said that some of the elders and sisters in The District 2 are off their missions and are now teachers in the MTC so cool right?! I hope that when I enter the MTC I can meet a few of them! :) 

You can watch both series here: https://www.lds.org/callings/missionary/the-district

Sister Missionary Blogs♥

I love love love sister missionary blogs! I could read them all day and have found them a great mission prep source. It's my hope that one day this blog could be half as great as the ones I love to read. Here's a few of my favourites. Hope you enjoy! :)

• bellainberlin.blogspot.ca
• kendragampe.blogspot.ca
• 18monthsinflats.blogspot.ca
• sistermissionprep.com
• tipsforsistermissionaries.blogspot.ca
• ldsmissionblogs.com (a long list of blogs) 
• theladylena.wordpress.com
• pinterest.com/efernanda91/sister-missionary-life (Pinterest has TONS of sister missionary boards. If I were to post them all you would be reading this post for weeks! Just go to pinterest.com and type in "sister missionary") 
• sisterwotherspoon.blogspot.ca (Sister Kara Wotherspoon used to be in my ward. I loved reading her blog while she was serving. She's been home for almost a year now)

"Sisters: A Modern Girls Guide to Serving a Mission"

"SISTERS: A Modern Girl's Guide to Serving a Mission" written by Melissa Dymock is an AMAZING book and tool for any girl who is thinking about or preparing to serve a mission. I highly recommend it! You can find it at www.deseretbook.com for only $10.00! This book is fantastic. It's like having a sister or friend who has served a mission to answer all your questions as the author actually served a mission herself. It's a fast read as you won't want to put it down. (that's a promise!) Its full of tips and advice on how to prepare temporally as well as spiritually, what to expect in the MTC and in the mission field and on how to do well and succeed. It also has advice on how to make the transition into 'home life' after your mission. At the back of the book there is a question and answer section, a list of easy, inexpensive recipes and a glossary of mission terms. Again, I HIGHLY recommend this book! I found it as a wonderful help and tool in my mission preparations, I am SO thankful I found it and had the opportunity to read it! :) 

                                                                                            

Preparations

Preparing for a mission may seem like it takes a lot of work but is so rewarding.
Some things that I have been doing to prepare:

• Reading and studying Preach My Gospel (PMG) 
• Applying the things I learn in PMG to my everyday life
• Reading the scriptures everyday and discussing what I read with friends/family
• Striving to pay attention and participate in Sunday School and Institute. It gets easier I promise! 
• Writing my missionary friends and getting their guidance and advice
• Talking with Return Missionaries and getting their advice
• Reading many many many sister missionary blogs♥ 
• Writing in my journal 
• Looking for missionary opportunities every day
• Reading "Sisters: A Modern Girls Guide to Serving a Mission" 
• Watching The District videos- they are seriously amazing!! 
• Going out with the Sister Missionaries in my ward- totally awesome girls!
• Being Christ-like to those I meet 

There are a number of things that I want to talk more about in regards to preparing so I will make a few blog posts about those later! 

The Beginning

I have wanted to serve a mission for a long time now. With President Monson's announcement  during October 2012's General Conference about the mission age requirement being lowered, it meant I could go a year and a half earlier then I originally thought. I got started right away with the preparations and on January 9th 2013 I received my much awaited big white envelope! Its contents? MY MISSION CALL! Friends and family gathered both in person and via Skype video chat to find out where I was to serve and when I'd leave.  I opened the letter and began reading. Shaking and crying was all included in big doses I might add haha. 
The weeks leading up to this moment I had had the strongest feeling that I was going to go to either Alberta or Temple Square so what I read took me by surprise! I have been called to the Michigan, Detroit Mission and I am so report the Provo, Utah MTC (Missionary Training Center) on June 5th 2013 I am beyond excited! And naturally, nervous! While I serve I want others to take this adventure with me! So I hope you enjoy my mission blog. My amazing sister Megann will be taking over after I leave in June for the MTC 

 

Have to start cheering for Red Wings,
Canucks forgive me please?