a story by sydni: Returned Missionary

Thursday, March 5, 2015

journal excerpts: oct. 4, 2014 (mission miracles)

a mission story

"Miracles from my awkwardess:

We were late for an appointment because we were trying to find parking (our lives in L.A.). We finally found one that was mega-pequeño [super small], but we decided to make it work.

I was STRUGGLING.. kind of frustrated. A man driving by stopped to laugh at the situation. No joke. Rude! But then he got out of his car and directed me on how to park. Haha. It was great. We talked to him afterward and it turns out that he almost got baptized in El Salvador before he moved here -- what! He's in a different area, but we found a former investigator with a baptismal date through not being able to park! Ha.

THEN, we ran into an investigator we haven't talked with since August. We taught him the very next day and he is so ready!

THEN, we met a woman who began crying when we shared a message of the Restoration with her.

COINCIDENCES DO NOT EXIST."

(the best parallel parking job i have ever done in my entire life..)

Sunday, January 18, 2015

"..the Lord has called you to succeed."

[This is Part Two to my blog post "Failure".]

There is a quote I wrote on the first page of my Preach My Gospel.

It is a quote very dear to my heart.

Richard G. Scott spoke in the Mexico MTC the summer of 2014. I was not there, but many of my companions were. Elder Scott gave his talk. He sat down. Right before the close of the meeting, though, he stood up again.

He said he felt inspired to say:

"Remember, the Lord has called you to succeed, not to fail. Sometimes it may seem terribly hard, but He wants you to grow. He will not abandon you. He inspired your call. He knows who you are. He knows what you need. He knows what He wants you to become and this mission experience is an opportunity He has given you to discover things about yourself you never knew you had, strength beyond what you felt you had; and the capacity to love and serve which will sustain you the rest of your life. Remember, you have been called and He will fit the task to your capabilities. I testify in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen."

-Richard G. Scott

This quote got me through many hard days on my mission.

I always thought that if I came home early, it would haunt me. I thought it would be a permanent reminder that I failed.

I read it again today, for the first time since I've been home. I did not feel like I failed. In fact, it reaffirmed to me that I succeeded. I know that the Lord inspired my call as a missionary. He called me to succeed, knowing that I would serve a five month mission. He gave me this particular learning opportunity -- of depression, of a five month mission -- for me "to discover things about [my]self [I] never knew [I] had, strength beyond what [I] felt [I] had; and the capacity to love and serve which will sustain [me] the rest of [my] life."

"He will not abandon [me]. He inspired [my] call. He knows who [I am]. He knows what [I] need. He knows what He wants [me] to become.."

Our life on earth is a building block, a learning experience for eternity to come. I know that my Savior and our Heavenly Father love me dearly. I know Heavenly Father has a plan for my life that will teach me (sometimes the hard way) the things I need to know to be the best possible version of myself.

I am grateful for my mission experience. I learned things on my mission and coming home from my mission that I couldn't have learned any other way.

I am especially grateful that I have a loving Heavenly Father who is mindful of me, and the knowledge that He has called me to succeed.

D&C 6:36 [my mission scripture, the Lord speaking]: Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.

Helaman 5:12: And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless woe, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.