What's your Goliath?

   I've often thought of things that seem much bigger than I am, things that I don't think I can handle, or thing's that are just to big for me to be able to tackle alone! I Love the story of David and Goliath, how courageous David was to go up against someone much bigger than him and not fear him at all because he knew that he had God on his side.  "One man’s Goliath may be the stranglehold of a cigarette or perhaps an unquenchable thirst for alcohol. To another, her Goliath may be an unruly tongue or a selfish streak which causes her to spurn the poor and the downtrodden. Envy, greed, fear, laziness, doubt, vice, pride, lust, selfishness, discouragement—all spell Goliath."

  Even though we all go through things that are bigger than we are, or we don't feel like we can handle it, we can.  David was a Shepard boy, very small in stature, but had a mighty heart.
  I recently read a talk given by President Thomas S. Monson titled Meeting your Goliath.  In the talk, David prepares to fight against Goliath the giant, who has been in battles and wars since he was a youth. David is given all this armor to wear and cant seem to do much with it on,  so he takes it off. Goes and  finds 5 smooth stones from a small brook,  to use with his sling shot.  these 5 stones can help us in our fights with our own Goliaths.
STONE NUMBER 1: "The stone of COURAGE will be essential to your victory. As we survey the challenges of life, that which is easy is rarely right. In fact, the course that we should properly follow appears at times impossible, impenetrable, hopeless."
STONE NUMBER 2: "Next, I select the stone of EFFORT—mental effort and physical effort....

The decision to overcome a fault or correct a weakness is an actual step in the process of doing so. “Thrust in thy sickle with thy might” was not spoken of missionary work alone."

STONE NUMBER 3: "Then there must be in our selection the stone of HUMILITY, for haven’t we been told through divine revelation that when we are humble, the Lord, our God, will lead us by the hand and give us answer to our prayers?"

STONE NUMBER 4: "And who would go forth to battle his Goliath without the stone of PRAYER, remembering that the recognition of a power higher than oneself is in no way debasing; rather, it exalts."

STONE NUMBER 5: "Finally, let us choose the stone of LOVE OF DUTY. Duty is not merely to do the thing we ought to do, but to do it when we should, whether we like it or not."

  These 5 stones coupled with our sling of faith can help us to conquer ANYTHING that stands in our way.  I testify to these 5 steps.  I know that they work, I know that if we use them, we can meet any Goliath that stands in the way of our happiness! I've tried this! I've seen it work and I know that it can work for anyone who is willing and open to letting the Lord help them in any battle.

The Family

I love my family! it is the most important thing in my life! I remember this one time as a little girl, we all got together as a family to say a prayer,dad offered it... in the middle of the day...we thought it was kinda weird but we went along with it, and in his prayer he said something along the lines of "help us to have fun in Disneyland" my older brother and I just about fell out of our seats!and it felt like an eternity till he said amen, we packed up and left for Disneyland an hour later, and had a great time!
    I remember we would go camping all the time.  and this one time Corey, my older brother, brought his Bat-mobile car with him, we put some trail mix in it and watched squirrels for like 2 hours come and take the mix out of the car! It was so much fun just to sit there and watch. It is memories like this that i will remember for all of my life, and will tell my children about. This is what true Happiness and Joy is all about, creating memories with our family by spending time together, teaching eachother, learning, and growing.
   Yesterday we went to go see this wonderful lady in our ward, we felt impressed to share The Family: a Proclamation to the World. I absolutely love this Proclamation! it tells us the purpose of families, how they are supposed to function, and how we can have peace and harmony at home. It says in there:  "THE FAMILY is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners."
  I added the bold and underlined because this is what it takes to have a successful family!  I'm so grateful to have the family that i do! and that my home is founded upon principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Christ is our Light

 In the Book of Mormon, 1st Nephi 17:13 Nephi is commanded to build a ship that will take them to the promised land.  Nephi doesnt question the Lord, he just ask's where he should go to find the tools he need's to build this ship.  He gets started right away.  How often do we ask questions before doing what the Lord tell's us to do? I know that I am guilty of this... but I am repenting and striving to become more like Nephi and Moroni and more importantly my Savior Jesus Christ.  just doing what I need to do.  Christ tell's us that he will be our light.
13And I will also be your ^alight in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the ^bpromised land; and ye shall ^cknow that it is by me that ye are led.
    After they built the ship and they start on there journey to the promised land, Nephi's brethern start sing and dance in much rudeness and Nephi is bold with them and telling them to stop... Nephi's older brothers dont like this so they tie him up and he is bound for 4 days while this very bad storm is upon them.
Later on in 1 Nephi 18:15-16 Nephi says:
15"And it came to pass that we were about to be swallowed up in the depths of the sea. And after we had been driven back upon the waters for the space of four days, my brethren began to ^asee that the judgments of God were upon them, and that they must perish save that they should repent of their iniquities; wherefore, they came unto me, and loosed the bands which were upon my wrists, and behold they had swollen exceedingly; and also mine ankles were much swollen, and great was the soreness thereof.   

 16Nevertheless, I did look unto my God, and I did ^apraise him all the day long; and I did not murmur against the Lord because of mine afflictions."

what I love about this is that no matter what happened to Nephi, he was always quick to remember his Lord.  He knew that Christ would deliver him if he was faithful, and Christ did. 
  I know that if i am faithful and follow the commandments, Christ will be my light, he will guide me to where i need to be.  I love this gospel, and I am so excited to be a missionary! I love being able to help people see Christ hand's in there life!
LET US ALL LET CHRIST BE OUR LIGHT.

TOUGH TIMES

"Let the Tough times DEFINE you, not DEFEAT you."
i was first introduced to this by a former missionary Elder Korey Fras.  he was my district leader and always had good quotes to start out district coucil.  I often think of this quote, being a missionary we go through very tough times, but more than just us, our people! the People of the California Santa Rosa mission go through tough times and its our job to lead them to Christ, who suffered for all our sins, weaknesses, failures, everything! Elder Fras also said that adversity is a gift from God, this is how we experiance joy, love, peace, happiness.  we cant experiance any of these things without feeling the opposite.  in Mosiah 23:20-21 the people are prospering and they had built a city and everythings, sometimes the Lord see's fit to chasten us, he chasten them.  he tried there patience to help them in all things.  In Mosiah 23:22 it says that whosever puteth his trust in him the same shall be lifted up at the last day.
   We all have trials, how we deal with them is what the Lord is looking at.  Do we always wonder "why me?" or "couldnt this happen to anyone else but me?" or do we think: "what can i learn from this?" "what is the Lord trying to teach me?" this is how we learn to bare our trials.  God promises that if we endure all things well, we shall be lifted up! that's a great promise.  I know that this church is true, i know that God is loving and will never give us anything we cant handle.  May God bless us in all that we do, and may we all rely fully on Jesus Christ.

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

The Climb

"What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.

Zig Ziglar"

   I love this quote, its great what we become in the end of our trials or on the road to reaching our goals, but whats most important is the journey we take to get there. Our life here on this Earth is a trail of our faith, its a probationary time, A time for us to grow, a time for us to experience life.  no one ever said this life would be easy, they only said it would be worth it! i have found what makes this life "worth it!" its family, love, Jesus Christ, knowing that i will live again after this life, and more importantly knowing that one day i will return to live with my Father in Heaven! that's what make's it worth it!!

 

there is a song by a famous artist that pop's into my head as i think about life, as i think about the journey that I'm on to eternal life!

"I can almost see it
That dream I'm dreaming but
There's a voice inside my head sayin,
You'll never reach it,
Every step I'm taking,
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking but I
Got to keep trying
Got to keep my head held high
There's always going to be another mountain
I'm always going to want to make it move
Always going to be an uphill battle,
Sometimes I'm gonna to have to lose,
Ain't about how fast I get there,
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb
The struggles I'm facing,
The chances I'm taking
Sometimes might knock me down but
No I'm not breaking
I may not know it
But these are the moments that
I'm going to remember most yeah
Just got to keep going
And I,
I got to be strong
Just keep pushing on, cause
There's always going to be another mountain
I'm always going to want to make it move
Always going to be an uphill battle,
Sometimes I'm gonna to have to lose,
Ain't about how fast I get there,
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb (yeah)
There's always going to be another mountain
I'm always going to want to make it move
Always going to be an uphill battle,
Sometimes you going to have to lose,
Ain't about how fast I get there,
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb (yeah yeah ea ea)
Keep on moving
Keep climbing
Keep the faith baby
It's all about
It's all about
The climb
Keep the faith
Keep your faith"

Miley Cyrus
 Life is a climb, its about moving and about faith. we are either progressing or digressing.  I love my life, i love everything about it, including my trails.  our trials, our infirmities,(personal failings) are not in vain... Jesus Christ suffered for our sins, suffered for our infirmities so that he may know how to succor(run to the aid of) his people.  I love this gospel, I love the Book of Mormon and all that it teaches me. 

GOD BLESS EVERYONE!

TRANSFERS!

 So every 6 weeks we have the opportunity to be transferred to a new area of not.  what happens is we spend anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months in one area teaching the gospel and helping people draw closer to Jesus Christ, than at the end of that 6 week period, our mission president (President Bunker) prays and seeks to find out whether we should be transferred to a new area or stay in the same area.  every 6th Sunday of the transfer we got a call from our Zone Leaders telling us if we are staying or going.  we got our call this morning and i was told that I am transferring to Santa Rosa in the Peterson Lane ward.  I am super excited to meet the people in Santa Rosa, but also super sad to be leaving Fortuna.  I've spent the last 4 1/2 months here serving the people and loving them!  I am so grateful for the people that i was able to meet here.  they have each taught me so much and helped me to gain a greater love for my savior.  I'm ready to embark on a new part of the California Santa Rosa Mission (CASRM) its going to be a rollercoaster of fun the next few days!!

Sharing the Light of Christ

My Mom!

   Today i felt inspired to talk about my best friend, my mom.  (no I'm not home sick.) ever since i was a little girl my mom has always been there for me.  All the countless times i came home crying because someone hurt my feelings, she would do something special with me.  She has the BEST testimony ever! i know that if i ever had questions about the gospel, she would be the one to ask.  She is so valiant in her testimony.
   Some of our favorite times together where when my dad and little brothers would go on the trips and leave us at home.  We would go to sushi, go see a movie, stay up late talking.  she has always been a good listener.  With any problem i ever had, she was there.  When i need a shoulder to cry on, she was there.  When i just needed someone to talk to, she was there.  She never EVER judged me, or anyone for that matter. 
   She has always counseled me to do what is right, for example: I didn't want to serve a mission at the time, but felt the prompting too, and so did my mom. She told everyone that she thinks i should serve a mission and than i started getting phone calls from people says that there vote is "YES" for me serving a mission. The commandments tell us to obey our father and mother.  So finally I set up my appointment with my bishop and got going on the paper work.  and 9 month's later here i am writing about my best friend. 

    I feel so blessed to have the mother that i do.  she does so much for me and I'm not sure that i ever told her thank you for everything she does, so THANK YOU mom! you mean the world to me! I am so grateful to have you as my mother, and my best friend.  Not many girls can say that there mom's are there best friends but I am privilege to say that you are BOTH my mom and best friend. 

Charity and Love

please watch this video. see how they are serving someone they dont know. i would like to send a challenge out to all that read my blog! do an act of service for someone that you dont know. It could be holding a door open for someone, or smiling at someone that look's down or even waving. be an example of Jesus Christ. help someone in need! and please post what you did as a comment. i would love to hear about everyone's experiance's.