Time to fly the coop! :) -Alli has been asking me to do at least one post before I leave and to share my pre-mission testimony before I go. It will be interesting to see the differences between the coming and going testimonies once I finish serving. This mission blog was her idea and has been pretty fun to put together for her.
The Plan: is for me to write home and Alli will post certain things on here from my letters and emails so I can look back and see it all someday and maybe just maybe it will help someone??
Online journals are the best ...and so are best friends who do this while you're gone. I have been wanting to serve for so long. Its a surreal moment in life when your Mission President calls to welcome you or the MTC calls testing your Spanish and you sit there going This. Is. Real. I've been singing songs like "My life is a gift, my life has a plan," "I want to be a missionary now - I don't want to wait until I'm grown" and the forever known "I hope they call me on a mission when I have grown a foot or two" ...and I've been singing them since I could fit into a size four dress pretty much.
I've grown those few feet (although I'm still pretty short), I know my life definitely has a plan and I really am a missionary now! Hum. This brings a smile to my face, like, everyday I wake up. I've heard so many stories lately of how sisters of the church have decided to serve a mission since the conference announcement. They are all so amazing to hear because you can literally see how God is preparing His glorious army and he began those promptings long ago with His children to help prepare them for this. So many have said they had been considering a mission before the announcement. I am one of many. The Lord's timing is always perfect and that very much includes my scenario. The word mission has been one running around and doing summersaults in my head since age fifteen. The journey in getting here has been interesting but it's a wonderful feeling when you know this is what you are supposed to be doing...terrifying, but oh so wonderful. So now that I'm here at last I can finally start packing my nylons. I can almost feel the growth that is about to come my way. I'm excited to meet my companions and also those nameless faces I will come into contact with who I hope to call friend by the end. My roommates and I watched Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin not too long ago during the October season and for some odd reason when Charlie Brown is describing Snoopy as a world war flying ace his words always ring in my head. "Contact! He shouts." I take that and say the same thing now. God has prepared me and will continue to prepare me, but let this work roll forward! I can't sit here anymore with this God-given knowledge and not share. It's too sweet, it's too forgiving, it's too divine and it's much too important. I have that responsibility and I am thrilled to be serving Him in any way possible. Time. to. make. contact. I think it's time to start with some goals.
Goal number #1:
Start your mission mornings every day with Christ's face in your mind. A smiling Christ.
...and then mimic it.
Maybe if I can smile with His same kindness in my eyes, it will be easier to make that initial contact with the people of New Mexico that I already love so much (funny how that works). Maybe it will help them remember.
I am beyond grateful for the Atonement and for the restored gospel on the earth. I think any member of the church who looks for it can feel what's occurring right now. Something exciting is happening. And we can all be a part of it. I know my Savior loves, leads and guides His church and that He has done so and still does today through His prophets who deliver His words to His beloved children on earth. I am grateful to the prophet Joseph Smith and to those who have followed him and for their sacrificing service. I know that they were called of God and that Thomas S. Monson has been called as prophet, seer and revelator on the earth today during this last dispensation. I testify that the Book of Mormon changes lives. I know this because it has changed my own. I have gained my own testimony and I know the Atonement is real and that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Christ. I learned this for myself and that is why I want to share it with others. When something makes you indescribably happy, you want others to be happy with you. It becomes one happy party. :) I have been blessed to be called to serve in this sacred calling and I do so wholeheartedly with the brightest smile I can muster.
Until the next letter...
-Hermana Silva
God is good all the time so dont worry.
ReplyDeleteKeep it up and God Bless!
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