Medallion Moments

People really do notice the little things.

I received my Young Women's medallion in December. I was so excited!! I decided that I was going to wear it everyday because I loved how it made me feel. When wearing my medallion, I always knew my identity and my future, the temple. Having such a tangible reminder of my divine nature and worth helps me to feel close to my Father in Heaven and my Savior all the time. However, always wearing my medallion has blessed me in more ways than just that. In fact, it has blessed other people, too. 

It seems like EVERYBODY notices my medallion. All the time friends, teachers and random people comment on my necklace and ask me questions about it. The most common question being, "Is that the Disney World Castle?". (I find that hilarious, actually.) Being asked about my medallion invites a wonderful missionary moment to explain to that person about the temple. I am able to simply state, "Actually no. It's the temple." Most people know I'm LDS, but if they don't, it gives me the opportunity to share that with them as well. Depending on the person's interest level, I am able to explain varying amounts of information about the temple. I make sure that my love for the temple comes through the words I use. Then I'm sure to mention the temple that is currently being built in the state where we live, and how ecstatic I am for it to be completed. I have extended several invitations to people to tour the temple during its open house once it's completed, which invitations have been eagerly accepted by my friends. 

It's kind of mind-blowing to me how something so small as a necklace can have such a profound influence on me and those around me. I'm so grateful for the opportunities The Lord gives me to share His gospel. 

Create the Moment

Hello again! Recognize me? Maybe not, because I haven't posted in about a month. Oops. Sorry about that. Instead of boring you with my excuses about being busy, I'll just get to my post. :D

Sometimes we pray for missionary opportunities. That is good. No, that is great. It's golden. The Lord blesses us with opportunities to share the gospel when we pray in faith to receive them, with a plan of action to act upon those moments when they arise. But do you know what else we can do? Instead of waiting for missionary opportunities to knock at our door, we can create them! Woah! Crazy, right? As obvious as that sounds, it didn't even occur to me until several weeks ago.

The missionaries came over to our house and taught a fabulous lesson. Afterwards they asked me if I wanted a pamphlet about the restoration to give to one of my friends. I accepted, and thought that I'd put it in my backpack for when someone I met asked about the church. Then, the name of a girl at my school came into my mind. Let's call her Jenny. Jenny and I didn't talk often, but she had expressed interest in the church in the past. When her name came into my mind, I realized it was a prompting to give her the pamphlet. So I texted her to ask if I could meet her before school because I had something I wanted to give her. We met the next morning and she graciously accepted the pamphlet and agreed to come to church with me in the future. A week later she told me that she had read the pamphlet and found it very informative.

This was cool for me to realize that I could be in charge of sharing the gospel more in my life. I learned that I didn't have to wait and could be even more proactive about sharing the gospel with those around me. I encourage all of you to try to create a missionary moment this week. It doesn't have to be forced, awkward, or weird. Pray for inspiration. Just see what happens! You'll love it!

Morning Missionary

Last week, my Driver's Ed instructor told us a story about a time when he'd had a prompting from the Holy Ghost to go home instead of continuing to hang out with his friends, when he was in high school, which ended up letting him avoid a serious car accident that night. When telling us the story he said, "I just had this feeling, telling me to go home. I didn't know why. It was only 8:00. But the feeling kept coming, so despite the protests of my friends, I left. To this day, I still haven't figured out what that feeling was."

Cue secret agent missionary senses tingling. Of course I knew he had felt the Holy Ghost, and I really wanted to tell him about it, but I didn't know how. He was my driver ed instructor. I hardly knew him. So I put it off. The class is only two weeks, with the last day being today. But I kept thinking about it. Throughout the course, this instructor made more comments which totally made me want to share the gospel with him, such as his views about coffee and addictive substances. But I didn't know how, so I let it be.

Wednesday morning I woke up three hours before I had to, and I couldn't get back to sleep, no matter what I tried. Normally it's hard for me to get out of bed at the mandatory time, so this was unusual. So I just laid in bed and tried to doze. I thought I could maybe go work on finding information about the Holy Ghost to give to my teacher, but I dismissed the thought easily.

Yesterday morning, I woke up an hour and a half early. This time though, I had the distinct prompting that I needed to find some information for my teacher. So, I rolled out of bed and looked through the church's information online about the Holy Ghost, but couldn't seem to find any that seemed exactly right to give to my instructor. So I called it quits for the morning, deciding I'd ask my parents about it later, which never really happened yesterday. As I went to sleep last night, I pondered whether I'd be able to, or whether I should give anything to my teacher. As I was falling asleep, I listened to a talk by President Monson- it was about missionary work, and seemed directly aimed at me. (Here it is. This is a stellar talk. I love it so much.)

This morning, I woke up an hour and a half early once more. I complained in my head, knowing I needed sleep, but the thought came to me that this is my last day of Driver Ed, and last opportunity to share the gospel with my teacher. I really argued the prompting this time, for about ten minutes, almost to the point where I didn't get out of bed. But I eventually did. I didn't know what I would find for my teacher, if anything, but decided that if it was the Lord's will that He would take care of things. Plus, I pray all the time for opportunities for missionary work and to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord. I didn't want to miss this. Once I got on the computer, I found the exact information to give my teacher, a precious pearl from the "Gospel Topics" section of the church's website. I coupled that with a couple paragraphs of my own, and voila! I felt inspired as I wrote to explain the information to my instructor, and shared a personal experience with the Holy Ghost. I am so excited to give it to him.

I know the Holy Ghost leads us. He lead me to be a missionary this week. I am so grateful for the missionary opportunities I'm given, and so very glad I didn't let this one slip through my fingers. Each time I follow promptings, I show Heavenly Father that he can depend on me to help build His kingdom on the earth.

If you have read through to the end of this post, congratulations. You get a prize of my gratitude and appreciation for reading my words, plus you're probably an awesome, patient person, which will do you favors later in life.

You have ninja missionary skills. Have you found them?