Hallelujah!! My papers are officially submitted to the first presidency!! My interview went great, and can I just say that my church leaders are such amazing people! Dang I love my bishop brick and stake presidency they are such amazing men!
Well on that note it is the end of the semester! I can't believe it. It makes me really sad to think about leaving all my friend up here at BYU-Idaho, but then I think about all the great things I am going to be able to do while I am on my mission! :)
So much has changed in the last year since the last time that I have thought about going on a mission! I have met such wonderful people and made so many amazing friends! It has really been such a blessing to be able to serve in the relief society presidency this semester too! I have just learned so much and grew because of all the amazing girls that I have been able to get to know! I am excited to expound upon that opportunity and grow by teaching and being over many others!
I am so looking forward to getting a letter in the mail these next few weeks!! I'll keep you updated on where I going!
Merry Christmas everyone!
So I recently talked to my bishop and that anticipation of it all is killing me! I just found out that I probably won't get my call till mid December now! I was hoping to get it more towards the beginning, but I figure the Lord is always just trying to teach me patients! However, I have my availability date! April 1st, I feel like it is so far away but so close all at the same time! I love hearing from my brother and best friend who are on their missions right now! It is so great to have them as a greater motivation to get out their and serve the Lord. On another not I had a great Thanksgiving. I got to go to my aunt and uncles home in Reno. My aunt is not active in the church and my uncle is not a member! We were able to get into a great discussion about missionaries and what they do! It was really cool to talk to my uncle about it because he really has no idea about the Church. It is crazy to see the difference in people who have the light of Christ or even the Holy Ghost. I am so grateful for my parents and raising me in this Gospel.
I was in class recently and they shared this poem! I had never heard of it before and to my surprise it was a really well known christian poem.
Footprints in the Sand
One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,
other times there were one set of footprints.
This bothered me because I noticed
that during the low periods of my life,
when I was suffering from
anguish, sorrow or defeat,
I could see only one set of footprints.
So I said to the Lord,
"You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you,
you would walk with me always.
But I have noticed that during
the most trying periods of my life
there have only been one
set of footprints in the sand.
Why, when I needed you most,
you have not been there for me?"
The Lord replied,
"The times when you have
seen only one set of footprints,
is when I carried you."
Mary Stevenson
Every time it amazes me every time how much the Lord really does love us. Such a Blessing!!!
So great news everyone, I am serving a mission! Can you believe it, because I still can't. So let me just go through my whole experience and why my mission is such a surprise to me! To start off I have been thinking about a mission since January of 2012. So it has been over 2 years! Holy Flip that is a long time right? Well in my defense it has not been the easiest of processes.
Lets just skip ahead to October General Conference of 2012 shall we. So at that point I was still undecided about a mission. When they made the announcement, like everyone else I got my answer that I was supposed to go. Well the Lord can be a funny guy sometimes. It just so happened that some guy swept me off my feet and at that point the mission thing became so hard to figure out. Was I supposed to get married or go on a mission I just didn't know! Well after Christmas break both this boy and I decided that a mission was the direction I needed to go! I received confirmation for the lord that it was the right road to take. I was all set to go and was in my stake president interview when out of the blue the words came out of his mouth, "right now is not the time for you to serve a mission". WHAT?!?!?! I was baffled and so confused, how could this be? I had received revelation I was supposed to go on a mission that was my calling. However, I knew in my heart that what the stake president was saying was right! I needed to go on living my life as I normally would and wait a season. So I scrabbled and signed up for all my classes and found some housing to live in! The Lord was right I needed to go back to school! I had one of the most amazing semesters of my life and met some life changing friends and people! needless to say I still was praying about a mission! Finally it came down to making a decision. "Funny I was actually dating someone at the time" However, I was getting stressed out and wasn't feeling right about going on a mission anymore! So I decided to go back to school. I even had some thoughts about praying about it again and the same thing the answer was no! So I eventually came to the realization that I wasn't ever going to be serving a mission and I accepted the fact that I was meant to stay here and my mission was here! I started planning for future arrangements to stay up at school over the winter semester and work! Well now here we are 5 weeks before the end of the semester and yet again ALL my plans are changing! Nothing seemed to be working out everything was falling apart so in desperation I fell on my knees asking for help on what to do! Finally the answer came to me! Mckinzie STOP. Don't worry about these problems anymore! It is time! Time for you to resubmit your mission papers! Holy Cow was it real? YES it was I have never been so sure about anything before and this time, it really does feel right! I have no hesitations , not distractions, no boys haha just a sure knowledge of my heavenly fathers love for me and that finally it is my turn to go and serve the Lord and gather his sheep for him! I know and have such a testimony of patients and the Lords timing! He knows whats best for us! We just need to submit to his will! Sometimes he leads us down different roads because there is something we need to learn, but in the end we will always end up on the correct road!
I cannot wait to share more about my amazing experiences! YAYA for missions! The church is true and Christ is the savior and lived and Christ and God love us!
P.S. My mission call should be coming in a few weeks! Its a secret though only a few people know and only my Mom knows out of everyone in my family!! haha SURPRISE!!
