From The Journal

Ok, as Brooke requested, here is an excerpt from a journal:

November 13, 2011

The Collier's were confirmed today :)
Sacrament meeting has been all about reverence. Not just being reverent at church but being reverent every day. Sister Jasper is writing in her journal right next to me right now. About me. But really about the baptism. 
It was the most spirit filled baptism I've ever been to. There was nothing different about the service to make it stand apart from any baptism that I've attended. What made it different was that I was part of it. These are my friends who I shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with. And they were willing to listen and change their lives to become members of His church. That is the best kind of baptism ever.

I haven't been able to attend the baptism services for many of the people I have taught but I feel extremely blessed to have been a part of the process for a few people.

And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me! -Doctrine and Covenants 18: 15-16

Enjoy Your Life

My brain is basically a radio. There is always something spinning around on repeat in there! Sister Jasper will usually turn off the music in the car and ask me to sing to her. We've decided our motto for the next 6 weeks is "sunny with a high of 75" inspired by this song by Relient K.

I may seem a little biased towards this band since I featured their song just a few weeks ago, but I swear I like other music too. Possibly a post coming soon with my favorite music of Christmas? You betcha!

The reason we chose this song is because of the line that says "It's funny how you find you enjoy your life when you're happy to be alive" they also make references to how the weather affects us and our attitudes.
WE WILL NOT LET THAT AFFECT US! There are rumors that the coming months are bringing us the worst winter Nashville has had in a long time. But what kind of weather is best for missionary work? Any weather!!! In our hearts we'll be warm and fuzzy and feeling like it's 75 and sunny out there!

It's a choice we're making to work hard and be positive. Here's my movtivating scripture!

 27 Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.

 28 And now, my sons, I would that ye should look to the great Mediator, and hearken unto his great commandments; and be faithful unto his words, and choose eternal life, according to the will of his Holy Spirit;

Each one of these cheery yellow pictures is a direct link to its source. I hope you find some that you like! What do you do to remind yourself to CHOOSE to be HAPPY??

Lessons Learned

Otherwise known as

"Things my mom tried to teach me but it took a mission to learn"

Be happy where you are.
Tell your friends and family you love them but show it too.
Support your Priesthood leaders. No matter what.
Read your scriptures every day.
Clean as you go and always drink your green smoothie!

I'm sure not perfect at any of these things yet, but I'm working on them and this woman right here taught me my whole life by her example. Moms are great. Mine is the best. Just sayin' :)

Study Journals 2.0

So these posts about journaling are based of of a mini-training I did a few weeks ago with a few missionaries.  I was worried that it might end up being me talking about something I love with no one else really caring. Can I just tell you how excited I was when Elder Lund tapped me on the shoulder the other day and held up his journal showing me the last page with notes scribbled all the way down the the very last inch?? Hooray for note taking!

When I grab a pen I never put it down!

As I was preparing the training I thought of reasons why I take notes in meetings or when I am studying the scriptures. It used to be that I'd take notes or doodle during devotional meetings in college to keep myself awake (at least I'm honest about it right?) but then I realized how much more I gain out of a meeting if I take time to review what I'd written.

There is a phrase used repeatedly in the scriptures that says, "Ask and ye shall receive. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. Seek and ye shall find." It is one of my favorite promises that the Lord gives us because He's always going to hold up His end of the deal. If I'm searching for answers He is going to give me answers. Therefore I coined a new phrase, "Seek and ye shall find, not sit and it will fall in your lap." My study has more meaning when I write down the answers I find so I can go back to them again.

I have a few different approaches to writing. The picture above shows a whole ton of journals that I'm using right now! They each have a unique purpose with specific things I write in them. One is my blogspiration book, personal journal, scrapbook, family history, "bye bye book" for when I leave an area, and 3 study journals. Sometimes its a little frustrating to have things written in so many places for instance right now there is a poem in one that I would love to share but I don't have it with me. But the great thing about having so many is that they are organized and I know where to go back and find what I've written.
Some days I just write bullet point lists of things I've done. When I'm frustrated or trying to make a big decision I make pro and con lists. If someone says something silly I write it down because I know in 10 minutes we're going to forget about it and it will be funny all over again. There is absolutely no right or wrong way to record your personal history. The most important thing is to just do it! You'll be grateful you did :)

Books About Myself

I've always been a writer. My mom will roll her eyes and tell you about the dresser drawer full of journals tucked away in her office that I can never bear to part with. Most of them are probably filled with "Oh my goodness the boy that I loooooove was sitting next to me at lunch today. It probably means he likes me" and other such sappy 13 year old thoughts. Some of them are poetry books where I expressed my high school angst with phrases that didn't rhyme and meters that didn't quite add up correctly, and others have lists of what food we ate when we were on vacation...general oddities of life.

Its fun to go back to read how weird I was but I'm realizing how what I write is leaving a legacy for my family. One hundred years from now all that my posterity will know about me is what I have shared with them through my journals. My journals are most importantly written for me so I can go back and learn from what I didn't want to forget. Have you ever done that? Gone back to read the books you've written about yourself? It's GREAT! Sister Jasper was laughing at me the other day because I grabbed a highlighter and I was basically finding my favorite quotes from myself.

Want to know what is so cool about that highlighter? The journal that I was reviewing was one I filled with notes during my time at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) back in May and June. Those notes were taken during classes and meetings that were begun with prayer where we invited God to open our hearts to receive revelation so we could learn by the spirit as well as from our teachers. The things I have written in that notebook are my own personal revelation! They are in essence scripture for Elle!

I'm going on longer than I thought I would about this so I think we're going to have to leave it at this point TO BE CONTINUED....

(and if I wasn't so lazy I would have taken a picture of my own journal. The one I used is stolen from Pinterst)

Smoothing Out

The smile is back! I'm being tumbled around in a spiritual rock polisher and some of my theoretical rough edges were made a little bit smoother this week. Thank you to those who commented on my last post. It's reassuring to know that I have a "team" even when I might not be on it myself.

It really is in the depths of our despair that we can choose to continue to wallow in that misery that I imagine to be a pit filled with those ugly creeps from Labyrinth:

Or we can turn to the Savior and trust in the power of His Atonement.

Personally I want absolutely nothing to do with the greasy little Jim Henson monsters. I choose Jesus.  Elder Lund shared a talk with us called The Faces of Pride, given by the Prophet Ezra Taft Benson in 1989. He encouraged us to each to pray, read it and make some goals based on the promptings received while reading. I'd like to share a paragraph that impacted me.

"The proud depend upon the world to tell them whether they  have value or not. Their self-esteem is determined by where they are judge to be on the ladders of worldly success.  They feel worthwhile as individuals if the numbers beneath them in achievement, talent, beauty, or intellect are large enough. Pride is ugly. It says, 'if you succeed, I am a failure.' If we love God, do His will, and fear His judgment more than men's, we will have self-esteem."

I choose to follow the Savior and trust in Him for help in my hard times. My success is not based on the achievements of other missionaries. Elle is doing ok. Excuse me. Sister McCall is doing ok (sometimes I need to remind myself that I'm still me). I'm going to share one more quote that comes from Preach My Gospel that I read this morning.

"Your confidence and faith should be in Christ, not in yourself. Rely on the Spirit rather than your own talents and abilities."

So here I am. Still swimming. And I hope you're doing the same :)

Hold Me Forever

So I'm going to describe last night right before I went to sleep as "fetal position prayer". And a forewarning that this post is pretty personal, I just feel like it is important to share. The day had gone pretty well and I felt like my work and my effort were more than I usually put forward, but something wasn't right. I made the decision a few weeks ago to choose to be happy when things are hard and it has been incredible to see that choice affect my attitude. When I'm choosing to be happy the hard things are a little bit easier to handle. But not always.

I fell to my knees because I just couldn't handle the stress anymore. Stress that I didn't even realize I had. I wrote a post a while ago about goal setting because I think it's really important to set big plans with smaller attainable ones to work on daily and to set those dreams in motion. We were encouraged last night as a companionship to work on a few more things and I just didn't know how to go forward anymore. Cliche time: it was the straw that broke this camel's back.

What I really wanted to do was rebel. I didn't want to follow any of the rules for another minute. It was time to find a good radio station, call my mom, and I wanted to never put on another skirt again.

I knew none of those things would get me anywhere and ultimately they would just make me feel even more guilty. As I started praying God answered me by the words of the song "Hold You In My Arms" by Ray LaMontagne. It was like I could hear it playing in my head. And I knew it was my comfort that my Father in Heaven knew I needed. It was His promise to me that He can hold me forever.

"When you came to me with your bad dreams and your fears it was easy to see you'd been crying. Seems like everywhere you turn, castatrophe it reigns. But who really profits from the dying? I could hold you in my arms. I could hold you forever."

Now that the night is over and a new day is begun I will be honest that I don't feel 100% myself right now. What I do know is that things are going to be ok. I am the one in control of this ship. I'm the one to sets the standard of what has been a successful day. And I am the one who will work on being happy with what I accomplish.

“God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain” -C.S. Lewis

You Know You're A Missionary When...

1. You keep teaching even in your sleep.

(An Elder that I met at the MTC who just about passed out tired in the grass!)

2. When your dreams are about music you used to listen to you wake up thinking it was a nightmare

(These cute girlies sang Taylor Swift songs to us one day and then they made sure both T-Swift dolls had their steatbelts on!)

3. The Prophet of the Restoration movie sounds like a great date night activity for when you get home.

(Plus I found this blog about a girl who loves this movie as much as I do!)

4. Every bad day can be fixed with a quick trip to Menchies!

(They may possibly know us by name now. And not because of our nametags)

5. You go to a wedding/baptism/event where other people are dressed nice and you think "Crap I forgot to dress up for today" then you remember you wear a skirt 90% of the week.

(We were even dressed up for when we met Zac Efron!)

Simplicity

I have a goal for myself. And I think its becoming apparent that I'm not super great at following through with goals that I set, but this one is easy. I want to write 5 things in my journal each day that I'm thankful for. And if I remember I'll share some of them here! I don't really know why I wanted to use these pictures for this post but I think they will be my first thankful:

1. I'm grateful for pictures from my childhood because they remind me just how awesome I can be.
2. I'm thankful for my new fuzzy on the inside raincoat. I'm going to need it today!
3. I'm grateful for my super awesome companion Sister Valentine.
4. I'm thankful for the US Postal Service! Hooray for mail!
5. I'm grateful for my family at home that sends me lots of love and support while I'm away for 18 months <3

&

(somehow Grandma double teamed it into both pictures!)

*Christ Teaching Mary and Martha*

Favorite rebuking in the scriptures time!

Are you familiar with the story of Mary and Martha? They were sisters (you may remember their brother Lazarus...) and their whole family seems to have been pretty close with Jesus. One evening while Christ was teaching at their home Martha was preparing food, or perhaps cleaning, making preparations so that everyone would be comfortable. I think she was probably the ultimate biblical homemaker. I can imagine her frustration that her sister Mary was not helping but instead sitting there with the Savior listening to Him teach.

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 He said to her, "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary has chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her." (found in Luke)

It's important to take care of a nice house and prepare food for those staying at the house, but Christ taught an important lesson to Martha that she should follow the example of her sister and put the things of the Lord first.

Sometimes I'm such a Martha. I read a great blog post the other day by Anne and I was really inspired by her sacrifice of fun design-idea blogs so she could put her focus more on her family.

*Lilies and Paint Splotches*

I had a picture of Mary Magdalene scheduled for today. And I wrote out a whole long description of what the word hope means to me. And then I felt super preachy. And I deleted it. I'm replacing it with something much more personal that I really do love! My absolute favorite artist of all time is Claude Monet.

Close up his paintings are just sloppy brush strokes,

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but when looked at from a distance I'm almost afraid that the water might pour off of the canvas and into the room.

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Here's my mini application to life. When I look close up at small daily parts of life it may seem like everything is just little messy brush strokes. Once I take a second to back up and look at the whole thing with an eternal perspective my tiny brush strokes have added up to make a majestic wonderful work of art!

So, today may feel like just a brush stroke, but its a dab of paint that has to be put onto my giant life masterpiece!

In other news, here are the cupcakes that Elders Lund, Dallof, and Davis made for me for my birthday that inspired me to change the painting of the day!

*Lord, Save Me*

The first time I saw this painting was 4 months ago when I was at the MTC (Missionary Training Center).  Three weeks before that I had gone to a singles conference in Medford, OR where we went to the temple, had a few workshops to choose from, a service project, and of course dinner and a dance!

One of the classes that I chose was about scripture study and really understanding the doctrine behind the stories in the scriptures. A passage that we focused on during the class was that of Peter walking on water to Christ. Click HERE to read the passage of scripture depicted in this painting.

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 What I find most fascinating is that we are usually quick to judge Peter and think that this story is about him losing his faith. I think I was in that same boat (har har. lame pun NOT intended) until I went to that workshop in Oregon. The instructor asked us to reread verses 31 and 32. Um, how did they get back into the boat? That part of the story is left out! I believe that Peter, after looking up at the Savior and recognizing the need for his direct focus on Him, walked arm and arm back to the ship with Christ.

Think on that a while!

A Thought On Repeat

This scripture has come to mind over and over for the past few days.
The Lord has always allowed us to have trials. They really are a gift to us because they make us do a few things.

1. Turn to Him for support
2. Readjust our lives to His will
3. Prepare us for success!

Where Do You Find Your JOY?

Happiness is:

A bottle of Mexican Coca Cola!

A snack size jar of Nutella!

Umm...probably not the best mottos in the world. Those things sure make us happy but its an instant gratification, something that we can only enjoy in the very moment we are tasting the sugar rush!

For the past 4 months I've cut out almost all of the things that I thought made me happy so that I can have a full force dedication to missionary work. That means no movies, dating, quilting, crafting, countless hours on the internet, late nights or phone calls home to my mommy at the end of the day. I was worried that I would just find myself curled up in a ball at the end of each day crying about how miserable life was. I'm here to tell you that my fears were not a premonition of what was to come. In fact I'm more happy now than I have been in the past year of my life, maybe the happiest I've been in my ENTIRE life!

Seems pretty ridiculous that cutting out things that brought me joy lead me to so much happiness now. That's because I haven't told you what I replaced those things with! I spend 2 hours every morning studying the scriptures, one hour by myself and one hour with my companion Sister Joy Valentine. I then spend the entire rest of the day (minus 2 hours for lunch and dinner) teaching people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

So yes, there is a little bit of irony that this post talks about Joy and that is the name of my current companion but she's a constant reminder to me of real delight in living each day! My happiness that I thrive on comes from living the Gospel of Jesus Christ and following God's commandments!

Mini Series Time!

So on my regular old pre-mission blog I did a mini series about Science Fiction and how it makes my heart happy. Now that I'm in mission mode I'm going to do another collection of posts with a theme, but this time it's going to be a little better planned out. Remember how I said I'd share some scriptures that I like about the Gospel of Christ? Well how about 5 posts, one to briefly touch on each point of doctrine? 

Here's what you get to look forward to:

1. Faith
2. Repentance
3. Baptism
4. The Gift of the Holy Ghost
5. Endure to the End

Now if some of those topics seem like gibberish to you I hope that I can change that.
Also, I had a super fun time making that ridiculous picture of breakfast with faces on it, so maybe more paint illustration too?? Vote if you think I should!

Hit The Books, They Don't Hit Back

I know that most schools have started or will be starting up here in just a few days and I want to throw in my thoughts on education. This picture was taken on a day that took forever in coming. It's the day that I earned my Bachelor's Degree!

Why is it important to get an education? I highly suggesting reading this talk by Elder and Sister Oaks about the importance of further education. I thought that after I had that cap and gown in the picture above I'd be done. My official piece of paper saying that I'd slaved 4 years away was tucked safely behind a piece of glass and it was time for me to go on my merry way with life. What I didn't really have was a solid spiritual education. Think about this quote from the talk I just told you to read:

"We risk becoming what one observer called ‘pancake people’—spread wide and thin as we connect with that vast network of information accessed by the mere touch of a button.”

When is the last time that you picked up a book just to develop a skill? Have you taken the chance to just dive into something and really get to know that skill inside and out? How about the scriptures? When was the last time you pulled out The Bible or The Book of Mormon and truely "feasted upon the word"?

(Need a copy? Request them for free here!)

Lets not be "pancake people" but rather...muffin people? Solid in understanding and not spread thin!

Yep, it's a cheesy analogy but an apostle of the Lord used it in a quote so I thought it was a fair comparison to make ;)

My oh my what a mission has taught me about studying the scriptures! My testimony has grown because I have come to understand basic principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ instead of thinking that my religon was all about abstaining from coffee or tea or not watching rated R movies. What's the point of doing or not doing those things if my testimony of Christ is not strong? I have those standards because I love the Lord and I want my focus to be on Him.

Check back soon for my favorite scriptures about the Gospel of Jesus Christ!!

Who Steers the Ship? YOU DO!

Do you want to know what makes me super happy? When people leave me comments telling me that what I am writing is helping them in some way or when I find a blog post that mentions some little thing I may have said. It makes me feel like my time blogging is well spent.

My friend Felicia wrote a post about trying times and how she turns to God when she knows Satan is out to get her. Haven't we all been there? It's like Satan reads my diary sometimes and knows what exactly is killing me and he tries to drive me to the point of insanity. But I don't let him get to that point because I have control. I'm the one with the body here! I make the decisions! I learned this poem when I was about 10 years old and Fe I want to share it with you and with whoever else is out there reading.

All the water in the world,
However hard it tried,
Could never sink the smallest ship
Unless it gets inside.

And all the evil in the world,
The blackest kind of sin,
Can never hurt you the least bit
Unless you let it in.
  

I don't know who wrote this little poem but I know that it has helped me remember when I'm struggling that absolutely nothing can bring my spirit down if I choose to follow Christ.

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Pound It

Inspiration that came from a recent Things We Forget

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Once upon a time my friend drew the letters F T G F on his knuckles. And I looked at him like he was crazy. What on earth could that mean?? It doesn't even say anything. So I asked him. And he told me. (These are some stellar story telling skills of mine right now.) It stood for "Fight the Good Fight" and it came from his favorite scripture,

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith"

2 Timothy 4:7

So my little story may not seem that interesting or impressive but what it reminds me is to press on. I want to not only be able to report the words of Timothy when I finish my mission but also when this life is over and I stand before Christ at judgment day. I guess being goal oriented is majorly on my mind right now!

What are some of your goals and what are you doing to accomplish them?

Commitment Issues

I've been setting a lot of goals for myself recently for long term desires (like maybe getting a master's degree) and also for daily things I want to work on (like really actually getting up at 6:30 every morning).  But my question is, what is the point of making these goals if I'm not wholeheartedly working towards them?

My motivators

We had Zone Conference on Wednesday (basically a meeting for about 12 missionaries in the area with our Mission President) and the theme was commitment. A vital part of missionary work is extending invitations to everyone we meet. What kind of invitations you ask? Well they are simple. Things like "will you join us at church this Sunday?" or "will you read this chapter in the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it is true?"

These commitments are so important because they give people the opportunity to make a change in their life to come closer to Christ. One person we just asked to find her husband some nice pants so that he will feel comfortable coming back to church! See, its just small steps. And we all can take them.

I rededicated myself to missionary work and as a reminder I framed a picture from the Ensign of missionaries and wrote the question,

"Today am I doing my work, or am I doing the work of the Lord?"

Yep. It's hard. But I've signed up for 18 months of full time service and I need to remember why I'm doing it!



Eternal. That's What Real Love Is.

"I love to see the temple I'll go inside some day. I'll covenant with my Father; I'll promise to obey. For the Temple is a holy place where we are sealed together.

As a child of God I've learned this truth:

A family is forever."

-I Love to See the Temple by Janice Kapp Perry

Me with my mom the day that I went to the Rexburg, Idaho Temple.

I love the simplicity of a children's song and what it can teach us. Temples are the house of God and the peace and joy that come from being there are above anything else. I love the comfort that comes from knowing that my family will be forever, no matter what may happen or separate us in this life. Knowing that we will be together for eternity gives me a long term vision of how I should be treating my family with love and care. The little issues shouldn't be made into big problems. It sure isn't always easy but I know that it is worth it.