Step It Up in September!

It's time for a new challenge kids! (Why does my internet typing voice always want to address what I'm saying to little people?)  So anyway, welcome to September. The month of freshly sharpened pencils, squeaky white rubber soles on tennis shoes, and backpacks that don't smell like last's months lunch leftovers yet. Unless you live in Kentucky and school started a month ago. But in growing up in California this was always back to school time. It's really odd to me to not be enrolled in classes this fall and I've got to keep my brain actively learning so it doesn't get all rusty like this sweater that I'm wearing.

 

I'm hoping that anyone who is reading this also is on team "don't-let-your-brain-turn-into-jello" when it comes to this time of the year. Since I'm so nice and helpful (and humble) I'd like to invite you to join me in a 30 day challenge to read the Book of Mormon. Now it isn't one of those things where the point is to read the whole book. In fact I hope you DON'T read the whole thing.

Read from the Book of Mormon for at least 15 minutes every day.
Say a simple prayer before and after you read.
For 30 days.
That's it!

Ooh, plus, invite ONE friend to join in on the challenge with you.

The purpose of this challenge is to get in a healthy habit of reading the scriptures every day. Specifically the Book of Mormon because I know the power that comes from that little blue book. Another LeVar Burton moment where I say "you don't have to take my word for it". Try it out! Leave me a comment if you're participating please :)

If you want to get a bonus blessing you can begin the challenge by reading President Henry B. Eyring's testimony of the Libro de Mormon right here. And this quote from that link:

"Joseph Smith said of that precious book, 'I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.'"

That's a pretty bold and straightforward promise! And if you're stubbon like some people I know and need just one extra sign or testimony of the truth, you can read this article from the Prophet Thomas S. Monson about the promises of the Book of Mormon.

One more thing I'd like to add on. This challenge is NOT just for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The Book of Mormon is for everyone! If you don't have a copy of this book go to this website and you can get one for free. Some nice missionaries like myself will bring you a copy of your own.

Download your reading calender HERE for free! (save file and print!)

Facing My Fears

What do I fear?

Sharks.

Papercuts.

Dirty Bathrooms.

Clown Zombies.

Obesity.

Abandonment.

Failure.

It's blatantly obvious that when I started this blog I was facing some big time fears. For heaven's sake that's where the name came from. My point was to teach other people how my faith is helping me overcome the things that terrify me. Perhaps not things like sharks. Those will always give me the creeps. The question is, have I faced the real fears yet? Have I stepped my game up to learn to have faith instead? In some cases, yes. In the more serious cases, probably not.

I don't want to just get rid of these things because they bother me, but for this reason:

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A prison where we build the walls up around ourselves one brick at a time. I don't want to trap myself into a holding cell a moment longer. I will admit that sometimes I try to pick up a brick and my fingers get stuck in the mortar. The way to get those walls knocked down for good? Like my friend Yevette always says "just keep swimmin'" and "read those scrips!"

"Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you; and ye shall bear record of me, even Jesus Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that I was, that I am, and that I am to come." -- Doctrine and Covenants 68:6

I love blogging because of the great people that I've met online and their stories that they've shared with me. I have a few friends in mind that I'd like to share with you and I'm going to start with this great girl!  Al joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 2009 and since then she's been sharing the joy that she's found through awesomely inspiring youtube videos and images. She truely is using the internet for the reason it was created, to spread the gospel!

[blog] {twitter} (youtube)

[enos 1:7-8]

Have you seen her video Dear Elder yet? It really touched my heart when I read the letters she wrote to the missionaries who introduced her to the gospel of Christ. This week she's been my motivator and a constant little voice in the back of my brain saying "Don't give up! You can do it!" 

[alma 5:12]

Sometimes I worry too much about what other people may think of what I'm writing or if it's even worth my time. Even before I left on my mission it was almost like I was sort of ashamed of my faith. When I said I was giving up a year and a half of "free time" to preach the gospel I got some weird looks and I felt pretty judged. The people here in the south are curing me of that nice and fast. People here are not ashamed! They are proud to let everyone else know how much they love Jesus!

[genesis 1:31]

And it doesn't really matter what those naysayers may think because I love it. I've seen the joy that comes from my friends joining God's church and the pure happiness they have gained. I know that my Reedemer lives and He wants us all to find this same happiness!

Thank you Miss Al Fox for your determination to not defend, but to define the gospel with as many as you can! 

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' :)

Whoops!

I've promised a few people that a post would be coming about journaling and what do you know, I'm once again at the library with my notes left at home.

What I will share today is something that I wrote in one of those journals I forgot to blog about. When I was making a list of reasons I was happy am on a mission and the things I think I'm sacrificing to be here I had a realization. I left behind an ok life to experience a fantastic one! Lets face it I wasn't exactly the most dedicated person 6 months ago. My biggest determination was that I was going on a mission, not necessarily staying, but I would go.  Now that I have actually taken the opportunity to lose myself in the work and service for others it's turned into something that I love and I see the importance of sharing my faith with less hesitation when I'm in "the real world"

“We have to forgo some good things in order to choose others that are better or best because they develop faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and strengthen our families.” -Dallin H. Oaks

Today a part of me might be wishing that I could be sitting at a sewing machine making fancy schmancy blocks for a quilt or listening to music with my brother or cooking with my mom and grandma for the holidays or laughing at some weird thing my little sisters said but in the eternal scheme of things my dedication right now to others is going to bring greater happiness for them and for my family! This one is for y'all back at home!

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 :)

Mission Conference!

Do you ever have one of those super wonderful awesome perfect days? Today is one of mine! There are 140 of us missionaries serving in western Kentucky and middle Tennessee right now and we were so blessed today to join together for a conference where we heard from Elder D. Todd Christofferson, an apostle of God. Apostle you say? Like in the Bible? Apostles like Peter, James, Paul, and John? Yes! We have 12 living apostles on the earth today in the same order and organization that Christ established during His ministry!

(Picture taken by Kate Lifferth)



We only had a few hours to join together and listen to several talks shared by our Mission President and his wife, an area authority, and Elder Christofferson and his wife. We then had a chance to ask a few questions.

Most of what I learned during this meeting was the importance of spiritual preparation on a daily basis.

I have 2 hours set aside every day to study the scriptures and I have seen that time in my morning change my life. Sister Christofferson compared that vital scripture study time to charging a cell phone. If you don't charge the phone you can't talk on it! And if you don't study the scriptures you're not going to be prepared to hear God's answers to your prayers! Funny how I've been hearing that all my life but now it's really starting to sink in.

*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.

*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!

*First Blossom*

I had to start the week of art off with this painting for a few reasons. One is that it is my FAVORITE that I'll be sharing and well, today is my birthday! So of course the best things must be shown!

I was so excited to find out that this painting, First Blossom by Annie Henrie was displayed at BYU as a piece in the artist's BFA portfolio. On the website about the gallery display shared her short description of her work.



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"This painting is about new life, and the process of regeneration, and how on spiritual, physical, and emotional planes we experience death and rebirth. This painting focuses on the wonder of that rebirth, and the miracle it is to be able to begin again."

I saw different significance in this painting. When I look at this I see myself with two of my sisters. I am the one on the left, S is in the middle, and R is on the right. I feel at peace looking at this painting and perhaps the blossom that we are gazing upon is symbolic of the joy found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Something about this image just makes me smile! I can't help myself!

Truth On Earth!

Sister Valentine and I just watched a 20 minute version of this movie with a woman we have been teaching for a few weeks.  At first she said to us "Well sure, I guess we can watch the movie but in 15 or 20 minutes I have to leave to go pick a little boy up from school, so this better go quick!"  As soon as we put the dvd in she said "That isn't going to work! The sound hasn't been going through for a few weeks now" We knew that it was divine inspiration that we even found this dear lady at home this afternoon and we had planned to share the video with her. We were not going to give up because of a technology malfunction! Sister Valentine fidgeted with a few wires and It looked like she reached over and unplugged it.  Needless to  say, it worked!  The sound resumed on the TV and we were able to share this incredible movie with her about the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the prophet Joseph Smith.

The miracle of this day, there was nothing special about how Sister Valentine went about fixing the plugs and cords. She and I were both at that moment saying a prayer in our hearts, pleading that she would be able to fix the dvd player so that we could share this touching video with her.

I know that God answered our righteous desires because  this sweet lady needed the message we shared. When it came to the climax of the movies, the vision that Joseph Smith had of God the Father and Jesus Christ she had the biggest grin on her face and she was just gasping in delight at the beauty of it. She told us afterwards, "How sad it is that people reject this because it is good and it is from God!" She just bore this simple sweet testimony that she knows God and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith.

I want to invite anyone who reads this to take 20 minutes and go to the link above, or even better, this video below is only an hour. Watchi  it. Pay attention to how you feel as you watch it. And Pray to ask God to Know that it is true. Absolutely anyone can receive the witness that this woman we are teaching has had. This is true. God has restored His church through His prophet!!!

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!

Maybe My focus Isn't That Great

I've recently written a post about baptism and I'm already kind of losing steam on the mini-series (why does that always happen??) So click HERE to go back to the post about baptism :)

Some suggestions for scripture study are 2 Nephi 31:4-8 , Matthew 3:13-17 , and Moroni 8:25-26

White As Snow

Ok kids! Sorry it took me so long to get this next post out. Do you want to know why? Because I've moved! I'm in Nashville now!! And it is just wonderful. I haven't even been here a full day but I can see how great the work has been going here and I know there are so many miracles to come.

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(No time for pictures on this post so I thought I'd find one of my new home!)

So back to the plot of the story here. Are you ready for the Gospel of Christ topic #2? It's repentance!

What is a definition of repentance you ask? It is a way to become clean from sin, or how we ask God to forgive us of the things that we do wrong. We all make mistakes. I probably make more than the average person. I know that repentance has been an immense blessing in my life and it has shaped me into the person that I am today.

There are a few steps that I want to cover:

1. Recognize that you've done something wrong.

(Because um, why would you try to change if you didn't think you had done anything wrong in the first place?)

2. Pray and Ask for forgiveness. (A really great scripture to read about this step can be found in D&C 58:43)

3. Make Restitution, or in other words, if you've offended someone, go apologize. If you've stolen something, pay for it. If it is a serious sin go to the Bishop and he can help you through the repentance process.

4. Don't Do It Again! What an important step of repentance! You've done this great work to try to give up a sin and become clean from it so do everything you can to never do it again! You may slip up, sometimes taht happens. But it is so important to show that commitment to God to promise to never make those same mistakes again.

I know that these steps seem simple and so basic. A quote from our manual Preach My Gospel says "repentance includes forming a fresh view of God, ourselves and the world. When we repent we feel godly sorrow, then we stop doing things that are wrong and we start doing things that are right." That pretty much sums up the basics of this entire post. In two sentances. What an idea, that we can form a fresh view of God and our entire lives just through giving up our sins through repentance.

Ah, it feels so good!

 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Isaiah 1:18

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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The Desire to Create

I want you to watch this video before you get into the goodness that is this blog post

(I deleted the video and just made a link to it because it was on autoplay. Annoying. Uplifting yes, but still a bit annoying.)

Ah! Are you just so inspired now to go out into the world and create something?? One thing that was the biggest sacrifice for me to serve a mission is that I gave up my craft time. It may sound like a frivolous thing but its been pretty hard for me. I minored in Clothing Construction in college, worked in a quilt shop for 8 months, and then sewed every day after work for 5 more months and that brings us up to this point! I was worried that I would be heartbroken and lost without my hands working on a project.

I have found that service has filled my heart in those places that I thought would be void.

But every now and then it's great to get my hands in the glue, paint, and thread!

Here is what Camilla and I did yesterday!

We got the idea from Elsie's blog and scoured Goodwill for some well loved art prints in decently priced frames. And by decently priced I mean $2.50. YES! 

Here we are in the crafting stages. The lyrics on mine come from the song Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. Camilla's are from the children's song Love One Another.

Ready to attack those things with spray paint!!

I don't know if I can put into words just how happy it made me to create some things yesterday (I also found the dress that I'm wearing in these pictures at the Goodwill and altered it!).  Hopefully this little wall piece that I've made will bless someone's life because it's going to be too bulky to pack around with me. That's really the greatest part of creativity to me, the blessing that my talent can be for other people. 

Right now the talent that I am developing is opening my mouth to share the gospel of Jesus Christ! It's one that requires complete focus and attention and I am grateful for the chance that I have every day to share what I know with the people around me. I have been so blessed to spend time here in Kentucky getting to know my brothers and sisters that I never would have met unless I had come out here to serve them!

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?

Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me

I love most all things nautical. This love may have stemmed from my Dad's obsession with Popeye or from growing up playing in the ocean. My fear of sharks is unbelieveably ridiculous so not all pieces of this obsession really make sense.

Proof of the Popeye fanaticism. This is my first Halloween!

You may be wondering at this point ok, nice story, what does this have to do with anything? Lets try to make a connection here Sister McCall! Here it is!

I love studying parables in the scriptures because they are stories that teach principles of the gospel in a way that applied to the lives of those present. It wouldn't do much good to teach with an analogy they didn't understand! (You know I don't understand fishing metaphors!!! Name that movie?) 

During His ministry several of Christ's disicples were fishermen and he taught them how to spread the good news of the gospel by saying "come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men." Mark 1:16-17 

So this applies to me how? I'm not a fisherman. How do I come to understand these passages today? Well I do have that fascination of the ocean and I have really come to love these sea-faring scriptures through music. I posted a link to some Hymns last week and I suggested listening to the "Master the Tempest is Raging". I'm going to share that link again but this time listen to "Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me."

My thoughts are not always as organized as I'd like them to be and I have a few other thoughts about ocean/fishing/sailor things that I have come to love in the scriptures.  So hopefully this will become a little series of posts so I can share just one idea at a time.

Check out a new link in the "goodies" section of the blog to find the image that got me thinking about this topic!

Music Heals The Soul

Just watch the video. My words won't do it justice.