Final Farewell

Today was Chelstiene's last farewell. Yes, she had the "privilege" of doing two of them. She did awesome on both of the considering her nerves. The second one went much quicker because it was the same as the first one and she had it memorized. Same laughs and giggles. Family and friends came to see her which wasn't' easy since church was at 9:00 am.

Only 3 days left till she leaves till she leaves for the MTC. Then she will be off to Portland Oregon for 18 months.

She will be an amazing Missionary.

Here is a copy of her talk for those who missed it or would just like a copy.

Missionary work

It took me a long time to finally accept that I was supposed to go on a mission. When Pres. Monson first announced that young women could go on a mission at 19 years old, I had a feeling that I should go on a mission, but it didn’t seem realistic for me because I have a cat and a dog and car loan I need to take care of. So I brushed the feeling aside and moved on. But every time I would go to church someone would always find a way to talk about missionary work and I would get a feeling that it was meant for me and I should for on a mission, but I’m a very suborn person and I would just brush away the feeling I kept having because I felt like it wasn’t realistic for me to go on a mission with all the responsibilities I have taken on.

 At the same time all this was happening I started a new job through a temp. Agency and I was working as hard as I could to become permanently hired onto this very stressful job. I was very good at my job and always got high scores on my calls, but something inside of me kept saying I wasn’t going to be at the job for a long time. Which made me freak out and I somehow made myself sick to my stomach.

This all went on for about six months and when the third week of February came around and the lord is as stubborn as I am and I had this undeniable feeling that I needed to pray and ask if I was suppose to go on a mission. At this point I was scared to ask because I already knew the answer to my question. While I was on my way to work the next day I sat in my car and prayed.

Now let me tell ya! When Heavenly Father answers my prayers he makes sure I have no excuses to not do what I need to do. Right after my lunch break I was sent in a room with four women and our boss explained to us that the company had hired too many people and they had to let go about 150 of us and we were part of that group. So long story short I was laid off.

That day I called my mom and told her that I needed to talk to her after I cried about being laid off. That night I told her that I needed to go on a mission but I didn’t know what to do with my pets and my car payment, and my mom gladly said that she would take of my pets and my car for me while I was gone.

That Sunday I talked to my Bishop about going on a mission and had all my dental work and my doctor appointment completed, But like every missionary I went through my trials and I didn’t get my mission call until June. But it’s here and I’m going to Portland Oregon August 28^th and I couldn’t be any happier.

What is missionary work?

The Lord has declared that missionary work is the responsibility of all who follow Him (see Matthew 28:19–20; D&C 88:81). Members of the Lord's Church can, by the goodness of their lives and the strength of their testimonies, share the gospel message and help prepare family members, friends, and other acquaintances who are not Latter-day Saints to be taught by the full-time missionaries.

When we experience the blessings of gospel living, we naturally want to share those blessings with others. The Lord spoke of the joy that comes into our lives when we share His gospel.

Ensign, May 1997, 47–50).

When I was younger my family was not active in the church. My sister was baptized when she was 9, but that was about it. When my sister started her 9^th grade year of school she decided to go to Seminary and check it out. She always talked highly about her seminary class and loved that class. Then one day she asked my brother and I if we would like to have the missionaries come over. I didn’t think much of it at the time but I thought it sounded like a fun idea. It took some time for my sister’s seminary teacher to find the missionaries in our area but when he did the missionaries started coming over regularly. The only missionary I remember was Elder Clark he was from Canada. He went through so many partners I don’t remember any of their names, but I do remember that we always had a great time with them and they would always check in with us to make sure everything was ok. Thanks to the missionaries I was baptized when I was 12 and I have been active ever sense then.

In order for missionaries to be successful it takes a great deal of help from the wards. The wards are important because they help the missionaries find investigators and they also need to help the new converts feel welcome to the ward and their new environment. If it wasn’t for young women’s I think I probably would have fallen from the church. Throughout young women’s I have had six different sets of leaders. Now that I look back I know that each one of my leaders were meant to teach me something new and were sent to me to give strength and to help me gain a bigger testimony of the church.  All of my leaders have had different personalities and have always brought something new to the table. I am very grateful for all the things my leaders have done for me.

I also like being able to have Preach My Gospel early. While I would read it I would come up with more questions and I would be able to ask my Grandma or Jeff and they would be able to explain it to me better to so that when a investigator asks me the same question I will know the answer.

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