Day 29

Today I want to talk about how grateful I am to have a patriarchal blessing.  I got mine kind of a while ago; it was the absolute perfect time for me to get my blessing.  My patriarchal blessing has helped me so much throughout my life, even though I'm not even that old haha...especially in high school.  It gives me hope for the future and the present.  Each time I read through it, something different sticks out to me that I may not have noticed or interpreted in the same way before.

When I first got my blessing I was still a young teenager and I had little desire whatsoever to go on a mission.  I couldn't imagine leaving my family for that long and going to an unknown place.  Also, my mom would joke with me and say that I would go to Ethiopia or another third world country.  I was actually really terrified by that thought at the time.  So, when I got my blessing and it said that one day I would be blessed to preach the gospel to those who are awaiting the Lord's message, I got really nervous.  I would try to justify things by telling myself that it would be when I'm old and can go with my husband or that I would share the gospel with my friends, but for some reason I knew that it wasn't the case.  For the longest time I was really scared and unsure because I didn't want to go on a mission.  However, as I went through high school, things started to change.  First off, my testimony grew exponentially.  Second, my cousin Tricia decided to go on a mission.  While she was on her mission I would read the emails she sent back and see the joy that she found while sharing the gospel.  It made me feel a burning desire in my heart to do the same.  I'm not quite sure of the exact moment when everything clicked into place, but I finally knew that a mission was the right thing for me to do.

Last night I was reading my patriarchal blessing and I came across that same phrase about serving a mission that I have read so many times.  I'm not sure why, but this time I started to cry.  This is embarrassing but I'm even crying right now thinking about it.  I felt the spirit so strongly as I read that phrase once again.  A mission has become such an important goal for me, and I know with every part of me that it is the right thing to do.  It may not be right for everyone, but for me at this time in my life it is the absolute best thing.  It's just so interesting to think of the change that happened to me in 6 short years.  I can't believe that I once had no desire to serve a mission.  I'm so grateful that the opportunity has come though, and that I can leave right when I turn 19.  It is such a blessing.  I cannot wait to preach the gospel to the people who I serve, wherever I go.

Today I was reading in Mosiah 28.  Verse 3 really stuck out to me.  It tells us of the reasons why the sons of Mosiah went to serve missions.  I know that I do have the desire to bring people to salvation, but my goal is to feel it with the same magnitude that the sons of Mosiah did.  "Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not ^abear that any human ^bsoul should ^cperish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure ^dendless torment did cause them to quake and ^etremble" (Mosiah 28:3).  

I love this gospel so much!  I'm so grateful for my patriarchal blessing and the hope and guidance that it brings into my life.  I'm also grateful to one day be able to serve a mission.

This movie is so awesome!  It's about sister missionaries in Austria.