This message brought to you today by the principle of PRAYER.

Planning. As a missionary, it's a spiritual experience. Every night, Sister Valentine and I make plans for the following day, then we pray about it. The next morning, we solidify those plans, then pray about it. And, throughout the day as we visit people, we pray about it again. As missionaries, we are looking to teach those people that Heavenly Father has prepared. Sometimes, plans fall through. Sometimes you don't feel good about your plans but you don't know how the Lord wants you to change them. This is one reason why we always pray.
  
And then miracles happen.

Sister Valentine and I were about to come into the library to use facebook and blogger when the phone rings. It was the Zone leaders calling with some great news! Remember how I mentioned yesterday that we had a couple of investigators decide they didn't want to follow the gospel? Well, one of them called back! He's a young single adult (YSA) so the elders in charge of the YSA branch were in charge of teaching and keeping in contact with him. For about a week and a half he has not showed up to any appointments or returned calls. Our zone leaders were calling because he called them, and he wants to meet with them tonight! We are so excited! Before he even called, the elders had planned to stop by his apartment to say hello that evening. It worked out perfectly.
  Part two- yes, there is more! There is another YSA named D'wyte whom the elders are teaching. D'wyte is out of town for a few weeks, but Sister Valentine and I are teaching his mom Yevette (who, by the way, is getting baptized at the end of the month!). The elders asked if they could go and visit Yevette today and talk a little bit about D'wyte. We have an appointment with her today at three, so we told the elders that we could meet them there and talk to her together. Then, the elders tell us that three o'clock was when they had planned to visit her as well!
 
 So, yes, I have a testimony of planning. I have a testimony of Heavenly Father, and that he answers prayers. When we turn our lives over to Him, the Holy Ghost can direct us in ways we can't do on our own.

 2 Nephi 32:8-9
      "And now, my beloved brethren, I perceive that ye ponder still in your hearts; and it grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing. For if ye would hearken into the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray.
      "But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always and not faint that ye must not perform anything unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul."

Day

I've decided to shift gears. Redesign if you will. For future missionaries, family, friends, and the rest of the internet world, here are my experiences. This is what it is like to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the beautiful Nasvhille, Tennessee.
 I'll start off with yesterday. Oh, yesterday... I was warned well in advance and multiple times that missions are hard. Yesterday was one of those days. I was wondering if my work was amounting to anything, if I was here for the right reasons, am I really listening to the promptings of the Holy Ghost, etc. Just missionarywhoneedstofocusonthework syndrome. I admit I was pretty bummed that, within the space of a week, the two investigators Sister Valentine and I had who had the most amazing spiritual experiences decided to make choices that weren't in line with the gospel. Dang it. And to top it all off, I received no mail for about a week and a half. None. And as a missionary, getting mail is better than payday (which we don't have actually... we pay to come out and serve).
  So I was quiet. When I am quiet, it's usually because I don't want to concern others with the sad things in my mind. And then I just look depressing. I am no poker champion when it comes to emotions. I was at the library writing down and organizing my thoughts and how I might conquer them. Right after that, Sister Valentine and I left to go to an appointment. Our apartment was on the way, so we stopped to check mail and grab a few small things. To the mailbox it is. Sister Valentine opened it up, and there were not one, not two, but SIX letters!! Two for Sister Valentine and four for me! I could not believe it. Then I saw the return addresses... I had no idea who these people were. I saw the name "elder" (the term we use for boy missionaries) written on every single one. Sister Valentine's dear sweet missionary friend serving in Washington state had some of the elders in his district write me a few letters welcoming me to the mission field. I've been out for about four weeks now. Each letter had its own words of encouragement for me to pray, focus on the gospel, and stay happy, because this gospel is a happy one!
  Those four elders did so much for me yesterday that they don't even know. They related to me what it is like to be new, to not know your way around as well as you'd like in the life of a missionary, and how you can overcome it. It was exactly what I needed.
  So, this new start goes out to Elder Ottley, Elder Smith, Elder Bale, and Elder Liu from the Kennewick, Washington mission. Props to you for helping this missionary remember her purpose and helping her come closer to Christ!

Return

Latter-Day Saints know that we lived with Heavenly Father as spirit children before we lived on earth. He made for us a way that we could return to live with Him with a glorified and perfected body, just like He has. In order for us to have such a priviledge, we came to earth to be tested.
  I don't like to use that word "tested." I like to think of life as a great project, and at the end we can show Heavenly Father what we made from what He gave us. We must follow the example of Jesus Christ and follow the prophets. Each special child created by God has a special plan just for them. No two lives are identicle, and at the end when we present our lives to God, each will be just as precious and unique.
  We can't remember our life before because we have to make choices. We have agency, or the ability to choose what we do, whatever we do. In the end, we are judged according to our works and the desires of our hearts. Because we are in this fallen state, not remembering our God, we make mistakes. Through Jesus Christ, we can one day become clean and ready to present ourselves before our eternal Heavenly Father.
                                   
 Faith, dear friends. Courage take, put your trust in Him who created all things bright and beautiful on this earth. It is as simple as the first step of faith to walk towards Him.
 
-Sister Franson

Agency

I absolutely love being a missionary. Sharing such a wonderful and pure message of Jesus Christ strenghtens and lifts my spirits. Sometimes it's heartbreaking when others hear you but don't take the time or care to listen. Sister Valentine and I have shared many times our testimony of the Book of Mormon and our faith in the gospel. Almost everyone we teach agrees with our values and teachings. It just... confuses me that someone can know something but not act upon what they know. It's like knowing the law of gravity. A person can be taught about the law of gravity. You can clearly see the law of gravity work when you watch something fall, but for some reason people think that their personal, temporal priorities are more important than that law. These are the people that try to fly, only to fall back on the ground. Gravity is still there, still affecting your life whether you choose to believe it or not. It's only until we understand the law- God's law- that we can do something greater than ourselves and see the miracles that He places in our lives.
  As part of this life, the Lord has given us the gift of agency. We have the power to choose in every situation. We can make choices that please Heavenly Father and receive blessings or not. When we learn about Heavenly Father, we learn what He would have us do. When we obey His commandments, we receive blessings. It is as simple as that. Obedience is not always easy, but it's a simple price we pay to give up ourselves to become something more wonderful than we can imagine. Be not afraid to obey the commandments of God.

 "I must obey. Amen."
   -Nephi