We Want Women Wednesdays: HERMANA RUPP

I have beem on my mission for almost 4 months and I have learned so much and made many changes. It's hard to even know where to begin. It is true when they say that your first convert is yourself. When I went into the MTC, it was nothing like I expected it to be. I went in there thinking I was going to learn about the Gospel and Spanish, and I did, but more then anything I learned more about myself. I realized I wasn't patient and that I really lacked Christt like love. That was somethingI had to work on and It is something that I am continually working on. I realized I took a lot of the small things for granted. I learned quickly how to put more trust in my Father in Heaven. When you have no family or friends around, prayer become my life support. I felt God's love and comfort in times when I felt like I couldn't do it anymore. The atonement became so real to me. I know that Christ knows exactly what I am going through. I felt a greater desire to change and be more like my Savior. I have felt the healing power of forgiveness and how inportant it is to forgive others.( Matterw 18:21-22 http://lds.org/scriptures/nt/matt/18?lang=eng) The Lord answers prayers through the scriptures. The Book of Mormon has great power in it. I know that the Lord speaks to us through the scriptures. I find so much peace and comfort when I read the scriptures. The Book of Mormon is true. I have really been trying to learn how the Spirit speaks to me and having enough faith to trust in the Lord and act on those promptings.

    All in all, the mission is changing me. It is continuallly molding me into the person I want to become. I am greatful for the blessing to change. I am so glad I don't have to be the person I was before. The gospel changes lifes. I am always amazed by the faith of the people in the California Santa Rosa Mossion that we teach. They so willingly accept the gospel and have such a great desire to do the things that our Heavenly father wants them to do. The Atonement is the " the good news" of this gospel We can always change! These are the things I have learned in the past few months. I have a long way to go and a lot more to learn... I am so excited. I love being a missionary!

Love,

Hermana Rupp

We Want Women Wednesdays: Hermana Leyton "All You Need is Love"

Love. It's a word that is packed with different meanings and connotations. Love for friends. Love for a neighbor. Love for family. Love of a spouse. Love of self. I came out on a mission knowing that people have told me it would be the best time of my life. I found it really hard to believe because I was just coming home from a study abroad program in Spain where I met amazing friends and people, and loved every moment of it. I could not imagine how a mission could compete with that amazing experience. 

I've been a missionary for almost 15 months. Everyday I've had on my mission is a new experience that has changed me, for the better. My priorities have changed. Everyday is an opportunity to think of others and how to help them. In Mathew 10:39 it says, "He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." I have discovered what it's really all about. Love. Forgetting yourself and loving others. Christ has taught, in John 13:34 "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." I've started to understand what that means, because when you love some one, you are going to do everything you can to help them. It means going to comfort a family who just found out that their grandmother has cancer; it means making calls all night and running errands to find clothes for someone to go to a church prom activity; it means spending many nights praying to our Heavenly Father on behalf of others.  I've had opportunities "'to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places" (Mosiah 18:9). It means giving of yourself to the people you teach and meet so much, that you love them as family. As missionaries we meet many people, and I've loved all of them so much; I did not know I had that capacity to love someone you have known for such a short period, but they become a part of you. Every time I've taught some one about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it becomes a part of me. Everyone that I've met in my mission has helped change me for the better, God has placed them in my path for a reason; it makes me think of the song, "For Good" from Wicked which says:

I've heard it said

That people come into our lives for a reason

Bringing something we must learn

And we are led

To those who help us most to grow

If we let them

And we help them in return

Well, I don't know if I believe that's true

But I know I'm who I am today

Because I knew you

 I've learned so much from every one; I think of Proverbs 17:17, "A friend loveth at all times, and a brother [aka sister] is born for adversity." I've found my best friends on my mission in my companions. (As missionaries we are with someone 24/7 that we call a companion. You eat, work, cry, comfort, and love one another together.)  I love my companions. I love the people I've taught on my mission. I love the people whom I've been a part of their conversion and baptism. I've felt Christ love for the people I've encountered on the streets. My understand of the doctrines of Christ have increased and so has my desire to follow Christ. He teaches "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15). It's so simple...keep the commandments of God (http://mormon.org/commandments/). I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ (http://mormon.org/jesus-christ/). I love my mission and it's been the best 15 months of my life and has exceeded all expectations I've ever had. I've felt the love of my Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ; I have felt the love of my God; I have felt of the truthfulness of the message I'm sharing, that the Church of Jesus Christ is on the earth again (http://mormon.org/restoration/). I know it; I know God knows it, and I cannot deny it.

Love,

Hermana Leyton

"We Want Women" Wednesdays :)

Every Wednesday, we're going to post a blog from Sister Missionaries in this mission. If you're a former sister missionary and would like to share your story, feel free to email me your stories, and we can post them.

We believe that as sisters, we can help and strengthen this work. President Monson has issued the call saying, “I admonish you to prepare for service as a missionary. Keep yourselves clean nd pure and worthy to represent the Lord. Maintain your health and strength. Study the scriptures. Where such is available, participate in seminary or institute. Familiarize yourself with the missionary handbook Preach My Gospel.” He has said of “sisters … you also make a valuable contribution as missionaries, and we welcome your service”. Elder James E. Talmage (1862–1933) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles stated that “the world’s greatest champion of woman and womanhood is Jesus the Christ” (Jesus the Christ, 3rd ed. [1916], 475). 

Apostle, Elder M. Russell Ballard has stated: "Of this you may be certain: The Lord especially loves righteous women—women who are not only faithful but filled with faith, women who are optimistic and cheerful because they know who they are and where they are going, women who are striving to live and serve as women of God. 

"My dear sisters, we believe in you. We believe in and are counting on your goodness and your strength, your propensity for virtue and valor, your kindness and courage, your strength and resilience. We believe in your mission as women of God...We believe that the Church simply will not accomplish what it must without your faith and faithfulness, your innate tendency to put the well-being of others ahead of your own, and your spiritual strength and tenacity...

"Our dispensation is not without its heroines. Countless women from every continent and walk of life have made dramatic contributions to the cause of Christ...

"Every sister in this Church who has made covenants with the Lord has a divine mandate to help save souls, to lead the women of the world, to strengthen the homes of Zion, and to build the kingdom of God...

"Every sister who stands for truth and righteousness diminishes the influence of evil. Every sister who strengthens and protects her family is doing the work of God. Every sister who lives as a woman of God becomes a beacon for others to follow and plants seeds of righteous influence that will be harvested for decades to come. Every sister who makes and keeps sacred covenants becomes an instrument in the hands of God...

"Between now and the day the Lord comes again, He needs women in every family, in every ward, in every community, in every nation who will step forward in righteousness and say by their words and their actions, 'Here am I, send me.'

"...You who have such a profound, innate spiritual ability to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd. You need never wonder again if you have worth in the sight of the Lord...Because of these unusual gifts and talents, you are vital to taking the gospel to all the world, to demonstrating that there is joy in living the way the prophets have counseled us to live...More than ever before we need women of faith, virtue, vision, and charity, as the Relief Society declaration proclaims. We need women who can hear and who will respond to the voice of the Lord...We do need women who rejoice in their womanhood and have a spiritual confirmation of their identity, their value, and their eternal destiny. Above all, we need women who will stand up for truth and righteousness and decry evil at every turn and simply say, 'Lord, here am I, send me.'

"I simply say to you, God bless the women of the Church."

M. Russell Ballard, "Women of Righteousness", Ensign, Apr. 2002, 66–73
(http://lds.org/ensign/2002/04/women-of-righteousness?lang=eng)

<3 Sister Martinez