OK: So I started attending the Olympia YSA Branch and immediately I was put to work. **Back Story: I took ASL (American Sign Language) all through High School and even some in College** The first thing I noticed during Sacrament Meeting was the cute little blond girl at the front of the chapel, signing to a guy in the front row. I was sooo excited!!!! I have such a great passion for Sign Language but I really never get to use it. I introduced myself to them after and they had me interpret during Sunday School. MOST HUMBLING MOMENT EVER. I was terrified and so overwhelmed. They don't teach you religious signs in school so i was stumbling over every word. But they were so gracious and so loving and so excited to accept me and teach me. Over the next few weeks I began to make some great friends and I was called to serve in the Relief Society Presidency as the 1st Counselor. That was so humbling and also such a great experience. I was able to serve in a capacity I had never experienced before. I remember being so overwhelmed and so thrown off because I had a responsibility to LOVE these sisters... but I didn't know any of them!!I remember so many moments sitting in Presidency meetings, talking about Sisters we were concerned about, or needed to give an assignment to, or ones we were going to visit and I wouldn't know who they were and I would be so frustrated with myself for not knowing them. And then one day, there was a new sister in our ward that I had kicked it off with and she was brought up in a meeting and I knew who she was, and got to fill everyone in on her and no one else knew her. I was so excited and immediately this love that I was suppose to inherently have just landed on me. The best thing was that I not only felt all of this love that I had for these Sisters, but I saw who Heavenly Father knew them to be and felt how much He loved them, individually. Through that I understood better who He needed me to be for them and how I was able to use my gifts and talents to care for them in this stewardship and responsibility I had for them.
Wow, that rant came out of nowhere, sorry about that. I mean, I'm not, if I really was I would have deleted it.
Anywho. So life continued, I was taking the temple prep class, studying, doing the little i could to prepare myself for the mission that seemed so far away. But the real preparation came through living my life every day. I was working for so many families and they were all so very different. I had such a rare experience that really touched my heart. I had received a call from a mother who needed an occasional sitter. So the first time I went over to her house to meet her and sit for her, she had a Doctors appointment because she was pregnant. She came home that afternoon in tears and immediately I knew what had happened. I almost started crying. All I could think to do was give her a hug, but I had just met this woman four hours ago and she wasn't a part of this culture that we have in the church, hugs were a bit crossing the line. So i stood there, awkward as all get out, and offered my sympathies and told her that I am here for her whenever she needed me. And we became so close and invested in each others' lives. This one unfortunate moment had made us great friends. After a while she became pregnant again there was one day she was having some pains and she had asked me to come babysit so she could go to the doctors but i was working. So we texted for a little bit and I had this unique opportunity to bare my testimony about faith and trusting in the Lord and his timing and his Plan. She was so scared (I can't even imagine) and I knew that whatever I had to say wouldn't be enough. it had to be words from our Heavenly Father, she had to know that things were going to be ok no matter what was going on. So I testified. and she responded so graciously and so lovingly. That was a moment that I realized why we are asked to serve missions. People need the gospel in their lives. They need faith. they need to know that there is a plan and a purpose to everything.
So many of these moments presented themselves to me. I was not working for a single LDS family. But they were all so accepting of me and so curious and we could talk so openly. It was great! I also go to hear some of the crazy misconceptions and myths that people have about us.
It was a much different environment living in Washington, where the church is not nearly as populated, compared to Arizona where I have four church buildings with in ten minutes of me and soon to be a Temple.
Which was another thing i truly loved. I would go to the temple every week and it was the greatest blessing in my life. things that usually would be so hard for me started getting easier and I became more aware of the Lords hand in my life.
*Spoiler alert - huge moment of pride and weakness coming up in the next paragraph**
There was a time, after I had been going to the temple so often, that I became very annoyed with doing Baptisms. I was sick of being this 20 year old, "so mature and wise" (I can see my dad rolling his eyes now), stuck in a room of obnoxious, irreverent, and immature 13 year olds. I wanted to go and feel the spirit, I wanted to be uplifted, I wanted to have great spiritual moments, but they were continuously interrupted by giggling, and talk of this crush and that gossip. I was also frustrated that I was stuck doing such a trivial task. I had been doing Baptisms for 8 years! hadn't I learned enough yet? One particular visit I was feeling very frustrated by all of this. There was a large group of youth there being very irreverent and I just wanted some peace and quiet. I looked over at a girl next to me, not a part of of the group, reading the scriptures. At that moment I felt a big honkin' baseball bat hit me upside the head and say "Hey, you with the big head and prideful heart, stop being such a brat and learn something". So I did just that. I said a quick prayer, asking for some major forgiveness and for a spirit of learning and peace. I got up, grabbed a set of scriptures, and started reading everything I could about Baptism. I was so surprised by how much I learned in that 15 minutes of study. especially about an ordinance that I have been engaging in since I was 8 years old. I became so excited for this work that I was doing and so grateful for those obnoxious 13 year old who were choosing to be in such a holy place when so many of their peers weren't. I was overcome with love and understanding. I also got the biggest piece of Humble Pie I have ever had to eat. I realized that this was another teaching moment about the mission for me. A big part of my purpose was to bring people to be baptized, to take that first step in living the gospel. how on earth was I suppose to preach about the importance of baptism if I was annoyed by participating in it myself? Glad that Heavenly Father had my back on that one. :)
(I just realized how long this post is getting)
I will probably save the next few adventures for another post seeing as you are all probably getting extremely bored reading about my life lessons.
I am so grateful for these experiences that I have had and I am so glad that My Heavenly Father knows me so well that He placed me in the exact place I needed to be in order to learn these crucial lessons.
Until next time!! - Jessie Mae
Wow, that rant came out of nowhere, sorry about that. I mean, I'm not, if I really was I would have deleted it.
Anywho. So life continued, I was taking the temple prep class, studying, doing the little i could to prepare myself for the mission that seemed so far away. But the real preparation came through living my life every day. I was working for so many families and they were all so very different. I had such a rare experience that really touched my heart. I had received a call from a mother who needed an occasional sitter. So the first time I went over to her house to meet her and sit for her, she had a Doctors appointment because she was pregnant. She came home that afternoon in tears and immediately I knew what had happened. I almost started crying. All I could think to do was give her a hug, but I had just met this woman four hours ago and she wasn't a part of this culture that we have in the church, hugs were a bit crossing the line. So i stood there, awkward as all get out, and offered my sympathies and told her that I am here for her whenever she needed me. And we became so close and invested in each others' lives. This one unfortunate moment had made us great friends. After a while she became pregnant again there was one day she was having some pains and she had asked me to come babysit so she could go to the doctors but i was working. So we texted for a little bit and I had this unique opportunity to bare my testimony about faith and trusting in the Lord and his timing and his Plan. She was so scared (I can't even imagine) and I knew that whatever I had to say wouldn't be enough. it had to be words from our Heavenly Father, she had to know that things were going to be ok no matter what was going on. So I testified. and she responded so graciously and so lovingly. That was a moment that I realized why we are asked to serve missions. People need the gospel in their lives. They need faith. they need to know that there is a plan and a purpose to everything.
So many of these moments presented themselves to me. I was not working for a single LDS family. But they were all so accepting of me and so curious and we could talk so openly. It was great! I also go to hear some of the crazy misconceptions and myths that people have about us.
It was a much different environment living in Washington, where the church is not nearly as populated, compared to Arizona where I have four church buildings with in ten minutes of me and soon to be a Temple.
Which was another thing i truly loved. I would go to the temple every week and it was the greatest blessing in my life. things that usually would be so hard for me started getting easier and I became more aware of the Lords hand in my life.
*Spoiler alert - huge moment of pride and weakness coming up in the next paragraph**
There was a time, after I had been going to the temple so often, that I became very annoyed with doing Baptisms. I was sick of being this 20 year old, "so mature and wise" (I can see my dad rolling his eyes now), stuck in a room of obnoxious, irreverent, and immature 13 year olds. I wanted to go and feel the spirit, I wanted to be uplifted, I wanted to have great spiritual moments, but they were continuously interrupted by giggling, and talk of this crush and that gossip. I was also frustrated that I was stuck doing such a trivial task. I had been doing Baptisms for 8 years! hadn't I learned enough yet? One particular visit I was feeling very frustrated by all of this. There was a large group of youth there being very irreverent and I just wanted some peace and quiet. I looked over at a girl next to me, not a part of of the group, reading the scriptures. At that moment I felt a big honkin' baseball bat hit me upside the head and say "Hey, you with the big head and prideful heart, stop being such a brat and learn something". So I did just that. I said a quick prayer, asking for some major forgiveness and for a spirit of learning and peace. I got up, grabbed a set of scriptures, and started reading everything I could about Baptism. I was so surprised by how much I learned in that 15 minutes of study. especially about an ordinance that I have been engaging in since I was 8 years old. I became so excited for this work that I was doing and so grateful for those obnoxious 13 year old who were choosing to be in such a holy place when so many of their peers weren't. I was overcome with love and understanding. I also got the biggest piece of Humble Pie I have ever had to eat. I realized that this was another teaching moment about the mission for me. A big part of my purpose was to bring people to be baptized, to take that first step in living the gospel. how on earth was I suppose to preach about the importance of baptism if I was annoyed by participating in it myself? Glad that Heavenly Father had my back on that one. :)
(I just realized how long this post is getting)
I will probably save the next few adventures for another post seeing as you are all probably getting extremely bored reading about my life lessons.
I am so grateful for these experiences that I have had and I am so glad that My Heavenly Father knows me so well that He placed me in the exact place I needed to be in order to learn these crucial lessons.
Until next time!! - Jessie Mae
No comments:
Post a Comment