Little Angel Jordan

I flipped through my scriptures after church as I did my personal study. My companion was sitting next to me on the couch reading in Ether. As I flipped I noticed a picture I had cut out of an Ensign and stuck in my scriptures earlier in my mission.

I studied the picture a little bit. It was a picture of Christ as he performed the atonement. There was another figure in the picture. An angel, sent to comfort Him in a time of dire need.

I read the verse underlined in red on the page. 

"And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him."

-Luke 22:43

As I thought about it I realized this is the only time we ever hear about this angel. We don't know his or her name, or their story. Only that they were called to comfort Christ.

But as I sat there I started to ponder what this Angels story may be. 

For the sake of this story I decided to refer to this angel as a girl, being a sister missionary myself, but I don't know for sure. I also decided to give her a name. I decided to call her Jordan. As I sat staring at this picture a story started to unfold in my mind and I quickly wrote it down. This story is fiction and I don't claim any of it to be true, but it taught me something. I decided to dedicate it to my trainee, Sister Hart. I hope you can learn something from it too.

Jordan was a new angel. She was small and had only made the decision to be an angel a short time before. Her wings felt uncomfortable and heavy to carry as she was not quite used to them yet, and her robes fit a little too loose because they were a size too big. 

Jordan awoke early in the morning and stretched out her wings. 6:30 am and class started in 20 minutes. She yawned as she grabbed her bag and ran out the door.

She got to the long hallway where the classrooms were. Because Jordan was a new angel she had extra training classes to attend everyday. She was the last angel to sit down so she took the last empty seat in the back of the room. She pulled out her notes and started to write down the steps that were written on the board for creating miracles for the people on earth. 

1. Find someone with a lot of faith
2. Give them a prompting
3. Reward them for acting

The teacher asked for a demonstration. The whole class looked down on earth and one of the more experienced Angels quickly made a miracle happen in South America. After a few minutes several other people in the room had successfully accomplished this task. "I'll never be able to do this" she thought to herself. She struggled to complete the task and the teacher said that anyone who was not able to do it would have to take the assignment home as homework. The bell rang and she left the room to head to her next class.

Her next class was choir. She sat down in the second row and started to talk to the girl next to her. "I've never really been a singer." She whispered. Is it hard? "No" the girl responded, "but I've been training to be in this choir my whole earthly life." She continued, "I started singing when I was young. By high school I was the in my schools choir, and I eventually got my masters in vocal performances and sang with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir." 

The teacher came to the front of the room and explained that all are welcome to join this choir and that nobody will be turned away so they should feel free to come and join bring their friends. And she asked the choir to begin with vocal exercises. Although the teacher had said the class was open to everyone and that you didn't need any past experience, Jordan still felt out of place as she realized that many of the people in the room had been professional singers while on earth and she didn't really know how to read music. As soon as the bell rang she slipped quickly out of the room.

Her next class was called "the ministering of Angels."  Jordan was excited about this class. It was all about comforting others. But as soon as the teacher started talking she put her face into her hands on her desk. Tears started to fill her eyes as she thought about how hard angel work is. "I'll never be able to be an angel" she thought as she remembered watching her angel friends do angel friends fluidly as if second nature to them. 

As she sat their with tears coming to her eyes a voice came over the intercom system. She listened as she heard the voice ask if Jordan could come down to the office to talk with Father.

Panic started to flash through her mind. She must be in trouble. It must mean she's not doing good enough in her angel training. 

She got to Father's office and knocked on the big door feeling smaller than ever before. 

"Come in" she heard from the other side and she opened the door and entered the room and sat in the big white chair.

Father had a smile on His face and welcomed her into the room. He asked her how her training was going and how she felt about being an angel. She said it was going okay but she didn't feel like she was the best angel. 

What He said next surprised her. Father said "Jordan, I want to call you as a comforting angel. And I don't want to call you as just any comforting angel. I want you to be the angel to comfort Christ, my Son when He performs the atonement."

"Me?" she thought. "But I'm not the best angel. I'm new and I don't know as much as the older angels. There must be someone better than me for this calling."

"Jordan" He said. "I want you for this job. You have been given special talents and gifts specifically for this task. I know you can do it."

She sat up a little taller in her chair. Maybe she would be able to do it. A few weeks later she fulfilled the call that she was given to comfort the Savior of the world.

This little angel taught me that we have all been given callings greater than ourselves. Sometimes we might feel inadequate. Sometimes we might look at the tasks that we've been given as something too big for us to accomplish. But our Father in Heaven knows us. He knows what we are capable of. As we do our best to fulfill the call that we've been given to serve others we will find that we are lifted up in the process. 

So to my trainee, Sister Hart, I just want to say that on your mission you may be called to do things that seem too hard. You may feel inadequate at times, but through your faith and diligence I know you will help make great miracles happen.

I love you lots and I am so grateful for this opportunity I've been given to be your trainer.

Love, Sister Reid

Your trainer

 

Disney College Program: Courtney

Like I've said in past posts, I am currently serving in the Buena Vista YSA Ward which is the "Disney World Ward." I asked some of my friends on the college program to share with me some of their missionary and spiritual experiences they had while here on the program. 

This one is a letter I got from a girl named Courtney. Courtney was one of my FAVORITE people to ask to help with missionary work because she is so enthusiastic about it. She loved coming to lessons with us and she even came with us when we set up our booth on the side of the sidewalk by one of the bus stops and pass out pass along cards and pamphlets to people and invite them to church. 

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As a Disney College Program student I was fortunate enough to know some others who had done the program before. Unfortunately though most of them stopped attending church after the first few months of being there. I knew going into this program it would be tough and I would have lots of struggles and up and downs throughout the program. I also knew that I had to go to church to get through it. Growing up in the “Utah Bubble” it was never hard for me to go to church and it was never hard to live my standards because I knew most of the people around me understood or had a small understanding of what I believed. Although coming here put me into deep culture shock! For some people this change brought not attending church and slipping into some bad habits but for me it blossomed my testimony in something far greater than I could imagine while being on this program. 

The first time I met with the Sister Missionaries I cried out all my fears, worries and hardships on them. They simply listened to me and told me that Heavenly Father trusted me and loved me more than I could imagine! That is EXACTLY what I needed to hear and it inspired me to become a better member missionary. Ever since that encounter I knew I had to step out of the “Utah Bubble” comfort zone and share the light of Christ with others. It was one of the scariest times but it was so rewarding to be with the Sisters and Elders out and sharing the gospel! I will never forgot those moments where the Sisters and I would stand outside College Program housing talking to complete strangers trying to share the gospel and a smile with them. Most times it was pretty awkward and uncomfortable but my testimony grew so much those days! 

I am so grateful for all the opportunities I had to share the light of Christ with with others and let them know how much God loves them throughout my program. I learned so much about myself and about the Gospel and I will take that with me throughout my whole life! 

MISS YOU!! 

Courtney Magill - The Best CP! Hahaha!! :)

Disney College Program: Devon

So as you all probably know, I'm currently serving as a missionary in the Buena Vista YSA Ward, which is the Young Single Adult ward right by Disney World. A large portion of the members "work for the Mouse" as they like to say. Disney has a college program (CP) where college students come from all over the world to spend a semester working for Disney. 

I've had the privilege to meet and become friends with many people here on this program. I asked some of my friends as they finished their program here to write for me a spiritual experience or missionary experience that they had while they were here. I got some great stories and thought y'all would enjoy them.

This first one comes from Devon. 

For me the Disney College program was quite the surprise missionary experience. The story begins well before I was in Florida as I was filling out my application. The process was smooth until I got to the part where I had to agree that I was available to work weekends including Sundays. Immediately I had thought “well that's it, I'm not doing it”. I decided that it was much more important to keep the Sabbath day holy. 

That night as I prayed, I informed God of my decision and the result surprised me. Clear as day the response came that I was being selfish. This really confused me so I asked about it and what I got back was that I was so busy thinking about myself and the negative impact the program could have on me that I didn't bother thinking of the positive impact I could have on the people there. I was informed that there were people I was needed to serve there. Finding Gods will to we quite clear I immediately completed the application and went to bed.

Over the next weeks and a couple interviews later, I was not surprised to learn that I had made it into the program.

A couple months later I was in Florida and what I found was that found was that Disney was just bursting with missionary opportunities. Although I was only there a couple months I was able to share the gospel with people I met, I was able to work with the missionaries and I was even able to bring someone to church. I had not felt the missionary spirit so strong since my mission! 

And remember that whole Sunday thing? My manager was able to give me Sundays off! It is amazing how the Lord works.

Overall the Disney College program was far from being an time of spiritual atrophy, Instead it ended up being a time of great spiritual growth! I know God knows us and puts us in situations where we can grow though service to others!

The Ugly Floral Couch

The other day I knelt down to pray by our old ugly floral couch that has probably been sat on by missionaries since the early nineties. 

I thought for a minute, just how many missionaries have probably sat on this coach in the last maybe twenty years.

A day of missionary work consists of being on your feet, striving to talking to every single stranger you come in contact with. For me it means getting out of my comfort zone. It means sharing the thing I hold the most dear to my heart with complete strangers who may or may not slam their door in your face for offering them the one thing that makes you the happiest. 

Ultimately it means a lot of long days, and a lot of hard work. It sometimes means blisters on your feet and tears on your face. And after a long day of work often the first place a missionary goes is the couch. 

So I thought about those missionaries. How many long days of walking and knocking and teaching came to a close on this ugly floral coach?

And I wondered if others, like me, ever knelt next to this ugly couch to offer up their nightly prayers. How many conversations were had with God about the people they had met, or the trials those missionaries were going through.

I thought again for a second about why we do all of this. Why do we spend our waking hours running from house to house handing out Book of Mormons and small pictures of Jesus? Why do we keep doing it? 

Because we know it's true.

As I thought about it for a minute the ugly floral couch taught me that all of those long days of hard work are worth it, because everyday I get to testify to the world of the one thing that makes me happy.

So I knelt down next to that ugly floral couch and offered a prayer of gratitude that I was here, in central Florida, serving a mission. I thanked my Heavenly Father for the blessings He's given me and for the knowledge I have that my family can be together forever.

I think I remember shedding a tear or two onto that ugly floral couch that night. And I added to the testimony this couch bears that this is a sacred work that we have been called to do.

I'll never look at that ugly floral couch the same way again, because to me it means we have the truth, and we are going to tell the world about it. One day long at a time.

Sister Whitney Reid

Florida Orlando Mission

Four Year Old With A Nametag

Blog

Let me tell you a secret.

I'm a four year old with a name tag.

I'm a full time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I have been called by a Prophet of God to share Christ's gospel with the world. I have been called to labor in central Florida as an official representative of Jesus Christ.

When someone wants to investigate what our church is all about you'd think they'd send the very elite. You'd think they'd send some scholar who has studied the history of the church for 57 years, heck, you'd think that if someone wanted to investigate the church they'd send the Prophet or at least one of his apostles to teach them.

But no, they send me.

The other day I had gotten home from a long day of missionary work. I had my keys in my hand and instead of unlocking the door with the house key I proceeded to try to unlock the house by pressing the unlock button on the car key. My companion laughed at me for a bit and I couldn't help but think "and God called me?" That same question went through my mind when I went to our leasing office to get a new furnace filter and the man at the front desk asked what size we needed and I said "there are different sizes?"

I am an official representative of the church.

Sometimes I wonder why in the world Heavenly Father trusts us newbs with the task of teaching His precious sons and daughters about His sacred gospel, because clearly we aren't the most qualified. Seriously, he sends 18 and 19 year olds out who have little to none life experience out side of high school. Who barley know their left from their right, and who sometimes get embarrassed when people look at them. 

I remembered hearing a quote once that said that "God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called."

Surely that must be true because the other day I was sitting in a lesson and a girl named Abby told me a story.

Abby is working in the Disney World College Program which is a program that allows college students to spend a semester working at Disney. Several weeks prior she had been having a really hard day. She was feeling very lonely and she had been praying hard to God for help. She left to go to the bus stop to head to work and on her way to the bus stop there we were, the sister missionaries, on the sidewalk by the bus stop. With tears in her eyes she told us that as soon as we said hi to her she immediately knew that God was watching out for her and that God loved her. She told us that as she got on the bus and went to work she thanked God for letting her know that she is not alone.

The other day we got a text message from a recent convert that said "Thank you all for what you do and I am so happy for everything! Y'all don't know how much of an impact each of you have in people's lives. Even if it's just a hello or just to see how they are doing. It's definitely an impact on people"

We hear stories like this all the time, and many more go unspoken of times when someone needed help or had a question and the missionaries were there at the right time with the right words.

I don't know about you but to me evidence points towards the fact that God must choose us unqualified for a reason. 

Because the fact that we as missionaries we don't really know what we are doing means that we must rely on God. We must rely on the Spirit to tell us where to go or what to say. 

So to all the missionaries out there that feel like they are failing, like you are only a four year old with a name tag and that you'll never be able to be good at this work, you are doing more good than you probably know. And to all those that are trying to decide decide if they can trust the missionaries to teach them truth, just know that we may not know everything. We may not speak the language very well and we may not know the answer to every question, but we have been called by a prophet of God to share what we know.

We know our message is true.

And we want to invite you to learn about this truth for yourself.

The Citrus Fruit Sister

What its like to be a trainee

Six weeks ago my Mission President asked me to serve as a trainer. My trainee's name is Sister Hart and she is from Arizona. She is the coolest ever and I asked her to answer the question "what it is like to be a trainee" and I thought you might enjoy her response.

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What its like to be a trainee

By Sister Hart 

What is it like to be a trainee? Well it's kinda like always imagining a chocolate cake... Like basically day dreaming about it, and then one day you finally get to eat this chocolate cake that you've been day dreaming about and it's way better than you expected. Yes, way better! 

Before I came on my mission, I was expecting it to be so hard that I would just totally want to go home. I mean, it is hard don't get me wrong, but not in the way you would expect. It's hard because you love the people so much, that you just get saddened by the fact that some of them are just not fully prepared to learn about the gospel. It's hard because you spend so much time and energy finding people who ARE ready to learn about this beautiful gospel, but they keep rejecting it. It's hard because when you think you've finally found the one who is ready, they decide that they aren't. But you know what isn't hard? Staying out here, working my hardest, and loving everyone I come into contact with. It's not hard to devote my heart and soul into not only serving the people of Florida, but also my God, AND my savior and redeemer Jesus Christ. 

To be a trainee means to get out of your comfort zone and try things that you never thought you would. It is the time in your mission when you basically decide what kind of missionary you want to be for the next 18 months. It's where you can learn all of these great things about yourself, because trust me, I've learned a ton of stuff about myself that I didn't even know. 

So the chocolate cake I have been day dreaming about since I opened my call, is WAY better than I expected. It's hard, yes, but the sore feet at the end of the night, and the sweaty back from the Florida heat is so worth it. And it's all because I know what this gospel can do for a person, and if I'm not trying my hardest to let everyone know, then I'm not being the missionary I decided to be the day I met my trainer. 

Being a trainee is tough, because you have to adjust to everything around you, but it's the best thing you can do for yourself and everyone you were called to teach. 

#SigningOff

Hello!!!

So this is me. 19 year old Sister Reid serving in the Florida Orlando mission as a missionary for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

This is my new blog.

Let me explain how this came to be.. 

Before my mission I was the author of the blog feelmysunlight.blogspot.com. It started as me writing about random things that happened to me. Eventually my posts turned into my testimony and me writing about my experience as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Apparently people read it. I expected my mom to be diligent at reading my posts and maybe a few of my friends, but over time I had random people start to tell me they loved reading my blog. I gained a love for sharing my gospel through the Internet.

Eventually I received a mission call to the Florida Orlando Mission. I said goodbye to blog land and I handed my blog over to my mom to maintain while I embarked on my journey to central Florida. 

So obviously I was delighted and also pretty surprised when my mission president told me he wanted me to start another blog as a missionary as a way to invite others to come unto Christ.

So these are the words of a sister missionary serving in state of citrus fruit and sunshine. These are the words of the citrus fruit sister.

The Citrus Fruit Sister