Member Missionary Marie-Rose

Hey guys! Today I decided to do something I've never done before! It's a blog swap!

Marie-Rose is going to post today! If you haven't seen here blog at Hope Always and Pray Constantly, then you should totally check it out! She is an amazing example of faith to me, and her posts are so fun to read! So check it out!

For the blog swap, I will be writing for her blog today, so go ahead and read them both (mine can be found here) (And for those of you who have been following this whole Armor of God series, well, I thought this would be a great intermission. I'll pick it back up in a couple of days. Her ideas were just too good to wait to post on another day!)

Without further ado...

Hey guys, I'm Marie-Rose from Hope Always and Pray Constantly :) I'm a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and today I wanna talk about something near and dear to my heart.

Member missionaries.

If you're not a member, don't freak out! This isn't your typical member missionaries post :) It runs along similar lines to another post I've done on the subject, but if there's anything you should know about me, it's that I will never try to push my faith on you. I'm here to talk about what I believe so you can better understand us Mormons. I'm not here to force you to convert.

To the members out there: have you ever gone all member missionary on a friend, and they just aren't interested? It feels weird, doesn't it? At Youth Conference once, a guy gave a good description of this feeling. He said that telling someone about your faith feels like you're asking them to marry you or something. Which makes you super scared of failure. Cuz, the gospel really is that important to us.

PS- Youth Conference is a church camp for one weekend over the summer where we talk about churchy stuff and play fun games and get to know people better)

Guess what, though? I'm gonna ask you to view it slightly differently. What if you asked your friend to try your favorite food that they'd never heard of before, and they absolutely hated it? You wouldn't quit being friends with them. You wouldn't be heartbroken that they didn't like the food. You'd still be friends and you'd move on. And next time they visited your house, you wouldn't serve that food.

Fun fact about me. I absolutely hate hot dogs :)

What if I told you that member missionary work is more like the food example than like the proposal example? Well, the scriptures are often called spiritual food, aren't they?

When you share the gospel with a friend, you're usually doing it because it's something that makes you happy, and you want your friend to be happy, too. And if they don't like talking about church, if they're uncomfortable with what you're saying, let them control how far you go with the member missionary thing.The last thing you wanna do is make them uncomfortable and push them away. And when I say that, I'm more concerned with your friendship than I am with their feelings towards the Church.

Remember, if they don't accept your message, that doesn't make you a terrible person. It doesn't mean your message is somehow flawed. It just means that they aren't ready for the Church at this point in time. And that's okay :)

<3 Marie-Rose

Shine the Light

(Copyright Intellectual Reserve)

There are many messages the world throws us. Immorality is okay, glory is of utmost importance, you can cheat a little to get what you want. As long as you're not caught, you haven't done anything wrong.

That is so far from the truth.

Darkness is all around us. The storms and waves of the sea threaten to overturn us. You can see it on billboards, in newspapers, and peers. So many times we run into apathy, even disdain for anything virtuous.

In all this darkness, there are many who are searching for light, looking everywhere for a glimpse of hope.

We've all been given lights, in our testimonies and in our knowledge of right and wrong. But many of us choose to hide under umbrellas, "protecting" that little candle so that it won't go out. This hides our light from others though, and makes it unusable for ourselves.

As disciples of Christ in these latter days, as Christians and as morally keen people, we need to be in the world, but not of the world. Do men light a candle and put it under a bushel? No. They put it on a hill for all to see and be guided by it, for all to feel of it's warmth.

My friend once bought a homeless man some food, and cared for him. He tried to make sure the man had everything he needed to make it through that day. As he was leaving, the man called out to him and asked if he was Christian. He said yes. Make your life consistent with what you believe so that people recognize who you are.

One time I was on a bus, and this girl brought up the topic of religion. She asked me where I belonged and I told her I was Mormon. She got all excited and was like "I knew it, I knew it! All you Mormons have that smiling, bright face!" I was a bit surprised, but I was grateful to know that the gospel light is shining through me in the way that others can feel my happiness.

How often is your light on? How bright does it shine through your eyes? Shine so that others will want to know Christ, so that others will see him through you.

Spirit is Willing, Flesh is Weak

(copyright Intellectual Reserve)

Aw you guys! A bit disappointed in myself... The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, and I'm feeling it today.

This morning I prayed for an opportunity to share the gospel. Then I remembered someone I could share it with.

A couple weeks ago I gave a Book of Mormon to my friend for Christmas. The gift of the joy and peace that comes from the gospel is the best gift you could ever give to somebody. But I always get super nervous at the moment of missionary work. While my ideals and intentions are good, I end up tongue tied and anxious. So i decided to write my testimony inside of it and wrap it up do I wouldn't have to talk about it right then and there. First mistake, because while it saves my anxiety right then and there, it causes for a lot of trouble later.

The first day back from winter break, I was SUPER nervous. Like seriously, about to throw up. It wasn't that I was ashamed of the gospel, just that even without fear I get flushed and it's embarrassing and everyone starts looking at me concerned like "are you okay?" And then I get stuttery and troubled, and try to end the awkward conversation. (I've gotten a lot better, because it only gets comfortable with practice ;)

Well, the first day back, neither of us saw each other. I was getting more relaxed as the week went by. Maybe I wouldn't need to talk to her about it and embarrass myself.

But then this morning, I decided that if I got the chance, I would bear my testimony to her. Agh! Stupid natural man. Because guess what? After two weeks of not bringing it up, she finally thanked me for it. There was my chance. And I blew it. I don't think I'm going to even write what I said. It was just totally not what I had wanted, and I had let my fear come before following the Spirit.

Even though I feel like I messed up pretty bad, I think at this point, it's the best I can do. I put my best into my efforts, and tomorrow my best will be a little higher. Maybe I'll talk to her about it.

I tried my best while on the Lords errand, so I cannot fail. 

For next time though, I do think I need to remember that I am to be a tool, an instrument in the Lord's hand. He is the carpenter, and knows what we can do. If we just let him work through us, then miracles can happen. I will try to let The Lord work through me. You will too, won't you? For me? ;)