One week to go!

Well people, I have one week till the church harvest festival, and I'm almost overwhelmed.  Although I did get one cardboard cutout done, and tomorrow I'm gonna do the other one.  Hopefully I don't over stress about this.  Wish me luck!  Btw, here's a pic of the cardboard cutout I got done. 

CABLE!!!

I got cable today on my TV.  My parents got the Direct Tv Genie and hooked it up to all the TVs in the house including mine.  The best part is that I have BYU TV and DVR.  So I can record devotionals and conferences while I'm at work!  I'm super excited about this.  So tomorrow I am starting the cardboard cutouts for the harvest festival.  I was gonna start today but I wanted to have a day enjoying the Direct TV in my room.  So I hope you all are having a great day and I will talk to you tomorrow :)

Ward Mission Updates

Sorry I haven't been posting, but I've been super busy!  First I was sick which turned out to be allergies.  Then I was working on the calendar bulletin board for work, and here is the finishing product:

Thenn ... I was getting ready for the first day of school, inclluding making a board for the kids to hold while we took their pictures ...

THEN ... I had to get ready for the church harvest festival, which I made the flyers for:

And so as you can tell, I've been busy.  But  I'm back and hopefuly I can provide more info on my sad, busy life.  So here is the update ... Work is chaotic, school just started today, and the harvest festival is going crazy, but very well.  I got some giant cardboard to make cardboard cutouts with.  Everyone loved the flyers, and loved all the things I have done.  I have no clue where they would be without me, and trust me, I'm not being in a braggy mood, I'm being serious.  Now the names I have to do missionary work on ... ya, I had to say pass when we went around.  I've been so busy, i haven't even had time to do anything with my own personal life.  So that's my life right now.  OH, and our sister missionaries were sent somewhere else!  Now we have elder missionaries, I'm happy they're here but I'm also really sad about it cause I really liked them.  

So I promise to start doing more blogs, once everything is settled in.  I will talk to you guys later, hopefully tomorrow.

Ward Mission Meeting #2

So last night I had my 2nd official Ward Mission Meeting.  I guess the ward mission leader, Brother O, and his wife were out of town last week, and forgot to tell anyone that the meeting was cancelled.  Well basically forgot to tell me that the meeting was cancelled.  Oh well, my feelings weren’t really hurt.  I proposed all the things I came up with for the harvest carnival and they LOVED IT, all we need is for the bishopric to approve and we can get this party on the road.  I know it will be very stressful getting it ready since I have 2 jobs already, but the Lord will be there to help me along the way.

So during our meeting we wrote down 2 names to invite the idea of meeting with the missionaries.  I came up with my 2 names and possibly a 3rd name, hopefully I will be able to invite them.  We also talked about ways to help loved ones that have fallen away from the church.  I always take notes when I am at any church thing, and I came up with a list to help a friend or family member that have fallen away from the church:

- Pray for them … I know it’s kind of a cliché, but obviously it works.  You can pray for them in your day to day prayers or even put their names down on the prayer list in the temple.  Heavenly Father listens to each of our prayers, and he’s sending them nudges back to the church, some big, but most of them are small.

- Talking to them, but not forcing them to come back.  People don’t like to be put on the spot, I know I don’t.  And when you are trying to force someone to come back to church, they will most likely get upset and will make them not want to come back even more.  Try inviting them to a church activity, or when you have the missionaries over have them come along.  But never force them.  I know I’ve said it 800 times already, but it’s true.

- When they do come back, welcome them back with open arms.  Welcome them as if they never left, which will probably make them feel better when they come back.

- Love them!  Love them the same way you did when were still in the church.  Don’t hate them for it, they do know that you feel bad, and they never intend on breaking your hearts.  Also, they’re your family, you should love them no matter what, that’s what being a family is all about … being there for each other.  

There is a great talk by Elder Brent H. Nielson in the April 2015 General Conference.  He talked about how his sister left the church, and their family journey as she slowly came back to the church.  It’s a wonderful talk which you can read here: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/waiting-for-the-prodigal?lang=eng.  Hopefully you learned something from this, I sure did. 

Darn Allergies!

So here's an update, after 5 days of taking cold medicine, a thought came to me, and I took a Benadryl allergy and I was fine a few hours later.  That makes me feel so much better, cause it's my vacation and I didn't want to be sick.  HALLELUJAH!

Still sick!

I worked all day while still being sick!  But I made it my goal to still be my positive self while feeling miserable at work.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better, and I won't have to be sick on my vacation ... Would not be fun at all.

A Sick Day

So it's official, I'm sick!  I went to work with a bad cough, headache, runny nose and a sore throat.  The management of the facility handed me a box of surgical masks to wear so I don't get any residents sick.  Luckily I wasn't the only one that was sick.  My friend Sarah had the same symptoms, but we rocked rose masks today!  Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day :)

Shaytards Night!

After a very long day of work ... Literally, a long day, I went to bed and watched nothing but Shaytards videos on my Smart TV.  I love how this family day to day, shares their lives and happen to be LDS.  That's one of the great perks of sharing the gospel to the world when you don't even realize it.  That's what my goal is while serving this ward mission.  To share the gospel when I don't even realize that I'm sharing it.  Well, that's all for tonight.  I will see you tomorrow :)

A little LDS humor

What A Day

What a day!  It was long and tiring.  BUT, I got to go do a little back to school shopping.  Kohls was having a HUGE sale ... Their clearance section was on clearance!  I also got some Cafe Yumm for dinner, and now I'm just laying here trying to fall asleep.  I promise I'll make tomorrow's post a little more exciting :)

No Show

So tonights meeting was a no show!  I was the only person that showed up, and I waited 10 minutes until I just went back home.  I don't blame them though, it's 96 degrees outside, and we have our meetings outside.  The church building a couple of months ago was discovered to have Black Mold in the walls, so no one is allowed to go inside until it's gone.  Luckily, we have picnic tables outside.  I was so excited to present my ideas for a Church Harvest Carnival, but sadly I have to wait another week to present it.  BUT, I am happy no one showed up, cause the past 2 weeks I've been binge watching The Office on Netflix, and tonight I got to the Finale but I would've had to wait till after the meeting.  Now I don't have to :)

Another Day!

Well, another day has gone, and tonight is my 2nd meeting as a ward missionary.  Last week I got to meet the Sister Missionaries, Sister B and Sister C.  I wanna keep their idententies safe as well as everyone I talk about.  I also got to meet the other ward missionaries, which was great.   We also came up with the idea of doing a harvest carnival for the ward to invite people to, which I got put in charge of due to my background in those kind of things.  And after a week of doing research, not only did I find things to do, I even figured out a date.  That was the big thing to think of, cause our Ward Mission Leader, Brother O, is a football fan, especially when it comes to the Oregon Ducks, but I managed to find a date, and hopefully they agree.  So wish me luck tonight, I hope it goes well!

Being A Light Unto Others

So I was reading President Monson's article in the August 2015 Ensign about Standing as a light unto others, and it got me thinking about my life.  Obviously it was pertaining towards the Youth of the world, but I was a youth at one point in my life, and I lived in a life of total darkness. 

in August of 2006, I recieved a parasite in my left cornea, causing me to go completely blind in my left eye, it's called Acanthamoeba Keretitis.  I was 15 when it happened, I missed a month and a half of my sophomore year in high school, had to give up playing sports, dropped out of a class and had to retake one of them, and went into depression cause of all of the pain and suffering I went through, physically, mentally, and spiritually.  I felt like Heavenly Father was punishing me for something I didn't do.  The Acanthamoeba was so bad when the doctors finally found out what was going on they almost had to take out m y eye.  

Towards the end of my 7 months of having a parasite in my cornea, I was to the point where everything I believed in was going to deny.  But I remember one day in seminary, we were discussing how to be example unto others, and one particular scripture stood out to me, D&C 6:21, "I am the light which shineth in darkness."  Then I realized that Heavenly Father was testing me, seeing if I would continue to follow His commandments and not stray away.  So I started going back to my routines, and at the end of March of 2007, I found out that there was no parasite to be seen, the happiest day of my life. 

Nine years later, and  I am now serving a ward mission, and I know it is my time to share my light and story to the world.  Just like what President Monson said, "Be the same person you are in the dark that you are in the light."

A Chillaxing Day!

Today was a pretty relaxing day for my day off.  But I did some pretty cool stuff, as you can see up above.  I took all of my church books and scrapbook card stock paper and made cute covers.  I also looked through Pinterest to see if there were any good positive quotes for work.  I've been noticing a lot of negativity at the care facility, so I'm trying to find ways for people to be positive.  Hopefully I find one soon!

Welcome!

Hi!

My name is Kelsey.  I am 24 years old, and I am serving a Ward Mission in the Veneta, Oregon Ward for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  So far I've survived my first week as a Ward Missionary, and it went well.  I will be sharing the many things that will happen to me as I serve this caalling, as well as posting daily inspirational quotes for all of you guys.  I hope you guys follow me on this spiritual journey, as I serve this calling and tackle my 2 jobs at as an Activities Assistant at a long term care facility and as a Teachers Assistant at an elementary school.  So, let the adventure begin!