Waiting for Answers

I have had a huge recent encounter with faith. My whole life I was asked more times than I can count, “Are you going on a mission”? I never really knew the answer myself so the simplest answer I could give people was, “I’m not planning on it, but I wouldn’t be against it”. The truth is, I was waiting for a huge sign, or an overwhelming feeling of “this is so right”. Silly me. I should have known from personal experience and examples in the scriptures that asking for a sign is no good, and that’s not how my Heavenly Father communicates to me personally. I wanted so badly for my Heavenly Father to just tell me exactly what to do and when to do it so that I would not have to battle with this idea of a mission.


I know with all my heart that the Church is true, but I was not certain of the fact that a mission was the right choice for me. I began to pray and pray and pray. I was wanting so badly for the Lord to give me a glowing path of what I should do exactly, but I found myself constantly receiving neutral answers. At this point I was just frustrated with my Father in Heaven, because I knew he was there and he was listening to me and my prayers, but I got an answer that was different from what I was expecting. It wasn’t until I was visiting teaching that I understood the prompting I was being given. The woman I visit teach and I had a discussion that sometimes God gives you the opportunity to choose your way, and action is what is really beneficial. It was doing nothing for me to be idle, because my Father in Heaven was letting me use my agency to choose between two right choices that would both improve my life tremendously.


This is when I began to experiment with my faith. I decided, there is no harm in starting my mission papers, and if sometime down the line I didn't feel as though it was the right decision for me, then I could change my mind. There’s no way they could force me to go on a mission, so there was no harm no foul.


As I visited California for the holidays, I asked to set up an appointment with my bishop to begin my papers. At this point I was nervous. Without a doubt, I was nervous. This was really happening and I was still waiting for that overwhelming feeling that “YES! THIS IS SO RIGHT!” But I got nerves instead. I wasn’t until I was scheduling my appointments that I believed I got my answer. I asked my doctor for an appointment, and of course there isn’t going to be a single opening during the busy holidays when everyone is trying to book appointments before end of the year. This was my answer. It wasn’t meant to be. I was feeling a little doubt. It wasn’t until five days before I was headed home that I got the glorious news that a slot opened up at the same time that I was free of family obligations. A miracle, a sign, a coincidence. Whatever you want to call it, but I saw it as a long needed answer. This is the knowledge and comfort I needed to know that “Yes, this is so right.”


I was able to finish my papers and have them sent out in two short weeks. At this point, my faith was nourishing and growing tremendously. I felt so much gratitude towards my Savior for the answer he provided me with.

Now that I have officially received my call to serve for 18 months in the Charlotte North Carolina Mission, I know for a fact that this is what I am suppose to be doing and where I should be headed. I am so grateful for this knowledge I have. I know faith is a beautiful cycle that we should be continuing to nourish so that our faith can grow stronger and more steadfast. I am so beyond excited to serve the people of North Carolina as of May 11th of this year.

20) Conclusion

Writing 150 is coming to an end. We have had a wild ride in that class, well at least I have. I have a love hate relationship. I'm not good at it, and I don't really enjoy it. But all thanks to Professor Steadman, I have learned how to write something worth while! Although I didn't exactly enjoy every assignment, she opened my eyes to meaningful writing, and not just writing that's enjoyable for a teacher, but writing that's enjoyable for me! I have learned that if i am having fun writing about it, then chances are so are the readers! This class didn't necessarily teach me any new mechanics of writing, but it did make me open up to the possibility of continuing to write. That is after all, why i have this blog and i will continue to keep up with this blog for myself, and all those who wish to read it. I've figured, if I have taken a picture of it in my phone, then it should have a worthy explanation right? So my goal is to continue on improving my writing skills by blogging whenever I have taken a "worthy" picture. This way I will not only have an amazing picture to share, but a little bit of commentary to go along with it! Thank you Writing 150! I wouldn't be blogging if it weren't for you!

19) Our Roommate "Christmas" tree

In my apartment, we have had a dingy old fake "tree-bush". We never really knew what to do with it because, well, its ugly. So we shoved it in the corner, dusty leaves and all, and just hoped that no one really looked at it. I have no idea why we haven't thrown it away yet. It's hideous. Anyways, when I had gotten back from break I came into my apartment to find that it had Christmas lights and tinsel. Tis the Season right? That poor little "tree-bush" looked like it was straight out of the Mount Crumpit. I looked at it and said well instead of a Charlie Brown tree, well have a Grinch tree this year. So I went to the dollar tree and bought some ornaments. It's not much to look at, and its the cheapest tree I've ever decorated. But that's how were suppose to "do" college right?

18) Home for Thanksgiving

As soon as I got home I was more than excited to see my wonderful family. I had missed having millions of kids running around calling me Aunty McKaela. My nieces and nephews are my pride and joy! I am always amazed at how smart these children are and I love to see how they grow up. There personalities always seem to make me laugh and smile. They are so much smarter than you think and one example of this is little Sophie. She is such a clever little girl! in this picture Jordan dosed off and Sophie was able to work my mother's IPhone better than my mom! She was playing games and would screenshot parts that she liked! What little girl knows how to do that? It's Crazy!

Sunday morning we had to say our goodbyes and head back to Utah for finals, with Jordan driving through Tahoe, Brittany driving part way through Nevada and me finishing up the drive into Provo. But much to her surprise she heard sirens and saw the flashing blue and red lights.Yep, it was Brittany's first time. I don't think she said anymore than "Oh" after the officer had told her she was going 84 in a 75 zone. So Jordan and I took charge and tried to have a personal conversation with the officer. We were on the side of the snowy road for probably a good five minutes when the officer came up and told Brittany he was letting her off without a citation. Man its good to be a girl! And sorry Tina if you find this out by reading this, she's a good driver! But this picture was too priceless to not share.

17) The drive to California

So the drive home for Thanksgiving was much needed. It seemed to go on forEVER. I brought these Wilde cousins with me and I couldn't have made it home without them. Ten hours of driving non-stop wouldn't be so good to me. So I was so grateful they came with me. Family is such a great thing :). On the drive home, excited was an understatement! I couldn't wait to sleep in my own bed and eat those amazing California avocados. With Jordan in the back reading like ALWAYS, we made it home safely into open arms and it was my favorite Thanksgiving yet. I realized how much i take my family for granted and how much they do for me.

16) Conference 2014 Salt Lake City Utah

This is the Conference Center in Salt Lake City Utah. My family and I went to hear the words of our prophets here and It was wonderful! We ended up having to wait in a huge line and all i remember is it was HOT outside.

We got to listen to the Quorum of the 70 speak in their native languages and WOW that was a different experience, but I felt the spirit regardless!








Afterwards we went to the top floor of the Joseph Smith building i believe and had dinner and a GREAT view!

15) Mitt Romney Devotional

What an amazing experience to go see the republican candidate of our last election. We were allowed to listen to him speak here at BYU in the Marriott center.It was weird to think that he went from such a popular person to becoming just like everyone else again. He shared his campaign stories and it turns out that he's a pretty funny guy!