Colleyville and the Otano's

My first area, Colleyville, is one of the wealthiest towns in the metroplex. The mission home is in Colleyville. The mission home is where the mission president and his wife live. Typically, special dinners are held there as well as incoming and outgoing missionaries. Most of the time, however, the mission home is not a frequented place by missionaries. The mission office has all the supplies and MAIL. Sometimes, missionaries find reasons to get to the mission office for that reason.

My trainer, Sister Camille Clark, had been in the area for three months when I got there. That is a good amount of time to stay in one area. She ended up staying with me for another three months, making her time in Colleyville a total of six months. I never stayed in any of my areas for longer than four and a half months. I went stir crazy in the area I stayed in for that long, so I can only imagine how Sister Clark must have felt being in Colleyville for six months.

The first Sunday I arrived, an adorable little redheaded fireball named Sarah was getting baptized. She reminded me so much of my adorable little redheaded fireball SISTER named Sarah. I think that's why I loved her from the start. After that, Sister Clark and I spent hours daily tracting. Door to door knocking is what we refer to as tracting. Talking to people who are outside of their homes, just out and about, is what we refer to as contacting. In Colleyville, the majority of our time each day was spend tracting and contacting. Since most of Colleyville was made up of very wealthy religious people, most of Colleyville slammed their doors in our faces. It was a huge wake up call the first day I got to Texas.

It was July 11th and I'm pretty sure it was at least 102 degrees outside. Sister Clark asked me if I wanted to unpack, but I was so eager to get out and work that I said, "NO WAY! Let's go work!" She took me to an area to tract. It was a street full of million dollar homes, at least. After the first ten doors slammed in my face, I thought, "What is going on? They won't even allow me to tell them why I'm here! I don't even have time to bear my testimony!" Well, an hour and a half or two hours of this went by and literally not ONE DOOR opened. Not a single person allowed us to talk to them. My discouragement was growing. It happens to all "greenies" (that's a brand new, just out, little missionary). Greenies go out assuming that everyone will at least listen, even if they're not interested.

Well, my friends, that is a great misconception in Texas. I turned to Sister Clark and said, "I think we should pray." She said, "Ok..." and I began to pray, right there on the sidewalk in the middle of this neighborhood. I remember asking this, "Will you please just let SOMEONE talk to us? Just talk to us." I ended my prayer and we knocked on the next door. A skeptical woman named Lori answered the door. She spoke with us through the crack of her door for the first fifteen minutes before we convinced her that we wouldn't hurt her or anything.

Lori asked us about every misconception and false doctrine in the book; polygamy (no, we don't), temple ceremonies (they're sacred, not secret), that Mormons aren't Christian (we are), that we don't believe in the Bible (we do)...and more. We ended up talking to Lori on her porch for nearly two hours. We taught her a little bit about every single lesson. The word of wisdom, the plan of salvation, the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the prophet Joseph Smith, the origination of the Book of Mormon, etc. It was SO exciting for me. Heavenly Father answered my prayer IMMEDIATELY.

I miss that, a lot. My prayers as a missionary were answered on the spot a huge percentage of the time. It was so incredible. After five or six months of that, immediate answers to prayer became "normal" to me. It was easy, unfortunately, to take advantage of that and forget how miraculous it was. Now that I'm home, my prayers are still answered, but not the same way. It's really indescribable. Missionary prayers are powerful because missionaries are set apart representatives of Jesus Christ. He lends His power to us for the brief period of time that we spend serving Him. As a returned missionary, that is what I miss the most. My closeness and relationship with my Savior.

Lori Otano and her family, Andre (husband) and Katie (daughter, my little sister :) became our good friends. We visited them frequently. Lori would always give us water, feed us lunch and dinner, made us "experimental dessert." Lori took care of Sister Clark and I like we were her own children. Later on in my mission, I surprise visited them and Katie called her dad saying, "DAD! Get home! Your other daughter is here!!!" He replied excitedly, "SISTER CARDINAL?" It was so sweet. A few minutes later he screeched to the curb, jumped out of his car and said, "I broke every traffic law to get here!" I laughed. My heart was so happy. I didn't just make friends in Texas. I found family. Lori, Andre, Katie, I love y'all!

On June 20, 2007, I enterred the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. It was my 21st birthday. My mom and I both forgot until we went to the bank to get her name on my account. "Happy Birthday, Michelle!" The teller said. My mom turned to me with her mouth wide in surprise, "I'm SOOOO sorry! I forgot!" I just laughed and replied, "I FORGOT TOOO!" It was the most exciting day of my life, up until that point. It didn't matter that the rest of the world looked forward to that birthday for their entire lives. To me, it was the best birthday present ever to enter the MTC.

It's impossible to sum up my entire mission in a brief blog posting. But, I just wanted to address the everlasting change that has taken place in my soul. From each companion, I learned more about who I should be; who I wanted to become. It became quickly apparent that LOVE is ALL the world needs. Every problem, on a person to person level, can be fixed with love. If my love doesn't work, Christ's love always will. Thus, LOVE is literally ALL we need.As soon as I figured that out, rather quickly I might add, my view of life and service completely changed. I started to realize that Jesus Christ served us all out of love. He commanded me to love as He loves. That required humble, selfless service.

"I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God" (Mosiah 2:17).

It became a part of my heart that service is how one may truly come to understand the love of God. God IS love.

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us" (1 John 4:7-12).

Every day I prayed to be filled with the love of God, like Moroni tells us to do:

"Wherefore, my beloved brethren pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart that ye may be filled with this love which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his son, Jesus Christ, that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, that we may see him as he is, that we may have this hope that we may be purified even as He is pure, amen" (Moroni 7:48).

I asked God with all the energy of my heart to see the potential in His children that he sees in them. I asked to recognize the potential He saw in ME. I asked Him to remove the judgement from my eyes and allow me to see His children, my brothers and sisters all around me, dressed in white; pure, clean, and holy. It was amazing how the Lord removed the blinds from my eyes. I was filled with such a great love for every one I saw. I cherish that love. It was the love of Christ. That love, that perfect, unchanging love, changed me. Thanks to my mission, I know that all I need is love.

My Companions:

Sister Julianne Farley, Kaysville UT-

My wonderful, beautiful, amazing, powerful MTC companion. I love, love, love her. We are missionary soul mates. Julie loves rocking out to a good beat. She loves to attend old school concerts with sweet band themed t-shirts. I love her! She is a teacher. Her heart is the sweetest heart I know.

Sister Camille Clark, St. Cloud FL-
My awesome first companion and trainer. Camille is from Florida. I was with her for my first Texas summer. HOTTT!!! Camille is getting married this summer. CONGRATULATIONS, CAMILLE!

I love her so much. She showed me the ropes.

Sister Malia Horton, Peoria AZ-

My second companion/ follow up trainer. I can not express my love for Malia. When we were together, we decided to make a list of things to sacrifice so that we could baptize the elect. We named our goals "Sacrifice to bring forth baptisms." I have never worked harder in my life. We were so exhausted, and so happy. I love, love, love Malia. She's getting married in April '09. Congratulations, Malia!!!

Sister Rie Stevens, Moses Lake WA-
Oh, my dear Sister Stevens. This is my third companion. We served together in Weatherford, TX. Rie loves all animals. She is so patient and accepting. Rie taught me a lot about the potential in all people. There is nobody that is too far gone for Christ to heal. I love Rie.

Sister Amy Skousen, Riverton UT-

AMY!!! Sister Little Girl Skousen is the bomb.com. I love her with all of my whole entire heart and then some. Sister Skousen and I saw miracle after miracle. Our favorite thing to do was make up raps on the spot, and film "Documentary of a Crazy Companion." Sister Skousen is still serving her mission.

Sister Kimberlee Parrish, American Fork UT-

Sister Parrish was trained by Sister Horton, my follow up trainer. Then, I was Sister Parrish's follow up trainer. Sister Parrish is the sweetest, most Christ like person I have ever met. All Kimmi ever did was serve me. I was in constant awe of her selflessness. I hope to someday grow up to be like my step-daughter Sister Parrish. I love her with my heart and soul.

Sister Melissa Graham, Seattle WA-
Oh Sister Little Vanilla Cocoa Bean Graham Cracker! This beautiful woman was my very first greenie! I trained her down in Copperas Cove. She is so sweet, patient, and shockingly funny. She used to make me laugh at the most random moments. Also, Sister Graham Cracker is a HORRIBLE driver! Sorry, but true. I prayed a lot on her driving days. Oh, how I love her!

Sister Mindy Paige Sermon, American Fork UT-

Sister Sermon was my second greenie. I trained her in Arlington. We white washed into Arlington 7th Singles ward. We weren't allowed to proselyte on or around campus, making it nearly impossible to find singles to teach. BLESSEDLY, Heavenly Father worked us some miracles. He sure is wonderful. We met Leslie Handsome, who got baptized. Sister Sermon was the sunshine to my days!

Sister Morgan Scheer, Ogden UT-

Sister Scheer was my third greenie! I trained her in Highland Station. I had served in Highland Station 9 months before with Sister Skousen, so it was interesting to go back to an old area with a new companion. Months later, everything had changed, and it was soooooo different. Sister Scheer was so willing to learn and ready to hit the ground running. She was an awesome missionary. She extended her first baptismal commitment on her first day in the mission field! I love Sister Scheer!!!

Sister Stephanie Johnston, American Fork UT-

I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE Sister Johnston. She was down in Copperas Cove when I was training Sister Graham there. We went on exchanges and saw many miracles together. We prayed to serve together for my last transfer. We prayed for four months to serve together! Then, President Thurston called me my last transfer and told me I was going to serve with Sister Johnston and I thought it was a joke. Hooray! It wasn't. Sister Johnston and I are twins. We love all the same things, especially music. I LOVE HER FOREVER. I miss her :(

THESE ARE ALL OF MY FABULOUS COMPANIONS!!!! I love them.

Welcome Home!

Howdy Y'all! I'm back from my 18 month mission in Fort Worth, Texas. This is the home of my new blog dedicated purely to my mission. Soon, I will post pictures of all my companions, the people we worked with, the places I served, and other fun things. Stay tuned! This will be my sacred site. Everything that I've held most dear for the past 18 months will be viewable here. I hope you enjoy it even a tiny portion of how much I enjoyed it all. God bless.

Belle