8 Ways To Be A Missionary

I recently found a post that is "8 ways 2 be a missionary". I loved it. Ever since I came home for my mission I've been trying to master the art of member missionary work. It is definitely hard, but I will not be deterred from my mission!

His last step is "Be not ashamed". This is my all time favorite. How can we expect to share the Gospel if we steer clear of talking about it because we are embarrassed. Be brave!!

See what Matt from The 8 Ways 2 blog teaches how to be a great missionary without even realizing it:

1. Be a good friend

The other day I was talking to a friend from a different church.  I’ve known him for a couple months and had never asked about his religious beliefs.  I felt the time was right and asked him about his faith.  I showed genuine interest in him.

But guess what? I continued asking about him rather than blurting out a wrote response of what I believe or corrections to what he said based on doctrine I follow.  That day will come when I invite him to come unto Christ, but first I must be a good friend who he trusts.

2. Practice what you preach

People watch us.  Those outside of our faith most especially.  They pay attention to what we say and what we do.  The people that seem to radiate the most light are those who have integrity. I’m more likely to listen to what those people have to say. If you know the scriptures backwards and forwards that’s all well and good, but how are you applying it? Do people see the gospel in action when they watch you?

For the other six ways head over to his blog and read them. I promise you won't regret it! 

WARNING: Joy and Pure Happiness (and picture overload!)

This last week I got to go on vacation. YIPEE! It was fantastic. Half of it was spent as a leader on a Pioneer Trek with the youth of my Church. The second half was spent at the beach in Seaside, Oregon with my family. So pretty much my three favorite things...the youth, the beach and my family. 

So get ready for picture overload. And believe it or not these are just my favorites ;). 

This picture was taken when only the women were pulling the cart. The young women were absolutely amazing and rose to the challenge with pure faith!

Warning: If you see any of these women, be scared. We are trained in the art of throwing tomahawks. 

These are my "golden boys". Even though they always make sure to make me feel old they are both so amazing. They always put a smile on my face and made me so proud as they lived the gospel and helped their family the whole trek!

My view from where the leaders were camping out. AMAZING!

And now to the beach.....oh pure joy!

This was my first night in Seaside. The picture says it all. 

We convinced my nephew to let us bury him. It isn't a trip to the beach without at least one person getting buried right?!

Loved having my Brazilians along with us for the trip. (This is at Hug Point)

I was a master photo-bomber this weekend and the Brazilians were good sports :).

The whole crew! (We missed the rest of the Burton clan.)

My adorable nephew Vincent Frost.

This vacation reminded me how much I loved the outdoors. The whole time I was outside I felt at peace and like myself. Note to self: Don't go this long again without enjoying the great outdoors and all God has given to you!

Can I please go back?!

You Matter.

I can't not share this video. Especially after just writing a post about my "shame triggers". Colbie Caillat nailed it. And good for her! We try so hard to impress everyone because we want them to love us, but in the process of doing that we forget to love ourselves. 

We are so hard on ourselves, and when I say we I mean I am. I always leave the house thinking "this is as good at is going to get". Or I'll dress differently or put on more makeup depending on who I'm around because I want to impress them. I spend all this time doing it but at the end of the day that time could have been used learning to love myself, and serving others. 

I don't know about you, but when they started wiping all their makeup off they all looked so much happier to me. 

Now this is not me saying don't wear makeup, never get dressed up, don't care what you look like. There is nothing wrong with any of those things but if you're using those things to impress others and to cover up who you really are then they can be a big distraction. Like Colbie said, "Take a breath, look into the mirror at yourself. Don't you like you? I like you". 

If we all just understood who we were I don't think this would be a problem. I grew up being taught I was the daughter of a King, a loving Heavenly Father. And while I believe this is true, sometimes I don't fully understand it. Which is why I am so hard on myself and also on others. Because I lose sight of who I really am. I'm busy looking at others and wishing I was like them, but the days I embrace me and love me I am so much happier!

If we just believed and remembered it always, what a difference it would make in our lives. What a difference we would make in each others lives. The most powerful Being in the universe knows you perfectly and He loves you with a love that is greater then any love we could imagine. If that is true, then why don't we love ourselves?

Think about your life. How would you act differently if you understood that you have divine parents? How would you feel about yourself? How would you feel about others? I know that as you and I come to understand who we are and whose we are we will begin to see a change occur in ourselves, and we will be able to start being a part of a change in the world.

Do you feel like you don't matter to anyone. I promise, you matter to Him. You matter to your Heavenly Father.

*You Matter To Him by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
*We Are Daughters of Our Loving Heavenly Father by Elaine S. Dalton

Shame Triggers

Recently I read a post over at Let Why Lead about shame triggers. If you haven't read it yet I highly encourage you to. It really got me thinking.

At first I didn't think it applied to me because I don't have anything to be ashamed of, but she discusses some of what Brene Brown teaches about shame. She said, "But as I continued to read and listen to Brene talk about her research, I learned that shame for most of us is just that quiet feeling of "not enough"". This hit me hard because it really is something I can feel.

Now overall I know who I am. I know I'm a daughter of a loving Heavenly Father and that He loves me, I have a family who loves me, and overall I've got it together. But I also have no problem pointing out to people what is wrong with me, what qualities I don't have, and what parts of my life where I feel like I'm failing.

Erica was very authentic when she wrote about three of her triggers, which all hit home for me, and it inspired me to do the same:

1. Not kind and loving enough. I'm kind of a sarcastic person and most of the time I love my humor but sometimes I don't. I wish I was that girl who was more loving and kind to everyone. Do I talk about others to much? Do I complain too much? Do I always put myself first? Do I put others down to often in the hope I will get a good laugh?
2. I'm not exciting enough. I hate the questions "what did you do before this job?", or "what do you like to do?". I've never left North America, I'm back living at home again, I served my mission in my home state and I don't have any big obvious talents. I always hate talking about myself because I feel like everyone else is living the dream and has exciting things to share while I'm just this average Jane just trying to find my thing. Talk about serious shame. I look at what I haven't done instead of what I have done.
3. I'm not pretty/fashionable/creative enough. Pretty shallow I know but I'm being authentic here so I'm going to be honest. I follow all of these lifestyle/fashion blogs and I see these women and I think "what is wrong with me?" or "why am I not more girly and cute?". I find myself thinking I'll never look like that, or no matter how hard I try I'll never be able to decorate a home that cute.  When why does that matter? I should rejoice in my own uniqueness!

And just a few more of mine:
* Not motivated enough
* Don't have enough self-control
* Not confident enough
* Not positive enough
* Not brave enough
* Not active enough

Sadly I could go on. Erica on Let Why Lead said , "Wholehearted people know what qualities they don't have, but they wake up every morning and still feel "enough"". I think that is so true. They know they need to keep working and growing to be better that day but in the end they know I did my best.

Now I need to figure out how to overcome my "Shame Triggers".

Now it is your turn. Be authentic with yourself. It feels good :)

Stop. Breath. Live.

Life is crazy right now....

Next Saturday is the South Sound BBQ Festival in Lacey, WA.

I'm the Event Coordinator in charge of it and this is my first year doing it and we are expecting 15,000 people. So as you can imagine work has been non-stop for the past few weeks. Man I'm excited, but I'm a little bit more excited for the day afterwords.

Last Saturday my parents and I took a day trip down to Portland to see my sister and her family. It was only a day but it was fantastic! Hung out in her backyard, soaked up some much needed sun and then went blueberry picking.

Don't mind my face. I'm obviously not very photogenic, but the whole purpose of this picture was to show you my amazing multi-tasking skills. I mean look at me, holding a baby and picking blueberries. I'm living the dream.

Monday I got to go to one of my favorite places in Seattle with one of my favorite families. This is Sydney's family minus his dad (he is taking the picture). They are so great to include me in family outings even though Sydney is gone. 

 Safeco Field to watch the Mariners vs. Red Sox. So much fun. And since I'm a fan of both teams I knew I'd leave happy either way. And guess what the Mariners won, 12-3 so I was extra happy.

David Ortiz doing his thing. So much fun to watch.

The rest of my out of work time has been filled with helping my mother at her fantastic DoTerra classes, hanging out with my new Brazilian friends, re-arranging my room, mission call openings, and church. I get to go out with the Sister missionaries tonight. I always love going out with them because it is an opportunity for me to really forget myself and help others feel the joy and happiness that I feel.

My goal right now is to start becoming more productive with my time outside of work. Usually I get off work and I'm so tired I don't want to do anything. But after writing about confidence last week I realized this is probably why I've been struggling lately. I'm not doing anything for me or even for others. I'm not living!

I want to work on making my room a clean, peaceful, inspiring place for me. Get back to my music side. I haven't practiced piano or violin in ages! Not to mention the only singing I do is in the car and shower. Oh and I really want to learn to play the guitar. I also want to up my exercise. Ideally I want to start exercising in the morning but I really have a hard time getting up earlier then I need to. Any tips? I'm all ears!

Here is to life and to living it, instead of letting it live you. Who wants to join me?!

How Do We Get Confidence?

Growing up I was always taught how important it was to have confidence and believe in myself. I never thought I had any confidence problems. In fact I specifically remember my dad saying, "Sierra the Prophet (the main leader of our church) taught us to raise our kids with confidence. You, have too much." I think this was after I told him he could not wear Crocs out in public. All in jest of course but he was partly right.

See, confidence was not in short supply in high school. 

Now this isn't to say I never have my low self-confidence moments. I just didn't really have them in high school. But about three years ago was when I realized how important confidence is in all that we do. I specifically remember the day. It was as chance in counter at my current job with a girl who wouldn't make eye contact with me, while near by was a group of cheerleaders. 

This girl had acne, a little heavier, I think even braces, but still a cute girl. I tried so hard to interact with her. Ask her how she was doing etc but she'd just mumble responses. I could tell from watching she felt uncomfortable near those girls. Now these girls were your normal cheerleaders. Small and peppy. But they weren't drop dead gorgeous by any means. But you could tell they were confident by the way they carried themselves.

This experience may seem small to you but to me, three years later it has not left my mind. And I will tell you why...

There are many things in life that can help us build confidence but I believe one of the many things is having a talent or skill. Having something that you know you're good at and with that having someone who believes in you.

 I had a best friend in high school who was a little bigger but was one of the most popular girls in school. She had a voice that was amazing, and a personality that made others want to be around her. She could have easily thought less of herself because of her size but because she had friends and family who loved her for who she was, and she had things she knew she was good at, she never let it bring her down. It was amazing to me. 

I have recently found this principle to be true for myself. When I am not growing my talents or I'm not surrounded by those who support me and build me up I don't think very highly of myself. So I've found that as I pick a new hobby to learn or start a project, something that shows progression, and as I get better at it my confidence increases. It is amazing. And yes, much of our confidence must come from the inside. We must believe in ourselves. We can help build that inner confidence by working on ourselves as a whole.

Now many people do not have a great support system, or have a support system at all. I can't even imagine what that would be like. Which is why we should all reach out to each other, love each other and support each other in our activities and dreams. We have all heard the quote by Plato,

So today I'm going to find something new to learn, or work on something I've left forgotten and I'm going to find someone who is in need of support in their choices, activities and dreams. What will you do to help increase your confidence and the confidence in others around you?

                           

Comfort Zones

We all have our comfort zones. The place in our lives where we are most comfortable and things are easy. I have been taught my whole life and also learned from personal experience how much growth occurs for me when I take a step outside of my comfort zone. It isn't an easy step, but an important one nonetheless.

Today I had an epiphany, indulge me for a second. I love adventure, but would you believe I also hate it. Most people would never guess this about me. I come across as someone who loves spontaneity and excitement. And while they aren't completely wrong, I have this other side of me who is terrified of change and the unknown. I go searching for adventures and new experiences but most of the time I don't follow through.

Recently I have be presented with an adventure of a lifetime. One I've dreamed of for years. Everything about this adventure was/is perfect and I even have the perfect partner in crime who would embark on this adventure with me. But then I froze. At first I thought it was just because it wasn't the right thing for me. Then I considered maybe I was just scared of the change. I was sure hoping it wasn't that because I wanted to get over my fear of change and new things. But then this was when the epiphany hit...wait for it. What if the reason I was feeling hesitant was because where I am at right now may seem like a "comfort zone" from the casual look, but as one examines it closer it is far from my comfort zone.

You're now thinking I'm completely crazy but don't abandon me just yet. I might be way off base here but at the same time I think I've struck gold. If where I'm at right now was my so called comfort zone then why do I struggle with it so badly. Why am I searching for a way out? Maybe that is why I feel the need to stay here, because here is where my growth is occurring. I'm learning how to live a whole different life then I'm accustomed to.

So my point. Maybe sometimes we go looking for these big, grand adventures so that we can grow and learn, so we can get away from the certain situation that we are in. Maybe we think we are stuck in our comfort zone. But have you ever thought maybe you hate said "comfort zone" so much just because it is testing you and forcing you to grow?

I don't know if this makes any sense, I mean I only figured this out this week. And I'm not even sure how to exactly explain it, except that sometimes we think we need to run or get out of our comfort zone because it is dull and boring but I think we are wrong. At least I've been wrong.

For me I'm trying to examine what I think is my comfort zone and as I do I realize it I've been far off. And I know that because I have really hard days that stretch me and force me to grow. But I've thought all along that I was in a comfort zone because I was free from the trials I would normally experience. It isn't crazy different, in some new location that I've never been, surrounded be people I don't know. In fact I'm surrounded by my family. But sometimes stepping out of our said comfort zone isn't exactly what we need. Sometimes it is where the most growing occurs.