Calling All Missionaries

There are two things that I have wanted to do all my life: Serve a mission and attend beauty school. From a spiritual perspective it doesn't seem like the two paths could possibly go in more opposite directions since cosmetologists have earned themselves a relatively poor reputation because of the nature of the industry. Vanity and pride seem to be the core values of most in the profession, and within Utah at least, the typical girls that cosmetology schools attract aren't exactly known for being dedicated to getting a thorough education. For me, I have always wanted to do it because it's something that I thoroughly enjoy and that I'm good at. I get immense satisfaction in making a visible change for the better, especially with people. For the same reason I always took a little pleasure in mowing the lawn, vacuuming, and mopping an especially dirty floor. The change is immediate and dramatic and I particularly enjoy seeing the excited reactions of others upon encountering the beautiful completed project.



As far as always wanting to serve a mission, I have had the examples of 13 older siblings and a father who's mission experiences I have been able to learn from and aspire to. I just knew it was something I always wanted to do, and it was always something looming in my future that I couldn't ever seem to see past. My aspirations for the future only vaguely extended beyond my mission, and I knew that those decisions would become more clear to me as I reached the peak of my service. When it finally came time to put in my application papers, however, I was suddenly unsure because I had neglected to ask the Lord if it was right for me to go. I always just assumed it was right. I got on my knees and prayed fervently for an answer, but none seemed to come. After some time, I still wasn't getting the affirmative or the negative, so I decided to exercise a little faith. In my prayers I finally said, "Heavenly Father, I have decided I want to go on a mission. Please let me know if this is wrong." I submitted my papers and within 4 days I received my call.

In my family there seemed to be a trend as far as where we were sent to serve. All the girls had covered every populated continent except Australia. They went to Quito, Ecuador; Johannesburg, South Africa; Nashville, Tennessee (This one covered the North American continent); St Petersburg, Russia; Dusseldorf, Germany; San Salvador, El Salvador; and Kaohsiung, Taiwan. My brothers had all been called to different quadrants of the States. Macon, Georgia; Fresno, California; Cleveland, Ohio; Lubbock, Texas; and Eugene, Oregon. Naturally I hoped to be called to Australia or New Zealand to continue on this tradition, but when I got my call to Los Angeles (even though it was only a 6 hour drive from my home) I was overjoyed.

I was very excited about my call, but I still felt like I had not yet received an answer as to whether it was right for me to go. The following Sunday after I got my call, it just happened to be my best cousin Shawna's birthday. Her family invited me to eat a little family birthday breakfast with them at their home in Sandy and then attend their Stake Conference at which Elder Richard G. Scott was speaking. When we got to the conference our large family laid claim on a couple of rows towards the back and listened quietly as Elder Scott began to speak. Suddenly, in the middle of his talk he said "Can I get Rachel and Laura Stout to come up to the podium, please?" Rachel and Laura were my two cousins, 16 and 18 years old sitting on either side of me. They were as startled and surprised as the rest of us at the request of Elder Scott. How did he know who they were? So they timidly made their way up to the podium and Elder Scott put his arms around them and asked them a few simple questions. He asked them why they decided to be such stalwart examples of living the Gospel. He asked them why they dressed modestly and why they chose to read their scriptures regularly, and then invited them to bear their testimonies to the congregation. As he excused them to sit down he told them he wanted to meet their wonderful family at the conclusion of the meeting. As the meeting ended we all went up and stood behind the podium and waited for Elder Scott to finish shaking hands with the members of the Stake. He then turned to us and went around the circle asking each individual about their lives and their plans. When he finally got to me he shook my hand and immediately my Aunt Linda announced "She just got her mission call!". He asked me where and I told him proudly that I was to be serving in the California Los Angeles Temple Visitors Center, Spanish speaking. As soon as I said it he cocked his head a little and looked at me with sort of a quizzical eye and asked "when did you get that call?" To this I responded, "it was just last week!". Then he said, slowly and thoughtfully "I remember you! I was the one who issued your call. If you don't know already I can bear testimony to you that you are making the right choice. I remember feeling a very distinct impression that that is where you should go and you will have many rich and rewarding experiences while you're there."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing! Here was the member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles telling me that he was the one who issued my call and that he felt very strongly that it was right for me to go there. It was amazing that with the hundreds of applicants they have each week that he even remembered who I was. The answer to my plea was given directly to me by a Prophet of God! This tremendous response to my request played a vital role in my continued preparation to serve my mission. In the 4 months that I waited to leave, a truckload of opposition was dumped right in my path. Because of this experience, however, I was able to refer back to it to remind myself about why I made the decision to go. His final statement proved to be Prophetic. I did have many great and rewarding experiences while I was there, and no experience could have ever prepared me for life like my mission did.

I learned a few things from this experience. I learned that God really does care about us and He is there to answer our prayers. It was reaffirmed to me that there really are Prophets of God to lead and guide us and that they are in direct communication with God to do so. Also, if we are doing everything we can to keep the commandments, God will allow us to be in the right place at the right time to have the experiences we need to prepare us for future events. He really cares about where we go and what we do. The callings we receive as missionaries and members alike are inspired wholly by Him.

Media Vs. the Word of Wisdom

I recently had a very explicit epiphany: Your body is made up of what you put into it, and it functions accordingly. The food we eat is what our vital organs have to thank for keeping us alive. It is what goes into building our muscles and organs and gives us the energy to perform our daily tasks. So what if we put nutrient-deficient or polluted substances into our body? I’m no doctor, but it seems to me like the body will either reject it and eject it, store it elsewhere, or use the inadequate substitute anyway in place of the real nutrient that it needs. What if we consistently eat faulty or impure substances? The body tries to draw from an empty well. It can’t function properly, and the deficit manifests itself in ways like lack of energy, slower metabolism, illness, mental incapacities or system failure. How long can we expect our car to run if we put oil in our gas tank?

It's kind of like when Andrew Carnegie started up his steel mills. Raw steel wasn't strong enough to use for heavy duty projects because of the impurities found within it. So Andrew Carnegie figured out a way in his mills to eliminate the weak elements such as sulfur, phosphorus, and excess carbon and to add alloying elements such as manganese, nickel, and chromium to produce a steel beam strong enough to support a building. With the food that is available to us now, we need to figure out a way to get it into its purest form so that our vital organs will be strong enough to sustain our lives for years to come. Our biggest battle is convenience. It's not very convenient to have to prepare your food before you eat it, but such is the way to a healthy lifestyle.

Since our bodies are a precious gift we were given by the Lord to house our spirits and to use as a tool for progression, it seems to me like the Lord would also give us everything we need to take care of it and keep it healthy. To me that means that the closer to natural the food is that we eat, the better it is for us. The more efficiently and easily our body can use it, the more energy we have and the better we feel. Up until the last few decades the world has always eaten natural food from the earth. Obviously there were still natural foods that were more wholesome and preferable than others such as in the story of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshac and Abed-nego as they requested to be fed differently from the other boys in the house of King Nebuchadnezzar; but never has there been so much confusion in the nutritional world as there is now, and never has there been so much nutritional deficiency. Substances that appeal to our senses and preserve our food are now being used excessively which is causing severe imbalance to our diet as a nation.

The bottom line is: What we eat determines how we function. Here's my recent realization: It's the same with our spirits. Everything that we expose our minds to determines how we spiritually and mentally develop. If the mental activities we choose to engage in are stimulating, educational and will help us learn then our mental capacity will expand and we can expect to do better in life. We can more easily understand certain principles of life and therefore our actions will change and our quality of life will be much improved. For example, someone learning about the Plan of Salvation for the first time might come to understand and value life in a different way than they did previously. They will change their behavior in order to qualify for the blessings of Heaven and as a result receive extensive earthly blessings for keeping the commandments. If, however, we choose to fill our minds with dirty or pointless entertainment such as what is rampant in music, movies and social media today, what do we gain? We are entertained for the moment. It is a waste of precious time and you will not have anything to show for it except maybe a few movie lines. Even worse, though, if what you are watching is offensive, not only will you be unreceptive to the promptings of the Spirit, but you actually digress rather than progress. All those hours you spend at church, studying your scriptures and spiritually "climbing a mountain" will be less effective if you are just going to roll back down that mountain by exposing yourself to filth. I don't know about you, but when I go hiking I would rather just go straight up. The journey is so much harder than it needs to be if we are consistently taking one step back for every two steps forward. And all for what? Entertainment? Allowing contamination to penetrate your thoughts causes one to become def to spiritual promptings and blind to truth. It is a literal spiritual incapacitation, and we all do it so deliberately and so frequently. Sure, there is a place for music and entertainment; but there is never a place for obscenity or vulgarity. 

Because we are spirit children of our heavenly parents, and physical children of our earthly parents, we need to work to grow both spiritually and physically. Natural foods are the best way to receive proper physical nourishment. Spiritual promptings from the Holy Ghost are the best way to receive spiritual nourishment. Any time we block that channel with the Spirit we are literally engaging in spiritual starvation. But the more we allow the Spirit to penetrate our hearts, the better we come to know the Savior, the stronger our testimony becomes, the more good we do and the more blessings we receive. We thrive in all areas of life. "If there is anything virtuous, lovely or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things." 

The Parable of the Tide Pen

Once while on my mission my companion and I were at a Saturday evening dinner appointment with one of the members of our ward. We were taken to a delicious Sushi restaurant on Sawtelle Boulevard, and while eating I accidentally spilled a small amount of soy sauce on my white sleeve. I had previously been introduced to the Tide pen, which is an on-the-go stain remover that works laundering miracles. My sorely limited and scanty mission clothes were rescued many times by the magic contained in that spectacular little flasket. Without hesitation I whipped it out of my bag and began to administer to the stain which miraculously and quickly disappeared. This was very impressive to the onlooking member of our ward who had never beheld the beauty of the Tide pen, and he began to ask questions about it. I casually answered his questions and how told him how handy it had been in saving me so many times. I carried it around with me wherever I went so I could call upon it in a moment's notice. The member indicated he was interested in getting one for himself, and I affirmed that it would be a good idea. As missionaries do at dinner appointments, we then launched into our previously prepared lesson for the evening: member missionary work.

The following day I was to speak in the sacrament meeting of our ward. My topic? Missionary work and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. In my final preparation for the talk I recalled the experience of the day before and noted an interesting similarity between my given topic and the Tide pen incident. In our lesson to the member we were inviting him to more actively persue his responsibility as a member missionary. Many have concerns that there is never much opportunity to bring up such a sensitive subject as religion to co-workers, friends or acquaintances. They feel awkward talking about it or they don't want to seem pushy or aggressive in sharing their beliefs. Well, it doesn't have to be that way.

I discovered that the Tide pen is not only the Gospel, but specifically the Atonement of Jesus Christ. As we become more acquainted with Jesus Christ and truly begin to understand our relationship with him, we begin to understand His atonement and how we can more fully utilize it in our lives. As we act and apply it to our own situations, we come to feel the lifting of the burdens of sin and transgression from our backs. Those "stains" are washed completely away and we are no longer laden with the heavy guilt or the shame of wearing a dirty shirt. As soon as those burdens are lifted not only can we stand more erectly (and therefore more outstanding and visible to those around us) but our countenance is brightened and we become "a light unto all that is in the house".

Just like insects, people are drawn to light. We can't help it. It's in our divine nature. We love people that emanate happiness and we aspire to be like them. Real happiness is being free from the burden of sin. The way to "let our light so shine" is to partake of the Atonement, and the more fully we partake of it the more it becomes a part of us. The more we understand it the easier it is to share it casually with those around us without feeling sensitive about the subject.

So in the spirit of this Easter season and the celebration of Christ's Atonement and resurrection, I have decided to choose one specific behavior that I indulge in that interferes with my relationship with Christ and work to eliminate it completely. Not temporarily, but permanently. It may be as simple as not overeating or refraining from watching a certain television show or listening to a certain type of music. Or maybe I'll find a way to help me remember Christ more throughout the day. I will ask myself this question: "What can I change to improve my relationship with the Savior?" I already know this will result in increased overall happiness and a heightened desire to share the Gospel. We all have possession of something infinitely more precious, beautiful and powerful than the Tide pen. Why wouldn't we want to use it and share it?