A Simple Testimony

I wasn't quite sure what I should write about for today. Usually I know just what I want to share with all those who read my blog. I have decided to keep it simple and share my testimony with all of you. But not in the traditional way..but instead by simply making a list, that lays straight out what I know to be true. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is something that I am so blessed to be able to shout to the roof tops!! I am blessed that I will have the opportunity to do that everyday on my mission. So here we go. 

I know that Jesus Christ is the son of God, the savior, our brother.

I know that we are all eternal brothers and sisters.

I know that Jesus Christ died for us and through him we can find relief from our sins, pains, iniquities, afflictions, and all the things that seem unfair about life can be made right through him.

I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the one true church on the face of the earth.

I know that The Book of Mormon is the word of God. It testifies of Jesus Christ and goes hand in hand with the Bible. 

I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God. That he saw God the Eternal Father and Jesus Christ and restored the Christ's Church.

I know that families can be together forever.

I know that our Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers.

I know that we are loved by our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ more than we could possibly imagine.

I know that as we lean on our savior we can find ultimate relief.

I know that the scriptures provide strength. They bring peace and knowledge, and though them we can gain answers. 

I know that we can receive personal revelation.

I know that as we live the commandments we will feel peace.

I know that we have a living prophet on the earth today, Thomas S. Monson. I know that he speaks with God and can give us guidance. 

I know that we can grow and change everyday thanks to our Savior.

I know that the Spirit of God can direct us in our lives and can be with us always if we are living worth of it.

I know that faith brings miracles.

I know that we can all return to our Father in Heaven.

I know that these things are true without a shadow of doubt in my mind. I can not wait for the time where I can share this testimony with all those I come in contact with. Testimonies can be the most effective teaching method as we share from our hearts that which we know to be true. Never EVER. be afraid to let your testimony shine, to share it with others because you never know who can be touched my your simple but extraordinary witness. I leave these things with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

If you don't know these things to be true, I encourage you to pray and find out. This is the truth, the way, and the light. 

--Sister Wagner

Happy Easter!

Spring. Eggs. Colored grass. Candy. Bunnies. Pastels...It can only be Easter. 

What an amazing Easter Sunday this has been. And not because the easter bunny showed up at my house, but because I have had the chance to remember my savior, reflect on his sacrifice, and ponder the divinity of his atonement, as well as the miracle of his resurrection. 

For those who have not seen the LDS Easter, Because of Him message…GOOGLE IT. I have watched it four times and the spirit that comes with it is amazing to say the least. I live in a nonmember/inactive member home. I took a chance and had them watch the message today to share with them more fully the meaning of Easter. I could tell that they felt the spirit because it hit me so hard while I was watching it with all of them. I also showed my nonmember grandparents the video and my nana was nearly in tears. I could tell the that spirit was there more than ever. Share that video because it touches hearts. 

He died for us. At anytime he could have taken himself off that cross. He is the only begotten of the father and had more than enough power to stop his own suffering. But he loved us so much that he suffered in the most extreme and incomprehensible way. He bled from every poor. Suffocated on the cross. Felt all of sins, sicknesses, afflictions, infirmities, worries…EVERYTHING of EVERYONE.

He didn't know if we would utilize the atonement, but he hoped. He did it so even just one of us could be forgiven, that just one of us could have relief.

How blessed I am that he has risen. He has risen that I may rise again, that you can rise again, that everyone we love can rise again. He over came death. He did something that no one before him had ever done. He broke the bands of death. Those bands don't hold us any longer. How beyond blessed each of us are. 

I KNOW that my Redeemer lives.

Happy Easter! Remember Christ's resurrection everyday, not just the day it occurred. It is too special to only be remembered once a year. Everyday we should remember the miraculous moment Jesus Christ conquered death.

--Sister Wagner

CALLED TO SERVE HIM

I finally received my mission call after a long process of waiting A WHOLE MONTH. What a journey it has been to have finally received my call. Unlike the typical sisters checking the mailbox and seeing that big fat white envelope bent to the side, my call was not in the mailbox! How is that possible Sister Wagner? Is what you are most likely asking yourself. Well here is what happened. 

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was so disappointed on Saturday when a DIFFERENT white envelope was in my mailbox that had been given to the wrong address. So my mom and I went down to return that letter to the post office later that day only to find out that it was closed. BOO. So on Monday my mom went to the post office to return that envelope. ** little background of my mom…describing her as a social butterfly is an understatement ** My mom happened to be all buddy buddy with the guy working in the post office and simple asked him to check out back for our mail to see if we would be getting a white envelope. Honestly I would have never had the guts to have done something that ridiculous…but I am SO glad that my mom did, because that postal working walked out with my call in his hands and asked my mom, "Is this what you are looking for?" HA! So my mom took my call and called me right up. I was trying to fall back asleep after a 7am 2 hour long shift. when my phone rang. and she told my that she had my call! WOOHOO! 

So by 9:15am I had my call and it was staring me down..And I couldn't open it till 6:30…gosh darn it. For all you that haven't opened your call..no matter how much light you put on that sucker, you will not be able to see through. trust me. I tried.

When 6:30 rolled around, I was at the church surrounded by the best people on planet earth, and I opened my call. HOLY MOLY. I cried. First line..already in tears as I read: 

Dear Sister Wagner,

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the KENTUCKY LOUISVILLE MISSION.

Sisters I am telling you right now. The Spirit has never hit my so hard in my life. I was immediately overcome with the spirit. With the comfort that this was EXACTLY where I needed to me. These are MY people. My people to love, to serve, to teach. My Family.

This is right where I am needed. HEAVENLY FATHER KNOWS YOU. He knows what you need and who needs you. I was so worried before I opened my call that I would be disappointed  and I prayed and prayed and prayed to have the spirit testify to me of the divinity of my call. I can not tell you how big my testimony is of mission calls coming directly from our loving Heavenly Father. I KNOW Kentucky is where I need to be. I just want to hug all the people I will be serving right now. I love them so much already. 

I AM COMING FOR YOU KENTUCKY!!! 99 more days! 

I report to the Provo MTC on July 23rd 2014! 

--Sister Wagner

P.S. I will try and figure out how to get the video up soon :)

A Month of Waiting

Well, as the title states, it has officially been a month since I have sent in my mission papers to Salt Lake. And my call has yet to come. What is this pure craziness! I was able to log into my lovely ldsmail account 10 days ago! And that lovely letter has yet to come. THIS IS MADNESS. PURE MADNESS.  I really have been patient…well…as patient as possible. which lezz be honest, isn't too patient. 

I was 99% sure that is would come yesterday.. I was so so soooo excited  to check the mail. Talk about getting your hopes up…my hopes might has well have been in the firmaments… 

So I was gone yesterday off at a surprise party for one of my lovely co-workers who is moving away to Virginia (we joke that I will follow her when I go on my mission). And my mom was in charge of NOT looking in the mail box and waiting for me to get home. Of course my mom could help herself..and what was in the mail box? A BIG WHITE ENVELOPE. I kid you not. I came home and I saw that the mailbox was empty, I was sure my mom had already gotten the mail out of excitement. So I go in and I thought it was a joke that my call hadn't come. NOPE. It really hadn't come.. And the big white envelope you ask? Oh it was a letter from the ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH that was addressed to someone about a 5 minute drive away.. 

OF ALL DAYS TO GET MAIL MIXED UP, AND OF ALL THE HOUSES TO GIVE A BIG WHITE LETTER TOO. Let me tell you, Heavenly Father has a sense of humor. 

I would love to be able to tell you that I laughed it off and didn't care. But nope. I asked my mom to call the lady the letter was assigned to (found her in the phone book). And NO ANSWER. BOO. No luck.

 Of course I was graceful and didn't mind that today wasn't the day. PHYC. I was super frustrated. discouraged. overwhelmed. a little ticked. and it totally messed up my groove. 

How petty of me. It seriously wasn't something to be discouraged about. And i couldn't even function. I was upset and confused on why in the world my call hadn't come. I prayed for comfort and as always, my Heavenly Father listens and he comforted me. 

Later that night, as I was saying my evening prayers, I asked my father in heaven WHY hadn't my call come yet? what did I need to learn? and I asked him to help me understand. I was just so confused. 

As I closed my prayer and started to ponder what the Lord would say to me…the thought came "when you put your circumstances in the hands of the Lord, you will be pleasantly surprised." That was it, pure and simple. HUMILITY. I had thought so hard into when my call would come I didn't bother thinking when the Lord would have me receive my call. What I needed to do was humble myself, suck it up, and know that my call will come when it needs to, and when it will be best of me to have it. 

I am so beyond grateful and humbled for my answer. I am so glad to have the knowledge that I do that Heavenly Father answers prayers. He hears us, and is aware of us. I know that as I wait, with a "Lord, may thy will be done" attitude that I won't have those feelings of discouragement, confusion, anger, or frustration. How blessed am I to be a part of this restored gospel and have the knowledge of personal revelation.

Keep your heads up sisters! 

--Sister Wagner

p.s. It really should be here soon, my bishop told me today that is has indeed been assigned, and was officially assigned on the 3rd of April. But it will come when it needs to come, I know that now. :)

Conference of Champions

HOLY COW. HOLY MOLY. HOLY SMOKES.  HOLY GUACAMOLE. 

This general conference was simply amazing and the messages that were given were so obviously divinely given for our benefit directly from our Heavenly Father. The messages that were given were so uplifting and there is no way you could make up all that goodness. I thank my father in heaven for giving us living prophets and apostles on this earth, and even more so for giving the knowledge to me in this life. I CAN NOT wait to share the knowledge of this restored gospel with those that are in darkness. 

(UPDATE: My call has been assigned and will be here THIS WEEK. 6 days.. oh my goody goodness. I cant even handle it.) 

I went into conference SUPER EXCITED! I love the messages that are given at conference and so often I come out of conference feeling as though the messages that were given were directed straight at me! I went into this conference with some questions written down that I knew that I could use some answers to, and I kid you not.. ALL QUESTIONS WERE ANSWERED. I had a whopping 12 questions, I felt like that was a large order, but nope. The Lord knew that I needed answers and they were provided to me. And let me tell you, all my questions were all over the place! 

I am going to try really hard now to get myself to the point where I am ready to testify completely without hesitation, without fear and only faith of the divinity of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. How pure his love, how merciful his atonement, and how undivided his devotion is to us. The gratitude I have in my heart is over flowing and the spirit that I have felt over the past two days is undeniable. How blessed each of us are to have this gospel! 

I love you all! Keep smiling and preparing yourselves to serve with all your might mind and heart! 

--Sister Wagner


SOME, defiantly not all, of my favorite quotes from this conference!