Monday

“Rules for Happiness: something to do, someone to love, something to hope for.” My farewell festivities.

Hola queirdos amiogos y amigas! (Hello my lovely friends)
In these past two weeks preparing for my mission,
I have been so overwhelmed with happiness! My family has seemed even more special than usual and my friends have been even greater than always. Even the normally extremely hot and humid Texas weather has transitioned into cooler temperatures and the Texas rain I love. So tonight, I was reading some quotes about happiness and found this one "“Rules for Happiness: something to do, someone to love,  something to hope for.” I couldn't help but think how this is fitting my life so perfectly at this moment! I decided my blog post will be broken down in those three parts this week .
Before that though, 9 days till I enter the MTC, 8 till I fly to Utah, and 7 till I get set apart!! WOW. SINGLE DIGITS. FOR REAL?!?!

"Something to do",

In these last two weeks, I've started to get to have farewell festivities!Thus giving me "something to do." Last Sunday, the 13th, I got to give my farewell talk in my ward. Thank you so much to those who came! It meant the world to me. (Special thank you to the Madsens and Tiff who both drive quite some distance to come! Love y'all.) Here's some pictures from after.
Tiff and I. Basically describes us.
This photo also was very candid.
My wonderful brother! (left)

The topic was obedience brings blessings. The talk was primarily based off President Monson's general conference April 2013 talk named that. What an amazing talk for me to get the privilege to talk on! ( Read President Monson's talk now!) When I talk in church or anywhere, I always write bullet points instead of writing it out. (I got in the habit of that from high school speech and debate and haven't been able to break it! haha.) So here was some of the points I shared. As I read the talk, I wondered what can I do to be obedient? I broke it down to 3 points:

  • Know what the Lord wants us to do. -By this I mean, know the commandments, be aware of the standards, and constantly read the scriptures. By searching the tools the Lord gives us, we will constantly be aware of what it us he wants from us! This quote from President Monson's talk sums it up: “There is no need for you or for me, in this enlightened age when the fulness of the gospel has been restored, to sail uncharted seas or to travel unmarked roads in search of truth. A loving Heavenly Father has plotted our course and provided an unfailing guide—even obedience. A knowledge of truth and the answers to our greatest questions come to us as we are obedient to the commandments of God.”
  • Seek specific direction from the Lord for our individual lives. -President Gordon B. Hinckley, said “The happiness of the Latter-day Saints, the peace of the Latter-day Saints, the progress of the Latter-day Saints, the prosperity of the Latter-day Saints, and the eternal salvation and exaltation of this people lie in walking in obedience to the counsels of … God.”  This is so perfect! We need to find out what the Lord wants us specifically to do in our individual days. We discover this through temple attendance, reading our patriarchal blessings, and SOOOOO much prayer and humility.
  • DO IT- Knowing what the Lord wants us to do and actually doing it are much much different. Once we discover what we need to do, we must act on it! Only that will bring us continuance help. In doing what we need to do, the most important thing is turning to the Lord and doing the most we can do. 
I also got to give this same talk in the spanish branch, I'm so excited...BUT SO NERVOUS..to speak spanish the next 18 months!


Also as a random sideline, when I first saw people take "mission pictures" I was not crazy about the idea. After careful thinking, I decided I wouldn't have anything to lose! Any future sisters, reading, I would for sure take them! So much fun.




   


"Someone to love" 

I am so blessed with my amazing family and friends! Especially lately, I've really noticed all the hard work my amazing mom does for me! How lucky am I? I will miss her so much while I'm gone but I'll try to make her proud! My dad is a great as an example as always. Luis& Mimi are so cute and funny and I'm so excited to watch them grow. 


Mimi and I at her very 1st concert! (Imagine Dragons) 
Little girl is so grown up and beautiful.

I know the Lord sends us to our specific family for a reason. They teach us and are patient with us and are truly the perfect fit for us. 
I am also so grateful for my dear friends. My mom being awesome as she is, insisted I have an open house for leaving. Although at first hesitant, I'm so glad we had one! Getting to see my dear friends and chat was absolutely amazing. 

"Something to hope for"

I can't believe that what I've been planning for for literally over half a year, will finally be here next week! I hope to be able to bring to so many what brings me my happiness, which is the gospel and all that comes with it. I know that as we follow the Lord's will, he makes more of us than we could of our self! I can't wait to be a sister missionary and am so happy for the opportunity I have to serve the people of Monterrey. 



This time in exactly a month....

September 30, 2013




How is this picture even real?!?!? I can not believe that this time exactly a month from today I will be a full time LDS missionary and will be wrapping up my very first day in the Provo MTC. I am so excited and can not wait to go forth and serve!! These past few days I have been feeling so extremely blessed! At first when I got my mission call, it felt so far away and I had no idea what to do the months leading up to it. But this week, I've felt so grateful to get called when I did because I know it has given me some really awesome opportunities that I wouldn't have gotten if I had left sooner. Thursday, I had the neat opportunity to take my sister to her first concert! On the way back, our GPS died and we had no clue where to go. My sister, a very good friend who's also waiting to leave on a mission, and I prayed to be able to find our way home. Sure enough we did! That in itself was a blessing but an even bigger one is that we got to have a really awesome gospel discussion! I have been lucky to have lots of gospel chats lately and it constantly excites me to go and talk the gospel 24/7!
                                                   My sister and I at the concert.
            Saturday one of my dear BYU friends, Tiffani, who is waiting to leave on her mission to Piricaba, Brazil (Sorry I totally misspelled that Tiff!) came down for my bday on Sunday. I am so blessed to be able to see how preparing for a mission completely transforms you !As Tiff and I chatted late into the night, I thought about how different our conversations were than ever before..they were so much more gospel and service oriented! It'd only been a summer since being together at BYU and it was amazing how mission preparation had improved both of us SO MUCH ! It is amazing how when you begin to turn your life and desires over to the Lord he can completely change you from good to so much better than you ever imagined! The blessings he has poured on me have been so great and I can not wait to see the blessings in other's lives as they grow from the Lord.
Sunday was my actual birthday! I don't think anyone could have dreamed of a more perfect pre-mish birthday! Church that day was absolutely amazing! There is so much power in a group of members meeting and sharing their testimony! That evening there was a missionary fireside where converts shared their amazing stories and once again I was reminded of the power of proudly sharing our testimony. It was an amazing sacrament meeting. The third hour was combined and bishop gave an amazing lesson.

                                 "Seek to make the Lord's agenda, your agenda."

Bishop shared this quote and it absolutely struck me! This could not be more true! After church I gathered with my family and two of my best friends to eat cake!
Then the missionaries came over for dinner. They gave a really great lesson. I can't believe soon I will be giving a lesson in a home!! The missionaries talked about finding happiness through repentance and turning to the Lord.
             "If you're not happy, repent! Because the Lord wants us to be happy." 

This little bit from the lesson made me think of my favorite scripture, 2 Timothy 1:7 "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." So to wrap it up, I know Heavenly Father wants us to be happy. I know when we live our lives how he wants, we grow, and have more than just momentary happiness..we have eternal joy! I can not wait to go forth and share the gospel, the true way to happiness.



                             -Soon to be Hernmana Medina
Also: I got to take mission pictures on Saturday and can not wait to get them back!

Sunday

Hola queridos amigos!

September 18, 2013



Hola y’all!! I know what you’re thinking….NOT ANOTHER MISSIONARY BLOG. But alas, it is indeed. So I received my mission called to Monterrey, Mexico around Jun 20ish. This is the picture I submitted along with my mission papers.
My reporting day is Oct 30th to the Provo MTC where I will spend 12 days there and will then head to Mexico for the next 17 and a half months!! On July 20th, I got the amazing privilege of going through the temple with my wonderful Mami and Papi to help me prepare for my mission.
The first few month preparing for my mission flew by! Everything seemed perfect. I had problems now and then but not much more than anyone else! Then in early September I found out my apartment housing at BYU Provo hadn’t gotten canceled like I thought it had. I freaked out because unless I quickly found someone I’d have to pay for rent until Aug 2014 in an apartment I wouldn’t have ever set a foot in! For those of you who don’t live in Provo, selling an apartment right now is SO HARD/DIFFICULT. Because so many girls are leaving on missions there is a highly decreased need for housing. I knew some people who have gone 8 months paying an apartment they didn’t live in. Along with that huge load of stress, I started getting nervous about going to a country that has been having quite a few violence issues. What if I wasn’t meant to go? What if I had rushed this? What if?? As I shared these anxieties to my lovely parents, we all started feeling on edge. Then one lovely Wednesday, I went out with the sister missionaries in my home ward in LJ. I vented to them about my worries and doubts. After taking the time to listen to me, one sweet sister asked, “Carla, how did you decide to go on a mission?” It had been a long time since I had seriously thought about why I had chosen to go on a mission. I sat and thought for a moment. Then I related to the sisters, the sweet experiences I’d had that the Lord had led me to deciding to serve. At that moment, I didn’t know if my apartment would get bought. At that moment, I didn’t know why Mexico was my assigned mission. At that moment, I knew once again why I had chosen to go on a mission. I came home with a strong feeling of serenity and the rekindled excited-ess to serve. We celebrated my dad’s 47th birthday and later that night I went to my room to do some evening reading. I got a text from an unknown number. This unknown number turned out to be someone who wanted to buy my apartment contract! Just like that this huge issue had been resolved. I feel overwhelmingly blessed to have had a potentially highly stressful and financially hard situation resolved so easily. I know the Lord is constantly placing people in my life who are helping me prepare. I think the sisters in my ward have no idea what a influence they’re making. I have some friends who have just been such an inspiration. My parents’ willingness to help me has been amazing as well! As I continue this journey to being closer to leaving, I’m excited to see who the Lord will place in my life to teach me and I’m excited for any opportunities I’ll have to teach. I’ll keep my preparation updated and my sister will keep my mission updated. BLOGS WITH PICTURES ARE JUST SO MUCH MORE ENJOYABLE. My countdown!'
My mission area:
I am already in love with the Monterrey Temple.