I know that the Lord needs me here

So this week was amazing mostly because Melody got BAPTIZED!!! Hooray! There is no greater joy than seeing someone I've grown to love accept the faith that has changed my life.

The Independence Mission has 69 baptisms in May 2009. In May 2008 we had 35. We almost DOUBLED our numbers from last year. President Hinckley would have been proud. The missionaries here are tearing it up!

We had Zone Conference in Blue Springs, Missouri this week. Driving into there is a HUGE David Cook sign on an overpass. I had fear enter into my heart. For I knew not what they would do to me if they knew I was a David Archuleta fan from Murray, Utah. I kept my mouth shut. I was safe. HA HA! But I truly love Zone Conference. I wish we could have zone conference EVERY DAY! Haha... True story.

I shared my testimony in Zone Conference and I cried... Really cried... I don't think I've REALLY cried during a talk for at least a year. But during my testimony I said, "I know that the Lord needs me here." I testified that this is truly the Lord's work and that there is no greater purpose than this service. I know that missionary work has eternal consequences and blessings... What I mean is that my missionaries baptized me, now I'm serving a mission. I'm helping people get baptized. Hopefully some of them will go on missions. ETERNAL PROGRESSION! This work is also about uniting families together forever. Leaving all of you at home is the hardest thing I've ever done. But leaving my family at home, I'm given the opportunity to teach people how they can be with theirs forever.

I love my family. So much. I didn't serve a mission for myself. I served it for them. There's a quote in the Joseph Smith movie that says, "There are many in this life to whom I have loved. To them I am willing to prove faithful."

Onward Christian soldiers... I know I'm not perfect. I know I never will be ... But I know the Lord will bless me in my effort to be better. To become more than I ever thought I could become. More than that, I know the Lord will bless my family for my sacrifice. Present and future. There is nothing more important to me than them. I know that the Lord will bless the future for my family because of this mission. I know he is going to use these experiences to mold me into the BEST me that he knows I can be.

Phew... and it's still hard. But no one ever said this would be easy. We are told to "waste and wear out our lives" but yet we are promised that because of righteousness that our voices will be like a fierce lion. GRRR! (Ref. D&C 122:4). I have to be TOUGH like a lion. Endure to the End. Putting on the WHOLE armor of God. And sometimes that armor gets heavy. Sometimes it seems like it would be easier to take off the armor... But it's much easier to sometimes just stand still. When the weight is more than you can bear. Just be still. Let the Lord lift that burden from you. Because he did truly descend below all things. There is nothing the Lord can't handle. That is my testimony that I leave with you all.

I love you SO SO SO SO much! Please let me know if there is anyone in need of extra prayers this week. I'm here for you all.

Dream Big. Wish Hard. Love Always-

Jessica Rose