I Find Joy: Life Story of a Testimony Part II

Picking up where I left off in my last post, I knew had a testimony of Jesus Christ as my Savior and redeemer. So as that show ended, what was going to be next? I was taking classes at the University of Utah and pretty much all of my friends were involved with SOTW. Well a lot of the cast were talking about auditioning for the Nauvoo Pageant and spending a month or so of my last summer before a mission in a historic place like Nauvoo, once again performing for the Lord sounded like a pretty good deal to me. Then on New Year’s Eve my friend from the show, Mike, told me about something he did that past summer in Nauvoo, related to the Pageant; Young Performing Missionaries, or YPMs. He said that the callbacks were coming up and that the Directors had told him that if he knew anyone that was interested and that he thought could hack it, that they would give said person a look. I became that said person and ended up getting into the callback.

I remember the all day callback process as being just wonderful. I spent my whole day with talented and spiritually alive people in an atmosphere that was so conducive to the spirit, you could almost taste it. It was like YASE all over again. :) by the end of the day, I almost didn’t care if I would be called to Nauvoo or not, I was just thankful for the opportunity to be involved in the callback and to interact with so many wonderful people. Luckily, as I found out the next day at 7:14 p.m. I did get a call. In some respects the next 5 months almost didn’t matter to me. All I wanted was to be in Nauvoo, singing and dancing and being immersed in the spirit all day every
day. But I did have to wait and thanks to the friends I made at the U be involved with the 2011 Student Elections, the waiting was bearable. ;)

So May 6, 2011 finally comes. And I board a plane headed for St. Louis, and then from there, a 3 hour bus ride to the City Beautiful. However, there was work to be done and we apparently weren’t going to waste any time. As soon as we were all together on the bus we were working and in 3 hours, we had 2 songs memorized before we even reached Nauvoo. And in the 3 rehearsal weeks to follow, our pace did not let up. :) Almost immediately I felt so inadequate. I thought to myself, “all of these other wonderful people are so much more talented than me, and their testimonies are so much stronger than mine. They are so much more righteous than I am. How can I even measure up…,” and within a week I was certain Elder and Sister Camp had made a mistake in calling me there and I was inches away from telling them I wasn’t cut out for it and I needed to leave. However, I realized that leaving was hardly an option… At this point, who were they going to get to replace me…? So instead to took my inadequacies to the Lord. I prayed for more talent and righteousness, so I could shine as bright as all the others around me. Miraculously, the Lord answered my prayer, again though, like so many times before, not in the way I imagined. He did not increase my talent, and the only person that can make me more righteous is me, but instead he gave me something even better: comfort and a sliver of confidence. He helped me know that when the Lord calls His missionaries, He doesn’t make mistakes. I was there for a purpose, a whole bunch of them, and as the summer progressed, that became incredibly apparent. Strength, perseverance, enduring to the end, angels, Joseph Smith, sacrifice, love, selflessness, and Joy are only a few of the wonderful things I learned about and gained testimony of this summer. It truly was the best three months of my life and the best three months for my life up to this point. I could go into all kinds of extraneous detail and tell stories, but I wouldn’t want to bore you, in fact I’m just lucky if you’re still reading at this point…

So now here I am 2 days before I enter the Missionary Training Center and am allowed to devote all my time and energy to others once more. How very blessed I am. In the words of a Sister Samantha Frizby, "The Church is SO True!" This is where I find Joy, in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. With Him, any task is possible and any trial is bearable. "I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me." and I testify that we can not only live this life, we can thrive. We can find Joy, and I mean real, pure, celestial JOY in our lives. The church is so true.