Blessed Beyond Measure: Friend Edition

One of the service prompts for the Light the World initiative this year was to post on social media about an influential friend or friends. I'm not on social media very often, but it occurred to me recently that I could post here!

I wouldn't be able to pick just one friend to highlight. I am blessed to have many good friends, several of whom I've known since childhood. I intend to name a few (and hopefully I can keep it to just a few, or this post would go on forever!). :)

I'm grateful for Kiera, who's been one of my best friends since kindergarten. She was and continues to be a powerful spiritual influence on my life -- in addition to being a whole lot of fun! Kiera's example and observations were so influential in helping me start to recognize the voice of the Spirit. I'm grateful for her spiritual sensitivity and also for her bottomless well of forgiveness in the times I wasn't the greatest friend.

I'm grateful for Summer, who became a good friend the first year Kiera and I weren't in the same school class. We became a trio, and I so appreciate her kindness and love.

I'm grateful for Sara, K.T., and Mikayla, who are still some of my best friends! Elementary school wouldn't have been the same without them. I love their creativity, kindness, and genuine goodness. All three of them are the kind of people who just want to do the right thing, and the world is better for it.

I'm grateful for Andrea, Ana, Ashley, Lauren, Mandy, Bree, Jenny, Belle, Aubrey, Joe, Ryan, Connor, and all my other high school friends! We may not be in contact as often as we used to be, but they truly made my high school years happy ones, and I'm better for it. I'm also grateful for Kiera's sister Whitney, who I became much closer to during and after high school (once I started growing out of the "I'm older than you so we can't hang out" phase).

Thank goodness for Jill, Mara, Holly, Lynette, Kelly, Sketti, Ary, and Katelyn. Again, we're not in contact as often as we used to be, but they were the best roommates I could have asked for!

Jennifer deserves her own paragraph. Before Jennifer moved into our apartment, I was surviving on cereal, bagels, croutons, and rice. We bonded over food and Korean dramas and never looked back. To this day, she is my "best California friend"! One of the happiest days of my life was attending her wedding to a great, worthy man. She is such a caring, intelligent, thoughtful person and I'm blessed to know her.

I also have many friends whom I met outside of school. Mission friends, the Draper family in California, Francie, Provo Temple baptistry friends and the Yarwood family in Utah are some examples. I connected with the Drapers through music. I connected with Michelle through food and Primary teaching. I love both their families so much.

There are many other people who have touched my life, and I hope to make many more friends as the journey continues. Friends help make life grand. Especially when you're as lucky in your friendships as I am. I wish everyone could have even just one true friend.

What's in a farewell talk?

This talk was given in church Sunday, July 20.

I appreciate all the people who've come today to support Graig and I as we speak right before we leave on our missions to Honduras and El Salvador. It's a little scary to think Graig and I will be in another country in a few days - we fly to the Mexico MTC on Tuesday. But God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of faith, and if any of you are afraid of something in your future, I invite you to trust God to catch you as we each take our leaps of faith into the unknown.

I've wanted to serve a mission my whole life. I wanted it so much I sometimes questioned my true motivation for starting my papers. What if I was going for myself, for the chance to see new places and experience a new culture? I didn't want the foundation of my mission to be built on something as shaky as myself. I wanted to be built on Christ, so that when the winds of adversity come - and I've been assured they will - I wouldn't be tossed to and fro, but I would be able to stand strong and tall. As tall as I ever get, anyway.

I prayed to have the right motivation for going - which in my mind, means I'm going because I love the Lord and all His people. I prayed to know that my own motivations were unselfish. I was still struggling with this on the day I got my mission call. It took three weeks for me to get that letter, and let me tell you, it was the longest three weeks of my life. I didn't know this at the time, but my mom had been praying hard too. She asked the Lord to just confirm to me that wherever I was called was where God needed me to serve.

Both our prayers were definitely answered. When I read the words of my call: "Dear Sister Henrie, ... you are assigned to labor in the El Salvador San Salvador East Mission," the thought came to me: Duh, of course you'd be called to El Salvador. I guess that was my own spirit talking to me; I think I knew before I came to Earth that I would serve a mission in El Salvador.

The Holy Spirit connected with me too. Usually, the way I feel the Spirit is by feeling as if my whole body is electrified (Heavenly Father knows subtlety is lost on me), but this was more intense than I'd felt it before. A warmth exploded in my chest. I didn't come down from cloud nine for weeks after opening my call, and my BYU roommates will testify of that.

Because of this experience and many others, I know God answers prayers. I hope He'll answer another one today and guide me through the Spirit to say what somebody may need to hear.

The Spirit is an essential part of any missionary work, and when Bishop Faddis invited me to speak I asked if I could talk about personal revelation. He said, "Could you talk a little about preparing for a mission, too?"

The two actually go hand in hand, because in order to touch people's hearts and teach effectively, you need God to guide you by the Spirit - and you need to love them.

How do you feel the Spirit?
So, first up - how do you feel the Spirit? It talks to everyone differently, in the way each individual can best understand. I've already explained a little about how I know I'm feeling the Spirit when all the hairs on my arms stand up and I feel warmth course through my whole body. But sometimes it communicates with me in another way, too; the Spirit gives me clarity of thought, where my mind stays calm in potentially dangerous situations and somehow I know what to do. This has kept me out of serious trouble with my mother lots of different times in my childhood. Kiera could tell you - she was there for most of them, and I know she felt the same clarity of thought.

One time this happened was when I was babysitting my three siblings at home. We used to have this decorative box, about the size of a box of tissues, with candles in it. The box was full of pretty leaves and twigs and the candles were scented. Well, we had the candles going and I guess they'd burned pretty low because suddenly the leaves in the box caught fire!

It should have been a paralyzing situation because I wasn't very old, maybe 13, and I'm afraid of fire, but I wasn't paralyzed, and neither was my brother Graig. He immediately went to the sink and got a cup of water. I talked him out of dumping it on the fire right there because I had a thought that we should take it outside first. I didn't question the thought because it just felt natural, and so I got a pair of oven mitts and took the box outside to the back porch.

With the box safely on the porch, I backed up a safe distance and let Graig pour the water on it. But it didn't go out, it exploded!

I realized something I couldn't have known before - that this was a grease fire. You can't extinguish a grease fire with water, and if Graig had tried while it was still sitting on our kitchen table, we probably would have caught the table on fire. I was sure glad I had listened to the thought that told me to take the box outside!

How can I learn to recognize the Spirit?
It's taken me pretty much my whole life to learn how to recognize when the Spirit is speaking to me, and I think that's the case with most other people as well. It isn't always easy to discern your own thoughts from heavenly communication, but one thing that really helped me was by really trying to pay attention during church meetings. It's sometimes harder to feel the Spirit during the week with school and work distracting you, but it's fun to practice on Sundays when the only distraction is my own failure to concentrate on what's being said.

As I paid closer attention, I started to learn some things: the Spirit never fails to testify of truth, and because true doctrine is taught by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I was able to receive a personal witness of truth from the Holy Spirit during many lessons. The Spirit also suggested lots of changes I could make in my life to help myself feel closer to the Savior, or taught me more about a topic in an illuminating "lightbulb moment." Sometimes those teachings were unrelated to what was being said and were instead more about doctrinal questions I'd been thinking about.

How can I feel the Spirit more?
I was talking to my dad about how someone can feel the Spirit, and he said that having the pure love of Christ helps you to feel the Spirit. If you don't think you feel the Spirit, perform a service for someone. When you serve, the Spirit will tell you how much God loves that person. You will feel the Spirit more in your life.

"If you don't know how to be a missionary, but you have the pure love of Christ, you'll be fine," my dad said. "Pure love is loving people without reservation, despite what they may have done to you."

I know Graig and I will be okay on our missions because of the love we have learned in our family. Graig and I have also enjoyed all the opportunities we've had in the past to share our music with you, and we really appreciate all the service you've done for us - especially in the past couple months as we've been preparing to serve our missions.

Another tip for helping yourself know what the Spirit feels like is to ask God if He's there and if He loves you. The answer will always be YES! Listen for it. Feel for it.

Preparing to serve a mission
When my stake president interviewed me before submitting my missionary application, he asked me to prepare by beginning to act like a missionary right then. I thought to myself, I don't have a companion. I can't knock on doors all day. I'm go to school full time. I have a job. How can I act like a missionary right now?

But as I thought about it, I had a lightbulb moment where the task suddenly seemed simple. What do missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints do? They look for opportunities to serve others and for opportunities to share gospel teachings. I started to do the same thing, and I was amazed at how many missionary opportunities I had right here in Utah, the Mormon capital of the world. All of you can do the same thing: look for opportunities to serve or share every day. You don't need a formal mission call to act like a missionary!

Mission farewell PARTY!

 

Jennifer will keep TeddyPuppy for me until I get back. I didn't want to take him with me to El Salvador. I thought about it- he is a nice little piece of home- but concluded it would be a childish thing to do. Missionaries are supposed to rely on the Lord, not stuffed animals from their childhoods. And besides... he could get lost.

Lots of people came in support of Graig and I: family, friends and neighbors. We were happy to see them all!

 Anderson relatives group shot

 Graig and I with our Grandma and Grandpa Anderson

 Henrie relatives group shot

 My friend Zach returned from an LDS mission in Paraguay just in time to tell me goodbye

 Friends who came to the Sunday brunch at our house:(back row) Joseph, Jennifer, Mary, Jill, Mara, Josh, Amanda, (front row) Sara, Ashley and me!

 Literally supported by my aunts and cousins :)

 Graig and I with Sister and Brother Southard- best home teachers in the Church!

 I will miss my friend Jill a lot. She's a great strength to me. We'll write each other, though!

 More friends: Tyler, Katelyn, me, Carron

I'll miss Katelyn lots, too.

 I love this family! We've been neighbors for close to 20 years- pretty much my whole life. Graig and I grew up with their kids. Tina (in the pink) was also our preschool teacher.

 Great family friends, the Browns

 Representatives from more family friends, the Caprios

 Jennifer is such a good friend that she's practically been adopted into my family. :)

 Whitney wasn't able to see our farewell talks, but she came Monday night especially to say goodbye. I've also known her for most of my life.

 

Somebody must have told me a joke! 

My mom's friend Sarah Brown is a freelance graphic designer. She designed these business cards for Graig and I. Lots of people exclaimed about how cute they were, so I thought I'd include her information here. Her email address is sarahbrowndesigns (at) gmail.com; just send her an email for quotes and design samples. She's designed logos and shirts among other things, and as you can see, she's good at what she does.

The new Space Center

The Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center (CMSEC) that I came to love in elementary school inspired three additional centers in Utah, two of which are practically brand-new. One is under construction at the Renaissance Academy in Lehi. The other is located at Stonehenge Center for the Arts in Pleasant Grove- to my knowledge, the first for-profit center to branch off from the CMSEC.

(In case you're interested, the third Utah center is located in Logan. These three centers are affiliated with the CMSEC, but each is managed and run as separate entities. For more information on the CMSEC's history, visit spacecamputah.org.)

Graig and I gave the for-profit Discovery Space Center a try recently. We booked a mission for our family the first Saturday in July in addition to reserving a friend mission last Saturday. From what we saw, the DSC is definitely still working out some bugs in its computer programs (but that was often true at the CMSEC too). Most important, the feeling was there- the feeling of excitement, of magic. The pressure to save the day. The euphoria that comes from just barely evading certain death. The deep satisfaction when each member of the crew plays an important role in completing the mission.

The DSC captured it, all of it. If you were willing to surrender yourself to the power of imagination, it was magic.

Flying on the UCS Endeavor

Brandon (chief engineer), Jennifer (tactical officer), Beth (communications officer), Graig (pilot), me (operations officer), Ashley (sensors officer), Sara (captain!) and Whitney (first officer)

Mission call!

Well, folks, it finally came. I got my mission call today! This time next year, I will be in the beautiful country of El Salvador!

It was the deepest desire of my heart to be called to a Spanish speaking mission, but I really had no idea where I would be called to serve or even if my wish to speak Spanish would come true. I tried really hard not to boss the Lord while I was waiting those three excruciating weeks for my call... I only specifically told Him how much I wanted to go Spanish speaking one time... but I was thinking it pretty much all the time. I feel so lucky to not only have an opportunity to serve God but to do it in a language I LOVE and want to learn better.

My family wanted me to read the whole first paragraph of the call's cover letter, starting from "Dear Sister Henrie" to "It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 18 months," but I couldn't help it, I only read aloud the salutation before skipping to "You are assigned to labor in..." At the moment I read it, I knew it was right. It was a feeling of, "Duh, of course you'd be called to El Salvador." Because of that immediate confirmation, I wasn't surprised. But I was... and still am... freaking HAPPY!

Graig's mission call came today too. We opened his first, then mine. He's going to Honduras Tegucigalpa, and get this- we both report to the Mexico MTC on the same day! I'm so excited for him! And me!

The streamers block your view a bit, but this is a REAL hug between me and my brother caught on video. Aw... it's good to be reminded our relationship goes deeper than teasing and wrestling.

El Salvador San Salvador East Mission

Report Date: July 24, 2013

Hermana. Sister.

My roommate Sara, who gets home before I do on Thursdays, sent me a picture similar to this to inform me that my call came. It was sure hard to focus at work after that. :)

Thanks to all the family and friends that showed up to support me as I opened my call today. I love you!

Zuko wants YOU to follow the honor code!

Sara brought this poster to my attention Tuesday. I wound up using my picture of it in a mock radio story the next evening for backpack journalism.

Scare of the day

"One moment," she says.

"Turn around," she says.

"Don't scream," she says.

Then Sara proceeds to pull a sticker off the back of my neck. From what she said, I was expecting something a little hairier, with about eight more legs.

Thanks, Sara, for saving me from sticker embarrassment. And for the well-intentioned but vague warning that was supposed to let me know what you were about to pull off me might take some hairs with it- possibly painfully. (Hence the "Don't scream.") My heart has stopped pounding now. ;)

In which K.T. gets married

K.T. got married today. :)

 I was so happy to wake up to a white world this morning. K.T. was hoping for snow.

How many people does it take to build a cake?

 Spencer places the second layer while Brian holds the third and Josh (left) and Garrett (far right) supervise.

 Garrett looks kind of seductive in this picture, but really I just caught him right before he hit the camera with a full glare. "How could you let Natasha dress me up in these itchy feather boas?"

Master Chef

It takes six people to build a wedding cake! Josh, Spencer, Garrett, Brian, Natasha and Kim

Being bridesmaids

I've been friends with K.T., Mikayla and Sara for 10 years now. I'm sure glad to have met them.

K.T. and Jamie asked several of their close friends to be bridesmaids and groomsmen. I was glad they made me feel included in their special day. :)