Change

On my mission, I have experienced a lot of change. Phone to no phone to phone, pants to no pants to pants, Nampa mission to Boise mission, emails to face time, constantly changing companions, jumping from area to area, the list could go on and on. 

When I was growing up we moved around a bit and I quickly learned to hate change. Change hurt. Change was uncomfortable. Change… well it makes you change. (And sometimes change makes you pack! And I haaaaaate packing. Doing it 11 times on the mission did not make it any easier. It just made me hate it more. But I digress) 

Coming out here to Idaho I was excited to "change". As a kid, I just heard people tell return missionaries all the time "wow you've changed so much". So every morning I would wake up and I would look in the mirror and analyze how I acted to see if I had "changed". And every morning I would be disappointed because I was still just me and I couldn't see any sort of change.

In the Book of Mormon, there is this phrase that comes up a lot "a change of heart". Now in the scriptures, this phrase is talking about people converting to the Gospel and their hearts receive this mighty change, but let's take the phrase more literally for a sec. If someone had a bad heart and wanted a new one (a literal change of heart) what would the process look like? A person couldn't just walk up to hobo joe with a knife and an organ in hand and say "do you mind just changing my heart really quick?". A person couldn't do this even with someone like President Nelson who is a trained heart surgeon. The process is different. It takes a little more time. You have to prepare yourself for the surgery. You have to hire the best heart surgeon. Then you have to let the surgeon do their finest work. A spiritual change of heart takes the same process. It takes time. You prepare by humbling yourself. You ask the Savior, the master physician, and you let Him do his finest work. The Savior is truly the only one that can change your heart. But here is the thing at the end of the day the literal and the spiritual new heart receiver could look in the mirror and say "nothing looks different. I guess I didn't change". That is simply not true. If we humble ourselves and go to our Savior He will change us and make us better every time. 

So here I go ready to experience one more big change in my life. Am I scared? More like petrified. But I know that God has prepared me for this moment just like He prepared me for this amazing mission. 

God is real and so so good. He sent a Savior, our brother, to the world who atoned for us and made it possible to live with our families and Him again. He restored His church on the earth through a prophet named Joseph Smith. We are still blessed this very day with an amazing prophet who is helping us prepare for that day when Christ will come to the earth again. The scriptures are true and filled with answers to our soul's greatest questions. We are never alone. Our Savior has felt it all and if we come to Him he will wrap us in His arms and help us get through another day. I know that He lives. I know that He loves us. I know that this Gospel is true and as we live it, that is how we are changed. 

-Sister Aase