Here I go!

I am officially on my way to serve the Lord. I was set apart tonight by my BYU stake president with a wonderful blessing. From this point on for the next year and a half, I get to be with a companion every day and I must heed the general mission rules.

I am very excited to serve. Although the whole thought of it is kind of scary, I feel peace with the fact that I know I am serving the Lord and those around me by doing this work. It is difficult to give up some of the basic things in life today like regular internet usage, contacting family whenever, or using a cell phone for fun, but these are simple things to give up in order to feel the powerful blessings that will come in my life because of this service.

I look forward to having my training begin in the MTC tomorrow, but even more I look forward to having the experience of serving the people of New England and bringing the joy of the Gospel into people's lives.

Like many missionaries, I wish I could just give everyone in the world a Book of Mormon and tell them how it is true and it testifies of Jesus Christ, our Savior, and all that He has done for us. But, I cannot force the gospel on anyone. I hope and pray that people will be willing to listen to the Spirit as it testifies to them in their hearts of the truthfulness found in the scriptures. I also hope that people will have an open heart and mind to the messages we have to share with them.

This is a difficult work that teaches 18-21 year olds how to handle rejection, because often we will face those who do not wish to listen to our messages at this time. But, it is those experiences that help shape us as individuals to become better for our future lives.

I look forward to the opportunities to face both rejection and acceptance by those I bring messages of the Lord to.

On a business note: I will be having my mom post my weekly emails home here to the blog and she will be emailing those posts out to those of you who wish to receive emails. If you would like to be on the list and are not on there already, please email: sister.katy.tyler@gmail.com and my mom will add you to the mailing list.

Thanks everyone for your support!