FINAL MISSION POST (Can You Believe It?)

(Mom:  It seems so strange that this is the last official post I'll be sharing for Carina's 18-month mission.  She'll be home this coming Monday evening, Feb. 23rd, 2015.  What a blessing it has been to watch her grow in beauty, grace, and testimony during her service.  She is a true example to me of someone dedicated to the Lord in every way.  Feeling blessed to have this sweet young woman in my life!)

So, I don't know too much about coming home - still getting final details.  I have a seminar on Thursday as well as interviews.  I also have a departure dinner on Sunday.  :)  I'm guessing they'll tell you more as it comes closer?  Our luggage is taken care of, so we will just need a little money for food in the airport.

Sister Rodda is getting a bunch of my clothes.  LOL!  Lots others were donated because of holes, rips, tears, fading, stains, etc.  Not worth bringing home...

Thanks for the Valentines Day package of goodies - I got mine but Sister Rodda didn't get hers.  Don't worry, I shared my candy with her.  Ha ha   (Mom:  So weird, since I mailed both of them priority mail, same day, same time, same location - one got there Saturday, the other not until today, Tuesday?  Hmmmm...)

My Testimony

It has taken lots of prayer and hard work and diligence and trial and blessings to gain the testimony I have today.  The road has not always been easy, and many times I have lost my way and doubted.  But somehow I always found my way back, and my trials seemed to have grounded me and made me better.  If I had not gone through all that I have, I don’t know if my testimony would be as strong as it is today.

I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God.  I know that he questioned and he wondered and searched for which of the many churches to go to.  In humble prayer, he knelt and asked Heavenly Father, in faith, which all of all the churches was right and which he should join.  I know that God the Father and His son Jesus Christ appeared to him, as two separate beings, with bodies of flesh and blood.  I know this because every time I recite the first vision, I get teary.  I feel the spirit testify to me of its truth.  When I first started my mission, I couldn’t even get through the first vision without crying, the spirit just spoke to me so strongly.  I know God called Joseph Smith to restore that same church that Christ had back on the earth today because He loves us and wanted us to have His gospel.  How blessed are we to live in the time where that fullness is back on the earth, for there were many who wandered without it.

I know that because God knew many would disbelieve Joseph Smith and his vision, He brought forth an ancient record of people in the Americas called the Book of Mormon.  I know that Joseph Smith, having little to no education, could not have translated this record unless he had that power of God.  I know that power, the Priesthood, was restored to Joseph Smith.  I know the priesthood is real, and it is the power of God and it really is on the earth today.  I have witnessed the power of it in my own life as I’ve received priesthood blessings that truly were from God.  I’ve had too many experiences that I just cannot deny this power.  I know the Book of Mormon really is the word of God.  When I first read it, I felt a burning and desire in my heart to read more and more.  As I knelt and asked in prayer if it was true, I felt that it was, the spirit told me, and I cannot deny it.  I know it goes hand and hand with the Bible and when we read them together we really will draw closer to the Lord and understand His doctrine.

I know that the Plan of Salvation is real.  It just makes sense.  We were with God before we came to this life, we knew Him and He loved us.  We come to earth for a purpose to learn and to grow, we have trials to shape us and make us better.  I know this life is not the end, there is so so much more after this life.  I know death will not separate us from our loved ones, but through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, because He overcame death, we will have the opportunity to be with our loved ones again.  Families are designed to be eternal...eternal marriage, eternal sealing to our children and parents, all helping up get back to our Heavenly Father.  I know that He is on our side about this whole thing, He is rooting for us!  That gives me great hope.  I remember in the MTC, lying in bed, just before I went to sleep, I was thinking of everything that could possibly go wrong while I was gone.  What if something happens to my family, what if my dad loses his job, what if a sibling dies?  I was just lying there so scared to leave my family, in the off chance that a tragedy would happen and I would be gone, and secondly - how could I handle such a thing?  Then I remember just feeling a sense of Hope that no matter what happened I knew the church was true!  If something happened, the Atonement would carry me through.  If someone passed away, I knew I would see them again.  I remember just being so grateful to have such a knowledge of hope.

I know that the basic principles and commandments of the gospel are going to bring us the most happiness we could ever imagine.  Commandments are designed to protect us and to bless us and I definitely have a strong testimony of this.  I know that the happiest times in my life have been when I am living the gospel to its fullest, and when I am not happy it's usually because I am slipping somewhere in the gospel.  I find much strength in D&C 120:30-31 that says “when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience.” I know that when I put God first in all things, He really will take care of me.  I know when I pay an honest tithing, and give a generous fast offering, and truly just live the gospel of Jesus Christ, I have His blessing in my life.

Most importantly, I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior.  I know that He was a perfect example of all things.  I know He was selfless in all ways.  I know that He suffered for our sins and sorrows in Gethsemane and then on the cross, taking that pain one more time before He died and returned to our Father in Heaven.  I know that we can be forgiven of our sins, because of Him.  I know He can take away our guilt and shame and I have felt that burden lifted in the past, especially while I was in college striving to put my life in order.  I felt the hand of the Savior in my life.  I felt His love when I was alone.  As I plead on my knees for His help and His strength and His comfort, I felt peace.  I knew He was there.  I have had moments on my mission where I struggled to feel that same comfort I once felt, but I know that He is there.  He has to be, I know the feelings I felt were real and they were from God, and I cannot deny it.  This is the most important truth that I know, that I will cherish and strive to keep as my foundation.

I know that no matter the trials that lie ahead of me, I can rely on the gospel of Jesus Christ to be my foundation.  What a blessing that I have come to know these truths of myself, and not have to rely on the testimonies of others any longer.  I know God has a perfect plan for me and if I stay close to Him, He will stay close to me forever.  Because He not only loves me, but loves me perfectly.  I rejoice in the day I can stand before him in confidence and gratitude for all I have been blessed with.

See you soon :)  Love you!

Sister Carina Wawro

PICTURES:

THIS IS MY FAVE pic

 

Played soccer for our last district p-day.. it was SOOOOOOOOOO FFFFFFFUUUUUUUNNNNNNNN.

And Elder Lambourgne and I were on a team playing world cup and we kept winning!  I was impressed with myself!  LOL!  Sister Rodda was so proud.  :)

 

 

Love these people!

Beginning packing for home, its crazy!!

The Weibling family I LOVE!  She reminds me EXACTLY of my Aunt Stacy.  Just a super funny personality.  :)

 Service with the Elders

 My sweet Sister Hunsaker.  LOVE HER!  She makes the best taco salad!

Enough said!

VIDEOS:

  Sister Rodda made up a song for our family.  LOL!

Mom-Janene
Dad-Bill
Gabe-brother
Brittan-sister
Derek-brother

LOLOLOL!!!!!!

This is why I love her.....

Take One...

 

Take Two...

Take Three...

 

Another funny tracting video!  CATS! 

"I Have Been Changed For Good"

As one of my favorite musicals 'Wicked' sings, "I have been changed for good."  My mission truly has changed me and my life forever.  I have grown immensely from the person I was before my mission, to the person I am now.  It really all comes down to the basics...if you are reading your scriptures, saying your prayers, being obedient in all things, and using the Atonement, then you are on the path becoming the person Heavenly Father wants you to be.  As I have learned to apply these basic principles, it has changed not only me, but the entire course of my life that lays ahead of me.  I feel so blessed to have learned these truths while I am young and can continually apply throughout the remainder of my life.

Scripture Study and Prayer

Before my mission, I didn’t love the scriptures.  They were hard, confusing, and not even in the English language if you asked me!  It was like this foreign text I just did not get, and it was a true chore to read.  In my family we always said family prayer at dinner and at night before we went to bed, but as for personal prayers, it wasn’t a daily habit.  Like many in the world today, I usually just prayed when I was in need of something serious or going through a hard trial.

Now, I can’t even explain the love I have for the scriptures.  I remember when I came out to the mission field, I knelt in prayer just before I began the Book of Mormon, for the first time in my whole life.  I prayed and said Heavenly Father, the scriptures are confusing to me, but I want to read those, help me, help me understand the words and the stories.  Then I began reading, and I fell in love with the Book of Mormon, it came alive to me!  I understood what I was reading, the stories made sense, and I didn’t want to put it down.  I went on to read the Old and New Testament, then the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price.  I was able to read the entire standard works, and I loved every minute of it, and I can’t wait to read it again and again.  I have been able to read the Book of Mormon a number of times, and I have found so much strength, guidance and answers to prayers in it.  As for my prayers, I now pray at least 20 times a day, if not more.  I love praying before I go to sleep and accounting with my Heavenly Father and thanking Him for all the numerous blessings I saw that day, and then I can wake up and set goals with Him, and ask for help for the things I am in need of.  This is a pattern I want to apply for the rest of my life, as it has helped me strengthen my relationship with God.  I know He is there and He listens and will often answer our prayers through the scriptures.

Obedience

Before my mission I was slightly rebellious.  I didn’t care too much about consequences or not, because it seemed like I was always in trouble with my parents for disobedience.  I didn’t have too much of a conscience because I was so far from the spirit.  I lied and I stole and I hid things and I was very into the natural man and the temporal happiness that comes along with that.  I had good moments, and good phases where I did want to be good, but for the most part I was just not a righteous young women.  It wasn’t until I got to college and left home, and started my true conversion to Jesus Christ.  But most of my teenage years and high school, I was not living up to the potential God saw in me.  The worst part is I didn’t really care about where I stood with God.

Now that is all I want.  I want to be right with God, I want to stand before Him in absolute confidence, and I want nothing to stain my garments with sin.  I love God, I want to please Him.  I have focused so much on improving the spiritual man in me and overcoming the natural man through daily repentance.  As I have sought every day to purify myself and my life, I have drawn closer than ever to the spirit.  This has truly increased my spirituality and my desire for obedience to become a pure vessel for the spirit to dwell.  I remember one period in my mission, I was surrounded by some disobedience of others, as I strived to stand up for what was right, which was scary, I found in my life an increased sense of happiness in my life.  While I was seeking counsel from my parents, my dad said “We are all asked to stand in holy places....leaders are the ones who are willing to stand there alone.”  I want to forever be a leader in the Lord’s army standing for truth and righteousness.  I want to be obedient in all things.  I love (and also don’t love so much) that as I have drawn closer to the spirit, even the smallest things have touched my conscience and made me want to change, where before I didn’t even really feel a conscience.  As I have become even closer to the spirit and my heart has been refined, every imperfection has been burned deep within me, causing me to change.  I hope to continue in this process forever until that day I can stand spotless before Heavenly Father.

The Atonement

Before my mission, this is how I pictured The Atonement.  I pictured a piece of paper with my name on it.  Every time I sinned, it got written down, then when I repented, it got a line through it, but never erased.  So yes I had been forgiven, but really never forgotten.  Then I pictured the final judgment, “Oh my, Carina, you had many papers with many lines crossed out.  I’m glad you repented, but still, couldn’t you just have been a little better?”  Maybe that’s why in my youth I didn’t change because I felt hopeless to true and real forgiveness?  As I got older, even on my mission as I became more purified, this always brought me much sorrow, I yearned to go back and to change my mistakes and my choices, I would do anything to have a blank paper.  As I was once explain this theory during an interview with my mission president, that I REALLY thought this was how the Atonement worked, my eyes were opened to another way.

Now picture this, that same piece of paper, with my name on it.  Every time I sinned, it got written down.  But this time when I repented, because of the atonement, the sin was erased.  It was deleted, backspaced, whited out.  My page went back to being blank, because of the Atonement the “...Lord, remember them no more” (D&C 58:42).  This gave so much more hope!  I really could let my past go and be forgiven and The Lord would never bring them back up, especially not in final judgment.  The atonement is really everything.  It covers our sins, our sorrows, our grief, our pain, the unfairness of life, the ripple effect of sins that cause hurt to others we can never erase.  It covers everything and most importantly everyone.  I have taught many people that needed the Atonement in their life, and I testified to them of its reality.  I once even taught a man that had spent 25 years in prison, and had made many wrong choices in his life, he more than anyone needed the Atonement.  As I testified of the power of the Atonement in his life and how he truly could be forgiven of everything in his entire life, I felt the spirit.  I knew that Heavenly Father loved this man, I knew he could be forgiven of his past, as dark as it was.  Then as I attended his baptism, it was the most spiritual baptism I have ever been to.  He received a remission of his sins, and he felt it.  As he stood in that baptismal font, fresh out of the water, he just sobbed, muscles, tattoos and all.  He had been forgiven.  And then I realized, if he can be forgiven, if the Atonement is for everyone, then maybe, just maybe it can be for me too.  I can be healed too.  Heavenly Father loves me just as much, I too can have my paper wiped clean, back to being blank.  This truth has changed me the more than anything.  I yearn so much to be clean in the eyes of God, and now I know how I can be, it is through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  Because He loved me just enough.  All I have to do is sincerely repent and then keep living the commandments.  Although I believe in this principle, I am still striving to just believe it, and know it can be for me too.  I have come so far in my testimony of the Atonement, and I will strive the rest of my life to fully believe, understand and strive to apply it in my life.
            
I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to serve a mission.  It has truly and forever changed the course of my life.  I feel so blessed to have learned these truths while I am young and can continually apply throughout the remainder of my life.  I know as I read my scriptures daily, pray in the morning and the evening, live all the commandments and apply the Atonement of Jesus Christ in my life, I can stand forever be ready to stand blameless before my Heavenly Father with the utmost assurance that I did serve Him with all my heart, might, mind and strength (D&C 4:2).

Sister Carina Wawro

PICTURES:

Fun Pics from the Week

Now this sign just cracked us up!

District Lunch, that was fun! We have some great elders, they are quirky.

The King family, whom I LOVE, definitely one of my favs.

Well-Worn Boots!!

This week was a really spiritual one for Sister Rodda and I.

First we met a former investigator named 'K'.  He texted us and said he wanted to meet with us.  We found him in our area book and sure enough he was a former, that had met with missionaries before.  We pretty excited because we have been striving to find people and this seemed like it could be a real miracle.  So we met him at the library and established our purpose as missionaries and then brought out The Restoration pamphlets to begin, then he goes, before we begin, 'I have a few questions if that's okay? ' So we are like yeah of course.... oh... and this is just when it went downhill.  He was NOT there with real intent to learn more, all his questions were cynical, confrontational and not with the desire to learn more but to prove us wrong.

The cool thing though was every time I bore my testimony I felt the Spirit come back into my heart and manifest that what I was saying, was in fact true.  He was very intelligent and was throwing out all these big words and ideas that just went right over my head, at one point I just said, "you know sir, I am only 20 years old, and I don't know everything, and everything you just said right there went right over my head, but what I do know is that Joseph Smith really IS a prophet of God and through him the fullness of the gospel was restored."  Once again I felt the Spirit so strong.  At the very end, we are sitting across from each other at the table and he goes "One of us is going to heaven and the other is not, and you REALLY think its you?  That is frightening."  I once again felt the Spirit as I bore testimony of the plan of salvation and felt so strong and happy as I said that I was not even a LITTLE bit worried.  We ended our meeting of course, as we felt there was nothing we could do for him.  As Sister Rodda and I sat in the car, we were filled with gratitude as we talked about how amazing it was that we had strong testimonies that could not be shaken.  I know if I would have had that confrontation at various other periods in my life, and it may have shaken me up a bit.  I am grateful that it did not and for where I am today.

The story gets better actually.  Then we met with the Bishop later and were telling him about our week.  As we brought up 'K', he goes, "Oh no... did no one warn you about him??  Don't you have notes in your area book?"  I told him that we had notes but nothing that said anything about his intent, just that he wasn't interested.  He told us how he had met with 'K' and he is actually a part of 2 organizations and his calling is to convert Mormons!  So he was coming to convert us.  Bishop pulled up his profile on the computer, it was crazy.  On the website it even says "the missionaries will tell you to read and to pray, under NO circumstances should you do this!!"  LOL!  I couldn't believe it. I had never even heard of such a thing.  Once again, as Sister Rodda and I went back to the car, we were grateful because I know that as 'K' went back home he knew there was no way he converted us, or shook our beliefs.  I am grateful for an unshakeable testimony.

Then we FINALLY we able to make contact with 'B'.  We have been so worried about him because he hasn't been coming to church and he has this new dog from the Czech Republic so we aren't about to just show up there, but he called us this week and wanted to meet.  So we went over and caught up with him and his wife.  At the end we showed the "Because of Him" video and I bore my testimony of Jesus Christ and how everything is really possible because of Him.  Then, all of a sudden I turned to 'B' and I bore testimony of the Atonement, and I thanked him for showing me the TRUE power of the Atonement.  I told him how I have always struggled to understand how it works, I have struggled with believing it can apply to me too, and until I met 'B', I didn't.  But when I came here and I taught him and I saw his change, I knew that if a man that had been in prison for 25 years could be forgiven, then so could I.  That is one of the strongest times I have ever felt the Spirit, I didn't even plan on saying any of that, it just came out. I was crying, his wife was crying, Sister Rodda was crying, and even 'B' was crying.  It was silent for a while, then through tears in his eyes, 'B' looked down and muffled out "thanks Wawro."  I know he felt the Spirit.

I was grateful for those experiences because they really helped me to recognize how much I have grown on my mission.  I am truly thankful for the Spirit and the power it has on everyone.  I will miss the experiences I get to have like this.  But I'm sure there are many more to come in my life.   :)

Home three weeks from today - crazy!  So, I am going to take some online classes while I am home.  Just some foundations courses.  Its actually pretty cool - I am deffered for the Fall 2015 semester, but at BYU-Idaho they let returned missionaries attend back in whatever semester they want.  So while I'm at home I'm gonna take just a few online classes.  The spring online semester is only from April 21st to July 23rd.  That will still give me a break after the mission, and then keep me fresh when I go back to school.  So I'm excited about that.  The classes are pretty cheap too...like one of the science classes is only $35 bucks.

Mom - loved the muffins, thanks for sending more!  :)

LOVE YOU ALL

Sister Wawro

PICTURES:

The sign of true missionary shoes!  (Mom:  throw those out!  Right now!  LOL!)

So the Elders are always pranking us.  We came home to this beauty...a couch from the dumpster.  LOL!  But we called them and made them move it.   haha

I was able to go on exchanges with Sister Tennant who is from KELLER TEXAS!!!!! We just had a blast.

Sister Lawson who goes home at the same time as me!!

Elder Lambourgne and I in our matching "tent dweller" shirts.  Everyone in the mission has these silly "tent dweller shirts" (like from the scripture "my father dwelt in a tent").  Well, I've seen them everywhere and I was complaining about how I wanted one and it turns out, Elder Lambourgne in my district is the one that created them, and he only had one left!  So I got it!  On the back it says the "I'm Mormon.  I know it.  I live it.  I love it" that quote that was going around a while ago.  :)

Beautiful Washington