Missionary work doesn't always have to be SCARY....

So I'm pretty super freaked out about sharing the gospel....I don't really know why. Mainly I think it's because I don't want to mess up friendships I have with others and don't want others to judge me. But I've been trying to be lots better. When I moved to Hawaii, I had just finished working at Beehive Clothing. I sewed Garments and was a seamstress that specialized in putting the fly on the men's boxer shorts! (I was pretty good actually..) anyway, working for the church is an incredible opportunity where you have weekly devotionals, church music streaming through the airways and the occasional general authority popping by to see how everything is going. I even got a Christmas Card from the First Presidency!

So moving from BYUville and getting a job with all non-members was somthing I was a little worried about. Anyway, as I began work I was worried about people asking me about what I beleived. So one family home evening, I asked my husband Scotty to coach me on what I could say when they ask the "regular" questions like why I don't drink coffee and such. A few weeks later, while eating lunch with several co-workers one of them asked "So, Sommer what's up with Mormon's not drinking coffee- why don't you?"

My heart started pounding so loudly that it drowned out everything else and my vision started going blurry. I completely forgot about EVERYTHING me and Scotty discussed and I felt like the whole world was staring me down. After taking a deep gulp I stammmered and finally said " We don't drink coffee becasue......God said not to." Aftter an awkward, "Oh,..." someone thankfully changed the subject and we finished lunch. As you can imagine I felt super stupid afterwards and kept replaying the incident over and over in my head all afternoon. Finally, just before I went home that day another one of my co-workers approached me and asked me how I knew that God didn't want me to drink coffee. I was taken by surprise but then had the opportunity to share with my co-worker my beliefs about revelation today, how we have a living prophet to lead an guide our church. I shared my testimony with him without saying "I'd like to bare my testimony". I plainly explained what I believed.

This experience has changed my whole outlook on sharing the gospel....it's still super scary but and I still get nervous about saying the "right" thing but I've learned to just not hide what I do after work and on the weekends. I now will share a project with my co-workers that we did in Relief Society or I've even given them the recipes from our blog that I write(makikisisters.blogspot.com).

When we had the opportunity to invite our friends to the temple open house I said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to help me invite my co-workers. I am so proud of myself that I actually personally and individually  invited EACH of my 15 co-workers to the Temple Open House. 2 of them actually came with me to the open house this past Monday and they have shared what a great experience it was for them. It's funny to hear them talk about the Celestial room and the places that I hold sacred. They both shared with me that they felt a special feeling there and were so glad they went. I now come to work and see pictures of the Laie Temple on everyone's desk and it makes me smile.