...
...
*cough*
Welp. Don't really have much more to say. I promised an update on
where my next area is, so there it is. It just happens to be the entire
San Pablo Mission. I'm grateful, but it is somewhat daunting. I have some
amazing companion APs. Elder Olsen, if you remember, is actually my
follow up trainer from Sta. Cruz exactly a year ago. And here we are
companions again. Crazy (This will be our third time as companions). In my eyes, it's all the same deal. I'm here to
serve God by inviting others to come unto Christ. The service just
happens to be to my fellow missionaries, which I am excited for. I am
excited to serve them, and help them out, hook em up like my real daddy
Matt Park did. Like father like son. You better believe which tie I wore
that transfer day.
I have a lot on my plate. I have a workshop
to give in Mindoro tomorrow with Palacio. President seemed skeptical to
let the two new kids in the office go, but we'll show 'em what we got.
I'm just a missionary. Always will be as long as I am wearing the black
name tag. Even afterwards. I'm out of words. I guess I can explain sorta
what an AP is. Well, AP stands for Assistant to the President. I live
in the office. So, what we do is go out in twos and work with
missionaries and help them out, lift them up, encourage them, make 'em
happy, teach them about the new curriculum or how to teach more
effectively. We above all else just...love them. Let them know that they are
important, and then carry their concerns to zone leaders or President if
necessary. We prepare workshops to give for the ten zone interviews that
happen quarterly, and we also prepare the zone conferences which is when multiple zones get together for instruction. We give
workshops, make the schedule, we help President with transferring missionaries, etc. We essentially help the mission run
smooth, and solve problems such as medical emergencies and the rare
emergency transfer. We make President Anderson's job easier, and help in
the office with numbers, reporting, and so on. Its just another form of
service.
[ I was skeptical of this new calling, and tried my best to stay positive about it even though I was no longer teaching investigators like I used to. This is one lesson I had beaten into me time and time again, and as you read on in the story of my mission, you will see that I still fail to really grasp hold of this principle. Even now since being home I struggle with this, but if you will refer back to when I broke my foot, I gave a workshop where I used an analogy that I call "The Basement Mission" which I will give here:
I asked my district, if they were called to serve a mission in a basement for two years, would they. The basement mission meant living in a basement only to study the scriptures for two entire years. Only about half of them raised their hands. It is important to make the observation that only half of these missionaries understood the true principle behind service. They put an expectation on God, and determined that the most use they would be is in the field, instead of submitting to God's will and having the faith to believe, that where God sent them, would be the most beneficial to the Kingdom. I'll return to this. I then asked, "If your Mission President came to you after one year, and said you have the choice to return home honorably now, or you may choose to finish your service in the basement for another year, what would you do?" Only a fourth of my district selected to stay. They understood what service meant. They not only understood what submission to the Lord's will meant, but what consecration of their very being meant. They were willing to go above and beyond what was expected of them, and what they even expected God would have them do. Even with being offered an honorable release, they chose to serve where others wouldn't. I admire these missionaries. I was unwilling to submit to the hands of the Potter while he tried to mold me in my first area with the help of Matt Park, I was too headstrong even for the strong-willed American Elder Olsen, I was brought to rock bottom as my foot was broken and I suffered in loneliness for weeks on end, but even then, I did not catch the true Spirit of Submission to God. Could you imagine the faith it would take, to sit in a basement, day after day, sunrise to sunset, really believing that you were accomplishing the will of God as a missionary? I challenge you to do it for a day. Try and study for a full fourteen hour day. I can testify of the divine hand that would enter the faithful's life, but it would be so incredibly difficult to go month after month, truly believing that this was what was best. No tracting. No baptizing.
The way God works is that he always is a hundred steps ahead. He is looking so far down the road, you couldn't see it from a skyscraper. With that knowledge you gained in the basement, with that closeness to God, that testimony and familiarity with scripture, you would perform an immeasurable amount more good in the sixty years that followed then you could accomplish in the limited time frame of two years. Though you may not understand your circumstance now, I promise you, that God is VERY aware of where you are and what you are going through. He knows that what is happening will prepare you for what blessings and work await you. If you are following the commandments, and you are earnestly seeking the will of God, but things are seemingly not going right in your life or you feel discouraged, or that you can't catch a break, just remember that God has something greater in store. I taught my mission prep class this through a little slogan.
Things aren't going my way
Thank goodness!
Because if they were
it wouldn't be the Lord's way.
 |
| Entitlement |
This means if you want the Lord's way, it won't going your way. It will be going your united way. Submission. Yielding. Reconciling yourself to the will of the Lord. So if life appears unfair or tough, stop judging your life with the eyes of the world, and see it as the blessing of experience the Lord has meticulously prepared for you. Materialism is a vice and a blinder to you. Entitlement is a plague of pride, and it will destroy your relationship with God. I know, it has destroyed mine in dark days of past. God knows where you are at, just be patient, and you will see that the basement mission would be even more rewarding then a mission elsewhere. ]
love you all so much, happy thanksgiving, I'll be eating turkey with you this next time around, I promise.
love you guys, talk to you soon,
-elder mace
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