Forget Yourself

           I had the opportunity while on my mission to serve in leadership positions. I became a zone leader at just 11 months into it all. One of the obstacles I had to overcome was getting the respect from older missionaries. As most of us do, it is hard to learn from or take council from someone that is younger than us. After all what could a rookie leader and less than a middle aged missionary teach someone that had been a missionary for 20+ months. I knew that I was called to lead them and as such had reasons the Lord only knew to teach and guide my zone to success.

            While reading of Christ he always converted people with his great example and outstanding service. I had an idea that at the time I thought would help get the respect of the other missionaries in my zone and help them, but I came to find out pretty quickly that it wasn’t the only thing that would come of it.

            Each morning missionaries have a solid routine. Wake up at 6:30 am and exercise for 30 minutes. Then you have 1 hour to eat, shower, get dressed and do anything else you need to get ready for the day. By 8:00 am sharp you are reading and doing personal study for an hour. From 9:00 am to 10:00 am you study with your companion and then its out the door until 9:00 pm.

            We decided that if we were going to see changes in this zone we needed to follow Christ’s example and server the Elders in our zone. We woke up at 6:00 am and headed out the door to be at a new set of missionaries’ house each day at 6:30 am just in time for them to wake up. We then proceeded to clean their house as out exercise, (believe me some of these places I would have rather do push-ups and jumping jacks) we did all we could in 30-45 minutes. After that we fixed them a breakfast they wouldn’t forget. Finally together we studied and taught them a lesson during companionship study. We successfully pumped them up to work miracles and then headed to our own areas to work for the day. Each day was a different house and it was always a surprise.

            Over time they worked harder than ever before and I also noticed that I was happier then I had ever been too. Yes, I was getting 30 minutes less of sleep each day but it sure didn’t feel like it! Nothing compares to the feeling you get when you serve someone else. To see the reaction on their faces of gratitude and unbelief that someone thought of them the way you just did is incomparable to anything else that I have ever experienced. If you are ever feeling down and out, or feeling as if you are not enough do are President Hinckley suggests and forget yourself and get to work. Serve someone else and Heavenly Father will reward you in return. Odd that the fix to you problems will never be yourself but God repaying you for helping someone else in need. We are all in need everyday and the best way I have found to get out of a self pity rut is to help someone else out of theirs first.

Modern Miracles

You might recall a previous experience I had while on my mission in Juayua. It was an area that was really small and my companion and I got up on stage at the concert and spoke to the public…well rewind a few weeks and here we are at this story. My companion and I are roaming the streets again trying to find new investigators when we stumbled upon a man that just so happened to be the second in line of the Catholic Church leadership for the town. We of course didn’t know that until after I opened my mouth and started to talk with him about the Book of Mormon. We taught him how the book came to be and the blessings he could receive from its teachings and the restored gospel.

                He told us his position and profession of course within the church and how even though the story we just told him sounded good he couldn’t leave the Catholic Church. As a last ditch effort I made a compromise with him to just read Moroni’s promise and to pray and ask God what he should do. He agreed and we went on our way. The Catholic culture is very strong in Latin America of course and more so in the rural areas. The city is built much like Salt Lake City; everything is centered on the chapel and built outward. Just in their case things are built around the Catholic buildings and chapels. Every Sunday morning the bell would ring and the singing over the loud speaker would commence. Once the singing ended the speaker would say a message so the whole town could hear. We got used to it over time and rarely paid any mind to it, until this particular Sunday. As we were walking down the hill towards our chapel we heard the voice of the man start preaching, except this time we recognized the voice of being Jose, the man we taught earlier in the week. Then to our surprise he says let me open to the book of Moroni. We stopped dead in our tracks not believing what we just heard. Across the loud speaker came the small passage that we had asked him to read in Moroni 10: 3-5. He then asked the congregation if they thought this was true what he had just read, unanimously the crowd agreed. He then broke the news to them that it was the Book of Mormon that he was reading. He then took of course the message onto prayer and nothing more happened.

                For my companion and I of course we thought finally this dead area that has yielded 0 baptisms in years will now baptize the whole city! We rushed over to his home immediately after church and he related a dream he had the previous night. He was told by Heavenly Father himself he said that this book was true scripture and that its teachings were true. We continued to teach him the lessons discreetly and even told the mission president about him. For the first time in my mission President Call came and taught a lesson with us and eventually baptized Jose. Unfortunately we didn’t baptize the whole city but you better believe we got some referrals from it all.

                You never know what seed you plant that will have a life changing impact on someone. No efforts go wasted in the Lord’s work. Keep an eternal perspective in life and God will take care of the temporal things. I know the Book of Mormon along with the Bible contain the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Together we know how to make it back to live with our families forever. Let us share this blessing with everyone, no matter who they are so the blessings we enjoy on a daily basis can be had by all.

 Jose's Baptism with President Call and Elder Ramos.