Not Like the Rest

A quick shout out to the Bezzant family for thinking of me and sending a Christmas card! The pop up nativity is now the center piece of our table! You guys are amazing!

It’s safe to say this week was the farthest from normal, one reason being that I spent over 6 hours on a bus and then two days on a couch, a second reason being that we had a make-up zone conference where we watched meet the Mormons :), and third because the week went by sooo fast that I don’t even know what day it is anymore!

On Thursday we were teaching a lesson when we received a call from the zone leaders.  My comp left me teaching while she answered the phone, but I found it difficult to concentrate because about a thousand possibilities were flying through my head! She scribbled down a note in her agenda, "You’re going to Cuernavaca in an hour." WHELP, thanks for the notification elders.  We ran home and made it to the bus station. So I spent 3 hours on a bus with Hermana Sturt (MTC buddy) to go sign about a thousand visa papers and then spend the night with none other than Hermana Chynoweth!!!!!!!! It was the greatest MTC reunion yet because I haven’t seen Chynoweth for real in about 7 months and I’ve truly missed her! The next morning we made it to the bus station....only to find that the tickets were sold out so we enjoyed three extra hours sitting in a bus station....followed by another hour waiting in a bus station for our comps to show up hahaha

Anyone who does any kind of missionary work will have occasion to ask, why is this so hard? Why doesn’t it go better? Why can’t our success be more rapid? Why aren’t there more people joining the Church? It is the truth. We believe in angels. We trust in miracles. Why don’t people just flock to the font? Why isn’t the only risk in missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal font? You will have occasion to ask those questions. I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. I believe that missionaries and investigators, to come to the truth, to come to salvation, to know something of this price that has been paid, will have to pay a token of that same price.

For that reason I don’t believe missionary work has ever been easy. I believe it is supposed to require some effort, something from the depths of our soul. The only way to salvation is through Gethsemane and on to Calvary. The only way to eternity is through Him—the Way, the Truth, and the Life. (Holland)

Every part of my mission has been incredibly different; from opening my first area, to the extremely Catholic Tepoztlan, and now in Chilpo.  With the ups and downs of each week, I often find myself asking the same kinds of questions.  We leave for the mission field hoping for success, but what we fail to realize is how many different forms of success exist! I’m truly grateful for the success I have had in learning more of my Savior Jesus Christ.  I’ll never come anywhere near to feeling as He felt, but I can do all with in my power to represent him every day and make sure that others can gain the same testimony. I’m proud of the name I bear and the message I get to share and through it all it’s something I will treasure for all my life! I know this church is true.  It is not simply another church among the res,t but it is the one literally directed by Jesus Christ.  He is carrying me through it all and lifting me at my lowest.  With Him I can truly do it all!