Hello again!
Overdue, this post responds to question in the back of
people’s heads, including my own. Have I
changed because of my mission? Missions can have surprisingly dissimilar
effects to different people. I could slowly forget it or discard it, like my
wacky Western Civilization class I took at a community college five years ago. Or
I could remember the odd events, food, people etc. forever and ever and bore
EVERY unlucky person I’ll talk with to death with sentences that start with
“when I was with my fourth crazy companion, who, as you remember me telling you
about the other day….”\
Yuck!
At the other end, I also refuse to believe I haven’t changed.
On the visible surface I haven’t, as far as I can tell. I’m
still 1/4th of an inch shorter than my dad, and still terrible
dancer.
Perhaps you’ve caught on, but—to use some seismologic
terminology—rumbling within the posts I’ve written in the past two years is an
earthquake of experiences that have changed me within core. Like the city of
Manila, I was on a fault line. I’ve been thinking over the past month what happened
beneath the surface in those memorable two years, and I’ve found some
groundbreaking changes. I’ll only mention three, though I could go on and on.
The first thing I’ll mention I’ve learned is to talk WITH
everybody like this ßà. I don’t talk TO (à) anybody anymore, or
just listen to (ß) somebody.
Everybody (including myself and Thomas, my 1 ½ y.o. nephew) has something to
say worthy of our attention. Even to the people who talk but don’t have
anything more to say, I’m willing to listen;
I want to show them I love them and respect them. It may be hard, but it’s
always worth it. It also says in Preach
My Gospel it says to “send a message of interest and enthusiasm by
listening sincerely.” Interestingly, Christ’s most powerful teachings usually
came he heard others.
Second, I’ve discovered the scriptures contain the answers
or guide me to the answers. There are more than you think! We just have to
view the scriptures as an answer book to our own life, and be willing to take
some time to recognize that what we’re reading contains the answer.
Here’s
a quick example: a thought entered into my mind repeatedly on my mission that
missionary work is so grueling and long, and often wondered how I could be
happy. Then one day I read the story of the Jaredite barges in Ether 6:8-13
(which you should read), and was struck on their response to being stuck in a
boat for 344 days in vs. 9.
And they did sing praises unto the Lord;
yea, the brother of Jared did sing praises unto the Lord, and he did thank and
praise the Lord all the day long; and when the night came, they did not cease
to praise the Lord.
Their
gratitude and optimism carried them through those months, and I realized I,
too, could sing when things get rough. Emulating their attitude made the rest
of my mission not only doable, but pleasant and rewarding. As I read and
applied some of the enduring truths found in the scriptures like in Ether 6, I
feel like I’m adding layers of knowledge that provides the strength to become self-confident
in a shaky world in several situations.
I can’t say I had that before my mission. Answers came from
my head just as my problems did.
The last change I’ll mention is by far the most important. My capacity to love and serve has increased
as I have come to know my Savior and His atonement. It has changed my view
of
I’ll ever remember that every time President Ostler (my
mission president) spoke, he taught about the atonement. The atonement is the
well of healing I’ve often needed, and the source of strength in everything I
do. I feel I can confidently say yes! to
Alma’s penetrating question here:
And now behold, I say
unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have
felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?
I remember using the computer I’m using right now to create
my blog, anxious and excited for what the future had for me—wearing white
button-up shirts, weird food, worn out shoes, and hundreds of adventures. I
didn’t expect to be changed by something I already thought I knew. I knew of the atonement, just as I know of the Great
Wall of China, but shallow knowledge is cheap and won’t change a person. My advice
to anybody who wants to begin to understand the atonement is read Isaiah 53,
2nd Nephi 2, Alma 7, and D&C 19 very slowly, pondering the importance of every verse. Pray fervently
about what you’ve read, and then work with the missionaries. If you are able to
serve a mission, please do so. Don’t delay. I would do it again, but not
only because it changed me forever, rather, because it put me in a position to be
changed through the atonement of Jesus Christ.