Well, so I guess I decided to do something different for this journal. I am a little behind, and want to catch up, so I can record all the the blessings I have received. I am catching up, however still behind. I had this idea come to me during Church, so it may be inspiration. Elder Holland gave an MTC devotional called "The Miracle of a Mission". So I want to label this journal entry that, it will encompass the following days(Thursday 23, Friday 24, Saturday 25, Sunday 26. Hopefully I will be able to get my point across.
The Miracle of a Mission(Elder Smith edition)
As a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, you have many, many different and unique experiences. You also have a lot of hope that certain things will happen.(ok I didn't think it would go this way, however we shall see hehe). You have the same schedule, each day, for 2 years. Personally I don't like schedules. I like to figure out my own schedule. Also you have to be with someone, you never met before, all day every day. Then learn how to work effectively with them. You must learn to love them, serve them, and again be with them all the time. I also personally like keeping to myself, and not having to be with someone all the time(excluding the bathroom of course). Thirdly(possibly the strangest) you talk with strangers (it kind of goes against the big childhood rule right?) about religion, God, their family, and things very personal to them. As well you are expected to talk with everyone, yep everyone. People walking down the street, on the bus, in the store, knock door to door and talk with them. Talk. Talk. Talk. That is what you do. Preach the Gospel, and how you do that, you talk.(I really don't enjoy doing this, with people I don't know at least. I would make up excuses to get away from people, so I would be able to stop talking with them. This was a frequent occasion. That was a bad explanation. However the point is, I don't like talking with people). This just provides a little background for the story to help provide emphasis and understanding. Oh, I should also mention this is what you do everyday, from 10:00 to 9:00. Going out, and Preaching the Gospel(Excluding an hour for lunch and dinner).
Now I will go on to explain in more detail some of the activities I have mentioned. On thursday(typically) we have what we call "Weekly Planning" also referred to as "Weekly Pile" "The 2nd P-Day" and other funny names(that is something to mention missionaries tend to have their very own vernacular and language). In this session we talk about people we are teaching, seek inspiration and revelation on what we should do to best help them build their faith in Jesus Christ and His Restored Gospel. We obviously plan our activities, plan lesson, plan our appointments. We plan a lot. Partway through this we had an appointment with a nice Chinese Girl named GuanYunFei. We have met with her for awhile, shared some things with her, however for the most part she has just helped our Chinese(Oh yeah, I forgot to mention many missionaries are called, or asked, to learn a foreign language as part of their missionary responsibilities). We arrive at the designated spot, wait a little bit, and she is not there. We send her a text, and turns out she sent us a text earlier saying she could not come today. This was all because she sent it in a picture message, and our phones are too old for new technology(haha there is a another thing that for a big part is a no, technology. No TV, radio, movies, internet, newspaper, or headphones. This purpose is to keep our minds centered on our work, to have no worldly distractions, and to keep us safe from temptation). So we drive back home, this is a common occurrence that someone will cancel our appointments, or not show up at all. We continued our Weekly Planning session. A bit later, this day was actually quite, quite special. A previous missionary that had served where I am currently serving(his name was Elder Short, is currently Mark Short) had returned to visit his place of ministry. We were able to meet him at a local favorite, Cookout, and take him to visit a bedridden member of the Ward we serve in. Her name is Casey Andreas, and the moment we walk in she is almost surprised out of her bed to see Mark Short again. They caught up, and we all were able to share a short message from the scriptures how to better live the way Christ would have us live. This whole time, Casey was so amazed how different Mark was from the time he first came on his mission. All the changes, how much wiser and mature he was. She was amazed, as she is with all the missionaries she has known throughout the years. This is what a mission can do to someone.
Later we picked up Jared a 19 year old from the ward then went knocking. Most everyone we were able to talk with was very nice, they didn't want to listen to us, however they said it in a nice way. WE actually met someone who is a member of our church, however through some experiences in life has stopped living her faith. At the end of the street we met this younger fellow named Kyle, who was actually sleeping when we knocked on his door, and he still answered. He was very nice, and interested, and really wants to make the world a better place. As well, in the future is very willing to talk with us more, learn more and hopefully build his faith. it was quite a blessing to talk with him. We are walking back to our car because it was roughly time to head home, before getting in, I say "lets knock this last door(this was the one I felt we should knock earlier). Then Jared says, "oh we should knock this other door as well, it looks like they have a family"(we like teaching families because they are central to God's eternal plan). So we knock it, the man looks a little annoyed when he answers because he had just put the kids to bed. So we plan to come back tomorrow afternoon. Then we knock the next door, a man opens and we get talking with him. To be honest I cannot remember very much of anything that he said All I know is that it went well, he was really nice and interested. I do remember that his uncle is a pastor somewhere. However, Chad, was you could say, a miracle. He is very interested, and wants to meet with us next week. He was a really awesome man, super nice, and a good friend.
So that is a very small glimpse of what a mission is like. A miracle I must say. I mentioned that word a lot for a reason. I like to relate a mission to tithing as did President Ezra Taft Benson. We have lived for roughly 20 years, then we give 2 to the Lord. That is 10%. That is what the Lord has asked of us. Then the promise is that He will pour out so many blessings that we will not be able to receive it. That is the shortest way I can describe a mission. I try each day to write in my journal all the blessings and miracles I receive on my mission. I am never successful. It makes me more and more grateful each day. That is the miracle of a mission.
-Elder Smith
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