Homecoming - The Will of God
After having been gone for two years, everyone asks me three particular questions: One; how did you like your mission? Two; what did you learn? And three; where did you go, again? The first and last questions are extremely easy to answer; I loved it and I served in the McAllen Texas mission, Spanish speaking. The second question, what did I learn, takes a bit more time to answer and I’m going to take this opportunity to begin to answer it.
In the book of Moroni, Mormon speaks directly to his son concerning the state of both the Nephites and Lamanites. At this point, both sides were extremely wicked and it was very apparent that the complete Nephite destruction would soon come to pass. However, Mormon did not focus so much on the tragedy. He took the precious opportunity to teach Moroni some very important principles each of us needs to understand. He said:
And now, my beloved son, notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor diligently; for if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God (Moroni 9:6).
I would often share that scripture with members and investigators. I like that scripture because it very clearly explains to me why we’re here. The meaning I find behind it is, regardless of the results, we must work our very best to fulfill God’s plan for us while we have this body with which to work.
Our loving Heavenly Father has prepared a perfect plan for each and every one of us. He knows our strengths, He knows our weaknesses, He knows our challenges and He knows our aspirations. He knows everything about us and, with His infinite knowledge, he wants the absolute best for us. I found that my mission was very much a part of that plan; both for my investigators as well as for myself.
The role that God allowed me to play proved to be very beneficial for many of my friends in South Texas. He permitted me to be a teacher and guide for them. One such friend that comes to mind is Martin. Martin was a college student that had been contacted by the missionaries a few months before I arrived to the area. He wasn’t really interested in what they had to share but was still willing to take a pamphlet with the missionaries’ phone number on the back. Several months down the road, when I was in the area, Martin gave us missionaries a call looking for some help with a school assignment. His art class was studying religious art and he was given the project of visiting two different churches to learn about the symbolism behind any pieces of art found. He wanted to take a look at our church so we gave him a tour.
We took Martin through the various rooms of the church and showed him all of the art we could find (mostly paintings hung on the wall). He was surprised to see how basic and simple the building was. Even more, he was surprised to find Jesus Christ in nearly every one of the paintings. Needless to say, our church did not appear the way he expected it.
By the end of the tour, Marin had received a first lesson from us explaining each of the pictures. He was VERY impressed but still didn’t have any desires to investigate. He left the parking lot and we thought that would be the last time we’d ever see him. We were wrong. The very next day we received a call from Martin asking us if we could meet him at the local park. We met him there and he became one of the best investigators I had my entire mission. Shortly after I left the area, Martin was baptized.
The people I taught had opportunities to receive blessings. Martin wanted to meet with us because he wanted to change his life and he felt he could trust us. There is nothing that I did that any other missionary could not have done. God has prepared blessings for Martin and, through the recent events, he was ready to receive them. It was God’s will and it was Martin’s will.
In the General Conference of April 2005, Elder David A. Bednar gave an amazing talk on the tender mercies of the lord. At one point during his talk, he referred to the scripture in the book of Moses that explains God’s desire for us. It reads “For behold, this is my work and my glory - to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). He then noted a scripture in the book of Doctrine and Covenants. It says “Behold, this is your work, to keep my commandments, yea, with all your might, mind and strength” (D&C 11:20).
Why do I refer to these two scriptures? What am I getting at? Well, why did God give us His commandments? What is He working to accomplish? Very simply, the immortality and eternal life of man. The only way we’ll fulfill that is by following His will, or His commandments; they are synonymous. That is, perhaps, one of the greatest lessons I learned on my mission.
Above, I mention a brief summary of Martin’s real introduction to the church. I know that it’s always been God’s will that Martin find His pure and divine truth. For whatever reason, Martin did not have that truth. Was that because God didn’t love him? Of course not! It was due to the poor use of agency, or free will, on someone’s part. Someone, that might not have been Martin, made a choice that left Martin exempt of that blessing of His divine truth. However, due to the good use of agency, on Martin’s part, he was given the opportunity to receive that blessing that God always wanted him to have.
I realize I may not be explaining this principle as clearly as many of you might be able to explain it. Perhaps this very popular scripture from Mosiah might do some clarifying:
For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father (Mosiah 3:19).
There is God’s will and there is man’s will. When I say man’s will, I mean everything that is contrary to God’s will. God wants us to be good children just as any good parent wants his/her children to be good. God sees things that we, as His children, don’t see just like any good parent sees things that his/her children might not see. God wants us to become the very best that we can just like any good parent wants his/her children to become the very best that they can. His perspective, however, is not temporal and limited to this world. His perspective is eternal.
I found, in my mission, that it didn’t matter how hard I tried to do my best, it never quite cut it. But, when I focused my very hardest to do what God would have me do (such as sincere prayers, spiritual scripture study, contacting everyone I would see, etc.), EVERYTHING turned out the way it was supposed to. I, as a missionary, did not do very much. I did my best and left the rest up to Him. Any success I might have experienced was not my own but, rather, a gift from God. My mission was a gift from God. It was His will and I sufficiently humbled myself to receive that gift.
I’m really not an amazing person but I have found that as long as I strive to humble myself and align my will with His, I get a lot further in life. I’m still working at it. I was definitely not a very humble missionary and I’m not much better now. It’s a day-to-day process on which I can never let up.
There’s a scripture in the book of Alma that explains what God did for us following the fall of Adam (Refer to Alma 12:28 to 34). God gave us his commandments so that we might experience those blessings he has prepared for us. Those commandments range from the do’s and the don’ts, the reading your scriptures every day to the keeping of the word of wisdom. They are all important and I know they are all God’s will.
Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves - to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, reconcile yourselves to the will of God, and not to the will of the devil and the flesh; and remember, after ye are reconciled unto God, that it is only in and through the grace of God that ye are saved (2 Nephi 10:23-24).
His purpose is clear. What will we make ours?