My Work and My Glory

What happens after 15 months of walking in the same shoes.

I´ve been doing a lot of thinking this past week.  I always think a lot... but this week my mind has been focused on a certain topic, The Deadline.  Or in other words, the eminant, and quickly aproching day in which my mission ends. Don´t call me trunky, o frita, o muerta.  It´s not my falt that has been on my mind considering that everyone who asks me how much time I have in the mission responds with, "Oh ya esta en su casa!", as soon as they hear 15 meses.  Es el contrario mis amigos.  For that same reason I´m working even harder than before.  The only difference is that I´m buying souvenirs as I contact.

Back to the point.  As we´ve been walking to our lessons, I´ve found myself contemplating, not only on the newly developed hole in my shoe, but mostly in the purpose of missionary work.  It´s rather a strange thing when you think about it.  The prophet sending off snot nosed kids fresh out of high school to go to a foreign land, to spend two years (or 18 months) talking to as many people as they can about the church... in a language that they don´t even know.  From a worldly point of view, it doesn´t make much sense.  Why not people who know a bit more?  Those who have studied the Bible and know the history of the world?  

Easy answer, the testimonies.  "And the mouths of babes shall teach them", said Jesus.  But what has been puzzling me for the past week is, why do they have to put a deadline on  it?  They call you, set you apart, give you the authority to call all to repentance, and expect you to do it sin error.  But when your time is up they kick you to the curb.  The badge is gone, they thank you for your service, and you´re back in jeans eating ice cream on the living room couch.  Why?

Ensenada Cruises

I think I´ve figured it out.  Something that I heard Elder Holland say in a MTC talk long ago.  Lowering the age of missionaries, opening up new missiones, most think that it is part of For the Strength of Youth.  HA!  No, Elder Holland said, that it is to HASTEN THE LORDS WORK.  Okay, numbers speaking that´s easy to understand.  Now there are more missionaries out in the field than there ever were before.... but then I began to think about what I´ve learned in the mission.  I´ve learned how to talk openly about the gospel, how ward counsel should work, how we can effectively work with the members, how to help new converts progress, how members should participate in lessons, and this list goes on and on....  

I´ve noticed a few things as I´ve seen older and wiser missionaries finish their missions and go home.  ALL OF THEM talk about how they are going to work in la obra de salvacion when they get back to their home wards.  How they are going to be the member that they always wished they had to help them during their mission.  How they plan on spreading the gospel and being a member missionary ALL THEIR LIFE LONG.  I hope I´m not to proud to say that I consider myself as one of them.

and chowin down on some sweet sugar cane... mexican style

That´s when it hit me.  So many people say that the mission is the MTC for life.  It helps you become a leader, know how to manage money, buy food, live on your own, and work hard.  I´d rather call it the MMTC.  The Member Missionary Training Center.  La obra del Senor no es una obra para los misioneros.  It´s what the Lord expects everyone of us to do.  He knows that the best way to do missionary work is though the tiny things that we can do everyday as regular people.  As members, there is so much that we can do to make the work move forward.  The RMs know that, and they know how to do it.  I am quite certain that THAT is why the Lord has called for such a great boost in missionaries.  He´s not expecting that we change the world because we have a name tag on.  He´s just preparing another great army of member missionaries to work in their wards, stakes, neighborhoods, work offices, schools, and everywhere they go.  THAT is how he is hastening the work.  

As a future RM I now realize that is my calling.  Going home still scares me.  I still would love an extension of my call, but as a good friend of mine recently told me...  even if I get home, hit 40 and I´m still unmarried,... my wards will double in size.  They have to split every stake that I work in. haha

They might take my badge, but they wont take my glory. 

Ensenada