...and I'm no longer AP.
I know, weird right? Or at least, by the time this transfer
is finished I won't be.
I've been pondering a lot lately. Just about life, the
family, the mission, the work. I suppose it's strange to be transitioning from
this position to another again... I suppose you become so much a part of the
things that you are asked to do that it becomes difficult to change, but as
I've been indexing my mission in my mind I've found that those have been the
times of greatest growth. I think of the power of change....
So many people are terrified of change. I was with the
Sister missionaries that serve in our ward the other day and one of them was
expressing just how much she hates transfers. To be honest, I've felt the same
way... sometimes for different reasons than her, but how can you blame her for
fearing the unknown? Truthfully, as I've been an assistant I've realized the
power of transfers, and the gratitude I've had for each and every single one of
them. Also, the only regrets that I've had regarding transfers have been caused
by my own pride, imperfection, and stubborn attitudes toward them. Thus proving
to me that my personal growth is a personal choice, a choice I make every day
the moment I wake up. I think we are all the authors of our own destiny,
ultimately. God's power and wisdom and plan is frankly so infinite and so
perfect that we have to choose to succeed, just as we have to choose to
fail.
That is the reality of my whole mission, that this life is a
series of choices. Choices that affect our destiny, our attitude, our hopes,
and our personal peace and righteousness. And the atonement of Jesus Christ is
the motivating factor for all the positive, the power by which we are enabled
to obtain it all, and the means by which we overcome the effects of our poor
choices. We are limited by our choices, or we are set free by them. Thus we begin
to see and understand that our decisions to break God's laws stop us from
reaching Him not because he doesn't love us enough to look past them, but
because if we would never choose to follow him, we would never choose to be
with him. Decisions to keep his laws give us ultimate freedom, freedom in
relationships with others, power to be an influence in the lives of those we
choose to love, and liberty to begin to liberate ourselves from the captivity
of our sins which keep us from reaching fully to him---all, again, by the power
of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
So what have I learned as assistant? I've learned that we
are simply assigned to these positions to foster our own personal growth---all
in God's confidence that you won't get in His way of making happen what He
needs to have happen. It's an assignment of sacred trust. To minister, to
believe, to administer, and to choose to stand personally taller, and to be
better than you have ever been before. It is an opportunity to choose to follow
Him more closely, to put off the Natural Man and become a saint through the
Lord Jesus Christ... and it will all happen according to your attitude toward
it, toward others, and toward Him.
In the meantime we'll be having a baptism next Saturday. I
believe I will be transferred to Creston, BC. It is in the bottom lefthand
corner of our mission and is almost the farthest away from the mission home
I'll be... probably. And you know what? I'm ready. I'm ready for change. I'm
ready for growth. I'm ready to just give it all up and put everything that I've
learned for the past 20 months into effect... I'm ready to feel the hand of my
Savior urging me forward toward those who need our help. I hope He will fill
me... and in the same breath I hope I will be hungry. More hungry than I've
ever been for Him and His work and His word. I pray He will make me feel so
uncomfortable that I will turn to him in every moment, and that my faith will
be strong enough to press forward through it all. I hope he will guide my work
and my tongue. I want to be used, to give my all, and to never look back
wondering if I was able to give it my all.
This was a long email and I've just gone nuts in it, but
what I know is nevertheless true. That Jesus Christ is the Son of God. That I
have been called to Serve Him. My Heavenly King of Glory. Chosen Heir to
Witness for His name. Far and Wide I tell my Father's Story, and Far and Wide
His love I proclaim.
I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is restored. Joseph
Smith was his chosen prophet in the latter
days. Speaking of which:
Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go
forward and not backward. aCourage,
brethren; and on, on to the victory!
I love you all. Peace, love, and temple marriage. In that
order!
Elder Taylor J. Hill
Canada Calgary Mission
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