WEEK 10 - A Summary Of Life To Come
Life is unpredictable. You navigate through unexpected days, even though they’re meticulously planned, and the second the door shuts behind you, you’re in the hands of the Lord. The only thing that stays constant is life itself. You can choose how to react to all the things that are thrown in your path, and that’s about it. Those small, seemingly insignificant bumps in the road, add up until the trajectory of your life is completely changed. You can’t predict them. Here are some of those events that have happened this past week.
As we were biking home, I had asked Elder Elmer if he thought he would have become a member of the Church if he wasn’t born into it. I started thinking about myself and how many factors would have had to plan into whether or not I was a member of the Church and how fortunate I was to have been born into it. As I was biking home I basically burst into tears when I passed a guy at a bus station. What swarmed my mind can be summarized into this paragraph of thought.
Why didn't you stop to talk to me? When I get to heaven and all the people that God found, through me, see me, talk with me, and recognize me, I could not live with myself if there are people who come up to me, people I saw in my mission, and the rest of my life, and ask, “Why didn’t you stop to talk to me? I was ready. It would have taken five seconds. You could have changed my life. Why not me?” I am fortunate to have been born into a family who were already members of Christ’s restored church. Some are not so lucky. One conversation could have planted a seed. One stop. Maybe that’s the one time that they would have to hear the Gospel; the one opportunity to receive eternal exaltation in this life. Who am I to not spend one second of my time to talk with them? Who am I to receive a prompting by the Holy Spirit, and not follow through? I would not be able to live myself if someone were to ask me, “Why didn’t you stop to talk to me?” the guilt would surrender any amount of heavenly glory I would have otherwise received. I will talk to everyone. Spanish, English, any language–I will find a way to talk with them, even for 5 seconds. Because that’s all it takes. If I wasn’t a member, I would sure hope someone would do the same for me.
My mission changed the moment I woke up the next morning after this internal dialogue. I already had decided I was going to talk to everyone, but now I knew I had to. So, the second we hit the streets, that’s what I did. By the end of the day, I felt confident in my Spanish, my English was confident, and I couldn’t stop smiling. This is what I should have been truly doing this entire time. Sure, it’s a pain for my companion when I stop to talk to every single person I see–especially when we have a lesson planned–but the rewards are beginning to reap, even after the first day of my new life.
On our way to English class, after finishing a day of lessons and finding, I zoned out at a stop light on my bike. I was exhausted and dreading the twenty minute ride to the church building. As I turned my head to my left, inching my bike a little forward in the process, from behind the streetlight pole, a man on a bike appeared. He was not there when we slowed to a stop while waiting for our turn at the crosswalk. I walked my bike over to him and started speaking Spanish. I usually get to know the people I talk to more, but right off the bat I came up to him and asked, “Le gustaría aprender más sobre Jesucristo?” he didn’t even hesitate to respond with an enthusiastic “Sí.” Before I knew it, he was entering in all of his contact info, all within the span of the crosswalk’s duration. By the time he was done, the crosswalk gave us the way and we biked towards the church. He was originally waiting to go straight across the street (we were waiting to go left), but as soon as we departed, he turned his bike around and went the same direction as us–the direction from which he would have came from.
I felt like I had to talk to him and I think he felt like he had to listen and he had to be there in that moment. That wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for the small conversation Elder Elmer and I had the night before and the thoughts that occupied my mind from that day. A small bump that has changed the trajectory of my life.
At the start of my mission, I was interviewed by my Mission President. In the short fifteen minutes that we conversed, I expressed my innate passions for film and desires to be able to continue that passion whilst on my mission. Our mission has a pretty sizable social media presence with five different FaceBook accounts, so I knew that there were opportunities for content creation. He explained that first I needed to be trained for the first three months of my mission, but that after I would be able to utilize the talents I have.
Near Him, one of the FaceBook accounts, recently announced that they would be premiering a game show series, of sorts, on their social media. Out of the blue, after thinking about what that could possibly entail throughout the entire week, Elder Elmer got a phone call. It was from the missionary in charge of this page, and he was looking for me. He expressed that President Richards explicitly recommended that he reach out to me for help with this game show and any other content creation that might happen regarding video and film. So, that’s what we talked about. Before I could stop my head from spinning, I was added into the various social media committee group chats and assigned to be the advisor for this project and cameraman for that project. I was then on call for a zoom meeting about this game show and as I caught my head from going around one more time, I was providing anecdotes from my experience and advice about what they should do to make this thing. By the end of the call, the admin of the page explained that I needed to be there to film everything and that he would make sure I could be there; that President Richards gave special permission to allow me to work on these things, even though I was still in training.
The small conversation I had with the president of the mission, during the first week of me being here, has now impacted my entire mission. From this point forward, I will be doing what I love, utilizing the talents that I have, and climbing the ladder of hierarchy until I can be overseeing projects and making my own content for the various different audiences the mission FaceBook pages reach. You couldn’t have predicted that my Mission President would have changed his mind, yet he did, and now my life has changed for the better.
These are small and simple observations from the past week of my mission, but observations and events that have totally changed the next two years of my life. These events happen all the time. I encourage each of you to look back on your weeks and identify those small moments, those small bumps in the road, that change the trajectory of your journey through life. In many ways, each of these events have been miracles, and I know there have been, will be, and are miracles in your lives as well. That’s it for me this week. I wish you all the best and bid you farewell. Until next time, adieu.
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