We have a ward that is functioning like the Book of Mormon rich - poor cycle. The rich people sit on one side of the chapel and the poor on the other. And, they don't get along. The members are not to helpful for the missionaries. Our missioneries brought some members along to visit an investigator. During the lesson the missionaries asked the members to give their testimonies. They said they didn't have testimoniesl. However, it is important to say that in the same stake most wards are wonderful and this ward has some good people. Well, our mission president decided to have a meeting with the members to encourage them to work with the missioneries. The missionaries arranged with more than 50 people to come to the ward at 6 pm to meet with the mission president. We all arrived a little before 6. The president had a video presentation and the zone leaders set up the projector. We waited. At about 6:30, no one had come. Kathy and Gary took the zone leaders to an appointment and then returned. The president was loading up his stuff in his car. One person showed up. He and the ward missioneries were on their way to visit the bishop of the ward. Wow, we thought, we were glade we we not invited to that meeting. The next day we were with the president. Of course we wanted to know what happened. Well... The president had a nice visit with the bishop, they talked about obedience. Then, the president and the missionaries were returning home and passed by the chapel. They noticed a light on in the chapel. The had shut the building down. So, they went in to see what was going on. There were more that 30 people waiting for the president. About a hour and a half late. The president has really a cool head. He brought in his projector and they had a wonderful meeting.
30 years ago, my friend served a mission.
A little while ago, we were talking.
He said: I do not feel good about my mission.
I did not do my best.
Why, after 20 years, did my friend feel bad about his mission.
Because, our mission experience will be with us forever.
There is a story about a man, called Melvin, that did his best.
Melvin suffered a bad accident while in the military.
He was in the hospital when his sergeant visited him.
The sergeant asked how he was doing.
Melvin said, very bad. I have lost my left arm and I may lose my left leg.
The sergeant said, Soldier, you have your right arm and you may not lose your left leg.
Do the best you can with what you have.
Melvin got out of the hospital and searched for a job.
no one would hire him.
Finally, a neighbor told him of a rich man that owned pineapple farms.
Melvin visited the office. He talked to many people but no one would hire him.
He waited for many hours to talk to the boss.
The boss finally agreed to talk to him.
Melvin managed to convince the boss to hire him.
The boss called in his supervisor.
He told the supervisor to hire melvin.
The supervisor did not like melvin and gave hime a very hard job.
He had melvin drive a load of pineapples to Rio Blanco.
He knew that melvin would fail and go away.
The job was very hard for melvin, he had to brace the steering wheel with his shoulder while shifting. But, Melvin arrived at Rio Blanco and sold all the pineapples.
The boss called in the supervisor and said that he liked melvin and had great plans for him. But, he wanted to understand if melvin could pass the blue vase test.
The boss told the supervisor not to make the test to hard.
But, the supervisor made the test really hard.
Melvin was staying at the ….. hotel in San Marcos.
The boss called melvin and said to Melvin:
I am going to visit a friend in the capital. I am leaving at 8pm.
I want to give her a very special blue vase.
Would you buy this blue vase and bring it to me before I leave?
Melvin was very tired, but, he said: yes I will buy the vase and bring it to you.
The Boss said: get the address from the supervisor.
Melvin called the supervisor and got the address. It was a small store in San Pedro, called Mathews heavenly blessings.
Of course, the supervisor gave Melvin an incorrect address and name.
Melvin searched for the store for a long time but could not find it.
After asking many people, he finally found a store called Marks heavenly blessing.
But this is not the correct name.
He searched more.
Than he thought that if the supervisor gave him the wrong address, he would also give me the wrong name.
Being a religious man, he figured out that Mark was the book following Mathew, so, that must be the store.
The store was closed and locked.
He had no idea what to do.
A man in a ferreteria next to the store asked melvin what was wrong.
Melvin told him,
The man went in his store and brought out a cutting tool.
He said to Melvin, your only hope is to cut the lock and take the vase.
You can pay for it tomorrow.
Melvin took the tool, and, he almost used it to cut the lock.
But, he said, I am not going to steel this vase. That is wrong.
Melvin asked all the neighbors where the owner lived.
Finally, he found the owners house.
He begged the owner to open his shop so that Melvin could buy the vase. The owner finally agreed and opened the shop.
Melvin said he wanted to buy it.
The owner said that it cost Q1000.
Melvin did not have that much money.
(both the man in the ferreteria and owner had been paid by the supervisor to make it really hard for melvin)
Melvin noticed that is was almost 9pm.
But, he did not give up.
He took off the tie that was made of material that had been in his family for many generations.
He asked the owner if he would hold the tie until tomorrow and he would pay for the vase tomorrow.
The owner said OK, and Melvin had the vase.
He quickly ran to a friends house.
The friend was a microbus driver and drove between San Pedro and the Capital every day.
The friend agreed to drive him to the capital as fast as he could.
Luckily, the boss has stopped in Xela for a hamburger at McDonalds.
The microbus caught up with the boss.
Melvin grabbed vase and ran to the bosses car.
He was going to give the vase to the boss, but, he dropped it and it shattered.
Melvin was so upset and apologized to the boss.
The boss said: melvin, I do not care about the vase.
I wanted to see if you would do you best.
Melvin was upset and said:
I went through all of this and it was just a game.
The boss apologized and said, I have a very good job for you because of what you have done.
You are going to be the new supervisor!
Melvin did his best with what he had and got a great job.
What does the story of Melvin have to do with missionary work?
We know that Heavenly Father has prepared people to hear our message.
We should be able to sleep in, eat breakfast, go to the ward house, fill the font, and wait for the people to show up.
Investigators would come in to be baptized, they would already be in white clothes, they would have found the book of mormon on the internet and have read it.
is all we would have to do is to do a short interview, fill out the form, and baptize them.
Why doesn't things work like this.
Well, there might be a problem with the agency of the investigators.
But, more importantly, we would not have learned the lessons we need to know to live with heavenly father.
We would not have been able to do our best.
Heavenly Father prepares people to hear our message.
They may not know that they are prepared until they feel our spirit.
Our job is to do our best to find them.
This means, we do all we can, righteously, to find these people.
We must be prepared so the spirit will be with us.
Then we talk to everyone.
We will eventually find the prepared person.
My son served a mission in France, in two years, after lots of hard work, he baptized three people.
These were the days when young men and women were sent on missions without much preparation.
Some were sent out because they were doing so badly that the bishop sent them out hoping that they would repent.
So, my son had lots of challenges with missionaries that did not want to be on a mission.
He had several bike wrecks.
He had a stomach pain so they took his appendix out which probably did not need to be removed.
After finishing his mission he wondered what was the worth of it all.
Twenty years later, he returned to France with his wife. One of his converts was active in the church and his whole family was active.
So the one baptism turned out to bring many into the church.
Possibly a whole generation of people.
Our work is worth it.
We need to do our best with what we have.
We do not want to have bad feelings about our mission for the rest of our life.
The Lord will make us strong,
Amos 17:27 in the book of Mormon reads:
“And if men come unto me I will show them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble. And my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them”
I know that our work is Gods work.
I know that Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ know us, love us and care for us.
I know that Joseph Smith was the prophet if the restoration,
I know that President Monson is our prophet for today.
I know the book of mormon is true and is the word of God
I love this church
I love you
and I love this mission
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen
