A letter to my local missionaries...shared in case it helps someone else or if anyone has anything they would like to add :D.
My dear young friends,
I hope you will not find it
presumptuous of me to send this letter. Since our conversations both
at church and last week, my mind has been bombarded with thoughts of
you and your situations, both as missionaries here in western New
York, and as young men who will soon be transitioning to “the next
phase.” I hope you will know of the love and respect that I feel
for you both as servants of the Most High.
Were you there when I was having the
recent conversation about how “all things denote there is a God”?
That “all things testify of Christ”? Well, I have found that
even, and sometimes especially,
when I am doing seemingly mundane tasks, the Spirit guides me mind to
eternal principles...like cleaning up dried peach muck embedded with
tiny glass shards, right ;D.
That was true today. I learned in Seminary last year that if we pray before everything and consecrate our performance to God, it will be a blessing to us, “that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul.” So, when I woke up at 5 am ready to paint that closet that has needed painting, I said a prayer on the ladder, “consecrating my performance.” And it was like the windows of heaven were opened and God was there, talking to me as I painted.
Now, I
don't know if you have painted much. I
have! Every wall in this house, pretty much, at least one coat! :D
And one thing I have learned is no matter how good the paint—even
the ones that are “paint with primer”—if you are doing an
initial coat on wood, tape, etc., you need primer. I hate primer. I
really do. You can never make the wall look good with primer, and
believe me, I've tried! And that is because the purpose of primer is
to make the succeeding coats of paint stick, not to look good on its
own! Paint is when you get visible results. But those results are
not effective unless the primer coat has been applied first. In
fact, you can paint with only the newest “paint and primer”
varieties but you still end up doing more total coats than if you had
just used a primer to begin with!
As I
relived this truth this morning, painting for hours without seeing a
beautiful wall before me, I kept thinking, “It's okay if my paint
job looks like garbage, like a waste of time; primer is for making
things stick,” again and again in my head. One time while I was
rehearsing this litany in my mind, I realized that missionary work in
western New York is sometimes like putting on the primer coat. It is
super necessary. The preliminary work done by the “priming”
missionaries makes later work stick...but it still has to be applied
completely and effectively. Not missing any corners.
Is
“priminging missionary work” essential to that final, glistening
coat? Absolutely. Does it make the later work stick? Absolutely.
Does our Father in Heaven, whose work this is, know when His faithful
sons and daughters are doing the priming and not seeing the results?
Absolutely. Does He guide those who are obedient and faithful to
“prime the corners,” those hard to reach places? Absolutely.
And is it all His work?
Elder, you mentioned once in passing that when you are with people,
sometimes it feels like a waste of time. “I am here to share a
message!” you told me, with a little bit of frustration. My heart
went out to you. You have a good and obedient spirit and it is easy
to get disappointed having no visible results. But I have thought
about it since then, and please forgive me if this comes out wrong,
and I think, in fact, you are here to do God's work, not just “share
a message.” Sure, that is sometimes a part of it, but sometimes
there are other ways to preach (like take someone's dog back to them
when they were unkind to you :D.)
Sometimes
God's work demands slaying Laban with a sword, and sometimes it
demands kneeling in prayer while you are slain. Sometimes it
requires opening your mouth and sometimes it requires opening your
heart. That is the crazy awesome thing about the Spirit...you never
know what will come next! To planners like me, this can be a little
daunting. But when you can relax and just follow the Spirit, it is
amazing where it will take you.
The
hard part about being “priming missionaries” is that you really
don't get to step back, see your labors, and be satisfied. But
doesn't God promise that those who do not see but still believe that
they are more blessed for their faith than those who do see? In D&C
18 it tells us of the joy that we will feel in bringing even one soul
to Christ. Missionaries that are involved in baptisms are blessed to
feel the joy at that ordinance. Why? Because they see someone get
baptized? Or is the more lasting satisfaction the spiritual
confirmation that God sends them along with that ordinance? Is
He not capable of rewarding the “priming missionary work” with
that same scope of spiritual joy and happiness?
We may not know where the joy comes from, or to what labor it is
connected, but as we daily seek for God's guidance we may be assured
that we will be graced with His Spirit that brings peace and joy, the
ultimate reward
So when you are out “priming the
corners,” enjoy the manifestations of the Spirit as it testifies
how to show charity to those you are serving, the ultimate “sticky”
tool of priming :D!
*********
Now, to the next point :D. Sorry if I
am a little wordy, but I am trying to follow the Spirit which has to
work with my inadequacies :D.
Dum, dum, dum!!!! Life after the
mission...
One thing that is daunting about “the
next phase” is that things no longer have an age time frame. Until
now, your life has been marked by year markers: 5 start kindergarten,
8 get baptized, 12 enter youth program, 18 graduate and serve
mission, 20...??? The next “goals” (marriage, schooling, eternal
life) are now no longer on “year” deadlines. You basically are
staring time in the face. It is a beautiful thing. Step forward.
Embrace it. You are now comissioned to shape eternity, to decide
what you will do with it...for is not that what it is to be God?
Satan's
plan was a pre-set package: no confusion, no worries. All clearly
spelled out, a step-by-(maybe even hourly!)-step specifically marked
for everyone. The result? A lot of people who “made it back to
God” but are nothing like Him. People who never discovered how to
choose, how to “fail” (or just try something that didn't work!)
and try again.
You
date someone, it “fails”...good thing! It is probably because
you were incompatible in the long run! You try a major, you change
and try another, and another, and another...and just like in Pres.
Holland's “wrong roads” talk, you not only gain the experience
from all those extra classes but you get a clearer certainty that the
road ahead of you is truly the one you want. No doubts at 40 years
old that you never “found your passion,” no “what if I had
tried Marketing or Pea-shooting as a career and loved it.”
God promises that if we consecrate our lives to Him,
everything...everything
(even and perhaps especially the perceived “failures”) will be
for our good!
As
I have seen the reality of post-mission transition for my own son and
in the lives of so many good and dear young men and women around me,
it has been often on my mind. What truths can guide us in this
phase? I keep thinking about Nephi and Lehi's journey in the
wilderness (8 years!!) and feel prompted to share that it might be a
good resource for you to prayerfully study, looking for parallels in
your future life. I re-read it just the other day and found a
bundle!!
As
I said on Sunday, just because you are off your mission, God doesn't
stop guiding you. Every day you can seek His counsel, His wisdom.
And just like in the mission field, you may not see an immediate
result every day, or even every year. Maybe you are just priming for
a future amazing life. God knows the corners that need to be primed
in your life for future “stickiness” or effectiveness. Humbly
and happily seek His direction just as fervently as you did in the
mission field. Seek mentors, like your leaders and Mission president
were for you, people who have gone forth in the areas you want to
improve in: spiritual, relationships, education, recreation.
For
is God not just as vested in--and concerned about and mindful
of--your future life as He is in your missionary work?
Missionary
work. Home life. It is all the work of God. Perhaps that is one
thing that missions are for: to show you that God has a work for you,
that He is in the details, that His ways don't always make sense!!
(Another fruit of seminary: 1 Corinthians 1:25...check it out!) Hey,
ah-hah! It is like I was saying earlier about the “time markers.”
For those of us who need “the next step,” our early years help
us transition to life. Perhaps mission life is like that: something
that helps us transition to life-long servers of Christ who seek
God's guidance in all things and have a deep testimony of His work
that encompasses the lives of all of His children, even yours.
:D
You
two are great young men! I am so grateful to have the opportunity to
have you in our home every week for meals. We will try to do better
to invite others to share those meals with us so more can be blessed.
Know you are loved of God and that your work—every
aspect of it—is
a blessing to our ward and appreciated by many.
Respectfully
yours,
Sister
Mary Biesinger
