Well Sunday was kinda interesting and something happened that I haven't seen before. Well, first of all we only had 3 at Sacrament Meeting, which is the lowest since I came here lol.... But during 3rd hour things got a little heated in opening exercises before they wanted to split to go to the various quorums... We had a stake conference a while back and well the Saturday before we had a priesthood leadership meeting with a member of the area seventy. They did attendance to see how many leaders were there from Alajo Ward and apparently no one came. Apparently everyone from my ward decided to go to a wedding that same day instead of the conference and yeah things got heated in the class where everyone was pointing fingers and blaming each other and stuff... Yeah I felt uncomfortable well this is the first time on my mission where I have been to a class that has not uplifted and edified me, and it really bothered me for some reason...
The next thing I want to talk about is respecting and sustaining our leaders which is the subject of my email. Now that I think about it, growing up I could never imagine not sustaining someone who was my leader. But in these times we see people not sustaining our leaders and this just doesn't go for our prophets and apostles but also our bishops, quorum presidents etc. Well it finally hit me this week that this is a strength of mine. In the beginning of my mission I always blamed leaders, always questioned if they were really called of God or not. But now I find it easy to finally accept my leaders whether they are church leaders or mission leaders. I'm going to be honest...if we are wondering why the Lord didn't pick us to fill leadership and why they picked the person they did, that's your problem. As members of this church we find ourselves comparing ourselves to others I am guilty of this as well. It's a sad thing to do. Please let's respect everyone the Lord has called to be our leaders and let them serve us.
Well sorry for mostly having a negative vibe to this email but these are some of the things going on with me.
There has been quite the number of problems in our mission with a lot of companionships this week. I want to share what president shared with all of us. Now the Scripture he is sharing is part of our recitations that we recite from memory but its Doctrine and Covenants 12: 34-46 he shares verse 41-43.
"41 No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned;
42 By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile—
43 Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy;
The emphasis here is on verses 41 & 42. If we would all develop those qualities in our ministry then we would not have any significant companionship issues. Sadly many of us seem more content on mastering verse 43 so that we can find a righteous way to reprove our companion without any mastery at all of the qualities contained in verses 41 & 42. If that is the case, we need to repent, and repent quickly.
Of course if our companion is not being obedient then we need to correct the situation quickly and lovingly, but most of the conflicts being encountered are not about obedience. We need to love and respect our companion. We need to look for the good in each other and not dwell on the differences. Remember that contention is of the devil and will drive away the Spirit. To the Nephites the Lord proclaimed in 3 Nephi 11:29 :
29 For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.
We need to stop contention and disharmony immediately. We need to find ways to serve each other and lift our companions. I am calling upon us all to serve and love one another. I ask all of us to treat the remainder of this transfer as a SERVE MY COMPANION transfer. I challenge you to do something special and different for your companion every day. We can do this even if we already have a good relationship. Let us chase Satan out of our lives and not let him interrupt this work of bringing salvation unto the people of Ghana."
42 By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile—
43 Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy;
The emphasis here is on verses 41 & 42. If we would all develop those qualities in our ministry then we would not have any significant companionship issues. Sadly many of us seem more content on mastering verse 43 so that we can find a righteous way to reprove our companion without any mastery at all of the qualities contained in verses 41 & 42. If that is the case, we need to repent, and repent quickly.
Of course if our companion is not being obedient then we need to correct the situation quickly and lovingly, but most of the conflicts being encountered are not about obedience. We need to love and respect our companion. We need to look for the good in each other and not dwell on the differences. Remember that contention is of the devil and will drive away the Spirit. To the Nephites the Lord proclaimed in 3 Nephi 11:29 :
29 For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.
We need to stop contention and disharmony immediately. We need to find ways to serve each other and lift our companions. I am calling upon us all to serve and love one another. I ask all of us to treat the remainder of this transfer as a SERVE MY COMPANION transfer. I challenge you to do something special and different for your companion every day. We can do this even if we already have a good relationship. Let us chase Satan out of our lives and not let him interrupt this work of bringing salvation unto the people of Ghana."
Well yeah I guess now you all kinda know what's going one, I'm proud to say I have not had any problems with this. I'm always proud of how far I have come as a person and I'm glad that patience is now one of my strengths. What it says in Ether 12:27 about weaknesses becoming strengths is so true.
Well for more of a positive note, president and I had a long talk about what's going to happen with me and how he feels about me. I have 3 transfers left and in those transfers I'll be a district leader and I will also possibly train again. We will see. There is a lot that's going to happen with this mission in the future because there are a ton of missionaries going home. He said 2/3 of the mission will be training or in their training. So this will be interesting.
21 more weeks. "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor pretty much explains my mission right now. Surprised I know the song? Yeah, me too.
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