By Small and Simple Things - Mission

During my senior year of high school, I had enough credits to stop attending classes six months before graduation, in La Paz, Bolivia.  During those few months, I read, crocheted a quilt, and tried to keep myself busy.  My parents asked if I would like to return to the States ahead of them, and live with my older sisters, and maybe take a college course.  I told them I wanted to attend my high school graduation and return to the States with them, in six months.  I was a little afraid of the future.  I think if the time had been longer, I would have accepted the offer.

My father invited me to travel with him to a missionary zone meeting, along with other missionaries serving in the mission office.  This opportunity, to be with my father one on one was very precious.  We traveled through the night, by van, across a mostly uninhabited stretch of the Altiplano.  At one point, we made a brief rest stop, at what seemed like the only small building in the middle of no where.  It was cold, and the only light I saw was the headlights of the van.  But, as I stepped away from the van and looked up, I witnessed the most beautiful sight.  The Milky Way stretched across the heavens, along with myriads of other stars and planets.  It seemed to rise from all sides of the plain we were standing on, and travel across the whole sky.  It is the one and only time I have seen such a glorious sight.  I marveled at the heavens above and my small spot on earth.  I wondered who I was and what my purpose was.

High School Graduation

Soon after this event, my father asked if I would consider serving a mission for a few weeks.  He explained that he could ask permission to extend a calling for me to serve.  This was a great surprise to me, because I didn't know it was possible.  However, now that I was 18 and in the mission field while my father was serving as a mission president, an exception was made.  (Usually young women have to be 21 before they can serve missions)  As the time approached for me to leave home, I realized how dependent I was on my parents and how much strength I drew from them.  I realized that I needed to prepare myself for this service and repent of my sins.  I prayed and made promises to the Lord about changes I needed to make.  I pondered on my life and testimony.  I asked myself what I knew about receiving personal revelation, and whether I had a testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.  I asked my father for guidance in recognizing promptings from the Holy Ghost.  I began to read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover, for the first time, and pray with real intent to know if it was true.

I will always be grateful to the sister missionary I served with.  Surely I was not the ideal companion she had hoped to serve with for the last few weeks of her mission.  We studied and prayed in the cold morning hours together.  We walked up the cobble stone streets and dirt paths of La Paz, into humble adobe homes.  I experienced a different La Paz than the one I saw from within my family's comfortable home.  I remember the first time my companion turned and asked me what I thought about someone we had just met with.  I was tempted to panic, realizing she and the Lord really were counting on me to use inspiration, and that I couldn't just slide by and only do what I was told.  I was expected to contribute and help.

And so my real life's journey began from this point on.  I began to pray and live with real intent.  I began to put into practice the life skills my parents had taught me from the time I was an infant.  I began to study, question, search and testify.  I realize, in looking back, that I lacked the precious training most missionaries receive while attending a few weeks or months at the MTC (Missionary Training Center). I felt inadequate and mostly unprepared.  One day, my companion and I spoke for the first time with a woman living in very humble circumstances.  At the end of our visit, she asked if she could be baptized.  This was a "golden" moment, as some missionaries describe it.  I know now, that in spite of our weaknesses, the Lord carries on his work, answering the heart felt prayers of those searching for the truth.  By small and simple things, the Lord brings about his work and our salvation.

(In recent years, I met the wife of one of my husband's business partners.  She also served a similar mission, when she was 18 years old, while her father was serving as a mission president.)

San Diego California Temple - Witness

A witness is someone who has seen with their own eyes, and can testify to others about what they have seen.  Although I cannot claim to have seen Christ, I have seen evidence of his existence and love.  I see the world he created and I experience the blessings he promises to those who follow him.  I see, with eyes of faith, the reality of his love for all mankind, and his efforts to save them.

There is a scripture, "by their fruits ye shall know them".  My life is filled with the fruit of happiness and hope.  I experience promptings from the Holy Ghost, and I feel love in my heart for my family and others.  I have been rescued from temptation and sin and restored from sadness to joy, through his atonement.  My trials teach me to trust in him all the more, because his is the only power that can save.  I don't just believe in Christ.  I believe Christ. 

He is the Savior and Redeemer of the world.  He is the perfect example of obedience to God and has suffered for all mankind.  His resurrection is real, and he continues to reign in the heavens.  And one day soon, he will return to the earth to claim his kingdom and reign forever.  He is the light of the world, the only begotten son of the Father, the prince of peace.

I am a witness for my Savior and his goodness.  His love has changed my life and I will praise him and be grateful forever. 

Throughout the San Diego temple are pictures of Jesus Christ.  As I looked at them, I felt his presence and his love for me.  The entrance to the celestial room is unique.  One walks up a gradually inclined, circular hallway, as though you are ascending into heaven.

Conversation on a Plane

I wonder what desire Thomas Edison, or Alexander Graham Bell felt, to share their new inventions.  (Yes, I understand others had similar ideas before, or at the same time.....but just indulge me as I share an important point!)  How long did they wait, and how were their ideas received?  What about Leonardo Da Vinci, or  Filo T. Farnsworth?  Did they fear the opposition or rejection they would inevitably experience, or the difficulty of getting someone to believe, trust and assist in developing their invention?  Or were they simply so excited about, and knew the value of, their inventions and ideas, that they talked with everyone and anyone who would listen to them?

These thoughts followed me after a recent trip.  I decided to try and get to know the people I was sitting next to on the plane.  This is sometimes difficult, because my perception is, that most of the time it is unwanted.  People want to be left alone to read or think or sleep.  They don't want a nosey neighbor.

I was surprised, therefore, when I said hello, the woman sitting next to me was very friendly and we started a conversation that lasted throughout our flight.  I was very interested in hearing about her family, her work and her beliefs.  She had experienced trials, unlike my own, and I could see how her life had also been blessed.  I likewise shared with her, stories about my life, my family, and talked about my goal and occasional trips with my husband to visit some of the temples.  In the end, we exchanged contact information.

A few days later, I wondered how I could share with her, more of the knowledge I have about the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I wondered if it would be appropriate, after such a brief encounter, and I didn't want to offend her.   I decided to be unafraid, and simply wrote to her and explained my desire and how she could obtain more information.  I gave her the links to mormon.org and lds.org, and invited her to look at them at her convenience.

I probably will never know if this brief conversation and invitation will make a difference in her life, but it already has in mine.  I hope I will gain more faith and courage to share what I have been given.  How sad it would have been for Edison to not have shared what he knew, that has eventually brought light into every corner of the world and benefited all mankind.  Isn't the knowledge I have, even more significant than electricity or any other invention?  How important is a single life, a single invitation?  How many lives can be touched by just one person who will listen?  How selfish it would be to try and hide a lightbulb under a bushel, and not let anyone else even know about it, out of fear of offending them.

Nephi's purpose in writing

I sometimes wonder who, if anyone, will read what I have written.  And if no one reads it, what is it's purpose?  I am surprised, that in spite of a lack of readership, I feel a strong desire to continue writing about my thoughts, experiences, and testimony.

The other day, reading in the Book of Mormon I reread these passages, written by Nephi, 

"For the fulness of mine intent is that I may ^apersuade men to^bcome unto the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and be saved.

Wherefore, the things which are ^apleasing unto the world I do not write, but the things which are pleasing unto God and unto those who are not of the world."

I thought about Nephi's purpose for keeping records, to bless his posterity, and anyone who would believe.  And he wrote not just one record, but at least two that he speaks of.  Nephi's record was written 600 years before the birth of Christ, and it was buried in the earth for many centuries after Christ's birth.  Yet, the Lord preserved it for a purpose, and his voice and testimony is now read and heard throughout the world.

I trust that some small good will come from my words, for the sake of my posterity, in the Lord's time.

The Hill Cumorah - Palmyra New York

Hill Cumorah

Just two miles from Joseph Smith's home is the Hill Cumorah.  The Hill Cumorah is where an ancient record, kept on Golden Plates was buried, in a stone box, to preserve and protect it.  Joseph Smith received personal instruction from the Angel Moroni, who buried the plates there centuries before.

Painting depicting angelic visitation of the Angel Moroni to the boy Joseph Smith

Painting of Moroni burying Golden Plates

After four years of instruction, Joseph Smith was allowed to remove the plates, and was given the means to translate part of the record.  The part he translated is now known and published as the Book of Mormon.  This record is a second witness to the Bible, that Jesus is the Christ, and contains the teachings and testimonies of ancient prophets who lived on the American Continent.  I know it is a true record.

Hill Cumorah

Monument on top of the hill

The Sacred Grove - Palmyra

With faith, Joseph Smith came to this Sacred Grove near his home, to pray and ask God which church to join.  God the Father and his son Jesus Christ appeared to him, and answered his question.