Sometimes you take a look back at your week as a missionary and see that you have done all that you can and someone greater has made up for the rest. As I've said many times before, the life of a missionary is rather hectic. We go out every morning hoping to serve those around us and hoping for those opportunities to share with others what our belief in God or in Jesus Christ has done for our life. Sometimes those opportunities come and sometimes it feels as if we aren't making a difference at all. Even this week as we were out trying to talk to people with out any luck, I remember Søster Davis turning to me and saying, "I just want to serve someone today." Story of my life...especially as a missionary. I just want to go out and serve.
This past week Søster Davis and I were trying to prepare for a lesson on the Godhead that we would be giving to a man who really doesn't know much about God, Jesus Christ or the Holy Ghost. We were looking up some scriptures to use when I came across some scripture verses that I actually really love. It's found in The First Epistle of Peter 2:21-25 and it says,
21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:
23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:
24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
That entire scripture passage is honestly quite beautiful in my opinion, but I wanted to focus on the first part of that verse where it talks about following his steps. I think that's been a major focus of my mission, following in Christ footsteps. Christ was and will always be our perfect example. Like this scripture verses talk about, He overcame when things get tough He didn't let that get Him down He put his trust in God and kept going. It reminds me a little bit of a quote that I'm sure a lot of you are familiar with that says, "when the going gets tough, the tough get going." that's definitely something to keep in mind seeing as at one point or another we all get hit with tough things, and let's be honest, satan is really good at his job.
I've noticed that a lot on my mission, whether it be with myself or others, we sometimes give satan too much power in our lives and that can get us down. Thank goodness for family and friends and all those other tools that Heavenly Father uses to help us overcome satan and his cunning craftiness. I for one am very grateful for the people in my life who have helped me to see myself as God sees me rather then as satan sees me. It really does make a difference.
Another thing that can make a difference is something that our last prophet, President Gordon B Hinckley had really captured in his own life and that is optimism in an article I was reading in the latest addition of the Church magazine the Liahona, about Gordon B Hinckley it said,“I am an optimist!” President Hinckley often declared. “My plea is that we stop seeking out the storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight.”How great is that? What a great way to look at Life when things start to get hectic or stressful, or when things start to go wrong, if we just focus on the sunlight or the good and happy things in our life we will start to understand that we have every reason to be optimistic. The article goes on to say, 'One manifestation of President Hinckley’s optimism was his firm belief that “things will work out.” That phrase, said Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “may well be President Hinckley’s most repeated assurance to family, friends, and associates. ‘Keep trying,’ he will say. ‘Be believing. Be happy. Don’t get discouraged. Things will work out.’”
I started this blog post out today by saying that the life of a missionary is rather hectic and sometimes you look back and see that someone greater helped you through the week and helped you to accomplish all that NEEDED to get done. I put needed in caps because like President Hinkley says, "things will work out," and our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are willing to help us out with that if that's what needs to happen. I have two examples of that to share with you all from this past week before I let you all go. The first of the two occurred this last Saturday as Søster Davis and I were going about our missionary work. We had planned that day to catch a bus at 2:45pm to go and visit a less active I live about an hour and a half away. That morning she texted us and said she was feeling under the weather. We were uncertain as to whether we should drop the original plan completely and just talk to people around the city or whether we should go anyways and drop off soup and a card and then just knock on some doors around the area. Ultimately we decided to just stay in the city and try our luck there. After talking to a few people in the City Søster Davis got the feeling that we should try and catch that bus that would now be leaving in 10 minutes. We were about a 20 minute walk from the bus stop so we decided to just speed walk, then jog, then run until finally we were sprinting a 5K to try and catch the bus. We finally get to the last crosswalk we needed to cross as the bus drove right past us. At first, I was a little upset. I really put in my best effort to try and catch that bus. It wasn't until after I caught my breath that I realize maybe we didn't need to go and that maybe we were needed somewhere else, and I told myself that everything would work out the way it was supposed to.
All right, last story before I sign out. That Saturday night we went to one of our investigators house to do some service. We ended up eating dinner afterwards when I casually brought up to our 9 and 11 year old investigators that they should come to church. They agreed and it seemed to be as simple as that, until it wasn't. I had told the 11-year-old that we would call her Sunday at 9 AM to wake her up so her and her brother could start to get ready for church so that they wouldn't miss the bus at 10:50am. I called at 9:00am...no answer... 9:10...nothing... 9:20...nothing... 9:30... nothing... 9:40... nothing again so I decided to call her mom... nothing. At 9:40 after calling her and her mom I sent the mom a text telling her about the situation and how the kids wanted to come to church this Sunday. The mom finally called us back saying she was really busy and couldn't let the kids go alone. On a whim I offered for Søster Davis and I to pick them up and ride the bus with them. And the mom agreed. Fantastic! Except we had no idea when the bus came from our house to their's and if it would be in time to catch the bus to church, plus we had dinner plans with a member right after church which would now be ruined if we had to take the kids back home afterwards. Honestly, what was I thinking? Then suddenly President Hinckley's words popped into my head, "things will work out", and they did. Everything went perfectly and in the end everyone was happy. The Lord wanted it to happen and so he provided away.
Looking back on the week a lot of things happened that needed to happen and God definitely provided away and I will be forever grateful for that. I will also be forever grateful to my companion and Eldste Stevenson and Eldste Rogers for getting me through the ups and downs and crazy times of missionary life in Kristiansand, Norway. I truly am blessed. Thank you all for being such amazing people in my life and for helping me through this journey of life. Tusen takk for alt dere gjør for oss misjonærer.
Klem,
Søster Blankmeyer
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