Monday, November 10, 2014: My Latest Ponder Session

This weekend, I was able to rake leaves for a recent convert in the ward. And guess what? As it turns out, raking leaves is a great opportunity for a ponder session. I thought about all sorts of things. Among all these things, I considered for probably the umpteenth time how weird it was that I was in Mississippi, doing yard work for someone I had only known for a couple of months. There are times when that realization still feels pretty bizarre--that I'm in Mississippi, and I'm on a mission. It still doesn't always feel real. 

Then my thoughts went to Moroni, someone we had been discussing with an investigator a few days before. We had talked about the part where he had said he was "utterly alone" but even as alone as he was, he stood his ground. He would not depart from the things he knew to be true. I felt like missionaries could really relate to that. We leave everyone we know and love to be alone in a foreign land. But you know what? Besides perhaps the time I entered the MTC, and maybe when I arrived in my first area, the Lord has never allowed me to be alone. I've had President and Sister McDonough, companions, and the familiar faces of other missionaries I've served around. He's always given me a small piece of familiarity so i don't have to feel so completely alone. 

And that got me thinking about how blessed I have been on my mission. The Lord has given me so much--more than I think I have really deserved. Mosiah 2:21 says, "...If ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye maylive and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your wholesouls yet ye would be unprofitable servants." One thing I've learned on my mission is that scripture is completely true! He does not send young men and women out on missions to somehow "repay" Him. He sends us out on missions so He can bless us even more. 

Which made me realize how happy I am. :) Don't get me wrong, these past 14 months have been really hard, and there have been a lot of times when I've had to remind myself that it's a journey and not a race and it's going to be over so quickly. But at the end of the day, as much as I miss home and the people I love, I wouldn't trade my mission for anything in the world. 

 

And those are the simple truths I rediscovered while raking leaves. :)