Saturday, February 1, 2014

Transfers- A lesson in Discipleship


Transfers- A lesson in true Discipleship
     The inevitable finally happened.                          Transfers.
     I am sitting with my new companion Elder Gurvine. He has been on his mission all of 2 days! We just double transferred into a little town called Eagle Point way down in southern Oregon. It has been a lot of fun.
     This has been my fourth double transfer of my mission, a double transfer being where two missionaries get moved into an area at the same time, all former people being taught and knowledge of the area is swept away. If you're lucky, the missionaries before you kept a very detailed area book and records of the area... well... we didn't strike gold this time.
     Walking into the little apartment at about 10:00 pm, after driving for 3 and a half hours from Eugene. I was tired. I'd been up at 3:15 on Monday and at 5:30 Tuesday, and 6:15 Wednesday. Not much time to sleep when its transfer time! We walked into our humble abode, and i took a look at the area book. It looked like something off national treasure when i opened up its dusty pages. I would have lost a hundred dollars on a bet that it was a historical artifact that Nicholas Cage found. Not good. Late though, so time to move on.
     Took a peek in the fridge, shutting it within a nano second. It seems that monsters really do exist, and there's one living in our fridge. I cracked it again to make sure, and my what wonderful amounts of food there are! All in various shades of pink and green, the mold monster breeds well in the fridge on leftovers!
     As I slipped into bed that night, unfamiliar walls dont really bother me much anymore. I laid there and thought to myself of my first night in the mission field, in much the same situation. Walking into an apartment i'd never been in before, laying down to sleep in an unfamiliar room, and a smile came to my face. Oh how i have grown since then.
     Many people have wondered why i came out on a mission? Sometimes i wondered that even myself, but now as i hit the homestretch in a full sprint, i realize all the miles behind me and how much i have changed. Lots of mistakes and also many succesful choices lay in the dusty trails of memories. It is much easier to look forward with hope, than it is to look behind you with regrets. It is much easier to keep going than to give up, when you finally understand what it means to cross the finish line. Maybe i didnt know what that meant when i started, but now i see why God asked me to serve. Now i increase my stride for the finish line. Jesus Christ is my support, the Spirit my coach, and eternal life is my mark. 
     May we each reach our potential, through meaningful and masterful goals. The kind of goals the Savior would have us set. Push a litte harder, love more, be kinder, help the helpless, lift the heavyladen, be a ray of hope for those in the darkest of nights, become a Disciple.

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2000/10/discipleship?lang=eng&query=discipleship

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