Happy New Year!
It seems everyone has been busy celebrating, so we have had
a tough time teaching and contacting. It’s
been a pretty slow week, but I have had a lot to think about this week and I
kind of broke down to my trainee for a quick 5 minutes or so . . . not in a bad
way . . . it was more like a 'realizing how much God loves me' kind of breakdown.
It was a really humbling moment. I
realized I have kind of started falling back into a less productive slump, which happens
every once and a while on a mission. Honestly a mission wouldn’t be a mission if it
wasn’t hard, which for me includes crying. It seems failure is another part of my mission experience as well. Elder Holland said:
“Anyone who does any kind of missionary work will have
occasion to ask, ‘Why is this so hard? Why
doesn’t it go better? Why can’t our
success be more rapid? Why aren’t there
more people joining the Church? It is
the truth. We believe in angels. We trust in miracles. Why don’t people just flock to the font? Why isn’t the only risk in missionary work
that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal
font?’”
He continues on to say, “You will have occasion to ask those
questions. I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal
feeling. I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is
not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus
Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we
believe it would be easy for us when it was never ever easy for Him? It seems
to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few
moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a
step or two toward the summit of Calvary.
Now, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not talking about anything anywhere
near what Christ experienced. That would be presumptuous and sacrilegious. But
I believe that missionaries and investigators, to come to the truth, to come to
salvation, to know something of this price that has been paid, will have to pay
a token of that same price.
For that reason I don’t believe missionary work has ever
been easy, nor that conversion is, nor that retention is, nor that continued
faithfulness is. I believe it is supposed to require some effort, something
from the depths of our soul.
If He could come forward in the night, kneel down, fall on
His face, bleed from every pore, and cry, “Abba, Father (Papa), if this cup can
pass, let it pass,” then little wonder
that salvation is not a whimsical or easy thing for us. If you wonder if there
isn’t an easier way, you should remember you are not the first one to ask that.
Someone a lot greater and a lot grander asked a long time ago if there wasn’t
an easier way.
The Atonement will carry the missionaries perhaps even more
importantly than it will carry the investigators. When you struggle, when you
are rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out and made a hiss and a byword,
you are standing with the best life this world has ever known, the only pure
and perfect life ever lived. You have reason to stand tall and be grateful that
the Living Son of the Living God knows all about your sorrows and afflictions.
The only way to salvation is through Gethsemane and on to Calvary. The only way
to eternity is through Him—the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”
So I’m learning that a mission is supposed to be hard and is
supposed to stretch you and take you out of your bubble. But I can testify that it can change a person.
It can change you for the better. It’s an amazing experience and I wouldn’t
trade this last year for anything. I
know I’m far from perfect, but it’s been humbling to realize that God’s love
reaches all depths and his love catches all tears, worries, doubts and fears. I've had a lot of those this week, and had to
be reminded that God will take care of you if you do what he asks of you. Keep
up the faith. Love you all!
Love Sister Webb
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