Accepting the Atonement

So today I was browsing the good ol' interwebs when I came across the following question:

Help me, general public:
When all you want to do is make someone happy, when their well-being seems to upstage your own, when helping such an individual is all within your realm of desire and nothing seems to accomplish that, and worse if all they say is there isn't anything you can do to help when you know in your gut you can because those gut feelings for others are the only ounces of sincerity we have left in this world, what do you do? How can you fix a gash so it can be made better than it was before?
Any response will be taken into consideration. I'm looking to change and save something worth saving.

Honestly, I couldn't help myself. Maybe I'm just experiencing premature-hyperactive-missionary-mode (I believe the clinical term is PHMM,) but I had to share my thoughts, and the only way I could think to do that was to liken whatever these to people are going through to the roles we play with the savior when we are choosing to accept his Grace. The following is what spewed out:
(Please note that the person I was dumping my thoughts on was LDS, so at least they knew who the crap I was talking about.)

If someone says that you won't be able to help, then you won't be able to.
Not because you are incapable of fixing their problems or taking their pain away, but because in their minds they have already determined that a problem is un-fixable. And when it comes down it, accepting your help isn't something you can make someone do, it is something they have to choose.
It is like the atonement.
*WARNING* Going into missionary mode here.
Christ already suffered for our sins, he has all power, so why aren't we just perfect already? In some ways I think it is because we say to ourselves, "I cannot change, too much damage has been done, I am not fixable." but in Alma 34 it says,
"if ye will repent and harden not your hearts, immediately shall the great plan of redemption be brought about unto you."
that is so powerful, that word, "Immediately."
We are taught in Mosiah 15, "...all those who have hearkened unto their [the prophet's] words, and believed that the Lord would redeem his people, and have looked forward to that day for a remission of their sins, I say unto you, that these are his seed, or they are the heirs of the kingdom of God."
In both these examples, we see that what we need to receive a remission of our sins is to believe that such a remission of sin is possible. And we see that the Lord is true to his word, for in Alma 36, Alma relates,
"And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.
Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.
And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more."
Until Alma remembered the words of his father, and asked Christ to save him from his torment, he was stuck in a state of misery.
Isn't it amazing that something as simple as accepting the help of another is what dictates our very salvation?
So this was a really long, round about way of saying that what you may want to try focusing on first, is convincing your friend that a problem such as theirs IS fixable. I have a feeling that you already have all the tools one would need to help your friend, but that won't do him/her any good if they don't believe it.

After giving this impromptu and unasked for sermon, the thought struck me, "Hey! Isn't that what missionaries are needed for in the first place?"

Of Their Own Nation and Tongue

In some ways I have been a little bummed out because of my mission call. I mean, my mother served in Colombia, my father served in Italy, part of me was kinda expecting to carry on the legacy of going foreign, or at least that I'd speak another language.
And don't worry, I understand how ungrateful of me that is. I have been asked by God to bring others to him, and it's pretty disrespectful to be displeased with his choice. Who am I to question the directions given by an omnipotent being? Whoever I am, what I am is rather stupid.
In my defense I think most if not all my displeasure came from the worry about what the reason was that I had been sent stateside. For some reason I have come to associate the "spiritual status" of my fellow laborers in the vineyard by where they were sent to labor. (Oh you went to Arizona? That's nice...) So when I read that I had been called state-side, all I could think was that my heavenly father didn't see me as strong enough to handle the jungles of Africa, or the urban sprawl of Mexico City. That my heavenly father didn't see me as smart enough to learn Mandarin, German, Tagalog, or even Spanish! That if there was a reason I was being sent to North Carolina, it wasn't good one, because only incompetent people get sent state side.
Now I do think there is a reason I have been sent where I have been sent, but I didn't know what it was until this morning when I was reading the 29th chapter in the book of Alma. After seeing the success which his brethren, the sons of Mosiah, had had amongst the Lamanites, Alma seems to have had similar feelings, (albeit on a much grander scale.) He writes,

  O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!

  Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.

  But behold, I am a man, and do sin in my wish; for I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me.

 My first though was, "Sheesh! Alma is sinning for wanting to preach repentance unto the whole earth? What am I to say for myself, that I am whining about traveling a mere 2000mi away from home to preach the gospel?" And so I read on. A few verses later,

  Now, seeing that I know these things [the plan of salvation], why should I desire more than to perform the work to which I have been called?

  Why should I desire that I were an angel, that I could speak unto all the ends of the earth?

  For behold, the Lord doth grant unto all nations, of their own nation and tongue, to teach his word, yea, in wisdom, all that he seeth fit that they should have; therefore we see that the Lord doth counsel in wisdom, according to that which is just and true.

That last verse (which happens to be v.8) is where I found the reason for which I have been called to North Carolina. That the people of my nation may be taught by one of their kindred, and in our tongue. As Alma says, "We see that the Lord doth counsel in wisdom, according to that which is just and true." He goes on to affirm

  I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.

  And behold, when I see many of my brethren truly penitent, and coming to the Lord their God, then is my soul filled with joy; then do I remember what the Lord has done for me, yea, even that he hath heard my prayer; yea, then do I remember his merciful arm which he extended towards me.

What a blessing are the holy scriptures unto man! A verse from the tenth chapter of Corinthians comes to mind,

  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

How grateful I am to have found not only commiseration, but resolution in just a few verses! Truly I have been blessed this day. On that note, it strikes me now that this morning I was feeling the strongest disinclination to keep up the habit I have established of studying my scriptures first thing in the morning. There was even a moment that I paused and thought, why am I feeling this way?

Hey, two thumbs up for yielding to the enticings of the spirit, right?