("The Annunciation" by Rose Datoc Dall via her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/rosedatocdallstudio)
I have decided to start a series of posts that will hopefully help those of you not currently serving full time missions to feel more comfortable with sharing the gospel, by illustrating how the different principles and ordinances of the Gospel help ME to tackle such a task. Over the next few weeks I'll cover five different topics: Faith, Repentance, Baptism, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. Today's topic: Faith.
As I'm sure you may have guessed, missionary work is work. It is hard, hard
work. In a talk given at the Provo MTC in June of 2000, 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?...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?"
I have had occasion to ponder on the power of Christ this past week. I am not
sure what enabled Christ to be so submissive, meek, humble, patient, and full
of love, that without ever faltering from the path, he could willingly submit
to all things which God the Father saw fit to inflict upon him. I do not yet
understand how it was possible for a being to rely upon his own self when
suffering under the greatest trial and affliction known to man, and to come out
victorious. What I do know, is that because he did, we now have in our lesser
moments of trial what he in that climactic hour did not: someone to rely on.
Elder Holland went on to Sate,
"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...I promise that because of your faithful response to the call to spread the gospel, He will bind up your broken hearts, dry your tears, and set you and your families free. That is my missionary promise to you and your missionary message to the world." ( "Missionary Work and the Atonement,” 20 June 2000, emphasis added)
What allows us as missionaries to unlock the enabling power if the atonement?
That same thing which has ever inspired to men to act: our Faith i.e. our Trust
in our savior. As spoken by the Prophet Moroni, "O Lord, Thy righteous
will be done, for I know that thou workest unto the children of men according
to their faith."
I know that whatever trials we may face, whatever struggles we may have to
endure as the work goes forward, we will be given the strength and the courage
to overcome them as we look unto the Savior faith. Remember the prayer of Alma
as he headed out the mission to reclaim the apostate Zoramites:
“O Lord, my heart is exceedingly sorrowful; wilt thou comfort my soul in Christ. O Lord, wilt thou grant unto me that I may have strength, that I may suffer with patience these afflictions which shall come upon me, because of the iniquity of this people… O Lord, wilt thou comfort my soul, and give unto me success, and also my fellow laborers who are with me…Yea, wilt thou comfort their souls in Christ. Wilt thou grant unto them that they may have strength, that they may bear their afflictions which shall come upon them because of the iniquities of this people. O Lord, wilt thou grant unto us that we may have success in bringing them again unto thee in Christ. Behold, O Lord, their souls are precious, and many of them are our brethren; therefore, give unto us, O Lord, power and wisdom that we may bring these, our brethren, again unto thee.”
And then we read,
I know that as we look to Christ to support us in our missionary efforts, we will experience the same blessings as did Alma. To be sure, trials and tribulations will come, but we will not experience those trials and tribulations, save our sorrows shall be swallowed up in the joy of Christ- a joy comes as a natural result of our Faith and Trust in our Lord and Savior.“...it came to pass that when Alma had said these words, that he clapped his hands upon all them who were with him. And behold, as he clapped his hands upon them, they were filled with the Holy Spirit…And the Lord provided for them that they should hunger not, neither should they thirst; yea, and he also gave them strength, that they should suffer no manner of afflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ. Now this was according to the prayer of Alma; and this because he prayed in faith.” (Alma 31:31-38)
Of this I testify, in his name, even Jesus Christ, Amen.
