December 18, 2017
Hey y'all! As promised here is my email bright and early.I don't think I ever went into to detail on this, but on December 1st a couple weeks ago, Elder Lynn G. Robbins from the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy visited our mission. In preparation for his visit, President invited each missionary to read his talk titled Be 100 Percent Responsible, given at a BYU devotional. Wow. Honestly one of the the most impactful and insightful talks I have ever read. And one of the most applicable to myself. I absolutely recommend it to anyone, especially to Dad because I know that of all the people who I invite, he'll be the one to actually read it, and will actually email me with his thoughts about it, which I'm very much looking forward to. I would love the rest of the family to read, not that I'm saying y'all need to be more responsable or anything, I would just love to hear y'alls input on it as well.
It's a fascinating talk that delves on the doctrines of agency and accountability, and mercy and justice, and the role the Atonement plays in all four. It talks about how Satan tries to divide agency from accountability, meaning to make us believe we are free to choose but do no not have to be accountable for our choices, and he also tries to divide mercy from justice, meaning that that mercy can "rob justice".
Anyways while Elder Robbins was with us, he instructed on the doctrine of high love and high expectation. Perfect love, godlike charity, is having high love and high expectations for others. If we have high love but low expectations, then we have a buddy mentality, a sorority type of relationship, where nothing of any importance is accomplished. When we have low love and low expectations, we are basically like King Noah, and we used coercion and manipulation to get what we want from others. When we have low love and high expectations, we used anger and try to force our will on others, which only separates us from others and creates feelings of resentment. He compared this to parenthood, and shared how usually when a child rebels, the parents reaction is to get angry and yell, which only pushes the child further away from them. Having high love and high expectations puts us in the category of the Savior. He loved us enough to suffer and die for us, yet He commands us to be even as He is.
During personal study this week I loved another profound lesson about charity. In 1 Nephi chapter 15, directly after having seen an incredible vision, in which he saw the coming of Christ down to our day, Nephi finds his brothers arguing of over the teachings of Lehi:
"2 And it came to pass that I beheld my brethren, and they were disputing one with another concerning the things which my father had spoken unto them.
3 For he truly spake many great things unto them, which were hard to be understood, save a man should inquire of the Lord; and they being hard in their hearts, therefore they did not look unto the Lord as they ought.
4 And now I, Nephi, was grieved because of the hardness of their hearts, and also, because of the things which I had seen, and knew they must unavoidably come to pass because of the great wickedness of the children of men.
5 And it came to pass that I was overcome because of my afflictions, for I considered that mine afflictions were great above all, because of the destruction of my people, for I had beheld their fall."
I thought it was incredible that at this point, Nephi still cared enough about his brothers to feel sincere sorrow for their wickedness, and not judge them, shun them, and gossip about them behind their back like the majority of us do to Laman and Lemuel like people.
When we truly love someone, it hurts. Having true charity can be painful, because it puts us in a vulnerable situation. When we care for someone sincerely, it breaks our heart when they make wrong choices. It puts our heart on the line so to speak. For this reason, loving others is choosing the hard way, while selfishness and indifference are the path of least resistance. Choosing love is the road less traveled, as in our world today it's far more popular to be vain and selfish and carnal. The world views true charity as a weakness, as something that slows us down from fulfilling our own desires. In reality, it is selfishness that prevents us from being truly happy. With this worldly attitude, we will never be content with what we have, we will measure our value by comparing ourselves to others, and we will be miserable.
Nephi truly loved his brothers. Despite the nearly constant murmuring, and the fact that they had tried multiple times to physically harm him, and had even threatened to take his life, Nephi genuinely cared for Laman and Lemuel's immediate and eternal welfare. It says that he was overcome because of the pain their wickedness caused him. Despite his pain, the rest of chapter 15, he works to resolve their concerns, until in chapter 16, Laman and Lemuel humble themselves and repent.
The point I'm trying to make is that, like all things associated with being a disciple of Christ, having love like Christ is not easy, it is much harder than simply living for yourself in many ways. It requieres patience, discipline, and selflessness, all opposites to the natural man. We are to put "off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord." Be the Fourth Missionary says that "Every challenge you face, every hard thing you confront, every bad thing that happens to you, every unfairness, every conflict, every sadness, tragedy, every disappointment and heartache, every temptation and every opposition happens for one purpose only: to give you opportunity to respond by applying in your life the teachings of Jesus. As you do so you are changed to become more like Him." Every single thing that happens to us in an opportunity to put off the natural man and choose to be like the Savior
The world follows what seems to be the path of resistance. In reality, the path of discipleship is far more easy in the long run, considering the blessings of eternal value and importance that we receive from choosing the initially harder path.
Now, for those of you who read all that, I am impressed. It might be more interesting to tell you stories from my week, but to me, nothing is more precious than sharing the incredible truths we can learn from the scriptures.
As far as the week, the area, and how the mission is going, everything is going very well. A lot of people cancelled appointments this week, but we were able to find a couple really cool people. One is a man named José Calderón. We met him from English class, and he loved the Book of Mormon. He just talks a lot. And has a ton of questions. But it's okay.
An appointment fell through with our investigators M&C, so we knocked there neighbor's door. This white guy, with black hair and earrings, who looked kind of emo, opens door. I asked him if he knows any Hispanics in the area, and in perfect English says: "Yeah, I'm actually Hispanic." Then he starts speaking in Spanish and tells us he's from Guatemala. He let us in, and we started teaching him about the Book of Mormon. The funny thing is the night before, I told Elder Díaz about Quetzalcóatl. Quetzalcóatl is a God that is worshiped among the natives of Central America. This God resembled a white man who opposed human sacrifice, was associated with death and resurrection, was born of a virgin mother, and promised to return. Well, who does that sound like?
Elder Díaz had always grown up in Guatemala hearing about Quetzalcóatl, but never really knew what it meant. I told him that LDS scholars believe that Quetzalcóatl is a result of Jesus Christ's visit to the Americas. After hundreds of years, native traditions adapted the story of that visit into the story of Quetzalcóatl. So during the lesson, with this guy, E, Elder Díaz says: "Have you heard of Quetzalcóatl?" E said yes, because pretty much everyone in south Mexico and Guatemala have heard of this ancient myth. Then Elder Díaz says: "A lot of people don't know who is or where he comes from. Quetzalcóatl is actually Jesus Christ, because Jesus came and visited the people in the American continent after His resurrection. The Book of Mormon tells of when Christ came and visited the ancient inhabitants of America." It was pretty funny, I never though that Elder Díaz would whip that out in a lesson. E was pretty fascinated by it though, so who knows, maybe it was inspired, even if it's not 100% doctrinal.
Anyways, things here on the mission are going really well. So grateful to be here. I know Christ is our Savior, and He did in fact visit the Americas. That much I know. I know that he is the source of peace, healing, and eternal life. I love this time of year to remember His glorious entry into mortality. Family, I can't wait to talk to y'all a week from today!
I love y'all, have a wonderful week!
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