Today at 9:39 PM
Today is such a beautiful day here in Gwangju, South Korea!
This
was a good week in lots of ways. My companion has been feeling down a
lot about not being able to speak as well as he feels like he ought to
by now and just about wanting to be a better missionary, but this week
he really did his best to keep his head up and do all that he can and it
made a big difference. He is so amazing. I love Elder Dursteler!
We had a
couple fun experiences with our investigators. We met a man on a bus who
apparently had met missionaries before and said that President Hinckley
was definitely a prophet, so, obviously, we were thrilled to meet with
him this past Thursday. When we met at the place he had planned, he took
us to his office which was a religious academy that he owns. There are a
lot of churches who are sometimes deceptive in Korea and like to try to
convince missionaries that they are wrong, so when he took us to his
religious academy a little flag went up in the back of my mind. He also
mentioned that he had another friend waiting for us there and when we
walked in they had a couple Book of Mormons open on the table. I thought
for sure we had just jumped into what was soon to be a little Bible
warfare, but I sat down quietly and we began to talk. I soon realized I
was totally wrong! This amazing man had brought this friend who is
looking for religion (and also likes English) and pretty much set up a
member lesson where he was the non-member member. He pretty much told us
to testify about Joseph Smith and then added his own testimony to ours.
He also was quick to snag a second appointment and encourage this kind
lady he had brought to attend our Church. It was such a bizarre
experience, but one for which we are and were humbly grateful. We don't
really know exactly why this man isn't baptized yet, but were determined
to try to find out this week. God works miracles!
One
of my favorite scriptures this week is Psalms 118:24: "For this is the
day which the Lord hath given us; and we will rejoice and be glad in
it." I was just thinking about what I have learned so far and what I
would like to accomplish before time runs away and I realized that I
just wanted to do my best to serve with no regrets. As much as I want to
be a scripture guru, master teacher, or baptizing expert, I realized
that the things I could possibly regret most are whether or not I really
loved the people and served in a way that they knew it, whether or not I
did my absolute best to represent Christ, whether or not I learned to
completely give myself to God, and especially whether or not I chose to
be happy. I feel like so often I get tied up in the details of
excellence that I loose sight of the bigger picture. Lehi wasn't kidding
when he taught that "men are that they might have joy." There is no
point in being excellent, being perfect, having a high baptismal stat,
or doing any other originally worthwhile thing if we are not happy in
the midst of it all. I know that God allows us to experience trials for
our benefit, but I also know that He has promised His personal peace,
love, and guidance throughout the hard times, not just at the end of the
tunnel. So let's choose to be happy! Whether today is bright and shiny,
a little gloomy, or maybe even dark and dreary, let's trust that "this
is the day which the Lord hath given us," and, with His divine hand in
ours, "rejoice and be glad in it!!!"
I love you all! Have a wonderful week!!!
Love, Elder Tolman
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