"We know that thou art able" (Ether 3:5) - February 1, 2022
Spiritual Thought
In The Book of Mormon we read the account of the Brother of Jared. During the time of the Tower of Babel this faithful man, along with his brother and their families, were commanded to flee to the promised land in order to escape the wickedness of their home. The Brother of Jared faced many obstacles as he prepared a way whereby he could safely travel across the ocean and fulfill this commandment. One of these obstacles was how the travelers could see while in a barge which lacked any windows or other means of receiving light. After inquiring of the Lord as to the solution to this problem the response given was to think of his own solution then present it to the Lord. The solution this good man conceived was to molten sixteen white stones out of a mountain, then ask the Lord to touch each one in order to cause it to glow. The faith of this man was so great that he could not be kept from seeing the finger, and later the entire body, of the Savior.
An impression came to me recently while studying this account. I recognize we do not know all the details of how these stones were made. However, I am confident The Brother of Jared knew from his own experience that when rocks are heated to the point of being molten they begin to glow. For a short amount of time, they produce light. As he searched for a solution to this problem the Brother of Jared surely must have thought something such as "I can give us light for a while but eventually the stones will cool and the light will disappear. Perhaps the miracle I need is for the Lord to cause these stones to continue glowing." Subsequently, a miracle was worked, the Lord accepted the offering presented, and light was given to these faithful individuals.
There is a lesson to be learned in this account. We are in the service of a God of miracles. At the same time, we are in the service of a God who loves and rewards effort. Our responsibility is to devote our time, talents, energy, and experience to bringing about the purposes of God. We are to exert every ounce of ourselves in fulfilling our Savior's will. We have committed, even covenanted, to exhaust every fiber of our mental, physical, and emotional stamina in this latter-day work. Then, after we have toiled, labored, and perhaps even wept over the task set before us, the miracle is that our efforts are made sufficient. The Savior could easily complete every aspect of his work without our help and more effectively than we could ever do it. He asks us to be his hands, however, in order that we might learn to become more like he already is and be required to place our trust in him. Then he takes the sacrifice we have presented to him and works his miracles. The miracle of this work is the work itself. The fact that this work is progressing, and even hastening, while fallen and imperfect children are tasked with stewardship over it is the greatest miracle of all. In order to perform a miracle, however, the Savior requires us to have faith to seek one. The withered hand could never have been healed had it been stubbornly placed in a pocket. The issue of blood could never have been resolved had a certain woman chosen to watch the Savior pass with questioning eyes rather than anxiously reaching for the hem of his robe. The storm could never have been stilled had the early apostles chosen to collapse in dismay rather than seeking the Savior's calming rebuke. Sins can never be forgiven if the sinner does not first believe in the reality of the Savior's declaration "Thy sins be forgiven thee". Miracles can and will be performed as quickly as we have the faith to seek them.
I testify our Savior Jesus Christ is eager to use our offerings in his divine purposes. He will not allow his work to fail. He is the captain of "the good ship zion" but he has asked us to help steer and row. What an honor. May each of us be more anxiously engaged in every part of this miracle-filled, divinely-led, latter-day work is my prayer.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Weekly Update
Sometimes there are weeks where you know you were busy and working hard every day but you don't have any really good stories to tell after it's over. That's how this past week was. It was a great week but didn't produce any of the stories that make you think "I'm going to tell my kids about this one day!" I guess last week made up for not having any this week.
We are still meeting with William. He is progressing well. We are planning on having a lesson about the Plan of Salvation with him on the Bountiful temple grounds this Saturday. It should be a great experience for him. Our area is really starting to pick up. In addition to people we were already teaching or have found on our own we have received referrals for six more people, all of which seem very promising.
It is almost time for transfers once again. I didn't fully believe people when they talked about how fast time seems to move but now I know exactly what they meant. A week from now I will know whether I will be spending six more weeks in Clearfield or if it will be off to some new area.
One of the big problems all missionaries face, and maybe especially Spanish missionaries, is that people are willing to get baptized but are living together before getting married. These individuals have to either get married or move to separate locations before they can be baptized. In my own area only there are four people who could be baptized today if they were married. I think I may have had a burst of inspiration this week as to how to overcome this problem. I am going to get certified as a Justice of the Peace. In Utah missionaries can receive this certificate by completing a two hour online course and paying a thirty dollar fee. At that point you can marry anyone who asks you to. It could make the process a lot easier if you could offer to marry someone yourself. In my own area I could marry two couples immediately then about ten more in other areas in the zone. I would have to study up on how a civil wedding is done before performing one but I think it could be fun. I'm also going to invite the entire zone to support the couple by attending if I actually end up performing a wedding. You never know what being a missionary will bring your way! I may end up marrying ten or twenty couples before getting married myself. If it means more people can get baptized, count me in! I think I could even keep using this after my mission. I'm curious though. To all the women reading this: would it have made your husband more or less attractive if he had proposed while officiating at someone else's wedding. Also, what if that wedding were being held in his college dorm room?
I hope you all have a great week!
Elder Payne
All mission cars are equipped with one of the most obnoxious
inventions known to man: TIWI. This mission is one of three chosen to be
part of the pilot program for a new system. This new system is
essentially TIWI but with a camera recording the interior and exterior of the
car. All the cars had their cameras installed last p-day. As they
were taking the TIWI off of my car they cracked the windshield. The
windshield has to be replaced before the camera can be installed so until then
I am driving the streets of Clearfield entirely free! Let's just say I'm
not in a big rush to get the windshield replaced!
I've decided I'm going to start a boy-band. It's going
to be made up of four or five elders from the two Spanish zones and we will
rival BTS and One Direction in popularity. We're going to be called
"Los Elderes". We will be debuting at zone conferences
mission-wide in two weeks. I'm thinking this might be a good album cover,
or at least bio picture for me. What are your thoughts?
This actually creeps me out a little bit. I had to go
back to my last house this week and found this on the fridge. A tiny
picture of me next to a "Hear Him" magnet. I have no idea where
it came from or even which picture it was taken from. It makes me wonder
how many other apartments have pictures of me on the fridge!
On exchanges with Elder Golden.
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