Dear
y'all,
I mentioned during my
midweek email that we are having some success with a man named S__S__. We found
him some time before the quarantine, but had had a really hard time getting in
with him. Well, even now, long lessons are the exception, not the rule, but
when we can catch him we have great discussion. He is middle-aged, lives here
in Welsh. When we first brought up the Book of Mormon, he expressed how much he
loved that book! (Missionaries had worked with him in earlier years) One
frustration that he shared with us was that he has a hard time understanding
what he reads in the scriptures. Sometime ago, when I was teaching him over the
phone, I committed him to offer a prayer before he began reading and ask to be
able to understand it. Well, in a lesson Elder Hancock was teaching him this
week, he said that he had, and for the first time in his life, to use his
words, he could understand everything he read! Super cool.
That is one strange
thing about phone proselyting: not teaching as a companionship. Even though it
is on speakerphone, the companion who is not speaking finds himself seemingly
unable to contribute in any meaningful way. After all, they can't see me nod
along with what Elder Hancock is saying, and my flipping through scriptures is
generally to no avail. One thing I often do is just kneel and offer a prayer
for Elder Hancock and the person being taught. That is something you can't do
in person!
We had our interviews
with President Hewlett this week. Among other things, he asked me if I had
accomplished on my mission what the Lord wanted me to. I was surprised at the
question. I responded that I had accomplished 18 months’ worth, but that I
wouldn't be done until the badge came off my chest. And then I thought a little
and continued that I wouldn't really be done then either, though the
circumstances of my life may change.
See, I never plan to
stop being about my Father's business. We recall that when Jesus made that
startling pronouncement he was but 11 years of age, and yet his formal ministry
began at the age of 30. We can reasonably assume that the intervening years
were spent planing, shaping, and smoothing wood as a carpenter. Yet He was no
less the Christ when He was pursuing His occupation and, we must assume,
rejoicing and enjoying the fellowship of both friends and family. It is
laughable to assume that when God's voice came down from Heaven saying that He
was well pleased, that that was a modification of earlier displeasure. Of
course not. Heavenly Father was pleased with all His Son did. So it is with us.
Sometimes we feel that because we are not constantly engaged in our own
"3-year ministry", we are falling short of God's expectations, or on
the flipside, that we are not in His work.
I love the comparison
with work, but I believe that our own shifting culture regarding employment has
also shifted our views towards God's work. I think of the days when work was a
vital necessity: if you didn't work today, you had no crops come winter. There
were no set hours, but you did all you could in all the time you had. It was
grueling, I am sure, but people were happy. Today, work is often something we
put on for eight hours and leave at the office (spoken in observation, not
condemnation). Which has led too many of us, I fear, to treat God's work the
same way. When we are on a mission, or serving in our callings, of course we
are about our Fathers business, we might say. But we would do well to remember
that the "son" of Joseph was no less fulfilling his divinely appointed
mission as the Christ when he was making yokes as when he was teaching about
them.
Well, I didn't intend
to moralize on that quite so extensively. The point being, that I want to live
each day in expectation of God's approbation; not looking forward to some imagined
conclusion, for His work is one eternal round.
I suppose that it is
no surprise that I am writing a little more extensively, such is the natural
consequence of reading more extensively. Useless statistics of the week:
Number of people who
have messaged me over family search telling me I am doing things wrong: 1
Books read while on
mission: somewhere between 15-20
Books read while in
Welsh: 5
Pounds away from
pre-mission weight: 0
Number of influential
people the Hewlett's know and have gotten to address us over zoom: ...I suppose
it depends on how you define influential. Becky Craven of the General Young
Womens Presidency addressed us this week.
Time I'll get tired of
being facetious and actually send this email: well, I don't think I will even
tire of being cleverly amusing, but I get my point.
Love you all, and I am
praying for you. Yes, you. Don't turn around and look at anybody else.
Elder DeFord
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