I’m
typing this as Garrison (er, Elder Colvin) and I sit at our Grandparent’s house
in Springville. We enter the MTC at 12:45 today, and we are so excited! We were
set apart as missionaries on Sunday morning, and have been living the mission
rules since then….it is HARD to live as a missionary when you aren’t doing
missionary work yet! We’re kind of twiddling our thumbs, reading our
scriptures, and studying Preach My Gospel (the missionary guide for teaching). We
cannot wait to be in the MTC—we’re ready to go to work!
We flew in yesterday late afternoon.
We were in the same row, but different sides of the plane. I sat next to a very
nice 18 year old boy, and started just casual conversation. He was a lanky
young man with faded blue jeans, an aggressive farmer’s tan, scarred freckled
arms, and a crooked smile. We talked about how he was private schooled until he
was 14 and had worked in various construction and hard physical labor jobs
since then. He was headed down to Boise to do some logging. He asked me lots of
questions about my mission, and I told him about how my mom would send me all
of the news stories of the violence in Rio, and about soccer referees being
stoned to death and then dismembered….cheery stuff! He laughed, and told me
about how his mother would tell him that 75% of all chainsaw accidents are
lethal—and he had recently been in a really really serious accident! His
chainsaw slipped and cut his left knee, tearing through layers of tendons and
muscle, but stopping at the bone. He expressed how grateful he was to still
have his leg in full function, and said, “I just have to thank God for that
miracle.”
DING DING DING DING! God is on the
table now! Time to talk about the gospel! I asked him if he was religious, and
he said that he was Mennonite. I don’t know that much about the Mennonite
culture, but I have great respect for their dedication to their lifestyle. I
expressed this to him, and was very curious about his beliefs, so we talked for
a good 30-45 minutes about what it means to be Mennonite. He works with a
Mormon in Boise, but didn’t know very much about what we believe, so he was
also very curious. I was able to share with him very simple testimony of the apostasy
and restoration, Joseph Smith, The Book of Mormon, the atonement, and
latter-day prophets. Wow! Typing out all those topics makes it seem like I was
shoving it down his throat with a fire hose….but it wasn’t that way at all. I
don’t know quite how to explain it, but I knew when to bear testimony, when to
listen, and when to ask questions about his faith. I truly felt the Spirit
present the entire time we were talking, and I know that the Lord filled my
mind and heart with love towards this young man, and a gift of enlightenment to
do and say the right things.
At the end of the flight, I reached
into my bag and pulled out a Book of Mormon. This particular BoM has special
meaning to me, as I started a clean copy once I got my mission call. I had
highlighted many passages, underlined things that stood out to me, and
annotated certain thoughts and impressions—I was NOT planning on giving this
Book of Mormon away. I’ve never had a missionary experience where I’ve felt
prompted to give someone a Book of Mormon, so I figured I certainly wouldn’t
have one before I entered the MTC….but I think this young man was prepared. He
was humble, had righteous desires, lived in a way that followed Christ’s
example, and had a curiosity about Mormonism. I had no fear when I pulled out
that Book of Mormon to give to him. Everything felt effortless, and felt right.
I showed him the Book, flipped to the introduction page since we had talked
about the origin of the BoM, then I stuck a bookmark in 3rd Nephi
and bore testimony of that book of scripture, and the change that it has been
in my life. He was extremely gracious and thanked me for sharing so much with
him. As we were pulling up to the gate he humbly said, “I don’t know if I’d have
the courage to go on a mission for 18 months!” I quickly replied with, “yeah,
me neither!!!” He laughed, and then a scripture flashed into my mind—Alma 26:12.
I asked if I could share my “mission motto” with him, and then flipped to that
scripture in the BoM I gave him (which was already highlighted with like 10
stars next to it haha). He read it right before we stood up to exit the plane,
and commented, “wow, that is a really great scripture.” With that, we exited
the plane, thanked each other again for the conversation, and went our separate
ways.
Who knows if anything will come of
that BoM placement, but I do know that this young man was a huge blessing to me
yesterday. I value that conversation, and value his humility in being able to
discuss our religious differences and similarities while maintaining Christlike
love and respect.
The Lord knows what he is doing.
I love Him, and I love this gospel, and my goal of this mission is to share
that love, and to share that gospel. We need to be prepared, to open our mouths,
and to make a leap of faith. One of the hardest parts I have had doing
missionary work in my youth was overcoming the fear of rejection. But faith
replaces fear, the Lord replaces fear.
1 John 4:18 – “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear”
I am so excited for the next 18 months! I hope to be able to love people, work hard, be obedient, and most of all, I hope to love my Savior and strive to follow his example.
-Sister Colvin
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