The Bingham6 Missionaries: Rocks and Boulders -- March 23, 2014

March 23, 2014

Hello Everyone,

This week had a weird hidden theme..... Rocks! I'll explain...

It all started when we went on exchanges with the Sogod Sisters. We got there in the late afternoon, and we went straight to a CSP (community service project) with all the missionaries in that area. They were helping a family build a super large wall...made of boulders. During the last typhoon, their house flooded because they live next to a river, so we were helping them build a wall by walking down to the river, loading up a makeshift rice sack/bamboo pole basket, and then making a wall out of it. The elders moved the huge rocks, and we brought the rocks to fill it in. It was a lot of work, but it was amazing to me how high the wall got in such little time--with all of us doing our part.

The next morning, we had a group companionship study, and one sister shared a story that she found in a Liahona. I want to share it because it changed my view on missionary work. (note. not an exact translation to English... more of just a general idea.. Oh! This is a fictional story...)

There once was a man who woke up one morning to find a giant boulder outside of his house. He was thinking about how weird that was when suddenly he had a vision. And angel appeared to him and told him that his task was to push this boulder with his might. So, wanting to be obedient (who wouldn't?!) day by day he went out in the morning and pushed with his might. And day by day, to his dismay, the boulder never moved. Not even a little bit. One day, he started getting discouraged. He thought, "I have been pushing this thing for how many days now?! This is ridiculous. I'm not making a difference. This is useless. I should just hire someone to move the rock for me!"

As he took a rest to ponder the situation, he fell asleep and had a dream. Jesus Christ appeared to the man and said, "My son, I didn't command you to move the boulder. I commanded you to push it with your might. And now look at yourself. Your muscles are a lot better, you're really tan, and your strength and endurance has increased. You are more patient now than you were before you started the task. Remember, it's your job to do your best, and it's MY job to move the boulder."

This really hit me, especially because lately, I have been feeling like I don't do a lot of good. I have been feeling like my area isn't really progressing, and that So much time is wasted in traveling, and I have been feeling like I'm not super diligent lately. I was thinking to myself, "These people will never get baptized, because we are never in our area!"

But, from this story, I learned that we, as people, do not perform miracles. Heavenly Father does. We as people are nothing. We alone don't really do that much good. But the real miracle of a mission, and in life in general, is that It's not up to us to do miraculous things. We do everything we can. We push the boulder with our might. We let God change us through keeping his commandments and sharing his gospel with the people that we know, and then HE provides the miracles.

Being an STL is so different than what I'm used to, But I've also learned from Nephi's example this week in my personal study. It is in Chapter 16 where Nephi breaks his bow, and it's really hard for the clan to get food. Even though everyone is complaining about how hard it is, and how hungry they are, Nephi never does! He makes a new bow, and then he asks Heavenly Father where he needs to go to get food, and then he goes. So for us, when we have problems, we need to Fix what we can, ask the Lord for help, and then Follow his instructions.

I realized that I can do simple things while I'm on exchanges to help my investigators progress even though we aren't in Maasin, like calling them, or texting them, or having members visit them. The ridiculous thing is that these things are so simple! So simple that I didn't realize that I needed to do them. haha It's funny how simple the solutions we stumble upon are when we take a second to ask Heavenly Father for help.

We have some awesome investigators, the Visto Family, who committed to a baptismal date yesterday! And later we are going to have a huge FHE with them with people in the ward so they will want to come to church. It's literally a miracle. All because we decided to work a little bit harder. :)

I had some great exchanges this week! I got to be companions with Sister Sorronda, and Sister Schaap (for the third time on my mission! yay!) Me and Sister Schaap had a miracle day. We just went finding all day long, and found some super prepared people! We had 17 new investigators, all families, and we talked to 32 people. It was really great! It's cool to see how well we work together. I think that is a life lesson in itself. That unity really does just take patience and time.

We got to attend the baptism of a boy that I unofficially adopted. His name is Anthony. He is 14, and he is the provider of his family. Sometimes he comes to my area because his uncle lives here. But, he reads the Book of Mormon every single day, and even though his life is hard, he is one of the happiest people I've ever met. I'm so happy that he has the gospel in his life now!

This week is transfer week! So weird! I feel like March never even happened. Time is flying way to fast.

I'm so thankful for all the support and love and prayers that come my way from America. I know I literally say that every week, but I really do mean it!

I know that this church is true, and when we do our best, sometimes we don't see the results. But, most of the time, we need to be obedient so Heavenly Father can change us into what He needs us to be.

Weekly Challenge: pick one or two commandments that you're struggling with. Whether it be family scripture study, sharing the gospel, paying tithing, or having more charity, and make a specific goal to do better this week. Then pretend you're Nephi and just do it! :)

Love,

Sister Bingham

Exchanges!