In two days time, I will turn three months old! Just five days ago, I finished my first month in Florida. It truly is amazing how quickly time passes us by. As we plan our day each evening, and review them again in the morning, I always wish we could add some more time to the day so we could visit a few more people, make a few more contacts, and see a few more members. We truly learn the importance of using our time wisely. With people's days full of work, school, housecleaning, errands, eating, etc. how can one find the time to "talk of Christ", "rejoice in Christ", "preach of Christ", and "prophecy of Christ" if we don't willingly make that time. It is not only saying to ourselves, "Today, I'll spend a bit of time reading the scriptures." or "Today, I'll talk to one of my friend about the gospel." We really have to make a goal and plan so we won't be content with ourselves and the day won't be finished until we do it. "Today, I'll spend 30 minutes from 7:30 to 8:00 this morning to read about the Christ-like attribute of diligence." "Today, I'll talk to Paul about coming with me to the Ward Christmas Party this Saturday."
To be totally honest, I do not understand how to set goals or make plans. A lot of times, I don't see the point because most of the time, things fall through, something else comes up, and the plans go to waste. Also, I may have vague goals, but have no idea how to set anything specific that I can gauge and accomplish each day to cause me to reach that goal. It's a huge struggle for me - that I'll admit - can really frustrate my companion. I use to prefer living in the moment, doing whatever I feel is best at that moment. "Why think about the next day or the next week." "It's too stressful to think of the future." "Right now is good enough." I don't know how I survived doing that - probably because I had school and work to keep some sort of structure to my day. But the more I am forced to set a goal and feel that joy of accomplishing it, the more I am starting to see how good it is for me and my life.
Right now, our Zone has set a goal to contact twenty people a day. Before that happened, Sis. Moore was telling me that I needed to contact people when we were at the gas station or in the store but I just hate "taking time out of others lives and bothering them." Good excuse, huh? ... No. It's not. I was rebellious for a time, but when I feel rebellious, I like to prove to myself that I could do it if I really wanted to. I'll admit. It's not that hard. So what if someone shrugs you off, gives you the cold shoulder, say no, give you weird looks, etc. Another person will stop and really get into a great conversation with you about beliefs and religions.
A good analogy we were told: Let's say you made some lemonade. Of course you would want to share it with your friends and family. There will be some people who don't want any at that time or just doesn't like lemonade, while others will accept it and thank you for it. The same should be with the gospel. We have the truth. We have a belief in Christ that gives our life purpose and makes us happy. Why not go and share it? Of course some will say no, but that is their choice. Not everyone is ready to hear it. That doesn't me we can't offer it to them.
So, now I enjoy going up to people and offering them a pass-a-long card. I still have much to learn about how to lead that into a discussion of beliefs and the gospel, but I'm learning each day. It is a line upon line learning for everything.
TENDER MERCY: I SIMPLY LOVE TO SEE THE SMALL CHANGES THAT ARE HAPPENING IN MY LIFE. OF COURSE THERE ARE HUGE THINGS THAT STILL NEED TO BE FIXED, BUT EVERYTHING MUST BE DONE LITTLE BY LITTLE. A STONECUTTER DOESN'T WACK AWAY AT THE STONE TO MAKE A BEAUTIFUL, DETAILED SCULPTURE. THEY CHISSLE HERE AND CHISSLE THERE UNTIL SLOWLY THE PIECE OF ART TAKES SHAPE. I'M PRETTY MUCH AN ODD-SHAPED PIECE OF STONE RIGHT NOW, BUT WITHIN THE NEXT FOURTEEN MONTHS, MY POTENTIAL WILL BEGIN TO SHOW AND I'LL START TO SEE THAT HIDDEN PERSON THAT THE LORD KNOWS I CAN BECOME.
‘Make no small plans: They have no magic to stir man’s souls.’ This is the vision I have for the South. I believe that one day the South will baptize more people into the church than all other English speaking missions in the world together. There are great hosts of marvelous Baptists, and members of the church of Christ, Methodists and Catholics who are honorable people, and have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and love him. As they see their church veering off to the right or to the left of these basic teachings, they will begin to search for the truth. And as pivotal teachers come into the church and have influence, we will see the time when we baptize hundreds and thousands, tens of thousands. In your day you will see a million members of the church in the South. There will be Temples plural in the Southern States. What a great call you have to serve with these marvelous people. ~Spencer W Kimball (1974)
