farewell cali

I am a disciple of Jesus Christ and I have fought the good fight. I have labored with all my heart, might, mind, and strength among God's children in Southern California.

My 18 month voluntary mission has come to an end.  In a few days, I'll return to my family and I'll remove the name tag that has rested under my left shoulder (occasionally the right depending on hair flow that day) for the last year and half of my life.  But though it be physically removed, it will ever be on my heart.

This has been the most challenging experience of my entire life.  Tears have been shed, faith has been tested, testimony grown.  My heart has been broken, my limits stretched,  my joy filled. I've never been closer to God, part of a bigger purpose, or nearer to love.

To my old family, I look forward with gladness to the time when we are reunited in a few short days.

To my new family.  I will miss you forever.  You have changed me forever. I cannot put a number on how many times I've contemplated just how I will manage to return quickly and visit frequently!  I will never forget the people so dear to me, the lessons the Lord taught me, or the love I have in my heart for each of you.

This is the closing of a critical chapter in my life, which means it is also a critical new beginning.  My time as a full time teacher, preacher, and minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ is ending, but my sharing of the gospel and God's love in daily, regular life, is only just starting.

I leave my final testimony with you as a set apart representative of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He lives!

He has restored essential truths to our salvation to the earth through an authorized prophet, Joseph Smith. The Book of Mormon is the word of God.

Don't believe me? Read it. See for yourself if my testimony is true.

Any one who believes in Jesus Christ as their Savior and Redeemer will believe in the truthfulness of this book, for surely as He liveth, these words testify of His divinity, lead us to follow Him, and exhort us to repent and live His everlasting gospel.

 The heavens are open and revelation from God is flowing to the earth as in times of old in preparation to His second coming.

These important truths of the gospel have brought me greater happiness than any other earthly thing.

I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. 

 I have been called of Him to testify of these things. 

 My full time mission is ending but my renewed life in Christ is only beginning. I hope you feel God's love in these words.  For truly, a message of a restoration of truth and authority is a message of God's love and awareness of us in this time as His awareness of His children in Biblical times.

Again, God lives! He loves you! He is calling to you to learn of Him and seek after truth and righteousness through investigating the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

I testify of these truths in His sacred name, even the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

don't worry, be happy

Have you ever come to a point in your life, be it a difficult situation or a relationship with someone, when there is literally and completely nothing more you can do about it. You've expended your talents, used your resources, given of every ounce of effort, thought, and soul to the task and cannot complete it because it leaves the boundaries of your control?

It is a difficult feeling, often one of despair, panic, and anxiety. You had hoped with all your heart, worked with all your might, and dedicated your life to accomplishing and overcoming, and for what? To be halted, derailed, or stopped short all because you had reached your utmost capacities, pushed your limitation, and spent more of yourself then you had.

Runner's call it "hitting the wall"

It is in this times, these crucial points of life, where we have two options. 

Sister Longhurst showing us
that sometimes we have too
much on our plate!

See we're gonna get scraped
up in life sometimes

The first option is to become embittered, cumbered, angry, frustrated, vengeful, rageful, beaten, licked, depressed, and filled with regret and misunderstanding. 

The second, is to let go and let God.

Easier said then done, this second path is one of relief, peace, and serenity. It is a path of lighter living and days with soft breezes. We learn to stop fighting the wind and adjust our sails to catch the heaven sent help. It's not always rainbows and butterflies it's compromise and acknowledgment of our own insignificance and lack of control in the universe. Because when it comes down to it, I am only in control of myself. 

 I can only control me, and you can only control you.

When someone makes us mad, when something halts our progress, when all the elements combine to hedge up our way, know that this opposition is a test of the control that we DO we have over our own self.

There is so much I could say on the subject and there are nearly endless directions to take and almost as many lessons to learn, but the focus of what I'm trying to get across isn't about how to make better use of that control, or how to fight the storm. It's not about dealing with consequences or changing how we feel in these wall hitting situations. 

 What I want to get across to myself and to you is to let go, and to let God. 

 And if you don't believe in God, then to let go, and let the natural course of the universe do it's thing. Why worry about what you cannot control? We can go inside ourselves and examine with honesty what we do and do not have power over and when the discernment has been made we can then verbally, mentally, whateverly, say to ourselves, "I'm letting it go."  Doing so will relieve a heavy burden. It allows a breath of fresh air into our lungs! And the wall we just hit evaporates and we are able to move forward with the feelings I previously described.

Don't worry, and be happy. Don't worry about these things any longer.  Let them go, walk them to the door, bid them goodnight, and feel happiness as the unwanted guest of bad feelings of inadequacy, anger, or whatever it may leave your life in that moment. Don't worry and be happy. Let go and let God.

This post was inspired by Bob Marley's "Don't worry, be happy."

"Look I'm not worried.  Be happy!"

My Dear Friend Harold. Part 3

A MONTH!!  A whole month since I've written?!  

Life right now for me is like a rug that's been pulled out from under my feet;
                                like trying to walk after riding those spinning things at the park

                                                like having both hands on the saddle of a galloping horse trying to jump on!!

         Do you get the picture??  

It's been crazy awesome exhaustingly wonderful month of my life but I'VE HAD NO TIME to write and tell you the rest of Harold's story! BUT it's here!  It's finished.  And I hope from this last part of Harold's story you feel the spirit of what I've been trying to share with you.

*By the way this is part three people!!  For the beginning of his story click here!  For meat of the story click here!!*

Harold explained to us that night, "I have lost the faith I once had in God. And I want it back." We testified there was a way!

Invited to church and an appointment made to meet with us, Harold walked away from his meeting with the bishop with a new book in hand and a new hope for his life.

As soon as their car left the church parking lot, my companion and I...celebrated!! We were so excited to help someone who had sincere desires to increase their faith in God. Knowing we had exactly what he needed to do so, we jumped up and down all the way to OUR car, then sang at the top of our lungs all the way home.

Abnormal and way boss

To our surprise, soon after arrival to the apartment we received a text from Harold informing us that he had finished reading the chapter we gave him (2 Nephi 2) loved it, and asked "what else can I read?"
THIS IS NOT NORMAL in the life of a missionary. We frantically flipped through our scriptures to find another chapter that would best continue the faith growing journey he had now begun. We landed on Alma 42, skimmed it, knew it was the right one, and sent it along.

The following morning we awoke to another text from Harold! "Read it! Now what?" I looked up at my companion, back down, back up, and the celebrating began again and so did the frantic, yet joyful, scripture flipping for yet another chapter for him to read.

The first meeting with Harold in his home included us opening up to his first Book of Mormon reading, and asking, "Harold, what did you think and how did you feel?"

"For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things."
2 Nephi 2:11

"Well, I felt that it was true. I think verse 11 really helped me understand a lot what Bishop Potter was explaining to me."

"Do you feel like it helped your faith in God increase?"

He answered in the affirmative.

As we taught him about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that beautiful summer morning, something began to happen to Harold. It was like he started to wake up, spiritually. (Although sometimes at our morning lessons he had trouble being awake physically!) He was smiled more and talked more. At the end of the lesson we testified that through baptism by the Priesthood authority we had taught him about he would rebuild his faith, and receive all of God's promised blessings.

"So Harold, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ --" "YES!" "....by being baptized by someone who holds this priesthood authority of God?"

"Oh!...uh..."

He had totally interrupted us and as a result said yes to something he had not seen coming!! We didn't know what to do!! So we just sat there quietly and personally very tensely, unsure what was going to happen, waiting for him to absorb what we had just invited him to do.

He sat and pondered, then said, "Yes. I will!"

We sighed extremely relieved and excited. We extended a specific baptism date for the following month and he accepted. Now it was our turn to walk away from a meeting and I like to imagine that it was Harold's turn to celebrate, jump up and down and sing at the top of HIS lungs!...I've never asked him if that's what went on after we left, so for the sake of the story we'll say it happened, why not?!

A few days later. *ring, ring ring*