Lessons Learned as a Missionary!

Becoming a Great Missionary!

August 14, 2013

This past week I had been thinking a lot about the missionary I wanted to be. I decided I wanted to be the greatest missionary of all times! Pretty ambitious, I know. LOL (Little did I know I had been looking at this the wrong way the whole time). 

So I started to look up the greatest missionaries in the scriptures. I could think of the three right off that popped into my mind which were Alma the Younger, Jesus Christ, and Ammon the son of King Mosiah. So I turned to Alma chapters 9-16. The story that stuck out to me was when Alma & Amulek contended with Zeezrom. I kept reading it and got to the part where they were cast into prison and while in prison they were beaten and harassed. The most terrible but amazing part I feel is verses 10-13. The people who had believed on their words were being burned. And Alma and Amulek had to witness this horrific sight! Amulek turns to Alma and asks him why he does not call upon the Lord to stop this from happening? These are good people. Innocent people that are being killed. How could he sit and not do anything? Alma turns back and I picture him looking at Amulek with tear-filled eyes and says, “The spirit constraineth me that I must not stretch forth mine hand; for behold the Lord receiveth them up unto himself in glory; and he doth suffer that they may do this thing... that the judgements which he shall exercise upon them in his wrath may be just; and the blood of the innocent shall stand as a witness against them.” Alma 14:12. Alma followed the spirit even though, I’m guessing, his heart was in terrible anguish over the people being martyred. So I learned that I must follow the spirit over the rash impulses of my natural man. Then the rest of their conversion goes that Amulek says, well perhaps they shall burn us as well, but Alma says, “No chance! The Lord has more work for us to do!”

Second thing I learned is that I am not done until the Lord says I’m done! So by this time it was Wednesday and we had interviews with the Pres. And President Keyes gave us all an ensign. This months just happened to be on opening the channels of revelation and I have really learned a lot from this months ensign, especially from the Move Foreword in Faith section. Basically it talks about the need for us to proceed in faith and after we take the first step, the Lord will show is the rest of the way. So what I got from it is as long as I keep working in faith, striving to do God’s will, He will bless me and direct me with what I need to do!

I wanted to know more about being this great missionary I had desired to become! So I started reading about our Savior Jesus Christ and what happened was it reaffirmed my earlier gained knowledge that I need to try to follow the Lord’s will. The best display of this is when Jesus said, “O my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will but as thou wilt.” Our Savior spent his whole life performing miracles and bringing to pass his father’s will, the will of our Heavenly Father. He came to the earth to fulfill his part of God’s plan of happiness. His whole life was subject to the will of our Heavenly Father! I need to follow the Lord’s will so I can be the missionary he wants me to be. (This is where my point of view on becoming the greatest missionary of all times comes from).

So I had been praying and seeking to know how to become the missionary that God wants me to be! Now this was revelation to me because I felt more peace and more of a desire to search out this desire of my heart than the previous desire to become the greatest missionary I could be. So the last place I turned to was Ammon and the conversion story of King Lamoni. Everyone knows this story about Ammon chopping off the arms of the Lamanites. I want to focus on why he was able to perform that miracle. When he arrived in the land of the Lamanites, he told King Lamoni that he wished to be his servant! When I read this part, it really stuck out to me this time because I have been called to SERVE. Ammon went and served in the land of the Lamanites under the king and this people ended up being some of the most faithful people in the entire Book of Mormon. This is because Ammon went and SERVED. I have this same calling, to go and SERVE. Then everything clicked! I shouldn’t aspire to be a great missionary but just  be His SERVANT. “But whosoever will be great among you shall be your servant...” which relates closely to Mosiah 2:17, “When ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God.” So I have changed my perspective and my desire to being the best servant I can be rather than being the best missionary I can be. The way to do this is through surrendering my will to His. If I can do this, I am showing that I am His faithful servant and He will make me into the missionary He wants me to be! 

The things I learn as a missionary!

Love,

Elder Rollins