March 4, 2015

Everyone Can Recognize the Blessings‏

Being on the road this week attending conference in different parts of our mission, from Nancy, to Liege in Brussels, to Lille, in the north of france, gave me time to reflect on the things that I could work on this week. I mentioned last week how chartiy was something that we all needed to strive for, and a gift that Heavenly Father would be confer to us as we sought for it with our hearts. Bringing charity to a more applicable sense as a missionary was the key that I needed to find, especially in the area of finding people on the street. After all, Elder Christiansen and I were to do 3 back to back exchanges with the 3 teams of zone leaders whose zone conferences we were attending during the week. While exchanges are a time of miracles, they are a time of great opportunity for learning as well. Each morning, as I did my personal studies, I thought about how I would be able to best use my exchanges with the zone leaders that day to help me grow as a missionary, and the theme recurred – learn how to really talk to people that you meet, not to talk to them with the intention of teaching them the first lesson, but with the intention of helping them remember the experiences that they have had in their lives that will lead to recognise the Lord’s hands in their lives. After all, if we are all children of our Heavenly Father, wouldn’t Heavenly Father have given each and every one of us, whether we know he exists or not, spiritual experiences that we can personally use to help us remember who we are?

So I studied this topic throughout the week and decided to apply this to each contact that I made, whether with the people that we had just met on the street, or with the people that we were teaching again that day. On one of the exchanges, in Liege, we felt prompted to stop a man who was getting ready to cross the road. As usual, the immediate reaction was for him to tell us that he was busy. But we asked him if he had ever had a experience that had helped him strengthen his motivation to be his best each day, and he stopped, pondered and said that he most definitely had. He saw our plaques and said that he knew that God existed, and that he was grateful for the blessing to be alive even though his life was not always the easiest. We ended talking to this man who originally said he was too busy for 40minutes on the street, sharing with him principles from the Plan of Salvation and how we are truly on this earth to be happy. His countenance changed and even though we were not able to fix a time that we would be able to share more with him, he said that he was grateful for our conversation.

President Henry B. Eyring said,

“So, even before people receive the right to the gifts of the Holy Ghost, when they are confirmed as members of the Church, and even before the Holy Ghost confirms truth to them before baptism, they have spiritual experiences. The Spirit of Christ has already, from their childhood, invited them to do good and warned them against evil. They have memories of those experiences even if they have not recognized their source. That memory will come back to them as missionaries or we teach them the word of God and they hear it. They will remember the feeling of joy or sorrow when they are taught the truths of the gospel. And that memory of the Spirit of Christ will soften their hearts to allow the Holy Ghost to testify to them. That will lead them to keep commandments and want to take the name of the Savior upon them. And when they do, in the waters of baptism, and as they hear the words in confirmation “Receive the Holy Ghost” spoken by an authorized servant of God, the power to always remember God will be increased.” – in talk, O Remember, O Remember

I know that we just need to spend some time recognizing our blessings, and helping others recognise the blessings in their lives, especially if they cannot yet see it. I am grateful to be able to help people find a way to be happier, and I know that God lives. He is always there.

Elder Lam