The 55th Chronicle

Hello family and friends!

Did you watch our LIVE VIDEO? It went great! We had a good amount of questions that people asked and it seemed to flow pretty well. If you watched it and have any advice please let us know. Thanks to everyone that participated and shared it! Kinda cool to see the impact of technology and gospel combined.

I'm learning on my mission (in a very personal way) that we are in the PEOPLE BUSINESS. I'm also learning that it's a very rewarding, time-consuming, stressful, exciting, confusing, demanding, interesting, and growing endeavor. People are not cut and dry. There are general principles you can follow but every situation and person is different. As a missionary you work with your companion and your district and your zone and your mission as a whole. You work with your Mission President and your leaders and your stewardship. You work with the people you meet on the street. You work with the people that you teach. You work with members and leaders in the church. There are very few aspects that do not involve people. You must be able to adapt to, compromise with, have charity for, and be kind to all of God's children. Our purpose is to invite all to come unto Christ as we do the same. That is our call and drive! This is the Lord's work and we get to be apart of it! Just something that I've been thinking about.

I didn't expect the flood of supportive emails and letters from all of you this last week!! Thank you for helping me feel loved. I had wanted to express some recent thoughts and emotions last week and that apparently touched a cord. I've learned so much this last week! That's the beauty of trials... they tend to help us learn the most. I wanted to share a couple things that people sent me (without using their names) by quoting some of the principles and words they shared with me. If you didn't read last week's email perhaps go back to refresh so you have context. I hope this is helpful for other missionaries who may be going through something similar...

"Be strict with yourself and then lead by example with love and charity."

"Never ever compromise your standards when it comes to obedience. Recognize the agency of others. Teach those in your stewardship correct principles by word and deed then let them govern themselves. Love them no matter what. Talk to your Mission President about your feelings! Do your best but don't expect to be perfect. Stay obedient but remember to be a little forgiving with the small stuff. You are doing the right thing so relax and work hard. Remember to laugh!"

"I have a similar desire to be exactly obedient and find a lot of joy in giving it my all. People always tells me I have high expectations for myself and for everyone around me. I have low tolerance for human nature because I love discipline so much. I've been working on meekness and humility lately. Pride really is the great stumbling block and it's hard to see in yourself. I often confuse preferences with principles. I have a tendency to be pharisaical about things or in other words very letter of the law. I'm reminded that the highest commandment is to love and I often break that larger commandment because I get mad at others for breaking a small commandment. I think it is good to meekly listen to others and consider their ideas and values. I also have to remind myself "only by persuasion, long suffering, gentleness, meekness, love unfeigned, kindness, pure knowledge"... if I try any other way, it's not the Lord's way.  I think you could have a lot of fun looking for the positive in the other missionaries and serving the heck out of them sincerely. It will become less enjoyable for them to criticize you if you are their minister. I am coming to understand that God can't fill us with charity if we are already full of pride. Humility is a prerequisite. Humility isn't feeling down about yourself, it's giving all the glory to God and seeing the good in others. Hope that helps!"

"Embrace this challenge and choose to grow from the critique. Consider the source and what their own motivation is by telling you what they did. Take only the good advice and develop from that. Take the bad advice and let it roll off your shoulder. When faced with someone who is telling you to slack on the rules don't be afraid to stand alone! Be loving and kind." 

"You’ll always be most effective when you act out of love. Love for the lord, love for your companion, and love for the people you teach. Your purpose isn’t JUST to teach lessons, but also to be an example of Christ and bless the lives of everyone around you, which includes yourself and your companion and everyone. Sometimes the best decision isn’t the most efficient or ideal, but the one that is made out of love (also the Spirit of course), because that’s what will make a difference to people. If you have that love, then you can act in complete authenticity because the real you IS kind, and obedient, and charismatic, and diligent, and fun. So you don’t have to try to be something you’re not or something you think you’re supposed to be because you are already everything you need to be and the Lord is on your side. If you love the Lord you will want to be obedient (e.g. keep mission rules even if it ends up just being in the spirit of the law and not quite the letter of the law, but like, hopefully the letter of the law too). If you love your companion you can try to help them grow and improve without pushing them too far (sometimes your work as a missionary also involves being a missionary to your companion and serving them). Rules are not made for the sake of rules, but for what they help us accomplish. Success depends on your perspective. A lot of the time humility requires us to let go of our goals and expectations and to see and love the people around us and to do what will be best for them even if it seems to set us back. Because being successful won’t be dependent on doing your job perfectly, but rather on the authentic interactions that you have with people, including the ones you don’t think you’re teaching."

"Don't ever put yourself down! Do not view your strengths as weaknesses because others are jealous of you and subsequently make you feel bad about them. Be aware of what you need to improve on but always build yourself up no matter what! Make a list of what you are doing well!! If you feel that you need to be more loving than totally work on being more personable and charitable. Just be who you really are! Keep it up you are doing so well!"

Kia Kaha!
Elder Brady