I can attest that fourteen-year-olds really can have spiritual experiences. Let me share just one of many. During my time as a fourteen-year-old, I was in charge of overseeing activities and attendance for our group of guys. That summer, a mountain biking trip over a couple dozen miles of up and down rocky Utah wilderness was planned. Being the kind of person that I am, I felt obligated to go because of my responsibilities despite the fact that I barely had any biking experience in general and had never gone mountain biking before.
I fell behind immediately (emphasis on "fell"). Only my leaders stayed by my side to encourage me to get back on my bike every time I wiped out. I kid you not, I crashed at least eighty times. I flew over the handlebars or swerved off the dirt path onto rocks and shrubs. I even rolled off the mountain once and saved myself by grabbing onto a bush! Dehydration and fatigue in the summer heat sucked the life out of me like a dementor. My brown battered legs were coated like a powdered donut in dust. I honestly can’t believe I survived! Furthermore, by some miracle, I walked away without any injuries apart from a few scratches. That's why you wear a helmet, folks!
We got to a clearing at the bottom-most stretch and caught up to the group. I was at my lowest point too. I wanted to just lay down and die. One of my leaders, Josh, looked at me for a while with a face both sorry yet proud of me and asked, “Do you think this is hard?”. Was he really asking me that?! Wasn’t it obvious without saying it out loud? I answered with an irritated and parched, "Yeah". Expecting an encouraging remark back from him, he responded with a confident yet kind, “Your mission is going to be a lot harder”. I didn’t know if I was supposed to laugh. Nothing could be harder than that mountain biking trip, surely! But that declaration was quite prophetic. I never forgot that during the hard times in the mission. I knew that if I could survive that bike ride, I could survive my mission even if it meant I "wiped out" occasionally. Now I don’t know if I'd call life easy, but I know I can do hard things knowing the Lord is there every step of the mile to help me get back on my bike.
You imagine becoming a missionary growing up and then you become one and things hit you. The missionary life is not easy. It isn’t always as easy as sitting down, teaching, and everything fitting together without hassle or resistance. Within just my first week, I met real people with real (sometimes stubborn) personalities and real problems and concerns. I met alcoholics, drug addicts, single parents, people struggling to pay the bills, unemployed people, people with children or family who were terminally ill, people whose husbands or children were killed by the cartel, people with angry abusive spouses, and generally just people who struggled to see the bright side of anything. There were people who were frustrated at God or didn’t understand why there were different churches on every corner, people afraid to give hope a chance which is who we represented. Immediately, all selfish thoughts fade away in putting the needs of others first. Not only is it what these people need --our help--but it is what we need--to forget ourselves; to practice the gospel of Jesus Christ in both word and deed.
That’s why I believe that missionary work is so important! No matter how hard it may seem at times, it is without a doubt worth every hassle if you can lighten the load, even just a little, off of even one person’s shoulders—to ease their worries, to make them smile, to assure them that they are loved children of a Heavenly Father and to help them understand the healing power of the Atonement which includes the forgiveness of sins but also helps us overcome all bad things. The former Boyd K. Packer in the October General Conference of 1986 said, “True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior”. I add my testimony, as a Psychology student and as a practitioner of religion, that only the gospel brings everlasting peace and happiness that each and every one of us yearns for. Our burdens may not be removed, but we can be made strong enough to bear them (Mosiah 24:13-15) when we rely on the Lord.
The gospel teaches us that it is not good for man to be alone. That is why the two greatest commandments point us outwards, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind" and "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" (Matt. 22:36-40). Missionary work accomplishes these two commandments.
Life is an uphill battle. It has its ups and downs and occasional wipe outs. But the gospel of Jesus Christ gives us strength in our trials and purpose in the journey. The purpose of life's journey is to have joy and to prepare to meet God. I testify that God's purpose is to grant us eternal happiness and that comes only by keeping the commandments. That's why missionary work is more than discussion, it is to invite others to action. What we do is more valuable than what we know.
Ponder Question: How can you better serve those around you? It's been said, " When you meet someone, treat them as if they were in serious trouble, and you will be right more than half the time". Everyone needs help in some way. Go and help!
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