Some Personal Thoughts on the Topic of Humility

Dear Minnasan,

Well, this week I've been thinking quite a bit about humility. We talked a lot about it at our last training meeting, which got me thinking, what exactly is humility? Why is it important? How can I become more humble? Well, to answer these questions, I went to the best sources, the Scriptures, Preach My Gospel (a missionary study manual), and to God Himself through prayer. These are some of what I learned.

Humility is being willing to submit to the will of God. When you are humble, you trust in the Lord. You trust that He will give you the power and ability to accomplish that which He has asked you to do. It also includes acknowledging that it is only through God that you can do anything.

When I think about humility and strive to be humble in my own life, it gives me the drive to become a better person, a better missionary, and a better follower of Jesus Christ. In essence, it makes me want to become a True Disciple: it helps me to have the inner strength to keep going even when things get tough. I feel closer to Jesus Christ, my Savior and Redeemer. I better understand who He is and that brings a greater sense of peace and happiness into my life.

Humility is being willing to submit to the will of God. When I think about that aspect of humility, my mind is immediately drawn to the Savior's infinite sacrifice, the Atonement. In Matthew 26:39, it says, "And he (Jesus Chris) went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup‍ pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." This scripture is talking about when the Savior went to the Garden of Gethsemane and preformed the atonement. For this scripture, I learn that Jesus Christ, the very son of the Living God, is the perfect example of humility (as He is with everything). He submitted to the will of His Father.

But, what does that mean? What does it mean to "submit to the will of the Father?" To me, it means doing not what you want to do, but what God has commanded you to do, no matter how hard it is. Jesus Christ knew what God had commanded Him to do, and even though it was more difficult than He ever even imagined it would be, He did it anyways. He did it because His Father asked Him to. Now, how can we apply that in our own lives? It isn't easy, that's for sure. But as with everything, God has provided a way.

When you are humble, you trust in the Lord. You trust that He will give you the power and ability to accomplish that which He has asked you to do.  The best example of trusting the Lord that I can think of is Nephi. He has really become a favorite Book of Mormon figure of mine. In 1 Nephi 3:7, it reads, "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will‍ go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments‍ unto the children of men, save he shall prepare‍ a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."

What does this have to do with humility? Well, Nephi completely trusted the Lord. He understood who God was and that if God commanded him to do something, God would also provide a way for him to accomplish that thing. Humility includes understanding God's power and His mercy, and relying on that. It's trusting what God has said because you know who He is and your relationship to Him. Being humble means trusting that God will provide us with the help which we need to do His will. Nephi understood that, If we humbly trust the Lord, and acknowledge His power and mercy, we can have the enabling power of the atonement opened unto us and be given the strength we need to become someone we could not become on our own.

Elder David A. Bednar explained this in his most recent General Conference address. He said, "Not only does the Atonement of Jesus Christ overcome the effects of the Fall of Adam and make possible the remission of our individual sins and transgressions, but His Atonement also enables us to do good and become better in ways that stretch far beyond our mortal capacities."

I too, have experience with this. I don't know if any of you remember this, but back in December of last year, my companion and I saw a baptism. The woman who was baptized was 85 years old and she couldn't remember much of anything we taught her. But we felt very strongly that it was the Lord's will for her to receive the blessing of baptism. We didn't know how to do this, but we knew what the Lord had commanded us. So we moved forward, trusting in Him, and saw a miracle performed.

Lastly, humility includes acknowledging that it is only through God that you can do anything. A great example of this in the scriptures is the missionary Ammon. In Alma 26:12 it says, "Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever."

One of the most important parts of being humble is recognizing our own weakness. We need to realize that because we are mortal, we cannot do this alone. As Ammon said in the above, " I know that I am nothing, as to my strength, I am weak." We need to acknowledge that any progress made or success seen is a gift given to us by God and is not due to our own powers or merits.

To be truly humble, the way Ammon was, we must give God all the credit. This is HIS work, and it is done by HIS power.

Well, those are my thoughts on humility this week. Sort of became a novel. Well, if you're still reading this, let's work on being more humble together!

Sister Weigl

Nobody is A Nobaby

Dear Minnasan,

Well, another transfer in Kitarokko, AKA: The most mountainous area in our mission. AND I'M SO EXCITED! My companion and I are both staying and it's so great! There is still so much work to be done and I can't wait to roll up my sleeves and get to work.

The most exciting thing to note from this week is.....WE'RE HAVING A BAPTISM! The investigator I mentioned in my last email is getting baptized! It's amazing to think about. And as I look back on how it happened, I'm really at a loss. My companion and I often joke about how we just kind of sit around and say "derp de derp come to church," to our investigators, and somehow they get something out of that, or in other words, we don't really have a clue what we're doing most of the time. But somehow, things just sort of...happen. And I know for a fact it's not because of us. It's not our strength. It's the Lord's.

If there is one thing I have learned from this experience, it is that we are all extremely precious to the Lord. If you think about it, the likelihood of our investigator meeting us is extremely small. There are thousands and thousands of people who live in our area. And only two of us. But somehow, my companion and I were guided to this man so that he could learn about God and come to accept His Son, Jesus Christ, as his Savior and Redeemer. It was a one in a million chance. The odds were not on our side, but because God loves us, His children, the impossible was made possible. The odds were flips. The one was found.

We might sometimes think that we are "nobodies." That we don't have much worth, in God's or in anybody else's eyes. In regarding that, a church officer named Marvin J. Ashton has said, "We do ourselves a great injustice when we allow ourselves, through tragedy, misfortune, challenge, discouragement, or whatever the earthly situation, to so identify ourselves. No matter how or where we find ourselves, we cannot with any justification label ourselves 'nobody.' As children of God we are somebody. He will build us, mold us, and magnify us if we will but hold our heads up, our arms out, and walk with him. What a great blessing to be created in his image and know of our true potential in and through him! What a great blessing to know that in his strength we can do all things!"

So, in reality, nobody is a nobody. Think about those words for a moment. I think that we so often fall into the trap of labeling ourselves. I know I do. I just think, "I'm only a missionary. I am just me. I can't do anything much." But you see, that's where the trap is laid. That is where Satan's nasty teeth come snarling and gnashing at our true identities. For, if he can get us to forget who we truly are, then he has gained the upper hand. He has already won the battle.

When I get ensnared in these destructive thoughts, it helps me to remember Christ and how He treated everyone. He never treated anyone like a nobody. For example, the story of the lepers. I am sure you know it. The story goes something like this: Jesus went to a small town where He saw ten lepers. Their sickness caused them to get terrible sores all over their bodies, and to everyone who saw them, they were "nobodies." They were disgusting. They were unclean. They weren't pretty enough...they weren't popular...they weren't this or that...I think maybe we can all relate with these lepers a bit more than we think.

Can you imagine what it must have been like for these lepers? Not only were they in immense pain, but they were treated like nobodies. No one wanted to go anywhere near them. But Jesus Christ did not think this way. He loved them. He healed them. He knew that they were not nobodies.

We are not Nobody.
You are not Nobody.

Remember that.

Sister Weigl

Missionaries Serving in Kitarokko, Japan
June 2014

June 2104

Astonish The World

Dear Minnasan,

President Grant said this about the Church in Japan: “I have an abiding faith that this is to be one of the most successful missions ever established in the Church. It is going to be slow work at first but the harvest is to be something great and will astonish the world in years to come.”

To astonish the world...that's a big thing. As our President has said about this, "In order to astonish the world, we must first astonish ourselves."

I'm feeling pretty astonished right now.

You would think that at this point in my missionary service, I wouldn't be "astonished" or very much surprised at the fact that miracles occur in missionary work -- I mean, I read about them occurring all the time in the scriptures, hear about them from other missionaries, and even have experienced them from time and time again in my own life. So, you would think that I would have come to understand that this is the work of God, that it is being hastened, and that He is on our right hand and our left hand to bear us up. And yes, of course, I know that. But then, for some reason, whenever a miracle happens, I am somehow still astonished. I think, though, that the most astonishing part is that I (me, a mortal, just plain old Sister Weigl) can have a part in this work, if I but humble myself and do the things which I have been commanded to do.

The even better part? That it is a promise extended to all of us. We can all play a part in spreading the Good News. That's an interesting fact: the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as translated in Japanese, means, "The Good News of Jesus Christ." This truly is the best news that we could give anyone. It is the best gift, it is an eternal gift that never rusts, fades, goes out of fashion, or breaks. And we, each of us, have the opportunity to share it with another. That's pretty awesome, huh?

Anyways, the other day, we taught our investigator from the Book of Mormon (We read 2 Nephi 31 verse by verse with him). We had prayed diligently and sought revelation, and we felt like this was what we needed to teach him. It was what he needed to hear. We felt that so strongly, but somehow, the lesson did not pan out quite the way I wanted it to.

We taught the lesson to the best of our ability, but our investigator didn't exactly seem too "astonished" by the doctrine. I had hoped that he would be jumping out of his seat, begging us to be baptized. But that wasn't how the lesson ended. We simply asked him to re-read the chapter and pray for guidance. I biked home a bit disappointed, but also full of the knowledge that me and my companion "had done all that lied within our power." Something that my companion said really stood out to me. She said, in effect,"Okay, so yeah, that wasn't exactly how we wanted things to turn out. But, we did what we could. We showed our faithfulness to the Lord, and so He will bless those efforts."  We saw the blessings of our efforts a lot faster than I thought we would.

That same night, that investigator called us, and I picked up the phone. He had forgotten what his commitment was (what part of the Book of Mormon we had asked him to read), so he called to ask what it was again. When I told him, he said he had already read that part. So, for some reason (I'm still not exactly sure why), I asked him, "Would you like a different reading suggestion?" And he said he would.

In that moment, my mind caught hold upon a scripture that I had thought of earlier in the day. I had been praying and a particular scripture came to my mind, and I had thought it might help him, so I jotted it down. I hadn't thought much about it, but as I talked to this man on the phone, I felt like I needed to share that scripture with him, so I did.

That's when things really started clicking for him and the conversation took on a whole new level. He told me that he wanted to be baptized, but explained that his work situation makes it really difficult for him to come to church. During the conversion, I felt extremely guided by the Spirit. This man was asking me a lot of hard questions, in pretty difficult Japanese, but somehow, I was able to speak to him. Somehow, I was able to understand him. Somehow, I was able to testify to him. And most importantly, I was somehow able to say what he needed to hear.

That "somehow" is the power of God. It is the enabling power of the atonement. I can testify that yes, "It shall be a given you in the very hour, yea, in the very moment, what ye shall say." And yes, God is with us "on our right hand and our left."

Sister Weigl

God is God

Dear Minnasan-

Well, things have been getting rather hot here! And by "rather" hot I mean, REALLY hot. But you know, life is still as exciting as ever. Oh, and the misquitos came out. YEAH for bug bites! The Convience store workers even changed their work uniforms - instead of long red jacket things, they now wear green short-sleeved jacket things! Yes, summer is truly here. And yes, I go to 7-11 way to much. This is the downfall of living two minutes away from a convience store.

But yes. Moving on.

It's interesting to ponder upon the differences between us and God. That seems rather obvious, I would think, but I find I am learning again and again that God is God, and I am not. Sure, we would never purposefully think that, but when we rely on our own strength and so-called wisdom, we find out very fast that we cannot do this alone. And I think that's the whole point. We are mortal and imperfect. God is exalted, immortal, and glorified. There's a big difference between us and Him, and yet, we oftentimes try to do things by ourselves by our own power. We forget that we, by ourselves, cannot do this work. This is God's work. It is His glory. And He has given us, imperfect, mortals a chance to assist in this work. But why?

Our Kaicho describes it something along these lines, "Missionary work is truly the worst business venture ever. God sends young, inexperienced kids to spread the word of the Lord. And as soon as they start to get enough experience, their time is up and they come home." When you think about it, it's kind of mind-boggling. But all things have been done in His wisdom. It just goes to show that God is God and we are here to learn that. That's probably one of the biggest lessons I've learned on my mission -- that there is NOTHING I can do without His help. HUMILITY is truly something I've learned to appreciate and better understand.

This week, my companion and I  weren't really expecting anybody to come to church. We had a few people who had loosly confirmed that they were coming, but as per the usual, when church started, nobody was there. God likes to try my faith in that way. Somehow, though, by the end of the meeting, three of our investigators had trickled in. One of them we didn't even know was there until after the meeting was over, and we turned around and saw her sitting in the back of the room. I am learning over and over again that as long as we work tirelessly and faithfully, then the Lord will bless us. My companion and I did all that we could think of to invite people to church. We took cookies to our neighboors and invited them. We called every single person in our Area Book and invited them. We invited all of our investigators, too. And the Lord blessed us for that effort. It's the whole "cause and effect" thing. When we do what we can do, God will bless our efforts. And usually the blessings far outway the things I did to qualify for those blessings.

Also, this week, we got our first less active investigator! We visited her to give her cookies, and just to say hello (we are still trying to figure out this whole less-active thing, but it's getting there!) and she invited us in to talk. We talked to her for about an hour, and she really opened up to us. She told us her conversion story, and why she stopping coming to church. We sang the hymn, "I am a Child of God," with her, and she happily sang a-long.

The interesting thing is, that we've been trying to visit less actives for a while now without too much success really. We realized though, that we had been relying on ourselves, and not on the Lord. We hadn't really been praying to know where to go and when, so we humbled ourselves and prayed for revelation. That's when we contacted and taught a less active, and then, on Sunday, the Bishop gave us another 15 or 20 less active records for us to visit. Funny how that worked out...coincidence? Nah, I don't think so. We have to turn to God and show Him that we are ready before He will bless us. We need to SHOW HIM OUR FAITHFULNESS.

Love you all!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes!

Sister Weigl

5 QUESTIONS:

1.  How did you celebrate your 20th birthday?

The Normal way...teaching lessons, doing normal missionary stuff. But we also went out to dinner with an investigator and a member. And the Bishop and His wife threw me a little party on Sunday (which a different investigator came to). They were really nice to me, and the Ward really remembered my birthday (which is funny, because I never even told them it was my birthday!)

2.  What do the Japanese people do for birthdays? 

I heard that the 20th year is a big deal in Japan?  Do they do anything special?

The 20th birthday is a big deal. It's when you become an adult (sort of like 18 in America). Um, they basically do the same kind of things we do in America. Cake. Candles. Presents. At least that's what they did for me, but Members are a lot more "American" than most Japanese people.

3.  Do they have birthday cake and presents?   Yes

4.  Did you eat anything special on your birthday?

Sort of ? We went out to eat and I got a salad.

5.  Tell us anything that made you feel happy this week or something you appreciated?

My companion sang me this weird birthday song and made me wear this ridiculous birthday hat when we were in the apartment.