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.

Is It Worth It?

Dear Minnason,

Well, this week was a little bit out of the ordinary. And when I say that, I mean it was really, totally and completely, out of the ordinary. An Apostle (an important leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) came to visit our mission. Yeah, Elder Christofferson came to visit Kobe. Every single missionary in the mission (there is over 250 of us now) came to a place named Ibaraki to listen to Christofferson-Choro speak to us. That NEVER happens. It took some of these missionaries over eight hours to travel to this place. But it was completely and totally worth it. There was an intense spirit of unity as we gathered together as a mission to hear the words of an Apostle of the Lord. Sure, it was nice to see missionary friends I hadn't seen since the MTC, but it was even more amazing to feel the Spirit pour down upon us, testifiying to each and every single one of us in attendance of the truthfulness of this work.

It was amazing to feel the Spirt as Christofferson-Choro testified of the truth of this gospel and of the Living Savior, even our Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. I learned a lot, but most importantly, I once again recieved a strong witness of the truthfulness of this Gospel. This is the Way. This is the Truth. This is the Light. This is the Lord's Church. We are called in the Name of Jesus Christ to go out and teach this truth to those who do not know about it. To bring those who are lost back into the fold. We are, as Christofferson-Choro put it, carrying the Kingdom of Heaven in our hands. That is what we are bringing to every person we talk to, every contact we make, every lesson we teach, every friend we make. We are offering Eternal Life. So, even when things get hard, we need to keep going. Even when we fall off our bikes and rip our favorite pair of tights, and get a black, purple, and yellow bruise the size of Texas (as my companion did this week) we get up and we keep going. All of what we can experience here on earth is nothing in comparision to what the Savior experienced. It is nothing to what He endured. So when times get rough and we think things aren't worth it anymore, always remember this: IT WILL FOREVER AND ALWAYS BE WORTH IT.

Church Leader Elder Russel M. Ballard has asked, "Have you set your priorities? Are they solidly and clearly defined in your minds? Were they clear when you got up this morning, and will they be clear tomorrow morning and each morning? What I would like to convey to you is that we are the sons and daughters of God. We have a great destiny, a great challenge, and a great work to do. Our number one priority could well be, 'Am I doing and living and acting each day as a candidate for the highest degree of glory in the celestial kingdom?' I think this is our ultimate long-range goal and our number one priority. I believe that as we think about this and as we understand a few of the insights the Lord has given to us in the scriptures, we can easily come to the conclusion, 'Yes, it is worth it.'"

We are on the Lord's side; we are on the Lord's errand. And I'm not just talking about missionaries, I am talking about everyone who has been blessed with the truth. Those who have come to know God, and His son Jesus Christ, whom God has sent. We all understand this to varying degrees, that yes, God is there, and yes, Christ is His son. But what we each need, and I am of course included in this, is to DECIDE each and every day that yes, it is in fact, worth it. The storms are worth it. The rain is worth it. Getting mashed potatoes thrown at your head as you go about doing the work of the Lord, yes even that, is worth it.

But as another Apostle wrote, "Faith is not only a feeling; It is a decision..." Challenges, difficulties, questions, doubts—these are part of our mortality. But we are not alone. As disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have enormous spiritual reservoirs of light and truth available to us. Fear and faith cannot coexist in our hearts at the same time. In our days of difficulty, we choose the road of faith. Jesus said, 'Be not afraid, only believe.'"

We need to CHOOSE. We need to DECIDE. We need to REALIZE forever and always that it is worth it.

It is written in the scriptures, "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve...but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." The choice is ours. The choice is mine, and the choice is yours.

Who is on the Lord's side, who?

Let's choose together.

Sister Weigl

FIVE QUESTIONS:

1. Is there any food that you really miss from home?

BURRITOS. CHIPOTLE. CAFE RIO. MEXICAN FOOOOOOOOD.

2. What is a food that they have in Japan that you wish they had in America?
Everything, basically. I LOVE Japanese food so very, very much.

3. What’s your favorite desert in Japan?
They don't really have all that many desserts in Japan....well, natively that is. After Japan opened up to the West, they adopted a whole bunch of stuff like cakes and cookies and stuff. But as far as Japanese traditional sweets go, things are rather not sweet. I really like these things they have here in Japan though - its basically like a grab and go bakery where they have different types of breads and pastries and stuff and you just pick what you want and pay for it. Sort of like fast food?

4.  What is a custom about food in Japan that is different in America?
You have to have both hands above the table. And you can bring your bowl to your mouth to eat. And you can slurp. My table manners are probably going to be pretty bad (according to American culture) when I get back home.

5. Is there any American food that the Japanese really love?

Pizza, hamburgers, and McDonalds.

I found this really hilarious t-shirt that I bought that had the word, "Smile" on  it which made me think of you Mom, but it also had a bunch of really nonsense English. I bought it because it was so hilarious.

That Ye May Have Eternal Life

Dear Minnasan,

Hmmm, what to say about this week? I don't even know. It's definitely been interesting, but I don't think that is the best way to describe it. I guess my English is getting bad, because I can't think of the right adjective...I notice sometimes that I can't write in proper English anymore either. For example, the other day, I wrote "Let's baptized some people." Yeah. English is a hard language, okay?

Speaking of English, today when we were out shopping for our groceries and such other needed necessities, a lady sort of started to follow us around. We thought maybe she was just trying to look at the food or something, but we were in her way. But it would turn out that she wanted to talk to us because we were American. She was very timid and shy about it. She said, "Excuse me, but where are you from?" Then she started to speak with us in English. We gave her a flyer and invited her to the Free English Class that we teach every week. We went on with our grocery shopping, and about ten minutes later, the same lady approached us again, asking us about more specific information for the English Class. She was a super sweet lady.

This week was a bit rougher where our investigators are concerned though. It's coming down to the wire for our two investigators with a baptismal date, and they haven't come to church for a while, and they haven't received all the lessons needed before they can be baptized. The rough part, though, is that neither of them seem to want Eternal Life. One of them, a woman in her fifties who is extremely fluent in English, said that she's okay with there being life after death, and she is also okay if there isn't. Another investigator even said she wishes that this life was the end. As I have thought about this, I remembered about something our Mission President said to us the last time he interviewed us. He asked us how much do we, as believers and disciples of Christ, even know about Eternal Life? He asked us to list ten things, and we couldn't. So, as I pondered upon this, I realized that if I am not even really able to envision Eternal Life beyond the idea of it being amazing, then how would our investigators ever be able to do that either? I guess this week I have just spent a lot of time pondering what Eternal Life means because of this, and it has really opened a new door of understanding for me.

Eternal Life is living with God, like God. Now, let's think about that for a moment. Not only will we be able to live with God in Heaven, but we will be able to live LIKE God. What is God like? He has all knowledge. He knows EVERYTHING. He knows all languages. He knows really hard math. He knows me perfectly, and He knows you perfectly. He knows everyone by name.

He has all power. He created the ENTIRE EARTH. Every single thing on it. And not only our planet, but all of the planets. All of the stars. All of the Galaxies. He said, "Let there be light!" And there was. Can I do that? No. Can you? No. That is sure a lot of power.

He has a perfect body. He feels no stress. He feels no hate, no depression. He has perfect eyesight, and no physical or emotional illnesses. He never gets headaches. He has perfect health.

And He is everlasting (that's where the Eternal part comes from in Eternal Life). He lives in this state of perfect happiness, FOREVER. And what's more, we can become LIKE HIM. We can have all that is His.

That is the Blessing of Eternal Life.

And He offers it to all of us. That's pretty amazing, huh? God truly does love us.

Sister Weigl

FIVE QUESTIONS:

1. What is something you have noticed about Kitarokko that is different than the other area’s you have served in?

The hills are crazy, but also, it's full of rice fields. Like, I am really out in the boonies here. Last week was like, planting season or something, so everybody was out burning their fields. I'm not sure why, but they were, so we smelled like smoke everyday when we came home.

2. What do you like best about Kitarokko?

The Ward (church) is pretty awesome, but I think I like the scenery the best. It's so beautiful here! The mountains are rolling and covered in the most beautiful green trees that you would ever see! Sort of like Virginia.

3. What is a fun historical fact about Kitarokko?  Or something that impresses you?

Um...I don't really know too much about history, but it impresses me how clean this place is. But I guess that's just Japan for you.

4. Something unexpected that happened to you this week?

Uh...we got sunburned.

5. What is the most interesting/different food you ate this week?

We ate taco rice at a member's house yesterday! Yeah! It's basically like Taco salad, expect more Japanese-y.

Seeking The Lambs That Are Lost

Dear Everyone, 

Sorry that I haven't been writing too much these last couple of weeks! Life is always crazy, whether or not you are a missionary. But as a missionary, life is extra crazy. But crazy in the best way possible. 

So, this week, my companion, Sister Baird, talked in sacrament meeting for the first time. All in Japanese, of course. She was pretty nervous, but it was great! She talked about Hope, and used a great 2GS teaching model, which is a tool for teaching lessons that our Kaicho (president) has given us to help organize our thoughts. A lot of people approached her afterwards and told her she did great. One member even said she was, "Pera Pera," which means that she sounded fluent! That is a pretty high complement from a Japanese person. 

Because she was speaking in church, we planned on using that to our advantage! We told all of our investigators, and even some less actives, that she was speaking! We invited pretty much everyone we could think of. We called the family of a less active kid named T-kun who is a little older than I am. We asked his mother to invite him, and T-kun said he would come. We were a bit surprised that it was that simple, but I have learned that as you do what you can, the Lord will bless those efforts and make the best of what we, as mortals, can do.

Anyways, this Less-Active's dad was so excited! This faithful brother comes to church every week with his wife and his other son is even serving a mission right now, but T-kun hasn't been to church for a while and seems to not really like anything to do with the whole spiritual aspect of church. T-kun's dad was waiting near the entrance of the church for his son to come, just anxiously waiting. He kept looking outside and then at us, and then sort of paced around for a bit. Even as Church started, he lingered outside the Sacrament Meeting Room, hopeful that his son would show up. He looked so defeated as he sat down, alone, to partake of the saving ordinance of the sacrament. It was pretty heartbreaking. But even then, this dear Father left an empty seat next to Him, just in case his son were to come.

This experience brought to mind a Hymn that my companion really loves, called, "Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd." The words go like this:

Dear to the heart of the Shepherd,
Dear are the sheep of his fold;
Dear is the love that he gives them,
Dearer than silver or gold.
Dear to the heart of the Shepherd,
Dear are his "other" lost sheep;
Over the mountains he follows,
Over the waters so deep.
Out in the desert they wander,
Hungry and helpless and cold;
Off to the rescue he hastens,
Bringing them back to the fold.
Dear to the heart of the Shepherd,
Dear are the lambs of his fold;
Some from the pastures are straying,
Hungry and helpless and cold.
See, the Good Shepherd is seeking,
Seeking the lambs that are lost,
Bringing them in with rejoicing,
Saved at such infinite cost.

God loves us each so much. He gives us the agency to choose for ourselves. The ability to do what we will. Nobody can force us to do anything. When you really think about that, isn't it amazing! We can get up when we want, we can eat what we want, we can choose to do what will make us happy or what will make us sad. We can choose to follow our Savior, or we can choose to wander away from Him. 

I imagine God, our Loving Heavenly Father, like this dear Father. God wants us to follow Him. To believe in Him, and His son, Jesus Christ. He is ever waiting anxiously for us to return to Him. He is near the door of the chapel, pacing, keeping an eye out for us always. He hesitates to go in without us, because it won't be the same without us there. And even then, He is still waiting, with an empty chair beside Him.

He is a God of infinite chances. Of infinite Love. He will go where ever He needs to go to find us. He will do whatever He needs to do to save us. He will send whomever will answer the call to go and find those that are lost. 

The last verse goes like this:

Green are the pastures inviting;
Sweet are the waters and still.
Lord, we will answer thee gladly,
Yes, blessed Master, we will!
Make us thy true under-shepherds;
Give us a love that is deep.
Send us out into the desert,
Seeking thy wandering sheep.

He, and His Son Jesus Christ, will never stop reaching out to us.

And we, as His True Disciples, should never stop reaching out to those around us either.

Sister Weigl