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