Epistle - 11.18.09

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Transfers is next week. Call outs is this coming Monday. I'd say chances are 50-50 I stay/go. I'm really not sure what is going to happen. makes life exciting!

Elder Walker, of the 1st quorum of the 70 was in our mission this week, and addressed us at zone conference. It was a very neat experience.

One of the things he talked about was in response to the fact that many of our missionaries are headed home soon, so he spoke a little about going home, and said something interesting.

He said something along the lines of, "People will tell you that it is impossible to keep your spirituality as high as it is here on your mission. They will say that it is not reasonible to try to keep the spirit that much. This is a LIE. Satan wants you to believe that you can't have the spirit with you all the time when you get home. If you do the things that bring the spirit, and avoid the things that drive the spirit away, you will have the spirit with you just as you do here. In fact, it might be even MORE important for you to have it when you get home, because you will be making critical life decisions, and you will be exposed to a lot more temptation."

I thought that was a very interesting thought.

I had another thought that was my own musings about Elder Walker, and about our mission. This transfer another large group of Elders will leave. Several of the Elders that are leaving have been pillars of this mission during their time here. In my own words, they are our "Heroes" they are the missionaries that we have looked to as examples this whole time, and they are leaving. They will soon all be gone, and the weight of the mission will fall on my generation. We will need to be the heroes to inspire the next generation of missionaries.

Now missions have the funny habit of being full of parallels with real life, packed into a condensed form in 2 years. Which is where Elder Walker came in to the thought. We in my generation have grown up with "Heroes" to look to. President Hinckley, President Monson. All of the brethren of the 12. We look to them as examples of how we can apply the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives. We now that Jesus Christ is the perfect example, and in fact he is actually the example of being an example. Those who follow the example of Christ, become examples for those around them. They stand and do what he Himself would do, and show others the way towards Him. Now these men, who have been our heroes and examples, will eventually be gone. There will come a day when all of the church leaders I've known from my youth will be gone, and it will fall to MY generation, to US, to bear the weight of the kingdom. We will need to be the Apostles, the 70's, the Bishops, the Stake Presidents, the Mission Presidents, the Gospel Doctrine Teachers, the Ward Organists, the Primary Presidents. We will need to fill the kingdom with leadership, and if we don't, it will collapse. We will be the tools God has put in place, and we will have to do our parts.

A lot of musings this week. Remember this though, Christ is the example of being an example. He showed us how to show others how. Christianity does not implode, it explodes. It starts by changing the very core of your being, and then procedes outwards to bless and touch as many people as you possibly can.

I love you all.

Keep being great.

Elder Ted E. Bear