November 19th, 2007

Missionary Meme

Having been tagged by Dr. B and M&M, I suppose I’ll give in and post this missionary meme.

1. Answer the three missionary questions

1. Did you serve a mission, and where?

I served from January 2002 to December 2003 in the Honduras Comayaguela mission (no fue con mi abuela, fue en Comayaguela.. broma!).

2. What was your best missionary experience?

While in the MTC, we were shown a video where Elder Holland spoke to us missionaries, talking about various items of instruction. One of the things he talked about was the eternal nature of the gospel, and how we weren’t teaching our investigators the truths of the gospel, we were reminding them. Since in our pre-mortal existence we were taught these truths, Elder Holland testified that there might be times when an investigator would say something like “Wow, this sounds familiar” or “I’ve believed this all along”.

Fast forward one year. I was working with an investigator named Isabel, the friend of another woman we taught and baptized named Carmen. Sitting in Carmen’s living room, my companion and I were teaching a discussion to Isabel where we discuss the “where we came from, why we’re here, and where we’re going” stuff.

While I talked about our pre-mortal existence, Isabel’s eyes lit up, and she was intrigued. She hung on every word I said, and when I was done with the lesson, she said “I’ve always believed that. Everybody I know thinks I’m crazy whenever I tell them, and my church doesn’t teach that… but I’ve always believed it.”

I had an immediate flashback of what Elder Holland had said, and was grateful that I could have such an experience of reminding instead of teaching.

3. Who is the most missionary-oriented leader you have ever had?

Does my grandfather count? Granddad Browne was widely known for being open and friendly. He’d make friends with bank tellers, DMV workers, the person behind him in line, and anybody else he could talk to. Everybody knew Roger, and he was well-respected.

But Granddad wasn’t this way as some pro-missionary ploy. He was just friendly. He loved his neighbor. He reflected the love of Christ whenever he lifted up another soul. People naturally were attracted to him, eager to befriend somebody that showed interest in them.

While I’m far from attaining his example, it stands as a goal in my mind, a representation of what true missionary work can and should be like. The easiest way to testify of God’s love is to let that love work through you. Granddad was a great example, one I hope to better follow.

2. Do the missionary activity and return and report.

Ask a random stranger if they have ever heard about the Mormon Church, and if they would like to know more (Golden Question)

I’ll post any updates to this activity here once I complete it.

3. Tag 5 of your friends.

Bwahahaha! Who shall I choose… How about Parker, Krystal, Chris, Richard, and John.

For all you readers who I didn’t tag, how about sharing one of your favorite missionary experiences? I love hearing them.

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