No Coincidences

Tag: missionary

  • The Gift of Tongues and a Temple in Guatemala

    The Gift of Tongues and a Temple in Guatemala

    I recently learned a little about the Cessationist movement in Christianity. I learned that they believe many things have ceased in modern Christianity. One of the things they think has ceased is the gift of tongues.

    The Church of Jesus Christ is alive and well as is the gift of tongues.

    The most obvious example of the gift of tongues in Christ’s modern church is shown in the millions of 18-24 year-olds learning and speaking foreign languages to spread the gospel.

    I recently read of a true miracle in tongues, and I wanted to share.

    Allen Christenson writes the following:

    “I was privileged to help in the translation of the temple ceremony into K’iche’, a dialect of the Mayan Indians of Guatemala. In 1991, the Church brought up seven choice native Maya members of the Church to record the ceremony for the first time in their own language. Most had never traveled outside their own country. They arrived when we had a bad cold snap and snow storms last January. In a country where it never snows that was quite a shock. They wondered whether the flakes were volcanic ash, and bundled up with layer upon layer of clothing so that the snow would have no chance of touching their skin.

    The Maya today are for the most part illiterate, particularly in their native tongue. It has only been in recent years that some members of the church have begun to learn to read and write in the Maya language, so that they can read the scriptures and other church publications. This is a great tragedy, because until about 500 years ago the Maya were the most literate people in the Americas, preserving their history and culture with a sophisticated hieroglyphic script in hundreds of folded screen books. The Spanish Conquest in the early sixteenth century was a devastating blow to Maya literacy in Mexico and Guatemala. Great numbers of hieroglyphic texts were burned in an attempt to eradicate “idolatrous paganism.” Native scribes were singled out for persecution to such an extent that within one hundred years, the art of writing had nearly disappeared from among the Maya people. When I was a missionary in the Guatemala highlands, no one I knew could read in Maya. Because I opened most of the areas I worked in, the church was in its infancy and there were no members to prepare for the temple. The closest temple in fact was in Mesa, Arizona, and for a people who earned at best a dollar a day, a trip there was a goal which was simply impossible to even think about.

    Today there is a temple in Guatemala City. The Maya who were brought up to record the temple ceremony for their people had all taken out their own endowments and considered it a great privilege to have a part in bringing the blessings of the endowment to their people in a language that they could understand.

    For the first few days, the Maya were given time to read through their parts, review videotapes of the ceremony to practice their timing and voice inflections, and to prepare for the actual recording. It soon became apparent what an impossible thing we were asking them to do. Most of their homes had no electricity, and the rows of machines and blinking lights were frightening and intimidating. None could read any better than at a grade school level, sounding out each word at a time. Just getting out the words was a frustrating and time-consuming task. We frankly didn’t think that it would be possible for them to become proficient enough to read the text rapidly, much less instill in the words the spirit that such a sacred ceremony demands.

    I will never forget the first day we started to record. We put these poor, humble people in a little glass booth, surrounded by technical gadgets, microphones, and earphones and asked them to relax and speak the words with naturalness and the proper spirit. They were so frightened that they could not speak more than a few words at a time, and those were unusable.

    We all went back to our hotel rooms discouraged and felt that we were going to fail. The next day, I noticed a change in the Maya. They were unusually quiet and serious, but somehow they didn’t seem to be as afraid as the day before. When the first brother, who was assigned to read the part of Elohim, was called on to record his part, he stepped into the recording booth without hesitation. The window was set so high in the booth that we could barely see him, being only 5’4″ tall. He put on his earphones, closed his eyes and looked up momentarily, and then said quietly that he was ready. When I gave him his cue he began to speak in the most beautiful, flowing Maya that I had ever heard spoken. He read through three full pages without error before we had to stop him to check the sound level. When I cued him to stop, He asked if he had done something wrong and looked so apologetic that it broke my heart. I assured him that we just had to do some technical things and that he had done beautifully. The spirit was so strong that it was a physical presence that we all could feel. The emotion of it was overwhelming. The brother in charge of the recording instruments turned to me afterward and simply said, “We have just witnessed a miracle, one of the strongest manifestations of the gift of tongues that I have ever witnessed. His voice, inflection, and timing were as good as the best professional actors that we have in English, Spanish, or other of the more established languages.” When I asked this Mayan brother what had happened since the day before, he smiled and said that he knew the enormous importance of the temple endowment for his people and knew that he couldn’t do it on his own. He and the others had tried as hard as they could but that the words just didn’t come. So he had prayed last night to his Father in Heaven and told him that he just couldn’t do it without His help. He didn’t want his people for generations to come to hear his voice and weakness, but the voice of Elohim. He asked if his Father in Heaven would please come to that sound booth with him and speak for himself. He felt assured and that morning he never doubted that God would be there with him. One by one, each of the other Maya read through their parts with similar power and faith. [Allen J. Christenson, “Account of the Recording of the Temple Ceremony into K’iche’ Maya in 1991,” Personal Communication to Alan C. Miner]

    This is one example of a miracle. Miracles are rarely widely spread or publicized. Sometimes they are quiet, personal experiences. Sometimes the world never knows. But if you seek them out, if you look for them, they are there. Miracles happen every day in the world. Miracles happen every day in Christ’s church. Christ’s church is alive in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Miracles have not ceased. The gift of tongues is alive and active.

    Mormon 9:20

    “And the reason why he ceaseth to do miracles among the children of men is because that they dwindle in unbelief, and depart from the right way, and know not the God in whom they should trust.”

    Moroni 7:29

    And because he hath done this, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased? Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men.

    God will never cease to be a God of miracles.

  • Influence of One

    Influence of One

    I’d like to relay a powerful story from LeGrand Richards’ book Just to Illustrate. In the book, he tells the story of meeting a man who claimed his father was one of the first converts of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mississippi in 1840.

    This was shared with LeGrand in 1940. Since the conversion of his father in 1840, his father and his father’s descendants had contributed 100 YEARS of missionary service to the Church of Jesus Christ. Fifteen of the man’s descendants were at that time serving active missions. LeGrand relates that a couple years later he met that same man who told LeGrand the number was now 160 years of missionary service.

    “You see,” said the man, “when you add ten or fifteen years each year from ten or fifteen missionaries in the field, it does not take long to add another hundred years.”

    LeGrand then says, “The missionary who brought that man into the church back in 1840 might not have felt that he had accomplished much, especially if he were his only convert. Yet in a hundred years there was one hundred and sixty years of missionary work from that one man and his descendants. Add to that all the converts made by their converts and their descendants, and you would almost have a nation of men, all as the result of that one conversion.”

    This is a great follow-up to “Teaching in heaven.” 

    We should never be discouraged about our small efforts in sharing the gospel. We don’t know how the world could be changed by that one invitation.

    Think how much joy that missionary is having in heaven, watching as light, love, and peace is brought to thousands upon thousands of individuals because of the one person he shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with in 1840.

    What a powerful thought and what motivation to share the light we have with others.

  • Sent from God – Missionaries

    Sent from God – Missionaries

    The story of Ammon is one of my favorites in the Book of Mormon. Ammon went amongst the Lamanites who wanted to kill and murder him to teach them about Jesus Christ. I wrote about a great conversion moment I had from the story of Ammon before. Here I am 4 years later, still being inspired by the story of Ammon.

    This time it was chapter 18 that struck me. Ammon had just performed a miraculous feet, defending the flocks of the king from a group of men trying to scatter them. In defending the sheep, Ammon smote off the arms of so many men that the other servants he was with felt the need to collect them and show them to the king. It is here where King Lamoni, in chapter 18 verse 2 says,

    “Surely, this is more than a man. Behold, is not this the Great Spirit who doth send such great punishmnets upon this people, because of their murders?”

    Ammon was so powerful that the king believed him to be God.

    In verse 18, King Lamoni asks Ammon if he is the Great Spirit.

    Ammon’s simple reply in verse 19 is, “I am not.”

    Their conversation continues and Ammon begins to teach Lamoni about the one true God. Lamoni asks in verse 33, “Art thou sent from God?”

    This is what jumped out to me and made me think. It wasn’t long ago that King Lamoni thought Ammon was actually God. It’s a natural progression, I think, to then ask if he was sent from God. Ammon’s reply is found in verses 34 and 35:

    “I am a man; and man in the beginning was created after the image of God, and I am called by his Holy Spirit to teach these things unto this people, that they may be brought to a knowledge of that which is just and true;

    And a portion of that Spirit dwelleth in me, which giveth me knowledge, and also power according to my faith and desires which are in God.”

    I am called by his Holy Spirit.

    This made me think. Ammon could have simply replied, yes, I am from God. Instead, he chose to use the question as an opportunity to expound and teach about God and our relationship to Him.

    What do missionaries say when a stranger or someone they’re teaching asks the simple question, “Are you sent from God?”

    I hope it is without hesitation that the response comes, a resounding: YES.

    This led me to think even deeper about this. King Lamoni was asking if God guided Ammon there. Ammon replied that God had. But what if Lamoni was asking if Ammon came directly from the presence of God to teach him? That question isn’t that crazy after asking the person if they were God. Ammon could have equally replied to that question: Yes. He came from the presence of God to teach King Lamoni and his people.

    Every missionary serving Jesus Christ came from the presence of God to this earth with the purpose of going on a mission, teaching others about God, and bringing others unto Christ.

    How often do our missionaries think this way? I hope daily. It is a powerful thing to understand that you were sent directly from God for this important mission.

    Neil A Maxwell when speaking of the star that signaled Christ’s birth said,

    “The same God that placed that star in a precise orbit millennia before it appeared over Bethlehem in celebration of the birth of the babe has given at least equal attention to the placement of each of us in precise human orbits so that we may, if we will, illuminate the landscape of our individual lives so that our light might not only lead others but warn them as well.”

    God knows our missionaries. God loves our missionaries. God sent our missionaries, directly from His presence, to shine their lights and illuminate this world. I am so grateful for our missionaries.

  • Share Your Light

    Share Your Light

    In Teaching in Heaven I talked about the struggle of sharing the gospel with friends and loved ones who have such a different starting point in religious background and understanding from what I have. I talked about how this can be frustrating at times. This is a follow up to that post. This is more a reminder for myself than anything.

    When I was Ward Mission Leader, I worked with a missionary who once said, “Be disappointed, but don’t get discouraged.” This is a saying I’ve tried to remember and sometimes could be easier said than done. When that frustration builds that those around me having zero interest in something so important to me, I get frustrated. When nobody seems to want to talk about things that have eternal significance, I have to work to be disappointed but not discouraged. It was explained that disappointment is temporary and can be combatted, but once you get discouraged, that is constant, and hard to shake. It is difficult to recover from discouragement.

    I believe it’s important while we’re here to share ourselves and to share our stories. We have all been given some level of light that we can share, and we can only share that light if we share ourselves. This isn’t restricted to those in the Church of Jesus Christ. This is about everyone. We’re all here for a reason and all have something to share.

    We don’t put a candle under a bushel. We let it burn bright (Matthew 5:15-16).

    While everyone needs to share themselves, for those who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ, it’s important to remember what we have to share. It’s important we share the light we’ve been given that has eternal significance. And then, after sharing your light, don’t be discouraged. Share and love and give and know that these moments of sharing will be immensely important. Don’t let yourself forget that one day when we all remember why we were here, every person you shared the light of Christ with will want to thank you for sharing that light. And how great will be your joy in the kingdom of your Father with those people (D&C 18:15-16).

    So when the world tells you to be shy about your religion, to be reserved about your religion, to not share these important things, remember what Christ said. The world will love you not for you share things not of this world. The world hated Him, because He wasn’t of the world (John 17:14-16). Step above the world as often as you can and share those parts of you, your testimony, that will make someone greet you with a hug of love when this life is over.

    That’s what this life is all about, after all. Share your light. Don’t cover your candle.

    Be disappointed in the world and the distractions that take so many away from true joy, but don’t be discouraged.

    One day Christ will say to you, “I always knew you.”  That, and bringing others unto Him will be worth all the disappointment this world can give. 

    Share yourself.  Share your story.  Share your light.

  • The Journal Entry of Beth’s Conversion Story

    The Journal Entry of Beth’s Conversion Story

    This is my wife, Beth’s testimony exactly as written.  Names have been changed.

    In a future post I will give some of my thoughts about this, but for now, the power of her testimony should stand on its own, unencumbered by any comments I could hope to make.

    Here it is.

    The Journal Entry of Beth’s Conversion Story

    April 20, 2016

                   I just read my patriarchal blessing for the second time since I got it. It confirmed promptings I’ve been having lately that I should do some journaling for myself and posterity so, even though it is past midnight I felt it better to do this than mindlessly fall asleep to some Netflix show. The past few years have had so much I don’t know how to fit everything I should write to remember. So, because of my failings as a journal writer, it will have to be a highlight reel of life. I just feel some changes that have occurred are too important to neglect to include.

                   I am in my third year at ASU. I love it, I love learning, but my diagnosis with clinical depression in October 2015 has really been a roadblock in my ability to work hard. Luckily, after dropping out for a semester, I’m slowly starting to feel like myself again. I’m not taking medication anymore but I’ve been hiking often and the feeling I get from pushing myself and being physically fit really serves as a great anti-depressant. So I’m back in school with just 9 credit hours, but hard classes. (1920’s senior thesis, history of college sports, and existentialism) I will probably graduate in about a year and do some sort of graduate school program. I previously had been dead set on going to law school. However, I’ve had to rethink my career path after being diagnosed with the depression episode. I don’t really trust myself to be able to go through law school. I always had 100% confidence in my academic capabilities. Now, I’ve taken a real hit to that confidence. My patriarchal blessing does mention that through my righteousness I will have many different career options. That has been comforting.

                   Life has been full of changes the past year. I think the biggest one that I will write on is about the ending of my very serious relationship with John for 2 ½ years and my decision to come back to church. I dated him from senior year of high school all the way up to just short of my 21st birthday. I really thought I loved him. He and I had plans to even get married one day. We were HS sweethearts and he was what I considered my first real love. I feel a real sense of anger at the situation but I also can’t help but think I will always love who he used to be and what we used to have.

    Initially, since about sophomore year of high school, I was set on not being LDS. I didn’t have a testimony of the Book of Mormon, I didn’t believe what the prophets spoke about. I wanted to live contrary to many of the commandments. I never cared to enter the temple. I was prepared to live that life with John too. We were definitely not living by LDS standards and that is exactly what I wanted. I was perfectly happy breaking the word of wisdom and living contrary to the law of chastity, among other things. Our relationship was never perfect. We fought often. He drank. I remember one day he drank so much he wound up in the hospital knocked out. For approximately 5 hours I sat there watching him, angry, upset, feeling betrayed, but wanting to show compassion. He cheated on me many times. I would often find messages on his phone texting other girls. He was perfectly fine with going out and getting drunk with other girls when I wasn’t around. Dramatic scenarios like these were often. I didn’t like who I was when I was with him. But I lost touch with who I used to be or who I could be. And when there were good times, I felt some amazing love. I just started to realize I had a better potential and I deserved better.

                   The changes came slowly at first. I remember when Clark was on his mission, I had one night where I felt so very, extremely alone. Not just physically but much deeper than that. It was dark. I was overcome by hopelessness. It was a feeling I almost lack the ability to explain. I now think it was a result of separating myself so far from the spirit that the light from Christ dimmed. I was prideful. I hadn’t prayed in years. But I did. I prayed in that moment. Desperately. I pleaded with God, please take this feeling from me even though I know I don’t deserve it. Immediately, my fear dissipated and calm overwhelmed me. That was the first time I understood how real prayer was. I wish I could convey that feeling to others. It was painful, scary, optimistic, and inspiring all at once. That was a start.

                   Any institute classes at ASU helped too. I didn’t mind studying the gospel from an intellectual standpoint so I liked going. I read scriptures. I discussed the gospel. I often was so eager to share what I learned with John. Sometimes he’d listen, other times he’d pretend to. It was awkward. I wanted to share what I found profound and he was resistant. But again, there were slow changes creeping in. I was realizing what the words of the gospel could mean. And he was realizing that he wanted nothing to do with it.

                   The real changes began around the start of 2015. I had quit or was about to quit partaking in most of the big sins I had been living in for years. I had already quit drinking and I was ready to cut-off the intimate aspect of my relationship with John. I had an institute class on the Teachings of the Latter-Day Prophets at this time. For some scheduling reason, I missed that class often. To make up absences we had to write papers on general conference talks. (Which I had never listened to previously in my life) So I did it. And that was a blessing in disguise. Again, I took it as an intellectual opportunity, like listening to Gospel TED Talks. At first I learned a lot. But then I began to feel a lot. I studied the atonement. And the friendship and companionship of Christ. I studied talks on being genuine and being compassionate. I began to slowly feel a change of heart, a softening of a heart that had been proud for many years. And even though I thought I was happy before, I started to feel joy. Real joy. And I started to feel love for others. Real Christ-like love. And I started to understand my divine purpose. The real potential I could live up to. Then came the dreams that gave the final push.

                   I’ve had vivid and detailed dreams for a few years now. Often they are silly. But often they are profound. Sometimes they even come true. I know that for many of us, the spirit speaks to us in dreams. For context, it is important to know I never wanted to get married in the temple before in my life and I never had been the kind of girl to dream excessively of my wedding day either. However, I had about four dreams where I was walking out of the temple in a white dress looking happier than I’d ever been lovingly holding the hand of a man. These dreams always ended right before I saw the face of the man I married. One night, I had the fifth identical dream but this time the man was John.

                   In addition, I had another dream that my friend Mike was home from his mission, in white, crying and saying how proud he was while hugging another person dressed in white. As he turned around it became clear it was John on his baptism day! So with these dreams I thought I knew what it meant! John and I would change our ways, repent, convert, and live happily ever after.

                   But of course that isn’t what happened. As a side note, I now have a different interpretation of those dreams. I think God was showing me what could be. What I should want to be. And as I saw that possibility play out in my dreams but realized that it could not be a reality in real life I had to consider what I truly wanted and expected for myself. After I broke up with John I had the wedding dream only once more. It was once again identical to the dreams before. But I saw the man I was going to marry. It isn’t like I could list a particular physical look I had for him but it’s as if I knew who he was anyway. As if the trust and love I had for him made me know him. And it made me desire so much to strive to one day be endowed so that I will get to marry that man and walk out of the temple with him one day. That was the first time I wanted to go through the temple. I now hope to be endowed and sealed one day.

    So after these dreams I tried to appeal to John, first by asking him to quit drinking. I wanted so badly to have the life I thought I knew we could have. But we were sent here with free will and someone needs to want to change in order to truly change. He did not want to change. The last few months were devastating. I thought I loved John, I was otherwise so happy, but my relationship was suffering. I was starting to open up to the gospel, to build a relationship with Christ. I was doing well in school, I was making many friends. But we had diverged. Thankfully I was blessed to be given so many obvious signs of what was right that I knew without any doubt there was no turning back from the Gospel at this point. I either go forward with this change next to John or I go forward without him. But I had to go forward And so June came, he sat on my front doorstep. We talked kindly but distanced. And that was it. I was sad. The man I thought I loved was gone. But inexplicably I felt so at peace. It felt okay. I felt optimistic. I sensed a hard path ahead but I knew it was going to be worth it.

                   So here I am with that journey under my belt. It has left me at times feeling damaged. I’m generally a confident person but I took a real hit to my self worth after this. The depression has made me feel like I’m not as smart or capable as I thought I was. My failed relationship made me feel I’m not worth someone’s loyalty or commitment That no matter how pretty or smart or funny or confident they think I am that a life with me wasn’t worth giving up something as trivial as alcohol. That my friends weren’t wiling to stick around when I chose to give up sin and follow Christ. But the gospel keeps me going.

                   I can’t wait to love someone that chooses to love me fully back. I hope one day I can trust myself to do that. I hope one day I can give 100% of my love and feel it back. I want to trust that I’m worth someone’s loyalty. I want to trust I’m worth a righteous man. I pray to become better through this trial so I can be worth it one day.

    And in the end of this trial I realize I’m grateful for it. I look to those times where I was given a sign and a testimony loud and clear when I’m beginning to doubt. And I’ve doubted. I was proud enough to think blessings would rain down on me immediately after this big step. They didn’t, at least not in the form I had expected. I’ve dated in the YSA ward but there hasn’t been anyone I’m seriously in to. In fact I almost find myself incapable of emotionally attaching to anyone. I’ve dealt with crippling depression. I lost friends. People decided they would choose John over me. They decided it was better to have the partying John than the sober Beth. I lost direction in my career path. But among all these trials I now understand what is temporary and what is eternal. It was the most alone I had ever felt. But I finally knew I wasn’t really ever alone.

                   I had to go through my own repentance process with the bishop. (Farnsworth then Thurston) It was scary. But I now love and feel the atonement for real. Every time I pray, I thank Heavenly Father for Christ’s atonement. I needed the atonement then, and I need it now. My testimony in the atonement holds me over when my testimony in other aspects is less stable. My testimony of the eternal nature of being is so strong. My testimony of Christ’s personal relationship to us through prayer is tangible.

                   I love Christ. I feel him there because he knows my pain. He’s been my friend when all hope was gone. I’m not completely myself again but I find joy in reaching out to those who I sense also feel alone, damaged, or scared. My trial has given me an ability to reach out to those in pain just as Christ does. And I feel real, Christ-like love that I’ve never felt before. I look at people with a new light now because of it.  I try to understand the principle of forgiveness because I need it. I long to maintain an eternal perspective because I knew what challenges there were to face on Earth yet I boldly said I was ready to do it. And I will continue to do so.

                   I look forward to the day I can look back and understand the ‘why’ of my experiences and trials. But for now I will press on with hope and gratitude. I know my Savior lives. I hope I never doubt it! I hope I never forget. I am so grateful for the hard times. I’m grateful for humility and for this clarity. I’m so grateful for my story.

    Elisabeth Brooke Cannon