Hey bishop,
I received an email from Brother Swallow. Here are my thoughts of missionary work.
I wrote a lot of paragraphs with a lot of words. but i erased it all and put what i really feel about missionary service.
Karina grew up in Colombia. After a lot of suffering from fatigue and hunger and violence, she finally arrived to the land of the free. She had no bed to lay on, but had a room in a nice place called Freehold, New Jersey. Karina engaged in many different activities just to make it by. Searched for many jobs in many places, but still had to resort to some dangerous and unacceptable behavior. Her new boyfriend was put into jail, and now she felt very alone. As she was looking for a job, she met with the two young men strangely dressed for the summers heat. She listened to the young kids as they stumbled in their spanish. They shared a scripture with her about how jesus never will forget about us because we are engraven in his hands (1 hep 21:15-16). The missionaries could see the understanding in her eyes as she realized what jesus had done for her. She looked into her lap and it was quiet. In her lap she remembered all the years she had been tossing and turning on the floor, all the time she suffered the embarrassment and pain of selling herself to strange men just to get through the week, every single time she was scared for her life while she passed those substances to the angry man. In her lap she saw all of it. and although she had passed through all these things and more... it was ok. Life was good. She felt something warm and loving. Life had hope and promise and love because of a stranger that laid his life down for her. She cried. And the strange young men sat there. The warm and loving feeling came from them and from above.
Karina didn't get baptized... But the young man will never forget that afternoon in that strange place far from home. He will not forget what it meant to him or to her what Jesus Christ had done for him and for her, and for all of the broken hearts in the existence of man. He will not forget the love God has for all of men.
Young men... Don't be selfish. Be a missionary.
Young women, you too can serve God as a missionary, but always pray about your decision before you jump into it. Truly seek the Lord's will, and he will guide you where you are needed.
The Book of Mormon is true. No man taught me that. No man can ever teach me that. God the Father revealed it to me through his Holy Spirit. We can know. We can change.
We can be happy. Happiness is all we ever wanted, and all we will ever want. And happiness is sharing the gospel.
13 Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.
Thanks bishop.
Elder McFarland
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