Hey
everyone!
So, I
said last week that I would talk about this whole consecrated missionary thing
that we've started on here in the San Salvador East Mission. Well, it
goes a little something like this...
There
are three types of missionaries in the world: Social Missionaries, Honorable
Missionaries, and Consecrated Missionaries. Social Missionaries were
described by Brigham Young as those who "...go on a mission to preach the
Gospel with lightness and frivolity in [their] heart, looking for this and that,
and to learn what is in the world." This kind of missionary
"will go and return in vain," without gaining anything of eternal
value from their mission.
Next
we have the Honorable Missionaries. Honorable Missionaries are good
missionaries. They are generally obedient. They teach the Gospel
with love, and they find some success as missionaries. They return with
honor.
Then
we have the Consecrated Missionaries. For these missionaries, every
second that they have in the mission is a gift from the Lord. They strive
to use every minute available to do their job: preach the gospel.
Consecrated Missionaries are not just obedient: they are exactly
obedient. They don't just see miracles in their missions, by their faith
and obedience they can make miracles. They are truly aligned with the
will of the Lord, and follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
President
Vasquez challenged all of us to become Consecrated Missionaries. It's not
an easy task. Many times as missionaries we do things that, while they
may not be breaking rules, are not the most effective way to spend our
time. But we've been given some pointers to help us in that journey, both
from President Vasquez and from other church leaders. For example, Elder
Alonso of the Quorum of the Seventy, challenged us to be like submarines:
submerge ourselves in the work, come up to periscope depth for a little while
on P-Day to see the world, then submerge ourselves once again when P-day is
over.
When I
first moved areas, I found some CDs in the house. Turns out they're an
audiobook of Elder James Talmage's "Jesus the Christ." I
thought that was really cool that someone else left them in the house.
After the interviews with President Vasquez, I got to thinking about ways to
improve how I spend my time. I thought of the audiobook CDs. We
have about an hour of prep time in the morning, in which we usually listen to
the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, or just enjoy the quiet. The thought came to
me that I could listen to those CDs in the morning. So I started to do
just that. It's awesome, because that's another hour in the morning
that I can study a very very very in depth analysis of the mortal ministry of
Jesus Christ.
Well,
I'm out of time for this week. Coming up in next week's episode: my
companion. A month is more than enough time to make you all wait to hear
about him.
Photo:
Me with my companion, Elder Merino.
Love, Elder Colton West
El Salvador, San Salvador East Mission
 |
| Elder West & his companion, Elder Merino, in Ilopango |
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