7/22/2024 - Week - 53 - We Three Kings

No, it's not because we're in a trio.

This week has been really good!

We have 3 people on date for this Saturday and they are all pretty much ready for their baptisms so it's smooth sailing now! (it was not smooth sailing this week because we were grinding out getting everything done that they need to before baptism)

I was not feeling very good this last week physically, but I just pushed through and got the work done (as much of it as I can at least). 

I got to go back to Cincinnati (my greenie area) for District Council and we hit up Goodfellas (a fantastic NYC style pizza restaurant) while we were there since they aren't in any other area in the mission! 

We were supposed to have exchanges with our District Leader in our area so we planned 10 lessons for the day so it would be lleno (full) of good opportunities to help him and his comp (they're both pretty new), but they ended up cancelling the morning they were supposed to come over so we were scrambling to figure our how we were gonna get things done. Unfortunately that just meant that we had to reschedule most of them :/ 

We have a ton of Chapíns (Guatemalans) here in our area so we meet a ton of them. We had a tour of the church with one named Santiago and it was honestly a really good tour, but we started out with a prayer (of course) and this friend started hitting what we call the "Chapín prayer" -- where they just start muttering nonsense as you are praying -- right after I started praying. Worst of all, my companions started doing it too and I'll tell you what, it was very hard to keep a straight face and finish that prayer without laughing, but I did. 

We also had a member from Indiana come out to our area to take us to Texas Roadhouse (I'm still not entirely sure why, I think he really just loves the missionaries). 

We also found out this week that our regulations for temple worship changed so now I can go to the temple every 3 months! So thats a huge bonus!

We put another friend on date this week and it was really cool because we taught her the Plan of Salvation and our member, Sister Richards, comes in clutch and starts testifying about the importance of baptism and the entire Gospel of Jesus Christ, and then our friend accepted the date to be baptized on August 3rd! She hadn't accepted a baptismal date before that and we had invited her just about every lesson to be baptized. Needless to say we were hyped!

On Saturday we had one of the craziest day's I've ever had on my mission! We didn't have time for weekly planning the day before so we did it in the morning on Saturday, did all of our studies, went to English Class, met our friend Naomy and her (now) husband, Daniel, right before their wedding, and then scooted down to Kentucky for a baptism that my companion, Elder Wilkins, baptized! The story there is really cool! Elder Wilkins found this guy on his 2nd day in the field when he didn't even really know Spanish all that much. They've stayed in contact his whole mission because they have a really good friendship, and then in the last few months, the friend started reading the Book of Mormon for real and started to realize that he has a testimony of the restoration and that he does want to turn his life around and get baptized, so Elder Wilkins was able to finally baptize him in his last transfer on the mission, less than a month before he will be headed home! So cool!

Really thats all that happened this week. If all goes well, we should have 3 baptisms this Saturday and have 3 more people on date for the next couple of weeks! 

GOD IS GOOD!

Spiritual Thought: I spent most of my personal studies this week studying the conference talks from President Monson (because he's the GOAT) and a talk I enjoyed a ton was called "Anonymous" from April of 1983 and it focuses a ton on the importance of combating pride y selfishness. It mostly is a summary of the story "The Mansion"

"Perhaps no one in my reading has portrayed this teaching of the Master quite so memorably or so beautifully as Henry Van Dyke in his never-to-be-forgotten “The Mansion.” In this classic is featured one John Weightman, a man of means, a dispenser of political power, a successful citizen. His philosophy toward giving can be gained from his own statement: “Of course you have to be careful how you give, in order to secure the best results—no indiscriminate giving—no pennies in beggars’ hats! … Try to put your gifts where they can be identified and do good all around.” (See “The Mansion,” Unknown Quantity: A Book of Romance and Some Half-told Tales, New York: Scribner’s, 1918, pp. 337, 339.) 

One evening, John Weightman sat in his comfortable chair at his library table and perused the papers before him spread.

There were descriptions and pictures of the Weightman wing of the hospital and the Weightman Chair of Political Jurisprudence, as well as an account of the opening of the Weightman Grammar School. John Weightman felt satisfied. 

He picked up the family Bible which lay on the table, turned to a passage and read to himself the words: 

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” (Matt. 6:19–20.) 

The book seemed to float away from him. He leaned forward upon the table, his head resting on his folded hands. He slipped into a deep sleep. 

In his dream, John Weightman was transported to the Heavenly City. 

A guide met him and others whom he had known in life and advised that he would conduct them to their heavenly homes. 

The group paused before a beautiful mansion and heard the guide say, “This is the home for you, Dr. McLean. Go in; there is no more sickness here, no more death, nor sorrow, nor pain; for your old enemies are all conquered. But all the good that you have done for others, all the help that you have given, all the comfort that you have brought, all the strength and love that you bestowed upon the suffering, are here; for we have built them all into this mansion for you.” (“The Mansion,” pp. 361–62.) 

A devoted husband of an invalid wife was shown a lovely mansion, as were a mother, early widowed, who reared an outstanding family, and a paralyzed young woman who had lain for thirty years upon her bed—helpless but not hopeless—succeeding by a miracle of courage in her single aim: never to complain, but always to impart a bit of her joy and peace to everyone who came near her. 

By this time, John Weightman was impatient to see what mansion awaited him. As he and the Keeper of the Gate walked on, the homes became smaller—then smaller. 

At last they stood in the middle of a dreary field and beheld a hut, hardly big enough for a shepherd’s shelter. Said the guide, “This is your mansion, John Weightman.” 

In desperation, John Weightman argued, “Have you not heard that I have built a schoolhouse; a wing of a hospital; … three … churches?” 

“Wait,” the guide cautioned. “… They were not ill done. But they were all marked and used as foundations for the name and mansion of John Weightman in the world. … Verily, you have had your reward for them. Would you be paid twice?” A sadder but wiser John Weightman spoke more lowly: “What is it that counts here?” Came the reply, “Only that which is truly given. Only that good which is done for the love of doing it. Only those plans in which the welfare of others is the master thought. Only those labors in which the sacrifice is greater than the reward. Only those gifts in which the giver forgets himself.” (“The Mansion,” pp. 364–68.) 

John Weightman was awakened by the sound of the clock chiming the hour of seven. He had slept the night through. 

As it turned out, he yet had a life to live, love to share, and gifts to give. Oh, may we remember that"

This story pairs perfectly with Matthew 6:1-4 which says:

"1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. 

2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 

3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: 

4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly."

I thought about this in the context of obedience to the commandments (but it can be applied to a whole lot more). When we keep the commandments so we can be seen by others or so that we can look the part of a Christian, we have our own reward, we do not deserve to recieve another payment for that. However, when we truly keep the commandments because we LOVE GOD then we can be assured that we will have a greater reward! As we learn to love God and show that to Him, we will be laying up in Heaven a great reward!

Adios, sorry this was so long :/

Elder Parker Hansen