Missionary

Of Generators and Blinker Lights

You should hear the sounds just beyond the shuttered windows of our little house. At night, it is the jungle with tropical birds and coqui frogs. In the morning we have a rooster, so anxious to crow out his duty that he starts at 4:30 am. We hear songs and political rallies from the park just behind us. I like the life inherent in all of this symphony, but there is one sound I dislike. It is the whirr of the generator that means another neighbor has lost power.

Sometimes that generator sound comes from across the street, which means we have lost power too. That happened this week. After ten days ago, enduring three days without power when the garbage truck hit a pole, I thought our power was forever guaranteed. Not so. When we arrived home one evening our house was dark, our neighbor had his generator going, and we were without power once again. We called Luma, the power company, and they said there were so many calls before ours, they didn’t know when the power would come on again.

Lucky for us, we were lit again in only about 10 hours. It’s a fascinating thing to live tied to a computer, a refrigerator and an air conditioner so tightly and being surprised here and there to find it’s gone.

Yet, the brown outs are not as big a surprise as we continue to find in traffic. We learned that here, in Puerto Rico, almost nobody uses a blinker as they drive. It’s disconcerting. It’s dangerous. It’s downright scary to drive, but Scot tells me you have to develop a different mentality. A car can slip in front of you, going much slower than you are, at any time, and what is required is the courtesy to let them in.

What I wonder is how you know they are coming? By intuition? With good guessing? By hope? Scot does very well at this driving. He seems to know how to surge and then how to stay with the car. When we find another car that does use a blinker, we call them “blinker buddies” and it forms a sort of mysterious kinship in our hearts for those who will signal right or left.

“Hey, there’s a blinker buddy,” we call out when we drive and see someone with a blinker. We asked our neighbor about this who was born in Puerto Rico and her take was this: “We wouldn’t want to use a blinker as if we were aggressive and only going to have the road our way.” Puerto Rico is all about relationships, and that is true even on the road where we watch out for each other. That is, at least, her take on it.

There you go. An honest cultural difference.

Missionary Christmas Celebration with a Touch of Puerto Rico

What every mission leader and every senior missionary hopes, is that the young elders and sisters will find their mission transforming—that the best convert in their 18 months or two years will be themselves.

Thus, we testify, tutor, and teach them to have enhanced understanding of the gospel and it is, without doubt, one of the most important things we are called to do.

This past week our mission had two large zone conferences that brought all our missionaries together, both to be taught and to celebrate. This means that the elders on the 7 islands in our mission were flown in as well, so this one time of year the missionaries come as close to being all at the same place at the same time as possible.

Because it is Christmas, our remarkable mission leaders made everything special. Tables were decked with red table cloths and Christmas trees. The white board was wrapped like a package so it could be used as a backdrop for photos. Sister Karryl Horstmeier had brought along Christmas props to add to your head to make the photo board especially festive. Missionaries could put on lights that glowed, reindeer horns, or a Santa hat to take a photo to send home.

We sang the Twelve Days of Christmas with our own unique take, such as “On the fifth day of Christmas, my mission president gave to me—five family trees, four Preach My Gospels, three office elders, two telephones, one virtual interview.”

It was fun and high-spirited, but what Scot and I particularly loved was our chance to address the missionaries with me in the morning, doing a 50-minute talk on the last week of the Savior’s life, and him in the afternoon, telling the life of Joseph Smith in a two-hour presentation. For both, we used slides from photos that Scot has taken over many years and a poignant music track.

I love Scot’s photography, which is moving to me. In both presentations, the Spirit was so strong, and such a deep blessing for us and the missionaries. It was a time never to be forgotten.

Here’s a little snippet from each of our talks:

In speaking of the garden, I mentioned Orson F. Whitney’s vision of Gethsemane:

One who saw this scene in vision records, “I seemed to be in the Garden of Gethsemane, a witness of the Savior’s agony. I saw Him as plainly as ever I have seen anyone. Standing behind a tree in the foreground, I beheld Jesus, with Peter, James and John, as they came through a little wicket gate at my right. . . As He prayed the tears streamed down his face, which was toward me. I was so moved at the sight that I also wept, out of pure sympathy. My whole heart went out to him: I loved him with all my soul, and longed to be with him as I longed for nothing else. . .

The Savior, with the three Apostles, . . . were about to depart. . . I could endure it no longer. I ran from behind the tree, fell at his feet, clasped Him around the knees, and begged him to take me with him. I shall never forget the kind and gentle manner in which He stooped, raised me up, and embraced me. . . I felt the very warmth of his body, as he held me in his arms and said in tenderest tones: ‘No, my son, these have finished their work; they can go with me; but you must stay and finish yours.’ Still I clung to him. Gazing up into his face—for he was taller than I—I besought him fervently: ‘Well, promise me that I will come to you at the last.’ Smiling sweetly, He said, ‘That will depend entirely upon yourself.’

From Scot and the life of the Prophet Joseph:

“I watched the missionaries closely as I was teaching about the depths of pain and suffering that the Prophet Joseph experienced in the ironically-named Liberty Jail. These missionaries are young in the gospel and for some, this was their first time really hearing any details about the jail experience for Joseph.

“B.H. Roberts, Neal Maxwell, Jeffrey R. Holland, Truman Madsen and others have referred to this as a temple-prison, a time of sacred learning for the Prophet.

“I asked the missionaries, “Who knew the Book of Mormon better than anyone in the world at that time?” The Prophet Joseph. And I do not think it far-fetched to think that during this grueling time in this frontier jail dungeon, the story of Alma and Amulek in the prison at Ammonihah may have passed through Joseph’s mind when they brought the prison down by the use of their faith and priesthood power. And isn’t it significant that the Lord used this time to teach Joseph the righteous use of the priesthood and the definition of priesthood power?” “No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile—Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved…” (Doctrine and Covenants 121:41-43) These missionaries really understood this.

Testimony Meeting

When they were given a short time to bear their testimonies that day, the missionaries came hurrying in a line up to the front benches, full of the Spirit and waiting for their turn to speak. There were many tears. Here’s a sample of single lines on the atonement from the testimonies that Scot quickly recorded.

He needs you to change.

Elder says to the Lord, “I’m so sorry for this thing I have done.”  The Lord: “I don’t remember that.”

You have to leave things behind.

There is someone who understands us at this moment. That is Jesus Christ.

God has promised us joy as we follow his commandments. He wants us to have joy.

We don’t have to be afraid to ask for God’s counsel.

Do you believe God will ever give a commandment to His children that will lead to unhappiness? Of course not!

Lean on our testimonies. We’re all with you to help come unto Jesus Christ.

Believe in Him. He believes in you. You won’t ever be alone.

His name is already on your chest. Make it in your heart.

He still wants to be our friend even when we are acting like an enemy to Him.

I have seen the dark and bitter gall of sin. And I have come out the other side through the Atonement.

When we really say, “Thy will be done,” we are letting His power into our lives.

I know that Jesus Christ is with us and if you don’t feel it, you’re probably not listening.

In my life Jesus Christ has really changed me.

We need to look to Christ in all we do and He will lift us up.

I was told to let the mission change me and it certainly has. I’ll be forever grateful for it.

It’s powerful for me to think of Him reaching down lo lift me up.

I promise that if you cannot feel the love of the Savior, it is still there. I know this.

A dad to his missionary son who was kind of discouraged: “Congratulations. You just reached the entire climax of Christianity—you don’t feel like you’re enough!”

Your mission was pretty tough? If I didn’t know who the Savior was, I never would have been here.

We thought these missionary testimonies were moving and spiritually mature, with very personal insights on the Savior’s atonement in our lives.

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Sometimes the Lord sends a blessing in disguise. With all of the many troubles with our house, we have had the help of our neighbor Marie. I really have to acknowledge that each challenge from cold showers to running (or non-functioning) toilets was quite inconvenient and miserable, stopping us from getting involved in our real work here. Yet, it seems the Lord had something better in mind, because every day our neighbor would come to help. She brought me ginger and honey to make herbal tea when I was sick. She is the Mama of the neighborhood and she has taken us on.

(Here I am at her front door) We have been interested in her old family pictures, talked family history and been a friend. It has been symbiotic and sincere. She has a much better view of the temple outside her front door than we do, and remember, the temple is so close, it cannot be ignored. She hasn’t.

She came up to us and said, “I want to go to church, and I have a very special dress all ready to go.”

After church, we got her a copy of The Book of Mormon, then showed her the Book of Mormon app and she said, “I love reading and I will read this entire book. I promise.”

Now that’s golden.