Well it's finally here! I'm going on a mission!
About time right?? My call came on April fools day so I'm still hoping my name
is on the ship out list when I get down to Provo.
That Wednesday night was to date the happiest
time of my life and my anticipation and excitement has been building every day
since.
The topic I was asked to speak on is faith and
preparing for a mission.
Surrounded by friends and family I opened a call
to serve our lord and his children in the Tuxtla Gutierrez Mexico mission.
Reading that right there was a huge testimony builder of faith to me, because
if The Lord trusts me to serve and teach the people of Mexico in Spanish, then
he must have an ace up his sleeve that he hasn't slid under the table to me yet.
Often times we are taught faith with Alma’s
example of a seed being planted and a farmers faith that it will grow. We have
all heard this example a hundred times.
The point that I want to
single out is If you were to ask a farmer why he has this faith, he would
probably reply that it's because he has seen it every season for years and
years, his dad taught him and did the same, because his dad taught him.
Well that is why we are given this book right
here(scriptures), here are our seasons of spiritual farming with countless
examples of seeds planted, nourished, and harvested.
Would a farmer plant if he did not expect to
harvest?
Would we study and learn if we did not believe
we could obtain wisdom and knowledge? Its that simple.
Each day we act upon things we hope for when we
cannot see the end result. This is faith."
We have so many examples of faith in the
scriptures(get examples)
This is why we are encouraged to stay in our
scriptures on a daily basis, so that we can be reminded of these examples of
our fathers before us, apply the same faith in our lives and harvest the reward
of happiness and blessings that doing so brings.
I am always astounded by
the faith of little children, I wish that I could stay that young, naïve, and
in tune forever. Unfortunately as we get older, pride kicks in and we tend to
get a little hot headed and think that we know better sometimes.
(Jonah
and the Teacher)
There is a story of an elementary school science
teacher teaching her class about the ocean and while talking about whales a
little boy raised his hand and said that he was never going in the ocean so he
would never get eaten by a whale.
The teacher explained that it was physically
impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though they are very
large mammals their throats are very small.
A little girl immediately stood up and stated
that a whale had swallowed the prophet Jonah.
Irritated, the teacher re-stated that it was
physically impossible, and asked the little girl how she knew it happened.
The little girl said, "I'm not sure how,
but I read my scriptures and I know it happened, and when I get to heaven I
will ask Jonah myself."
The teacher replied smugly, "What if Jonah
isn't in heaven?"
The little girl replied, "well Then you ask
him."
I know it’s a little silly but I love the principle taught. I love how that child's faith was unwavering even when she
didn’t quite understand why something is the way it is but she knew it was true. It's a quality that I've been working on personally because I'm the type
that tries to use logic and evidence to prove something is true.
Through studying and
prayer, I have learned to realize that there ARE just some things that I might not quite understand now, or in this life. But based on the feelings I get, it
is revealed to me that it is true. I am learning to humble myself and trust god. Because when his hand is involved, I have faith that I need not to worry
about the specifics to understand exactly how or why.
As a missionary I will be teaching by the sprit,
which is based on and inspired by my faith in order to inspire faith in others
and give them the desire to obtain that knowledge and wisdom for themselves. As
alma says in chapter 29 verse 9 : “perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands
of god to bring some soul to repentance ; and this is my joy”
As youth and those of us preparing to serve
missions, we rely on our faith to keep us worthy. Faith in the purity, faith in
tithing, faith in obedience and honoring our parents, even if it means our
curfew is such that we might have to be home earlier than some of our friends.
Most of all, we
need to have the Faith to take on the name of Christ so when people encounter
us, they not only see and feel us, they feel Christ, who has become a part of
us. This is the example we will be
setting in the mission field.
There are a million bad
excuses why not to go, and frankly, I tried just about every one of them and
couldn't convince myself over the infinite number of reasons to go.
But, this paper right here is worth more to me
than any paycheck, any vehicle title, or any diploma. All of which will all be
waiting home for the taking when I get back. But what you'll do and what you'll
learn on a mission will be irreplaceable. As it says in DC 18:10 remember the
worth of souls is great in the sight of god.
If you want to go...GO! Give a little of
yourself to receive a lot more of him, and do the things you need to do to get
there…. No matter how you look at it, preparation begins now. Have the courage
to keep yourself clean-and if there's anything that needs to be taken care of, get after it! meet with your bishop
this week, and before you know it, it will all be water under the bridge. Just
take care of it! Have faith in yourself that you can stand up to
temptation(even when everyone else isn't), that you can be strong and take on
his name worthily.
I had a bishop once that told this Story of a
man who owned a fleet of trucks that had to carry goods along dangerous
mountain roads. When it was time to hire a new driver he would take that driver
to an especially dangerous section of road that was very narrow and had a sheer
cliff on one side of it. He would ask the driver, how close do you think you
can drive to the edge of that cliff and still keep control of your truck
without going over the edge? The first drivers reply was "I could drive a
foot away from the edge no problem!" The second driver said that he could
stay a mere 6 inches away and not go over. When the boss brought the third
driver to the cliff and asked him the same question, he looked at the cliff
carefully before he replied and said "I don't know, but I'm not even
getting within ten feet of it!"....the third driver was hired.
After telling this story, bishop would go on to
tell us that with respect to sin and those things we know are wrong, we need to
be like the third driver and not see how close we can get without going over
the edge, but rather staying a good ten feet away from those things that will
cause heartache and strife in our lives.
One of the best ways to
keep this much needed distance from sin is by surrounding yourself with the
people that will get you where you want to be.
There is a saying that says
It takes a village to raise a child and I've been lucky to have been surrounded
by some good examples all my life.
Being Father's Day I'd
like to start with my dad because I owe a lot of where I am today to him. I've
learned a lot of things from that I will use the rest of my life like tough
love, hard work, and how to not get taken advantage of. He's showed me how to
have a sense of humor, even when in the moment everything seems like it just
sucks.
I also look up to my dad for his faith he had to
join the church. A lot of you know that he joined the church a lot later in
life than many of us. I can only hope that my faith would have been as strong
as his, had I not been raised in the church. If he hadn't decided to join and
set the example of a worthy priesthood holder in our home, it's a roll of the
dice of where I'd be today.
One of the perks of going
on a mission is I get to dodge marriage for a couple more years! It seems like everyone my age is getting married right now so I'm glad I get to dodge that
bullet for awhile!....that being said when the time comes, I am confident that the things I will learn on my mission and the things I have learned from my
father will help guide me in choosing a young woman to stand by me through thick and thin for eternity.
From my mom I have learned unconditional
love……many times over because, I also think I'm the one who taught it to her. I've also taken note of many other qualities in my mom that will help me in
choosing the mother of my future children.
I've had a good boss that I've worked for and played with for years, and has taught me how to work for the things you want, to
always stay busy because the devil rides an idle horse, And to always stay one step ahead of your opponent, whoever or whatever your opponent may be.
Friends are huge, I've had good ones and bad ones and learned equally as much from both
From my friends I've learned moderation in all things and how to keep it pinned and still have the time of our lives all while
keeping the commandments.
On top of that I have had handfuls upon handfuls of bishops, teachers, and leaders that have helped nurse me along the way.
I recently had the opportunity to attend the court of honor of one of my best friends that received his Eagle Scout. This is
a great accomplishment for him and attending his ceremony was a big reminder to me of all the things that I learned from scouting. On top of skills learned.
Even though it's not it's purpose by definition, Is there a better program for preparing young men to serve missions?
A program that coaches us from a young age all the way up till we are young men to live our lives in a trustworthy loyal
helpful friendly courteous kind obedient cheerful thrifty brave clean and reverent manner. Is there a better definition of a missionary? All of these
things are taught in the scouting program and are a great standard to live by weather you are preparing to serve or not.
Some of my most memorable experiences as a
teenager were spent in the companionship of my scout leaders, many of which I have made life long friends and will use their counsel, guidance, and example
not only on my mission but for the rest of my life.
Like I said before, if you want to go, GO!
Don’t make excuses and Stick to your guns if you
believe in something, no matter what!
Remember who you are Cause
it's better to be hated for who you are than loved for who your not.
Yes I am going to miss my family, friends, school,
motorcycles, and vacations. These are all things that I love. But I am going to
do something that I love even more, and that Is this gospel.
And with that I'd like to end with my Testimony, that I know this gospel is the answer. I know
that through it, we can find happiness.
I know that its
restoration was commenced by a very special man on a early spring morning in
1820 in Manchester New York.
I know that I will make
mistakes, but I also know repentance is real and that through it I can be clean again.
I know that prayer is
real, it’s the bridge between panic and peace.
He knows what your going
through, he knows your joys and happiness he knows your pains and sorrows.
I know he wants us to be
happy, I have faith in all these things
Elder Barker
Holy cow things move fast here. The first days are like a hundred miles an hour and its crazy how much they teach and how much you actually learn even at that pace! Things are great! My companions name is Elder Rowland, he is from Pleasant Grove and he is very quiet. It is like pulling teeth to get
him to have a conversation with me. when we were all getting to know eachother, he honestly told all of us that he doesnt do anything and just sits at home. Im a little worried about him because of this. We taught our first investigator yesterday IN SPANISH!!! but the second we got in the room with the investigator
he froze up and wouldnt talk. I tell him hes like a turtle and he just hasnt come out of his shell yet. but im going to get him out of that shell, I know it. Thats why he was put with me. I get along with everyone really well and yesterday I got chosen to be my district leader, a little scary, but good! One thing that I have learned and I know mom will laugh at and say thank goodness for, is the necessity to be organized. I only have six weeks here to get proficient in the gospel and my language, so literally every minute is important. Stupid little things like looking for your name badge or a pen, eat up valuable time that could be used for preparing. I have already gotten lots better at it. So Saturday is my P-Day and that
is the only time that I can write emails but I can get letters every day. I met the president yesterday and
he is very cool and very loving. The campus we are on is called the west campus because it is is west of the main MTC, Its about a 5 minute bus ride away from where you dropped me off. This campus is Spanish speaking missionaries only. Its in an appartment complex for BYU. I think they had to do this due to the huge influx of missionaries, spanish being the largest mass next to English, so they moved us to this campus. Since were here, we only go to the main campus once or twice a week. On P-Days we go to the temple in the morning as a zone and on the way back we stopped for lunch at that main campus. While in the lunch room I kept looking and looking for, and who I finally found.....THE LONG LOST CAILEB!!!! We both litterally almost dropped our trays because we were soooo excited to see each other. We slammed them down onto a table and embraced
eachother in a huge hug. It was fantastic to see him doing so well and so happy, he was glowing. We talked all lunch as fast as we could to try and get as much out as we could. I was so relived to see that big smile on his face, love in his eyes, and still have that goofy Caileb twist!
Missionaries pray for EVERYTHING. haha. Even for safety on the basketball court. A little hard to get used to just because its hard to remember sometimes, but im getting used to it and I love it. The spirit here is
so strong and its the perfect environment for all of us missionaries learning. 
