Blog #14 “Washing the Feet”
Last week we closed the apartment of our one MLS (member
leadership support) missionary couple. John
and Barbara Rawlins completed their mission in Bishop, CA. We met them our first week in the mission and
were impressed with the help they gave the young missionaries. MLS missionaries are called to strengthen an
area. My sister Linda and her husband, Lyle,
are serving as MLS missionaries in Florida.
MLS is different than our mission because we are assigned specific
tasks, whereas MLS missionaries define much of their own agendas (such as:
reactivate members, run the addiction recovery groups, help with family
history, and whatever else the local priesthood leader asks). We’ve been hoping another couple would be
assigned here to replace the Rawlins, but that is not happening.
I think when many adults contemplate serving a senior
mission, they imagine themselves teaching the gospel and bringing souls to
Christ. They remember the rigorous schedule of our young missionaries teaching
and preaching, and imagine the joy of that kind of exhaustion. Seniors have some say in the type, length. and
location of missions they serve, but their callings are rarely to proselyte
(though that might happen on occasion.)
Instead, we support the young missionaries, the Mission
President, Branch President, and/or Bishops to whom we are assigned. When I served as a Guest Service Missionary
at Temple Square, I remember a missionary who was working in the family history
center who said she was disappointed when she received that call. Weeks after she started, the brother who
worked next to her reminded her how the Savior served others by washing their
feet. This man felt their calling was
“washing the feet.” The sister
missionary gained a new perspective on the value of her mission.
The couple we replaced, came to stay with us for six
days. We would have loved to work with
them longer; but, even though we have the same assignment they had, our mission
has been very different. They spent
their whole mission finding and opening apartment, and they also handled the
finances. They were the only
missionaries in the ward (there were 12 of us when we first arrived.)
The past two weeks Mike and I have closed eight apartments
in 104˚ heat, made several trips to Good Will, loaded and unloaded the trailer,
taken beds to transferred missionaries (as well as bug spray, and other
necessary items), and received dozens of calls to help with apartment issues. Mike has become quite skilled at driving the
truck and trailer from Mammoth lakes to Palmdale, and all other areas of the
mission. The majority of our days don’t
resemble the memory of our former lives, our career skills, nor our church callings. And sometimes we miss the things we used to
do. We find ourselves wishing we still
had the strength and energy of our 30-year-old bodies. (It is pretty funny when Mike has me on the
other end to lift a dresser or bookcase up a flight of stairs.)
The other day when I was thinking how much fun it would be
to do something like another flash mob on Temple Square or to plan a ward
progressive dinner, I read in Elder Holland’s new book, To My Friends, the chapter “Remember Lot’s Wife.” If you recall, the Lord told Lot’s wife not
to look back. In other words, do not
dwell on days now gone, nor yearn for yesterdays. Elder Holland talks of how faith is always
pointed toward the future. If we yearn
for the past, we might miss the here and now.
Of course, the chapter had much more to it, but I was
thinking how great (and challenging) it is that we are here serving in a
calling that requires us to rely on our faith in a different way. Our days aren’t stressful, but we continually
pray that we are “washing the feet” in a way that shows the Lord how much we
love Him. We must have the faith that these
aging bodies will have the physical strength to accomplish our tasks. We must have the faith to be receptive to
promptings of the Spirit as we meet and greet people. And we must have the faith to lose ourselves
in this great work.
We find much joy in the opportunities we have to serve our
missionaries. We love the people with
whom we work, and we love the missionaries.
When one missionary asked how we could love them so much when we barely
know them, I told her that our love for them is almost like when a mother loves
her newborn child before it is born. We
love these missionaries the minute we meet them. In fact, the best part of our job is when we
enlist the missionaries to help us with our moves, when we share lunches and
learn about their lives, when we take them to the temple, and when we talk
about this eternal journey we are all on.
We also love the people in our ward. The last two weeks we had the privilege to go
to the temple with two different members to receive their endowments. We went to Pioneer Days and saw how the
California members celebrate. Tonight we
had dinner with Kaylie, our newest convert, and was so touched by her challenging
life story that prepared her to embrace the gospel.
But, as I’ve mentioned before, the days blend together. Sometimes we don’t even know what day it is.
For some reason I thought last week, the14th, was Father’s Day. We had a ;
million things to do all week and I was anxious to get home
on Saturday night so we could pick up Mike’s Father’s Day gift. We planned his favorite dinner for
Sunday. I was so surprised when no one
even mentioned fathers in church -– no children singing, no talks, no treats
for the dads. Then, in relief society
the President said that “Next week, on father’s day we . . . .” I thought today was Father’s Day, and everyone
laughed. And, Mike didn’t know either,
but he did like celebrating two weeks in a row.
Mike has felt especially blessed this month. Wes came for a short visit two weeks ago, and
Ryan, Liz (his fiancé), and Reese came this Saturday. We had a wonderful visit
with each of them. The gospel offers so
many wonderful blessings, but the privilege to live as eternal families is one
of the greatest of them all.
We feel the Lord’s hand in the work here. We daily see miracles both large and
small. A young woman who stole her
grandmother’s car, t-boned a car with two of our missionaries, plus hit three
other cars yesterday. Although the
driver of one of the other cars mentioned in her 911 call that she thought the
missionaries were dead, they walked out of the wreck a bit in shock, with only
sore muscles. I believe the Lord is in
our lives much more than we can imagine.
He doesn’t take away the challenges, nor the heartaches, but He
certainly sustains us and gives us strength if we will let Him. I’m so grateful for this gospel and the
opportunity we have to learn and understand the Lord’s plan for us.
We love you, miss you, and pray that all is well for you.
Wes at Kern's Museum
