Thoughtful Moments and Missionary Work

I just wanted to jot down a super quick experience that happened tonight.  We have the missionaries over every Wednesday night for supper. We alternate between the Elders and the Sisters. Well, when the Elders were over tonight, they shared an experience I found interesting.  While they were with an investigator, he pulled out a large sheet of sensitive gospel topics that he had concerns with, and then had a rebuttal for every answer the missionaries gave. It was obvious to them that he had been on an anti-church website and had derived most of his questions and rebuttals from there.  The questions were intense. When the elders gave me a few examples, I thought to myself, "I would have died in that situation. I have absolutely no idea??"
Which brings me to what I learned. 1. It's okay not to know everything. 2. You need to start learning everything. Haha! That might seem like a contradiction, but I'm serious.  I need to be more involved in the doctrine and the scriptures. You see, I am really good at the whole feel good part of the church. I can talk all day and night about the feelings/blessings the gospel brings. But talk about women and the priesthood, or multiple first vision accounts, or polygamy, or the translation of the Book of Mormon, and I pretty much have my head in the sand on these ones. But we can't. Because of the internet, the gospel is more transparent than ever. And kids/adults have questions. I want my boys to ask questions. Isn't that the process that started the First Vision? A question.  It's okay not know something right away, but we must wrestle and explore and pray until we find a personal answer for our satisfaction. 

There was a talk from President Ballard about some of these hard topics. Here is what he had to say:Church leaders today are fully conscious of the unlimited access to information, and we are making extraordinary efforts to provide accurate context and understanding of the teachings of the Restoration. A prime example of this effort is the 11 Gospel Topics essays on lds.org that provide balanced and reliable interpretations of the facts for controversial and unfamiliar Church-related subjects.

It is important that you know the content in these essays like you know the back of your hand. If you have questions about them, then please ask someone who has studied them and understands them. In other words, “seek learning, even by study and also by faith” as you master the content of these essays. The effort for gospel transparency and spiritual inoculation through a thoughtful study of doctrine and history, coupled with a burning testimony, is the best antidote we have to help students avoid and/or deal with questions, doubt, or faith crises they may face in this information age.

As you teachers pay the price to better understand our history, doctrine, and practices—better than you do now—you will be prepared to provide thoughtful, careful, and inspired answers to your students’ questions.

I may not be a CES teacher, but I'm a mother, a missionary, and I'm sure I will have callings throughout my life that deal with the Youth. I have to know more doctrine. The feel goodness of the gospel is wonderful, but we need our testimonies based on doctrine.

I have studied those essays above. Yes, some of them are hard to read. Some of them are a little confusing. But because I'm searching for answers in the right place, even when I read something that troubles my soul it doesn't destroy my testimony. But it does bring me to ask some hard questions and have some long talk with Heavenly Father. I don't have all my answers, and I don't think I will get them soon. I think it will be a long process of learning.

Part 2: While I was trying to prepare dinner for the Elders, clean the house, and not neglect my children, the sister missionaries text me and asked me to go do lessons with them tonight at 8. I'm not going to lie. For a split second, I wanted to say no for various reasons. But. I believe in blessings. So I put on a happy heart and said yes. We went to go visit an individual who ended up not being home. I thought we were just going to call it a night (we started late anyways), but the sisters suggested another lady to visit. I quickly made a connection that this lady had been brought to my attention multiple times from another sister in the ward. She was recently baptized (about a year and a half ago), but had become inactive. She is the only member in her family, and has a rough past. She was home, YAY, and let us come in to talk with her. I asked her questions like, "How did you meet the missionaries? What stood out to you about the gospel? Why did you decide to get baptized? How was that day?"

I learned that strategy with marriage. Whenever I feel myself struggling with Trent (yes, world, we struggle sometimes), I go back and read these posts. I read about his selfless acts of love, our funny adventures, and how we fell in love. Suddenly, I feel a little more connected to him and my heart is softened with love and compassion towards him.

That is what I do with the gospel. When people start talking and remembering their favorite parts of the gospel, it brings up all those good feelings that made them want to be apart of it. I want them to remember that again, and hold on. Well, it worked! She said she would be at church this Sunday and I told her I would save her a seat next to my circus! I hope she is there!