Dear Everyone,
I have really felt especially being able to let go of all else and focus on others and on the work of The Lord. And it's such an amazing feeling. We can be in the work and be part in, but not all the way and we won't have the same joy. But as we give it all the work is so great! We get to the point where we can honestly say we never want to go, we want to do it forever. And we are filled a peaceful heart and a warm joy and it is so wonderful!
And then a profound feeling joy, and also of humility swept over me. In all those stories it was really nothing I did, I was just there, yet God had used me to answer the prayers of His children. I truly understand Ammon, joying to be an instrument in the hands of The Lord. Joy in missionary work doesn't come from "being so good missionaries that we get the most baptisms." But it truly comes from that joy we can feel, when we know we faithfully served Him, and were instruments in His hands in blessing his children.
So transfers have come and gone! And to almost everyone's surprise Elder Wynn has transferred to Okinawa, and Sister Williams to Nagasaki, and then me, I stay! How is that? Why am I so blessed? I'm not sure. But I'm sure The Lord has a plan for me and also all those other missionaries.
Our new district leader is the wonderful Elder Wood. He was actually my first zone leader when I was a new missionary in Nagasaki. Crazy right?! And I am left as the last member of the old Saijo, the last one who remembers the days when we had no church, and I didn't need a full hand to count all our members.
It is so cool to see how much change has happened all the while I have been here. God truly has laid his hand upon this place and it is amazing to see. I'm so grateful for him and for this opportunity.
But as always change is a little hard. I have served with Elder Wynn for 8 months of my mission. I don't know what it's like to be without him. And especially last transfer this district really felt like such a love filled family, I could hardly discuss my love for them. And so it's hard for it to change, to accept other people as part of this love filled family. But at the same time I know they probably left places that felt like families and we need to lovingly bring them into ours, not hold or cling on to the past too much. We need to be a band of brothers to do the work The Lord has in store.
At stake conference the other night Elder Lamb spoke of some stories in Saijo
One of a little 7 year old Megumi praying for friends, being the only primary child in our group, she told her Mom she need friends, her angel mother told her to pray, then a month later me and Edler Rees on the street ran into a member mother who had just moved here with two kids her age, answering a child's prayer.
Another of a woman, Kishida san who was able to learn and gain a testimony of the savior and the Book of Mormon and had a desire to be baptized, but her health was too bad to go all the way to Hiroshima so she feared she couldn't, but then me and a member gave her a priesthood blessing, and she miraculously felt better than she ever had in a long time, and was able to happily and healthily go to Hiroshima and asked me to baptize her.
When I heard both these stories the spirit impacted me so powerfully, almost as if it was a voice saying, "You were an instrument in His hands."
One of a little 7 year old Megumi praying for friends, being the only primary child in our group, she told her Mom she need friends, her angel mother told her to pray, then a month later me and Edler Rees on the street ran into a member mother who had just moved here with two kids her age, answering a child's prayer.
Another of a woman, Kishida san who was able to learn and gain a testimony of the savior and the Book of Mormon and had a desire to be baptized, but her health was too bad to go all the way to Hiroshima so she feared she couldn't, but then me and a member gave her a priesthood blessing, and she miraculously felt better than she ever had in a long time, and was able to happily and healthily go to Hiroshima and asked me to baptize her.
When I heard both these stories the spirit impacted me so powerfully, almost as if it was a voice saying, "You were an instrument in His hands."
And then a profound feeling joy, and also of humility swept over me. In all those stories it was really nothing I did, I was just there, yet God had used me to answer the prayers of His children. I truly understand Ammon, joying to be an instrument in the hands of The Lord. Joy in missionary work doesn't come from "being so good missionaries that we get the most baptisms." But it truly comes from that joy we can feel, when we know we faithfully served Him, and were instruments in His hands in blessing his children.
And I'm so grateful to Him for it.
Love,
Elder Walton
Pictures:
Leaving missionaries,
My poorness
It japan it doesn't cats and dogs, it rains mazdas and toyotas
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