Mississippi Jackson: Guess Who Is Not Getting Transferred?

(Me. The answer is me.)

Missionary Lingo:

District: a group of three or more companionships assigned to an Area. For instance, I am part of the Purvis District, which consists of the Purvis Sisters, Purvis Elders, and the Spanish Purvis Elders.

Zones: a cluster of districts in an Area. For instance, I belong to the Hattiesburg Zone, which is based around the Hattiesburg stake.

Stake: taken from terms in the Old Testament, a "stake" is a cluster of wards (which are just local congregations), which refers to covering God's children with a "tent" (since you hold down a tent with stakes) so that they can be brought into the fold of God.

Transfers: when missionaries are moved to a new area every six weeks

Good morning, fellow citizens! It's a beautiful, cloudy day in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and the mission is buzzing with the new transfer policies and changes to the mission. Effective this transfer, the Clinton and Jackson Zones will be combining into one Zone! The H'burg Zone will also be absorbing the Meridian district and the Bogalusa elders. Welcome to the Zone, y'all!

As for transfers, we used to have our Preparation Day on Tuesdays during transfer week. Those being transferred would consequently lose their P-Day, as it takes forever to get anyone anywhere in the MJM. If your area was close (as I have been lucky to have close areas), then you would have time to grocery shop and get settled in, but if you're going across the mission, then that's another story!

President Olson has changed this policy, so now Mondays will always be our Preparation Day. We will receive transfer calls on Monday morning instead of Saturday night, so we would then use our P-Day to pack and get ready to be transferred. We would then be transferred Tuesday morning. Those companionships who are not being transferred at all will then have a regular P-Day on Monday and resume regular missionary activities on Tuesday.

Sister Barney and I are not being transferred, though! Sadly, we are losing our dear District Leader, Elder Chase, who will be transferred this week. We won't know where he's going until he gets there!

The Lord blesses me with a lesson every week. I'm constantly learning about the Spirit, the true gospel, and people in general. But, this week, I was studying a BYU Speech given by Jennifer Paustenbaugh entitled, "When Your Bow Breaks." She bases the entire speech around the story of Nephi and the broken bow.

I will tell this story for those who haven't read it. In the Book of Mormon, we read in 1 Nephi 16 that Nephi, a righteous man and his brothers, Laman and Lemuel have found themselves hunting in the wilderness for food for their families. They have a lot of mouths to feed between their parents, Lehi (a prophet of God) and Sariah, the sons and daughters of their friend Ishmael, and their wives and children. They have a lot to handle!

So, equipped with a steel bow and arrows, Nephi goes into the wilderness to hunt with his brothers, who are armed with slingshots. Things were going great; the Lord had provided plenty of food, everyone was happy -- until Nephi's bow breaks.

A bow can supply far more food than a slingshot can. Would you agree? With no way to obtain food, the families begin to starve, and they then begin to blame it on Nephi and the Lord. Even Lehi begins to murmur -- that's when you really know it's bad.

But, despite his afflictions, worries, and strife, Nephi crafts a new bow out of wood and makes himself arrows from sticks. He then goes to his father and asks where he can go to obtain food. Humbled, Lehi prays unto God for guidance, and Nephi is then able to feed his family again.

It's so much better if you read the story, but we can learn a lot from Nephi and his response to his afflictions. When have our bows broken? Lemme tell ya, if I were to make a score of music for a mission, it would be measures and measures of endless bow-snapping and strings breaking. Things go wrong all the time; plans do not go the way we want them to. This isn't much different from regular life, where what we envision in our brains is not what happens in reality, much to our dismay. The Lord lovingly hands us trials, and we are left starving, lost, unsure, and without our bow.

I've pondered this parable for a while. I thought of our responses to our trials; I've watched how investigators respond to their trials, how companions, members, and people we find respond to the things that completely turn their lives around. As humans, we tend to want to give in to our "natural man" (Mosiah 3:7) and wallow in self-pity, allow ourselves to bask in the darkness of worry and depression because sometimes searching for the light in darkness is simply too hard. We often want to take the easier route, stay in our comfort zones, when the Lord has blessed us with an opportunity to learn and grow if we but choose to respond to our trials in the right way.

In this BYU Speech, Sister Paustenbaugh mentions the steps we must take to make it through our trials, such as: praying, asking for help, reading the scriptures, and -- the one I would like to emphasize -- to have a positive attitude. President Uchtdorf admonishes us to have an attitude of gratitude in whatever stage of life we are experiencing. I like to take a leaf out of Nephi's book after Lehi died. If we read in 2 Nephi 4, we are able to read Nephi's Psalm, where he writes,

"Behold, my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord; and my heart pondereth continually upon the things which I have seen and heard.

Nevertheless, notwithstanding the great goodness of the Lord, in showing me his great and marvelous works, my heart exclaimeth: O wretched man that I am! Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities.

I am encompassd about because...of the sins which do so easily beset me.

...nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted."

Nephi did not ignore the problems he faced, and Nephi had a great many afflictions, brothers and sisters. Nephi has always been an example of great faith, diligence, continual prayer and love and reliance on the Lord, and most of all, honesty. He is honest with himself and with those of us reading: he aches. Sin, affliction, and trials hurt. The bow might hit us in the face when it breaks; our fingers might bleed on the string; we may lose a good arrow. Trials do not hit us lightly. They were not meant to.

But we have a loving God who desires our greatest happiness. He asks us to be happy even in times of trial, for that is the true test: to smile when it hurts, to serve when you need others, to be more selfless in light of selfishness. You have a choice to make -- do you become like Laman and Lemuel and sit around, complain, and curse the Lord for what He's done? Or do you respond like Nephi -- do you pray, do you study, do you ask for help, do you try and make more out of what you have and know that the Lord will pave a way for you? Do you press forward in happiness, knowing He has your back every step of the way?

We frequently forget that our Savior has walked these paths before. We are walking through old footprints. He has walked this path when there were none before Him, no imprints to follow. He had to press forward with faith, to be loving, to be selfless, to make the way for those of us whose crosses are bearing down on our backs and we can't seem to see His tracks anymore.

He is there when our bow breaks, brothers and sisters. He is there to help us put it back together, make a new one, and find what we need. All our Heavenly Father asks of us is that we rely on our Savior, Jesus Christ, and do our best; be happy in times of trial, for you will then have a taste of the eternal, godly happiness to come.

It's been a good week, brothers and sisters. I'm learning a lot about choices, about love, about charity. You must love others when you can't seem to see them as the child of God they are.

Be happy, everyone, and remember Who is there for you.

Love y'all.

Godspeed!

Sincerely,

Sister Rose