To Live, and How!

I think I am discovering the joy of the saints! New ground for me!

As missionaries we are asked to support our little branch in Limassol. Without any other constraints on my time, the load feels lighter and I feel an attitude shift in me. Now, I am taking the time to listen to people and hear their stories. That attention and their willingness to share are often accompanied by the spirit.

It takes time to know people, a willingness to spend time listening. Who is this person next to me? How did she get here? What brings her to church every Sunday? Their stories are often heart-wrenching yet they are quick to point out the hand of the Lord in their lives.

Many people come to church with faith in Jesus Christ, attracted to His love and the Spirit they hear His gospel. Many continue on in the Gospel with a great hope of reuniting with loved ones passed on. Young missionaries sacrifice to go on missions because of their faith in Jesus Christ and the love and support of family members and friends in their communities. Elder Gurr from England (left) and Elder Loesch from California both talked about specific people who loved and influenced them to serve as missionaries.

I look to others who may have felt the same way and I don’t have to look far! Marjorie Hinckley did say it the best though when she says –

“I don’t want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails.

I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor’s children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone’s garden. I want to go there with children’s sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder.

I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived.” – Marjorie Hinckley

A community of saints where people love and support one another in their desires to grow in the gospel of Jesus Christ is a beautiful thing. We all need space to grow, along with love and encouragement to keep us going. Life is difficult, but friends can ease that burden.

President Uchtdorf urged us many years ago to lift where we stand. Wherever we are in the world, in whatever communities we belong to, we can lift and listen, love and share. One person can make a difference.

You can.