I find it important to follow the spirit in nearly all things I do. I feel that agency is what we are supposed to use to make our daily decisions. However, every so often we are faced with a more difficult decision and if we are humble enough to ask our creator for guidance, and then listen, the outcome can be miraculous. Through little decisions made better through divine guidance, our lives can be directed towards a miraculous path.
Twenty years ago I had a senior companion whose focus was on following the rules to a "T". One day he decided we were going to simply stay outside contacting all day long, getting our assigned "hours" in. The goal was made to give away a book of Mormon. We street contacted unsuccessfully all day. We spent hours on our feet, nearly running between people on the street trying to find a potential investigator. It was exhausting. My companion began getting irritated with my pestering that we were not following the spirit, and towards the end of the day, he finally relented and allowed me do it "my way". Which was to follow the spirit. I started leading our efforts with a prayer between my companion and I. Within the following ten minutes, we gave away not one but two Books of Mormon that included a basic first discussion.
This was a struggle that I was faced with several times throughout my mission.
We once had a visit from our regional authority that gave me a sense of comfort that I was doing it right. The two Moscow missions met together to hear him speak. His message was pure, simple and filled with love. The gist of his message, follow the spirit. It felt so good to hear this message. Up until this point I had felt somewhat ostracized. So many other missionaries were focused on rules and getting numbers. There was an immense focus to "get numbers". ie: Baptisms, investigators, discussions, Books of Mormon given away. Hours spent street contacting. Hours spent doing service. This bothered me. To me, I dedicated two years of my life to help people, to serve them. To me that meant following the deep inspiration of my heart, commonly referred to as the spirit. When the meeting opened up to Q and A. There was a focus from the body of missionaries on numbers and deep doctrinal questions to which his reply was "Oh I don't know, ask your mission Presidents". Then he redirected the discussion back to following the spirit. This was liberating to me. My focus was in line with his. Following the spirit trumps focusing on numbers.
While I certainly wasn't the best at following all the made up rules. Getting to bed on time, waking up on time. Getting all of your hours in etc. I was excellent at following the spirit. I followed the advice of my patriarchal blessing, which was to have a love for the people. This was easy, I have lots of love to give. I don't worship rules or religious culture. I worship God. I served how I saw he would want me to serve. Which was as Christ did. "Serve the people, have a love for them." This is a line from my patriarchal blessing that was my mantra throughout my mission. I'm pretty certain Christ didn't have to turn in a monthly report mapping out his progress. But I have no doubt that he followed the promptings of the spirit in all that he did. This is what I strove for. This is still what I strive for today. Sometimes it's not easy, especially on occasions when the feelings and inspiration received go contrary to popular opinion or religious culture. My best advice; Follow your heart, for on the heart of all of Gods creatures is written his law. The law of Love. I believe it's in our genetics. Written in the line code of our DNA. It can't be denied because it's who we are to the very core.
This is a photo I wasn't supposed to get and didn't plan on. I simply wanted to thank him for his inspiring message and to confirm to him that the message he gave was exactly what I needed to receive. A former companion ran up and quickly grabbed this shot before I knew what had happened.
I love that President Nelson's message is still the same, twenty years later. Doing away with numbers, shifting the entire body of the church to a focus on following the spirit.
Twenty years ago I had a senior companion whose focus was on following the rules to a "T". One day he decided we were going to simply stay outside contacting all day long, getting our assigned "hours" in. The goal was made to give away a book of Mormon. We street contacted unsuccessfully all day. We spent hours on our feet, nearly running between people on the street trying to find a potential investigator. It was exhausting. My companion began getting irritated with my pestering that we were not following the spirit, and towards the end of the day, he finally relented and allowed me do it "my way". Which was to follow the spirit. I started leading our efforts with a prayer between my companion and I. Within the following ten minutes, we gave away not one but two Books of Mormon that included a basic first discussion.
This was a struggle that I was faced with several times throughout my mission.
We once had a visit from our regional authority that gave me a sense of comfort that I was doing it right. The two Moscow missions met together to hear him speak. His message was pure, simple and filled with love. The gist of his message, follow the spirit. It felt so good to hear this message. Up until this point I had felt somewhat ostracized. So many other missionaries were focused on rules and getting numbers. There was an immense focus to "get numbers". ie: Baptisms, investigators, discussions, Books of Mormon given away. Hours spent street contacting. Hours spent doing service. This bothered me. To me, I dedicated two years of my life to help people, to serve them. To me that meant following the deep inspiration of my heart, commonly referred to as the spirit. When the meeting opened up to Q and A. There was a focus from the body of missionaries on numbers and deep doctrinal questions to which his reply was "Oh I don't know, ask your mission Presidents". Then he redirected the discussion back to following the spirit. This was liberating to me. My focus was in line with his. Following the spirit trumps focusing on numbers.
While I certainly wasn't the best at following all the made up rules. Getting to bed on time, waking up on time. Getting all of your hours in etc. I was excellent at following the spirit. I followed the advice of my patriarchal blessing, which was to have a love for the people. This was easy, I have lots of love to give. I don't worship rules or religious culture. I worship God. I served how I saw he would want me to serve. Which was as Christ did. "Serve the people, have a love for them." This is a line from my patriarchal blessing that was my mantra throughout my mission. I'm pretty certain Christ didn't have to turn in a monthly report mapping out his progress. But I have no doubt that he followed the promptings of the spirit in all that he did. This is what I strove for. This is still what I strive for today. Sometimes it's not easy, especially on occasions when the feelings and inspiration received go contrary to popular opinion or religious culture. My best advice; Follow your heart, for on the heart of all of Gods creatures is written his law. The law of Love. I believe it's in our genetics. Written in the line code of our DNA. It can't be denied because it's who we are to the very core.
This is a photo I wasn't supposed to get and didn't plan on. I simply wanted to thank him for his inspiring message and to confirm to him that the message he gave was exactly what I needed to receive. A former companion ran up and quickly grabbed this shot before I knew what had happened.
I love that President Nelson's message is still the same, twenty years later. Doing away with numbers, shifting the entire body of the church to a focus on following the spirit.
Another example of when I learned to follow the spirit. Twenty years ago this month, I was put with the assistant to the President. I feel this was because I was seen as a trouble maker because I didn't share their enthusiasm for following the made up rules. Rules that had nothing to do with following the spirit. For example, at the end of a long day, I would put on headphones to decompress and listen to unapproved, yet to me, uplifting music. Loudly. This was my outlet for and how I dealt with the frustrations of the day. Our rules were very strict however on what was "approved" and what wasn't. Keep in mind, these are rules that can vary from mission to mission.
This companion was also very strict about following the rules and "getting your numbers". So much so that I feel it impeded his ability to follow the spirit. I had to run in order to keep up with him anywhere we went. His pace reminded me of the adage, don't go faster than your guardian angel can fly. He was very dedicated to serving and didn't want to waste a minute of the Lords time. Somewhat frustrated, I confronted him about how he wasn't very approachable at his pace. That he was likely scaring people away because of it. Frustrated with my stance one day while street contacting, he eventually gave in and allowed me to lead our searching efforts. With a prayer between my companion and I, I felt directed to a park nearby. Tsaristina park. It is a beautiful and popular park on the grounds of an unfinished castle. Walking along at a leisurely pace my companion became uneasy at my slower pace and became noticeably agitated. I persisted to follow the spirit when it guided and directed our path, eventually pointing us to a park bench to sit on. This was quite contrary to what my companion wanted to do. We sat down and he asked, what are we doing? Not sure how to respond, I stated the obvious, "Sitting", I replied. Visible protesting, he eventually relented and we sat for a few minutes. After what must have seemed forever to my companion. Along came Andre, a tall, scruffy, metal worker dressed in a leather jacket and chains. He looked as though he belonged to a rough and tumbler biker group. After we made eye contact, I blurted out, "Hi!, wanna chat?" To which he happily replied, "sure!" In the short time the AP and I were companions, Andre took all of the discussions and was baptized shortly after. Following the spirit was something I refused to deviate from. Had we been going at my companions pace that day, we might have never met Andre or we'd likely have outrun him or perhaps been unapproachable at the pace he preferred.
To me the message is simple, with love in your heart, follow the spirit.
At the end of the month long companionship with the AP, he sent me a package with a note apologizing for his "sorry attitude". Along with the note, he gifted me his walkman.
“Imagine the miracle of it, whatever our Church calling, we can pray to our Heavenly Father and receive guidance and direction, be warned about dangers and distractions, and be enabled to accomplish things we simply could not do on our own.”
-President Russell M. Nelson
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