I served in Spain. It was a lower baptizing mission. Only half the missionaries, when I was there, saw a baptism. Those aren't "crazy good odds" as you can jokingly call them.
I talked to a fellow Elder on Sunday who was from Lima, Peru who served in Spain roughly the same time that I did. He told me how difficult the work became for him as he was actively engaged in missionary work at home, which was several baptisms a week, then he was called to serve in Europe where he didn't see any baptisms for nearly two years. He became discouraged and we shared an unsaid bond that European missionaries often have with one another.
It was a look of "Man my mission was kind of hard" but you don't say it out loud because people judge you instead you say my mission was a different kind of mission". And people still don't quit get it, that is unless they have been engaged in a similar work.
The truth was I was an incredibly obedient missionary. My motto was to "serve with exactness" and believe me you could not love the Lord or the people more than I did. It was with all my heart, might, mind, strength and soul. I was lucky to take part and see at least some harvest but other missionaries who were just as faithful did not.
I learnen on my mission the "worth of souls" in the sight of the Lord. That concept is beautiful I would not trade it for anything.
The story of the Samaritan woman at the well is a story for every missionary that served in missions similar to mine or "served in a different kind of mission".
It starts with a question-
Why did Christ teach the Samaritan woman at the well when he knew his disciples could not baptize her?
He was careful not to minister or interact with the Samaritan people (since their time was not yet) during his ministry except for this particular circumstance and a few other rare occasions. So why her? What was his purpose?
Again why did he take an opportunity to teach this woman here and dwell with the Samaritan people for two days at this time when he could not baptism them?
He clearly states why.
He was sowing.
He was showing us that missionary work is not just about baptizing. It is about bringing souls to Christ and that there are many parts and steps along the way and one important step is done by the sowers of the word.
He lays out this process to his disciples. When his apostles are dumbfounded that he is interacting with a Samaritan woman upon their return, but say nothing, he later tells them "Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal; that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true, One soweth , and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor; other men laboured and ye are entered into their labours."
Christ then shows them personally how to sow and they sow for two days so that when Peter receives the revelation in the future, that the gospel should go to the gentiles, my guess is that these people were ready.
"So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them; and he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his own word. And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying; for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world. " John 4
The sowers of the word may not get to take investigators into the waters of baptism or watch them from the side of the baptismal font being baptized by ward members as they should.
They do not get to secretly make a mark on the back of their black name tag as some missionaries might do.
But they are the most treasured missionaries in heaven. They, as Jesus states, will be rewarded equally in heaven. And the sower and the reaper will sit down together.
The sowers are the unsung heroes who painfully do not always see the fruits of their labors in this life but every blessing of missionary work will not be withheld from them.
Before my mission I had a friend. She was from Japan. I took every opportunity to share the gospel with her while in college. Before we parted ways I was unpracticed in how I may even more fully share the gospel with her. I sat down and wrote my heart felt testimony in a Book of Mormon. I told her in that testimony that everything I was, was because of this book. That if she thought that I was a good person it was because I followed the teachings of the Book of Mormon. I gave her the book and we parted ways. I later received my mission call.
Throughout my mission I wrote to her. I would ask her if she read the Book of Mormon that I had given her. She never responded to that question. I eventually stopped asking. Meanwhile my mission was difficult. The rejection was difficult. We found good people, fabulous people who were willing to love us but not listen to the gospel. I treasured every moment that I was able to share the message that was so important to me. The message that had taken me so far from home, from which I left friends, family and from which I put my life on hold to share.
After returning home within the week I received a letter from my friend. I opened it and to my surprise a letter and a picture of her in her white baptism clothes and two missionaries fell out. I read her letter and sat down and must have cried for an hour. She said that she had lost the book that I had given her when she returned to Japan. She was ashamed and didn't want to tell me but since I kept asking her about it she decided that she needed to get another one so that she could tell me she read it.
One day she happened to see two sister missionaries on the crowded streets of her city. She approached them and asked them if she could have a Book of Mormon. One happened to be from my hometown of Spanish Fork and knew me. They happily gave her a book and a relationship was born and she began to take lessons from the missionaries.
What a beautiful work it is to be a sower. The harvester does get to see the fresh face after the baptism but partakes of another mans labors and that man or woman is the treasured sower. The sower gets to see the planting of the seed. Perhaps the sower sees the sparks that begin but are soon hidden. Perhaps the sower sees nothing but the plow and the dirt below him or her and the field that has now green. But the sower is blessed. There is so much beauty there. One day all will be revealed and we will understand our precious part in this work, not to boast in ourselves but to feel the satisfaction of the harvest and the fulfillment of the love of God that is in us.
If you think about it. The greastest missionary we know didn't preform one baptism himself.
The Savior instead always had his disciples preform the baptisms. Sow on sowers!
Your work is truly extraordinary!
They do not get to secretly make a mark on the back of their black name tag as some missionaries might do.
But they are the most treasured missionaries in heaven. They, as Jesus states, will be rewarded equally in heaven. And the sower and the reaper will sit down together.
The sowers are the unsung heroes who painfully do not always see the fruits of their labors in this life but every blessing of missionary work will not be withheld from them.
Before my mission I had a friend. She was from Japan. I took every opportunity to share the gospel with her while in college. Before we parted ways I was unpracticed in how I may even more fully share the gospel with her. I sat down and wrote my heart felt testimony in a Book of Mormon. I told her in that testimony that everything I was, was because of this book. That if she thought that I was a good person it was because I followed the teachings of the Book of Mormon. I gave her the book and we parted ways. I later received my mission call.
Throughout my mission I wrote to her. I would ask her if she read the Book of Mormon that I had given her. She never responded to that question. I eventually stopped asking. Meanwhile my mission was difficult. The rejection was difficult. We found good people, fabulous people who were willing to love us but not listen to the gospel. I treasured every moment that I was able to share the message that was so important to me. The message that had taken me so far from home, from which I left friends, family and from which I put my life on hold to share.
After returning home within the week I received a letter from my friend. I opened it and to my surprise a letter and a picture of her in her white baptism clothes and two missionaries fell out. I read her letter and sat down and must have cried for an hour. She said that she had lost the book that I had given her when she returned to Japan. She was ashamed and didn't want to tell me but since I kept asking her about it she decided that she needed to get another one so that she could tell me she read it.
One day she happened to see two sister missionaries on the crowded streets of her city. She approached them and asked them if she could have a Book of Mormon. One happened to be from my hometown of Spanish Fork and knew me. They happily gave her a book and a relationship was born and she began to take lessons from the missionaries.
What a beautiful work it is to be a sower. The harvester does get to see the fresh face after the baptism but partakes of another mans labors and that man or woman is the treasured sower. The sower gets to see the planting of the seed. Perhaps the sower sees the sparks that begin but are soon hidden. Perhaps the sower sees nothing but the plow and the dirt below him or her and the field that has now green. But the sower is blessed. There is so much beauty there. One day all will be revealed and we will understand our precious part in this work, not to boast in ourselves but to feel the satisfaction of the harvest and the fulfillment of the love of God that is in us.
If you think about it. The greastest missionary we know didn't preform one baptism himself.
The Savior instead always had his disciples preform the baptisms. Sow on sowers!
Your work is truly extraordinary!
