Who Did You Choose to Serve?

I feel like time is always slipping through my fingers now ever since I hit my year mark. The best way I can describe it is every time I close my eyes and sleep, I wake up and all of a sudden it's P-Day. It's why I also have to remind myself to cherish every day I have here on the mission because 6 months can go by in a blink of an eye.

For this weekly, it's mainly going to be about an experience I had that I felt like was my defining moment on who I am as a missionary and why it's so important for me to be doing what I am doing for 18 months of my life.

On Saturday, I was studying in Alma chapter 30, the story of Korihor the Anti-Christ. In Alma 30:8 the verse says, "Choose ye this day, whom ye will serve". I thought to myself "Oh that's easy, I choose to serve Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ" and continued to read on as that scripture stuck to me. The chapter goes on to explain that Korihor taught the people that there was no God, no penalty for sin, and no Christ which then led people to become wicked. He was finally brought before Alma who testified that there is a God and Jesus Christ and that He will come again to the Earth. Korihor then demanded for a sign and said to Alma that once a sign came to him, he would believe that there is a God and Jesus Christ. This is where the saying "Be careful what you wish for" comes into place because Korihor was struck dumb and couldn't speak anymore. Afterwards, he spent the rest of life begging for food, unable to speak, and died by getting trampled.

I read in the institute manual for Alma 30 and President Boyd K. Packer shared a similar experience he had. He taught that even if we have great education and even if we are super smart, we don't have the answers for everything. In that case, we can only share what we know and let the others decided to accept or reject our own experience. President Packer met a man who was an atheist and kept arguing to him that God wasn't real. He told Pres. Packer that if he knew God was real, he wanted him to tell him how he came to know God is actually real. It was in that moment, even with advanced academic degrees, Pres. Packer was helpless to communicate. How could he explain to someone that didn't believe in God what he knew to be true spiritually? He began to feel hopeless until he thought of an interesting experiment. He asked the man if he's ever tasted salt, so the man gets all boasty and told him of course he's tasted salt. Now here's where Pres. Packer got the man, he told the man to assume that if Pres. Packer has never tasted salt how would he describe the taste of salt to him?  Here's how the rest of the story goes from President Packer: “After several attempts, of course, he could not do it. He could not convey, in words alone, so ordinary an experience as tasting salt. I bore testimony to him once again and said, ‘I know there is a God. You ridiculed that testimony and said that if I did know, I would be able to tell you exactly how I know. My friend, spiritually speaking, I have tasted salt. I am no more able to convey to you in words how this knowledge has come than you are to tell me what salt tastes like. But I say to you again, there is a God! He does live! And just because you don’t know, don’t try to tell me that I don’t know, for I do!"

When the discussion was finished, the man was muttering to himself that he didn't need any religion in his life.

After reading all of that I felt like I was rebooted and ready to head out into the world. I wanted everybody to "taste the salt" of the gospel. It was by far one of my most favorite personal studies I've done on the mission. So on that little note, my comp and I went out finding for about an hour. We went to a park we normally like to walk through and we see a man on a bench. I thought about contacting him but as we got closer I saw a beer can right next to him and got a feeling that I shouldn't talk to him. I was a little disappointed at that feeling so I said hello to him and we do a little circle in the park and find a lady sitting on another bench. We had a great discussion with her but she was very firm about being the way she is. We offered her a Book of Mormon and it felt like right after I took it out of my bag she seemed to be very interested in it. She started looking through pages and reading passages and right when I was about to offer it to her as a gift from us we hear a voice to the side saying "Oh the Mormons, ma'am don't listen to them". I turned to see who could possibly be messing up this contact and it was the man with the beer on the bench that we passed minutes ago. He stood there with his arms crossed, shaking his head, telling her that we were wrong, that we were leading her towards a path of lies, that we weren't for Jesus Christ, and that we were liars. I couldn't believe what I was hearing from this guy, HE WAS ABSOLUTELY DRUNK AND CRAZY! What happened next is what I label as my defining moment for my mission.

When I thought he was done talking with the lady, the man turns to us, looking at me in the eyes, and says, "You are not for Jesus Christ. When He comes back here, He won't be coming for you because you are going to Hell. I should rip that badge off of your shirt you liar. What do you know about what it is that you preach. Go away and know that whoever you talk to next won't listen to you at all." He kept at it with all of the most hurtful things someone can say to a missionary. At that moment I felt worthless, totally worthless. I stood there staring at this man in the eyes with clenched fists and a straight face not knowing how to reply to him. My mind began sending negative thoughts to myself and I was on the verge of tears ready to give up and leave. As my mind was full of negativity, something made it all stop and what came into my head was just incredible. The scripture that stuck with me during came back to my memory, Alma 30:8, and a voice in my head asked me "Who did you choose to serve today Sami?". When I heard the question I realized what it was I had to do and say. I unclenched my fists, stood up straight, looked at this man right in the eyes and told him "Sir, my companion and I are here as representatives of Jesus Christ and we know that you are his son and that he loves you so very much". I know that doesn't seem like a lot to say, but when I said that to this man I felt all of the sadness go away. I responded to the question in my mind that today I chose to serve my Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ. When I told the man that simple phrase he still tried to tear us down but I wasn't letting it get to me anymore. The lady had to catch her train so she politely gave us back the Book of Mormon, thanked us for the work that we do, then left for her train. The man was still there glaring us down so we said goodbye to him and went on our merry way.

Here's something great I invite all of you guys to do that I do every morning now. When you wake up, ask the question to yourself "Who am I choosing to serve today?". It's something that has motivated me to get out of bed and go out and do the work that has not only impacted the lives of others, but has also impacted me. I love being a missionary! It has been the funnest year being in France! I love this gospel, I love the scriptures, I love my family, and I love my Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ.

Have an amazing week and don't forget to remember who it is that you choose to serve!

Alma 30:8

Love,

Sœur Hopkinson

samantha.hopkinson@myldsmail.net