Aloha family! Its been great hearing from you all this week! Ive got some stories I want to share. This week has been really humbling, I've had a chance to see poverty a lot this week. Just a few days ago I was doing a companionship exchange with one of my zone leaders. We were asked to give a blessing to a lady who lives in low income housing complex. when we got there I noticed it was a little rundown but most of the housing in Honolulu is like that so I thought nothing of it. But as I took off my shoes to walk into the the ladies home my feet touched solid concrete. that moment was truly humbling. I had not even noticed until I stepped into the apartment how little the family had. They had a bare concrete floor, a table, three chairs and a small tv. The apartment consisted of painted cinderblock. walls with a few homemade decorations to try to fill in the emptiness of the house. It was very humbling for me to be in their home, and to help give then a blessing. They asked us to offer a blessing on their family and for help with their different struggles. After we gave them a blessing they were so grateful and asked us if we would keep them in our prayers.
Another experience I had this week was when we as a ward went to go feed the homeless at a shelter. The shelter was basically a large warehouse with makeshift cubicles. A worker said at full capacity it would hold 500 people. Me and elder Cardon (my companion) got to speak to a few of them and they shared some of their wisdom with us. It was an inside look on the view of the world from someone who does not have anything in this world. One guy we talked to who was in a wheelchair said people in society have isolated him and his fellow homeless from everyone else, like the world was trying to forget about them, and just store them away at the shelter. He said he was so isolated from society he didn't even know how to talk to people anymore, only his friends at the shelter. Another person we talk to was a lady who told us about how nothing is guaranteed in life. She said she was previously living in a half a million dollar mansion when her landlord evicted her after she had lent her landlord part of her life savings. so then she was now broke and unable to return home to collect her things. So as a result she lost all that she had. She was very smart and she offered us very good advice especially for missionaries. She said "seek to understand, before seeking to be understood." That statement really touched me. Because the love of others should be our first goal as a missionary.
Another experience we had this week was while out tracking we met a man who wanted to talk with us. But as we sat down at his porch we soon learned he wanted to share his beliefs with us and not the other way around. He was into a form of Christianity that is mixed with Hinduism and some form of spiritual Mysticism. It turned out he was a priest and he just wanted someone to listen to him share what he held as sacred. He mentioned he was a bachlor and his "strange beliefs" probably alienated him from a lot of people. We were probably the only people who actually listened to him respectfully other than fellow members of his faith. (and it was actually pretty interesting, there were a lot of similarities between his and our religion except his is highly inspired by hinduism and other "unique beliefs about spirituality" but there were many points of common ground we tried to build on, but we never got a chance to talk, he was so passionate he talked to us for two hours and we had only been able to say two sentences. But as he walked us to the end of his yard continuing in spouting facts about his beliefs, he included: "you guys are good listeners" as he said that he choked up for a second. All he wanted was someone to listen to him, to care about what he held sacred, he wanted to share what he believed in; and despite us not getting a single chance to say more than a handful of words I consider that experience a success as a missionary.
Some Missionaries think we are wasting time if we take time to converse with people that probably won't be baptized. But I disagree, I feel if we help any of Gods children and lift them up, and do some sort of good for them, we are doing our job; even if that person does not choose to accept the gospel, because we are doing what Christ would do. Even if it took about 2 hours of our day, I am grateful we got that chance to listen to a soul who needed to be heard. I doubt he will be converted to our faith because of this experience, but I think we fulfilled our purpose as a missionary with him, because we tried to understand him and what he held as sacred, even if that means we didn't get to share our message I feel like we did good. I know most other Missionaries would say it was a waste of 2 hours but I disagree. As a missionary we represent Christ and I believe that is what he would have done. I believe he would want us to understand before we try to be understood. The moral I desire to share is this: seek to understand before trying to be understood and it will open up our hearts, and we will find love for that person because we are doing what Christ would have us do. When we love one another as much as we love ourselves we put our own views and beliefs to the side, and listen, and no matter how different they are we will find love for them. That I can testify to, I love you all
-Elder Esplin
No comments:
Post a Comment