Hello Family!
Technically I am still in Brantford at the moment, until tomorrow morning... but my next assigned area is St. Davids/Niagara! With this being my first transfer in the mission field in which I actually have to move, I had tons of emotions last night after receiving the news. Tons of excitement, mixed with a little shock and a little bittersweetness. It was a similar feeling to the way I felt when I received my mission call back in February. In the past several weeks, I've been torn between wanting to leave Brantford and wanting to stay. I've been switching back and forth. But I told myself that regardless of the outcome, I'd be happy with it and trust that God knows what He is doing. I can either look at it in a negative way, thinking "Darn, I'm leaving this awesome place! Did I fail?" or I can look at the positive: "I've learned so much here, I've had the wonderful privelage to serve in a very personally special place... and now, I have the chance to start completely fresh in a totally new area, with a new companion... by Niagara Falls!" By looking at the positive side, and by knowing that this is what Heavenly Father has planned, I feel complete peace. It may seem like a small thing to be transferred, because it is in the big picture of life... but that lesson can be applied to everyone, in every situation. Do your best. Trust God, move forward, and be happy. Our Father in Heaven knows us perfectly.
I had a couple really good experiences this week. One that really stood out, was when we went on exchanges with our Zone Leaders. I got to go with Elder Bean, from Rexburg, Idaho. We just had a half-day exchange, but he taught me a lot, and I felt re-assured of a few things. One thing I was re-assured of, and something that everyone can hopefully learn from- is that its okay to be yourself. In fact, we are meant to be ourself. We are made this way for a reason! However, as in almost anything, "being yourself" can be turned into a vice. Because we have two variations of "ourself" to choose from.
We can choose to indulge the natrual man within all of us- which is carnal, loves pleasure more than God, who lives by the phrase "YOLO" a.k.a. "You only live once." Which is false, because the course of our life is one eternal round, and this little snippet of our eternal lifespan is the time to prepare to meet God... Not to waste it away by indulging in selfish pleasures, which take many different forms.
The other option, and the best option, is to be our best self. This means we are striving to put off the natural man- which means we know we have weaknesses, but we're trying to overcome them and become more selfless... rather than selfish. To be our best self means that we put our family first, that we make relationships a higher priority than materialism. And to be our best self means that we strive to learn more about our purpose here, and we do our best to fulfill our purpose! "Men are that they might have joy." We are meant to be happy! True, lasting happiness comes from being our best self, not by being indulgently selfish.
Sometimes we may feel like people are trying to mold us into being something different than who we are. We may feel that way, maybe because we had been selfishly indulgent- and that transition from selfishness to selflessness is exremely difficult. Or maybe we feel that way because we are misunderstanding who ourself really is. The natrual man is false, it is an illusion. It seems to lead to happiness, but it leads to misery. Our true self, our best self, as a child of God with infinite potential to do good, is portrayed by the world as a stuck-up buzz kill. But the truth is... it is the way to happiness. We all have to make this choice. Are we going to choose to be happy? Or are we going to choose to be miserable? We make this choice daily, and constantly- by what we choose to think, say, and do. It is difficult to always choose to be happy. In fact, many times we fail miserably when it comes to being and doing good consistently. But we must try, and trust that our Heavenly Father will help us along the way.
Anyways, after this series of rants... I have been re-assured that as long as I am trying my best to be my best self, there is nothing wrong with being myself. I don't need to mold myself into a cookie-cutter robot missionary. Instead, I need to apply the principles that teach me how to be a missionaryto myself. I don't need to change how I talk to people or how I smile,or I don't need to have a rote, memorized approach at a doorstep... I need to apply principles, and just be myself! And stop worrying about it.
Well, I sure hope that all of you have a great week! I love you lots, and I'll keep you in my prayers. I'll talk to you next week... from St. Davids! (I'm not sure when email time will be on Monday... fyi)
Love,
Elder Brett Simper
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