11/26/2013
This past Saturday, we attended our mission-wide conference
in which a member of the Quorum of the 12 and a member of the 70 came to speak
to us. For security issues, they couldn't tell us who was coming until they
were already here. So it remained a surprise to us until only a few minutes
before the meeting started that Elder Neil L. Anderson and Elder Craig C.
Christiansen were assigned to come speak to our mission. Elder Anderson wanted
to shake all of our hands individually, and as we lined up and it got to my
turn, I said quickly, "You were my mom's mission president in France,
Sister Megan Kelly" to which he said, "Oh of course you're Megan's
daughter! How is your family doing?" He talked to me for a bit, remembered
that we were in Boston and said, "I've met your dad now, I think" and
said he was told I was Hmong speaking in Washington, which is pretty close
anyway. Then he said, "Thank you so much for stopping me and telling me!
It's good to see you." which alone I thought was pretty cool. But after
he'd shook all the missionaries hands and went up to the podium to speak, he
said, "I just want to show you how we're all connected. Sister McQuivey,
stand up so everyone can see who you are" and then talked about how he was
my Mom's mission president years ago and how weird it is to think that his
missionaries now have kids who are serving missions and that one day, we'll
have kids that will be serving missions and if he's not too old he could one
day meet them at a mission conference too. He also said, "and she looks
exactly like Megan, with her red hair and everything" which is awkward considering
I'm a bottle redhead and have only had red hair for a few weeks. So that was
way cool!
It was an incredible meeting. He was great humored and very calm and comfortable which made us relax a little more. He talked about how key the principle of repentance is, and how no one should ever be baptized without having first repented and having a full understanding of what repentance is. He also made a significant remark about being sure to only bear testimony of principles we have a definite testimony of. He said if there's something we're teaching that we're unsure of or are questioning, it's better to let our companion bear testimony of it than to try to say the words anyway if we don't fully believe it. Without conviction, the spirit can't be present, and so it's better to bear testimony of things that we have a testimony of rather than try to force it. He said it's okay to say, "I'm still learning this in my own life, but from my experience this is what I understand.." I thought this was pretty important because it makes you step back and think, "do I have a testimony of this principle?" before jumping in and declaring something. And it helps you recognize if the answer is no, which principles you need to study out and 'experiment' upon in order to gain a stronger testimony of them.
It was an incredible meeting. He was great humored and very calm and comfortable which made us relax a little more. He talked about how key the principle of repentance is, and how no one should ever be baptized without having first repented and having a full understanding of what repentance is. He also made a significant remark about being sure to only bear testimony of principles we have a definite testimony of. He said if there's something we're teaching that we're unsure of or are questioning, it's better to let our companion bear testimony of it than to try to say the words anyway if we don't fully believe it. Without conviction, the spirit can't be present, and so it's better to bear testimony of things that we have a testimony of rather than try to force it. He said it's okay to say, "I'm still learning this in my own life, but from my experience this is what I understand.." I thought this was pretty important because it makes you step back and think, "do I have a testimony of this principle?" before jumping in and declaring something. And it helps you recognize if the answer is no, which principles you need to study out and 'experiment' upon in order to gain a stronger testimony of them.
Another thing that stood out to me was when Elder Anderson
spoke about the atonement, he broke it down to the mercy, merits, and grace of
Christ that we can learn from. Especially regarding the mercy of Christ he
said, "We should be teaching this everyday, shouldn't we? What else is
there?". I think as a missionary I've kind of been hesitant to teach mercy
because I find the Cambodian people think it gives them permission to have an
"eat, drink, and be merry" attitude because they think if they can be
forgiven through the mercy of Christ later, there's no need to repent now. But
that's something I need to learn to teach more clearly, with emphasis on the
balance between justice and mercy and the focus being to invite the spirit so
they'll feel a desire to repent. The atonement isn't something that you can
gain an appreciation for without applying it first in your own life.
So to bring both points together, if you don't have a strong
testimony of the atonement, apply it in your own life until you do. There's a
quote I love from George Q. Morris in 1956 that says, "the principle
question is not whether we comprehend the atonement, but do we accept it".
In light of that quote, my challenge is that we work to accept the atonement in
our own lives through daily repentance, including forgiving ourselves and
moving beyond our past mistakes.
Something I need to repent for is not being a good enough
missionary before my mission. I had no idea all that I could be doing to be
more involved, and I didn't realize how many opportunities I missed to share
the gospel with those around me. Now that I know, I'll be a much better member
missionary when I get home a year from now.
I don't ever really know what to write about, so maybe send me questions of things you want to know and I'll respond to those.
I've been in the WA-TAC 26 weeks, and the church is true
here too!
-Sister McQuivey
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