Dearest friends and family,
Miracle #7: Feeling like I’ve served a successful mission.
What is success? Who achieves it? How can we know if we’ve been
successful? One of the things I’ve realized here in the mission is that success
is not general. There is no one single, universal “great job, you did it” that
covers every aspect of life or that can be applied to everyone. There are many
pathways to success and each is individual.
In the mission, some missionaries teach and baptize lots of
people to find success. Others have to be the most obedient to the rules of the
mission to have success. Some feel success learning the scriptures and studying.
In the same way Albert Einstein, or Michelle Kwan, or the first surfer, or the
band Nirvana were successful, so many, much smaller people too are successful in
their own way, following their own path. There are infinite ways one can serve
a successful mission and there are infinite ways one can lead a successful
life.
The Path: Refiner’s Fire
Each missionary follows a different, refining path that
gives us the opportunity to be successful. But success is not guaranteed. Maybe
the baptizing missionary is assigned to areas where more humble and open-minded
people live, giving him a greater chance to reach his success. Maybe the
obedient missionary will be paired with a not-so-obedient companion that needs
his example. Einstein’s theories were developed and formed one day to the next
over many years and decades. Michelle Kwan fell hundreds of times to master the
ice. If success is individual, the path and trials to be overcome must also be individual.
I’ve walked my own refining path here in Northern Ecuador. I’ve had my
difficulties. And they have given me the perfect opportunity to find my own success
here in the mission.
The Success: Light and Truth
Success, to me, is discovering truth and mastering it in our
lives. In this way, success has less to do with what we do and more to do with what
we become while we’re doing it. I have followed my personal refining path and have
worked to achieve what I needed to here. This is what I have done. But, more
importantly, during the process of doing, I have become kinder, more loving, and
more understanding. I have learned diligence, patience and perseverance. Not a
day goes by where I don’t feel excitement and joy in my soul. Working hard and
fighting for success here has changed me. I feel tremendous freedom, personal satisfaction
and enlightenment. I imagine Einstein appreciated worldly praise and accolades
but I imagine he enjoyed even more the feelings of personal fulfillment,
discovery and development even more. Recognition is fleeting. Development is
eternal. If we focus on our personal development, we all, each and every one,
can reach success. Seek truth. Find it. Apply it. The path is there.
We existed before we arrived here on earth and we will continue
to exist after we leave here, too. This process of success, enlightenment and
change was planned and apportioned to us way before we can remember. Life is a university
here on the campus of Earth. We arrive innocent and ignorant. As we grow, we
start down our refining path. It can be messy, we make mistakes. Some fight
incredible odds, persevere, and achieve. Some choose easier paths, perhaps ones
that seem more attractive at the time, and risk missing their potential. Continue
giving your best efforts and you will achieve and do many things. And more
importantly, become who you are supposed to become. Pure, loving, filled with
kindness and understanding. And that is what really counts – that is our purpose
in preparing for what is to come. We chose to come here. We did so because we
knew it was the only way to be change and become who we are supposed to be. Take
consolation in that in your trials. And know that good and bad do exist...universal
laws that govern and protect everyone’s right to walk their own refining path.
Bring this back to the start, I am at peace about my
mission. I am full of joy and fulfilled. I am confident that every sector, every
companion, every member, every trial, every drop of sweat and every drop of
rain, every convert, each moving experience, plate of food, email received (and
those unreceived), and every rejection and invitation accepted has contributed
to and formed the perfect refining path for me. And I have loved it all. I can’t
wait to see you in 35 days.
With affection, EE
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