September 14, 2015 "Baptizing Eden & Let Love Be Our Motive"

So this week has been quite hectic! The week before transfers is always crazy with loads of office work and little details that make a big difference.  I am becoming more and detail oriented which is good... I never really have been in my life but now it is quite vital so I am figuring it out.  I wish I was more like dad in that sense.  

Well I learned a big life lesson yesterday that really made me both sad and grateful...  We had two baptisms in Joburg and one of them was for a girl named Eden and her dad is a member and even a return missionary.  He is a great guy and has made it possible for his daughter to come to church and get baptized.  Well last week he came up to me and just said I want you to baptize Eden.  I was kind of confused at first and then I realized it was because he didn't feel worthy to baptize her.  So I said of course I will.  Well the baptism came and was great and then after I could see that it killed him that he couldn't baptize her.  After he came up to me almost in tears thanking me for helping with his daughter's baptism.  As grateful as I was to be apart of it I would have preferred that I didn't do it.  After as I was sitting in the car I just thought to myself that I will always make sure that I am worthy of the priesthood I hold.  It was a bitter sweet day for sure.  I just can't even imagine when I have a family what it would be like if I had a kid that needed a blessing and I wasn't able to give one because of my unworthiness.  I also want to mention even though this father is far from perfect he is trying.  He is a single parent and has made some mistakes in his life but he isn't a loss cause.  No one is a lost cause.  I have seen a change in him as he has brought his daughter to church and in bringing her closer to Christ he has come closer to him as well.

Oh we also played golf with President and Sister Dunn this week! It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be and I did better than I thought I would as well... I really hook the ball when I swing... I guess it's a baseball thing.  We played a scramble and it was me and Elder Worton against the Dunns.  We were down 2 holes with three holes left and we had to at least tie them on this hole.  We were about 40 feet away and I sunk the putt to tie it up and then we took the last two holes to tie it up! President Dunn and Elder Worton are support good and so Elder Worton carried me through the 18 holes...  Also I have met someone that is as competitive as me! President Dunn!  After the 18 holes he couldn't stand that it ended like that so we had a putt off which he won...  But it is all good!  It was super fun and I got super burnt... 

Well that night we were at the Dunns and we could all smell something that was off... We couldn't find what it was and we were looking everywhere.  Then Elder Worton saw a pumpkin on top of the cabinets...  It has been there for almost a year and has finally rotted! It was so funny and everyone was dry heaving as we cleaned it up.  It is a memory we will never forget and laugh about for years.  If you use live decorations don't forget about them!!

Sorry that this isn't too missionary. This week we were locked up in the office for most of the week... But it was still a good week.  Just different.

I almost forgot.  Elder Worton is leaving but he still has one more transfer.  I am getting a new comp and I am super nervous... It is hard leading but I am sure I'll be fine.  I do know who my new comp is but I can't say since no one else knows... I don't really know him very well but he is a great guy and he will be the first South African that I have served with! Crazy thought he maybe my last companion

Here is an attachment of my article that we put in our news letter for the transfer I hope you enjoy it! 

LET LOVE BE OUR MOTIVE

                  When I was 11 years old I saw an act of love that changed my life forever.  My Dad, a healthy adult laid sunken deep in a hospital bed cringing in pain and pale as a ghost from what had just taken place.  He had just given one of his kidneys to his little brother who was suffering from kidney failure.  As a child when I first walked into his hospital room and seeing him in the state that he was in, I could not understand why he would voluntarily submit himself to so much pain.  It was beyond my comprehension until I walked into my Uncle’s hospital room.  In his room there was a renewed light that had been missing in the months before, and I could see the smiles of his wife and kids as they saw their Husband and Dad on the way to recovery.  As I walked out of the hospital that day God spoke to me in a profound manner that even a child could understand. I heard within myself “Your dad did it out of love.”  

This experience has changed my life forever, but especially my mission.  I have learned that love should be the motivating cause in everything we do.  My Dad understood this concept and that is why he gave so much of himself to help his brother that was in need. Albert Einstein once said “Love is light... Love is the most powerful force there is, because it has no limits.”  As members of the church we are that light to the rest of the world.  We are a church that can give others all that they have been missing in their lives because we can give others the pure love of Christ.  Our love in all sense of the word has no limits!

Back at home my Mom bought sculpted hands and set them in our living room.  When I first saw this I thought it was quite bizarre, but before jumping to any conclusion I asked my Mom the meaning of it.  She sat me down and explained to me that to her it was a reminder that we are Christ’s hands and that we are the conduits in showing others the love that Christ has for them.  I realized that I can be that channel in which others can receive so much happiness.  I can be an instrument in the hands of God!  That day I felt the love of the Savior through my Mom and the desire to share that love.  Dieter F. Uchtdorf said “True love requites action. We can speak of love all day long—we can write notes or poems that proclaim it, sing songs that praise it, and preach sermons that encourage it—but until we manifest that love in action, our words are nothing but sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.“

Some of us may say that it is not natural for them to love others or that it is hard for them to show it.  I know how you feel.  I am the same way, but in reaching this desire I have focused on my love for the Savior.  I have studied His life through the scriptures and have come to know him as I have used his atonement to give me the love I lack.  I have found that the atonement is the greatest act of love in history.  Think for a second about someone who was so pure that John the Baptist felt “Whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.”(Mark 1: 7) Yet, that same man went lower than any who have or ever will walk the earth so that we could return to our Heavenly Father.  Would any other motive besides love bring forth such an act with such a great consequence attached to it?  No! No hatred, jealousy, fear, pride, anger, or any other un-Christlike motive could bring forth an act that can even compare.

To this day I still cannot comprehend the fear, pain, and sorrow the Savior felt in the Garden of Gethsemane, but I can comprehend that he did it out of love.  I love my Savior and I know he loves me.  I know that “He was wounded for our transgression, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” (Mosiah 14:5).  I have felt the cleansing and enabling power too many times in my life to deny His love.  I know for those that are struggling on mission you can find His love and I know that you will find it while you are striving to love those you serve.  I know all of us would not be serving with such diligence and zeal if we did not already know these simple but vital truths.  I also know that as humans we tend to forget and thus the need to partake of the sacrament every week as a remind of his love and sacrifice for us.  I hope and pray that you will accept this simple reminder.  I exhort us as followers of Christ to really be the Saviors’ hands and to partake of His love which He so freely gives. I know we can give to others what the Savior gives to us and that is love.

Elder Jon D. Olson