Swallowed Up in the Joy of Christ

07/13/2015



Well another week has come and gone. Not many left.  Weird. This week was pretty good.  My comp and I are just working hard trying to get things going.  We don’t have too many people progressing which a little frustrating, but we are trying to find more people to teach.  So I hope things pick up there.  I don’t have too much more to say about the work.  We have found a couple of people who seem pretty interested and I hope they progress. 

I just wanted to share a small thought today. My lovely mother reminded me of this today. She mentioned a scripture in Alma Chapter 31:  “and the Lord provided for them….and he also gave them strength, that they should suffer no manner of afflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ.  Now this was according to the prayer of Alma; and this because he prayed in faith.”

It reminded me of a small thought that I wrote in my study journal when I read this scripture.  I reflected a little bit on the mission I’ve had when I read it.  I thought about how I had suffered a few afflictions... the heat, frustration with a companion, people, dangerous areas, sickness… a few things.  And then I thought about the other part, about all that being “swallowed up in the joy of Christ.”  This scripture describes my mission experience very well.  I’ve had problems, challenges and afflictions, but all of that has been swallowed up by those small moments of happiness… when someone reads the Book of Mormon,  when someone gets baptized, when we find a convert who is still continuing faithful.  I’ve said more than a few times that the mission is the hardest two years I’ve had in my life, but I’ve never been happier!  I don’t know how to explain it.  But Alma does, ha ha.  

All the challenges of the mission have been swallowed up in the joy of Christ and I have been able to feel that.  It’s not all the time, but when I feel it, it’s great.  I won’t try to describe, sorry.  The Lord has definitely strengthened me since the first day I got here. I’ve been able to experience what Alma did, in my own mission. And the mission is awesome! So just that little thought for today. 

Elder Ollis

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