Hearken: New Mission President

     A few weeks back I made a post on hearkening to the will of the Lord. Due to another event on my mission, I felt a need to make a second post about this very same principle. A couple weeks ago, we got a call from the assistants to the mission president telling us that we were having a surprise meeting in Nashville 2 days later, and all missionaries from the mission were to attend. This very rarely happens, so of course all the missionaries were making speculations on what was going to happen. Some thought China was going to be opened to missionary work and a good chunk of our mission was going to be sent over there, some thought we were going to head to Oklahoma to help clear up the destruction from the tornadoes or make care packages for them of some sort, and some thought we might have our mission split into 2 missions. As we gathered for this meeting, there was such an energy in the room due to the fact that we had over 200 missionaries (CRAZY) gathered together in the chapel awaiting whatever training was to be received.  We were quickly informed that our mission president and his wife, The Mckees, were being released at the end of the month and that we were going to have a new mission president. I was very saddened by the news, but as the meeting went on and the spirit was so strong I received very quickly a confirmation that it was the will of the Lord. I have been thinking about this for the last month or so and have learned a couple things from it. The thing I wanted to focus on is the principle of "with callings come releases." Today is the days that they are being released from their calling. One thing that President McKee was great at teaching us was that the same priesthood keys that called them to serve as the Tennessee Nashville Mission President are the same priesthood keys that called them to be released from that same calling. I am grateful for the example of the McKee's to serve the Lord and to accept His will in ALL things! Their attitude about it is quite extraordinary as well. I am excited to have President and Sister Andersen here with us as our new mission president and am grateful for their example to accept the call to serve. I sure look forward to meeting them at our zone conference this next week!
     I invite you all to take a look at your life and find something that is not in alignment with the Lord and then change it. Experiment and see the blessing that will come forth! It is great to have a knowledge that the Lord knows exactly what we need in our lives and is always making the changes to it that will ultimately help us grow and learn the most. Of this I testify, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

"Where Is the Pavilion?"

     I really enjoy this talk and it has helped me significantly with how I have viewed my relationship with God. It is titled, "Where Is the Pavilion?"
     He begins by saying, "The pavilion that seems to intercept divine aid does not cover God but occasionally covers us. God is never hidden, yet sometimes we are, covered by a pavilion of motivations that draw us away from God and make Him seem distant and inaccessible. Our own desires, rather than a feeling of 'Thy will be done,' create the feeling of a pavilion blocking God. God is not unable to see us or communicate with us, but we may be unwilling to listen or submit to His will and His time." It is interesting to think about how much pride it takes to think that it is not our fault we don't hear from God. I am guilty of it myself sometimes. I then have to ask myself, why would God hide from us? He loves us. It only makes sense that we are the ones too proud to take down our "pavilion."
     He tells us that, "We remove the pavilion when we feel and pray, 'Thy will be done' and 'in Thine own time.' His time should be soon enough for us since we know that He wants only what is best." It is as simple as being patient. God knows what we NEED. Just as any good parent he will give us what we need when we need it, and the things that we may WANT may not be things that we will get quite yet or maybe not ever.
     He gives a couple of examples where the desires of men were not fulfilled in their time table, but as God promised they were fulfilled in His time.  I conclude with this, "For any of you who now feel that He is hard to reach, I testify that the day will come that we all will see Him face to face. Just as there is nothing now to obscure His view of us, there will be nothing to obscure our view of Him."