Obstacles

   Many people wonder why we have an angel on the spire of most of our temples, and often ask us who the angel is, and what he represents. We felt inspired to call attention to a special anniversary this week, marking 200 years since the angel Moroni visited the 17 year-old boy Joseph Smith on September 21, 1823, which set in motion events which would lead to the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ on earth again. It is the starting point from which the kingdom of God, spoken of in Daniel 2:31-45, was set up as a stone cut out the mountain without hands, to roll forth and fill the whole earth. Moroni is a symbol of that restoration, that God once again sent heavenly messengers to the earth to reveal truth from heaven and bring forth the ancient record out of the ground that is the Book of Mormon. It all started on this date 200 years ago. We feel honored to to be a part of this latter-day restoration, called to share it with the rest of the world. 

    We have been anxiously engaged in seeking out opportunities for volunteer service in our local community. We feel it demonstrates our desire to follow Christ, to be his disciples, and to serve others as He did. We volunteer to serve breakfast to seniors at a community center once or twice a week. They seem to appreciate the social interaction and opportunity to visit with their friends and neighbors more than the food. We have have made many new friends this way. We also devote six hours a week to a charity in Honolulu that hands out hundreds of boxes of food to the community. We load bags of produce, distribute pallets of donated bread, shop for food orders in boxes then put them on shelves, and then pull the boxes off the shelf as they drive up or walk in to pick up their order. It's an amazing thing to be a part of each week. And this week we began holding group discussion sessions with people who are homeless or trying to recover from addition. We had get-to-know-you activities, and are building relationships with them at this point. There will be more opportunities like this that will come our way, as we persist in seeking them out.

     We assumed that our efforts would be enthusiastically received by charitable organizations always looking for more help, but that hasn't been the case with several of them so far. It has been interesting for us to see how some volunteer organizations have embraced us with open arms of support, while others are more cautious and hesitant to accept our offers of assistance. We were told we cannot hold bible study classes in the prison because they would not accept our Florida driver licenses and they could not process the background clearance of those from the mainland. The wards we're assigned to have activities geared towards adult members on weeknights, and Sister Mundell saw a need for activities that involve the Primary children, so the entire family could come and participate. She offered to apply the experience she had in Sebring to organize activity days, which encourage less active parents to bring their children to church and introduce the gospel to their family through the "back door". But the Primary president in one of the wards refused to see it that way, and turned us down. When we shared our ideas about ways we can share the message of the 200th anniversary of Moroni's visit to Joseph Smith with the elders and sisters in our zone, it was not warmly received by our mission president, who reminded us to stay in our lane.

    We feel it's how we deal with obstacles like the ones we've mentioned that demonstrate our faith in Jesus Christ and righteous desires to serve. If we encounter a roadblock, we can either stop and turn around, or find another way to reach our destination. Obstacles can be hurdles we must jump over to move forward or even stepping stones to greater success in the future if we learn from them, and then apply gospel principles to use a different approach which will achieve the desired results. We're not quitters, and setbacks tend to make us even more determined than before. So we will keep trying, put our head down and work even harder to achieve the missionary success our Heavenly Father has promised us.