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Invite others to "Grow [their] Faith"


Thursday, November 11, 2010

Change

For most of us, Change is hard.

We get comfortable. We are happy where we are at. We have "enough". This is exactly how I felt. Recently, I was transferred from Vacaville to Santa Rosa, and I had a huge change! I had been in Vacaville for 7 months, and I loved the people there. We were teaching many, and I loved each of them. Then, I found out I was being transferred.

For me and for the people I was teaching, this was difficult. We were comfortable. I even had one wonderful lady threaten to not come to church if I left. (We talked her down from that lofty threat, explaining that this change is necessary.)

In a lot of ways, 'mission life' mirrors 'normal life'. In normal every day life, we get comfortable where we're at. We go to church every week, have the same schedule, and we are happy with our family, and happy with our life. Sometimes we get so comfortable, that we don't change. We know it would be better for us, but we justify it in our own minds.

Already in Santa Rosa, we were able to meet a wonderful man, who accepted to be baptized on December 5th. Would I have gotten this incredible opportunity to invite someone to follow the example of Jesus Christ, if I hadn't been willing to change?

We grow when we are uncomfortable. One of my friends back home wrote a poem, about a flower. I can't recite it off the top of my head, I wish I could it's a gorgeous poem, but it says that the flower was put in a box, and there it died, because it could not grow.

Think about our lives, if we don't force ourselves outside the box how are we going to grow? So today, I'm going to give you a challenge. Go outside your box, bear your testimony to someone, and if that is inside your box, leave them with a challenge. Only you know where you have placed your limits, find them break them, and Grow your Faith!

3 comments:

Camille Spence said...

Elder Hancock,
This is exactly what I needed to hear today. My husband and I recently moved, switched wards, and have had many, many other changes on the horizon of our lives. I have been having a hard time with it, even though I know these changes are for the better. I will remember that I have to be taken out of my box or I will not grow.
You are doing great things, Elder!
Thank you,
Camille (Belnap) Spence

kaylie jean. said...

Spot on, Elder.
This is something I think about a lot--how I am so comfortable at the university I am attending, surrounded by my friends, family, and loved ones. One day, though, I know I'll have to leave all of this, and already I struggle with it.

However, the principle that you expressed in this blog is so true. Change is rigorous, difficult, challenging. But that truly IS how we grow, how we become better. And that's what we're here for, right?

Heavenly Father loves us. He only gives us challenges that he knows we are capable of growing from.

Christine said...

Elder Hancock, you are an awesome missionary! We will miss you in Vacaville. You are spot on in this posting. We should not be afraid of change, instead we should welcome it.