Focus on the One

(Elder Cummings)

This whole week I have been working with a new companion, Elder Gray, another Hmong elder!  Our companionship transferred a week early so that Elder Perkins could be spending more time at the mission office over the next couple transfers.  Elder Gray and I have been tearing it up!  It is a blast to be back with someone who speaks my native Hmong!  I had no idea how much I missed speaking it until we were driving up from Fresno late Halloween night after a meeting for all zone leaders and sister training leaders at the mission home.  In this mission we don't proselyte Halloween night, so President Clark took advantage of the opportunity to give some instruction before November really set in.

Something that has been on my mind over the last few weeks is perfectly embodied in this video:

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2016-03-0024-focus-on-the-one?lang=eng

One thing President Clark stresses with mission leaders is the importance of ministering to our stewardships, the companionships we lead.  I have had several amazing experiences this last week doing just that.

 I have been throwing the thought around for a while now that the Spirit will lead you to the extent that you let him. I have found that to be so true. We were doing our gospel studies with another companionship earlier this week (this ties in to both things, I promise).  As we were going through listening to each other as we each shared what we learned from our personal scripture study, one elder was sharing how he had read D&C 10:4 while studying the topic of diligence, which says:

 "Do not run faster or labor more than you have strength and means provided to enable you to translate; but be diligent unto the end."

In the very moment he read the verse I felt compelled by the Spirit to ask "how has your experience with depression informed your interpretation of that verse?"  At the time of asking this question I did not know that he struggled with depression.  The thought came to my mind, and because I trusted that the Spirit would lead me to minister to this elder I expressed it.

Instant tears came to this elder's eyes, and for the first time in the year and a half he has served as a missionary he talked openly about his ongoing battle with depression.  We then worked together to ensure the needed support was put in place for him to work towards a healthier solution than bottling it all in.

In the ongoing conversation we have been having since then I have come to a new appreciation of Isaiah 55:8-9, which reads:

 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."

God thinks much more of us than we think of ourselves.  He recognizes with eternal gratitude all of the small things that we do for him.  He rejoices with us when we do what is right.  He is absolutely joyful when we persevere through opposition.  He cares for us as individuals and works towards our individual salvation and exaltation.  All life experiences and all church assignments are given to us to prepare us for that end, "[our] dross to consume, and [our] gold to refine" (How Firm a Foundation, hymn #81).

In speaking about his modern-day calling as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Elder David A. Bednar says, "It's not a large corporation.  And the apostles are not the board of directors.  This is an individual work.  The Saviour knows people by name.  He knows their circumstances.  And He directs us in our work to bless the lives of individuals, not run a gigantic organization."

That is true for all aspects of church service.  It is about individuals, and as we reach out to individuals we do the Savior's work.

You all have a blessed week!  Share the love of Christ with those around you!

With love,

Elder Jared Cummings

and another quote to think on, from Elder Neil L. Anderson: "Please don’t see your efforts to share the love of the Savior with another as a pass/fail test with your grade determined by how positively your friends respond to your feelings or invitation to meet the missionaries. With our mortal eyes, we cannot judge the effect of our efforts, nor can we establish the timetable. When you share the love of the Savior with another, your grade is always an A+."