The Field is White…Go To Work and Forget Yourself

Austin had a baptism in April.  It was a women named Brandi that he had been teaching a long time.  It was so fun to hear the happiness in his voice as we read his letter after the baptism.  We are so happy for him.  A missionaries dream come true and what a blessing for Brandi to make covenants with Heavenly Father and become part of his Church.

Here is the letter he wrote to us of his experience:

Hello Everyone! Well for you all who haven't heard or seen, my mom got my flight plans for me to come home this past week.  It's crazy to think that it's coming to an end.  It seems like yesterday I was in that one town saying goodbye to my family and I thought well I'll see you all in 2 years and that time I thought 2 years was a very long time that it was going to feel like 200 years.  I was once told by a tole model of mine if you go on your mission and just "go to work and forget yourself, the mission will fly by".  I thought again YEAH RIGHT!!!, but even though I said yeah right I did it anyways and the times on my mission where it has flown by its cause I've just gone to work.  I know that the statement is true cause once you start thinking "me, me, me it's gonna feel like 200 years.  My motto for the rest of my life when it comes to serving in the church is "Go to work and forget yourself."

So this week we had a awesome baptism for Brandi.  It has been a long time waiting for this day and the day couldn't have been any better.  I learned some very important lessons from this past weekend I would like to share them with you.  1st) When I was back at home I thought the greatest thing to do on a Saturday afternoon wast to drive on I-15 south heading to Salt Lake City to watch the University of Utah play it's football game.  I thought that so strongly that I wanted to serve in Salt Lake so that I could still go to the games.  I've learned on my mission that the statement of nothing better than football on Saturdays may be right but the chance to see someone go into the waters of baptism is 1000000x's better!!!!  Seeing them all dressed in white is a lot better then seeing someone dressed in red, black and white.  Don't get me wrong, I'm still a Ute for life and hope one day I'll be able to dress up in a Utes jersey.  I think though the best jersey is the all white one, the jersey that you wear for The Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Once you get baptized you are going to war on the gridiron so to speak.  You're on the Lord's team!! What greater team is there???  You never lose!!

The second thing I learned was how far are you willing to go to make sure someone is baptized?  I learned Saturday just how far I would be willing to go.  So we started filling the font at 10:30 for the 1:00 baptism.  We were told that would be plenty of time so the hours went on and sure enough at 12:50 the water had only reached the second and half stair.  Not knowing exactly what we should do, I remembered something my last companion did, that waS to grab the big garbage cans and just start filling those suckers with water.  I never thought that I would do this 1) Cause I didn't realize how important how important baptism was 2) it just seemed out of line.  Like I was saying earlier there is nothing better than seeing someone get baptized so I asked myself how far are you wiling to go?  I then remembered the saying "go to work, forget yourself".  So with the help of Elder Lewis, Elder Hatch and Mitchell Salyards we started filling garbage cans full of water. We would fill

 it then have to run down the hall way through the bathroom, then to

 the font and just unload the water. Each load got us closer to the 4th

 stair and it got to the point of man this is crazy and out of line and

 so I was bout to just say "Guys forget it it's to much work." Then

 that saying popped into my head again. So you see missionary running

 down the hall ways filling cans with water. We got enough water in the

 font for Brandi to be baptized. What I learned from this is go at

 least 3 hours to fill the font so your not having to rush it. Second I

 learned just how far I'd be willing to go for someone to be baptized!

 It was a memory I will always remember for the rest of my life. We

 were able to fill the font in 15 min so we started late but it didn't

 matter. The spirit that we felt there was amazing! It proved to me

 once again that this Church is true! It doesn't matter what people say

 bout it. The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the ONLY

 TRUE CHURCH!!  God bore witness to me on Saturday!  I may only have 11

 weeks left on my mission but it is moments like Saturday seeing

 someone who you care so much bout get baptized and start her new life

 and her journey on the path of a disciple of Jesus Christ. I love this

 gospel so much! I love the people in Portland and more then that I

 love the people of Oregon City.

 So remember " Go to work and forget yourself." It's those times that

 you have Christlike love for people around you. June 24 isn't that far

 away but I know if I " Go to work and forget myself." The Lord will

 bless me the next 11 weeks. I love you all! This week ponder what

 things you would do for someone to be baptized and apply the quote

 cause I know it is powerful!! Christ himself "forgot himself." We all

 need to do the same cause if not the work will not go forth. I love

 you all! See you all soon!!

 -Elder McNabb-