Getting Left Behind

A couple weeks ago, I went to the Provo temple with Garrett, Juliana (one of my best friends, here at BYU), and Braden (one of my best friends from the Hill Cumorah Pageant). At the Provo temple, they have you do confirmations for one set of names, first, before going to do baptisms for another set of names. We sat together as a group while waiting to do confirmations. By the time that I’d finished doing confirmations, Juliana and Braden were also done. However, before Garrett was done, some people with family names sat down by me. Because they had family names, they were going to do baptisms before confirmations, so that they could do all of their names.

Because they were there, when Garrett was done doing confirmations, he was separated from me, Braden, and Juliana. I felt bad about it, thinking that Garrett was, in a way, “left behind”. When the line for baptisms started moving, I let the people with family names go ahead of me, so that I’d be sitting by Garrett again. I doubt it was a big deal for Garrett that I went back to sit by him, but to me it meant that he wasn’t being left behind. Though it hadn’t bothered him to be separated from the rest of us, I felt better, knowing that none of my friends had been left behind or left out of the group.

This got me thinking about the situation in a spiritual sense. Around the time that I got my mission call, someone (I can’t remember who it was) told me that before I came to Earth, I made promises to the people that I’ll teach. I promised them that I’d find them and teach them the Gospel. Though I can’t remember making those promises, I know I made them and I’m going to do everything in my power to keep those promises. Like the situation with Garrett at the temple, I refuse to leave those people behind. I promised I’d find them.

I know this church is true. I know that I’ve been called of God to help other people come to know what I already know. Today, I have two months and five days left until I go into the MTC. However, my training as a missionary doesn’t start there. It didn’t start when I got my call. It didn’t start at the beginning of the semester when me and Garrett thought up those ways to prepare. It started when I was young and it’s a constant movement closer and closer to the Savior. It’s a constant movement to where and to who He wants me to be. I testify with all my heart that the church is true and the Book of Mormon is the word of God, alongside the Bible. Again, I promise that as a missionary I will commit myself to finding those people that I promised to find and I will not leave them behind.

--Spencer