Callings

I'm coming up on week three of my second semester of school. Church-wise, I've been given more responsibility. I've already been serving as one of the ward pianists since last semester. For this semester, after getting our groups organized, I was extended a calling to serve as a co-group leader (a sort of "FHE dad", in addition to an "FHE mom" as some would refer to it) for our Family Home Evening Group, composed of myself, five other guys and six ladies from our Young Single Adults Ward. If you've been a longtime reader of my blog(s), you might recall when it was the last time I actually served in some kind of leadership capacity. You might also recall on how I feel about certain callings when taken into certain perspectives. If you've followed my blog up to this point, you'll know that not all the feelings I had about these topics were positive experiences.

Needless to say, I'm on pins and needles right now. I've got butterflies in my stomach. Last semester, there were times I had to take the lead on FHE group lessons/messages. Despite my attempts to be professional and maintain composure, I felt those times were next to borderline-disastrous (not complete disaster, mind you). Thankfully, the Lord doesn't expect anyone including myself to be perfect at anything.

On a similar topic, my family and I experienced good news as my younger sister received her mission call; I am a strong supporter for having more sister missionaries now that the age of eligibility for missionaries have been lowered. My sister has been called to the Singapore Mission, Malay-speaking. Where she is going was somewhat a surprise for all of us because no one in our family that I'm aware of has served a mission anywhere around that part of the world yet. Her call to serve has put me into a state of reflection as I looked back at my time in the mission field in the Japan Nagoya Mission. If I were to summarize my mission experience in less than ten words, I would say "A lot of things turned out unexpectedly." Unexpected things such as:

• The 2011 Touhoku earthquake and tsunami disaster affecting the country
• Having to cope with an influx of missionaries from the neighboring Tokyo Mission when it had to be shut down along with other consequences that were the results of the disaster
• Being sent to areas where the focus was Spanish or Brazilian Portuguese instead of my assigned language of Japanese
• Not becoming involved in some leadership capacity when all my mission I strived in the hopes to be one

To be honest, I had many ups and downs on my mission. There were numerous times when those experiences were by far the most frustrating moments. With regards to leadership (or resentment), well, I don't think I have to mention or repeat anything I clearly stated previously. I clearly remember my dad's E-mail that he wrote me during the height of those frustrations: 

"In missions and in life we are given assignments. You have been given assignments, and you have done them to the best of your ability. We don't always understand the reasoning behind those assignments... So take your assignments and continue to do them the best way know how. The other stuff will take care of itself. We all have jobs, they are all important. Sometimes they aren't "prestigious" or "high-profile", but they are all important, and not everyone can do them. So take pride in the fact that you can do them, and do them well and with success. You have nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about. You should be proud of your accomplishments and proud of yourself as an individual. I am. Take a new perspective. Don't worry about your peer group, you only have to measure yourself by what YOU know you are capable of, by YOUR yardstick (and maybe a little bit of MY yardstick). I measure you, and I see the good stuff you do. I couldn't be prouder of you, or prouder to be called your dad."

These words from my number one father figure really helped me to carry on especially this past year, as the going got tough. As I think about my dear sister my pride as her older brother is shining. I can see her facing new a host of challenges and feeling frustration and disappointments from time to time. But I know she can tackle them and overcome every time. Whether it's a mission, a calling, or in life, we do these things to grow. Oftentimes, we serve in our church callings and leadership capacities because we need to grow and learn something. And that's what mortal existence here basically winds down to: growing and learning. 

Going back to my recent calling I received to serve as a group leader for our Family Home Evening group, I expect to grow from serving in this calling; I expect to learn a thing or two. Since having a hiatus in leading in ANYTHING this last year, I hope to fulfill my responsibilities to the best of my abilities. If you read one of my earlier posts, I repeat what President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said:

"Certainly you are not overlooked or unwanted by your Heavenly Father. He loves you. And I tell you with certainty that you are needed by your Church... But when God works through us, no one and nothing can stand against us. This is why you are needed. You have your own special contribution to make, and God can magnify that contribution in a mighty way."

I can't say I'm confident in any of my abilities but that's not going to stop me from striving to make my contributions and learn and grow. I have a testimony of the importance in our church callings, assignments and obligation. Fulfilling them usually leads to new discoveries in one's own abilities and is a major opportunity for personal growth. Oftentimes, there are those set aside to fulfill certain tasks and only they can accomplish them because the Lord sees it fit to be so. Let the Lord's will be done.