Week 61: "Serve People, Not Missions" feat. Christy
Dear Loved Ones,
When I was twelve, I got really into this show called Christy. Set in the 1910s, Christy is a nineteen year old school teacher who moves to the rural Applachian community of Cutter Gap. Armed with her big city ideas about women's rights and modern hygiene, Christy is sure she's going to raise up an educated generation and revolutionize life in Cutter Gap.
In one episode, a female pilot crashlands in Cutter Gap and catches the fascination of everyone in town, including Christy's love interest David. Pilots, let alone female ones, are a rarity in this time period. Christy is miffed that she isn't the center of attention and beacon of feminine progress anymore. She complains to a friend, who tells her, "Life will go back to normal when she leaves. Just like with you."
The series ends before you can see what becomes of Cutter Gap. But sequel movies and a book show the disappointing future. Christy's schoolchildren become child laborers. Two world wars claim the men. Though she stayed a lot longer than the pilot, none of Christy's influence was permanent.
Missionary work makes me feel a lot like Christy. Nineteen year olds swooping in on communities with the idea that they're going to change the world. I've seen people do a lot more harm than good that way, serving missions instead of serving people and pushing people too hard to get baptized when they're not ready. I know a woman who was married to a non-member. She worked on her husband for twelve years, three in dating and nine in marriage. He was so, so close, but then a pair of sisters wanted to feed him to the quota mill and informed him that they'd set a baptismal date for him.
He dropped them, undoing years of hard work.
I have a lot of people I'm working with who are going to need time and patience. There is a restoration branch family who have been friends for years with lots of families in the ward, my Chinese friend, Li, who met with two past sets of missionaries in different places and still hasn't worked her way up to believing in God yet, and a truth seeker named Gary. Gary has a stack of theology books about six feet high. He is in his seventies and has spent so long trying to find something to believe in and I know he can make a home here, but it will take time. And I'm willing to wait on them.
I have 15 weeks left in my mission and this will probably be my final area, so I'm looking at my future and theirs. I would love to see another baptism before my mission's end, yes, but it's not about me. They will be brought unto Christ in THEIR time, not mine.
Sincerely,
Sister Smith
When I was twelve, I got really into this show called Christy. Set in the 1910s, Christy is a nineteen year old school teacher who moves to the rural Applachian community of Cutter Gap. Armed with her big city ideas about women's rights and modern hygiene, Christy is sure she's going to raise up an educated generation and revolutionize life in Cutter Gap.
In one episode, a female pilot crashlands in Cutter Gap and catches the fascination of everyone in town, including Christy's love interest David. Pilots, let alone female ones, are a rarity in this time period. Christy is miffed that she isn't the center of attention and beacon of feminine progress anymore. She complains to a friend, who tells her, "Life will go back to normal when she leaves. Just like with you."
The series ends before you can see what becomes of Cutter Gap. But sequel movies and a book show the disappointing future. Christy's schoolchildren become child laborers. Two world wars claim the men. Though she stayed a lot longer than the pilot, none of Christy's influence was permanent.
Missionary work makes me feel a lot like Christy. Nineteen year olds swooping in on communities with the idea that they're going to change the world. I've seen people do a lot more harm than good that way, serving missions instead of serving people and pushing people too hard to get baptized when they're not ready. I know a woman who was married to a non-member. She worked on her husband for twelve years, three in dating and nine in marriage. He was so, so close, but then a pair of sisters wanted to feed him to the quota mill and informed him that they'd set a baptismal date for him.
He dropped them, undoing years of hard work.
I have a lot of people I'm working with who are going to need time and patience. There is a restoration branch family who have been friends for years with lots of families in the ward, my Chinese friend, Li, who met with two past sets of missionaries in different places and still hasn't worked her way up to believing in God yet, and a truth seeker named Gary. Gary has a stack of theology books about six feet high. He is in his seventies and has spent so long trying to find something to believe in and I know he can make a home here, but it will take time. And I'm willing to wait on them.
I have 15 weeks left in my mission and this will probably be my final area, so I'm looking at my future and theirs. I would love to see another baptism before my mission's end, yes, but it's not about me. They will be brought unto Christ in THEIR time, not mine.
Sincerely,
Sister Smith
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