The alarm bell rings at 6:30, I stumble to my feet.
I
grab my companions bedding and pull off his sheets
A groan fills the room, is
it already time to arise?
It seems like just a second ago I was able to shut my
eyes.
The morning activities follow- study, prayer and such ,
When it’s time to leave
the apartment, you feel you haven’t accomplished much.
“We have a super day planned,” my comp. says with a
grin.
I lowly utter a faithless breath,
“Yeah, if anyone lets us in.”
With the word of God and my faithful Schwinn, we ride off in the street prepared to face another day of humidity and heat.
It’s 9:30
in the evening, the day is almost through
My companion and I are riding home, not
accomplishing what we thought to do.
We ride up to the mailbox, hoping to receive a lot
Only
to look inside and hear my echo reverberate “air box.”
We go up to our
apartment, the day is now complete
The only thing to show for our work is a
case of blistery feet.
It’s past 10:30 p.m. My companion is fast asleep,
Silence engulfs me all about, and I begin to weep.
In the midst of sadness,
I kneel down to pray
I need to talk to father, but I’m not sure what to say.
“Oh, Father” I begin, “What happened to us today?
I
thought we’d teach somebody, but everyone was away.
My hands, my aching hands-
worn, hurt and beat;
If our area was any smaller, we’d have knocked every
street.”
"Why on missions are the days so much alike?
The only
difference about today was the flat tire on my bike
.
Will you send some cooler
weather? The heat is killing me
I sweat so bad, it gets in my eyes, it’s very
hard to see.”
“Why do I have to wear a helmet, isn’t your protection enough?
People always laugh at me, and call me stupid stuff.
Please send us
investigators so I may give them what they lack
I want to give them Books of
Mormon, the weight of them hurts my back.”
“And what about my family: They don’t have much to say
I’m sick of not hearing from home day after day after day.
Oh Father, Why am
I here? Am I just wasting time?
Sometimes I just want to go home, I’m sorry but
that’s on my mind.”
“My companion, Heavenly Father, what are you giving me?
The way he rides his bicycle, I don’t think he can see
.
Now you have it, I
can’t go on, I don’t know what to do.
That, my Father in Heaven, is the prayer I
have for you.”
My prayer now finished, I stand up, then jump right into bed
I need my rest for tomorrow, we have another long day ahead.
Sleep starts to
overtake me, I seem to drift away.
Then it seems a vision takes me to another
time in another day.
I’m standing alone on the hill. The view is very nice
A
man walks towards me and says, “My name is Jesus Christ.”
Tears of joy well up
inside, I fall down to His feet
“Arise,” He states, “Follow me to the shade.
You and I need to speak.”
My attention’s towards my Savior, total and complete
He
says, “Your mission is similar to what happened to me
I understand how you
feel. I know what you’re going through,
In fact, it would be fair to say, I’ve
felt the same as you.”
“I even know how you felt when no one listened to you
At
times I felt not quite sure what else I could do
.
I know you don’t like to ride
a bicycle, for you a car would be sweet
Just remember the donkey I rode wasn’t
equipped with 21 speeds.”
“I understand you don’t like sweating, in fact it’s something you hate
I remember when I sweat blood from ev’ry pore, oh the agony
was great!
I see you don’t like your companion- you’d rather have someone
else-
I once had a companion named Judas who sold my life for wealth.”
“It’s hard to wear a helmet and have people make fun of you
I remember when they put thorns on my head and called me King of the
Jews.
So you feel burdened down by the weight of your pack
I recall how heavy
the cross was when they slammed it on my back.”
“Your hands hurt from tracting and knocking on doors all day
I guess when they pounded nails into mine, I ached in a similar way.
It’s
hard not to hear from home when your family’s not there to see
I lost
communication on the cross and cried, “Father, why hast Thou forsaken me?”
“We have a lot in common, but there’s a difference between us you see
I endured to the end and finished my mission, so follow and
do like me.”
He embraced me with His arms and His light filled me with His
love
With tears in my eyes I watched as He went back to the Father above.
I stood with awe and wonder when a beep rang in my head
I listened and heard the alarm, then realized I was in my bed.
My companion
let out a groan, “6:30 already, no way!”
I sat up and said, “Come on, I’ll even
carry your scriptures today!”
No matter what we go through, when we feel we can’t take more,
Just stop and think about Jesus Christ,
He has been there before.”
