Elder Wengert is from Gilbert, Arizona, a neighboring city to our home town. He returned home about the same time as I returned to Arizona. I loved hearing him speak about his experiences in Samoa. What was most impressive to me was when he talked about his struggles. He shared that there was a time on his mission when he wondered what he was doing and why he was serving. He wondered why he was wasting his time and his family's time. He struggled with this burden for quite some time, and when he finally decided to completely and totally turn his will over to God's, his entire perspective and mission changed. As he allowed God to lead him, he found ways to serve and bless that were previously not available to him. In this process, he changed; he became who God wanted him to be. He became a fully converted disciple of the Savior; he learned how to represent Jesus Christ and offer His sweet Atonement to those he taught.
As I listened to him talk, I reflected back on what I had observed as we served together. I saw a good young man become a powerful, respected missionary and advocate of Jesus Christ. Elder Wenger left a legacy of growth and dedication in the mission field. It was an "event by chance in a happy way" that I was able to attend his home ward and celebrate his growth among those who know him and love him.
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| Elder Wengert and his parents |
Listening to Elder Wenger and being home gave me a lot of time to think about what God expects of us and how He crafts experiences, which allow us to benefit if we choose to fully and completely embrace His will. I thought of the song "I Will Go Where You Want Me to Go."
"It may not be on the mountain height
Or over the stormy sea,
It may not be at the battle's front
My Lord will have need of me.
But if, by a still, small voice He calls
To paths that I do not know,
I'll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in thine:
I'll go where you want me to go."
The interesting thing is He may need us at the "mountain height, over the stormy sea, or the battle's front." It will always be to paths we do not know because it is only through these kinds of experiences that we come to know God and understand His love and His desire for us to return to His rest. The places we are needed can be scary and hard; they can be lonely and overwhelming; they can be places where we struggle to thrive.
Sometimes, we believe when we are serving in the mission field that the Lord will take care of our problems, things will go smoothly at home because we are serving, or we will be protected from difficulty because we are missionaries. While our service always brings blessings, they usually are not the ones we think we deserve or want. This trip home taught me, once again, God knows exactly what is most important for us to learn and do, and if we will go with our hand in His, He will always lead us to places of growth and greater light. Going where He wants us to go takes courage and faith, but it mostly takes giving our entire will to Him. When we finally surrender is when we find Him, and in finding Him we discover that turning our will over wasn't hard after all.
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