Elder Fisher #82, 3/3/14:
"And the Lord said unto the brother of Jared: What will
ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?" - Ether 2:23;
reference to a story I don't have time to tell here, and also...
Elder Fisher #83, 3/10/14:
"I will go and do the things which the Lord hath
commanded." - 1 Nephi 3:7
Plot twist number three...
I did not get a chance to send off my email last Monday due
to the busyness of being with the Assistants. Much much much has changed since
that Monday.
Just in my first week with the assistants, we had a meeting
for new trainees and their companions on Tuesday, then back-to-back exchanges
on Thursday and Friday, then a mission leadership conference with President
Soares of the Presidency of the Seventy on Saturday, then a mission home
fireside on Sunday. There is never a time when the Assistants are not moving
around and teaching. They rarely have time to do regular morning studies, often
have to wake up early and get home late, and never get to really stop and eat.
I have an advantage over them seeing as they are both extremely thin and I have
natural energy reserves (a.k.a. I am fat).
The second week just had more craziness. There were many
notable stories that happened but there's only one in particular that I will
share...
I was with Elder Frost on exchange with zone
leader Elder Arnold. We had gone and worked in the heart of Charlotte , among the
skyscrapers, and were driving to our next appointment when we got a call from
the Pineville sisters. Elder Arnold
answered and put it on speaker.
"Hello, is Elder Fisher there?"
they asked.
Elder Arnold
said, "Yes."
"This Saturday we are having the baptismal service of a
lady named Rosita Quitugua and she said that she wanted you, Elder Fisher, to
baptize her. Would you be able to do that?"
My jaw dropped. Elder Frost and Elder Arnold
turned around in their seats to look at me.
"...YES," I said.
I didn't even know what to say. Little Rosita from Saipan , the lady I taught way back in November of 2012,
was finally getting baptized and she wanted me to do it!
I thought about it again and again throughout the day and
the time flew by until finally we stopped by the mission office. There were a
few missionaries there who needed to stay the night at the Assistant's
apartment, and President was interviewing one of them. While he did so I spoke
to Elder Arnold and Elder Frost about all the zones I've
served in.
I pointed at the map. "The mission has seven zones and
I've served in five of them: Winston-Salem ,
Charlotte South, Gastonia , High Point , and now, with the Assistants,
Charlotte Central. I haven't served in the Greensboro
or Hickory
stakes yet, but hey, I've still got three transfers left. There's still
time."
A moment later Elder Frost and Elder Arnold
were called into President's office, and after a minute or so I was called in
to join them.
President sat me down and explained that, due to a variety
of circumstances, Elder Mickelson in the Summit
ward of Greensboro
needed a companion. He looked me in the eye and asked, "Will you be his
companion in Summit ?"
In the half second that followed, the following thoughts
were going through my brain: Greensboro is over
two hours away from Charlotte .
There's no way that I would be able to come down for Rosita's baptism. I
haven't baptized anybody my entire mission, and one just fell into my lap five
hours ago and now I'm going to have to miss it. What about Rosita's
baptism?
Those were my thoughts in that half second. But
what I immediately said, though, was, "Yes, I will. Of
course!" I was almost laughing as I said it, because only a few minutes
before I'd talked about how I still had time to possibly serve in the two
stakes I'd missed so far.
President said, "That's good. The Pineville sisters
called me earlier today to ask if you could baptize their investigator Rosita
this Saturday. We'll have you drive up to Greensboro
after the service."
I felt a wave of relief sweep over me at those words. I
could still make it.
***
Looking back on this experience, I found it important that
my immediate response to President's question was not the self-centered
"But what about Rosita's baptism?" but "Yes." I did not
know that President would schedule things around me but I said "Yes"
anyway, despite what I might have missed out on by accepting the calling.
Either way I would have agreed and gone to Greensboro , but I think it important that my
first response was an unconditional "Yes."
***
So now I am in the Summit
ward of Greensboro , companions to Elder Mickelson,
an elder waiting for his visa before he goes to Brazil . He is
my 15th companion in my 8th area, and the fifth companion I have had this
transfer. Wow! (I've attended four different wards in four different areas the
last four Sundays.) Elder Mickelson is from Yakima , Washington
And, before I end, this:
Rosita Quitugua at her baptism on 3/8/14, 16 months to the
day from when I first met and taught her on 11/8/12. After waiting almost 20
months to experience it, I cannot express the joy I felt standing in the water
at that service. It is a feeling I will never forget.
The Gospel is true. Hurrah for Israel !
Elder Fisher
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