Listen…

For the past two years, I have served as a full-time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. To put it simply, this journey has not been predictable, nor has it been easy. As frustrating as the twists and turns in the path may have been, these two constructive years of my life have led me to acknowledge and exclaim, as did the Book of Mormon prophet Jacob, "O how great the plan of our God!" (2 Nephi 9:13)

 When I am passionate about any given goal, I like to back it up with a solid plan of my own that will both motivate and push me to achieve it. A prime example of this habit would be my pre-mission college search. I started my investigation to find the best possible school for me with 300 colleges and universities in mind. After narrowing the search down to a few dozen, I made detailed plans to visit each one and prepared myself with absolute must-have qualifications to examine while visiting. After a year of searching, I chose a school in central Virginia that seemed like the perfect fit. I was excited to start, and made detailed plans to guide my studies and direct me toward an eventual career in politics. I knew I would like to serve a mission someday, but it wasn't at the forefront of my thoughts.

 My plans were first interrupted in early 2020 when I felt an impression telling me I needed to serve a mission at age 18. This impression came as COVID-19 was freshly impacting the world and whispered to me that I would be a force for good in a world filled with so much suffering. I begrudgingly followed the prompting and shifted my plans. I became focused on timing my mission perfectly so that I would finish right before the Fall 2022 semester, and hopefully with a new language under my belt. This wish seemed to come true when I was called to serve a mission in France from August 2020 until July 2022.

 My plans were again derailed as I received news that I would be reassigned to the California Arcadia Mission until I was able to obtain my visa (a task made impossible by COVID-19 travel restrictions). I saw this as bad news because I would not be spending two years in France as I had anticipated. However, I know now that the people I met in California and the things that I experienced will forever stand out in my mind as some of the most influential of my life. Not only were my experiences formative, but I loved my time there! Never did a day pass by without thanking God for His plan—a better plan than my own.

 After 9 months of joyful service in California, I felt the Spirit whisper to me again. It can be aggravating sometimes to hear that we need to change, can't it? I was told in my mind and in my heart that there were things in my past that I needed to take care of, things which might require me to come back home. Again, I begrudgingly followed these instructions and talked to my mission president. As I had expected, I was given the counsel to return to New York for 4 months. This, in turn, pushed back my date of eventual (final) return to December of 2022 instead of July, destroying my college plans in the process. Despite my frustration, God had already accounted for this in His perfect plan.

 In the 4 months I was home, my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer and was given the professional opinion that she would have only a few months to live. To the sadness of me and my family, she was not miraculously healed and did indeed pass away not long after her diagnosis. However, it was a miracle to me that I was home and in a position to visit my grandma during this time of struggle and heartache. If I had not come home, I would never have seen her from the time she received the diagnosis until her eventual passing. How grateful I am for the time that the Lord gave me to return home, to feel the power of change, and to say goodbye to a woman I have looked up to and loved my entire life.

 Since being reinstalled as a full-time missionary, I have spent multiple more months in California and have traveled across the sea to spend the second half of my mission in the countries of Belgium and France. By the time I left the California Arcadia Mission, my perspective had completely changed from when I first received the news that I would be reassigned. During my first weeks in Belgium, it felt as if I had left my real mission to be an imposter in a distant land. Now, I can say with confidence that the Lord called me to both of my missionary assignments, knowing full well "that all these things [would] give [me] experience, and [would] be for [my] good." (Doctrine and Covenants 122:7)

 I do not speak French as fluently as a native speaker would, nor as I would have been able to if I had spent the entirety of my two years in France, but I would still say that my wish to speak a new language has come true. The most joy I have found in my mission, though, has not come from my own desires but rather (and paradoxically) from acknowledging that nothing is about me. Learning French was always in God's plan for me, but my mentality had to change before I was ready to accept it; I was called to speak French so that I could serve the Lord. The rest of my mission has followed a similar pattern of receiving blessings only after I have humbled myself. Whenever I have followed the Spirit to do the will of my Heavenly Father, I have seen His plan bless my life and I've seen my life be a blessing to others.

 My message is that there are blessings in this life waiting for each and every one of us, and that God wants us to recieve them; that is why He has made a plan for us. The only thing keeping us from receiving His blessings is our own unwillingness to align our plan with His. When the still, small voice of the Spirit tells you what to do then, my advice is simple: listen, whether it's in your plan or not.

-Elder James Cole Dennis, Saratoga Ward